Our ApproachVideos
Crossroads |
Letter to Parents
Dear Parents,As the founders of Crossroads Academy, we write this letter to you with the intention of reducing some of the anxiety that you may be experiencing at this time in your lives. As you are reading this, your son is probably roughing it out there in the wilderness somewhere. You have made it through what was most likely a very difficult decision in sending your son to a wilderness program. Although there have probably been some rough weeks during this experience, hopefully you have been feeling some peace, knowing your son has been in a safe place and is on a positive road to healing and recovery. But now you are needing to make another very difficult decision—that of which school you should send him to this next year. Fortunately, you have a hired an educational consultant who is an expert in helping you find an appropriate placement for your son. Each of the schools that your consultant is recommending will more than likely work for your child—otherwise your consultant would not be recommending them. It is the consultant’s goal to find the most appropriate school that will do the best job of meeting your son’s needs. This is our goal here at Crossroads as well—to make sure you and your son will be a good fit for us. We will not accept a student into our program unless we believe that we can offer what you and your child need at this time. To give you an idea of the types of students you will find at Crossroads Academy, they will all have experienced some level of substance abuse prior to being sent to the wilderness. Also prior to their wilderness experience, most of our students will have been doing little or no schoolwork, will have been lying to just about anyone, and will have been oppositional towards most authority figures. Typical diagnoses that the students coming to Crossroads will have been given include: some type of substance abuse disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, mood disorders, ADHD, and/or learning disorders. While your son may have struggled at home with some of these serious issues, if he has experienced some motivation while in the wilderness and gained some insight into his issues, then he may be a good candidate for our school. At Crossroads, students will be going into the community on a regular basis from the day they arrive at our program (visiting ski resorts, recreation centers, lakes, skate parks, gyms, movie theaters, stores, etc.) Due to the openness of our school, we need to be careful about who we accept. In order for a prospective student to be admitted into Crossroads Academy, there needs to be some level of acceptance on the part of the student that he is going to a therapeutic boarding school for the next year of his life. (He may not necessarily have a desire to go, but at least an understanding that this is what you have determined will be best for his future.) Prospective students are those who are engaging in the therapy of the wilderness program and are showing some motivation in the wilderness (basically showing a desire to make the best out of their situation.) Also, because we have a very active recreational program involving daily activities such as snowboarding, wakeboarding, skateboarding, etc, prospective students need to have some desire to participate in these activities and be open to working on improving their skills in these different sports. Having fun sober and developing self-efficacy in these sports will be an integral part of your son’s recovery at Crossroads. Your son does not need to excel at any of these sports, but just be ready to get outside and have some good, wholesome fun. Finally, parent’s of prospective students need to be committed to fully participating in our program (by being involved in family therapy, parent weekends, support groups and/or home therapy when recommended by the therapist, doing the recommended readings, etc). We believe that your son is at a very important crossroads in his life. Choosing a different path from the self-destructive one that he was on is a difficult choice and a very complex process. It means giving up a part of who he was and the immediate gratification that he gained from his substance abusing lifestyle. We hope to help your son see and experience some different roads ahead of him that can lead to genuine lasting happiness, instead of the temporary pleasure that he has been experiencing through his substance abuse. At Crossroads Academy, we believe that the greatest agent of change comes through relationships. Your son will develop a relationship of trust and care with each of the three of us, as well as the rest of the members of our staff. The small size of our school (16 students) and the fact that we will be participating in the recreation program with your son, are two of the factors that will be key in allowing us to develop a close, trusting relationship with him and allowing us to get to know each and every student at our school. We will become a “second family” to you and your son. As a team (you, the three of us, and our staff), we will facilitate your son’s growth as he experiences the values of family, integrity, work, and play. We believe in each child’s innate goodness and potential, and we are committed to helping each young man choose the road that will allow him to reach this potential. We hope this letter and our web page helps you gain a better understanding of who we are. If you have any further questions, please contact us. Also, if your circumstances allow for it, we would suggest visiting each of the programs that have been recommended to you. We all may sound pretty good on paper, but as the parent who knows your son best, this will help you get a better feel for which school will be the most appropriate for your child. Good luck, and we wish you the best in the challenging, but rewarding road ahead of you. Sincerely, Sam Dahlin |
