Many troubled teens struggle to navigate, maintain, or accept healthy relationships. The Calf Program helps girls to better understand the changes in relationships through the relationship they have with their calf.
The Calf Program is strategically created to help your daughter develop her emotional health. The ranch uses calves specifically because they are not bred to be companion animals.
As the calf gets older and more independent, the relationship between your daughter and the calf will change. Those changes help provide a framework for your daughter to adapt to the inevitable changes in human relationships.
When the calf is newborn, they are affectionate, loving. The calf will want to be nurtured. Your daughter may form a strong bond with her calf as she bottle feeds the calf and cares for him.
As the calf gets older, the relationship between your daughter and the calf will change. He will no longer be completely dependant on your daughter.
Your daughter will learn to adapt to that change. She will become better able to accept changing relationships. Family therapy and as well as individual therapy sessions, will reinforce these ideas.
Approximately halfway through her stay, your daughter will have the responsibility of caring for a second calf. She can apply the skills she learned from the first calf and put them into practice with her second calf.
For many young women, the Calf Program also helps them to develop a more positive mindset. By focusing their calves and their needs, they appreciate the importance of caring for others and putting others' needs before their own.