At Turning Winds, our teenage clients typically stay many months, often an entire year. That means they may not be home for important family holidays—or Halloween!
HALLOWEEN FUN IN TREATMENT
“Holidays at Turning Winds are opportunities to have a unique day for the kids,” says program director Enoch Stump. “We even make a big deal out of minor calendar dates just to make it more fun. For Halloween, things are decorated and ghosts are hanging around everywhere.”
Come October, you will find Halloween-themed things all over the Turning Winds campus. “We will have a pumpkin carving contest,” explains Stump. “Clients are divided up into teams and then our amazing artists go to work. The pumpkins are usually pretty impressive.”
There’s a judging process after which the winners will be announced. Then it’s movie night. “We’ll probably watch an age-appropriate scary movie at some point in the evening, and the kids will get some Halloween candy in baskets. It’s a mixture of trail mix and candy, so we don’t hand them too much sugar.”
They also dress up, of course. Parents are encouraged to send a costume for their kids. Staff usually dress up as well. “It’s the only time of the year when Owen and Carl Baisden have hair on their heads because on Halloween they always wear wigs,” Stump says with a smile on his face.
AN OPPORTUNITY TO TEACH
It’s not just fun and games, though. Every activity at Turning Winds is fully integrated into the treatment effort. Halloween is no exception. Since it falls on a Thursday this year, it’s a school day first. “Groups in the afternoon will then focus on Halloweens in the past and any negative fun that may have occurred then,” says Stump. “They process that and have constructive conversations around that.”
The treatment team at Turning Winds knows how challenging it is for their teenage clients to be in treatment away from their families for the holidays or occasions like Halloween when they might want to hang out with their friends back home.
“We usually have groups discussing questions like ‘How do you handle being here for Halloween and the holidays?’ and we talk about their favorite family traditions at home,” says Stump. “We are preparing their minds in advance for being away from home for the occasion.”
Over the past two decades, Turning Winds has matured into a sophisticated treatment program that blends the benefits of a wilderness program, a residential treatment center, and a boarding school.
Our mission is to rescue teens from crisis situations, 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. If your call isn’t answered personally, one of us will get back to you as soon as possible.
