I am a volunteer in my community who are in the early stages of learning about trauma informed care. There are some teenagers in our community who have been impacted by ACEs and succumbed to using opioids.
A few of them who could afford the expense have enrolled in out of state (expensive) residential treatment centers (RTC). I am not sure if some of these RTCs explicitly use trauma informed care. At the RTC they are not allowed to use a cell phone and are taught how to stay "clean".
I am observing that the RTC "graduates" returning home may or may not be resilient, especially among those who return to a lifestyle with addiction to technology (resilience requires practice and personal change from within).
Upon returning home, many of the "RTC grads" get distracted and begin to relapse when they get the privilege of accessing the online world using a cell phone. The RTC lessons become distant memory, which is not surprising.
For parents who are funding the recovery process, it can be a soul searching journey while considering that they are trying to turn a "liability into an asset" and may seem to be going nowhere.
Their parents cannot afford to micromanage them (since both of them have day jobs) nor do they have the finances to hire multiple resources for building the scaffolding (to replicate what an RTC can offer).
I've read that "resilience trumps ACEs" is a mantra for a trauma informed school.
That said, I am looking for a high school for struggling teenagers who have been impacted by substance abuse. They have to learn how to concentrate in their academics, learn to build resilience, stay clean, and become future ready. Such a school provides the scaffolding to instill resilience for at risk youth (impacted by ACEs) to thrive and live a joyful life.
Agreed that "change has to come from within" and scaffolding cannot be installed via a "download!"
Thanks for sharing any pointers.
Boma
