Abundant Life Academy
Abundant Life Academy is a premier Christian boarding school, effectively addressing the unique set of needs faced by youth in today’s culture.
We realize that in today’s post-modern society, spiritual and moral absolutes are essentially non-existent in the mind of a teen. We are conscious of the fact that emotionally immature youth find comfort in the misdirected opinions of their peers while shunning the wisdom, direction, and proven life experience of their parents. We are keenly aware that the privilege of an education takes a back seat to social acceptance and immediate gratification. All of these issues combined have left our students in a place of loss and established in them a desperate need for a paradigm shift in the following areas:
• Spiritual reconnection and revitalization
• Family Restoration
• Academic Mastery
• Emotional Growth & Intelligence
• Advanced Leadership Discovery and Training
At Abundant Life Academy we go to great lengths to address each of these issues in a way that supports the family while creating a pathway for our students to have ownership in their personal growth and development at the same time.
While each youth is responsible for the personal choices they have made prior to enrollment at ALA, we would be naïve to assume that their choices were made completely independent of family involvement. It is not just the student that does the work. Parents are engaged in their child’s growth from the first day they arrive through graduation. The Family Restoration component culminates in a signed Family Covenant created, drafted, and signed by the entire family. Great care is taken to ensure a successful re-entry into the family upon graduation.
At Abundant Life Academy, we believe that education is a privilege. We offer a fully accredited, year-round educational program that emphasizes mastery–each of our students is required to achieve an 85% or higher prior to scholastic advancement. We provide every student with an individualized educational plan and follow through with consistent and scheduled academic progress evaluations. Beyond the core courses provided each student, as part of our program we also have a venue for grade repair and credit recovery. This allows students the ability to be provided a second chance to lessen the effect their past poor choices have had in regards to their educational goals.
Abundant Life Academy’s therapeutic program differs from the average boarding school. At ALA, we implement positive peer culture as the primary model of our therapeutic environment. Additionally, we do not focus on the traditional clinical approach with our students but instead initiate a model referred to as Milieu Therapy. This simply means that, rather than sitting in an office with a clinician, the environment itself serves as the primary mode of counseling. This is based on earning the right to speak into a teen’s life based on trust and therapeutic rapport established through relationship. We do, however, recognize the value of traditional methods so, in addition to Milieu Therapy, Abundant Life Academy also offers individual therapy, various topical group therapies, equine therapy, and pastoral counseling as determined by our therapeutic team.
The remaining primary component of Abundant Life Academy’s program is the Advanced Leadership Training we provide. We believe that each of the teens that God brings to us has purpose. As such, we provide advanced level leadership training in the area of personality insights and development, emotional intelligence, interpersonal communication and relationship skills, and formal peer leadership.
Abundant Life Academy takes a holistic approach to each teen that we serve. It is not enough to merely “fix the problem.” Our most sincere desire is that every individual we serve has the most complete opportunity to recognize-through accountability and responsibility-the patterns that have led them to enrollment with us, implement the tools to make healthy choices, and then share that experience with others through a lifetime of service.
