At Muir Wood, family programming isn’t a supplement to treatment—it’s the foundation. From the first phone call through our 16-week aftercare coaching program, we work with the entire family because we’ve seen, consistently, that teens heal more deeply and sustain progress longer when their family heals alongside them.
Our approach is built on a simple truth: the challenges that bring a teen into treatment are rarely just about the teen. They’re about relationships, communication patterns, and family dynamics that have become sources of pain rather than sources of support. We’re here to help change that—not by assigning blame, but by rebuilding the connection that makes everything else possible.
Insurances We Accept
We work with most major commercial insurance carriers. We do not accept Medi-Cal or Medicaid. If you’re unsure whether your client’s coverage applies, our admissions team can verify benefits quickly — usually within one business day.
In-Network With Most Commercial Insurers
*Please note that at this time, we are not in network with Medicaid/Medi-Cal
Why Family Programming Is Central to Outcomes
The issues that bring adolescents into treatment—anxiety, depression, substance use, self-harm—are deeply relational. They develop in the context of relationships, and they heal in the context of relationships. A teen’s distress often reflects something happening within the broader family system: unresolved conflicts, communication breakdowns, patterns of interaction that have stopped working for everyone involved.
Most parents who come to Muir Wood are doing everything they know how to do—and it’s still not enough, because parenting an adolescent in crisis is one of the hardest things a person can face. What it does mean is that treating the teen in isolation, without addressing the family dynamics they’ll return to, limits how far treatment gains can go.
“The issues in life are really relationship issues. And that’s where the distress comes for all of us—if our relationships are not robust, if we don’t have ways to work out conflicts and difficulties. When a teen comes to us, they are often manifesting some of the family’s distress. The family program is how we move the focus from a problem behavior to strengthening the connection that makes working things out possible.”
Rawland Glass, Director of Family Services
Research consistently supports what we see in practice: family involvement in adolescent treatment is one of the strongest predictors of positive outcomes—both during treatment and after discharge. At Muir Wood, the family is the client. The teen may be the one in residential care, but the work we do with parents, caregivers, and the broader family system is what makes lasting change possible.
What Makes Our Family Programming Different
Many treatment programs include family therapy as a component. At Muir Wood, family programming is woven into how we structure therapy, family classes, support groups, and aftercare—so that the work families do isn’t confined to a weekly session but continues to build from admission through long after discharge.
Attachment-Based, Not Behavior-Based
Our family therapy and classes are guided by attachment theory and the growing body of research on co-regulation—the idea that a parent’s primary role is not to control a teen’s behavior, but to be a stable, grounded presence that helps the teen learn to regulate their own emotions, impulses, and decisions.
The consensus on effective parenting practices is evolving. Traditional approaches centered on control, correction, and consequences have been shown to be largely ineffective with adolescents—and in many cases, counterproductive. Teens whose autonomy is consistently overridden often resist more, not less. In our family programming, we teach a different model: one built on shared authority, co-regulation, and the understanding that connection is the prerequisite for influence.
Positive Discipline
Our family programming reframes how parents think about discipline and consequences—drawing on research that shows traditional consequence-based approaches are often ineffective with adolescents and can damage the parent-child relationship rather than strengthen it.
At Muir Wood, we use the language of results rather than consequences. In a consequences approach, the parent determines in advance what punishment will follow a behavior—the parent holds the power, and the teen learns primarily about the parent’s expectations. In a results approach, the teen experiences the natural outcomes of their choices—reality holds the power, and the teen learns about how the world actually works. The parents’ role shifts from enforcer to ally: someone who helps their teen navigate real-world outcomes.
For example, not showing up to work means you lose your job. That’s a direct result of a series of decisions a teen makes. The parents’ role is not to punish, but to help their teen learn from the real-world consequences of their choices. We help parents find a more collaborative and, therefore, more effective way to work through the choices their teens make—being with them but not resolving the discomfort that naturally arises from decision-making.
“Help is only help if it helps. That becomes the litmus test. If it’s helpful, we do it. If it’s not helpful, we don’t do it. And when we look at consequences honestly—especially with adolescents—they’re just not helping.”
Rawland Glass, Director of Family Services
Going Deeper Than Codependency
Many family programs address codependency by delivering what amounts to a “stop it” message: stop rescuing, stop enabling, stop doing too much. But codependent behavior is compulsive, driven by love, care, and concern combined with misunderstandings about what will actually help.
“Telling a parent to simply stop is as ineffective as telling an addict to simply quit.”
Rawland Glass, Director of Family Services
We strive to help parents understand the external dependencies, attachment wounds, and the unmet emotional needs that fuel them. We work with parents to develop healthy boundaries and family structure.
What Families Experience: From Admission Through Aftercare
Family involvement at Muir Wood is structured and intentional, beginning before the teen’s first full day in the program. Here’s what the arc looks like.
Admissions and Onboarding
The first contact is with a parent or caregiver reaching out to our admissions team. From that moment, families receive a welcome email with key contacts (primary therapist, clinical director, academic coordinator, prescriber), the family handbook with an overview of the program and family programming, links to the weekly family classes and support group, and an invitation to the New Parent Orientation.
The New Parent Orientation—held weekly—covers essential logistics, but its most important component is preparing parents for the evening phone calls with their teen, which can be emotionally intense in the early days. Parents receive specific, practical guidance on how to show up as a co-regulating presence, what topics to address and avoid, and how to handle calls that become unproductive.
During Treatment: Three Nights a Week of Family Support
From the first week their teen is in care, families have access to three structured touchpoints per week:
Weekly family therapy. Conducted by the teen’s primary therapist—the same clinician providing individual therapy—so the work is fully integrated rather than siloed. Sessions focus on rebuilding connection, repairing trust, and developing healthier patterns of communication. When clinically appropriate, the therapist may dedicate part or all of a session to working with parents alone.
Twice-weekly family classes. Led by the Director of Family Services, these classes follow a structured curriculum that covers five core topics, which cycle continuously. Parents can attend as long as they choose—even after their teen discharges—and many repeat the curriculum multiple times because of the depth of material covered.
Weekly caregiver support group. A facilitated peer support space where parents share experiences, offer encouragement, and connect with other families navigating similar challenges. The support group is not therapy—it’s a place to be heard, validated, and reminded that you are not alone.
In addition to these group touchpoints, families receive weekly huddle calls with the primary therapist for progress updates, goal alignment, and aftercare planning—which begins at admission, not at discharge.
The Family Agreement
As treatment progresses, the primary therapist works with the teen, parents, and caregivers—individually and together—to develop a Family Agreement. This is not a behavior contract. It’s an aspirational, relationship-based document that captures the family’s work during treatment and establishes shared expectations for life after discharge.
The Family Agreement includes the family’s shared commitment to respectful interaction (what we call the “basic family rule”: respect for people, animals, and property—with words, tone, and body language), a choices-and-results framework for navigating day-to-day decisions, and agreements developed collaboratively between parents and teens. It becomes a living reference point that families can return to when things get difficult at home.
After Discharge: 16-Week Aftercare Classes
The transition home is one of the most vulnerable windows in a family’s recovery. Within hours or days of a teen’s return, familiar patterns can re-emerge, not because treatment failed, but because the neural pathways that drive old habits are deeply wired in both teens and parents. A parent’s automatic frustration, a teen’s reflexive withdrawal—these are normal, neurologically driven responses that can quickly destabilize progress if they aren’t anticipated and supported.
“Relapse happens. Not because people fail, but because it’s part of the nature of being human. We have a built-in tendency to do what we’ve always done. That’s why the transition home is so critical—and why families need support in that window, not just while their teen is in our care.”
Rawland Glass, Director of Family Services
Our Parent Aftercare Class meets weekly, and parents can attend for up to a year. The curriculum addresses the real-world challenges families face after discharge: how to respond when old patterns resurface, how to manage blocked care (the neurological shutdown that happens when a parent feels continually rejected or unappreciated), how to maintain the co-regulation skills they’ve learned, and how to rebuild when things go sideways.
Parents and caregivers do not need to be perfect. They need to be supported. That’s what aftercare coaching provides.
Meeting Families Where They Are
When families first come to Muir Wood, they arrive in a wide range of emotional states: shame, regret, anxiety, exhaustion, hope mixed with guardedness, and often a deep sense of failure as a parent. All of these reactions are normal. They reflect how much these parents and caregivers care about their children—and how hard it is to watch a child struggle without knowing how to help.
Parents and caregivers often arrive holding one of two misconceptions. Some believe their teen is the problem and that treatment’s job is to “fix” the child so that their existing parenting approach will finally work. Others arrive consumed by self-blame, convinced they’ve caused everything and are fundamentally inadequate as parents. Neither extreme is accurate—and both get in the way of the real work.
The truth is in the middle: every person in a relationship plays a role in how that relationship functions. Acknowledging that is not an accusation—it’s an invitation to grow together. At Muir Wood, the first message we give every parent and caregiver is: you’ve got this. Struggling does not mean you’re failing. And you don’t have to do this alone.
“Just because you’re struggling doesn’t mean you’re not doing a good job. This parenting thing is really, really tough. And none of us can do it alone.”
Rawland Glass, Director of Family Services
Working With Real Families in Real Situations
Families don’t arrive in textbook configurations. Our clinical team is experienced in navigating the full range of family complexity—not just in theory, but in daily practice.
When a Parent Is Resistant or Disengaged
A resistant parent is not a bad parent. They are often struggling with their own shame, despair, fear of judgment, or a sense of hopelessness that nothing will work. We approach parental resistance the same way we approach teen resistance: with patience, empathy, and an open invitation. The door to engagement stays open. We listen. We encourage. We don’t force because forced participation doesn’t produce genuine change, and our entire parenting model is built on that principle.
Blended, Separated, and Non-Traditional Families
When we say “parents,” we mean the caregivers—regardless of biological relationship. We work with guardians, single parents, blended families, divorced parents who may not agree on treatment, grandparents, and any configuration of adults responsible for a teen’s well-being. The teen benefits enormously when divorced parents can set aside their conflicts and collaborate on their child’s needs. When they can’t, our therapists adapt, maintaining clear boundaries and always centering the work on what the teen needs to thrive.
We do not take sides in parental disputes, participate in legal proceedings, or allow adversarial dynamics to derail the therapeutic work. Our role is clear: help the family come together so the teen can get their needs met and grow up in the healthiest possible way.
Geographically Distant Families
All of our family classes, support groups, and aftercare classes are conducted virtually via Zoom, making them accessible to families regardless of geography. Family therapy sessions can also be conducted virtually when in-person attendance isn’t practical. We are committed to ensuring that distance does not diminish the depth or consistency of family involvement.
The Power of Parent Peer Support
One of the most underestimated elements of our family programming is the weekly parent-and-caregiver support group. Unlike family therapy (which is clinical and goal-directed) or family classes (which follow a structured curriculum), the support group is a space for parents and caregivers to share honestly what they’re going through, without fixing or judgment.
These sessions are facilitated but not therapist-led in the traditional sense. The facilitator listens, affirms, validates, and creates safety. Parents and caregivers bring the content: their struggles, their small victories, their fears about what happens next. And something powerful happens when a room full of parents realizes they’re not alone—that other families are navigating the same impossible-feeling challenges, and that the shame and isolation they’ve been carrying is shared.
Parents and caregivers actively support each other through the virtual format—sharing encouragement, resources, and solidarity in real time. The peer connections that develop in these groups are often cited by parents as one of the most meaningful parts of their experience at Muir Wood.
What Family Transformation Looks Like
We don’t promise that treatment will solve everything. What we do see—consistently—is that families who engage fully in the programming leave with something fundamentally different from what they came in with: a new way of relating to each other that allows for growth, repair, and resilience over time.
Over the course of treatment and aftercare, many families experience:
Warmer, more open communication. Conversations that would never have happened before—honest, respectful, and rooted in mutual understanding rather than control or avoidance.
A shift from power struggles to collaboration. Parents and caregivers learn to honor their teens’ autonomy while maintaining appropriate authority. Teens learn to use that autonomy more productively.
Healthier responses to setbacks. When old patterns resurface—and they will—families have the language, the tools, and the self-awareness to catch it, name it, and re-engage rather than spiral.
A shared framework for moving forward. The Family Agreement, the co-regulation skills, and the results-based approach give families a common language and a reference point they can return to long after treatment ends.
“The more active participants are in a client’s treatment, the better the outcomes tend to be. How do we all look at this more holistically to make a systemic change? That’s the question that guides our family work.”
Dr. Ian Wolds, PsyD — Chief Clinical Officer
For Referring Professionals
If you’re a therapist, psychiatrist, school counselor, or other professional considering a referral to Muir Wood, we want you to know that family programming is a core clinical component of our model—not a peripheral service. We coordinate closely with referring providers to ensure that the family work done during residential or IOP care aligns with and supports the outpatient work that follows.
We welcome collaboration. To learn more about our approach or to discuss a specific family, please visit our referring professionals page or contact our admissions team.
Frequently Asked Questions
Weekly family therapy is a required component of treatment at Muir Wood, and consistent attendance is strongly associated with improved outcomes. Family classes and support groups are strongly encouraged and available from the first week. We believe the most effective treatment happens when the whole family is engaged—and we make it as accessible as possible through virtual options and flexible scheduling.
Your Family Is Part of the Healing
If your teen is struggling and you’re wondering whether treatment is the right step, we want you to know: we don’t just treat teens. We work with families. And the support, tools, and connection you’ll build during this process are designed to last long after treatment ends.
“Even if you’re not ready to pull the trigger, call us anyway. Let us have the privilege of listening to you and supporting you in this moment.”
Rawland Glass, Director of Family Services
2 Simple Ways to Get Started Today
Speak With an
Admissions Coordinator
Verify Your
Insurance Coverage