The Turning Winds team is dedicated to forging lifelong relationships and healing teens. To us, those kids are more than just clients. Our model of care, renowned for its effective therapeutic support, mirrors a functional family system. This system is integral to our residential treatment for teens. From the beginning, embodying the essence of family has been a cornerstone of the Turning Winds approach to healing.
Many alumni, having transformed their lives at Turning Winds, are so positively affected and had such a life-transforming experience that they wish to share their stories.
Joshua is a recent alumnus of Turning Winds. In one of our podcasts, he explained how working on himself turned his life around. “As a kid, I had a lot of trouble with defiance and just general disrespect toward my parents. I was very rebellious and did not want to do what my parents told me to. So, I was doing stupid stuff and being irresponsible.”
CHANGE TAKES TIME
Change didn’t come overnight. Many clients stay an entire year which gives the team enough time to effect lasting change. Like many teenagers who arrive at Turning Winds, Josh was reluctant to work on his defiant attitude at first. “When you first get there, you’re not going to like it,” he says. “I was defiant toward the staff. I was very awful and rude to the staff who honestly were just trying to help me out.”
It took a while for that realization to sink in. “There were some times when I would just have a really crappy day, and one of the staff members would come over, and talk to me a little, you know, start talking about it, and it would actually help because most of the staff members have basically gone through what you’ve gone through. They’ve all had their struggles—they’ve been through their own thing and can relate to you.”
The Turning Winds model of care is centered around therapeutic support in a setting that resembles the family environment clients will return to. Healthy behaviors are practiced and reinforced in a safe environment. Our clinical services combine the best elements of care from wilderness therapy, therapeutic boarding schools, and inpatient treatment to create a one-of-a-kind residential treatment center.
“Our multi-therapeutic approach is designed to address the diverse needs of our teens. By combining different therapeutic methods, we can offer more personalized and effective treatment,” says CEO Owen Baisden. “Each method brings a unique set of tools and perspectives, which, when used together, provide a well-rounded approach to mental health care. This integration is crucial for dealing with complex behavioral and emotional issues.”
GAINING A NEW PERSPECTIVE
For Joshua, self-acceptance was one of the first steps. “Accepting who you are, accepting that you have problems that you need to start working on and that some of those problems you can’t work on by yourself,” he remembers. “When I went home, I was able to compare myself to the people I was hanging out with before I went to Turning Winds and they were just not good influences. So, I ended up dropping those people.”
When he graduated from Turning Winds, Joshua left with a whole new perspective on life. Over the past two decades, Turning Winds has matured into a sophisticated residential treatment center that has changed many young lives.
Our mission is to rescue teens from crises, renew their belief in their potential, reunite them with their families, and put them on a sustainable path to success. Contact us online for more information, or call us at 800-845-1380.
Please note that to protect the privacy of our alumnus, his name has been changed.
