Therapeutic Program · Midtown Toronto
A full high school, wrapped in real support.
AVRO’s Therapeutic Program is our full-time academic program running inside a therapeutic environment, for students who have struggled in previous schools. Your teen earns the same Ontario credits toward the same OSSD, with counselling and emotional support built into the day rather than bolted on at the end.
What “therapeutic” actually means here
A therapeutic environment means the emotional side of school is taken as seriously as the academic side, in the same room, on the same day. For many teens, the reason school stopped working was never the schoolwork itself. It was the anxiety, the overwhelm, or a hard stretch that left them sliding. AVRO’s Therapeutic Program is built for exactly that. We keep the full Ontario high school in place and add the counselling, structure, and emotional support that let your teen do the work again.
Since 2010, we have run our full-time academic program inside this kind of setting from our school in midtown Toronto. It is a calm, small, and deliberately non-stigmatizing place. Support is normal here, not a signal that something has gone wrong, and asking for it is treated as part of learning rather than a mark against your teen. This is the same school day described on our Programs page. What follows is a closer look at the support woven through it.
How support is woven into the school day
Support in this program is not a weekly appointment your teen leaves class for. It is part of how the day is designed. Here is what that looks like in practice.
A careful, individual start
Every student considered for the program is assessed individually by our Clinical Director, a registered social worker and psychotherapist, through one-to-one conversations with the student and family. It is how we make sure the program genuinely fits your teen’s challenges before they begin.
Counselling, regular and as-needed
On-site professional counselling is available for students, and for family members, right inside the educational setting. Support runs on a regular schedule and is there in the moment when a harder day calls for it, always confidential and non-stigmatizing.
Music and expressive arts therapy
We address the psychosocial and the educational side together, using tools like music and expressive arts therapy woven into learning. For many students, these open a door back into creativity and enjoyment that a conventional classroom had closed.
Skills that make the day workable
Teachers give one-to-one attention to the things that quietly derail learning: executive functioning, emotional regulation, and self-advocacy. As those skills grow, the schoolwork stops feeling impossible and starts feeling like something your teen can carry themselves.
Mindfulness and wellness
Alongside counselling, the program offers wellness activities and mindfulness practices. These are the everyday tools that help an anxious student settle, refocus, and get back to the work in front of them.
Families welcomed in
Teachers and counsellors co-create each individualized study program with the student, and parents are welcomed into that process. Counselling is open to family members too, because a teen’s progress rarely happens in isolation from home.
Who this program helps
Built for teens who need more than academics alone
Many of our students arrive after their academic success has been affected by an emotional or learning challenge. The program tends to be a good fit for students living with:
- Anxiety, including social anxiety, or depression
- ADHD, attention differences, and executive-function challenges
- Learning disabilities, often alongside a complex Individual Education Plan (IEP)
- High-functioning autism (including Asperger’s), diagnosed or not
- A hard couple of years, from stress, bullying, or family circumstances, that left a bright student disengaged
If some of this sounds like your teen, the most useful next step is a conversation. You can read how to enroll when you are ready, or book a visit and start with a talk about your teen.
Same diploma, more support around the learning
The Therapeutic Program is not a separate or lesser curriculum. What stays the same: the full Ontario curriculum, Grades 9 to 12, real OSSD credits toward the same diploma, small classes, and individualized study plans built around your teen. What it adds: an individual assessment with our Clinical Director before starting, on-site counselling for students and families, music and expressive arts therapy woven into learning, and direct work on emotional regulation, executive function, and self-advocacy.
The goal is a place where your teen can breathe
What we are working toward is simple to say and hard to find: a comfortable haven where your teen’s educational and emotional needs are both met, in one place, by people who know them well. When the pressure eases and the support is steady, students start to re-engage. They learn how to learn again, recognizing and relying on their own strengths, and they gain the confidence to move on to the next step they choose.