Staying on Track: At Aspen Achievement Academy Troubled Teens Can Get Help without Skipping School

It's a tough issue. If your teen is struggling with at-risk behaviors like substance abuse, manipulative or aggressive behavior, chronic lack of motivation or low self-esteem, getting help for him or her can't necessarily wait until the end of the school year – or the next vacation week. But taking him/her out of school might make the situation worse, right?

Not necessarily. Many therapeutic programs integrate academic curricula with the treatment troubled teens need. At Aspen Achievement Academy, that integrated approach involves combining a fully licensed academic program with a licensed accredited and internationally recognized wilderness therapy program.

Using the same healing outdoor environment as the wilderness program, Aspen Achievement Academy's educational curriculum integrates academic study with each teen's personal journey towards responsible young adulthood. To help ensure they are academically on track when they return home, students can earn up to 1 Utah educational credit (equal to 10 California credits), transferable to their home school.

Classes in English, Social Studies, General Science and Physical Education, all taught in the outdoor classroom, provide direction for each teen's wilderness experience. Recognized by the Utah State Board of Education as a special alternative school designed to effectively reach students at risk, classes are fully integrated into the therapeutic treatment program and are designed to support a teen's individual therapy goals.

Because Aspen Achievement Academy's open enrollment policy allows teens to enter the program as soon as they need to (without waiting for a new term to begin), students begin their academic work immediately upon arrival with a 'survivor's handbook' designed to teach personal care and safety. Students then join an established group of teens and begin participating in daily academic classes and activities, from geology lessons studying nearby rock strata to astronomy classes under clear night skies.

Since none of Aspen Achievement Academy's classes have no academic pre-requisites, each student has the opportunity to work at his/her own pace, using the diverse natural setting and healing wilderness environment to regain personal confidence and a positive attitude towards learning in the process.