Counseling & Recovery Support

IN-SCHOOL COUNSELING

Horizon High School aims to support teens in recovery by providing holistic hands-on services. Counseling services encompass an onsite AODA counselor, licensed social workers, two staff members who are actively in recovery and additional therapeutic services contracted through Comprehensive Community Services (CCS).

At Horizon, students participate in their recovery daily through both traditional and nontraditional groups as they learn who they are and how to manage their co-occurring substance use and behavioral health concerns.

While participating in counseling services at Horizon, students:

  • Educate themselves on addiction and recovery

  • Identify their personal triggers

  • Learn how to work through cravings while also developing problem solving skills

  • Develop emotional regulation and adaptive coping skills

  • Learn how to take care of their mental health

  • Gain healthy relationship building strategies

  • Craft personal mindfulness strategies and healthy

Horizon provides these opportunities through talk therapy, yoga classes, process groups, peer support groups, meditation, working with animals, art therapy and more. One-on-one support is consistently available to all students as needed by all Horizon staff members.

Staff at Horizon believe in providing a safe and family-oriented environment adapted to individual needs in order to increase student growth while teaching accountability and supporting recovery.

Horizon students are also required to have outside support (i.e. a counselor, psychiatrist, social worker, sponsor). This is a requirement so that traditional outpatient counseling services can be paired with Horizon’s unique school-based counseling services to allow students to build greater safety, knowledge of community resources, and personal survival tools. Success is achieved at Horizon High School by working hand in hand with other AODA and mental health agencies in the Madison community to provide our students with the strong foundation they need to stay alive, stay in school and stay sober.

 

LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION

The Horizon High School life skills program provides students with the opportunity to experience different activities in the community that further social, emotional and psychological growth. Life skills allows our students the chance to try new things, discover hidden talents, and to learn by seeing and doing! Students and staff travel all over the community to experience a variety of activities designed to empower our students and support them in their recovery.

Examples of previous Life Skills experiences:

  • Outdoor Enjoyment – Parks, Trails, Gardens, Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Family Farms

  • Educational Enhancement – Museums, University Lectures, Libraries, Guest Speakers

  • Practical Skill Building – Career Centers, Job Fairs, College Tours, Banking Workshops, Laundry and Cooking Class

  • Health & Wellness – Working Out, Ice Skating, Kayaking, Rock Climbing, Karate, Swimming

  • Arts & Enrichment – Ceramics, Cooking, Farming/Gardening, Painting, Meditation

  • Sober Teen Fun – Laser Tag, Amusement Parks, Roller Rink, Trampoline Parks, Boating, Bowling, Movies.

Horizon students are challenged to try new things. While this may involve stepping out of their personal comfort zone, it usually leads to the discovery of a new talent or enjoyment of a new activity.

Life skills promotes a positive self-image and encourages skill building in our community. The goal of the Horizon High School staff is to assist students in gaining independence and self-confidence while in society in order to help them develop a personal schema for what it means to live a healthy, substance-free lifestyle.

 

PARENT SUPPORT GROUP

Parents play an important role in their teen's lives and we want to give students/families every opportunity to be successful in their recovery. One way Horizon supports parents is by hosting a Parent Support Group. This group is held one night per month by our dual diagnosis counselor to provide parents/family members with a time and space to receive the safe support they need. This group also gives parents and loved ones of our teens an opportunity to meet other parents and/or family members struggling with the effects addiction and mental health can have on all members involved in the family unit. Horizon aims to provide comprehensive support and education on recovery and mental health to anyone involved in a student’s life.

Additional Goals of the Parent Support Group are:

  • To provide parents a safe place to talk about addiction, mental health, recovery, and how they can take care of their own mental health & well-being while simultaneously supporting their teen.

  • To help parents get to know each other to form a better close knit recovery community that involves communication and support.

  • To empower parents to take active roles in supporting their teen in recovery, both while they are at Horizon and in their future