Teenage Mental Health

We help teens with mental health concerns manage symptoms and learn to thrive. At Willow Springs Center, our structured programs help teens ages 12-17 who are facing a variety of mental health challenges. We tailor care to your child’s needs, providing them with the tools they need to feel their best.

Group of teenagers wearing backpacks do their homework while sitting on the lawn outside of school

Teen Mental Health at Willow Springs Center: Why Choose Us?

The teen years can be challenging. Teenagers are trying to understand themselves, adapt to the changes they’re experiencing and understand how they fit into the world. They are also navigating family life, social situations, school and social media.

Teens with mental health disorders have additional stressors and challenges that can make life feel overwhelming. You and your child may feel stuck in a cycle of emotions, troubling behaviors and conflicts.
We offer tailored treatment to manage symptoms, improve family cohesiveness and support academic achievement.

At Willow Springs Center, you’ll find:

  • Focus on “a life worth living”: Our program is built on compassion, empathy, dignity and respect. We help your teen develop an individualized plan to create a life worth living that they can maintain outside the hospital.
  • Specialists in teen mental health: Our psychologists, nurses, therapists and teachers are specially trained to understand the unique challenges facing teenagers. We study how medications affect the teenage brain. And we intimately understand the importance of teens learning how to interact with and contribute to society.
  • Multiple levels of care: We have programs to treat various levels of severity in mental illness. We offer inpatient and outpatient care, as well as a hybrid model and on-site school to help kids transition smoothly back to regular life.
  • Highly structured program that gets results: Our approach is highly structured, so teens and families know what to expect each day. We use a method proven to help people manage even the most challenging mental health disorders.
  • Coaching line: Our staff are available after program hours if you need extra support or coaching when your teen is at home.

Mental Health Disorders in Teens

Willow Springs Center cares for children of all genders, 12 to 17 years old.

We can help address a variety of teen mental health disorders, including:

  • Anxiety and depression
  • Behavioral issues such as aggression, impulsive behaviors or trouble controlling emotions
  • Borderline personality disorder
  • Difficulty creating and maintaining relationships
  • Refusing school, not feeling safe in school or running away
  • Substance use disorder (when occurring in conjunction with a mental health disorder)
  • Suicidal ideation or self-harming behaviors
  • Trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Our Programs for Mental Health in Adolescence

We have a series of programs to address mental health disorders of varying levels of severity. Your teen may need inpatient care, outpatient care or a hybrid approach. Our programs help teens transition smoothly to life outside the facility.

We work with you to recommend the right level of care for your teen, such as:

  • Residential treatment: Our residential program involves dormitory-style rooms and a 24-hour therapeutic environment with full-time clinical and medical staff.
  • Partial hospitalization program (PHP): A partial hospitalization program is a day program, where your teen gets treatment five days a week and returns home at night.
  • On-site school: We have a private, accredited, licensed school on-site. It offers a kind, supportive school environment where our residents can maintain academic progress. It also helps ease the transition in and out of their regular school environment.
  • Specialized programming for military families: Military families and their children have unique circumstances and needs. We offer special family-centered programming to help military families facing mental health challenges.

At every level of care, our staff provide:

  • Medication management
  • Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
  • One-on-one counseling
  • Group sessions where teens work together on skills
  • Family therapy
  • Opportunities to interact with other teens so they learn social cues and how to overcome social anxiety
  • Outings and field trips to practice new skills and autonomy in a therapeutic environment

DBT for teens

Our program focuses on dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). This therapy method can help people manage even the most challenging mental health disorders.

During one-on-one sessions and group sessions, Willow Springs staff use DBT to help teens find balance and avoid thinking in “black and white.” It helps teens turn “all or nothing” thinking into acceptance and change.

Using DBT, our therapists teach teens and their families the skills and tools they need to:

  • Cope with challenging or distressing situations
  • Establish healthy boundaries with others
  • Improve interpersonal skills and communication to enhance relationships with others
  • Improve decision-making skills
  • Lessen feelings of depression, anxiety and stress
  • Recognize, accept and manage intense emotions and negative thoughts
  • Reduce impulsive and self-harming behaviors
  • Strengthen confidence, self-worth and self-esteem

Caregivers at Willow Springs Center are extensively trained in DBT — psychiatrists, therapists, nurses and teachers. This approach helps your teen have a seamless, consistent therapeutic experience.

Get Help Now

Contact us to discover how Willow Springs Center can help your military family cope with mental health disorders.

If you believe your child is experiencing a mental health crisis, CALL 988 or seek the nearest emergency room.

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We Are Here to Help!

Finding the right treatment for your child or adolescent can be challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone.