Shepherd's Hill Farm

Shepherd’s Hill Farm is a Christian, Christ-centered, biblically based, residential wilderness program, and accredited school. We offer healing and help for parents and families. SHF restores at-risk youth, troubled teens, teens in crisis, and struggling teens for God.

A word from the director:

For all you hurting parents, allow me to share with you the heart of Shepherd’s Hill Farm. At SHF, our preeminent objective is to obey God each and every day in our own private and professional lives. As director, it is my main priority to encourage all our staff to live their lives congruent with the biblical model. What God does through his obedient creation never ceases to amaze me, our staff, and especially the parents of our residents.

The results are astonishing as teens’ lives transform before everyone’s eyes. As hard as it is to believe, even the physical characteristics of the kids change as spiritual, emotional, psychological, and behavioral changes develop. It is, then, our goal to bring the entire family into stride with Christ’s will and way. He is the glue that holds families and everything else together. We, at SHF, understand there is a spiritual dimension to the human experience that, if not addressed, negates the full effectiveness of any kind of therapeutic approach to healing.

When it comes to the transformation of troubled, struggling, or teens in crisis, our experience has proven that more is caught than taught. Kids submit to authority better when their authority figures are observed submitting to an Authority greater than themselves.

The constant stimulation of God’s love, truth, nurture, and discipline in an authoritative, outdoor, or wilderness-type environment, trains a child’s appetites to hunger for more wholesome activities. Our trained professionals are meek, but not weak. We understand the importance of discipline and its combined effectiveness with loving relationships.

Although Shepherd’s Hill Academy’s Christ centered approach to education operates as any other modern school, the primitive living conditions in the woods relieve kids of the many negative cultural influences that are bombarding them from every direction today. Peer pressure is turned inside out as kids are taught to think critically about the important issues of life. Our culture’s faulty thinking patterns, that promote style over substance, are exposed for what they are.

Kids learn to discern and distinguish the difference between intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom–and how they all apply to life and reality. Kids get another chance at childhood, while learning how to properly approach and address the critical issues of adulthood. Peace and sanity return to the family as parents also learn to implement a more
Christ-centered and biblically-based approach to raising teens in today’s sex-charged, irreverent, entitled, post-modern and relativistic culture. SHF receives no government funding, and is uncompromising in our biblical approach to child-rearing.

My wife, Beth, and I understand the pain involved in sending a child off to an unfamiliar place. We had the unfortunate experience of having to make the decision to terminate life support for one of our own sons. The indescribable pain of ushering a child into the presence of the Lord, we believe, was allowed by God in order that we could more empathetically identify with parents who are forced to make a similar decision. Sending one’s own child to a program like Shepherd’s Hill Farm for a year is commonly described by parents as being like a death.

But, the good news is that, in the vast majority of cases, it proves to be a new birth instead. May the peace, wisdom, and will of God be with you as you seek His counsel for your family’s best interest during this difficult time.

In Christ’s Love,

Trace Embry
Director
Shepherd’s Hill Farm

Learn more about:

Georgia High School for Teens in Trouble
Atlanta Area Boarding Schools for Teens
Christian Wilderness Programs for Troubled Youth
Christian Counseling Boarding School
Georgia Troubled Teen Boarding School
Troubled Teen School Christian

SHF Financial Statements are available upon request