Explorations: Transitional Living in Montana

Age Groups :: Teens

Gender :: Female | Male | Transgender

Explorations Montana: Program Overview & Key Highlights
🏡 HomeBase Philosophy & Everyday Life: A unique adolescent transitional living program in Montana designed as a family-style therapeutic home environment. Co-ed students, ages 13–18, get real traction in mastering "everyday life" challenges rather than living in a sterile, isolated institution.

🏫 Normative Public School Integration: Students attend the local public school to experience a more normative, real-world environment. This structure allows them to actively practice balancing the daily needs and challenges of school, home, family, and personal endeavors with professional support.

📚 Extracurriculars & Academic Support: To ensure academic success while navigating a public school setting, students regularly participate in extracurricular activities and meet with an on-site tutor on a consistent schedule.

🧠 Clinical & Individualized Therapy: Students meet with a licensed therapist weekly for intensive individual and group therapy sessions, integrating core modalities such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).

🌱 Counselor-Led Life Skills: Essential independent life skills are actively taught and modeled by counselors within the home, helping teens build a functional foundation for their next step toward college or independent living.

👨‍👩‍👧 High-Involvement Family Therapy: Family therapy is seamlessly conducted via web-based video platforms. This digital connection is deeply enhanced by regular parent visits to the Montana facility, student visits home, and scheduled parent weekends where families travel to Explorations.

🌲 Therapeutic Outdoor Adventures: Located in Trout Creek, MT, the program utilizes weekend and summer outdoor activities—like snowboarding, mountain biking, and kayaking—as experiential therapy to build self-confidence and self-esteem.

🧩 Neurodiverse Specialties: Optimized for clinically complex teens and puzzles, offering dedicated support for ADHD/ADD, Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), learning differences, and PTSD.

📉 Intimate Small-Group Dynamic: Restricts enrollment to an average of just 8 clients per year with a high-vigilance 1-to-4 awake staff-to-student ratio, ensuring deep, individualized attention.

WITH GOALS OF INTEGRATING HOME, ATTENDING A BOARDING SCHOOL OR GOING TO COLLEGE. Call admissions to learn more about how Explorations Montana might be the right landing spot for your child.

General Information

Participant Age Group(s)

Teens

Organization's Name

Explorations

Year Founded

1989

Director of Admissions

Penny James

Admissions: Rolling or scheduled?

Rolling admissions

Admissions

Which age groups does your organization accept?

Children/Adolescents

Payment Options

Private Pay | Out-of-pocket

Call for more information

Does the program have more than one location for this particular program?

Location of Program

Rural

Gender(s)

Female

Male

Transgender

What is the average number of clients you see per year?

Only accepts participants who are voluntarily enrolling only.

Maximum Enrollment

Can support 18 yo, if they enroll before 18?

Yes

What are the interview requirements for applicants?

No Required Interview in Person

Call for More Information

Religious Affiliation?

Billing & Payments

Payment Type

Private | Self Pay

Breakout Billing For Insurance | ‘Superbill’

Call for more information

Cost per month/workshop/programming (in USD)

10200

Is there an enrollment fee/outfitting fee/payment in advance?

Yes

If applicable, is the last month’s fees due at enrollment?

Yes

Insurance

Do your students receive insurance coverage for more than two weeks?

Call for more information

Do you have an insurance utilization person?

N/A

in-network?

Levels of Care

Number of Phases or Levels

Not Applicable

Treatment Categories | Levels of Care

Transitional Living

Transitional Living - Social Skills/Life Skills/LD/ASD

Additional levels of care offered by facility

N/A

Accreditation

Professional Associations/Affiliations

National Association of Therapeutic Schools & Programs (Professional Member)

For licensed programs, by state or under 18, please select Incidents required to be reported to the state:

Elopement

Infectious Disease

Major Injury | Death

Restraint

Runaways

Other

Academic Accreditation

Other

Ownership

Ownership Type

Private Company - Owners On-Site

Name of Parent Company

Phoenix Mountain Collaborative LLC dba Explorations

Facility Operations | Type of Land

Privately Owned

Who owns the land?

LP Real Property II, LLC (Single Member LLC)

Additional Professionals & Medical Rule Outs

Are there medical rule outs

Yes

Possible medical rule outs

Active Psychosis

Actively Suicidal

Fire Starter

Injectable Medicine

Less Than 30 Days Sobriety

> Max BMI

< Min BMI

Need for Detox?

No Definitive Guardianship

Pregnancy

Call For more information

Minimum IQ

Is there a minimum BMI

Yes

Can program accept insulin-dependent diabetics

Yes

Are there additional professionals?

Psychiatrist

Other

Additional types of therapies

Other

Percentage of clients on meds at enrollment

< 50%

Psychiatrist

Contracted psychiatrist as needed

If psychiatrist is available to students, what percentage of students change meds?

> 50%

Clinical Operations

Percentage of full time therapists who have a private practice outside of organization?

Not Applicable

What is the largest caseload a therapist can have?

> 8

Percentage of licensed therapists?

All therapists are licensed by the state of operation

Average number of days/week therapist are with clients?

Number of Individual Sessions with Therapist

Do clinical assistants work with lead therapists?

Do any of the therapists have more than one case load?

Yes

Treatment Modalities

Types of Therapy Offered

12 Steps Groups

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills

Eye Movement & Desensitization and Reprocessing

Family Focused Therapy (FFT)

Narrative Therapy

Play Therapy

Psychodynamic Therapy

Psycho educational

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) (pioneer to CBT)

Recreation Therapy

Telephone Therapy

Other

Integrated Wellness Support offered

Art

Breathing Techniques/Breath Work

Meditation

Yoga

Does the program have a level/phase system?

If yes, are phases/levels are they tied to privileges?

Does program have a milieu-driven residential model? (Staff are trained in model)

Integrated Wellness

Art

Breathing Techniques/Breath Work

Meditation

Yoga

Other

Does program use time out rooms?

Family Involvement

Family involvement

HIGH: Family Expected on weekly calls (or more) & to attend all family workshops (weekly , monthly or quarterly)

What is the typical amount of time a family should expect before hearing about an major incident?

Type of Family Therapy/Work Offered

Family Handbook

Family Workshops Available

Parents Visit as Needed

Other

Therapy - Group

Is there group therapy?

Yes

Average number of hours per week facilitated by licensed therapist

Average number of hours per week of group processing? (i.e. run by staff, interns, grad students, etc.)

Average number of formal family therapy hours per week (not social calls to teen)

0.5

Is video conferencing accessible for family therapy?

Yes

Therapy - Individual

Is there individual therapy?

Yes, at an additional cost

Number of individual therapy hours student receives on a difficult week?

Number of individual therapy hours student receives on typical week?

Percentage of licensed therapists?

All therapists are licensed by the state of operation

Therapist average case load

Percentage of full time therapists who have a private practice outside a program?

Not Applicable

Does the Clinical Director carry a case load?

Staff

What percentage of the line staff are full time employees?

< 50%

Line staff to student ratio during awake hours

Does program run background checks on all staff?

Yes

Is there an educational requirement for staff?

Yes

If Yes, what is it?

Other

Average number of hours staff are trained before their first shift

Are night staff awake or asleep

Awake

Programming

Neurodiverse Specialties

ADHD/ADD

Autism Spectrum Disorders

Clinically Complex (possible behavior, genetic, students "who are puzzles")

Development Delay

Intellectual Disabilities

Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities (NLD)

Pervasive Developmental Disabilities (PDD)

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Speech & Language Disorders

Type of Programming Offered for Neurodiverse Students

Academic & life skill Focus

Academic focus

Academic, functional living skills, life skills and social skills focused

Clinically-driven programming (addresses individual life, living, social and academic needs)

Other

Call for more information

Academics

Type of Academic Calendar

Traditional School Calendar & Optional Summer Term

Grades Served

K-12

Possible Community College/College

Call for more information

Can programming support a student to complete a GED?

Post high school options offered

Call for more information

Average student to teacher ratio

What does the Teaching/Classroom look like?

Packets with teacher support

Traditional teacher-led class

Online school/Classes

Teachers support blended learning

Is the program able to implement IEP's

Yes

Can provider handle a student who is more than two grade level's behind in reading?

Yes

Can program support a student who wants vocational training?

Call for more information

Does the school have AP Classes or the ability to give or take a student to the AP Test?

Tests

Classes

Does the academic program have the ability to provide ACT or SAT Tutoring (on or off site)?

Yes

Transitions

Do you offer transition services for participants/students?

Yes

If Yes, select all options that apply to your program

Family Or Student Coaching Support For Certain Amount

Other

Are there additional fees that apply to transitional options?

Call for more information

Percentage of families that participate in various transition programming?

< 50%

Assessments

Does the client receive a neuropsychological evaluation?

Other

What percentage of participants receive psychological evaluations?

< 50%

Who completes the psychological evaluation?

Contracted separately by family/client

Does program receive a fee for evaluation or referral?

Technology

Computer Access

Hardwired Computers

Students have Laptops

Access to Internet turned off nightly

Other

Call for more information

Cell Phones

Earned Privilege

Staff secured at Night

Other

Research

Percentage of clients who return home, or to a more traditional setting (like transitions to college or gap year, boarding school, etc.)

< 50%

Has the program previously been part of an evidence-based study?

Is the program presently part of an evidence-based study?

Explorations

General Information

Admissions

Billing & Payments

Insurance

Levels of Care

Accreditation

Ownership

Additional Professionals & Medical Rule Outs

Clinical Operations

Treatment Modalities

Family Involvement

Therapy - Group

Therapy - Individual

Staff

Programming

Academics

Transitions

Assessments

Technology

Research

Reviews of Explorations