Family Resources & Education

Education Families For Success

Family involvement is one of the cornerstones of our treatment foundation. It’s also one of the main reasons why our youth programs have such a historically high success rate. At Polaris, our goal is to support the family unit throughout the entire healing process and beyond. Our team recognizes the importance of family participation and has incorporated several key elements into our program to successfully support parents, relatives and siblings. These elements include a comprehensive aftercare treatment program, follow-up meetings, and informational resources to ensure long-term stability and success.

Knowing is half the battle. Below are a few resources & websites you can use to get started. Our goal is to help you identify the early warning signs and potential symptoms associated with your child’s mental health disorder, and take mindful action.

Learn more below.

Online Resources For Families:

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH

An excellent educational resource for basic information for parents of teens who have been diagnosed with a mental illness or have a child who is suspected of having a mental illness. Their Fact Sheets provide straightforward scientific-based information and data that will help parents separate adolescent mental health fact from fiction and rumor. Publications include:

· anxiety disorders in children and adolescents (fact sheet) – Learn about how depression affects children and adolescents and the direction of future research.

· the teen brain: still under construction – Learn about changes in the brain that occur during the teen years, and the significance of this stage of development.

VISIT: health/index.shtml

HELPGUIDE.ORG

An online resource started by Robert and Jeanne Segal in 1999 after the suicide of their daughter, Morgan, at age 29. The Segals started the website to help other parents who are grappling with adolescent issues such as depression According to the site, “… this website has grown from a small local project to one of the world’s premier mental and emotional health websites.”

VISIT: http://www.helpguide.org/mental/depression_teen.htm

THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF CHILD & ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY

Provides “Facts for Families,” an online information resource for parents on a wide variety of behavior issues, including teens with eating disorders. This link is to the alphabetical list of Facts for Families topics:

VISIT: http://www.aacap.org/aacap/families_and_youth/facts_for_families/facts_for_families_keyword.aspx

THE NATIONAL EATING DISORDERS ASSN. (NEDA)

The leading non-profit organization in the United States advocating on behalf of and supporting individuals and families affected by eating disorders. The problem cannot be ignored. Studies on teen eating disorders have shown that:

· Anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents.

· Over one-half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives.

VISIT: http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/parent-toolkit

AL-ANON

VISIT: http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/for-alateen

About Polaris

Polaris Teen Center has been restoring hope to families and adolescents for nearly half a decade. Our residential teen treatment centers provide a comfortable, healing environment, which promote growth and maturity. Our goal is to provide teenagers with the tools they need to live happy, productive lives. Our mission at Polaris is to foster meaningful changes by empowering individual growth in areas of communication, self-care, autonomy, responsibility, and compassion for others. Our individual client focus helps replace old self-destructive and self-defeating behaviors with a healthy attitude, reflecting renewed optimism, dignity, confidence and a strong sense of self.

We place a strong emphasis on supporting healing within the whole family by involving parents and loved ones in the treatment process. We are dedicated to each patient’s future goals and ongoing recovery.

Our approach is simple – provide tailored, proven, individualized care. We limit our residential capacity to ensure each patient receives the proper time and attention they require to fully recover. As a facility specializing solely in adolescent mental health, our clinically certified team develops an invaluable understanding of the unique qualities of each person, and adjusts treatment to their individual needs.