Trying to find an affordable Teen Challenge Christian boarding school for your son or daughter in Lawrence, Kansas?
Brush Creek Academy (for boys) and New Lifehouse Academy (for girls) are affordable Teen Challenge programs with a decades-long record of transforming struggling teens. Each academy features an exceptional, gender-specific program on a spacious rural campus.
About the Academies
New Lifehouse Academy is located in northeastern Oklahoma and enrolls girls from across the nation. Brush Creek Academy, also in Oklahoma, serves boys from all over the U.S. Both programs blend strong academics with a robust competitive athletics emphasis, helping families in Kansas who are navigating persistent misbehavior, anger, or risky choices. The academies apply the same Christian beliefs that make Teen Challenge programs proven at transforming the futures of troubled teens.
Academic Path & Character Growth
At both New Lifehouse (girls) and Brush Creek (boys), our priority isn’t just addressing behavioral, social, and spiritual difficulties students are going through at present; it’s also ensuring long-term success as students move forward from the program. With that goal, students are guided to earn the maximum possible high school credits, which transfer to their home school upon finishing up here. In this approach, even though the primary focus is character and conduct first, the educational model doesn’t hold them back academically.
Sports & Structured Fitness (Girls at New Lifehouse • Boys at Brush Creek)
Both academies set a high bar with a comprehensive athletics emphasis tailored to each campus. Athletics aren’t a side activity—they’re a bedrock for growth in the lives of struggling teens. We recognize sports have a unique power to focus energy, build discipline, and teach lessons extending beyond the athletic field. Through competitive teams, rigorous training, and consistent practice, students learn hard work, perseverance, and resilience in the face of difficult challenges.
Our athletics culture fosters teamwork, sportsmanship, and positive leadership, helping each teen work toward shared goals and celebrate group success. Coaches intentionally connect on-field lessons—effort, consistency, handling wins and losses with grace, and responding to useful feedback—to real life, strengthening character and personal responsibility. Physical activity also provides restorative stress outlets, boosts self-esteem, and promotes balanced wellness—crucial for teens who’ve struggled with emotional instability, coping skills, or unhealthy habits. Whether indoors or during open-air fitness, both academies use athletics as a compelling platform where your boy or girl builds strength, confidence, accountability, and a renewed, purposeful outlook.
Leadership & Life Skills (Gender-Specific Tracks)
Brush Creek Academy (boys): Many boys arrive as either followers of negative influences or as leaders heading the wrong way. Staff model healthy leadership from day one; as boys progress through levels, they earn roles that teach positive influence and respect.
New Lifehouse Academy (girls): Girls receive focused mentoring to replace harmful peer patterns with healthy confidence and influence. As they grow, they take on responsibilities that build initiative, empathy, and wise decision-making.
At both campuses, students learn strong work ethic and collaboration. They gain applied exposure to practical skills (e.g., artistic projects, gardening, animal care, basic household chores). Whether these become valuable in future careers matters less than discovering that meaningful work can be rewarding and a source of pride.
Fine Arts & Confidence
Each program offers fine arts opportunities so students from Lawrence, Kansas can develop creativity and self-worth—either by uncovering a new aptitude or by honing known skills.
About Teen Challenge
Teen Challenge is a faith-based organization with a nearly 70-year record of guiding at-risk adolescents toward healthier paths. Founded in 1958, it has grown into a respected network of residential programs that combine mentoring, academics, and spiritual development. Its Christian boarding schools emphasize whole-person transformation: stepping away from destructive influences into safe structure where character, life skills, and faith shape direction. Through routines, accountability, and caring staff, teens learn responsibility and resilience—one reason Teen Challenge is among the most enduring networks of programs for troubled teens.
Which Campus Fits Your Family?
If your family is considering help for a boy, explore Brush Creek Academy (boys, Oklahoma). If your family is considering help for a girl, explore New Lifehouse Academy (girls, Oklahoma). Both enroll students nationwide, including Lawrence, Kansas. Being away from home often helps a son or daughter focus on character growth, academics, and goal-setting without unhelpful local pressures.
Next Steps
Have a son or daughter who could benefit from a structured, encouraging environment? Contact the appropriate campus to discuss fit, timing, and availability:
- >> Brush Creek Academy (Boys)
- >> New Lifehouse Academy (Girls)
Tuition is designed to be accessible, and enrollment is year-round.
Affordable Teen Challenge Boarding Schools serving teens in Lawrence, Kansas. Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, MSA, which encompasses all of Douglas County. Located 25 miles east of Topeka, Kansas, and 41 miles west of Kansas City, Missouri, it is situated along the banks of the Kansas and Wakarusa Rivers. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 87,643. Lawrence is a college town and is the home to the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University. |
