To my friends in transition –
And I say friends, because all of us who experience the life altering challenge of raising a teen in crisis have an instant and significant bond. It goes without saying that this is a tumultuous time in the life of your family, filled with anxiety, uncertainty and fear of the unknown. The next several months as you transition your child back home are absolutely critical and I know for my wife Tish and I, we were dedicated to doing everything we could possibly do to “get it right.” We were fortunate and blessed to hear of Homeward Bound through our son’s therapeutic boarding school and even more blessed to have the financial capacity to engage their services. I sincerely believe that because of their assistance and resources, the transition home thus far for my 16 year old son has been not only bearable but a very positive experience for all of us. He has been home for just over 4 months and all things considered, he is doing quite well. That’s not at all to say there haven’t been some bumps in the road, because there have been, but with the loving support and guidance of our transition coach, we have been able to keep our family “on track”.
Our coach has offered incredibly valuable insight on a consistent basis for whatever the “issue of the day” may be. He is a great advocate for our son and helps us see things from our son’s perspective. He was there to calm us down and reassure us when there were missteps. There are real issues with PTS as your child comes home and he was there to help us work through those feelings. I still remember him saying, “It’s not what the bump in the road is, the important thing is how you and your son handle that bump and can we all get back on track.” Tish and I have witnessed our family reconnecting in such positive ways over the past several months and our ability to communicate with our son and each other is so much better than it has ever been. I know that I have Homeward Bound and their “family platform” to thank for a lot of our growth. Tish and I have moved from a place of heavy reliance on our coach’s opinion on how something should be handled, to a place where we feel confident about our own thoughts and our coach simply offers us feedback which is now at the point of, “…nice job, that’s pretty much the way I would handle it.” This has been extremely reassuring for us.
Homeward Bound has been worth every dime…so much in fact that we have renewed our agreement under the Legacy Parent Program for the last two months after our initial contract expired. My son is not an easy “nut to crack” on any level and our coach has managed to establish an effective relationship with him.
In closing, I would add that the home visit was enjoyable, very productive and enlightening. The Home Team meeting was the highlight and remains to this day one of the most AMAZING MOMENTS my precious family has ever had…especially for my son.
Sincerely,
John & Tish Inman
Atlanta , GA
