UK's Teen Growing Pains
Letter To The Newcastle Journal

I have read with interest (and frustration) the recent headlines regarding out of control teenagers and knife crime in particular.

Once again the politicians seem to be missing the point when they talk about tackling problematic families and evicting the worst offenders.

My experience is that troubled teenagers present us with a national problem. In fact, you are as likely to find off the rails adolescents in the leafy lanes of Epsom, as you are in the back streets of Blyth. We can all talk about the breakdown of family values and the lack of parenting skills, but it is action and not talk that is needed, before events spiral even further out of control.

What have been proved to work (over the past 15 years) are Therapeutic Wilderness Programmes, better know to most people as "Brat Camps". Based in the USA, this is a multi-billion dollar industry, where proven programmes of radical intervention have made a massive impact of the lives of young people, who have difficult and complex issues. With this type of programme, there is a mandatory "buy-in" from parents. And they shoulder the bill.

I am currently taking up to 10 new calls per day, from Parents throughout the UK who are in crisis. The majority of their kids are permanently excluded from school, and they have a host of issues ranging from depression, through anger and violence, into knife crime and drugs. The parents feel abandoned by the state and frankly they do not know where to turn.

My colleagues in the USA are 15 to 20 years ahead of us in tackling this problem and they have the answer to the dilemma….but it is expensive. A typical 8 to 10 week stay in the Utah Desert would cost up to £15,000, per student. Despite the cost, I am sending UK kids out on a regular basis. Sadly there is no financial support available to the honest hard working parents - who just happen to have a kid who is out of control.

It would be nice to see a brave politician step out of the box and help these desperate parents in their hour of need. Until then, the answer to the problem remains available to the few who have the ability to pay!

Graham Cook
UK Admissions Director
www.teengrowingpains.co.uk