What makes Equinox unique?
Unlike many residential treatment centers for teens, Equinox is a private, owner-operated program. Our founders are clinicians, educators, and residential staff, who are on campus daily–involved in regular activities with our students. This includes running therapy groups, teaching classes, participating in activities, enduring workouts, and being involved in family seminar groups and events. We believe it makes a difference when final decisions are made by individuals who are a part of your son’s daily life.
What Sets Us Apart
With decades of experience working with adolescents in residential treatment, our founding team developed a clinically intensive, trauma-informed, neurologically-based, and adventure-filled program focused on the specific challenges and needs of young men. The Equinox Difference focuses on respected, evidence-based approaches to the recovery from trauma, loss, depression, anxiety, relationship deterioration, and impulsive and addictive behaviors. Our holistic approach–which treats the mind, body, and soul–is just one aspect that sets us apart from other treatment programs for teens.
Gender-Specific Programs Yield Better Results
Success in working with young men requires specific and unique areas of neurological, emotional, and physiological emphasis and a keen eye to recognize what works for each individual. At Equinox, we have created a culture and approach designed specifically to meet the needs of teenage boys. Check out our Neurology, Physical Fitness and Nutrition, Addictions, and Adventure Therapy pages to learn more about how our program is intentionally designed to address the complex needs of boys.
Intensive Hiring Process to Find the Best, Most Passionate People
At Equinox, we believe that people–much more than programs–are the catalysts of long-lasting inspiration and growth in the lives of our youth. We are committed to hiring qualified, professional, caring staff who we train using thorough, evidence-based, and cutting-edge trauma-informed approaches to helping the boys and families we serve.
Family-Centered Approach to Repair Relationships
We believe that family is the most fundamental unit of growth and healing in society. It is impossible to support long-lasting growth in a teenager’s life without involving his family. Our family programming includes weekly family therapy sessions, family seminars, multi-family groups, on- and off-campus visits, home visits, and other experiential interventions. This requires a significant investment of time and energy from the family and has proven to be one of the three factors most directly associated with positive treatment outcomes for youth and young adults.
Focus on Inside-out Change, Rather than Compliance
The historical focus of RTC’s is on compliance, and using a system of rewards and consequences to shape behavior. While this approach works in some extreme cases, and also when training pets, we believe its impact to be short-lived for most teens. More often than not, not long after the removal of the behavioral structure from a teenager’s life, he is back to his old patterns of thinking and acting. Compliance is indeed important, but when generated through a relationship-based and principle-centered focus, in which a teenager has the choice to comply, it is much more likely that principles of respect, responsibility, love, family relationships, and personal growth will be experienced and solidified. We strive to support the creation of self-sustaining, lifelong change at Equinox through our remarkable people and programming.