Today's show featured Dr. Andy Sapp, the founder of Cherry Gulch, a private therapeutic boarding school for boys ages 10-14 and an expert on what boys today are struggling with. With increasing numbers of boys in juvenile homes and detention centers, gangs and prisons, the suicide rate in boys has grown significantly, in addition to drug and alcohol use and gang activity and gang related deaths. The number one problem boys are having now is negativity: bad attitudes, unmotivated, having lack of appreciation for what they have and entitlement issues.
The statistics on these problems have a natural ebb and flow, but right now Dr. Sapp believes "the world they (boys) have to navigate has become more complex. With the absence of a meaningful 'rite of passage', we expect them to function in the environment." Yet, there are some things parents and teachers can do to help boys, Dr. Sapp explained, "the first thing they need to know is they are loved and valued and they need family members to support them. They also need guidance and mentoring, they need good role models (cheerleaders and advocates) cheering them on; they also need to believe they matter. All boys need love and hugs and attention and they need structure, consequences and follow thru. When asked what he thought about child rearing today, he felt parents were way too permissive and that the kids had taken over the household. Often times, parents tend to "rescue" their boys from the consequences of their actions and behaviors.
And if still, a parent struggles with their son, a good residential therapeutic boarding school may help. "They offer hope, different interventions and strategies, groups of peers to work with and learn from and a safe and healthy environment for their child. In this kind of place, their child will grow to have more self confidence and self worth, and parents get the opportunity to learn skills through family therapy and workshops on how to parent their sons. And when the boys see the work the parents are willing to do, the unified front they have and how much their parents love and care about them, it helps to ease the pain and anger the boys feel towards their families. This is when they start to rebuild the family."
To listen to the full interview go to
Boys On The Edge on
LATalkRadio.
Also available in Podcast 
Lon Woodbury is the owner/founder of Woodbury Reports Inc. and
www.strugglingteens.com. He has worked with families and struggling teens since 1984 and is the host of Parent Choices for Struggling Teens.
Dr. Andrew Sapp, PhD, is the founder of Cherry Gulch and a licensed Clinical Psychologist. Cherry Gulch is a therapeutic boarding school for boys ages 10-14 in Emmett, ID. Dr. Sapp earned a M.A. and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University. He is a veteran and served as a Naval Lieutenant stationed at Naval Medical Centre Portsmouth where he worked as a therapist. He has served on the Government Relations Committee for the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) and has certification as both a Wilderness First Responder and in Non-Violent Crisis Intervention. He is also EAGALA certified.
This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602,
www.springridgeacademy.com, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.
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