Turning Winds Academic Institute

A premier boarding school for teenagers, Turning Winds Academic Institute focuses on instilling self-respect and teaching life tools that support healthy behavior. Personal growth and a commitment to overcoming challenges often result from a sojourn at Turning Winds, leading the organization to be considered one of the best boarding schools in the country.

Turning Winds’ effective program is split into three phases: orientation, transition, and aftercare. Upon arrival at Turning Winds, adolescents undergo academic, behavioral, and emotional evaluations. Turning Winds clinicians develop a roadmap laying out each student’s best course for future success both within the school and beyond.

In the transition phase, Turning Winds students are prepared to return to the home environment. Students receive their high school diploma or GED, enroll in college courses, or earn college credit through the College-Level Examination Program. Turning Winds students are also encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities and engage in peer mentoring. Following the transition phase, Turning Winds students return to their families and receive continuing support from Turning Winds staff as they successfully complete their aftercare phase.

Turning Winds can be found online at www.turningwinds.com. Turning Winds Academic Institute is one of the few coeducational boarding schools certified by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools.



Choosing a Therapeutic Boarding School for your children:

Parents face a difficult decision when circumstances necessitate choosing a therapeutic boarding school for their children, but there are a number of factors that set Turning Winds Academic Institute apart from other schools. The first-rate clinical team at the school focuses on instilling emotional stability and positive behaviors in our students through regular one-on-one therapy sessions and daily group sessions overseen by qualified counselors. Our staff is also equipped to provide family counseling sessions. In addition, the institute offers a fully accredited academic program that meets and exceeds the standards of the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools. Our certified teachers come from a wide range of backgrounds and work together as a cohesive team to accurately and effectively address the needs of each student. With only about 50 students enrolled at the Institute at a time, our group of professionals is able to give each child the personalized attention required for recovery and lasting behavioral change. Turning Winds Academic Institute also supports an aftercare program, which provides the family and former student with continued support for the student’s progress and further opportunities for therapy as needed. In general, students at Turning Winds Academic Institute stay for about 12 months, though the length of time needed for true progress varies with each child. Students stay in a comfortable lodge on a 150-acre campus at the foot of the Purcell Mountain in Montana. All of the Institute’s therapists are licensed by the State of Montana or are currently in the process of obtaining licensure, and the school also employs a full-time registered nurse as well as a visiting psychiatrist.

Is Your Teen The Right Fit for Therapeutic Boarding Schools like Turning Winds?



A lot of parents who are wondering whether their teens need to be in a therapeutic boarding school or not are usually at a crucial crossroads of their lives. They want to know how they can help their children survive a challenging time in their life but at the same time may be feeling a bit of guilt about sending their child away.

It's important to know that not all struggling teens need to be in a therapeutic boarding school, although it would certainly be a huge help in developing self-esteem and self-worth to be part of this kind of program. Therapeutic boarding schools like Turning Winds specialize in helping teens who exhibit certain challenges like anger/defiance issues, laziness, sexually acting out, ADD/ADHD, and the likes. If your teen has severe substance abuse issues that are leading him/her to act out in more violent ways, it's probably best to consider a different kind of intervention.

Turning Winds has their own admissions process to determine whether a child is a good fit for their program or not. Most of the guilty feelings and the fear associated with sending a child away to therapeutic boarding schools are borne out of not knowing what activities are done in the program. At schools like Turning Winds, therapy is pretty much part of the daily routine, because all activities have therapeutic value. All students go through psychoanalysis to determine what kind of therapy they need, as well as how they can be helped academically.

There are plenty of outdoor activities that help students develop their potential as well as learn important skills like communicating, being, and the likes. Unlike boot camps pretending to be therapeutic boarding schools, Turning Winds does not use confrontation, physical punishment and other negative experiences for the purpose of behavior modification.