Family Support and Involvement | Ozarks Teen Challenge

Does Your Teen Need Help?

Making the decision to enroll your troubled teen in a program that provides long-term solutions can be difficult for any parent or family member to make. Many families struggle with deciding what the best option is for their teen. Oftentimes, short-term treatment options are unable to provide the structure and support needed to eliminate negative habits and behaviors. There are several questions that you can ask yourself to help you in this decision-making process.

Ozarks Teen Challenge boys mountain biking

Key Questions

Do you have major concerns about your son’s motivation, drive, or confidence for the future?
Do you fear that his current relationships, choices, and environment are putting him on the wrong path?
Are you concerned for your teens physical safety?
Are you concerned for the safety of others or even yourself?

Do you know where your son is, in order to be certain of his and others safety?
Are your teen’s actions resulting in having disciplinary troubles at school or run-ins with law enforcement?
Are your teens actions negatively affecting other members of the family?
Have you exhausted all of your personal resources and feel like your personal ability to cope and function is being compromised?

If you can answer, “yes,” to any of these questions, it may be time to consider a treatment program, that focuses on facilitating long-term change. Our Admissions Coordinator is available to discuss how we may be able to help your family. Please, do not hesitate to call, we are here to help! If you would like to request more information about Ozarks Teen Challenge: Inquire Today!

Warning Signs of Drug & Alcohol Abuse

When a youth starts using drugs, they usually exhibit many different signs which parents need to watch out for. Unfortunately, many parents often write-off these signs as normal adolescent behavior and as a result, they don’t realize that their teen suffers from addiction and needs help. So how can you, as a parent, know for sure whether or not your teen is in danger of falling into drugs? Simple … by understanding that every child is in danger of this. The parent who says “not my kid” is the same parent who will miss all the signs of addiction. A state of denial only make helping them later more difficult. So here are some signs of addiction that you, as parents, can look out for:

Dramatic changes in style of clothes, hair, music

Can serve as warning signs to you that your child is in danger of falling into the same kind of peer pressure when it comes to drugs.

Hanging out with a bad crowd

Your teen’s friends are like a mirror for your son or daughter — they look at themselves in that mirror and try to conform to what they see there.

Tardiness and/or truancies

Stay in touch with your teen’s school. Don’t assume that their school will let you know about this kind of behavior.

Isolating from family

Children are smart – they know that the easiest lie to tell is the one they can avoid having to tell.

Changes in attitude and personality

Often parents just see this as normal teenage behavior and write it off. Don’t make this mistake.

Changes in sleep patterns

Does your teen sleep way too much or way too little. If your child isn’t sleeping much, there’s a good chance he/she is using. This is a frequent effect of stimulants.

Eating too much or too little

If your child is smoking pot with his/her friends, it wouldn’t be unusual for your child to eat a bit more food than normal. Skipping quite a few consecutive meals can be a sign of using speed.

Paranoia

Children are smart – they know that the easiest lie to tell is the one they can avoid having to tell.

Dilated eyes – red eyes –  glazed eyes

A person’s eyes show the effects of the drugs they are on. If you think your child is experimenting with drugs, watch his or her eyes.

Sudden bursts of anger

This doesn’t have to mean physical violence (though that is often the case).

Dramatic mood swings

This is often confused with ‘normal’ teenage behavior, but it can also be an obvious sign of drug abuse. Don’t simply write it off.

Excessive money spending or money disappearing

Drugs cost money. If your child keeps coming to you needing money, or if money keeps coming up missing from your purse or your wallet, you need to have a serious talk with your child.

Learning these signs of addiction can mean the difference between life and death for your teen. The effects of such destructive behaviors can be devastating to students, families, and marriages. If you or someone you know is currently experiencing any of these issues, contact our Admissions Coordinator for additional information on how we can help.

We Can Help!

Our goal is to make the admissions process to our Christ-centered residential therapeutic program informative and simple. Reach out today to begin the process.

Get Started

teen boy struggling with his parents to complete his school work

How to Help Your Troubled Teen?

Many godly parents have prayed and fasted for their teens, yet they watch painfully as their child continues down a path of rebellion and destruction. One mother said, “I pray for my children, but why is God so slow to answer?” So what can parents or grandparents do to help deter bad behavior? Keep praying, but stop enabling! Enabling a troubled teens addictive/destructive behaviors may at first appear to be “helpful actions” but, in reality, they are only contributing to their downfall. Understanding what enabling is the first step towards avoiding this pitfall.

Many families find family therapy helpful before, during and after their son’s treatment. While your son receives treatment for substance abuse or behavioral problems, it is critical that the family support is there for him when he returns home. Learn how to provide family support without enabling your son’s bad behaviors.

If you feel that you need to stop enabling and that action is necessary get your troubled teen the help he needs, call us today at: 417-272-3784. The decision to enroll your teen in a residential rehabilitation program can be a difficult, our Admissions Coordinator would love to help.

Please take a few minutes to look through some of our latest resources on this topic.

teen boy spending quality time out with his son

Parent & Family Involvement is Key

Ozarks Teen Challenge recognizes that parent and family involvement is key to the continued success of our students. Destructive behaviors can be troubling and affect the entire family.

We encourage the rest of your family to seek support throughout the course of your son’s rehabilitation as well. Whether through family support groups, your pastor, or family counseling, it is essential that families grow during the rehabilitation process and learn to accept and forgive your son.

We strive to facilitate family reconciliation, healing, and forgiveness as your teen moves through his program. During this rehabilitation process, family support is essential. Our program offers regular communication, parent weekends, and a structured visitation schedule.

Parental Communication

Ozarks Teen Challenge strives to keep parents informed of every aspect of their boy’s progress and care by providing:

A Parent Contact For Each Family

Bi-weekly updates for parents from a staff member specifically assigned to them

Pass Schedule

Passes are privileges that the boys earn as they move through their program. These passes aid students and families in the reconciliation process as their teens’ begin to demonstrate responsible choices and personal growth. Families are also provided with Check-In Worksheets for each pass to give every visit a specific family growth focus. 

Family Weekends

While your teen may need support from our rehabilitation center, they will still need the support of loved ones. For this reason, we have scheduled family weekends designed for families to reconnect and work together. We host a formal family weekend once every two months to correspond with your teens’ pass schedule. During these weekends you can expect family educational programming and worship services, as well as the opportunity to discuss issues or share growth experiences together.

Family “Check-In” Program

We also provide Family Check-In Worksheets for both students and their families to fill out and share with one another during their pass weekends. These worksheets are individualized for each pass weekend and provide opportunities for families to grow and learn together. In addition, each worksheet corresponds to the learning objectives for that specific phase of your teen’s program. The goal of these worksheets is to help facilitation reconciliation and change within the family unit, as a whole, in order to help your teen maintain growth after graduation from our program.

Letter From A Parent

Defiant. Disrespectful. Angry. Irresponsible. Selfish. Arrogant. User. Chaos. This was Sam in the summer of 2013. Our lives were consumed by trying to tweak the world to keep our son on the straight and narrow. Just as we had baby-proofed the house when he started to crawl, our time was spent “Sam proofing” our lives. He smashed lamps in anger, kicked holes in walls, dented refrigerators and made us question ourselves. We were frightened out of our mind for him. We had supported him in all his endeavors 100%. He attended private schools, was a member of a Christian youth group, attended Christian summer camps, and had private tutors and coaches. We felt he was given every opportunity to succeed. What had we done wrong?

A few months prior, my daughter and I attended Winter Jam. At the concert, Matthew West showed a video of the story behind “Hello My Name Is”. The video highlighted the story of a boy who found himself at Teen Challenge. I didn’t see the young boy, I saw Sam.

The answers we were looking for came subtly over the next few months. Every time I drove my car, KLOVE would be playing and Teen Challenge was slowly making its way into my thoughts. We had tried another rehab the year before with hopes of “fixing” him. Something truly had to be done, for Sam was headed to either jail or the grave.

By July 4th weekend, things were truly coming to a head. By the magic of GPS, we had found Sam passed out in his car in a random neighborhood. We struggled to find a way to reach him. I took a trip to Teen Challenge in Branson West, Missouri. I spoke with Derrick, the intake coordinator, who spoke the words I will never forget. “The only thing that will change Sam is his heart and I can’t change that, only God can change his heart.”

How to Help

Ozarks Teen Challenge offers substance, alcohol, and behavioral therapy for troubled teens. Our faith based program needs your support. Whether you’re able to offer support financially or through prayer, we welcome your participation in our mission.

If you would like to partner with Ozarks Teen Challenge in helping students and families find HOPE in the face of addiction, please check out the following ways to get involved.

Pray

Prayer is vital to our program and our students are blessed by your prayers. Please sign-up for our newsletter to receive updates on monthly prayer needs.

Attend Upcoming Events

Take a look at our upcoming events and discover how you can contribute to the fight against teen addiction. Your participation and support are invaluable to our students and  their families!

parents of troubled teens keeping hope alive

Donate

If you want to support our mission to help students and families find HOPE in the face of addiction, consider becoming a financial supporter. Your general donation to the Keep Hope Alive fund will go a long way to put hope within reach for families in need.

Family Support & Involvement