"Just a note of profound thanks to you and the staff of camp for making such a positive impact on my son...he saw his therapist this week, who remarked afterward that he was like a different person - more mature, self aware...she said she had never seen any therapeutic summer camp program benefit any of her patients so dramatically. "
"Our daughter went downhill so rapidly during her freshman year in high school that we knew, without any doubt, that we had to do something drastic. We hired an Educational Consultant, and after interviewing us, our daughter and her various doctors, she recommended Island View and two other RTCs to us. We traveled to Utah, toured all three facilities, and strongly felt that Island View was the best match for our daughter. Island View helped to turn her life around. While she still has issues to this day, she came home after Island View, excelled in high school, got admitted to her first choice of college, and graduated 3.5 years later with honors. We firmly believe that this could never have happened without the skills she learned at Island View."
Tom and Judy
"I am a single mother of a now 17 year old daughter who has been enrolled in two Aspen Education Group programs with tremendous success. Without the aid of these programs she would most likely be in jail and her life would be a terrible mess.
I miss having her at home with me but realize every day how lucky we are that she has had this opportunity in her life. It truly has been a life-altering experience for both of us which will allow us to go on and have a healthy, happy relationship together as mother and daughter!"
Jean (Illinois)
"I learned that I can tell the truth and that people don't have to control me.. And that I can be respectful of my parents and obey them."
"Our 12 year son was struggling with friendships and struggling within our family. After we exhausted all of avenues available to us locally, over several years, with no concrete results, we decided to send him Stone Mountain School, some 2000 miles away from home. It was emotionally so difficult to part with our little boy. The training my wife and I received in person and over the telephone from our son’s counselor helped strengthen our parenting skills and how we interacted with our daughter, his older sister. It also gave us deeper insights to our son and helped us to better understand him and how to best work with him. Looking back I can say it was emotionally painful and sad as well as amazingly beautiful. The amount of maturity, gratitude and openness our son exhibits since graduating from SMS was beyond any expectation we had for him. He has re-integrated into the family so well, and his old friends have embraced him with warm and kindness, commenting how much he had changed. He is happy and our family is thriving and healthy. What a difference for us!"
Marty
"Our son started at the Academy at Swift River as a 15 year old. He was depressed, suicidal, and dependent on marijuana. He graduated in October 2003. I always think of ASR when we have good news and this is great: our son was accepted at dental school and will begin classes this September. What a remarkable come-back. He graduated from college in May with a BA in Psychology. He has been taking science prerequisites for dental school for the past year and a half. We are so grateful for the experience he had at ASR."
Marla and Brad
"Turn-About Ranch has touched our family with love and compassion. We think of you often and thank you for giving our son back to us. We will always support him in his life journey."
"I'm writing to say, "Thank you," for giving my son such a wonderful experience. He had the time of his life. More importantly, however, he came home with new skills, and new friends. We are using the group process at home to facilitate discussion and minimize tantrums and yelling. The day after we brought him home from camp, he was sitting in group (at our coffee table) with appropriate body language, LISTENING to the issue at hand. I'm emphasizing listening because my Aspie son, who before camp, never maintained eye contact or used non verbal cues to show he was paying attention, was looking at us and nodding to show he understood, and NOT INTERRUPTING. We are very encouraged by this and plan to continue using the group process between now and next year when he goes back to Talisman for camp!"
Michael (Chicago)