If someone is in immediate danger, call 988 or 911 first. Many parents of teens ages 12 to 17 call us when keeping their teen safe at home has become more than a family can manage. We treat the distress underneath the self-harm in a live-in, home-like house in Southern California.
Verify insuranceClinically reviewed by Alejandro Alva, M.D., Medical Director.
What this is
Self-harm treatment here looks at what self-harming behaviors are doing for your teen, and we do not treat them as something done for attention. For many teens they bring a short drop in emotional distress when nothing else does. We do not describe methods here, and we treat your teen's pain with care and respect.
Signs and symptoms of self-harm in teens
You may notice long sleeves in hot weather, an explanation that does not quite add up, or a teen who steers you away from looking closely. Hiding is often driven by shame and a fear of judgment, more than a wish to deceive you.
Emotions like rage, shame, or emptiness can fill the room, and then a sudden calm settles in. That calm can be worrying once you understand where it came from.
Symptoms of self-harm can grow over time, as the same behavior brings less relief than it used to and happens more often. Supervising your teen at home can start to feel like a second full-time job.
Bathrooms, nighttime, and locked drawers may now shape your whole household's day. That level of monitoring is hard for any family to sustain, and you deserve support with it.
Promises, hiding, and deep shame or feelings of guilt about the one thing that brought relief are common. This is why shaming is not part of our treatment.
A mental health condition such as depression, a traumatic memory, or a painful relationship pattern is often driving it. The treatment plan reaches that cause too, not only the behavior.
Safety, then skills
Therapy sessions, family time at the kitchen table, and staff present overnight all give your teen steady support when the urge shows up.
01
DBT helps your teen with the urge in the hour it actually shows up, and individual therapists help name the emotions the behavior was managing. The safety plan is updated as risk changes and stays a living plan, never something filed away.
02
Parents learn how to respond in a crisis without panic and without a lecture that can push the behavior out of sight. Together, we write the plan for the first night home.
03
Staff are present through the night, and shared common rooms give your teen somewhere to go instead of being alone with the urge. Safety measures stay clinical and caring, not punitive.
Shasta is our girls' house in Orange County, with six beds for teens ages 12 to 17. It has a pool and a patio, and staff are in the house overnight.
You can also walk through Ridgeview and Richards, our other two houses.
Our approach
Your teen learns skills to cope with emotional pain in the hardest minutes, with a safety plan that changes as risk changes. We treat the feeling underneath instead of lecturing about stopping.
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) for adolescents teaches distress tolerance and emotion regulation. Your teen practices those skills in the house when the urge is real, not on a worksheet hours later.
The written plan includes your family and changes as risk changes. A plan written in week one and never revisited is not real care.
Depression, trauma, or a relationship pattern is often the real driver. Cognitive behavioral therapy and other evidence-based therapies reach that too, because the urge can return if its cause is left alone.
Spending time with other teens who know this kind of pain can ease the social isolation that makes the next episode more likely.
Medication can help with an underlying mental health condition, like depression or anxiety. We consult psychiatry when it is useful, and we do not use medication to try to remove a coping strategy.
Your part
Self-harm can turn a household into constant watching. Family work here teaches you a response that is calm and caring, neither panic nor a lecture.
Punish it or pretend you did not see.
A lecture can push self-harming behaviors further out of sight, and ignoring it can be heard as permission. We teach you a response that does neither.
Leave them here and stay out of the work.
Family therapy and parent coaching are part of the same plan, because so much of this work is about how you respond to the next difficult moment.
Sort the first night home after they arrive.
A written safety plan covering the bathroom, the overnight hours, and Sunday is practiced here, well before anyone is in a crisis.
Academics
Safety comes first, and it does not have to cost your teen the school year. Accredited classes at our on-site school keep your teen's credits moving while staff stay close during the hardest hours.
Classes Matched To Your Teen
Classes run through Advantages School, our accredited school partner. We use your teen's transcript and current schedule to place them in the right courses, so credits keep building while the safety work happens in the same day.
Optional Tutoring
Tutoring is available alongside the clinical day. Your teen does not need to have a stable week before joining a class.
Preparing For The Return To School
Before discharge, we practice the locker, the question about long sleeves, and the first class, so none of it comes as a surprise.
Please send your teen's transcript, current schedule, and any IEP or 504 plan so their place in class stays theirs.
Length of stay
30
days in residence, by progress
Most stays run 60 to 90 days. Some finish closer to 30, and a few need longer.
90
Some of this work fits in weekly DBT when home can still keep your teen safe. When monitoring has taken over the household, a 30 to 90 day stay provides staffed safety while new skills develop. Discharge is planned around a next therapist and a plan you feel able to follow at night.
When to call
If you cannot leave your teen alone, or self-harming behaviors are escalating past what outpatient care can manage, we are here to help. If someone is in immediate danger, call 988 or 911 first, then call us once the situation is safe. Aaron Earnest and the admissions team will be honest about whether this is the right level of care. DBT is usually the core of self-harm treatment here. If your teen is talking about not wanting to wake up, please read our teen suicidal ideation treatment page first.
Not always. Self-harming behaviors without an intent to die are called non-suicidal self-injury, or NSSI. They are often a way to get relief from emotional distress, but they still raise suicide risk and need a careful assessment.
Clinical staff watch for signs and symptoms of suicide risk, and the safety plan here is updated as risk changes. Our suicidal ideation page covers thoughts of suicide directly.
A psychiatric hospital stay is for immediate danger and usually lasts days. Self-harm residential treatment is for when the immediate danger has passed but home still cannot keep your teen safe week to week.
We offer three levels of care for teens ages 12 to 17: residential, outpatient, and virtual IOP. At any level, getting professional help early matters more than waiting to see if it passes.
Staff are present through the night, and shared common rooms give your teen somewhere to go instead of being alone with the urge.
A written safety plan covers the bathroom, the overnight hours, and Sunday, and it is practiced well before anyone is in a crisis. Safety measures stay clinical and caring, never punitive.
Self-harm treatment here leans on dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which teaches coping strategies for the hour when the urge is strongest. Those skills build healthier coping, so your teen can tolerate strong emotions and calm the body.
Individual therapy names the feeling the self-harming behavior was managing. Psychiatry and medication management are available when the clinical team recommends them.
Yes. Classes run on site through Advantages School, our accredited school partner, and your teen's transcript is used to place them in the right courses.
Safety comes first in the early days, so school builds back as your teen settles into the house and the daily schedule.
Many health plans cover residential mental health treatment for teens, though benefits vary by plan and depend on medical necessity. We work with plans including Aetna, Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Carelon, Cigna, GEHA, and Magellan.
We verify your benefits at no cost before anyone is asked to commit, and a verification is not a guarantee of coverage.
Before you call
FAQ
Answers to what parents often ask before calling about treatment for teen self-harm. If your question is not here, admissions can talk it through with you.
If someone is in immediate danger, call 988 or 911 first, then call us once the situation is safe. Aaron Earnest and the admissions team will be honest about whether this is the right level of care for your teen.
Some of this work fits in weekly DBT when home can still keep your teen safe. If your teen is talking about not wanting to wake up, please read our teen suicidal ideation treatment page first.
Most stays run 60 to 90 days, and some finish closer to 30 while a few need longer. The first days focus on safety, shared language, and a plan, with no pressure for a confession in week one.
DBT helps your teen with the urge in the hour it actually shows up, and individual therapy names the feeling underneath. Group therapy with peers who understand can ease the isolation, and staff are present through the night.
Family therapy and parent coaching are part of the same plan, and you learn to respond in a crisis without panic or a lecture. Together, we write and practice a safety plan for the first night home.
Safety planning at home starts with locking up medications and sharp objects. Admissions can talk through the days before admission with you, and the full written safety plan is built with your family during the stay.
This page is reviewed by Alejandro Alva, M.D., our Medical Director. These free guides from public health agencies and medical groups cover the topic in more depth.
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine
SAMHSA
