#therapeutic programs

In addition to the longer school year we already have.

I'm pretty sure that that is the opposite of therapeutic for a lot of people. 

People need structure, especially people at my school who either get overwhelmed by possibilities or create unhealthy structures when they're left to their own devices. 

But I need to structure my life around space. I need a lot of time to be alone so I can recharge. I need as many days off as I can spare, and my weekends are precious in that way. School is an energy drain for me, especially this school. Success is exhausting. Dealing with poor social skills and self-destructive people is exhausting. And I get that for 198 days a year. 

All the system has done for me during high school is let me down, again and again. I'm still in the process of getting an IEP. I'm in a class for truant kids because there are no therapeutic programs for kids like me because I'm too "high-functioning". And I am still drowning in my schoolwork and my emotions, forced to remain in the building all day with nowhere to go that feels truly safe. I feel like I'm floating in space, completely untethered with nowhere to go. In the past year, there are only two places where that hasn't been the general feeling for me: therapeutic summer camp, and the hospital.

I can't do this anymore. I can't function in a mainstream classroom, and I can't afford going to a therapeutic school without financial aid from the school district. As if that's going to happen.