Montana Academy

Montana Academy is a therapeutic boarding school for struggling teenagers. Since its founding in 1997, it continues to offer a unique approach to adolescent treatment. Montana Academy combines well-trained clinicians, an effective therapeutic program and a challenging prep school, all situated on a remote Montana ranch. In the years since its opening, the Academy has fulfilled its promise and continues to deliver a remarkable combination of clinical sophistication, staged incentives and ambitious academics. At the Academy we take a distinctive psychiatric approach to adolescent troubles. We recognize that any presenting symptoms and misbehaviors—at school, at home, and among social peers—result from a relative immaturity. For this reason, instead of limiting treatment to symptom relief (pills or brief therapies), we pursue a two-step diagnosis and dual treatment: (A) to identify and then to remove, insofar as possible, the obstacles to psychological development; (B) to prod students to achieve new psychological milestones and so to restore the momentum of normal maturation. Montana Academy’s clinical, academic and program structures are founded upon the understanding that to help struggling teens; we must work towards a restoration of normal adolescent maturity contributing to students’ academic and interpersonal success. The Academy’s preeminence as a therapeutic boarding school is built upon this premise as we continue to deliver a rich and transformative experience for adolescents, young adults and their families.