- I was really struggling socially in school.

I was struggling at home with family dynamics and anxiety and depression and some other things that were going on.

- [RaeAnn] As a young teenager, Megan Claborn found herself grappling with personal struggles, acting out in ways that signaled a need for help.

- [Megan] Being a teenager is also really hard.

- [RaeAnn] She says her mother faced a difficult decision whether or not to put Megan in a long-term treatment facility.

- If she couldn't be my mom, she wanted somebody to be and somebody to help me in that way and help her learn how to become the parent that I needed.

- [RaeAnn] After some thorough research, it became evident that Alpine Academy in Utah was a good fit.

- I think the whole family dynamic really is a big draw for Alpine.

- [RaeAnn] Alpine Academy uses the teaching family model where married couples serve as primary treatment providers living in homes with the youth.

Among these families are Dustin and Kenz Denning and their children.

- There's so many things that they learn while they're away from their family that they can take with them and apply it to their real life situation.

And it's very beneficial.

- [RaeAnn] From depression, anxiety, eating disorders, anger issues.

The couple says they've seen it all.

- Really all they want is to know that someone is listening and that someone actually cares to hear them out.

- And they're able to focus on themselves and focus on what they need mentally and physically and anything to make themselves a better person.

- [Christian] We've been able to build really excellent facilities where they can feel like they are at home.

- [RaeAnn] Christian Egan is the program director.

- Our board has cared very much about the look and feel of Alpine so that for our youth it feels safe, it feels comfortable, it feels warm and nurturing.

- [RaeAnn] Christian acknowledges there are some teens that have had challenging experiences at Alpine Academy.

- Sometimes maybe our treatment method just wasn't right for that youth and it kind of went the wrong way for them.

Other times, maybe the youth wasn't ready to engage in this intensity of treatment.

Other times maybe there was what we call a bad actor, a particular person who was not working in the right field and who made some poor choices and was abusive, harmful, neglectful or hurtful in some way.

- [RaeAnn] But he says for every teen who's had a bad encounter, there's a multitude of others who have had positive experiences.

- Families could testify and talk about how life-changing it was.

Unfortunately, it will never be 100% successful.

But for the vast majority, it is life altering if not completely life-changing, if not actually lifesaving.

- [RaeAnn] For Megan, she says it was exactly that, lifesaving.

- I don't know where I would be without Alpine.

It's so far like out of my reality that I don't know what I would've done if my family didn't have that option.

I'm not actually sure I would be here today.

- [RaeAnn] She has returned to Alpine Academy but this time in a different capacity, as an employee.

- Working here has made me a better person than even being a student here because it takes every day I am working those muscles that I learned 10 years ago.

I feel like I've learned so much as a family teacher and an associate family teacher in the homes.

I'm honestly really grateful for the opportunity to work here.