As we believe problems in families and their members tend to be multiply determined and maintained by a variety of factors, the solution is similarly complex.  In the context of our entire milieu at Summit Preparatory School we approach emotional, interpersonal, and learning through the following:  special focus groups designed to teach skills and knowledge consistent with what a student is struggling with; team-based therapy groups and therapeutic activities to practice skills and better define interpersonal strengths and needs; individual therapy to guide the above processes and relate them to family functioning, as well as to address focal clinical issues; family therapy to put the above learning to positive effect in the mending of often-strained family functioning; and adventure therapy to generalize what they learn in challenging outdoor activities to the issues they are struggling with in each of the other areas of therapy described above.

Below you will find more detailed descriptions of these various types of therapy that are utilized at Summit Preparatory School.

Group Therapy
Group therapy and activities provide an invaluable opportunity to define interactive styles, strengths and needs, and a “social laboratory” for practicing new ways of interacting with others.  Teams meet for group therapy once each week, and participate in team activities, community service projects, and other initiatives daily.  Group therapy promotes this process through the fostering of a safe, supportive, and fairly unstructured atmosphere (unstructured in the sense of material presented not in relation to behavioral expectations of the students) where students are encouraged to express thoughts and feelings as they occur.  As learning opportunities present, special team groups may be called to address significant needs, issues, or events.

 

 

Individual Therapy
Students participate in scheduled individual therapy once per week, during their morning study hall, with a therapist assigned at admission.  All students on a team receive therapy from the same therapist, who also leads team group therapy.  The goal of individual therapy within our model is to establish a trusting relationship between student and adult that permits exploration of interpersonal dynamics with peers, adults and family members and increases motivation for change.

 

 

Family Therapy
Individual and team-cased interventions are designed to provide a student with the foundational skills and practice necessary for productive participation in family therapy.  Adolescent development is understood as occurring within the context of a family system.  For this reason, each parent/guardian will be expected to participate in Summit Preparatory School’s family program.  This participation varies according to the student’s movement through the program, and is considered crucial to the success of the student.

 

 

Adventure Therapy
Adventure therapy is designed to utilize a physically and emotionally challenging activity (typically outdoors) as a focal point for assisting a student in working through emotional or behaviorally difficulties.  Inherent in the “adventure” activity are the challenges that the students cope with in their daily lives (decision making, working well with others, trusting in their own abilities, facing challenges and fears, completing difficult tasks successfully).  By successfully facing these challenges, the students can be assisted in generalizing their successes in these activities to issues they are currently dealing with.  Summit Preparatory School has many opportunities in utilizing adventure therapy whether the students remain on the over 500-acre, heavily-wooded and secluded campus, or they travel to any one of various wilderness and outdoor recreational areas surrounding the Flathead Valley.