Transition

It is difficult to go directly from the tight structure and busy schedule provided at residential treatment to home, boarding school, or a college setting where there is minimal structure and a lot of freedom.  This can be compared to leaving the wading pool and then jumping into the deep end right away.  Too much freedom too quickly can overwhelm a student's new and fragile coping skills.  

At La Europa, we believe the transition portion of our program is an important assessment period before our students leave us for the next step of their journey.  Steps toward transition will gently challenge a false sense of security students might start to feel in the highly structured environment at La Europa.  It also gives our students the opportunity to gain experience in dealing with the "normal" bumps that accompany change of an environment, both inside and outside of La Europa.  

The primary goal before graduation is for each student to implement, practice, and demonstrate master of the DBT and other life skills they worked on while at La Europa.  We realize they learned and practiced in the very structured and supportive setting, but we would like them to be challenged to expand skills into new settings as well.  We know that this will be required of them in life beyond our program.  

During the transition phase students will:

• Practice newly learned skills in "real-life" situations.
• Solidify their identity and understanding of who they are before returning home to friends and family where the pressure to revert to old behaviors or patterns is strongest.
• Experience age-appropriate challenges as they are gradually given more freedoms and privileges.
• Accept daily coaching from staff and peer mentors.
• Strengthen their tolerance and ability to accept when their parents hold boundaries with them.  We understand it is difficult for parents at home to maintain the level of containment many students need to gradually shift from the restrictive treatment experience to being a typical teenager at home.
• Increase internal motivation and commitment to healthy behaviors.
• Use effective coping skills.
• Learn to handle a set-back when they accidentally lapse into an old pattern or behavior.  
• Handle appropriately limited use of technology when introduced.