What Is Therapeutic Placement Consultation?
Traditional weekly therapy is enormously valuable — but it has limits. When a child, adolescent, or young adult is struggling in ways that outpace what outpatient therapy can address, families sometimes need to consider an entirely different level of care.
What It Is
A Clinical Process — Not a Referral Service
Sometimes the traditional weekly “therapy hour” is ineffective in helping people make important changes. Therapeutic Placement Consultation involves helping individuals and families access the help they need — finding a program that matches the patient’s clinical and personal needs.
At therapeutic programs, individuals receive treatment that cannot be matched by traditional therapy: medical and psychiatric care, individual and group psychotherapy, academics, vocational training, and therapeutic milieu. Many programs also employ art, exercise, equine, canine, hiking, and music therapies.
Why This Is Harder Than It Looks
The therapeutic treatment industry has had a complicated decade. Documented abuses at some programs — and the documentaries, investigations, and legislation that followed — have made families understandably cautious. At the same time, many high-quality programs were unfairly swept up in that scrutiny.
Families researching on their own face a mountain of information with no reliable way to sort the good from the bad. A Google search will not get you there. Neither will a program’s own website.
“There are hundreds of programs in the United States, each offering different services from different providers. Finding a good fit requires someone who actually knows this world from the inside.”
What a Consultant Actually Does
A good consultant does not just hand you a list of programs. They do the clinical work to understand your loved one’s specific needs — diagnosis, history, personality, family dynamics — and match that against programs they actually know.
Dr. Cohen has personally visited programs across more than 20 states and internationally. He has sat in on group therapy sessions, met with clinical staff and program directors, and spoken directly with participants.
No Referral Fees — Ever
Dr. Cohen does not accept referral fees, commissions, or any compensation from programs. His recommendations are based entirely on clinical judgment — not financial relationships.
Please Note
These programs are NOT bootcamps and are NOT punitive. Today’s programs recognize the importance of forming relationships with participants and emphasize the participants’ ability to learn new ways of thinking in order to make healthy, well thought-out choices.
“As a licensed provider in the community, I have access to information that goes beyond a basic Google search, beyond an AI-generated paragraph, and beyond a glossy website filled with industry jargon.”
— Dr. Joshua Cohen
Program Accountability
What Has Changed — and Why It Matters
In 2020, the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) adopted a significant new membership requirement: all member programs must hold accreditation from an approved independent governing body. These accrediting organizations provide external oversight and evaluate programs against established ethical and treatment standards.
Dr. Cohen pays close attention to which programs are accredited. Unless there is an exceptional reason, he refers only to accredited programs. Accreditation does not guarantee the right fit — that is what the consultation is for. But it is a meaningful baseline he takes seriously.
NATSAP adopted mandatory accreditation requirement
States visited personally by Dr. Cohen
Referral fees accepted from programs. Ever.
Approved Accrediting Bodies
Association for Experiential Education (AEE)
CARF International
Council on Accreditation (CoA)
DNV GL
The Joint Commission
Teaching Family Assoc.
NIPSA
“I have never worked with a family that reported they suffered at the hands of an abuser at the program they attended.”
Is This the Right Step for Your Family?
A conversation costs nothing and comes with no pressure or commitment.