Venture Academy Hosts IECA Consultants

Venture Academy will host a May 15 tour for IECA Consultants attending the Independent Educational Consultants Association’s spring conference in Toronto May 12-15.

Venture Academy Founder and Executive Director Gordon Hay says he is looking forward to providing educational consultants with an opportunity to tour the new campus and to learn more about the academy’s programs and philosophies.

“This conference provides us with an ideal opportunity to showcase our program, introduce our staff, and answer any questions consultants may have,” Hay said. “Educational consultants are often the first people families turn to when searching for a program for their teen, so it is important they have a thorough appreciation of what we have to offer.”

Venture Academy for troubled teens is a community-based residential treatment program that provides intensive individualized care to teens struggling with problems ranging from drug and alcohol abuse to low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, and criminal behaviour.

Both the Ontario and B.C. campuses provide long-term treatment and crisis admission for teens whose safety or behaviour is out of control. Treatment includes a thorough psychological assessment to identify underlying issues as well as intensive care from a highly skilled team that includes psychologists, counsellors, behavioural specialists, educators, and health professionals.

IECA consultants interested in registering for the tour are asked to contact Zara Parker by May 4, 2010 at zparker@ventureacademy.ca. Visit www.ventureacademy.ca for more information on Venture Academy.

Family Service Specialist Joins Team at Venture Academy for Troubled Teens

Venture Academy for Troubled Teens is pleased to announce the hiring of Family Service Specialist Shelley Price Draper.

Draper will be responsible for working with troubled youth and the parent counsellor families they live with during treatment at Venture Academy, a residential treatment program for teens struggling with problems ranging from drug and alcohol abuse to behaviour issues.

“I have a strong belief that youth want to do well and am committed to helping them learn and apply the skills of successful living,” Draper said. “Being a Venture Academy team member is an honour and I am excited about working with the parent counsellor families who too are committed to reuniting youth with their families.”

Draper has worked extensively with troubled children, youth, and adults in the public school system, in psychiatric care, and in residential care. She has counselled youth and adults with mental health and addiction issues and has worked with youth and adults with autism spectrum disorder, brain injuries, learning disabilities, and behaviour challenges. Draper also spent 18 months working as a parent counsellor for Venture Academy.

“We feel privileged to have Shelley join our staff,” said Venture Academy Executive Director and Founder Gordon Hay. “Shelley is a true professional dedicated to creating a positive environment for youth, their families, and the parent counsellor families that are such an integral part of our success.”

Hay said Draper’s sincere desire to help is complemented by her experience and interest in learning more about the youth and the families she will be working with.

Draper has an undergraduate degree in social work from the University of Victoria and a Master’s Degree is Clinical Social Work from the University of BC.

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Boot Camps for Teens – Are they right for your teen?

Considering boot camp for your out-of-control teen? Thousands of parents just like you are searching the Internet this very minute looking for answers to questions they never thought they’d have to ask.

Questions like: Where did I go wrong? Why is my teen acting out? Will a boot camp or residential treatment program for troubled teens help?

Residential Treatment Programs Get Results
A study conducted by the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs provides reassurance to parents looking at options that may include a teen boot camp or residential treatment program.

The study of more than 1,000 teens ages 13 to 18 found teens with serious emotional and behavioural issues not only improved during treatment at a private residential treatment program, but maintained their healthier outlook and function long after leaving the program.

“In our initial findings announced last year, teens with clinically impaired emotional and behavioural functioning were rated as ‘normal’ after a period of treatment at a private residential facility,” lead researcher Dr. Ellen Behrens is quoted as saying.

“In this final phase of the study we found that those teens who showed ‘normal’ post-treatment results at the time of discharge continued to be ranked in the normal range a year later.”

Boot Camps Come Under Fire
Dr. Ed Latessa, a juvenile justice expert at the University of Cincinnati, says boot camps have failed to live up to the hype given them. Latessa says boot camps promise quick results to frustrated parents but may not deliver on all they promise.

“There’s a common misperception that what these kids need is structure, discipline, and order. But those aren’t big risk factors,” Latessa told Connect for Kids. “They don’t have much to do with criminal behavior.”

Latessa says putting kids who have gotten into trouble with the law together is a flawed idea.

“We don’t really want to bond delinquents together. We want to disrupt criminal networks,” he says.

Gordon Hay, executive director and founder of Venture Academy for Troubled Teens, operates a residential treatment program that prides itself on providing parents with an alternative to boot camps for teens.

“Research demonstrates that clinically-driven, well-run, high-quality programs like Venture Academy’s provide troubled teens and their families with answers and hope,” Hay said.

At Venture Academy youth stay in private homes where they are supervised by parent counsellors who help them relearn skills and behaviour lost while locked in conflict with their parents.

Hay says parent counsellors provide a safe therapeutic environment where youth can learn to reattach to adults rather than to their peers. He says youth sever bonds with their unsavory friends and work towards sustainable change with the help of Venture Academy staff and counsellors.

Venture Academy provides help for troubled teens in Canada including help for troubled teens who are experiencing family conflict, criminal behaviour, negative peers, school suspensions, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, drug and alcohol abuse, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Conduct Disorder, anxiety, depression, or other clinically diagnosed disorders.

Sleep Takes Backseat to Teen Media Use, Study Finds

Tweens and teens may be spending more time interacting with entertainment media than they do sleeping, a new study released by the Kaiser Family Foundation has found.

The report, Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8 to 18-year-olds, found youth 8 to 18-years-old spend an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes a day using entertainment media. Add in the hours spent media multitasking – using more than one medium at a time – and that number goes up to an astounding 10 hours and 45 minutes a day.

Among the study’s findings:

Electronic Device Ownership Among 8 to 18-Year-Olds Has Skyrocked
In the last five years, cell phone ownership among youth 8 to 18-year-olds has increased from 39% to 66%. Ownership of iPods and MP2 players has increased even more, from
18% to 76%.

Parental Limits Effective When Used
Only about 3 in 10 young people say they have rules about how much time they can spend watching TV (28%), playing video games (30%), and using the computer (36%). Those with limits on media use spent nearly 3 hours less per day engaging with it than those without limits.

The TV’s On But Nobody’s Home
About two-thirds (64%) of young people say the TV is usually on during meals, and just under half (45%) say the TV is on “most of the time” in their home, even when no one is watching. Seven in ten youth (71%) have a TV in their bedroom and half (50%) have a console video machine in their room. The study found children in TV-centric homes spend about 90 minutes more each day watching television.

Heavy Media Use Equals Lower Grades
About half (47%) of heavy media users say they usually get fair or poor grades (mostly Cs or lower), compared to about a quarter (23%) of light users. (Heavy users are the 21% of young people who consume more than 16 hours of media a day, while light users are the 17% of young people who consume less than 3 hours of media a day.)

TV Viewing Changing
Traditional TV consumption (actually sitting in front of a television) declined by 25 minutes a day between 2004 and 2009 but increased overall when alternative TV consumption like IPods and cell phones is considered.

Reading Levels Out
Kids continue to spend an average of 23 minutes a day ready books however time spent reading magazines and newspapers dropped from 14 minutes to 9 minutes for magazines, and from 6 minutes to 3 minutes for newspapers. Newspaper reading among youth has dropped from 42% in 1999 to 23% in 2009.

Multitasking Has Become Mainstream
Media multitasking is contributing to the significant amount of media young people consume each day. About 4 in 10 youth in grades 7 to 12 admit to media multitasking “most” of the time. About half of respondents say they use media either “most” (31%) or “some” (25%) of the time when doing their homework.


Gordon Hay is executive director and founder of Venture Academy for Troubled Teens, a residential treatment program that provides an alternative to boot camps for teens. Venture Academy has schools in Ontario and BC and serves families from through the US and Canada including those from Alberta, Newfoundland, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. For information, visit www.ventureacademy.ca.

Teen relationships affected by screen time

A teen’s ability to attach to their parents and friends may be affected by the amount of time they spend in front of a screen.

A new study examining the relationship between screen time (television, video, DVDs, gaming or computer use) and parental attachment found the risk of having low attachment to parents increased by 4 per cent for every hour spent watching television and 5 per cent for every hour spent at a computer. Predictably, teens who spent more time doing homework or reading were more attached to their parents.

The study of teens aged 14 and 15, conducted by researchers at the University of Otego in Dunedin New Zealand, asked teenagers to comment on how they spent their free time and what their relationships were like. Researchers found that for every additional hour of TV they watched, teens had a 13% increased risk of low attachment to their parents.

“Given the importance of attachment to parents and peers in adolescent health and development, concern about high levels of screen time among adolescents is warranted,” the researchers concluded.

“With the rapid advance of screen-based options for entertainment, communication and education, ongoing research is needed to monitor the effect that these technologies have on social development and psychological and physical well-being among adolescents.”

The study’s authors said there are a number of possible reasons why too much screen time may affect teens' relationships with family. For example, teens that have TVs in their bedroom may share fewer meals with their family.

“It is also possible that adolescents with poor attachment relationships with immediate friends and family use screen-based activities to facilitate new attachment figures such as online friendships or parasocial relationships with television characters or personalities," study author Rosalina Richards wrote..

Not surprising, teens that spent more time reading and doing homework reported a higher level of attachment to their parents.

Teen Drinking Never Safe

By Anne-Rachelle McHugh
Guest Blogger

Thinking about hosting a “safe” teen party where booze will be served? Think again.

Adults who condone teen drinking or turn a blind eye to it risk being judged by society and by a legal system that comes down hard on adults who facilitate underage drinking.

In Vancouver, a woman was recently charged with failing to provide the necessities of life after a 16-year-year girl was found dead at an underage drinking party the woman was “chaperoning.” In Manitoba, a couple faces similar charges after a 15-year-old girl drinking at their home wandered outside and froze to death.

These incidents highlight concerns many parents have about teen drinking and their role in educating kids about its responsible use.

Proponents of supervised drinking say it teaches teens how to drink responsibly in a safe environment. Critics say it provides parents with a false sense of security and does nothing to protect teens from the hazards associated with underage drinking including alcohol poisoning, drunk driving, sexual assaults, and unplanned pregnancies.

Psychologist Michael J. Bradley says adults who don’t repeatedly tell kids that drinking is dangerous are adults who silently tell them that drinking is okay.

“Contradictory to the myth, kids do listen when adults speak with respect,” Bradley writes in his blog.

Bradley, author of “Yes Your Teen is Crazy,” says the teen brain is prone to the addictive effects of substances like alcohol. He says alcohol is associated with everything bad that happens to teens including car crashes, failing grades, sexual assaults, arrest, unintended pregnancy, STDs and suicide.

“Do not provide booze to teens on prom night or any other time,” he writes. ”If I insult you with that suggestion; congratulations. You are not among the 33 per cent of parents who voluntarily provide alcohol to adolescents, nor among the 24 per cent who drink with their teens.”

Venture Academy for troubled teens' Gordon Hay understands Bradley’s stance on teen drinking.

Hay says it’s important parents remember that teenagers “are children in adult bodies” and that alcohol is a powerful, mood-altering drug that affects their mind and body in unpredictable ways.

“Your son or daughter may look grown up but the reality is their brain is not fully developed and they are incapable of making critical decisions that you as the parent must. What that means in a nutshell is it’s your job as a parent to reign in your child, set limits, and be their parent, not their friend.”

Hay is founder of Venture Academy for Troubled Teens, a residential assessment and treatment program for teens dealing with problems that may include alcohol and drug abuse. Venture Academy is a boot camp alternative with programs in BC and Ontario.

Statistics Box

• People who start drinking at a young age are more likely to develop alcoholism within 10 years of when they first started to drink. A study conducted by the National Health Institute found 47% of people who began drinking before the age of 14 developed a dependence on alcohol compared to the 9% of people who began drinking at age 21 or older.

• A national survey of students in grades 7–9 found that about two-thirds had already consumed alcohol. Another survey of Canadian youth aged 15–24 showed that 83% were current or past-year drinkers.

• Nationally, more than one third of students in grade 7-9 have binged on alcohol. That number increases to 40% for 15-19 year-olds. (Substance Abuse in Canada: Youth in Focus report)

• Alcohol-related trauma is the number one preventable cause of death among young Canadians. A survey conducted by Smartrisk found almost 45% of all youth deaths involved motor vehicle crashes and of those nearly 40 % were alcohol related. (2005 Smartrisk Survey)

• An Ontario study found about one in seven licensed students drink and drive. Almost 30% of those surveyed reported having driven with a drinking driver. (2005 Ontario Student Drug Use Survey)