Continuing Care in High Schools: A Descriptive Study of Recovery High School Programs

Abstract

Data from 17 recovery high schools suggest programs are dynamic and vary in enrollment, fiscal stability, governance, staffing, and organizational structure. Schools struggle with enrollment, funding, lack of primary treatment accessibility, academic rigor, and institutional support. Still, for adolescents having received treatment for substance abuse, recovery schools appear to successfully function as continuing care providers, reinforcing and sustaining therapeutic benefits gained from treatment. Small size and therapeutic programming allow for a potentially broader continuum of services than currently exists in most of the schools. Recovery schools thus provide a useful design for continuing care, warranting further study and policy support.

KEYWORDS:

• adolescents
• continuing care
• education
• recovery
• schools
• substance abuse
• treatment

Notes

While not the focus of this article, retrospective pretest to posttest analysis suggested significant reduction in substance use as well as in mental health symptoms among the students in recovery schools. Students and staff were very positive in their assessment of the therapeutic value of the schools, and the data suggested positive but less enthusiastic ratings of the academic programs. The school programs do appear to successfully function as continuing care to reinforce and sustain the benefits students gained from their treatment experiences.

Due to the confidential nature of being in recovery, we cannot conclude, however, that the other five of the 17 schools did not employ or utilize a person in recovery. Volunteers also played a role in many schools, and this was not captured by our staff surveys. It can be assumed, though not verified, that some of those volunteers were people in recovery. Surveys were only distributed to paid staff, and interviews were only conducted with a handful of community volunteers across the participant schools.