Christian Therapeutic Boarding Schools
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2025 9:34 am
Christian therapeutic boarding schools offer faith-based residential programs for troubled teens. A typical school day may begin and end with prayer, and include an hour of Bible study. Attendance at religious services is often mandatory. Even subjects like science may include a Biblical slant. Students in a biology class, for example, may discuss God as the Creator of life. Counselors will approach a teen's problems using Christian values such as chastity, charity, respect for parents, obedience to the Ten Commandments, and so forth.
PROS
Christian parents are often more comfortable talking to counselors who speak "their language." For example, they would rather speak in terms of "forgiveness" than the secular "letting go of the past." They want their children to share their values.
Families enrolled in these programs are like-minded and share the same faith.
People of faith believe that prayer is an effective tool in a child's healing. They want their child to turn to God for help.
Christian schools will not allow teens to participate in the email data side of pop culture such as wearing revealing clothing, listening to obscene music, etc.
CONS
Some of these schools are owned and operated by married couples with little or no training in psychiatry or child development. Many troubled teens have medically-based problems such as bi-polar disorder and need medications and psychiatric intervention.
Some Christian counselors have inadequate credentials. Find out if they have the proper certification, licensing and advanced degrees required of professional therapists.
Counselors who believe in "spare the rod, spoil the children" may justify child abuse.
Some programs offer only residence and counseling: teens attend the local public high schools during the day. These programs cost about the same as non-Christian boarding schools that offer academics too. Few Christian therapeutic schools have financial aid. It is hard to get a voucher from a public school to use for a religious program.
Teenagers who are rebelling against their parents and adult rules are often rebelling against religion too. For example, many teens in drug rehabilitation prefer secular alternatives to "12-Step programs," which are based on a belief in a higher power. Forcing a child to spout things they do not believe will not produce good results.
PROS
Christian parents are often more comfortable talking to counselors who speak "their language." For example, they would rather speak in terms of "forgiveness" than the secular "letting go of the past." They want their children to share their values.
Families enrolled in these programs are like-minded and share the same faith.
People of faith believe that prayer is an effective tool in a child's healing. They want their child to turn to God for help.
Christian schools will not allow teens to participate in the email data side of pop culture such as wearing revealing clothing, listening to obscene music, etc.
CONS
Some of these schools are owned and operated by married couples with little or no training in psychiatry or child development. Many troubled teens have medically-based problems such as bi-polar disorder and need medications and psychiatric intervention.
Some Christian counselors have inadequate credentials. Find out if they have the proper certification, licensing and advanced degrees required of professional therapists.
Counselors who believe in "spare the rod, spoil the children" may justify child abuse.
Some programs offer only residence and counseling: teens attend the local public high schools during the day. These programs cost about the same as non-Christian boarding schools that offer academics too. Few Christian therapeutic schools have financial aid. It is hard to get a voucher from a public school to use for a religious program.
Teenagers who are rebelling against their parents and adult rules are often rebelling against religion too. For example, many teens in drug rehabilitation prefer secular alternatives to "12-Step programs," which are based on a belief in a higher power. Forcing a child to spout things they do not believe will not produce good results.