as a former student I'm going to be honest, It was terrible only for the rest of my 11 months because the first three were amazing all until the staff who have actually worked in mental health left. As an alumni I BEG for you to have staff who are medically necessary for taking care of the kids. read more

Calo would be a perfect fit to help our son, however they only work with the very wealthy the program cost around 350,000 to 450,000 per year - they do offer to put you in touch with a lawyer that could assit with suing your school district if your child has an IEP - ifnyou rich this place seems great - poor family's most not need help for thir children read more

I'm surprised to see the other reviews here. In our experience, in an industry that takes advantage of often desperate parents, Calo is a diamond in a pile of coal. Their programming is grounded in real research. They use multiple methods to reach their students and help them improve and heal. This includes individual, group and family therapy; dog therapy; neurofeeback, adventure therapy, medication mgmt and their model focused on acceptance. The staff is caring and committed to the kids. Many of the staff have been around for many years, uncommon in therapeutic boarding schools. Like with any school, you need to stay on top of your child's situation. Changes in programming may not happen as quickly as you'd like, but they do happen. They have a lot of experience with adopted kids and understand the additional complexities of these students. If you're considering them as an option for your family, give them a deep review. And if you're reading this, our family sends you a big hug and hopes you find healing in your journey. read more

90% of time, your kid is with low pay residential staff who have no qualifications whatsoever, and dont know how to interact appropriately! these staff try to befriend your kid. they bring them vapes, let them use their phones, etc. which is counterproductive to the very minimal time they spend in actual therapy. the biggest problem is that the boys executive director dr. ryan neal claims to use his extensive experience with kids and their families for the purpose of healing. But before working at calo he was an assistant superintendent at Camdenton school district. dr. ryan as assistant superintendent was named in a lawsuit. lawsuit claimed he and the superintendent KNEW about several instances of a janitor working in their schools pleasuring and exposing himself to kids in bathrooms, but they didnt fire him! they didnt even immediately remove him from their schools to protect the kids. they only moved him to another school! moved him to an intermediate school in their own district to prey on more children!! then dr. ryan neal "mysteriously" resigns from assistant superintendent job and soon after that starts working at Calo. disturbing!!! google it! see for yourself. read more

As a former **"student"** and **"patient"** of places like CALO during the Covid era, I really didn't like the place at first. There were some things that happened that could have been prevented, but it wasn't like other residential wilderness programs. The staff sometimes let things happen that shouldn't have because there weren't enough of them. When I started, I was in the **preteen's campus** where there was a lot of drama and fights, mostly because one staff member had to watch over six kids. Many of the problems were because there weren't enough staff, not because CALO wanted to hurt us, even though it felt like that sometimes. It took almost two years, but now I see that CALO, out of all the places I've been, is the best. And I don't say that lightly. The staff there were actually really nice. I can't think of a single staff member who really hated the kids. For those reading these reviews, I'm not affiliated with CALO's staff or management teams. Here's a list of the best staff I can remember: **Ricky** was amazing; if you needed someone to talk to, you went to him. Plus, he's very funny, and I never had a situation where I was mad at him or felt unsafe around him. **Ken**, I think, was some sort of manager. I had moments where I didn't like him, but he did get me out of the preteens and moved me up to the teens program, which was much better, even though I threw a big fit at him for making me leave the place I knew for a while. But if I didn't, I probably wouldn't have gotten out of the program. And then there's **David**, who was funny and mischievous. And I think the old owner, or whatever, **Doug**, I don't know why everyone hated him, but I liked him a lot. He got me out of some sticky situations and was helpful when things didn't go right. My therapist was **Amber**, and for anyone going there, they really can't help you unless you actually tell them what's happening. They're not going to tell your parents or do anything weird. I think things would have been better if I actually said what was going on instead of keeping it inside. For nursing, **Beth W.** was the nurse, and she probably was the only nurse who actually cared about the patients. She's an amazing person. Sorry for cleaning the windows with mop water; the kitchen staff told me to. Overall, this is where you should send your kid. And if you're a teen going here, make sure to actually open up. They can't read minds; they're not there yet. Yes, there are going to be times when you hate the place, but name one year where you didn't have bad moments. **Aftereffects (results)** I would say I hated the place for a while after leaving. I'm not going to lie; whenever something bad happened, I would blame CALO, thinking they were the reason. The thing is, I didn't open up at all to my therapist. Things weren't right at home, which made things somewhat worse. After a year, I moved in with my brother after leaving my adopted parents' care. I've now realized that CALO actually helped a lot. It taught me a lot about environments. In a way, I expected things at home to change without telling anyone at CALO that there were problems at home. So how could anyone help change anything if you don't tell them there's a problem? Sounds like a dumb move, but I really thought that. But yes, I would say if I hadn't gone to CALO, I wouldn't know the coping skills or ways to deal with things when they pop up in life or from your past. I probably wouldn't be able to do regular things that normal people do. This place doesn't fix you entirely; otherwise, everyone would come here. **This place heals you; you can still be broken again.** **And yes, you might feel broken again, but you'll know how to put yourself back together.** life saved read more

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend CALO. Management there has difficulty sticking to the truth, and it appears to be a revolving door of staff there. read more