Elan School for Troubled Teens is based on considerable experience showing that one cannot change behavior by simply eliminating negative actions.  The adolescent must not only stop anti-social acts;  he/she must learn a new way of doing things, learning Life Skills for Troubled Teens. However, learning new ways will not happen until the “pleasure” and guilt accumulated from the old ways is stopped.  Elan eliminates drugs, alcohol, violence, threats and sexual misconduct.  By cutting off these agents of guilt, the dynamic pattern which ruptured self-esteem is removed. The next step is to provide alternative ways of doing things, Life Skills for Troubled Teens.  The Life Skills Curriculum teaches students how to achieve pride by functioning properly and taking responsibility for their actions.  It provides learning experiences which enable them to acquire the skills of social interaction and to maintain a personal program directed toward making sense of their individual needs using proper Life Skills.

The basic Life Skills for Troubled Teens elements of the Elan School are work, counseling and education. The house has several departments which structure the work.  There is a Communications Department, Service Crew, Kitchen Crew, Business Office, and a Security Department, whose members are called Expeditors.  Every student is assigned to work in one of these departments.  From the bottom up, this ranges from Worker to Ramrod to Department Head to Coordinator Trainee to Full Coordinator.  At the top of the hierarchy is the Senior Coordinator of the house; at the bottom are the "Shotdowns," students who have been demoted to this position because they have failed to show responsibility in some way.

The positions in each department are real; they have power and privilege at each level.  As students increase in their ability to manage their Life Skills and assist in managing house life, they are given new privileges and responsibilities.  The job positions are also designed to help them improve areas of weakness.  For example, a person who has difficulty speaking in front of people or who is extremely shy might be given a job in the Communications Department doing seminars in front of the house.  

A new student begins as a worker and earns promotions to the next rank throughout his program participation.  Gradually, the student assumes positions of greater responsibility.  Next, he or she will oversee other workers; then the student may become a Department Head, next a Coordinator Trainee and finally a Full Coordinator.   Each added responsibility results in new privileges and increased status.  Once students have mastered the lower positions, Elan places them in a department designed to further challenge them, which often aids students in making career choices.

The Elan social structure teaches that successes are rewarded by promotion.  If a student fails to perform with initiative, he or she is given direction by staff and peers, which may help to overcome that particular difficulty.  If this is not successful,  a demotion may occur.  Elan believes there should always be new areas of challenge.  Demotions teach students to function under adversity and to deal with failure, disappointment and disagreement.  By experiencing failure students learn valuable Life Skills, understanding that it is an occasional part of life and that they can start again and succeed.

The activity of running the departments creates a constant demand for program participation and achievement.  Peer pressure teaches and reinforces constructive behaviors.  Students learn Life Skills on a daily basis, they must earn what they want, which is similar to everyday society.  To get, one must give.

The peer-oriented social structure is vital to the Elan concept because it provides the framework for maturing into adulthood.  Students learn to accept criticism without taking it personally.  They also learn that self-esteem is not purely dependent on the acceptance of others.  Students develop the important life skills of creating constructive interpersonal relationships.  Through the Life Skills Curriculum, students learn to take orders, criticize constructively, give orders reasonably, care for and work with others, and stand up for themselves.  Acting-out behaviors are discussed in groups where they can be observed, understood, managed and corrected.  The two basic tasks for students to master are getting along with peers and managing their  inner stresses and strains. 

Life Skills for Troubled Teens