I am a parent of a recovering addict. My daughter is now over 16 months sober. When we walked into The Crossroads Program our 18 year-old daughter had hit her bottom and had asked my husband and I for help. We found out about the The Crossroads Program from a mother attending an AA meeting. My husband and I came in feeling terrified for our daughter, grief struck by the impact of her choices, traumatized by the stress from the depths she had gone, and angry that after six years of therapy and quality programs she was only worse. Now she is over 16 months sober, has sober and productive friends we love from The Crossroads Program, has a job she enjoys, has recently bought her own car with her funds and is thinking about returning to school. Additionally, we have so many parent friends who understand what we have gone through and how blessed we are for where we are now. They have been through this nightmare of addiction with their children too. The Crossroads Program counselors are amazing. The program engages the kids, allows them to be teens, demands they be sober, and builds a culture of healing and nurturing relationships for both the young adults and the parents. Our daughter was actually willing to participate on day one. Yes, she's had her ups and downs, successes and failures, trials and troubles, and yet she is thriving - finally! The Crossroads Program has transformed our family for the better. Since our family has been in The Crossroads Program, I have learned how devastating addiction is in our country and in our St. Louis Region: - Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50 - 144 people will die today from an accidental overdose of opioids. 2 will die in the St. Louis Region - Rates of alcohol and drug addiction are highest among adults aged 18-29 - America has only 5 percent of the world population yet consumes over 60 percent of illegal drugs in the world - Drug overdoses now cause more deaths than gun violence, cancer, heart condition, or car crashes - 3 in 10 Americans are on opioids - 85 percent of chemical addictions begin with legally prescribed drugs - Violent behavior attributed to alcohol use accounts for roughly 49 percent of murders, 52 percent of rapes, 21 percent of suicides and 60 percent of child abuse - St. Louis County has 4 times the rate of the national average of heroin overdoses Previously, I had no idea the impact that addiction has on our society. Addiction is this era's black plague. There are no perfect solutions. Recovery requires a ton of work rom the young adults and the family. However, The Crossroads Program is the only program that has truly resulted in recovery for our daughter. read more

The crossroads program is actually damaging to long term adolescent emotional health. As a former member, it took me a couple years of therapy to unlearn several of the emotionally damaging concepts that are the core of this program. They teach kids to accept responsibility for all actions. Several people were asked to own their part of being sexually assaulted, which is absolutely appalling. They treat drug use as the core issue, when most adolescent drug use is actually the result of other problems, either at home or at school. As a result, kids learn to stay off drugs, but never address any of the underlying problems. This leads to the development of other unhealthy habits. They somewhat encourage kids as young as 13 to smoke cigarettes. I would way rather my child smoke marijuana than cigarettes because marijuana won't kill you. They don't seem to care about the actual health of your child. And most of all, the tactics that they use to encourage sobriety are a nightmare. Kids who relapse are bullied and shunned until they prove themselves. One guy who was in his twenties had a sexual encounter with a 16 year old member, and instead of calling the police they just told him he had to move to a different group. They encouraged an openly gay member to be in a straight relationship. When kids relapse after months of sobriety they will tell them they either have to join outpatient again or leave, which would be fine if outpatient wasn't $7,000. If I could tell every parent one thing, it would be this: If your child is using drugs, talk to them. And if they don't want to talk to you, get them a therapist who you have little to no interaction with. And don't expect therapy to work immediately. They need to build that relationship and build trust, so they can talk about what's really going on. Programs like this will only instill the idea that there is something wrong with them, instead of teaching them to be happy with who they are. I am finally at a point where I feel happy with myself and my relationships, and it didn't come from crossroads, it came from a couple years with a trusted therapist. That's what you should want for your child. And if they reach that level of emotional security where they are confident and happy with themselves, and they decide they want to have a drink occasionally, or smoke some weed now and then, don't immediately think something is wrong. Just make sure that they know the actual facts about substances, educate yourselves together, and then allow them to make their own decisions. read more

The Crossroads program has been such a gift in our family's life! Thank goodness for this transformative program. There was no better program for our child and family while we were dealing with substance use disorder. In order to help our child we had gone to three hospital programs, an art therapist, family therapist, several individual therapists, a month-long program all in St. Louis. Nothing made a difference that really stuck. We then tried out of state for wilderness camp and therapeutic boarding school. Our child was fine in these programs, yet once home, back to the same self-destructive behavior. Once a young adult we had no way to help or impact behavior. Then we found the Crossroads program. The peer-to-peer support makes all the difference. The counsellors are trained and licensed, yet they also have lived experience so our child couldn't fool them, get pity, cause shock, or pretend. The counsellors and the youth in the program all can see through the tricks and still come from a place of love, support, honesty, and fun. Recovery stuck. The lessons learned still impact our child in positive ways today. My husband and I were also changed for the better. We learned to let go of anger, fear, and to detach with true love and respect that life on life's terms is the best teacher for our child. Now our child is happily married with a child on the way. We are all very close, have fun together, and have healthy boundaries. Thank goodness for this amazing program that meets young people with substance abuse issues where they are on their terms. It creates long-term transformation that helps youth learn to thrive and parents learn healthy ways to parent with love and healthy boundaries. read more

This company dodges federal and state minimum wage laws. Employees are paid a salary (not enough to live on) of 14k a year. This is the same way that T-Bell dodges the minimum wage for their tomato pickers, but not for their drive-thru employees. Your child's counselor is paid far below minimum wage unless that counselor is the regional director. I was paid under $4 an hour while working 60+ hour weeks. Raises occur after 2-4 years, the first raise bumping to a whopping 16k a year, or $4.50/hr. Even senior counselors are paid below minimum wage most likely around $5.50/hour, those lucky guys. Employees are forbidden from speaking about their "salary" to anyone but the director. Living in the same apartment or house as other employees is required for continued employment. Prepare to be heavily berated by co-workers and supervisors if you don't lean the right way politically. A verbal and sometimes written accounting of ones off-time and private thoughts is required to be given on a daily basis. Yes, this institution uses thought policing on their employees and your kids. I was paid under $4 an hour while working 60 hour weeks. Staff members are abusive when it suits them. All common tactics cults have used are employed to brainwash staff members. Every single staff member is culled from the children put into this program on a yearly/bi-yearly basis. Unfortunately this abusive institution cost me years of my life, I am thankful it didn't cost me more. Instead of making $4 an hour I make somewhere in the high 3 figures hourly nowadays. Life is much better without being in a cult. read more

Parents, beware of this program and do your research before taking your child here for "evaluation." The previous reviewer could not be more spot on. The "counselors", who went through the same Bob Meehan brainwashing program, will separate you from your child and then convince you that your child has a severe problem requiring outpatient (for $8,500) or, God forbid, inpatient in another state (for $16,000). They may try to convince you that your home is dysfunctional and that you should send your child to live with a host family. They will tell you your child is insecure and needs to become comfortable in his or her own skin. Then the real changes begin. Your child will start to smoke, use foul language, stay out all night (you won't know where), and sleep all day. Your child will become completely dependent on the group and isolated from society. The counselors will convince you that this sequestration and rebellion is acceptable because it's more fun than using. And the kicker -- you will be required to attend parent meetings where you can listen to all the other parents try to convince themselves that this program is saving them and their children. Meanwhile, the program merely divides families and deprives adolescents of a prosperous future. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXBLYEeF5vs&feature=youtu.be read more

Awesome program. So thankful I found it when I needed it most! As an ex-member, can definitely say it is not a cult. Any program that deals with addicts is going to have disgruntled ex-members who want to shoot it down. Part of treatment is often hearing what you don't want to hear, but all the counselors and the large majority of the members are incredibly loving and have people's best interests in mind. First entering recovery is an incredibly difficult and scary process. Crossroads truly did make it so much easier for both me and my family, in a way that I've never seen any other program do. I joined while broke and homeless, addicted to multiple hard drugs, isolated from my family and friends, with no hope for the future except to make enough money to get by selling drugs. By the time I graduated, I had graduated college, had loving relationships with my family members, a truly massive and strong support network of lifelong friends, and a job that doesnt feel like a job in the drug addiction field to keep carrying the message. Crossroads helped me save myself. read more

The Crossroads Program provides great treatment services. They help teenagers feel at home and help parents stand up to their kids. They teach the 12 steps and provide support for members and their families. read more