Tamara Bolthouse, Therapeutic Boarding School Placement Specialist

Information for Parents, Guardians, and Grandparents

The Envoy Group Helps Parents, Grandparents and Guardians Navigate the Residential and Therapeutic Boarding School Industry

The Envoy Group offers suggestions and guidance to families that have reached the end of their ability to help their struggling teen at home, who are searching for solutions in a therapeutic or residential boarding school setting. Since 2006, we have traveled across the country visiting residential and therapeutic boarding schools, meeting the staff, leadership and owners, as well as assessing their ability and effectiveness in doing the job they were created to do.

We Help Literally Hundreds of Families Who Are Searching for a Residential or Therapeutic Boarding School Every Month

When families find themselves at the end of their ability to help their struggling teen at home, they often don’t know who to turn to next. Our hope is that you would look to our experience and knowledge for guidance in finding the potential right residential or therapeutic boarding school program for your teen. We have professional relationships with over 80 programs and have visited over 100 campuses across the country, but we can also help you find out more information about any school your may be looking into. Our industry connections allow us to gather information about programs quickly and effectively*.

We’ve Been In Your Shoes

Several years ago our family had to put our youngest in a therapeutic boarding school. Our experience with that program was life-threatening for him. So after much research we found a great program and moved him there. After experiencing a bad program, and a good one, we made a commitment to helping other parents find programs that potentially best fit their teen’s needs in an attempt to possibly prevent the heartache and financial loss we experienced.

We Regularly Receive Feedback from Families Who Have Placed Their Teen in a Residential or Therapeutic Boarding School

We regularly check back with the families who have placed their teen in a boarding school program at our suggestion and receive feedback about their experience with the program. We find this information to be invaluable and relay it back to parents who are searching for a reputable and effective boarding school program for their struggling teen.

We Believe Exploring Faith Should Be a Priority in the Lives of Struggling Teens

Parents often want to make sure that the residential or therapeutic boarding school programs that they send their children to will not discourage their teens from exploring and expanding the faith in which they have grown up. While we have connections and strong professional relationships with many Christian therapeutic boarding schools, most will not accept teens who are acting out sexually or struggling with sexual identity as a result of trauma. This leaves us in a conundrum at times as we recognize families in these situations still need help.

We have made a marked effort to find programs that will accept teens struggling with unhealthy sexual behavior or trauma-induced sexual identity issues into their program, but will not under any circumstances antagonize or discourage students from exploring the faith their families maintain. The programs we suggest allow students to go to the local youth group and allow faith to be an integral part of their therapy. Most also match students up with therapists who are of the same faith. If at any point we discover that this is not the case in a program we regularly suggest, we will immediately notify the program director that their program will no longer be suggested by our therapeutic placement staff until the problem is fully resolved to our satisfaction.

We Receive Information from Industry Insiders and Connections

We also have industry connections that allow us to be "in the know" about what’s happening in programs and how effective they’re being in the work that they do.

* While we can have a good amount of certainty about the information we receive from industry insiders and other programs, we can not guarantee that the information will be 100% accurate or current.

Testimonials & Comments from Families We have Served

  • "[My son] is making GREAT strides in learning how to work, be responsible, be respectful, and have a desire to do the right thing… I wanted to tell you what a positive experience our family has had."

  • "Let me just take a moment to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being willing to help... Anyone that understands at all is just such a blessing. Thank you."

  • "The spirit behind the work they do is so right on. I appreciate your services!"

  • "Thanks again for your immediate out reach. I loved the information you provided in the email and have had several organizations reach out to me."

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