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One of the most significant parts of the program is the experience of living and working together with others, an area where Castle students have often had difficulty. The expression "it takes a village" has by now become a cliché, but a cliché that is expressed by almost every Castle parent at their child's graduation from the program. It is through the seemingly ordinary events of daily residential life that students build their capacity for living-those critical skills in relationships, self-care, conflict resolution, self-management, positive interests, responsible decision-making, contributing to the common good. At Castle education involves so much more than academics, and the group living experience is a key path to fostering growth and maturity in the total person.
Milieu Therapy: What is it?
In our program "milieu therapy" means creating a somewhat artificial world within Castle where kids can practice the skills they need in a safer, more predictable system than the outside world can provide. In this world, it is much less the particular activities or routines that matter in themselves. Instead, it is the structure that gives them practice in being accountable to a social matrix outside themselves, in working things out with other people, and in experiencing some positive achievements of their own. Therefore, our structure is designed to have clear expectations, a consistent system for consequences, opportunities for success and status, and rituals to give recognition for progress. With the staff as models of positive problem-solving, the essential core of the program is a therapeutic community built on common traditions and mutual caring
The daily life and activities of our setting are not meant to reflect what a normal home is like, but to build the skills that prepare a youngster for a normal home. What we hope parents can bring back with them is not the specific rules we have (although we ask they be supported as part of treatment), but the underlying values and principles that the rules represent.
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© 2006
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