Weighed down by the past

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Spring Creek Lodge was operating under the WWASP franchise. A girl committed suicide there during her stay even when the employees were warned about her being potential suicidal. A lawsuit is ongoing. An employee have been arrested for circumstances involving students in a job he got after he left Spring Creek Lodge

Sources

• Jury hearing lawsuit over girl's suicide at Thompson Falls boarding school (The Missoulian)
• Reflections Academy school for girls sued 3 times in 3 months; claims of grooming, abuse (The Missoulian)

 

This testimony was located on Google Maps (Source)

I attended this academy 4 years ago.

Some of the staff is very encouraging and sweet, however this program is a complete and total waste of time and money. The pictures that are online are an inaccurate description of what your daughter's next year of her life will be like. While yes, there are horses at the facility, there is no horseback riding or anything of the sort.

My education has always been very important to me, yet when I left this school I was so far behind. I had to retake classes in high school, and my Algebra credit was not valid in public school. I feel that a former student's thoughts on this program is very important and indeed valid. The only thing that Wings of Faith Academy gave to me that helped me when I went home was fear of going back as is a very depressing environment. I benefited much more from learning from life experiences now that I look back. I am grateful for my family's intentions, however this is not the right place for any young girl looking for guidance.

More information

Spring Creek Lodge was operating under the WWASP franchise. A girl committed suicide there during her stay even when the employees were warned about her being potential suicidal. A lawsuit is ongoing. An employee have been arrested for circumstances involving students in a job he got after he left Spring Creek Lodge

Sources

• Jury hearing lawsuit over girl's suicide at Thompson Falls boarding school (The Missoulian)
• Reflections Academy school for girls sued 3 times in 3 months; claims of grooming, abuse (The Missoulian)

 

This testimony was located on Yelp (Source)

My name is Carrie Reeves. I was once a girl at COH and I can assure you that this is not the place you want your daughter. If you look at some of the girls statements and accusations of abuse on COH they aren't making it up. I was sent there 4 years ago on February 14. I had gotten in trouble with the law like everyone else there and had no clue if I was pregnant or not. I was told I would get a pregnancy test after I got settled in.

From the moment I walked through the door I was disrespected even in front of my family. It got worse when they left me and signed the papers. My belongings were taken away shortly after I was only allowed a few personal items. Each day was hard. Doing chores wasn't a big deal but the way you were treated it was like you weren't a human at times. Since I was new and was asking questions about the place I guess I grew suspicions about them thinking I was planning my escape. They were right. I ended up getting snitched on (oh well) but after that I wasn't allowed to go anywhere without someone watching me ,even showering or peeing. I couldn't look at a window or outside without my lovely little escorts getting too close for comfort. I eventually got rid of them because I had gained Boyd's trust back. Few months go by I still haven't gotten my Pregnancy test tho.

My social worker or cop I forget who called to check up on my case asked if i had gotten one when I got there I told them nope a month after getting there I got my period. Even if I was pregnant there's no way it would have survived long of being mentally abused and physically exhausted. They made me take it anyways tho so they didn't get in trouble. I already got muscles from doing push-ups in you name it every single day. Regardless if you're eating, you were put in push up position for however long they wanted you. That was kinda the norm for us. It was great being strong enough to fight back when the time came.

My last few days there I was demoted to a black shirt. What caused that was my face wasn't bright and cheerful when they told us we would be going through hell week. They said I had a attitude and it needed to be fixed so they gave me pushups and I did my 25 and sat back down. They still weren't pleased so they made me do another 25. This time I was mad. They still weren't pleased so they told me To put on a black shirt I told them no. I was not going to be treated like shit because of the way my Face looked. They told all the girls except the staff to leave and go to our rooms. (Reason for not letting the girls watch was because we had talked to a investigator and told them how BOYD shoved a little 9 year old in the dirt and made her scream and cry out from being restrained twice because she was tired and hot...IT WAS SUMMER AND WE WERNT GIVEN WATER OR TIME TO REST) From there he told me again to put it on as soon as I said NO age jerked me Up from my Seat and tried to put it on me from there I pushed him off me and that's when all the 4 STAFF members (other girls who were sent there misbehaving) tried to knock me to my knees. After struggling for mins Boyd and his wife Steph tried to help. Only when Steph Came from behind and Choked me and Boyd Made me black out from a pressure point behind my ear, I finally went down. He laughed at the thought of having the girls inflict pain on me for hours while they watched getting on my back and putting their knees into my elbow, digging their elbow into my ribs and behind my knees, pinching me, even took turns sitting on me. I was 145 and my ribs were showing already from loosing weight and being on a tile floor with 4 girls on top of you doesn't feel to good.

I was allowed to recover and my wardrobe was taken from me and I was given a new one full of black shirts. I was given cold showers and I wasn't allowed any rights then. I planned my Escape. I was done being there. It was after we had gotten back from church I had told myself I was gonna run after getting some sleep. I did and eventually after 2 days of being gone I was brought to the sheriffs and told them what happened. COH called and said they wanted me back but because of what I told the cops (THE TRUTH) I wasn't allowed back. Investigators were brought in,took my statement and took pictures of all my bruises. It still wasn't enough for anyone but girls who had been there and done that to believe me. I had nightmares for years about going back to that hell hole. This is my short story....

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The facility was raided and closed down by the authorities. Investigation is still ongoing (Source)

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This year the police raided the Circle of Hope Girls ranch. Investigation is ongoing but the girls who were at the ranch have been removed. The politicians have recognized the need for legislation.

Source:

Civil lawsuits allege rape, severe abuse at Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Cedar County (News-Leader)

This testimony was found on Google Maps (Source)

I am a former student of Wings of Faith. This is not the place to send your child. I was there because of family issues, and a way to get me out of them. I did not deserve to go through this program, and no one does. These reviews have to be fake. There is no reason any child should go through this.

Debbie Martin, your not right. Legally you may be, but there is nothing in that caged house that could possibly be close. This is not a good place, and not even a school at all. Don't make this an option for your child. They do so many weird things, and trick you into thinking it's right. If you want to hear more of the truth; this place used to be called "Refuge of Grace" look that up before clicking here. She changed the name, and website into a wings of faith lie. God is not a tool for punishment, and neither is this lock down facility to human life. It makes me sick to think of this place. Hope this will take it out of your thoughts.

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The facility used according to various sources to go under the name Refuge of Grace but was rebranded due to poor reviews on the Internet

I have waited a while to post this review. Our daughter went to TAR in July and was there for a little over 100 days. We ended up here because we were in crisis mode with her and had to make a quick decision. We were not sure what we were getting our selves into. This place requires careful consideration. The 100-day program (all-in) was about $60k. About what it would have cost us for a year at a therapeutic boarding school. Its a huge investment for 100 days. We live on the East Coast so travel there was incredibly hard - its a 5 hour drive traveling south of Salt Lake City or 5 hours north from Las Vegas. The reason for this poor rating was two-fold:

• The program was absolutely no help to our daughter - she coasted through and sort of played the game so she could get out by the end of the 100 days. Somehow she kept a calendar under her bed to count the days. Her therapist never picked up on this behavior even though we warned her.
  
  
• Communication is poor. I called 2 times and send one email during the 100 days and never received a reply from our therapist. You get 1 call per week from a therapist. Ours was 8pm on Friday night which was a tough time but we made it work. However, the therapist would call anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half late. That was hard given that there was no respect for our time and if that was the only conversation that we could have about our daughter - some common courtesy should have been shown. We also communicated some pretty big concerns to the therapist but a lot of them were not addressed. We finally got a hold of the director at the end of the program but that was a little too late in the game. Really the only solid communications or reply's we got was from Shane (the admissions person).
  
  

The reason I gave this at least one star is that there were people at the ranch that genuinely cared for our daughter and made some positive impact on her. You don't get to speak to them but you meet them when you go out to the ranch during mid-term and graduation.

Turn-About Ranch offers a 30-day return to the program if your child regresses. But I'm not sure I would go down that road if the 100+ days made no positive change.

Update on our situation 2/19/2020

As I sit behind my daughter in juvenile court - I’m reminded how much time and money was lost and how poor the care at the ranch was. My daughter reinforced how she coasted through the program. The letters she was forced/required to send home were all lies. I guess you rate a program like this based on its effectiveness and what your child takes away from the experience - our experience and her experience was obvious poor at best. We will most likely have to have her stay in a foster home for a period or move on to a therapeutic boarding school. I hindsight, that probably would have been the best bet. If you arrive in a situation that we have with our daughter it’s so important to slow down and evaluate options that will best benefit your child. The cost of this program in the end has limited out ability to finance the next steps to a boarding school. I will officially pay off the balance of the loan I took out to pay for the ranch on 12/1/2020. However we will do whatever is necessary to get our daughter back on track and hopefully set her up for future success.

More information

• Due to the facility taking everyone in regardless of issue an employee was murdered (source)
• It was used in the English reality show Brat Camp and the German reality show "Teenager ausser kontrolle" (Source)
• Two of their former detainees became famous. English Jemma Lucy and the American singer Bhad Barbie (source)

This testimony was found on Yelp where the marketing department of the facility has seen to that it is not among the recommended testimonies

I went to The Academy at sisters 10 years ago, I feel it's worth giving an opinion because that period of my life left quite a mark on me. This program and its dynamics are far more complex than parents or girls are led to initially believe. Although I credit that time for helping me arrive at a deeper understanding of myself and an improved person, I cannot- by any means, give the Academy any credit for this.

This is an intensive level based program with a cognitive behavioral approach to therapy. This type of therapy is accredited worldwide and admittedly has good results in some cases, in the short term. My opinion about this approach is that it is very superficial and deals with the outer layers, or symptoms, of behavior as opposed to leading a person more directly into the core of their problems and letting them explore what ails them more fully. Emotional support was lacking in the most profound way here. I wanted to do the emotional work and I observed how desperately the other girls desired to be supported in this way, through real therapy, but it just wasn't provided.

Initially I saw my very nonchalant, under-qualified case manager weekly- at best, for short talks that felt rushed and disappointing. The general day there consisted of the girls spending way too many hours doing mundane chores and being harshly graded through a point card system for failure to comply with rules and immaculate chore work. Through this point card system we were constantly being analyzed through a magnified glass and scrutinized for every possible thing you could imagine.

Certainly there were things a girl could get positive points for, and did, but the energy the staff put into negative criticism for us was such a primary focus that so often overshadowed really great achievements. As a consequence to getting over a certain amount of points off the following day you were not allowed to talk. There were some girls who "struggled" with this point system so much that there privileges for talking were often revoked for weeks at a time. I always thought that it was ironic that a consequence of perceived "bad", or "inappropriate behavior" led to your communication and therapy being revoked. You would think a girl would have more of an opportunity to address her issues in therapy when she's struggling with them so publicly but instead she was often left even more isolated and the issues ignored through this process.

Their reason for utilizing this technic for therapy may not have come from a bad place but it was being led by staff members who were uneducated and unable to understand even the most basic behavioral issues. Much of the staff were young and poorly trained, but then left to guide emotionally vulnerable young woman on how to conduct themselves. While the actual case managers, with assumed credentials, were more distant from the day to day process. And sadly even their "guidance", when given, seemed very basic minded and the work of an amateur , which I found (even then in my younger wisdom) to be a real problem when I had the intention to truly address who I was, and needed help in doing so . After a certain transitional period, which could take years, the girl usually conforms for approval and to redeem her "privileges"... I tried my best to carry myself through this process with as much integrity and personal truth as possible but this program encouraged robotic behavior.

In these stages the girls usually mimicked all the proper guidelines and protocol for upward movement in the program but had missed crucial steps in their internal work. It is very important that this is noted because this is a major issue in the failure of this program and the injustice that it served us. Had professionals been at hand we would've certainly had a greater chance of success when we reentered society because we would've been provided with the opportunities to explore the psychological root more appropriately and truthfully. But in all honestly it seemed as if there was such a barrier of ignorance in the staff members that they didn't even have a mild awareness that there were missing pieces, and that is exactly my point.

When my mother and I first met with Betsy, the program director, who seemed caring and charismatic we were led to believe that she would be an intrical part of the daily running. But later on it became crystal clear that she did not really know the girls at all, or have an understanding of how the program ran itself. I probably saw Betsy a handful of times in my 13 month stay, and this was usually to put on good face when there were parents visiting, how convenient. She quickly became somebody that I did not admire at all, although she seems nice enough on random occasions, her obvious absence warranted none of my respect, because- like I stated, it was certainly implied that she was part of the process.

This is just an example of the omissions that The Academy accumulates. Like forgetting to mention that the girls are basically maids and clean the entire property, shovel snow and feed the horses before sunrise in uncomfortably cold temperatures. The Academy omits this until it is mentioned to parents, and then justifies it as a means to teach the girls responsibility and tools for the world. Which, of course, depending on the individual one had certainly learn skills, but things like this were more so viewed as unnecessary trials for us, and a means for them to avoid the high costs of maids, gardeners, horse caregivers etc.. The motivation always felt a little sketchy to me.

I derived my own sense of achievement and pride in my ability to do my work there exceptionally well not because the lessons were well taught but because that has always been who I am. I made lemonade out of lemons, only because I was totally aware of the flaws in the program as I went along and developed a stronger relationship with my own truth in the process. I felt upset at the time that there were so many more girls going through the motions not understanding that The Academy was providing no foundation for them.

My catalyst came when I made it to level 3 and was sent to the public high school as some type of transition. This was exciting at first, but quickly I was faced with REAL societal pressures most teenagers experience. Sex, drugs, you name it.. I started becoming a split off person. Living one life in the confines of my program and another that was beginning to immerge in me again as my old issues (that were not properly addressed in the first place) became re-introduced. There was no manual for this. And considering the perfect performance the "upper levels" were supposed to exude there was no real way for me to communicate my stressors without being thrown down a level and lose my high school credits.

My case manager at the time would show up at the high school and practically spy on me and look up and of the kids I hung out with and constantly bagger me. Again intentions may have not have been bad but the level of conflict and stress I endured during this high school experiment was unbearable and totally unrecognized. I felt and knew I had no source to confide and process my true experience with, there was such a profound level of abandonment that occurred for me during this process and that is really why I choose to lend my story.

The Academy does not provide the psychological support these girls need during these level transitions especially. It was such a disappointment that I was basically left to drown because the proper tools were not implemented in a program the has complex stages and criteria. I made it a mission of mine, after leaving, to speak with Universities that educated those entering the field of psychology who would eventually be referring these programs to parents to do more research. I found a bit of justice and peace as I told my story. I hope that the Academy has greatly improved but I doubt it.

Even in watching that video I am able to see through appearances. They may appear to help these girls through troubling times, and I'm not saying there aren't some success stories, but keep in mind that they do not provide strong enough ground work for the "results" to have lasting effects, or at worse for there to be a level of injury -through trauma and abandonment, that may not even be fully realized by the girl at the time. Almost every girl I attended The Academy with that I've seen, talked to, or heard about certainly struggled with resentment and a void in the deeper work that later resurfaced in the real world and caused problems. Some stories more dramatic than others, and some with swear by The Academy and say it was the best place in the world for them, those are usually the ones that only know how to see their experience in a one-dimensional/concrete way, so for them I'm speaking a foreign language anyway, but even they experienced the totality of this program whether they know it or not.

My underlined point is please made a real investment of time doing research on what type of therapy these programs provide, get a sense of what it was like from former attendees. Make sure your child is supported- these are vulnerable times and these girls DESERVE all the care in the world, from on staff psychologists- especially for that kind of money!

This testimony was found on Yelp

THIS PLACE IS FUCKING INSANE. First of all the people who work here are so mean like everyday they wake you up by yelling " get up." no love here. Second of all this place does not work on your mental stability, when my daughter was there not once did they ask how she was doing or counsel her in any form. All they do when your upset is say god can fix it when we all know that not true.

Also when I was going to pick up my daughter, Debbie was very hesitant and wanted her to stay so she could get more money. This environment is very hostile for children and will not better their behavior, if anything it makes them more depressed and feel like dying. My daughter wanted to die the whole time she was so sad. Also,their website and video gives extremely false info and is a total lie. Also is not at all what the place is like, in fact, they show the nearby campus of Agape, claiming it to be theirs.

My daughter felt violated when the first thing they did was strip her down and make sure she didn't have anything on her. My daughter has shared tons of stories about this place that did not make me happy which is apart of the reason I pulled her out early. The staff members are only there for the money, they couldn't care less about the girls. So, if your considering sending your daughter here just know you'll be making the biggest mistake in your life. Its way overpriced and not worth any penny.So I beg of you. DON'T SEND YOUR CHILD HERE.THANKS.ITS A SHIT FACTORY.

More information

The facility used to go under the name "City of Refuge" but was renamed Wings of Faith Academy in order to avoid bad press.

This testimony was found on Yelp

Please whatever you do, do not send your daughter here. Many parents may say yes send your daughter here its the best place possible, but sadly it is not. Yes, i am a former student and i can say from experience this is not the place you want to send your child.

I was woken up at 3am being taken out of my bed by people i had never seen in my life, i was then put in handcuffs and shoved into a car to be taken 12 hours away from my home. I was so panicked and had no idea what was going on, they would not allow me to call my parents. I was promised a phone call as soon as i arrived to the school. I was then taken into the bathroom with the owner - Debbie Martin - and she then told me that i was not allowed to talk to my parents until i was there for a month and that i would be living there for a year or longer. I immediately broke down in tears, not to mention this woman was not sympathetic at all. She then told me i needed to take off all my clothes so she could check to see if i had anything on me.

That was just the beginning. I was terrified, i had no idea where i was or why i was even there. My parents are not together and had a custody agreement at the time, my mom was never notified as to where i was. The whole time i was at WOF i was told by the staff and Mrs. Debbie that my mom wanted nothing to do with me, come to find out that was all a lie. My mom looked for me that whole time i was gone and nobody would tell her where i was. These people made me feel like i was nothing, like if i didnt live by their standards that i was going straight to hell. We were taught to be housekeepers and thats all we were good for. We were never allowed to speak our minds or ever tell anybody how we were feeling. If you didnt have something to say about the bible then you were expected to keep your mouth quiet.

This place is a 24/7 lock down facility, which is not mentioned anywhere on their website. Your never allowed to be by yourself and somebody is always watching you. We were barely ever allowed to go outside and if we did it was maybe twice a month or to get on the bus to go to church. This place is not the place you want to send your daughter, so please dont. So many of the girls that i talk to suffer from depression, anxiety, and even ptsd. One of my close friends sadly passed away from a drug overdose after leaving this school. They make you feel like your nothing if you dont follow their rules and biblical standards, it makes you question every little detail about your life. Also, the schooling that they offer is not accepted in many states. I had no credits for my junior year of high school that would transfer, and i had to work very very hard to get through my senior year with the many credits that wouldnt transfer over.

So please please before you think about sending your daughter here, just read this and take my word as a former student. This place needs to be shut down, not have more students to put down on. I would never wish on a single person to be put through what my friends and i have been put through. Just please dont let this be your last resort for your daughter. Thank you.

More information

The facility used to go under the name "City of Refuge" but was renamed Wings of Faith Academy in order to avoid bad press.