V. Matheus – Therapeutic & Educational Consulting seeks out warm, nurturing, professional care providers and environments that focus on whole person, integrative care. We search for and only recommend people and programs that value personal growth, emotional regulation, and life skill development – without an institutionalized or pathology-focused feel. We are a strength-based approach.
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Therapeutic Boarding School Placement
Residential Treatment Program Placement
Therapeutic Wilderness Program Placement
Intervention and Placement Support
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Our services
Transitions Home or Next Step Placement
At V. Matheus – Therapeutic & Educational Consulting we help you make sense of the many complex decisions involved in getting your teen back on the road to a brighter future. What sets us apart is our high-level of involvement with families from the beginning of the process through completion and recovery. We understand that choosing to place your young person in a program or intervene in their lives is a deeply personal and difficult decision. We are a constant, accessible source of support, ideas, and expertise available to you throughout the process. Select an option on the left to learn more about each of the different services we offer.
Therapeutic boarding schools are academic environments placing emphasis on teens growing both emotionally and educationally. These schools are designed to provide a safe, structured environment for teens to continue practicing new, positive habits as well as acquiring additional life insights.
Therapeutic boarding schools vary in approach, design, and quality. Several schools are academically rigorous and keep teens on track for college. Many have designed creative approaches providing venues so teens can gain new, healthier interests and coping strategies by participating in positive experiences such as outdoor recreation, equine work, or holistic lifestyle practices like yoga and organic cooking.
Several schools are designed to work closely with families helping each member make necessary changes to function together when their teen reintegrates to their home and community. Several of these schools can enhance the academic experience of a young person with learning differences who has not experienced success in traditional environments.
Students participate in regular psychotherapy and group process. Length of stay is typically 12-17 months.
Therapeutic Boarding School Placement
Residential Treatment Program Placement
Therapeutic Wilderness Program Placement
Intervention and Placement Support
select a service to learn more
Our services
Transitions Home or Next Step Placement
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Adolescents and young adults who have severe emotional issues, psychiatric needs, or require a high level of support and monitoring around behaviors resulting from their clinical complexity and/or trauma often benefit from the highly structured environment of a residential treatment center (RTC).
Residential treatment programs offer a traditional medical support component and close monitoring. These centers are often accredited by the Joint Commission or the accreditation of Healthcare Organizations of the Council on Accreditation.
Residential treatment centers vary in approach; some may mirror a traditional boarding school setting, or a group home-type setting. They also have different levels of security: some are locked facilities and most offer 24-7 monitoring and structure to ensure student safety.
Within an RTC, continuing education is possible, and many programs offer a robust curriculum ensuring your student’s academics are not compromised while receiving treatment.
V. Matheus – Therapeutic & Educational Consulting seeks out warm, nurturing Residential Treatment Program Placement environments that focus on whole person, integrative care. We search for and only recommend programs that value personal growth, emotional regulation, and life skill development – without an institutionalized or pathology focused feel.
Therapeutic Boarding School Placement
Residential Treatment Program Placement
Therapeutic Wilderness Program Placement
Intervention and Placement Support
how about a quick rundown?
Our services
Transitions Home or Next Step Placement
Back to Services
Wilderness therapy programs are designed to remove the daily distractions and defense mechanisms that struggling young people turn to. Without distractions and means to maladaptive coping strategies, young people learn to create comfort from within and experience real accomplishments – often for the first time in their lives.
Therapeutic Wilderness Program Placement can offer a wholesome, structured environment where your student receives feedback, support, and guidance. Most importantly, the structure of these settings allow the resetting of a disregulated body and mind. When health improves, so does the young person’s ability to gain major insights – resulting in dramatic behavioral and emotional changes.
Well-functioning and well-designed wilderness therapy programs teach accountability, team work, and self-reliance and create a true passage in to maturity through rituals and traditions that acknowledge self-growth. Additionally, wilderness therapy allows for a thorough, in-depth evaluation process providing valuable feedback to both parents and supporting professionals.
Wilderness therapy programs should not be confused with boot-camps that are punitive, or focus only on behavioral compliance. However, wilderness therapy programs vary in quality and consistency. Also, programs differ in what they offer as far as clinical sophistication. By traveling around the country to visit and evaluate these programs, our goal is to identify only the best, well-run, well-functioning programs having earned a reputation for great work with teens at the highest standard. By getting to know the therapists and staff at these programs, we are able to match your teen to a specific program and provider to help your family realize the greatest success.
Therapeutic Boarding School Placement
Residential Treatment Program Placement
Therapeutic Wilderness Program Placement
Intervention and Placement Support
how about a quick rundown?
Our services
Transitions Home or Next Step Placement
Back to Services
Intervening in your young person’s life is never an easy decision. It is difficult for both student and family to come to terms with how unmanageable the home situation has become. Instead of waiting until the next crisis, V. Matheus – Therapeutic & Educational Consulting helps you design the most effective strategy to preparing your struggling young person for a therapeutic placement.
We help you find the words to say that are straight from the heart, but right to heart of the matter. We construct a process in which the dynamics of the family begin to change – where parents gain confidence in their ability, and young people begin to feel safe and supported.
We work to minimize trauma and abandonment issues that students sometimes can feel if an intervention is not well thought out or unexpected. Our goal is to help your family use the time of intervention as a growth and learning experience for everyone involved. It is the start of real change.
Because your student’s safety is always the primary concern, we determine the best way to keep your student physically and emotionally safe as well.
Therapeutic Boarding School Placement
Residential Treatment Program Placement
Therapeutic Wilderness Program Placement
Intervention and Placement Support
how about a quick rundown?
Our services
Transitions Home or Next Step Placement
Back to Services
We work with families of teens from ages 8-17 and young adults ages 18-26 who are struggling with...
-Self esteem and confidence issues
-Academic avoidance and/or failure
-Depression, anxiety, grief and loss
-Isolating
-Oppositional behavior
-Social relationships and cues
-Family system and communication problems
-Emotional regulation issues
-Substance abuse or chemical dependency
-Non-substance related addictions: gambling, gaming, pornography
-Neuro-developmental differences
-Issues related to adoption
-Failure to launch – young adult transition issues
-Eating disorders
-Sexual identity issues
-Developmental delays
-Complex psychological issues
We believe all teens and young adults desire a healthy, positive identity--even if it isn't what their choices or behaviors are expressing. Parents have the best intentions, yet need support, ideas, and resources to be successful in helping their young person.
who we serve
behavior factors
crisis behaviors
Teens and young adults struggle for a variety of reasons. Often, behavioral problems can be associated with other factors, such as...
-Undiagnosed Mental Health Problems
-Addiction
-Unresolved Trauma
-Family Systems Trauma
-Divorce
-Family Trauma
-Adoption Concerns
-Gender Identity Issues
-Learning Disorders
-Asperger’s
-Autism Spectrum
-Bipolar
-Psychotic disorders
-Developmental Delays
-Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
-Physical, sexual and emotional abuse
When their needs require a higher level of care that can no longer be met within the family or community, an intervention and placement is often an excellent option.
We believe all teens and young adults desire a healthy, positive identity--even if it isn't what their choices or behaviors are expressing. Parents have the best intentions, yet need support, ideas, and resources to be successful in helping their young person.
who we serve
crisis behaviors
who we work with
We believe all teens and young adults desire a healthy, positive identity--even if it isn't what their choices or behaviors are expressing. Parents have the best intentions, yet need support, ideas, and resources to be successful in helping their young person.
who we serve
Behaviors of a young adult in crisis may include:
-Inability to talk with family or support systems about problems they are facing
-Signs of drug use such as irritability, aggressiveness, paraphernalia in room, car or locker
-Persistent depressed demeanor, including clothing, makeup, and overall presentation
-Significant drop in grades or school attendance
-Association and identification with a negative peer group, e.g.; drug users, “mean girls”
-Oppositional attitude
-Sudden weight loss or weight gain
-Inattention to self care and hygiene
-Signs of self-abuse: scratching or cutting on arms or legs, carving symbols using sharp objects
-Promiscuous behavior or dress
-Unable to break away from computer, social world and life is lived through computer gaming or internet and social networking
-Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat or MySpace social network sites show pictures of your teen or young adult participating in illegal activities
-Sneaking out or secrecy about peers
-Defiant toward parents and emotionally or physically reactive to boundaries set by parents
-Entitled behavior: believes parents and world should do and give them what they want
-Demeaning towards parents and adults who are trying to help them or show support
-Withdrawn or silent on an ongoing basis
-Making suggestions or threats of suicide
-School expulsion
-Getting caught with drugs or alcohol
-Police involvement or delinquent behavior
We believe all teens and young adults desire a healthy, positive identity--even if it isn't what their choices or behaviors are expressing. Parents have the best intentions, yet need support, ideas, and resources to be successful in helping their young person.
who we serve
Who we work with
behavior factors
We believe all teens and young adults desire a healthy, positive identity--even if it isn't what their choices or behaviors are expressing. Parents have the best intentions, yet need support, ideas, and resources to be successful in helping their young person.
who we serve
-Thorough face-to-face meetings with parents
-Meetings with student
-Meetings with siblings willing to provide input
-Determine level of crisis and immediate support needed
-Consultation and collaboration with other professionals having worked with your family
-Consultation with any family members or friends that can lend insight on your student or family
-Review of any written material, psychological testing, school reports
-Meetings with parents and professionals to review information
step one: assess
goal: develop understanding of presenting concerns and needs
our process
-Research and determine best options, intervention approach and resources
-Present options to family and collaborate
-Plan timeline and logistical details
-Design intervention approach on how to present student with information about treatment or programs
-Supervise parents and family through intervention: support, guidance, education and instruction
-Ongoing support and plan for family’s growth and wellness
-Recommendations for aftercare or next step
step two: intervene
goal: design, determine, execute, recommend aftercare
our process
-Monthly assessment of young person’s needs and program viability (or more as needed)
-Collaboration with recommended programs or resources for attention to family
-Advanced planning, support and education for young person’s reintegration to home and community
-Preparation and support/assessment of home visits
-Meet with student on home visits, Zoom and as needed, to check-in and determine progress or concerns
-Ongoing contact and information exchange with your student’s Placement or Program to monitor progress
-Collaboration and guidance through any further interventions needed
-Advocate for student and family while placement continues
step three: advocate
goal: monitor, support, educate, prepare
our process
-Assess, identify, and determine best next step after client exits treatment, per therapist (at program) recommendations
-Collaborate with young person and family on options
-Educate family on transition and reintegration developmental process
-Determine goals
-Meet with student to involve in transition process and set goals
-Identify resources within community or next step for teen’s continued progress
-Support to parents and young person during transition process
step four: prepare
goal: design transition plan and future