Alaska Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls

We are a Therapeutic Boarding School for girls from Akaska and beyond. We help troubled girls from the 6th through 12th grades. We are a fully accredited school and offer high-quality therapeutic interventions for a range of issues including depression, anger, acting out, poor relationships, poor decision making, and more.

Evangelhouse Christian Academy is Effective

Often, parents express concern over enrolling at a therapeutic boarding school because they’ve tried therapy at home and the child wouldn’t engage with the therapist, or therapy just didn’t work. Evangelhouse is different. We provide therapy “in the moment” (often referred to as “milieu therapy”) along with individual one-on-one therapy.

When therapy is done in the moment, we can address exactly what happened because we were there. One shortfall of outpatient therapy is that the therapist is completely dependent on the version of events as relayed by the patient. At Evangelhouse, therapists and residential mentors alike are there throughout the day, ready to intervene, question thinking, and offer coping skills to address misunderstandings and inappropriate reactions to social cues.

Further, therapists can help students at Evangelhouse practice coping skills in the moment. In outpatient therapy, all a therapist is able to do is discuss how we will handle conflict next time. At Evangelhouse, students practice new ways of interacting in real-time, preparing them for a successful transition back to the home environment.

Girls from Alaska from Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks, and beyond seeking a therapeutic boarding school succeed at Evangelhouse due to our distance away from their negative influences and peer community. We have a close-knit family-like community.

Alaska Teen Girls Face Increasing Challenges

To learn more about Alaskan adolescents’ rates of mental health and wellness facts see:

Office of Adolescent Health Mental Health Facts

Alaskan Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance Survey

School Health Profiles

School Climate and Connectedness Survey

The Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Dashboard

Stats:

• In Alaska, about 15.7% of teens report symptoms of depression.
• 6.99% of teens in Alaska have used drugs and 8.33% of teens in Alaska have consumed alcohol.
• One out of five girls ages twelve to seventeen had experienced major depression within the last year.
• 8.9 percent of teens experiment with drugs every month.
• 16.4 percent of teens abuse alcohol
• 9.5 percent engage in binge drinking
• 7.7 percent of children between 4 and 17 are diagnosed with ADHD every year.
• 10.3% of children aged 3-17 years (approximately 4.4 million) have diagnosed anxiety or depression. Diagnoses of depression and anxiety are more common with increased age.

Families that do not utilize Evangelhouse can find local resources here: https://dhss.alaska.gov/dbh/Pages/TreatmentRecovery/MentalHealth/links.aspx

Evangelhouse Christian Academy Classroom

When a troubled teen experiences a serious academic setback, it is important to redirect their behavior. At Evangelhouse, our program enables students to re-establish academic goals, and engage in a plan of action that accelerates learning to make up missed credits and graduation requirements. Most importantly, each student will receive individualized instruction that is tailor-made for their academic needs. The notable difference at Evangelhouse when compared to traditional school settings is that students with learning problems such as dyslexia or ADHD/ADD among others will receive individualized instruction that addresses their needs.  In this setting, it is possible to adjust the pace of instruction and instructors build strong working relationships with their students.

Additional mental health issues that weigh into your daughter’s academic performance may include and not be limited to the following: energy levels, attentiveness, reliability, mental capacity, and optimism. There exists substantial research to support the fact that depression contributes to declining grade point averages and anxiety. Studies have also connected an increase in depression among the teenage population to an increase in dropout rates among high school students. 

In conclusion, when your daughter attends Evangelhouse, symptoms of depression are alleviated. As symptoms of depression decrease, your daughter’s academic performance will improve. Our program at Evangelhouse is supported by studies that have shown a direct correlation between emotional issues and academic performance. With highly specialized staff, your daughter will receive the help she needs to resolve emotional issues.  

Christian Academy or a Residential Treatment Center?

Choosing Evangelhouse Chrisitan Academy over local residential treatment centers may be the best for your daughter. It all depends on the circumstances behind your concern and your daughter’s specific needs. Our program is a Christian-based, highly sophisticated clinical treatment at the forefront of teen behavioral healthcare. Evangelhouse Chrisitan Academy is designed to meet the requirements of teen girls in grades 6-12.

While a residential treatment center generally offers a higher level of psychiatric care, this higher level comes with trade-offs. Students at residential treatment centers will be more severe in their illness. This means more exposure to potential hazards like violence, anger, or talk of drugs and alcohol. Residential treatment centers tend to be more hospital-like, and therapeutic boarding schools like Evangelhouse tend to be more home-like.

We feel that the home-like setting is more appropriate for the level of girls we accept. After all, we are preparing our girls for the transition home. Therefore, an environment like the Evangelhouse campus is a better place to practice new coping skills and ways of interacting and socializing versus a stale hospital-like setting. Because our girls live together on campus, they can help each other in academic and extracurricular activities.

However, that’s not to say Evangelhouse Christian Academy is lacking in our clinical department. Our focus is just more on repairing relationships with family and learning new coping skills versus medication management.  Our clinical program includes family therapy techniques as we firmly believe in the strength and vitality of family bonds, along with finding support spiritually in our non-denominational setting. 

Parental involvement in residential treatment is the most important aspect in establishing favorable long-term outcomes for your daughter, according to research. Parental participation is actively participating in their child’s treatment as well as their own treatment and progress.

Our program focuses on repairing broken relationships and helping family members to reunite and grow their fractured relationships. We have four family workshops hosted on campus each year.  Our workshops are known for being effective, empowering, and eye-opening. 

Therapy Issues In Girls

Today’s teen girl has so many more potential dangers than any proceeding generation. Just consider that eating issues, self-esteem issues, and identity issues usually begin soon before or during puberty.  Eating disorders like binge eating, bulimia, or anorexia can have a negative impact on a teen girl’s family relationships, her physical health, her outlook, attitude, and her relationship with God. 

Women are more likely than men to suffer from eating disorders. Add to this problem the invention of Instagram, Tik Tok, and other social media platforms and you have a recipe for disaster in today’s teenage girl.

At Evanglehouse therapeutic boarding school for girls from Alaska, we see a lot of teen girls who are trying to find their place in society and want to be recognized and appreciated for who they are. Many of the young ladies we work with at Evangelhouse are dealing with anxiety and insecurity, and the root cause can be often traced back to a social media app. Often, it’s the student’s peers at their school who are causing the trouble. We address comparing ourselves to others in group therapy, and why the image you see on Instagram might not be an accurate portrayal of that person’s life.

We understand that many girls may experience emotions of loneliness and even as far as depression as a result of not fitting in, whether that is real or imagined. Add to that, consider all of the negativity today’s teen girl finds online. Violent video games, sexualized content, bullying, hate speech, and more are readily available online. Add to this the constant comparison and competition for “likes” and followers their peers in the high school compete for. It’s no wonder so many girls report feeling depressed.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms can be fantastic methods for kids to engage with the world when used appropriately. On the other side, they can be quite dangerous and harmful to self-esteem and more when misused.  Our staff oversees and influences the culture of positive-peer influence at Evangelhouse. In this way, we seek to guide our students towards a more mature and responsible way of interacting and facing the dangers in today’s world.

We’re All In This Together

Evangelhouse is more than just an Alaska therapeutic boarding school for girls; is a community. We’ll work together to design a plan to address and repair negative behavior patterns before they become destructive. Our caring community provides a secure place for your kid to recuperate.

Our work can begin once youngsters feel safe to express themselves. Achieve confidence and resilience to repair damaged relationships, advocate for needs, set boundaries, and tackle life’s obstacles.