What a Relationship Model Really Means and Why It Changes Outcomes at Turning Winds

What does it really mean to be a relationship-based treatment program and why does that distinction matter so much?

In this episode of the Turning Winds Podcast, host Kevin Zundl sits down with Jared Sartell, LCSW, Director of Clinical Programming, to unpack the relationship model at the core of Turning Winds and how it fundamentally changes treatment outcomes for teens.

Jared explains why decades of research point to one truth above all others: lasting change is driven less by technique and more by the quality of the relationship and the shared belief that things can improve. From peer dynamics and staff engagement to structure, accountability, and long-term alumni connection, every element of the Turning Winds program is intentionally built around trust, hope, and human connection.

You will hear how relationships are not treated as a soft concept, but as a measurable benchmark for fit, progress, and long-term success. Jared also shares why students continue reaching out years after graduation, attending weddings, staying connected, and viewing Turning Winds staff as lifelong anchors rather than temporary authority figures.

If you are a parent trying to understand what separates meaningful treatment from surface-level compliance, or a professional curious about what truly drives adolescent change, this conversation offers clarity and depth.

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For more teen parenting tips and treatment information | turningwinds.com | 800-845-1380.

Transcript

What I really want to get into is what is a relationship model and what does that mean for turning winds and how does that actually change the delivery of treatment and produce a different outcome than it would if you had a different philosophy or pursuit .

Yeah that's a great question. So any good treatment center, we'll talk about being a relationship-based model that's a good foundation for any sort of treatment. What we know, and this has been a proven and research over and over again, is that the vast majority of change that occurs in a therapeutic relationship is attributed to the hope.

To the relationship that the provider has with the client or to the relationship that they have and the hope that they have together that things can get better. And so there are a million different clinical models that you can use to make in sessions or

in clinical work to affect those changes. but they're by far less. Important than the nature of the relationship and the hope that they have together the providers and the clients that things can change. That's foundational. That's just widely understood. And so the way that we utilize, relationships in, in turning wind is that really everything is built off of the relationship.

So they're the program with which the students can achieve successes are ba built off of, or at least informed by the nature of the relationships that they're building with their peers. The staff how they're using those relationships in ways in order to advance through our structure, they have to share experiences with staff and develop relationships and those sorts of things.

For our specific model, occasionally there are times where a student is not a good fit for turning wind and typically the primary, symptom of that. The allows us to recognize that is if a kid has no ability or desire to build relationships of any really real kind, whether it's with peers or with staff.

And so for us it's so important that's one of our benchmarks to ensure that that we can serve a kid well and that they're a good fit for our model. And so there's a quote that I really like that has helped me in my parenting specifically, but also in my practice, especially with adolescents, is that is that when you need to offer a guidance or correction or feedback that.

It's quoted as you approve them with quickness and yet show an increase of love afterwards lest they esteem thee an enemy. And so you do the work that you need to do with them, and then if at all possible, you offer relationship to them before you have to correct them or guide them. If possible, you do that.

And if it's not possible, you always come around afterwards and you let 'em know. What you appreciate about them, how much you like them you show them you're a good, valuable person in my eyes. And just because we had to have this hard thing, you're still important to me.

And so I have found when I've been good at applying that. Things go really well or the trends, and success goes really well. And when I forget about that for whatever reason there are obstacles that, that are more, bit more difficult to overcome. And I think that's, we apply that principle both consciously and subconsciously.

It's just how we operate everything. Develop a relationship, doing the hard things, and then reinforcing the value of that relationship. And what's interesting is we this is fairly unique to turning wind, but we, on any given week, we have students from anywhere from six months ago to 20 years ago, reaching out, just checking in.

Those relationships remain because it's not just a. For us. It's not a, Hey, we're paid to be your friend, deal. It's, we're invested in you as a human being from now on because you happen to come here. And so we, one of my. A client that we had graduated five years ago, recently got married and wanted to make sure that key members of our staff were able to be his wedding.

And that is and that's really cool and it's not an everyday occurrence, but it's also not unheard of for those sorts of things like real life events happening, far removed from the turning wind experience where they wanna ensure that their people. And we're invited on a regular basis.

And I've worked in a lot of treatment centers and a lot of therapeutic centers and that part there, like the frequency and the amount of people that that want to maintain interpersonal relationships with the people from Turning Winds is pretty incredible. I've not actually seen anything like it before.

Yeah. And I think, for a team or really anybody, If they have to want to change and then that's, I think by definition built on a foundation of trust. What do you guys do to gain that trust?

Obviously you when they start, you're strangers. So you're starting from absolute zero. And so we are genuinely friendly and charismatic. We're accepting people for who they are. Here, we, each of us as staff strive to build relationships with each individual kid that comes here. We're very playful.

We try to have a lot of fun. We provide opportunities for that to happen naturally. We hire staff that are grounded, mature individuals, and so we have a higher than percentage staff of that are like, have experienced life, raise their own families, are, are in their careers or are grounded as human beings and pretty much know who they are.

And that's pretty solid for them. It's easy to, it's easy to build a relationship with a struggling person if you are grounded in who you are.

 All of our interactions are designed to help a student, and we're overt about this. They're designed to help a student gain some wins under their belt because they've been losing for a long time and are keenly aware that they're more or less losers in the eyes of the adults.

And the adults may not see it that way, but the kids will perceive that. And so we, it's all about pointing out what their wins are. Even if they're not obvious , especially if they're not obvious , pointing out ways that they could be winning with a couple, like adjustments of how they operate.

Our structure is designed to, to have them achieving real, like completing real achievements that you can't help but feel good about yourself when you've done something hard and it was valuable. And it, and all of the staff behind you are telling you, you got this. Maybe a little bit more like this, but you got it.

Any good treatment facility is going to be relationship based and that's gonna be a part of their language. What I like about Turning Winds when I came to work here just under six years ago, I was not looking for a job. I came to visit my friend Owen's Place of business.

I happened to be in the industry working at another school, and I was happy at my job. And I came to visit Turning Winds and what I saw was, the nature of the interactions that were just organic interactions where the students were. Have you ever noticed how like when fathers and Sons have a great relationship, how the son will look?

Dad? There's just a look and I can't really articulate it or describe it, but that's what I saw happening just organically when kids were approaching and interacting with the staff. And it just left a mark on me. And that's not, it's that's not very common. And that remains like when I walk into work after a weekend and I'm watching interactions just orienting myself, I'm still seeing the same kind of stuff.

And that really, that underscores. That's just how, who we are and what we do. And I think that's how we differentiate it, I think, from a lot of treatment is there's more of a human sort of element, like a genuine, we're in this together sort of thing as opposed to the, we're in this together cheerleading, motivational poster on the wall sort of thing.