How to Mentally Prepare for Leaving Your Home for Residential Treatment
Teens and families often go through a wide variety of emotions before leaving home for residential treatment. Your child might feel bombarded by information, be unsure of their goals for treatment, and fear missing home – and you might share in these worries.
Alternatively, you both could also be feeling relief that their mental health needs will be taken care of – or you could be going through a mix of all these emotions.
It’s normal to experience a whirlwind of feelings when preparing to leave home for residential treatment – but you don’t have to go through this process alone. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in six teens in the U.S. experiences a mental health condition each year. This means that mental health professionals are very familiar with guiding families through preparing for residential treatment.
This article can also help you mentally prepare a teen for leaving home for residential treatment, as it covers:
- What to expect when leaving home for treatment
- Preparing your child mentally for residential treatment
- Managing expectations when leaving home for therapy
- How to get your child practically ready for inpatient care
- When to seek support for preparing your child mentally for inpatient treatment
What to Expect When Leaving Home for Treatment
Anxiety:
The fear of the unknown is one of humankind’s most common worries – so your child will likely not be spared from this emotion. They may have gotten a lot of different information about their treatment from a variety of adults involved in their care. This might mean that they feel unsure about what to expect, causing feelings of anxiety. In addition to this anxiety, a child may also worry that their residential treatment might not work.
All in all, it’s not uncommon for a teen to be experiencing a cycle of anxiety before entering residential treatment – especially if this is a symptom of their condition.
Emotional Outbursts:
Ahead of leaving home for treatment, a child may feel stressed and overwhelmed, and less capable of managing their emotions. This could lead to outbursts of emotions, such as sadness, which can be difficult to witness as a parent. Additionally, it’s possible that your child might say hurtful things to you out of anger. If this is the case, it’s important not to react in kind – these comments are coming from a place of fear.
Resisting Treatment:
Teenagers and their families may face a lot of stigma ahead of mental health treatment. While stigma comes from a lack of understanding, it can still cause feelings of shame and judgment, and potentially lead a teen to resist treatment. Teens’ willingness to receive treatment is key to successful recovery, so understanding how to manage resistance may be important. Our article “Navigating the Challenges of Resistance to Treatment” can help.
Relief:
Even though your child might feel anxiety, sadness, and shame about having to enter residential treatment, they might also feel a positive emotion around receiving help: relief. They may have been trying to silently cope with their issues for a long time, feeling increasingly isolated and misunderstood. Residential treatment might feel like a blink of a light at the end of a tunnel – the beginning of hope in an otherwise pessimistic outlook.
Aside from these reactions from your child, you might also be struggling to cope with feelings of guilt and shame. You may think that you could have done more to help them, worry that you’re making the right choice for their well-being, or also be battling against the effects of stigma. Mental health conditions are a perfect storm of genetics, biology, and experiences – you are not to blame for what your child is going through. You’re making the best choice for their mental health and future. A mental health professional can support you through these emotions.
Preparing Your Child Mentally for Residential Treatment
Being mentally prepared for treatment can help reduce your child’s concerns and motivate them to enter therapy with confidence and clarity. You can mentally prepare them by going through the following steps.
Ask as Many Questions as Possible:
If your child feels bombarded by information or anxiety, you can help support them before leaving for treatment by asking mental health professionals as many questions as possible. Mental health professionals understand your concerns and are very approachable – but they need to be approached. They appreciate family involvement, so will not see you asking questions as “intrusive.” Instead, they’ll aim to give you the most complete picture of your child’s treatment as possible.
Be Honest With Your Child:
If you don’t know what to expect from inpatient care or understand what your child will experience, it’s OK to be honest with them about this. Feeling like they’re the only ones who don’t know what’s to come can be isolating, so letting them know that you feel the same way can be reassuring. You can tell them that no matter what comes their way, you’ll be available to help and support them.
Keep Up Their Routine:
Ahead of leaving home for treatment, it may be tempting to let your child’s routine go by the wayside. Both of you might be under a lot of stress, so you may let bedtimes slide, not be as strict about school attendance, or focus less on healthy eating. Teenagers require routines for a sense of control, predictability, and stability – and this is especially important before treatment. So aim to keep up with daily patterns for supporting their mental health. 3
Be Physically Affectionate:
Physical affection can help soothe a teen and reduce their anxiety levels, helping them cope with their worries ahead of inpatient treatment. Affection can also demonstrate support and unconditional love. So, if your child is struggling with their emotions before leaving home, a simple hug can help them feel regulated. You don’t have to go overboard with affection – it’s important that they don’t feel smothered. However, you can take your cues from them and give them as much affection as they’re comfortable receiving.
Stay Hopeful:
Certain mental health conditions, such as depression, are linked with feelings of hopelessness. Therefore, a teen may not feel optimistic about their recovery and develop a “why try” attitude. Remind them that these feelings have to do with what they’re going through and that people can and do recover from the same issues every day. It’s also good to remind yourself of this point.4
Remind Them That They’re Not to Blame:
Due to the effects of mental health stigma, teens often turn others’ beliefs and judgments inward, blaming themselves for what they’re going through. This can make them feel shame about needing treatment – and like they don’t deserve support. It’s important to continuously remind them that their mental health is not their fault. Developing a mental health problem may have been out of their control – but their recovery doesn’t have to be.
Each of these actions can be useful in helping your child prepare for residential treatment, but one of the best things you can do for their recovery is to guide them in managing their expectations.
Managing Expectations When Leaving Home for Therapy
Balanced expectations are key for a child’s successful recovery from inpatient treatment. For example, a teen may need to have high enough expectations to maintain optimism about and motivation to work toward a successful recovery. So, clearly, positive expectations are important for any form of treatment and success. In many ways, it could be said that you get what you expect.5,6
However, there’s a flip side to this effect. High parental expectations can lead to perfectionism in teens, creating a sense of failure if they don’t live up to these standards – and worsening mental health. Yet, on the other hand, low parental expectations for treatment can cause a teen to lose hope and motivation for setting goals for recovery.7,8
As is evident, it’s important to manage expectations when leaving home for treatment – and balance is essential in this process. The best way of doing this is to…
Build awareness of unrealistic expectations: Self-reflection can help you and your child pinpoint any overly positive or negative expectations you might have for treatment. Question whether these positive expectations are based on societal “shoulds” or if negative ones are based on stigma.
Set realistic goals for treatment: While it might be tempting to reassure your child that they’ll “get better in no time,” such statements can set them up for failure. Instead, you can maintain hope while also instilling realism by letting them know that while it may take time and patience, recovery is both possible and achievable
Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness techniques can help you and your child focus on the present moment instead of spiraling into worries about the future. You can both incorporate techniques such as deep breathing, kindness meditation, and visualizations into your daily routine to balance expectations. These strategies can help you develop a more compassionate self-view and healthier attitude toward expectations for recovery
If you’re concerned about how to balance expectations for recovery, a mental health professional can talk you through what realistic outcomes typically look like. By discussing expectations in this way, you and your child can enter therapy with your eyes open and a growth mindset.
How to Get Your Child Ready for Inpatient Care
Aside from mentally preparing your child for treatment and balancing their expectations, there are a couple of other practical steps you can take to help them get ready for inpatient care. These include:
Learning About Their Mental Health Condition:
Understanding more about their mental health condition can help you and your child recognize its associated emotional and behavioral challenges. Also, psychoeducation can help you both appreciate what to expect from treatment and the therapies that are suitable for your child’s needs. These therapies might include:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)
- Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
- Interpersonal therapy
- Mindfulness-based stress reduction
Talking to Their School:
Your child’s school may already be aware of their mental health issues and treatment, but it’s important to keep them involved in any evolvements in their care. For instance, school counselors may be able to help you prepare for your child’s discharge for treatment and make referrals to community services to help continue their care plan. Also, teachers can make accommodations to their academic plan – such as creating an Individualized Education Program (IEP).
Helping Them Pack:
It can be good to let a teen pack their own bag for residential treatment, as they may come across one or two items or mementos that could help comfort them during their stay. However, different treatment centers have various regulations on what is needed and prohibited. Therefore, it’s a good idea to check these and guide your child when packing.
Arranging Finances:
The stress of how to pay for treatment can shift the focus from your child’s well-being, so it’s important to arrange how it will be paid for ahead of leaving home. The mental health professionals involved in your child’s care can give you a detailed breakdown of costs for treating their condition, as well as talk you through insurance options.
When to Seek Support for Preparing Your Child Mentally for Residential Treatment
Preparing for residential treatment can cause fear and uncertainty. The idea of leaving behind their families, friends, and education can make a teen lose a sense of control over their world. The process often isn’t any easier for parents either. Although you may feel relief that your child is getting the support they need, you might also worry about their recovery and miss them deeply. While a mental health professional may not be able to entirely remove these concerns, they can certainly help you manage them.
Mission Prep’s team of licensed, empathetic professionals is very familiar with helping families prepare for residential treatment. We provide residential treatment options for a variety of teen mental health conditions in various locations – so understand how daunting it can feel ahead of admission. Our team is available 24/7 to help you mentally prepare or answer any questions. Contact us to learn more.
References
- The Medical Defence Union (MDU). Managing patient expectations. Accessed October 11, 2022. https://www.themdu.com/guidance-and-advice/guides/managing-patient-expectations
- Wisdom, J. P., Clarke, G. N., & Green, C. A. (2006). What Teens Want: Barriers to Seeking Care for Depression. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 33(2), 133–145. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-006-0036-4
- Ray, R. (2024, May). How routines help kids’ mental health. The Kids Mental Health Foundation. Retrieved March 25, 2025, from https://www.kidsmentalhealthfoundation.org/mental-health-resources/mental-wellness/kids-routines
- Acharya, T., & Agius, M. (2017). The importance of hope against other factors in the recovery of mental illness. Psychiatria Danubina, 29(Suppl 3), 619–622. PMID: 28953841.
- Lovejoy, M. (1982). Expectations and the Recovery Process. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 8(4), 605–609. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/8.4.605
- Levenig, C. G., Hasenbring, M. I., Günnewig, L., Titze, C., Elsenbruch, S., & Schulte, T. L. (2024). Treatment Expectations—You Get What You Expect—And Depression Plays a Role. The Journal of Pain, 25(9), 104582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2024.104582
- American Psychological Association. (2022, March 31). Rising parental expectations linked to perfectionism in college students. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2022/03/parental-expectations-perfectionism
- Schleider, J. L., & Weisz, J. R. (2018). Parent expectancies and preferences for mental health treatment: The roles of emotion mind-sets and views of failure. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 47(Suppl 1), S480–S496. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2017.1405353
