Family Involvement

Parents at Mountain Springs take a more direct parenting role during their child’s stay at the school than they would in a residential treatment center or wilderness program. Mountain Springs prides itself in providing a transitional experience for the parents as well as the students, helping parents take back the reigns of the parenting process and decision making.

Here are some of the ways we do this:

  1. Students are required to be at Mountain Springs for one month prior to going on a home visit, but thereafter, decisions for home visits (both when and how long) are made by parents in consultation with the school and their therapist.
  2. Parents are very involved in the decision-making around solutions and consequences when their student makes a mistake or has a struggle at the school. Students are expected to be accountable to their parents for problems they are having and seek solutions with them (with support from their Advisor and Therapist).
  3. Focus on preparing the whole family for the next step through increased communication with your child (through increased social calls and introduction of cell phone and other electronic devices).
  4. Parents are encouraged to visit the school as often as they would like. Formal Parent Weekends happen once per semester. These allow parents to meet with each administrator and teacher to discuss their student’s academic and personal progress. Workshops run by local therapists and school administrators focus on parenting skills.
  5. Parents are given access to our regular on-line parent webinars provided by our parent company, CERTS. These range in topic and are presented by various therapists and administrators in our organization.