Education's Key Role in Men's Successful Young Adult Treatment

Troubled teens and young adults are entering drug rehabilitation programs and residential treatment centers at staggering rates causing significant disruption to their educations. Even more alarming is the number of young adults and their families that attribute their educational experience as either the source or a significant contributing factor to the issues their son now faces.

Parents often speak of school systems that failed to recognize or support identified learning differences and/or special needs requiring Individual Education Plans (IEP's) with focused resources. Students often share stories of being isolated in "special" classrooms and ostracized and made fun of for not being like everyone else. Critics of our public school systems suggest that our current educational system remains a product of the industrial era "punching" out young adults off an assembly line failing to recognize societal changes that value and demand uniqueness, creativity and imagination. "One size fits all" teaching approaches favor some learner's, but leaves the majority "out in the cold" and creates the seeds for boredom, cynicism, mistrust of adults and a host of self-defeating behaviors including drug abuse, delinquency, entitlement, anger, and overall delayed maturation.

Unfortunately for many of the young men we work with school became a place where they were reminded daily that they weren't measuring up. To hear over and over again that you're failing tends to reinforce "failure" as your internal mantra and begins to define your self-image. There's little doubt that lifelong self-images are formed by how "successful" we are in school.

The cost of lost hope is incalculable and unacceptable. San Cristobal Academy's mission and purpose for existing is to help each young man we serve, no matter their journey, to rediscover their innate sense of wonder and curiosity leading to belief in themselves and an internal desire for a better future.

Inside-out Education: The San Cristobal Academy Difference

Self-knowledge and acceptance serve as fundamental principles for long-term sobriety and each young man's ability to lead a successful, happy, life as an independent adult. Core to San Cristobal Academy's inside-out educational philosophy and all aspects of our curriculum is the Chinese proverb: "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life."

"Helping students help themselves" may take longer, but in the long run ensures that all young men attending our program leave with a "tool chest" for sustainable substance abuse recovery and life rehabilitation, which research has shown statistically to reduce the chances of relapse and/or the length of relapse episodes.

Taking the time to coach and mentor and insist on observing students using and practicing new skills builds new habits and behaviors that are repeatable all while developing self-confidence and improved self-esteem.

Steps to a Better Future

At SCA, educational rehabilitation speaks to our interest in helping each new resident establish a fresh relationship with learning and personal growth. Our staff recognizes that each young man comes with unique educational experiences, personal strengths and weaknesses, different learning styles and desires for the future. Upon arrival each student meets with our Academic Director to build an Individualized Education Plan or IEP. Our rolling admissions policy allows each new resident to establish his own learning goals and educational objectives based on interests and needs.

The Academy offers a rich and varied set of options including:

A new program offered in cooperation with the University of New Mexico offers all residents (with or without high school diplomas) the option of taking for-credit, college-level courses on the Ranch while in Phase 1.

San Cristobal Academy understands how vitally important learning and education is to all our residents. It helps determine not only their futures, but how they feel about themselves. SCA's inside-out approach ensures that students get what they need, not just what we want to teach them.

"To teach a man how he may learn to grow independently, and for himself, is perhaps the greatest service that one man can do for another."
–Benjamin Jowett

Call today to learn more about our educational programs.

866-918-8383