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Monday, May 25, 2009
What is cyberbullying, exactly?
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Coast to Coast Troubled Teen Help Radio Talk Show
Coming Soon!
Dore Frances, M.A., Therapeutic Consultant has over 17 years experience assisting families with “at risk” teens.
She has visited over 400 addiction treatment centers, residential programs, wilderness schools and young adult programs in the U.S. and internationally.
This is a talk show to help you to work through all those challenges in your life that you are facing in raising a pre-teen or teen. Using the life's lessons she learned that include being adopted, working through the tragic loss of her mother at age 9, surviving cancer as a mother at age 36, struggling with her local school system when her daughter was “being labeled”, Dore reaches out to help everyone learn how to get help with faced with difficult challenges in raising children.
She is a Therapeutic Consultant specializing in child advocacy, educational consulting and parent coaching.
Dore is also an inspirational speaker at parent conferences and has a book due out next year – “One Size Does Not Fit All” – about the residential treatment and wilderness program industry.
Join Dore for a wide range of hot topics – parenting skills, solutions to helping troubled teens, the teen help industry, what to do when you truly have a teen or young adult in crisis, and options available for treatment and what our teens are addicted to today. Dore has a unique outlook on what our kids are going through and what can be done to help them thrive!
And if that doesn't work...how to survive it as parents when it's happening right now and YOU are in the thick of it!
Lively -- informative -- fun -- captivating!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Look at what is new!
40 + FLEXIBLE TUITION, LOW TUITION, SLIDING SCALE TUITION AND FREE RESIDENTIAL PROGRAMS FOR ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS
Directory of Educational Consultants
Resume Center
Education is not the piling on of learning, information, data, facts, skills, or abilities - that's training or instruction - but is rather making visible what is hidden as a seed --Thomas Moore
Horizon Family Solutions, LLC
1145 NW Knoxville Blvd.
Bend, Oregon 97701
Phone #: (541) 312-4422
Fax #: (541) 312-4420
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Our Store ~ Providing Options for Parents and Professionals
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN OUR STORE
What we want to bring to parents and professionals is based only on accurate and up to date information!
There are a lot of different kinds of parent directories all across the Internet. A lot of them include information that is selected by unknown persons using unknown criteria. This may or may not be meaningful information. Quite a few directories actually include so many programs and schools that are found when you search across the Internet that there is no way of knowing the specifics on how they came to be in that particular directory. There are member directories which include only programs that are members of a particular organization. There are directories in which people pay to advertise. There are directories that use the same people year after year to give the same information over and over again with no varying degrees of non-biased information by reaching out to other forms of research.
The list goes on and on. Whatever directory you choose, you always need to do your research and ask questions about who obtained the information, when it was last updated, what facts were verified, where does the information come form each year, why are the same people used each year to give the same repeat information, how is the information collected and documented, and so forth. That being said, we are going to be offering several different types of e-book directories that are currently in printing.
You are going to be able to order them all here using PayPal. Keep checking back as they will be released throughout the coming year.
Published by Horizon Family Solutions, LLC. Last Updated February 22, 2009.
FREE, LOW TUITION, SLIDING SCALE, AND NO TUITION PROGRAMS FOR ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS
These programs went through an initial screening process in order to be accepted on this non-advertising list.
The list is updated throughout the year. This list is for parents who are not using the services of an Educational Consultant. $26.00.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Choosing the Right Payment Option for Residential Treatment
Once scholarships and financial aid have been awarded, families look at how to pay the tuition balance.
For families interested in spreading tuition over a few months, some schools offer billing plans, which typically require payment in ten months or less. Billing plans do not charge interest; however there is usually a fee, which is important to consider in the total cost of financing. Some schools require tuition insurance, which can add one to two percent to the balance owed when using a billing option.
Credit cards may be an option, although they are generally a poor way to finance a significant expense like tuition, because interest rates tend to be higher than on other loan options. Interest rates on credit cards are usually variable. Low initial rates or "teaser" rates are frequently offered, but usually for limited time periods.
Many schools do not accept credit card payments, so a cash advance may be required to make the payment.
Often there are different rates and fees applied to cash advances, so always read the fine print. If payments are delinquent, there are often late fees or higher "penalty" interest rates which can add up quickly. It is important to understand them before putting a large balance on a credit card. The important terms and conditions for any credit card can be found in a chart, typically on the back of the offer or statement called a "Shumer box." Always look for this chart and review it carefully. Finally, the repayment schedule or minimum payment due for credit cards is usually about three percent of the outstanding balance. If only the minimum amount is paid, the balance will be paid down very slowly and interest expenses will be very high, even if the quoted rate is low.
One option for many families is a home equity line of credit. The major advantage is the potential tax deductibility of the interest paid. This is a good option for some families; however, it is not the answer for everyone. In some cases, home equity may be targeted for college expenses or retirement savings. There may not be enough home equity available to borrow against. The process for obtaining a home equity loan is significantly more complex than other types of loans; however, once it is in place the home equity line can be drawn upon easily. Home equity lines typically have variable rates, and there may be fees charged if the line is not used.
Installment loans can be a more attractive than credit cards.
General-purpose installment loans, often called "personal loans" or "signature loans," can be obtained at any bank and typically carry interest rates around 12 percent for the best credit quality borrowers.
Average interest rates for these loans can be checked at www.bankrate.com. Lower interest rates can be found for a special type of installment loan called a single purpose loan, similar to an automobile loan.
Some companies specialize in single purpose educational loans that offer single digit interest rates.
Low interest educational loans
There are two types of private educational loans (sometimes called alternative loans). One format is designed like a mortgage, with variable interest rates, origination fees, and relatively long terms up to twenty years.
These loans are designed primarily for financing college tuition's. The long terms mean that monthly payments are low, enabling students to pay them back slowly once they are out of school. Due to the long terms and the origination charge (an upfront fee that is typically five to six percent of the amount borrowed), the total interest expense for these variable rate loans can be as much as 50 percent higher than a fixed rate installment loan.
The second type of education loan is designed like an automobile loan, with fixed rates, no fees, and relatively short terms.
These loans for parents are designed exclusively for financing private K-12 education and can be used at any accredited school. The repayment schedule is set up so that the loan is paid down completely in a fixed period of time, usually 12 to 60 months. There are typically no fees or prepayment penalties, so paying these loans off early can reduce the total interest expense making them ideal for families juggling cash flow.
Tuition balances for subsequent years can be easily rolled into the existing loan so there is only one monthly payment. For more information on these fixed rate loans for private K-12 education visit www.yourtuitionsolution.com.
Tuition loans are becoming more popular as tuition costs rise. There are a number of loan options to choose from including home equity lines, credit cards, installment loans and specialized education loans
Parents need to check to see if the school offers a cash discount for tuition payment in full. Loan programs typically qualify for these discounts, which may offset a significant portion of the interest on a loan making it an attractive option.
Dore E. Frances, M.A.
Educational Consultant
Friday, February 6, 2009
Why do we tear each other down instead of building each other up?
I launched a new website just 10 days ago - www.Troubledteenhelp.com.
The goal and intention is to provide the best choices of addiction treatment centers, boarding schools, clinical programs, eating disorder centers, emotional growth schools, residential programs and wilderness programs, with the greatest results possible for each family and child.
Today, I received a call from a program who has been marketing IECA Educational Consultants, and he called me, concerned and a bit confused.
He stated that he has been told by IECA Educational Consultants that they will not do business with him if he does business with me. Why do we tear each other down instead of building each other up? Why would people who do not even know me, or have taken the time to get to know me, want to tear me and my heartfelt business down? The date February 10, 2001 a significant date in my life, and in my daughter's life. It is the day she entered residential treatment. Many people do not know that. My passion in this industry stems from my own life's journey and personal experiences starting in my childhood. This is not the avenue to write my story, however, those that have chosen to get to know me know where my passion comes from. By doing this, the world starts to change. Not many people own up to their biases and prejudices, but they sure are willing to show them when they talk about other people behind their back.
Growing up in California during the 1960s and '70s, I was raised to believe that being lazy is not an option.
Today, I still strive to learn something new every day and to be open-minded. We may have gotten past segregation, but there are still many walls that divide us as a community in this industry. These things being said about me and the threats by IECA educational consultants to not work with programs who work with me is extremely sad. I thought, maybe mistakenly, that we worked in this industry to assist families and their children. How can that happen when there is hostility flying around? Please call me. I will talk with you.
And I will listen.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Website Up and Running - YEAH!
Horizon Family Solutions has a new website!
It's been a full straight work week of nothing else in the making and has taken a great deal of time from Carl and Laurie Berg of The Graphics Ranch.
For my content management Carl recommends Drupal.
The road to this new site has been long and rocky at times over this last week. But we did it!
www.horizonfamilysolutions.com
The "other" website had been around in one incarnation or another since about 2001. In the early days, it was just a couple of pages . As the business grew, the site grew. As the industry changed, the site changed.By far, the biggest challenge was rewriting all the data. Because I like to provide parents and professionals a great deal of information, I am always doing research.
My goal was to launch the new site before NATSAP at the end of this month. With Carl and Laurie's help we kicked off the new site with a whole brand new look. There are still some outstanding items I need to insert, like my pictures, but it will all happen in time. My journey with Drupal is just starting. Now that I've got a shiny new website I am going to take good care of it so that it will last me for many years to come!
I hope that you're as happy with it as we are!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Website Down - And Out - Day One
My formal apologies to everyone. My website of eight years went down today .... and not just down .... away and out. Yes, I could feel discontented, crappy and powerless. I could also feel disheartened and angry.
But unfortunately, none of those feelings will restore my website and eight years of articles, new stories, press releases, etc.
And while it is absolutely reasonable to be angry about this happening, I think I will enjoy a cup of Chamomile tea instead. Recently someone argued with me that none of the little things we do make a very big difference.
That we are all just tiny drops in a very big bucket. However, a little drop in the bucket makes an effect and each drop moves, so what we are doing, is filling the bucket, however slowly. Tomorrow is another day!
I hope to have the new website up and running soon ..... in the meantime keep checking here for information about Horizon Family Solutions.
Helping Parents Reach Out to Their Troubled Adolescents, Teens and Young Adults
Dore E. Frances, M.A.
Educational Planner
(541) 312-4422 / 866-833-6911
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