Ozark Trails Academy

Ozark Trails Academy
Location: Willow Springs, Missouri
24/7 Helpline: (855) 509-1822 (free informational help)

Ozark Trails Academy is a place of hope, healing and purpose for troubled teens.

Ozark Trails Academy’s residential treatment program provides outstanding clinical therapy, incredible academic learning, and amazing outdoor responsibility and adventure for teen girls and boys, ages 12-17, who are looking for help and need to discover real change.

Outstanding Clinical Therapy

Hidden deep in the hills of Southern Missouri on a beautiful 750-acre ranch surrounded by thousands of acres of the Mark Twain national forest, we have the luxury of being in an environment that lets youth completely disconnect from the outside vices of the world.

Ozark Trails Academy accepts students year-round and is licensed to provide all levels of therapeutic care for troubled teen boys and girls, ages 12-17 with mild to moderate emotional and behavioral problems, and those who are experiencing future-impacting relational or emotional difficulties brought on by trauma.

Limiting our care to 24 teens allows our 6 licensed therapists and experience trained staffers to give more attention to each struggling child. An individualized clinical therapy plan and focused care helps our students move to a better place mentally and emotionally in a much shorter period of time. Our residential treatment center also helps struggling teens find positive new ways to manage life’s obstacles and traumas that have strained their well-being and relationships in the past. We provide individual, group, family, equine therapy and 12-step health therapy.

The licensed therapists and trained staff at OTA work with students year-round to offer all levels of therapeutic care for mild to moderate emotional and behavioral problems. We serve teen boys and teen girls who have a history of suffering from trauma, adoption, RAD and abuse.

Continued Academic Learning

We also want your child to receive an accredited education and the support services needed to finish high school and receive their diploma! Ozark Trails Academy provides an online education program through the Willow Springs School District (WSSD), Missouri Course Access Virtual School Program (MOCAP) and LAUNCH, which is a MOCAP provider. Courses are developed by curriculum specialists, certified teachers and digital developers that meet state learning standards. This includes dual credit courses that are postsecondary and allows your student to earn high school and higher education credits simultaneously.

Amazing Outdoor Adventure

The environmental components at Ozark Trails also allow for an intensive clinical experience to occur while methodically, comprehensively and thoroughly addressing each teen’s needs. Research demonstrates better post-treatment outcomes when teen boys and teen girls participate in wilderness therapy in conjunction with residential treatment. This is made possible with unlimited access to spring rivers, caves, climbing, hiking, equine and biking trails, that provide the perfect balance of nature, within a safe home-like environment.

Riding and caring for horses, exploring, rock-climbing and river activities all contribute to the therapy process that helps troubled teens transform their hearts and minds. The natural setting allows students to commit their full attention to themselves, their individualized treatment, the peer dynamics at Ozark Trails, and their families.

Year-Round Enrollment

Ozark Trails is a year-round program and can accept new students (domestic and international) at any time. Acceptance is based on a combination of a review of the student’s current and past history of behavior, and consultation with the student’s parents. Students enroll in our program for a minimum of eight months, and some remain through two years of college at Southwest Missouri State.

How Change Happens

Troubled teens experience true healing and growth at our safe, remote residential treatment center home, school and ranch here in the beautiful Ozarks in Missouri. With room for up to 12 teen girls and 12 teen boys, ages 13-19, Ozark Trails Academy offers a “wilderness meets adventure” style program, as well as pure residential treatment, and focused academics.

Students live in separate dormitories, based in our 32,000 square foot building on campus that also includes classrooms, open meeting space, kitchen and a dining room. We also offer students transitional living options as they move from high school into two free years of college through Southwest Missouri State College.

Surrounded by nature, struggling teens learn important life lessons as they work with horses, explore rock climbing, and enjoy canoeing and kayaking on the North Fork River, which flows through our 750 acre ranch. From sunrise to sunset each day, students can find hope, healing and purpose in life, separated from harmful distractions. Instead, as they live and work on the ranch, troubled teens connect with a supportive community and nature. They experience a real change of heart and become more of a productive and fulfilled person.

Ozark Trails Academy residential treatment center teaches teens ways to avoid destructive behavior, make the choice to change for the better, make good decisions, experience real success, develop healthy relationships, and then move back into a new and better life.

Top Benefits for Your Teen

Adventure therapy
Academics (H.S. credits, college)
Experiential learning
“Live, Learn, Lead” positive peer culture
Clinical therapy
Emotional processing
Peer dynamics
Self-reflection
Group processing
Life skills
Safe, home-type environment
Cohesive/thorough approach

Program and tuition costs at Ozark Trails Academy are affordable for such superb counseling and therapy. Your medical insurance may help cover the cost of treatment. To check your insurance coverage, call/text Admissions at (385) 352-3371.