Your child must be accompanied to and from the Turning Winds campus by an adult. Turning Winds offers two airport trips per month, on the 3rd and 4th Tuesday, excluding November and December because of Thanksgiving and Christmas. If travel arrangements must be made outside of those dates we refer the family to 3rd party transport companies who will provide transportation to and from the airport.
A child requiring transportation to the airport must be scheduled to depart Turning Winds on the third Tuesday of the month, and arrive back on the fourth Tuesday of the month, between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time. In the event that a departure or arrival cannot be scheduled on Tuesday between the specified hours, arrangements must be made with a local and insured transport company.
Exceptions to this policy will be made for extenuating circumstances, such as a death in the family, et cetera
Directions to Turning Winds from Spokane
About 3 hours. Please read the two warnings below before you set out.
- Your cell phone will not work once you cross the bridge in Moyie Springs.
- Do not use GPS to find us. It often sends people down the wrong road, where they get stuck.
- Go east on Interstate 90 across the Washington-Idaho border, 33 miles.
- Take Exit 12, signed Sandpoint / Moscow / Hwy 95.
- Turn left at the light and go north on Hwy 95.
- Continue on Hwy 95 through Sandpoint, Idaho and on to Bonners Ferry, Idaho.
- Three miles north of Bonners Ferry, turn right onto Hwy 2. The sign reads Moyie Springs / Kalispell.
- Travel 19.5 miles, then turn left onto Hwy 508. The sign reads Yaak River Road.
- Travel 29 miles to Yaak, Montana. After passing the Mercantile and Tavern, immediately turn right onto South Fork Road, which is not labeled, cross the bridge over the Yaak River and travel 4.5 miles.
- Look for the mailbox marked 31733 on the right hand side. Turn right and follow the driveway to the main building.
31733 S. Fork Yaak Rd.
Troy, Montana
(406) 295-5400
Managing the Final Miles to Campus
The two-hour drive north from Spokane International Airport is rarely just a logistical requirement; it is often the most emotionally charged window of a family’s entire intervention process. In our two decades of doing this work, we have found that the physical journey from the terminal to our campus sets the immediate clinical tone for a teen’s arrival. The confined space of a vehicle can easily escalate anxiety if the transition is not managed with intentionality.
Rather than viewing this transit as a time to process past conflicts or extract promises, treat the drive as a low-stimulation decompression zone. If you are accompanying your child, we recommend three specific boundaries for the route up the highway. First, eliminate negotiations about the length of stay or program rules; redirect those questions to our clinical team upon arrival. Second, keep the physical environment neutral by limiting phone access, which prevents last-minute digital spiraling. Third, focus conversation entirely on immediate, neutral observations rather than the emotional weight of the admission.
If you are utilizing a third-party transport service for an off-schedule arrival, ensure their personnel understand your teen’s specific behavioral triggers before they leave the arrivals curb. A clinically informed transition allows your child to step out of the vehicle at our campus ready to begin the actual work, rather than needing to de-escalate from the journey itself.