Do any of you know this school or program? It is a place for troubled, but not dangerous, teens. It is supposed to be much better than so many of these programs. I have heard from someone looking into these programs it is very good, and safe.

My child has been molested by a man at her school. He has had so much access to her he has her totally brainwashed and she is his puppet. I have taken the legal steps I can to protect her, but it is not enough. I am thinking sending her to a safe therapeutic location where he cannot access her is the best thing for her. There she can face things and come to grips with what has happened and in time testify so this bastard goes to jail.

A year away would be very helpful to her but so many of these schools are scary and abusive. Does anyone know anything about this school and program?

Any good residential school would have a counselor. You could get a restraining order against the man if necessary. I would investigate putting your daughter into a regular private residential school or with a relative at some distance before I would look into a facility for troubled teens (unless she really does need that level of supervision and protection.) The course that you are contemplating seems rather punitive to me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2011 01:09PM by summer.

She would run to be with him at any residential school. I cannot get a restraining order. In my state this does not qualify. This is not a first choice. I have spent the last 7 months trying to keep this guy away from her and have been working with law enforcement and child protection. Everyone knows this is going on but without proof we are unable to prosecute. She has been in counseling and her counselor just says it is a waiting game. At some point she will see the abuse. I do not want to wait another 10 years for her to come to terms with this.

Unfortunately he has had years of access to her and basically owns her mind. She only wants to be with him and thinks he is her true love. He started molesting her at 14 and has severely damaged her psyche. She is now in a place where she is totally dependent upon him and a fully willing participant in the abuse. At this point she does qualify as a troubled youth. I know she became this through being a victim, but she is still very troubled.

My goal here is to protect her and give her a chance to heal, not to punish.

It sounds like you have your hands full. I'm curious as to why this joker still has a job. In my school district, and with allegations this serious, this person would have been transferred out of the school while the case was being investigated. It sounds like the school or school system is really letting you down.

Hopefully someone can give you good information about those programs. In an ideal world, your daughter would be able to be warned that her options were narrowing by the minute, but I can see how this might just cause her to run away.

He was fired for his conduct with my daughter. Now he has all the time on his hands to find ways to contact and manipulate her. Whole thing is terribly sad.

Again, I'm so sorry. I can't even imagine how stressful this must be for you. How old is your daughter now?

16

You've got about two years then. Hopefully that's enough time to get through to her.

Do you have any mental health insurance? Has she had any behavior that indicates she is a danger to herself or others? If so, your insurance would likely help pay for her residential treatment. My son was here in Utah at a residential treatment center for 6 months. It is a lock-down facility - Copper Hills. It was the best thing we ever did for him. I don't know about Stillwater other than it was founded by a Mormon - It is run by a Mormon also. That would make me a bit nervous. It would also make me nervous to have a 'host family' as the housing. Does NOT sound very secure to me and seems it would be easy for the kid to run away. If you'd like to know more about my experience with Copper Hills I'd be happy to talk to you. My email is katebennettslc@gmail.com

(kate is not my real name btw)

My daughter went here. This place is outstanding. If it weren't for this place her future would of been very grim. The issue of religion ever seemed to be a big deal. What was a big deal is the caring and dedication this staff demonstrated daily. This place truly is all about saving kids.

Sorry I made a typo in the above post - I ment to say religion never seemed to be a issue at Turnabout. I believe there are several LDS people working there, and some of the host families were LDS, but this place is not about converting kids to the mormon religion - It is about helping kids learn how to deal with their past trauma and become productive young adults. Also the host family setup had some real merits and every host parent I met were very good people.
Great program - I hold these people in a special place for what they have done for my child and family

I am considering sending my daughter to Stillwater, her father is concerned about potential sexual abuse and also the Mormon religion, any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated.

This is a message for ANYONE looking at sending their children to Stillwater Academy (aka Turn-A-Bout)
I was once a client of this place. I was 11 years old and I was not even supposed to be accepted into the program. My parents sent me there because they couldn't handle an adolecent child. I was there for a total of 2 years, and they charged my parents so much, they filed for bankruptcy, had to open a thrift store, and eventually got divorced because of disagreements about me actually needing to be in Turnabout, as well as money issues. Turnabout is NOT somewhere I would recommend to ANYONE!!!!!

To "allwhowander": I am so sorry to hear about your daughter's plight. I wish nothing but happiness and success for her and your family. But PLEASE do not send your daughter to Stillwater/Turnabout because they will treat her like a criminal. They will not see her as a victim and they will make her "Rehabilitate" (and she needs love and therapy. Not couselors with power issues).

The institution will strip your child down to bare bone needs. He/She will NOT be allowed to look at or talk to you until they have "earned the priveldge to do so, and reach the proper level". They will take away EVERY priveledge that we all take for granted: Looking up in the car, sitting on your butt (ACTUALLY sitting in the position where you are on your butt), even the priveledge to speak...I was traumatized by this institution. I was an 11 year old boy that was forced to grow up quick. They pulled me out of school, in front of my class, and told everyone I was going to rehab. When I finally got out, everyone that I ever knew now classified me a drug addict.

If you are thinking about sending your child to a place like this, take my advice: Give your child a warm embrace, sit them down, tell them you love them, and communicate with them.

Don't let an institution raise your child for you, with hopes of having a reformed child. If you do this, I GUARANTEE you that your child will resent you and when they reach 18, they will leave and rarely speak to you.

To EVERYONE in this post:

allwhowander is concerned about her daughter who has been traumatized!!! Copperhills, Stillwater/Turnabout, Lifeline, etc; are ALL centers for rehabilitation. This wonderful child is in need of therapy and counseling. NOT needing to be removed from her home and treated like a out-of-control juvenille. PLEASE STOP treating this women like she has a child that is in need of discipline. She is a victim and has done nothing wrong.

...hey faux ConcernedCitizen. Use your own screen name. Don't use mine. I have a great reputation here, so don't screw it up......... ;p

It is now almost a year+ after some of these comments have been posted.

Stillwater has been recommended for my daughter who definitely needs therapeutic support and school at this time.

Any additional feeback will be appreciated.

Thank you

If you want an honest review of this facility you can contact me by email, I will give you the pros and the cons of sending your kid here.

I am considering this treatment center for my child, Can you give me your pro's and con's?

this is a long shot considering how long ago this was posted. i was a client of TA too. I would like to talk to you about this.

I sent my daughter to Stillwater. I just wanted a place for her to be safe until she grew up. I got a lot more.

The kids there get group therapy 5 days a week and one on one therapy one day per week. For my daughter, she now has a second chance at a decent life. Will she succeed, I do not know. I thought I had lost her. It is beyond my expectations to have her back.

For my kid, she realized she needed help and made everything she could out of this place. She worked hard and she succeeded. She no longer cuts herself, takes drugs, cusses at the wind, views herself as life's biggest failure, runs away, runs from everything. She has learned some tools to cope with the challenges of life, provided by Stillwater.

This may not work for your kid but that is only up to your child. There are some kids who refuse everything and leave just being older. However, I am sure that your child knows he or she is in trouble. She probably doesn't trust or connect to anyone. If your child can use that knowledge to go forward Stillwater at least will give her a chance. I highly recommend this place.

When I was looking for a therapy school this was the best I could find. Her therapist, established great rapport with her. The therapists works 24/7 for these kids. Her therapist moved my daughter from her own personal hell to looking at
life & the possibilities and finding at, least, a level of happiness.

Although for me it was very expensive, I would have paid anything I could afford to get my daughter back.
In searching for a place for my daughter, I knew I needed a safe place where she could get some maturity. I also believed that she needed an emotional reset. I believed that the Equine therapy would help provide this. My daughter did not need to be broken, like they used to break horses, but guided & helped. It worried me that I could not find any good reviews for this place. That is why I am writing this.

When I first sent her there I read about these types of places being abusive or prison like, so after my daughter was there for a month I made several trips up there to make sure she was safe, which she was. I encouraged my daughter to go forward. Most important is that I was able to keep in touch with my daughter through both visitations and family therapy meetings, mail & phone calls.

I know how tough it is to send your child away into the unknown when he/she seems unable to understand ANY of the realities of life, but my experience tells me that he/she will be in a very safe family centered environment. Stillwater will do everything they can using the latest psychotherapy to save your kid. I wish you success.

If you need someone to talk to about this school you are welcome to email me. Email me at: Nism at jps.net

I am starting my search for my niece Alexa and I want raw answers. Is this a school I should consider for my niece with ADD, failing school and completely disobedient?

Want to know what happens when you send your child here, I can give you my firsthand experience, feel free to contact.

Feel free to contact me regarding my experience with this facility.

Dee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Want to know what happens when you send your child
> here, I can give you my firsthand experience, feel
> free to contact.


Yes I would like to know your experience at Stillwater

I would be very interested in your experience with this treatment facility.

I would just like to say, Turnabout Stillwater Academy and Turnabout Ranch are two totally different programs. I know because I was in Turnabout StillWater Academy. I was in there for almost 2 years. Whether it is owned by a morman or not is plain weird. It is family owned you could say. I personally dont care for the family myself but they are actually really good people. It is expensive and my parent put me and my older brother in and even my little sister. Turnabout actually taught me how to take responsibility and I had gone through alot in my life but I seemed to always play the victim. Now as a parent myself It is amazing to know how important it is for children, and adults to say I did this and Iam sorry. Turnabout has crazy weird rules, and at the time I didnt understand them. But as a teen you kind of need those weird rules. The Teens need to pulled out of their element...
Think about it. For example if you lied you had to carry a phone book around. and if you kept lying more phone books.. 3 was the max and then you had to get a backpack for them. and they couldnt touch the ground. It was weird but it made so much sense. What were they going to do? Spank us? its child abuse. Put us in the corner? we do the silent treatment anyways. This was we were held accountable for our actions. We had to carry them around and our own peers who cared for us would look at us like we were liars. We didn't want that!. We had to "request" off of the phone books 3or 5 or 10 at a time. and as a kid I was a really bad liar. lol Most of us were. And by not letting us put in on the ground made us accountable that we had to always hold that lie. These types of consequences make sense. I am pretty sure they dont do that anymore cause of some child that complained about abuse. Lazyness... Like I said every child takes the program in their own way. My little sister ended up going to prison after Turnabout. She manipulated my mom to pull her cause of her "health issues" my sister didnt want to held accountable. And its not like I can say shes doing bad still but lets just say Shes now a serious felon and dates the worst guys. My brother was a little wild before he went in, when he got out he hesitates before he tried every drug in the book. But again when he was in he didn't really work on himself. I am not perfect. But as someone who has held down a job and provides for my family now, can say I learned so much from this program. Teens are going to complain about everything. Change was hard for me, its not pretty and no parent wants their kids to be uncomfortable but you have to be confronted on your behavior.I was a troubled teen that didnt talk to my parents about anything at all. I couldnt relate and we just couldnt talk about what I was going through.
I didnt go to school, I had a small bad attitude, I wore crazy clothes etc. But I needed to wake up before it was too late.
I remember they would make me take responsibility for things i didn't do. and at the time I was so angry but when I started to change my integrity started to be valued more, my word actually meant something. I graduated at the highest level 5. Its a really big deal at the program. I won a scholarship and graduated from high school. My brother and my sister did not. They didnt want to change. My life was not perfect at all but at least this program gave me tools that would help me in the world.
This girl sounds like she doesnt need Turnabout. But there is alot of misinformation on here. Just had to say

HUSH,
what years did you attend. I have a child who attended and am looking for some answers to accusations being thrown at me about the treatment there.

You may not consider it punishment, but it is punishing her for the man's behavior. You are trying to lock her up somewhere far away.

Get her cognitive behavior therapy --- many therapists claim to do it, few actually do it. It doesn't usually take even 20 sessions, and she'll have homework. It will teach her healthy thinking skills.

Find a way to help her feel loved and valued (I'd be wondering if she was sexually abused at some time earlier in her life too) where she is at. If you really think she needs to move, let her go live with an adult relative or friend in another community with whom she has some relationship with for a fresh start.

Consider sending her to Anasazi Foundation in AZ wilderness, which is the only teen program I'd consider sending any child too. Most are not helpful.

The OP posted her question over 5 years ago. At the time her daughter was 16 so she is now 21. We never heard back from her that I know of, so I doubt she ever came back to this board.

I only have experience with one school..Westridge Academy for a boy who was 13 or 14 when sent there. It.did.not.help. It was horrible for him and he is still having a lot of struggles.

ever! I do not know if there is an "ideal place" for when dreams crash and ideals break like waves on a rocky Alaskan channel shore like ice. I wish there was, I hope you find one.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2016 04:54PM by paintinginthewin.

I would take this recent event into consideration...
http://fox13now.com/2016/12/06/employee-at-utah-rehab-facility-dead-after-alleged-attack-by-teen-student/

Residential treatment should usually be the last resort.This kid treatment industry is poorly regulated and is replete with horror stories. There are good programs but doing research is very important to find an appropriate facility.Especially be aware of wilderness programs who overall have a very poor safety record with death from dehydration,cardiac arrest and many other abuses.Imwould look into a day treatment program with family counseling before ever considering a residential or out of home placement unless of course the child is,a clear danger to the self or others

I am sorry that you are having to go through this. I have no personal knowledge about this place but, for what it is worth, Dr. Phil(of tv fame) frequently does recommend Turnabout Ranch for troubled teens. Your best bet is definitely to contact them and speak with them regarding your daughter's specific situation. You will hopefully have a better feeling for whether or not you feel that what they have to offer your daughter in her situation, is appropriate and may be helpful. I am guessing that they would invite you and your daughter to visit and learn more about them. Best of luck to you, and your daughter with this most difficult situation. Please return and report what you learn, and the outcome for all involved. My heart truly goes out to you. All the best
~ cinda

Please be aware that Turnabout Stillwater and Turnabout Ranch are two separate programs. I attended Turnabout Stillwater ages ago and while the practices were different from what they are now, I believe I wouldn’t be as successful in life as I am now if I wasn’t sent away. Yes, some kids resent their parents but anyone willing to come to terms with their own BS will realize they’re there because they were out of line. This post originated with questions to help an abused child and YES a child going through that should be isolated. It may be a struggle but the SAFETY of your child should come first. I’d throw my child in an isolated situation if it were me. Keep them away from an older adult male who is clearly grooming my child? No brainer. Cut the cord of communication and he’d be none the wiser of her whereabouts too. I hope this situation was solved for the child’s sake. There are plenty of resentful kids from this program but keep in mind they’ve left and jumped off the deep end with their actions. Many kids BS’d their way through this older way in the program as a way of “survival” and maintaining comfort in the program (previous student rant included). It’s not all guaranteed failure and resentment. Do what’s best for your family.