Drug Rehab and School

Rehab, High School, AND College Under One Roof

Designed specifically for adolescents age 14-17, Vista Academy successfully combines residential adolescent drug rehab, high school, and college unlike any other. Productivity and Life Skills development are two of the Five Core Competencies of Vista Academy Program that our Academic Department help nurture.

Every student is evaluated by our Academic Department within their first week of admission and an individualized academic plan is determined. Our Academic Department takes into account past educational experience, learning strengths and weaknesses, and academic needs to determine what courses would be most effective and beneficial for each student. In addition, tutors may be provided to the youth who need supportive help in their academic achievements.

Highlights of our Academic Program include:

• Individualized Educational Planning
• Rolling Admission for both High School and College
• 1-on-1 Instruction from Academic Coach
• Direct Access to Teachers
• Earn transferable College Credit from a WASC Accredited institution
• Students receive individualized instruction and tutoring as needed

In coordination with many accredited educational facilities, Vista Academy offers several academic tracks, including:

• High School Continuation or Return
• High School Completion
• GED and SAT preparation and completion
• College Courses for transferable college credit
• High School to College Transition

Personal Academic Coaches and Individualized Academic Planning

Each student is assigned an Academic Coach who will serve as their Academic Case Manager throughout their stay at Vista Academy. Their Academic Coach works hand in hand with the other members of a student’s treatment team to ensure that each student is achieving in all areas of their program.

Students will attend independent study at the Vista Academy Campus Learning Center. While at the Learning Center students will be able to work their Academic Coach one on one, or in a classroom setting with their peers. Our Academic Director, the student’s Academic Coach, and the Group Home Director will function as the school liaison. The staff on duty supervises each resident’s homework completion.

 

Sober High School

There are several options for our students who are in different phases of their high school careers. Our Academic Department will work with a student and their teachers, administrators, and counselors at their high school in order to keep them on track with their current graduation plans. If the student’s home school is not amenable to such an arrangement, Vista Academy utilizes Burbank Unified and Los Angeles Unified School District’s accredited independent study program called “Options for Youth.”

Students at Vista Academy drug rehab will be taken to and from “Options for Youth” twice a week. Each week they submit their schoolwork, take tests, and meet with the teacher. They complete their work at Vista Academy’s Learning Center with the assistance of Academic Coaches. Additional help, outside of the dedicated learning times, is available on an as needed basis. Varied education levels are accepted and students are admitted on a rolling admission basis. The Academic Coach, in collaboration with Options for Youth, will assess the youth’s educational level and design an individualized education plan for the youth.

 

Helping Teens Transition from High School to College

Vista Academy is the product of the partnership between Sober College and Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services. As a result Vista Academy students are eligible to reap the benefits of Sober College’s existing partnership with Woodbury University giving eligible students the opportunity to earn college credit from a WASC accredited institution by taking courses on-site at Vista Academy’s Learning Center while they are in drug rehab.

Five Woodbury University courses are taught on the Vista Academy drug rehab campus: Public Speaking, Creative Writing, Psychology of Personal Transformation, Health and Wellness, and Sociology: Drugs and Alcohol in Popular Culture. These courses give students the opportunity to examine their issues in a classroom setting, while developing learning study and life skills necessary to continue on a path to higher education.

The course content is both engaging and relevant to our students, and the courses’ unique learning model provides a learning environment catered specifically to our student’s educational and personal needs:

• Adjunct professors teach the courses on site,
• Students have online support from their Woodbury Professors,
• The courses are modular based, thus designed to accommodate rolling admissions, so students are able to start their schooling immediately,
• Smaller class size allows students to receive more personal attention during and after class. It also assures that students will not have to drop a class due to clinical issues that arise in early sobriety.

The Woodbury courses offered are tailored to help our students become reinvigorated with the motivation for success, and become familiar with what a true college experience is like.

Before Vista Academy students take these courses, they must receive approval from their Academic Coach and teacher, “Options for Youth,” as well as their case manager and/or therapist. Students must be deemed emotionally and cognitively capable of handling the course load.