Contact:
Pamela Wood
Admission Director
803-239-7672
Cambio Academy is a troubled teen residential treatment center for youth 13 to 18, that offers the wide-open space of country living along with the amenities of a nearby, large metropolitan area. Cambio Academy has developed evidence-based, clinically intensive care, built upon the foundation of experiential learning and expressive therapies. Treatment interventions include Art, Music, Dance, Drama, and Equine Therapies. This takes place in an environment designed to explore and master essential psychosocial skills while also achieving academic excellence. There is special emphasis on developing reading skills for recreation and life-long learning.
Because Cambio Academy is a drug-free environment there will not be opportunities to use drugs or alcohol while at that program. They believe that serious drug use in adolescents is often associated with mood, anxiety, and thought disorders, perhaps as an attempt to self-medicate. Cambio Academy treats these comorbid conditions in addition to practicing healthy habits regarding sleep, exercise, recreation, and diet. They teach about the various drugs of abuse, symptoms of addiction, typical cognitive distortions, stages of addiction, and the neurophysiological basis for addiction. Furthermore, they teach that academic reading and psychosocial skills deficits are also associated with substance use. Students in this program will practice psychosocial skills that, when at sufficient levels of proficiency, have been shown to be protective against addiction.
Cambio is fortunate to have clinicians with expertise in treating gender dysphoria. The initial step upon admittance, is a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation to carefully assess and treat any underlying comorbidities that may be impacting gender identity and dysphoria. Typically students will be assigned to the female or male dormitory according to their chromosomal gender. There are single rooms for privacy. Many adolescents with gender dysphoria may be suffering from depression, mania, anxiety, and thought disorders.
