It seems that the only thing that never changes is that things are always changing. I was reminded of this because of the recent changes in our office. Our previous newsletter and co-editor left our office to take up the position of managing editor of a nearby newspaper. This resulted in my daughter taking full responsibility for the newsletter, as well as continuing her work with advertisers, the entire Directory process, handling finances, and our web development, as well as the client sites we develop and host. It has also resulted in all of us changing our workload to keep information flowing and having to hire new staff.

Anyone who has run a business or organization knows that constant change is the norm, and in order to survive, these changes must be taken in stride and adapted. This is especially vital in the private sector because we don’t have the luxury of virtually guaranteed funding that public entities have, regardless of whether they perform well, mediocre or poorly. In the private sector, we must constantly change to meet the needs of our clients and readers or they will go elsewhere.

Adapting to constant change has been the hallmark of successful schools and programs in the network for special needs residential programs as well. I have seen several schools and programs develop a unique and successful approach to working with children and, after a few years of maintaining that approach, find themselves in a financial crisis caused by reduced enrollment. Those who are able to adapt to the different needs and desires of their students thrive, while those who stick to the same old ways become irrelevant or disappear. In a very real sense, any successful school or program today is significantly different than it was just five years ago due to the need for constant change to accommodate changing circumstances.

The network of residential schools and programs for children with behavioral/emotional challenges has also changed considerably in the 18 years since I started my educational consulting business. In November of 1989, I wrote my first newsletter, a four-page bimonthly publication to share information with professionals and parents. Over time, it expanded to 32 pages each month to meet the increased demand for information and the increased amount of information available. To complement the newsletter, I created a directory of shortlisted schools and programs based on input from professional educational consultants. The reach and flexibility of the Internet were also harnessed to meet the information needs of an increasing number of working parents and children. All these changes were necessary to survive serving the needs of parents who were looking for effective results to help their children in trouble.

In 1984, when I started as Director of Admissions at Rocky Mountain Academy, a CEDU school in northern Idaho, the schools in the network were few. They were heavily influenced by alternative education ideas and strongly resisted the perceived arrogance of the “experts”. By arrogance I mean that the general trend in the mental health industry was to seek the convenience of tailoring the program to the child in need, rather than tailoring the program to the needs of the child.

This new residential healing approach based on a sense of community, structure, wildlife, and emotional growth was amazingly successful, and the network grew rapidly during the 1980s and 1990s. It continues to grow in this first decade of the 21st century. Many concepts that were first seriously introduced in this network have since been adopted by major residential mental health centers. They include the use of nature as an important healing tool, ropes courses, the structure that builds a community based on consequences rather than punishment, equine therapy, and counselors as mentors. These items are commonly used in even the most conservative mental health facilities today.

Another change has been the demand for that kind of accountability that seems to be better served by professional supervision and trained and credentialed staff. Whereas 20 years ago mental health clinicians were viewed with suspicion by many of the leading schools and programs in this network, most quality schools and programs have now expanded their clinical staff to at least complement the work done by the structure, nature and mentors.

While change is necessary to meet changing needs and cultural perspectives, it is also always challenging. Several current challenges will produce results that could increase or decrease the quality of services for children.

The expanding clinical presence in schools has the potential to allow the network to better serve the broader needs of a population that is difficult to work with. On the other hand, you could go back to the practice of the 1970s, where too often a hospital or RTC did its thing, and children were poorly cared for by some highly credentialed people who looked more at a diagnosis than at the child. .

Expansion of large corporations that purchase existing programs could provide increased resources for programs or schools to better serve their populations. Worse still, fears of large anonymous and powerful corporations that put profit success before serving children could materialize.

The development of state regulatory activities and the proposed federal regulation can do what their advocates want; eliminate the worst abuses that currently occur in some programs. Instead, it could result in centralized authorities destroying quality programs and making them similar to the current public system that all too often tragically fails children.

The rapid expansion of search fee marketing (cash for children referred by referral sources) could be another less expensive way for parents to find places for their children. It will most likely result in inappropriate and unsuccessful placements to maximize a referral agency’s cash flow and overwhelm the efforts of professional consultants trained to put the needs of children and their parents first.

Change is happening on all levels, has always happened and always will. But still, we work in a dynamic industry in exciting times. Tune in another ten years to see how it all works out.