Shepherd's Hill Farm Staff Research RAD And DTD

Some Christian High Schools for troubled kids deal with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), and some Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD). Either way, good Christian teen help at any Christian High School for troubled kids knows that Reactive Attachment Disorder was recently renamed as Developmental Trauma Disorder. A caring Christian counseling boarding school will know what it takes to help these struggling teens.

Shepherd's Hill Farm is just that, a caring Christian counseling boarding school offering Christian teen help for families who are experiencing signs of RAD or DTD. Reactive Attachment Disorder was typically associated with foster or adopted children. Lately, at Shepherd's Hill Farm, we are encountering biological parents who are seeking a Christian counseling boarding school that describe their child's symptoms as those of a RAD child. A recent referral to Shepherd's Hill Farm was baffled by her child's RAD like behaviors since she was a "stay at home" mom her child's entire life.

The Therapeutic Christian counseling team at Shepherd's Hill Farm Christian boarding school is genuinely concerned about this generation of RAD and DTD students they are seeing. Their research has concluded that the recent renaming of RAD to DTD is substantial since many of the causes of RAD symptoms are during the developmental years of infancy. The major cause is trauma in the infant's first 36 months of life. During the first 36 months of life, the human brain develops to 90% of the adult size, and the pathways are being formed rapidly during this time. Therefore, Developmental Trauma Disorder is appropriate and doesn't necessarily constitute that a child is adopted or a foster child.

The trauma generally associated with Reactive Attachment Disorder is the lack of bonding between the biological parents and the child. This lack of bonding occurs in many families today. Some parents are not prepared for parenthood, aren't naturally equipped with the skills it takes to be a loving parent, or other circumstances stand in the way. Unconsciously, during those first 36 months, the child experiences feelings of being unwanted, unworthy, and unloved. This engrains a blueprint in the child's brain that love and relationships are dangerous or unsafe. Furthermore, it causes lack of trust, fear, and puts the child in "survival mode." It distorts their perception of love entirely, and they view love as a painful emotion.

As a Christian counseling boarding school, and a wilderness program for troubled youth, we are seeing more and more troubled teens with Developmental Trauma Disorder. Our Therapeutic Christian counseling team intends to further their research and training on DTD to provide the best Christian teen help for this generation of troubled youth. They have noted that RAD or DTD tends to manifest or exacerbate during puberty. Our goal as a Christian boarding school and wilderness program for troubled youth has always been to teach troubled teens about their spiritual side of life. We strive to equip our staff with the knowledge and training in other areas such as RAD and DTD in order to better serve families with troubled teens in crisis and struggling with these types of disorders.

Shepherd's Hill Farm is a Christian Boarding School as well as an outdoor residential program located on an 80 acre wilderness facility for troubled youth ages 13-17 struggling with a variety of negative behaviors. We are equipped with a completely devoted Christian staff that uses biblical principles in a loving authoritative community environment.