Vista Academy works with highly trained therapists, counselors, and psychiatrists to help treat and identify any mental health problems that clients may encounter during treatment. The therapists, counselors, and psychiatrists are specially trained to work with teens adolescents, and young adults. This allows them to have specific insight into the stressors that commonly effect newly sober teens. These professionals make up a specific plan for the mental health treatment of the teens that enter Vista Academy.
Why Mental Health Treatment at Vista Academy?
Dual diagnosis is very common in teens abusing drugs and alcohol. Depression, anxiety, eating disorders, self-esteem issues, learning disabilities, and many other psychological issues can often either be the cause or the effect of drug abuse. Many teens have preexisting mental health conditions that drove them to self-medication. By using drugs and alcohol, teens often find short-term relief from their depression or anxiety by using drugs and alcohol. But we know that this “fix is only temporary and can often lead to addiction and other serious consequences.
Many teens often have mental health issues as a result of their drug and alcohol abuse. Those teens who are predisposed or have a minor per-existing condition can also have increased risk for intense mental health issues due to their drug and alcohol abuse.
What Can Vista Academy Do?
Vista Academy takes into account every aspect of the treatment needed for teens who enter their program. Mental health treatment at Vista Academy is thorough and involves a wide array of specialized treatment plans. When a teen enters Vista Academy they go through a set of evaluations with psychiatrists, neuro-psychologists, and therapists that devise an individualized treatment plan catered to the teens specific needs.
Some of the aspects of mental health treatment include medication and supplement management for those teens who are on medication. Neuro-Psychological treatments that allow teen access to a deeper understanding of their mental health issues. Therapy and specialized therapies that include individual sessions, group therapy, anger management, trauma therapy, psychotherapy and many more.Within each teens individualized treatment plan, they are designated different therapy groups and programs to help them with their mental health issues.
How Do I Know If My Teen Needs Mental Health Treatment?
One of the biggest issues with diagnosing mental health in teen drug users, is that drug abuse can often mask symptoms. Because behavior is often strange during teen years even drug abuse symptoms can seem confusing. The best thing to do is to keep an open door of communication with your child. If you are unsure if your child may have a mental health issue, contact Vista Academy for more information. Some common symptoms you can look for include:
- very angry much of time, cries a lot, or overreacts to things;
- grief for a long time after a loss or death;
- constantly concerned about physical problems or appearance;
- does much worse in school;
- loses interest in things usually enjoyed;
- has unexplained changes in eating or sleeping habits;
- avoids friends or family and wants to be alone all of the time;
- daydreams too much and can’t get things done;
- feels life is too hard to handle or talks about suicide;
- inability to sit still or focus attention;
- the need to wash, clean things, or perform certain routines dozens of times a day;
- thoughts that race almost too fast to follow;
- persistent nightmares.
- begins using alcohol or other drugs;
- continues to diet or exercise obsessively although bone-thin;