Teen Treatment Programs For Bullying

Bullying goes beyond temporary or short-lived emotional pain. Bullying has serious effects on one’s physical health, emotional wellbeing, and relationships. Unresolved relational conflict can lead to poorer academic performance and attachment issues through adulthood. Residential treatment programs for teens not only intervene in school bullying, but they teach teens how to prevent future bullying and healthier ways to cope with the effects of bullying.

The guide is meant to be comprehensive, but as such, not every section will be applicable to everyone. Instead, we invite you to click on the links in the table of contents to jump to the sections that most interest you.

How Does Solstice RTC Help Teens Who Have Been Bullied?

At Solstice West, it is all about relationships: the relationship you have with yourself and the relationships you have with others. We believe that in the context of healthy relationships, great healing from bullying can occur. Teens who have been bullied often internalize negative messages about themselves that they’ve heard from bullies, which takes a toll on their self-esteem. 

Our positive peer culture is a beautiful embodiment of this idea: students strive to be support and kind, just as they try to act this way to themselves. Group therapy is a powerful experience for teens who are anxious in social settings, struggle to open up to others, and fear rejection from peers. Through group therapy and adventure programming, students challenge negative beliefs they have about themselves and relationships and build stronger relational skills to help them resolve group conflict and trust others. 

Learning healthier coping mechanisms and communication strategies helps teens practice how to stand up to bullies without feeling weak or defeated. Instead, they learn how to be assertive, walk away, and put themselves first. Students leave Solstice West as empowered young women, that understand their self worth, with improved confidence and self-esteem. 

What are the Effects of Bullying on Teens?

All types of bullying can feel just as painful and can have a traumatic effect on one’s self esteem and relationships. Like other stressful life events, the details of the situation don’t necessarily predict the way your child will respond to their experience of being bullied. Some people are more sensitive to the effects of bullying if they already struggle with mental health issues or feelings of loneliness, while others care less about what others think of them. 

• Low Self Esteem. Bullying and social rejection also lead to internalizing the message that “something is wrong with me.”

• Social Struggles. Many teens who have been bullied have a hard time making friends and opening up to people. Relational bullying can be traumatic as it is a breach of trust by people who are supposed to be there for you. After realizing they can’t trust people around them who have played a role in shaping their identity, many teens question if they can trust who they thought they were as they begin to see themselves as a victim. 

• Depression. As social support is a protective factor against isolating effects of depression, teens with fewer close friends that they can trust to talk about their emotions and have fun with are more at risk for developing depression. 

• School Refusal. Unlike truancy, school refusal refers to an aversion to school itself based on negative past experiences and anxiety related to going to school. 

Positive School Environment for Bullied Teens

Many teens who have bullied at school have developed negative beliefs about their school experience. It is common for them to experience significant anxiety around going to school, feelings of hopelessness around their academic goals, and poor attendance due to school refusal. As bullying can impact one’s school performance, they may be concerned that their grades do not reflect their academic potential. 

This is why Solstice RTC offers an accredited academic program to help teens stay on track academically. A positive school climate can make all the difference in your struggling teen’s life. At Solstice, teachers are considered part of your child’s treatment team and are involved in their treatment planning to determine how to best fit their emotional and behavioral needs in the classroom. 

Our small class sizes are designed to help students feel more comfortable sharing in a supportive classroom environment and to encourage collaboration among students. Students work together to learn how to build each other up and to recognize how mutual support helps them meet their goals in and out of the classroom. Teachers are also able to provide more individualized support for students through academic advising and study halls.