Therapeutic Boarding School for Struggling Teens
Longview, Texas

All activities at Heartlight are designed to promote interaction and interpersonal relationships between the staff and teen residents. Because of this life-on-life experience with staff, young people's lives are changed, and problems and difficulties become opportunities for deepening relationships.

Each Heartlight resident meets weekly with a designated Masters-level licensed counselor. Each full-time on-site counselor is responsible for the emotional care of approximately 10-15 students.

Counselors lead two group sessions and an individual counseling session with the student each week. They are intricately involved in the lives of the young people counseled, as well as with the parents, becoming the "point of contact" for each family.

Parents are phoned each week after the individual counseling session with the teenager to provide an update and to discuss important therapy issues. Counselors also meet with the parents during the on-site retreats and family weekends and communicate with the family via email.

Academics is an important component in the life of every resident. Due to behavioral problems, many of our residents are behind in their schoolwork, so we work to help them get caught up, providing positive encouragement, one-to-one teaching and tutoring when necessary.