Watching your teen struggle is a unique challenge. Even when your teen is ready to change, it can be challenging to know what you can do to help. One technique that you can use to help your teen is using cues. When your teen is struggling, the situation can seem impossible. One of the most…

Bullying is described as a behavior that: is intended to cause distress or harm, involves an imbalance of power or strength between the aggressor and the target, and generally occurs repeatedly over time. There is a line that is crossed when something goes from teasing to bullying and it’s important to recognize when and if that…

Improve Your Relationships and Maintain Your Self-Respect One of the major components of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is Interpersonal Effectiveness, or improving your relationship with other people. One set of strategies that will allow you to improve your relationship with other people is represented by the acronym GIVE FAST. GIVE Skills are designed to help you maintain healthy relationships. FAST Skills…

Running Toward a Better Future When Dan Miner was in high school, he ran on the track and cross country team. He was never very good at it, but that didn’t matter to Dan. What mattered was that running gave him a chance to clear his head. Not only that, being on the track team…

Learning to Play Basketball Helps Prepare Boys for Success in Life Cole Archuleta has worked at Discovery Ranch for almost three years. For most of that time, he has helped with coaching sports. Cole has a lot of experience with sports. Outside the ranch, Cole coaches a high school football team, a little league football…

Wrestling with Challenges   As a school for troubled youths, most of the students have already confronted their share of critics before they walk through the doors of Discovery Ranch (DRB). Many of our students’ worst critics are themselves. Their past experiences and failures make them hesitant to try difficult or new things. That defeatist…

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) While not every troubled teen has a troubled history, traumatic events that happened during childhood do affect a child’s developing brain and contribute to the type of teen that the child will become. Because Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) significantly affect the way that people grow and develop, exposure to ACE can…

Dorothy Ah Quin always knew that she wanted to help people. She began her career as a high school teacher, where she taught history and special education. While still teaching, Dorothy earned a Masters of Art in Educational Counseling, and shortly after her Clinical Mental Health License. She continued to teach for several years after…