Distance From Home Considerations
When your teen’s mental health team recommends a higher level of care, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed. However, residential treatment can be a helpful option, providing a therapeutic environment away from triggers that may have contributed to the mental health challenges they currently face.
With teen residential centers across the country, it may feel difficult to decide whether to choose a local center or one further away. And, if your teen is in crisis, you might feel tempted to only consider treatment centers close to home. But there are several factors to consider when choosing a residential center, such as the quality of care, logistics of visiting your teen during their stay, and how much involvement the family has in their treatment.
Understanding how relocation for teen mental health treatment works can help you feel more secure in making the best decision for your family. This article explores:
- When local vs out of state teen treatment may be suitable
- The benefits of out-of-state residential care
- Navigating the logistics of distance
- How to choose between local and out-of-state teen treatment
Local vs Out of State Teen Treatment
As a parent, you naturally want to help your teen if they are experiencing a mental health crisis. Residential teen treatment provides high-level support and care, yet it may be difficult to know which center to choose – should you stay local, or look further afield? The following sections explore these options in more detail.
The Case for a “Clean Slate”
For many teens, their everyday lives may be filled with triggers. Whether they are having difficulty with friends, feeling stressed from school, or coping with complicated family dynamics, being home might sometimes intensify feelings of overwhelm, anxiety, or depression. Residential treatment is designed to take teens out of a potentially triggering environment. However, frequent visits from friends and family may make it more difficult for teens to truly engage in therapeutic work.
One major benefit of out-of-state residential care is that it inherently creates a therapeutic environment away from triggers. Simply put, it gives a “clean slate.” This is crucial because changing the environment often makes it easier to disengage from behavioral feedback loops that make teens with behavioral issues feel stuck in their maladaptive behaviors.[1]
Creating distance and having intentional contact with friends and family can help teens build healthy boundaries and lean into therapeutic work more easily. Plus, teens who engage early and fully in group treatment or individual therapy and feel like a part of their treatment often see better outcomes.[2]
When Proximity Is the Priority
Early in the search process, parents tend to search for “teen mental health programs near me” or “teen depression treatment centers near me.” This is often because, understandably, families want to ensure they are involved in their teen’s treatment.
While it’s important for a teen to have a sense of agency and engagement in the treatment process, it’s also essential that the family is involved to ensure continued growth. In fact, research on teen residential treatment shows that face-to-face family contact is often related to better outcomes after discharge.[3]
Additionally, when a teen’s mental health challenges are related to family dynamics, staying local for treatment can allow for:
- Frequent in-person family sessions to work through concerns
- Potential passes to stay home overnight or on weekends to practice skills slowly without the support of residential staff
- Connections to additional outpatient providers connected with the residential center for a more seamless transition to “normal life”
Having covered some of the key reasons for choosing treatment further from home, the next section explores the benefits of out-of-state residential treatment.
Benefits of Out of State Residential Care
There are many benefits of out-of-state residential care, which typically center around interrupting deep-seated psychological patterns. For teens in crisis, their day-to-day lives may be filled with triggers that are difficult to create distance from psychologically. For instance, they may have a friend who increases their anxiety, a park where they engaged in impulsive behaviors, or a room in the house they used to isolate themselves in.
By choosing relocation for teen mental health, your teen is offered a neutral setting to begin their healing process. This therapeutic environment, away from triggers, allows teens to build a new sense of self that isn’t tied to their old habits. For example, studies show residential treatment can reduce the chance of risky behaviors such as self-harm, suicidal ideation, or substance use.[4]
Additionally, considering travel for adolescent mental health treatment offers several other benefits, which are discussed in the following paragraphs.[5]
Niche Specialization
Widening the scope of treatment centers means you can find care that is tailored to your child’s needs. There are many residential care facilities for teens that specialize in concerns like trauma, depression, or eating disorders.
Reduced Wait Times
One of the most important things in getting care for teens is ensuring they get the help they need as soon as possible. By expanding your search beyond your local area, you may find that waiting times are reduced. In fact, you could potentially even locate a suitable residential program that can help your child within the week.
Privacy and Empowerment
The anonymity of an out-of-state program often provides emotional safety for many families. Essentially, this means a teen won’t run into friends from school on community outings, allowing them to fully engage in their recovery process. Teens may also feel empowered being away from home, and realize they have more agency and say in their treatment.
Navigating the Logistics of Distance
As a parent, you may worry about having to travel for your teen’s treatment or the potential for teen homesickness in residential care. This is why it can often feel disappointing if you search online for “the best states for teen residential programs” and discover that many high-quality programs are halfway across the country. However, distance doesn’t have to get in the way of your child receiving the support they deserve.
Modern technology provides many options for family involvement and contact throughout the treatment process, even across long distances. This is why it’s important to find out how programs integrate family involvement in your child’s care, especially when the teen is coming from another state.
High-quality programs typically prioritize family involvement in long-distance treatment. This may be through options such as:
- Family telehealth sessions: Frequent and intensive video therapy sessions. This may also include video sessions and calls with your child’s clinicians to ensure you are made aware of any progress, changes, or concerns.
- Parent workshops: Multi-day visits where you fly in to do healing work alongside your child.
- Visitations: Intentional family visitation in residential treatment schedules may help you maintain your connection with your child while also giving them the space they need to feel empowered.
Making the Final Decision: A Parent's Checklist
Is the Local Environment a Major Trigger, or Is the Teen’s Safety at Risk if They Stay Local for Treatment?
If it is, then physical distance might help your teen set boundaries and engage more fully in their treatment, especially as residential centers offer a therapeutic environment away from triggers. If there is a high risk of running away, the added distance may also increase their safety in out of state treatment centers.
Does the Local Program Offer the Specialty Required?
It can be tempting to use a treatment center nearby, but don’t settle for care that won’t truly meet your child’s needs. If your child needs specialized care, look at all available options, regardless of distance, to help you make the best choice.
How Does the Out of State Residential Center Prioritize Family Involvement in Long-Distance Treatment?
Family involvement is essential in teen treatment and a major indicator of success beyond discharge, so it’s important to know how treatment centers involve you in your child’s treatment. You might want to ask the care center how frequently you may be engaging in family therapy and what options there are for in-person or telehealth sessions.
How Does the Out of State Treatment Center Bridge the Gap to Outpatient Care Locally?
One of the benefits of choosing a local treatment center is that they usually have connections to local outpatient options. However, out-of-state residential centers will also have a plan for how to bridge care upon your teen’s discharge to ensure they receive ongoing support. Remember to ask questions about how they plan for discharge and beyond.
Having clear information can help you feel confident choosing the right treatment option for your child.
Mission Prep’s Approach to Residential Treatment
When your child’s current level of care isn’t giving the relief they need, it can feel overwhelming, but Mission Prep is here to help.
At Mission Prep, our comprehensive residential treatment centers in Virginia and California offer a wide variety of services to help your child heal and grow. We offer experiential outings, group therapy, individual therapy, and exercise and wellness to help your teen heal. Whether they are experiencing symptoms of trauma, depression, anxiety, technology dependence, or social challenges, our residential care facilities can help your teen develop the coping skills necessary to thrive.
If a higher level of care is being recommended for your child or you just think their current level of support isn’t helping, contact our team today. We can help you determine the best fit for the needs of your family and help your teen feel better one step at a time.
