Teens participate in a group therapy session while attending ThreePeaks Ascent, a short-term residential treatment center for teens

Residential Therapy for Teens

Personalized Care for Teens: Our experienced therapists provide individualized support and evidence-based therapies within a residential setting, ensuring that each teen receives the tailored care they need for their healing and recovery.

Disrupt Dysfunctional Behavior

Understand the Issues Causing the Dysfunction

Re-Engaging Teens In Healthy Adolescent Development

Our Treatment Philosophy

Discover the healing power of nature—a timeless remedy that brings solace and transformation. At ThreePeaks Ascent, we understand the challenges families face when their teens are in crisis. With a dedicated team, rigorous accreditation, and ongoing research, we deliver the highest quality of care.

Our program provides a safe and supportive environment to break the cycle of dysfunction and promote a fresh start. We dive deep into understanding the underlying issues, equipping your teen with valuable insight. Guiding them toward healthy development, we help them rediscover their true potential.

Embrace the remarkable power of nature for transformative change. Join us at ThreePeaks Ascent and let us support your family on this hopeful journey.

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Just being surrounded by bountiful nature, rejuvenates and inspires us.

– EO Wilson

You have questions, we have answers. Don't hesitate to reach out to us at

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Silence the Noise:
Disrupt Dysfunctional Behavior
by Embracing a Distraction-Free Environment

When teens find themselves struggling in various aspects of their lives—at home, school, and socially—nature-based therapy offers a transformative environment that disrupts unhealthy patterns and fosters healing.

What sets nature-based therapy apart is its unplugged nature. In this serene setting, your teen is free from distractions, fully immersed in the therapeutic process alongside trained professionals. Nature itself becomes a powerful agent of healing, offering unique and profound experiences. It has a way of unlocking hidden trauma, breaking down barriers, and opening up new possibilities for growth and genuine healing.

The natural environment has a calming effect on the mind, creating space for self-awareness and personal development. Away from the noise and distractions of everyday life, your teen can reconnect with themselves and learn to manage their emotions with clarity and focus.

The outdoors provides an optimal backdrop for growth. By removing the familiar trappings of everyday routines, therapists can strip away the obstacles that may hinder your teen's progress. This unique setting allows for heightened clinical clarity, enabling therapists to discern precisely what your teen needs to initiate positive behavioral changes. Nature becomes an essential catalyst for their transformational journey.

Improving Clinical Clarity
Understand the Issues Causing the Dysfunction

At ThreePeaks Ascent, we provide your teen with access to a highly skilled team of mental health professionals who are committed to their well-being. Our goal is to gain a deep understanding of the underlying issues causing their struggles, as this knowledge is essential for long-term healing. By immersing our therapists in the teens' experiences in nature, we create an authentic and immersive therapeutic environment.

Unlike traditional office settings, our therapists engage directly with your teen in their natural surroundings, allowing for a more accurate assessment of their dynamics and group interactions. This real-time observation enables our therapists to address and challenge behavioral patterns that may manifest both within and outside the program. Through this personalized approach, we can tailor a treatment plan that is specifically designed to meet your teen's unique needs.

In addition to our therapists, our dedicated residential staff plays a crucial role in your teen's success. Acting as mentors, caregivers, and role models, they provide constant support and guidance during their time away from home. These staff members exemplify the clinical interventions and skills that our therapists aim to cultivate, including effective communication and building healthy relationships. With their extensive training, our residential staff facilitate group discussions and processing, fostering a nurturing and growth-oriented environment for your teen.

At ThreePeaks Ascent, we are committed to assembling a comprehensive team that works collaboratively to ensure your teen's progress and well-being throughout their treatment journey.

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Re-Engaging Teens In Healthy Adolescent Development

Nature-based therapy provides a unique and effective approach to re-engage teens in healthy adolescent development. By immersing your teen in a nature-based therapy program, they are intentionally removed from negative distractions that hinder their progress. This environment allows them to fully focus on their treatment journey in a way that would not be possible in any other setting.

During their time in therapy, your teen will have the opportunity to participate in individual, group, and family therapy sessions. These sessions play a crucial role in their healing process as they provide a space for your teen to reflect on their behavior, make positive changes in their personal life, and strengthen family relationships. Additionally, engaging with peers who share similar struggles can help your teen realize they are not alone, boosting their motivation for growth and transformation.

At ThreePeaks Ascent, we are dedicated to helping your teen identify and overcome unhealthy coping patterns. Our therapists will guide them towards embracing healthier ways of handling tough situations, equipping them with essential life skills that will not only foster responsible growth but also serve as a solid foundation for their journey into adulthood.

ThreePeaks Ascent Treatment Principles

ThreePeaks Ascent has identified seven principles for effective nature-based therapy.

The Seven Principles For Highly Effective Nature-based Treatment

Must Foster Healthy, Appropriate Relationships

Healthy relationships are not only the foundation for growth and development, but the launchpad for a successful future as well. Insecure attachments and low social belonging are two significant developmental disruptions that lead to dysfunctional choices, addiction, emotional dysregulation, and other destructive behaviors. An environment where social influence and feedback can be given and received is absolutely vital. A successful nature-based treatment program, such as ThreePeaks Ascent, will provide a safe environment where teens can connect with both their peers as well as authority figures and build healthy relationships in a group setting.

Should Involve The Entire Family In The Treatment Process

A family's level of functioning is strongly connected with the healthy psychosocial development in children and adolescents. Furthermore, parental involvement and family support during treatment have been found to significantly affect the teen's progress during treatment, as well as the ability to adapt after treatment. It is also vital that therapists understand each individual family system when assessing a treatment plan for each teen. Problematic behaviors that teens display often are rooted in family issues, not just the individual's pathology.

Provide A Novel And Challenging Environment

Walsh and Golins (1976) describe the novel physical environment as a place of contrast where the world views that adolescents take for granted are confronted. This allows teens to see with a fresh perspective, as well as realize any new options available to them. One common theme in feedback from ThreePeaks Ascent program participants is that the challenging and novel environment provided them with a new perspective on their life and everything they knew before coming to a nature therapy program. Growth occurs outside of the comfort zone and is accelerated in environments that push physical and mental limits.

Require Skill Mastery Through An Experiential Curriculum And Primitive Living

In nature, skill and structure mastery are important parts of overall teen development. Skill mastery is specific to learning a new skill, such as storytelling or rock climbing. Structure mastery occurs when a teen gains awareness of the social norms, expectations, and rules of their environment. As their competency develops, so too develops their sense of responsibility for these areas, thus eliminating the need for an external influence to motivate them.

Use An Integrated Care Approach To Assess And Treat The Teen

Assessment and treatment at ThreePeaks Ascent are based on the Integrated Care Model, viewing the teen as a whole and integrated person. This model focuses on treating the teens holistically and addressing all risk factors concurrently in a teen's general and mental health. Academic well-being is also included in this approach.

Provide Treatment Interventions That Are Based On Evidence

The evidence-based practice combines research and clinical expertise in the area of each teen's characteristics, culture, and preferences. Clinical expertise includes conducting assessments, treatment planning, implementing treatments, and monitoring progress. Treatment services are most effective when they are responsive to each teen's specific struggles, strengths, personality, sociocultural context, and preferences.

Uses Ceremony And Nature To Promote Change And Internalize Growth

A ritual is an action with a specific ancestral or cultural form and purpose, and a ceremony is a community celebration or commemoration often having symbolic importance to the people performing it. Ceremony gives inner experiences and outer form, allowing the participants in the ceremony to internalize the growth they have achieved. It has a variety of different forms; at ThreePeaks Ascent, we use ceremonies to validate growth and promote change.

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What Happens After The Student Leaves?

Nature-based therapy creates a transformative opportunity for participants to experience the impact of their actions in a real-life setting. Removed from familiar surroundings, teens gain a profound understanding of the consequences of their choices and the underlying reasons behind their decisions. This immersive environment fosters personal accountability, empowering them to take responsibility for their own well-being and the well-being of others. By engaging with nature, they are able to confront and address the root causes of their struggles, paving the way for healing and growth.

Does My Teen Need Treatment?

Every teen's strengths and challenges are different. Complete the no-obligation assessment below to help us understand your family's needs.

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I'm Not Sure Where to Start.

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