Searching for an nonprofit therapeutic boarding school for troubled boys in Knoxville, Tennessee? Perhaps you will consider Heartland Boys Academy, a low-cost boarding school in Western Kentucky. Heartland is an alternative year-round boarding school known for its dedication to teenage boys who have gotten off track academically, emotionally, legally, or socially.

Heartland Boys Academy accepts underperforming boys from across the U.S., including from Knoxville, Tennessee. It is a faith-based boarding school that uses adventure as a powerful therapeutic method for turning around negatively motivated boys. We are an alternative school with a purpose to lead struggling boys to realize their specific purpose, or destiny, in Christ.

Heartland exclusively serves troubled or struggling boys. Parents of these boys find it advantageous for their boy to experience a new environment here at Heartland that is away from negative influences back home in Knoxville, Tennessee. We demonstrate love and respect to disrespectful and difficult boys who are in need of a new life perspective including a new spiritual focus in life. Our mentoring and encouragement brings about new thinking and motivations where there was once only ungodly motivations and an impasse in the relationship with their parents.

Accredited School for Boys from Knoxville, Tennessee

To provide a quality education is also our top priority. Heartland Boys Academy is a fully accredited private school that operates under a model of independent study with tutelage. Students complete courses at their own pace, with weekly objectives set by teaching staff based on the student’s program of study. Heartland also supports students to work toward post-secondary goals by offering assistance with college testing.

Students from Knoxville, Tennessee, who attend Heartland achieve phenomenal progress towards successful high school completion and beyond. Our partnership with Edgenuity produces an educational environment that builds motivation to succeed, which gains momentum and encourages students to do their best. Edgenuity is certified by COGNIA, the highest accrediting body for schools in the United States.

While the Edgenuity program is intuitive and self-paced, our own certified classroom teachers make sure that the boys keep up their coursework. They tutor, answer any questions, and give each student plenty of encouragement. Our teachers can see at a glance how well each student is progressing. Students who lag behind or are not understanding a specific topic are helped, but if they are dragging their feet as an act of rebellion, they may jeopardize some on-campus privileges like special outings until they understand it is better to get caught up.

Heartland Spiritual Focus

Spiritual life is the foundational aspect of Heartland Boys Academy. We believe that ultimately Jesus Christ is the only answer for troubled teenagers from Knoxville, Tennessee. We are dedicated to introducing every boy to a relationship with their Maker. We help them find their spiritual gifting and purpose in Christ.

Many teens who attend have rebelled against their spiritual heritage or have never professed belief in Christ. Heartland offers an open environment for them to renew or gain their faith, perhaps for the first time. Godly character surrounds everything we do at Heartland Boys Academy.

Where Boys from Knoxville, Tennessee, Can Gain Leadership Training

Beyond helping capable students learn to apply themselves academically and spiritually, we offer specific leadership training to unlock the potential in each student. We teach teens to serve and love other people. Mission trips and community service events offer real life experience and application of the leadership principles learned at Heartland.

Replacing the Negative with a Positive Peer Culture

Heartland acknowledges that teenagers and their parents in Knoxville, Tennessee, face enormous pressure from the culture. Teens are surrounded by a barrage of negative peer pressure. The Heartland model for change is called Positive Peer Culture (PPC), which asserts that young people can learn self-worth, significance, dignity, and responsibility only as they devote themselves to the positive values of helping and caring for others.

Adventure Therapy is Key

Adventure therapy is a primary therapeutic feature of Heartland. We find that boys are more open to communicating and learning while enjoying adventure activities, so we use those times to instill better thinking and to develop better communication skills. It also helps improve their ability to work in synch with others.

Adventure therapy is a type of experiential therapy that uses challenging adventure activities to aid the therapeutic transformation. It plays a key role in character maturation. Every boy is a part of our adventure program because of the valuable life skills that can be learned. We offer many kinds of adventure activities including camping, backpacking, rappelling, canoeing, swimming, hiking, hunting, and spelunking (cave exploration).

At an adventure therapy program like Heartland, students are allowed to engage in many activities and new adventure experiences during their time here. Adventure therapy activities at Heartland are where boys learn to listen, learn regulation skills, and push themselves to overcome challenging fun tasks. The challenges students face through our adventure programming are designed to forge a more positive identity, build character, and develop a sense of accomplishment. Students do not just participate in the activity; they learn how to do it themselves. This is called experiential learning.

Our staff are trained to manage the adventure program in a safe and effective way. The same guides who live with students all week, building rapport and making connections, are then able to mentor students during their adventure activities.

Heartland Boys Academy is a place of healing and hope for boys in Knoxville, Tennessee. We have seen many at-risk and troubled teens transformed into hard-working, respectable adults. We help restore teens to their families; healthy, confident, and spiritually and academically on track. Call (888)300-2830 to learn more today, or fill in our online inquiry form.

Please consider looking outside of Knoxville, Tennessee to see how our Christ-centered adventure-based therapeutic boarding school program can move your troubled teen toward life transformation. To discover more, please call or inquire online today.