High School Student Services

Because each of our students presents with very individualized and complex needs, NSA provides a range of additional resources that allow us to customize a student’s and family’s school experience to address those specific needs. Our goal is to wrap services around students and families with enough intensity to promote lasting change.

After School Programming

North Shore Academy offers a wide range of after school recreation opportunities that occur within a structured, safe and nurturing environment. Working closely with students, parents and NSA staff, we seek to offer meaningful and positive experiences for our students that enhance self-esteem, healthy relationships and the attainment of social skills. For many students, an extended school day is also essential for providing structure during the vulnerable after-school hours.

Family Support

There are times when managing the complexities of parenting can be overwhelming. We have developed a variety of resources to allow us to develop partnerships with parents that try to accommodate your busy schedule as well as your family’s unique needs. We provide a wide range of support including informal problem solving over the phone, parent support groups, parent education groups and weekly family therapy. 

Service Learning Program

Each day, groups of students from NSA go out into the community to share their gifts with vulnerable members of our community. Serving food at soup kitchens, cooking for homeless shelters, tutoring local elementary students, helping settle refugees, leading activities in retirement communities are just a few of the activities our students engage in. In addition to these local activities, 12-14 students travel for a week-long service learning trip to another part of the country to engage in service related activities. Service learning is a highly effective way to engage students in the community in healthy and productive ways and helps students realize the wonderful gifts they have to share with others.

Substance Abuse Assessment and Treatment

Nothing can derail a student’s future like involvement with drugs and alcohol. NSA partners with OMNI Youth Services (www.omniyouth.org) to provide school-based support for students struggling with substance abuse issues. We partner with students and families who are concerned about substance use and provide assessment, drug screens and an effective and popular class that challenges students to think about their use in new ways and to struggle together over the challenges of living a clean and sober life.

Supportive Attendance

There are times when the stress of school is so overwhelming that a student will refuse to attend school. This strategy of avoiding the stress of school can have a great impact on how students cope with other stresses. Avoidance can quickly become a self-destructive go-to strategy for anxious students to manage the stresses in their lives. By partnering with the student and parents, we develop a plan to help a student attend school successfully and empower them with effective coping strategies to address future stresses.

Mentoring

Decades of research indicates that an adult outside of the family who takes an interest in the child and nurtures their development is essential to building resilience in children. The NSA Mentor Program trains men and women to mentor students for up to four hours per week. The goal of the mentor relationship is to share in healthy recreational activities, develop a valued relationship, and to provide parents with respite from the stresses of parenting.