Rebranding The So-Called "Troubled Teen Industry"

When considering the need for adolescent residential treatment, the terminology we use matters. News outlets, pundits, bloggers, and detractors have no issue using the disparaging label "the so-called troubled teen industry," particularly when aimed at private pay residential programs designed to aid struggling adolescents and their families.

Not only does this label oversimplify the vast array of programs that are far too often more different from each other than they are alike, but it distills the myriad issues young people are struggling with into a simplistic, soundbite-worthy shorthand that ultimately undermines the individuality and dignity of the young people it aims to describe.

Calling it the "troubled teen industry" misses the point in a crucial way.

It is time to reframe the conversation (and the label) to understand the root of adolescent treatment accurately. A "troubled teen" does not happen overnight. It is safe to say that a troubled teen is part of a troubled family system that has been struggling for a while.

Families in crisis often have adolescents who exhibit behavioral or emotional issues, acting as the proverbial "canary in the coal mine," signaling deeper issues within the family system. By reframing our language and perception, we acknowledge that adolescents' struggles are often symptomatic of broader familial problems such as communication breakdowns, unresolved traumas, familial substance abuse, and dysfunctional relationships.

This work is really the "troubled family industry."

This shift in language (and label) prompts us to view interventions that utilize a family systems paradigm, such as residential treatment, outdoor programs, or therapeutic boarding schools, through a holistic lens, addressing the underlying causes rather than merely treating symptoms. These programs often offer targeted family interventions like weekly family therapy, parent coaching, multi-family support groups, and sibling programming.

Of course, teens have their own problems or traumas independent of their family's dysfunction. But it has been my experience that many of the young people who are in the programs that make up the "troubled family industry" are there because the family system was under-functioning to such a degree and for so long that residential treatment became the best and only option they had. I have never had a client who didn't say that they have tried everything before considering residential treatment.

And why do the efforts of well-meaning mental health professionals working in residential settings trying to help families heal need to be labeled as an "industry"? It implies a commodification of a family's pain and suffering, reducing them to mere products for financial gain. I find that to be incredibly disingenuous and hurtful to the families who need more support and more options, not less. I believe that most of us working with troubled families genuinely care about them, regardless of the setting or the salary. It is a noble calling; everyone involved in healing families deserves veneration.

Let's call this work what it really is - the field of family systems-focused residential treatment.

In conclusion, for mental health professionals reading this who work with struggling young people and their families, I hope that everything I have written is not new information. You and I know that working within a family systems paradigm is our most effective tool. 

As long as there is social media, the detractors and naysayers will continue to do their thing. Nonetheless, the mental health professionals practicing in the field of adolescent residential treatment are firmly rooted in and committed to the mission of helping families heal. 

With over two decades of expertise, Lexy Spett, LMFT, owner of Spett Therapeutic Consulting and primary consultant/placement specialist, provides families with an unbiased and highly clinical assessment of their child or young adults' mental health placement needs. Her extensive clinical and consulting experience ensures a nuanced understanding of mental health issues, allowing her to craft effective, individualized solutions that work best for the family. Spett Therapeutic Consulting is based in Moorpark, CA. and serves families across the US and internationally.