Skip to main content

Teen Sexual Issues - A New Treatment Approach

By Stephen C. Schultz


I recently returned from a visit to California where the clinical director of Oxbow Academy and I met with a family whose son recently graduated from Oxbow. This meeting was to "check in" with the family, see how things were going and assist in realigning any expectations that may be unmet. The one thing that is glaringly apparent is that the students come home with a maturity level and insight unmatched by their peers. As we work with these families, that are truly pioneers in their persistence and dedication to their sons, we have noticed some trends.

About sixty percent of the students have come to us from other residential placements, wilderness treatment programs or outpatient therapists. The other trend is similar in percentage, sixty percent, but represents students that are adopted. We’re not quite sure what to make of this yet, but it’s interesting none the less.



Here are some brief Oxbow Academy statistics;

100% - Students that struggle with addictive sexual concerns

60% - Students that are adopted

45% - Students with an IEP (Individual Education Plan)

65% - Students who struggle with NLD, ASD, ADHD, Reactive Attachment Disorder or other co-morbid issues.


Because of the shame associated with sexual issues, what therapists and families know about is usually just the tip of the ice berg. These boys are great at playing “information poker”; only laying down the cards that people already know about. The rest of the “cards” they are determined to keep close to the vest. It’s this “game” that makes adolescents so hard to work with on an outpatient basis. General residential care isn’t much different. Often, by the time we are contacted, behaviors have escalated to a crisis situation and financial resources for treatment have run thin. So we asked ourselves a question;


“How can we set up a system that encourages and supports early intervention?”


I’m pleased to share with you that our first phase of treatment provides an integrated and consolidated evaluation. This first phase is 90 days. Students integrate into academics, residential living and therapy. They work with their therapist in providing a full sexual disclosure. They then participate in a bio-feedback exam (Polygraph) to validate their honesty. Then, summaries of the students efforts in academics, residential living and therapeutic efforts are combined with the results of the bio-feedback and are sent to a psychologist to perform the Psychosexual Evaluation. This gives the parents and referring professionals an Integrated Functional Assessment, Psychological testing and Sexual Risk Assessment all within the first 90 days. At this point, parents and allied professionals will know what level of continued care is required.


Benefits:

  • Parents only commit to first 90 days
  • Referring treatment programs can have students return if clinically appropriate.
  • Allied professionals have a clinically sophisticated option to discuss with families.
  • Students are fully engaged in academics, residential activities and therapy prior to and during testing.
  • Clinical use of the polygraph encourages the student to “lay all the cards on the table”, thus allowing the development of a complete and accurate treatment plan.




NEW HOPE. NEW HELP. NO SECRETS
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lessons I learned from a childhood experience with bullying

By Stephen C. Schultz The dew around the window was starting to bead up. In a classic case of chaos theory, the little beads of water gave way to gravity and randomly bounced and bumped their way to the window sill like a steal marble in a pinball game. There was a small pool of water in the cracked and peeling beige paint. I sat facing the window, staring at the small engraved stone nestled in the flower beds. There weren’t many flowers at this time of year. Mostly rhododendrons and Oregon grapes reaching skyward from the damp bark mulch that covered the planter area.   The month of January in Eugene Oregon was filled with days and days of mist and fog.   In fact, pretty much from October through June was filled with fog, rain, mist, showers, freezing rain and occasionally snow. The local weathermen didn’t bother with predictions about the chance of precipitation; they took pride in developing new adjectives to describe the type of precipitation and how much you can expect.
10 comments
Read more

Perfectly Wicked - A new take on an old fairy tale!

Guest Blogger Amanda Schultz Age 15 There she was…hair as black as night, lips as red as blood, skin as white as snow. Standing by the window, washing dishes, whistling while she worked. Snow White. I shudder with disgust every time I hear her name. What kind of a name is that anyway? “Snow White”. Gahhh, it’s a name that practically begs to be made fun of. Yet, there she goes, frolicking around like she owns the Enchanted Forest. No. I’m the Queen. I’m in charge. My magic mirror was mistaken. I’m the Fairest of them all, not that sorry excuse for a princess. One bite from my poison apple and that air-head will be so ugly not even her mother could love her. And I will be the Fairest once again! I suppose that I should rewind a little bit. It wasn’t always a competition between Snow White and me. In fact, back in the day, we had a nice little system going on. I would rule the kingdom and practice my magic, while Snow did the dishes and tended the garden. She stayed out of my w
11 comments
Read more

"Sugar and Spice" - A Child's Kindness

By Stephen C. Schultz I recall a childhood rhyme that went something like this; “…sugar and spice and everything nice…that’s what little girls are made of!” As the father of three daughters and one son, there is no doubt about the truthfulness of that saying. I was in San Diego a couple of weeks ago with my family. We were down at Seaport Village right on the bay having lunch. It was a beautiful day, sun shining, light breeze and we were eating on an outside deck. We were engaged in a conversation about what we wanted to do later that day when I noticed my youngest daughter, a fifth grader, was focused on something else. So, I turned to see what she was gazing at. She was following the movements of a transient man who had walked up onto the deck and was systematically searching the garbage cans for food. He was looking in each receptacle and reaching in to move the contents around. At one can, his hand came out with a partially eaten sandwich of some kind. He reached back
8 comments
Read more