Next Step Program for Troubled Teenage Boys
After approximately ten months at Shepherds Hill Academy, your teen boy’s therapeutic goals and overall progress are evaluated to determine his eligibility for the Boys Next Step Program. If eligible, he can be promoted into the Boys Next Step Program for the remainder of his enrollment at Shepherds Hill Academy.
Living Environment
The Boys Next Step Program provides residents with a living environment that more closely resembles that found in a healthy and functional home; much like the environment they will soon be returning to. Students are no longer required to live in the rustic environment of the Outdoor Program. Instead, teen boys live on the main campus in traditional houses with full amenities. The goal is to challenge the boys with some of the freedoms and choices common to living at home.
In the Boys Next Step Program, Shepherds Hill Academy still maintains a 5 to 1 student-to-staff ratio. In addition, the boys program remains completely separate from the Girls Next Step Program. There is positively no interaction between boys and girls while attending Shepherds Hill Academy. Students are here to heal and do not need to complicate that process with opposite sex relationships. Their focus should be on their own healing, family relationships, and faith.
Activities
Once students are living in their new Next Step environment, the boys are provided with opportunities to succeed by being entrusted with more responsibilities, activities, and privileges. In the Next Step Program, your son will be given employment opportunities on campus. These part-time jobs give teenage boys a chance to earn income while learning a proper work ethic and how to become responsible. In addition, they are trained how to properly manage their income by learning prudent and biblically-based money management skills.
In addition to on-campus jobs, the boys in the Next Step Program are given various on and off-campus activities and events to attend. These could range from helping at local homeless shelters and nursing homes to helping with various other responsibilities around campus and in the community.
There are many opportunities in the Next Step Program where teen boys are given more responsibilities and privileges. These responsibilities range from household chores, preparing their own meals, researching career options, exploring higher education, managing finances, and leadership opportunities.
The boys are also given more entertainment privileges such as appropriate TV programs, movies, music, video games, and the privilege of being alone in their own rooms. These additional freedoms give boys the opportunity to apply the wisdom and discernment they have learned thus far at Shepherds Hill Academy.
Therapeutic Model
The Shepherds Hill Academy Boys Next Step Program specifically challenges your teenage son by giving him more freedoms such as jobs, time alone, and access to appropriate media.
By giving the boys additional liberties they are able to continue to grow in the character they developed while in the Outdoor Therapeutic Program. The Next Step Program also offers more contemplative time for developing a deeper intimacy with God.
As your son transitions to the Next Step Program, he will work more closely with the Next Step staff and his assigned therapist to achieve his individual therapeutic goals before graduation. In addition, there are more opportunities for family activities, visits and Equine Therapy sessions.
The boys Next Step Program provides opportunities for your son to practice more practical life skills such as finances, proper work ethic, and appropriate interaction with cultural influences such as media and peers.