Our daughter suffered from anxiety & depressive disorders and was so acting out we had to do something. In our particular case, our daughter, a strong/smart girl, found ways to grow from the experience, though she tells hellish stories of staff scamming records and horrible treatment. I always had the sense staff was invested in making money and far less in turning kids around. Loosely and clumsily run in my opinion. They are Mormons and my daughter would joke about their Mormon underwear which was true. Her therapist, Tristan, LOST HER SESSION RECORDS... which killed a $30,000 reimbursement from insurance. We were incensed about that as you can imagine. The idea is interesting, DA is not the iteration that makes it work. Don't do this to your kid (as other parents have said). If you're on the fence, perhaps my daughter (now 31) might talk with you to help a decision. Largely a joke. Check the reviews. read more

RUN! DON'T DO THIS TO YOUR CHILD. I ran away from this boarding school. Do not send your kids here! Upon arrival, they place you in a white, empty hole in the wall, with a plastic mat in the floor, with no shoes and minimal cloths, with nothing else, similar to an insane asylum. TO WHO EVER IS READING THIS: We aren't making this up, there are numerous reviews explaining how this happened to them. They left us in there for days! I'll never forget the numerous cold nights I spent crying in that white tiny area, hoping, and praying someone would come save me. In regards to reviews that state the room (hole in wall) didn't exist, I am reposting a picture to demonstrate the white area they locked us in. The positive reviews must be fake accounts or owners of DA. The entire time I was there, they didn't allow me to speak to my family. This was traumatic. Thankfully, I was smart enough to crawl out of the roof window and scale down the wall and run, as fast as I could without shoes. Best decision in my life. ...we had a wonderful escape plan...too many details for a post here,, but we end up making it home back to Cali...long long greyhound ride, with lots of loving individuals and new friends who helped us on the way. Most the counselors were uneducated and unfriendly. The scholastic standard is below minimal. Your kids will receive horrible education here. Teachers are not accredited. Be aware of what will happen to your child when you send them to an enclosed building with strangers. Upon me escaping, they refused to return the full year payment my single mother had paid. After a legal battle, we received part of our payment in return. If you don't believe me, feel free to contact me and I will tell you the entire story how I escaped from this hell in Provo Utah and arrived in San Diego, CA. As much as I have healed from the scars caused by this place, I must warn others, don't place your kids in danger. P.S. Simple look at the bars on the windows. SCARIEST place ever. read more

Discovery Academy - Middle Schools & High Schools Near Me - Provo, Utah

If you don't want to take responsibility for being a terrible parent, this is a great place to send your child. They focus on therapy which will eventually help your child understand that your parenting was the issue, not them. read more

I absolutely regret sending my son here!!! It was a complete waste of money and time. It was detrimental to his mental health. When I toured the facility it was made out to be an opportunity for the kids. Music therapy never happened. Equine therapy never happened. Homemade food, yeah right! Getting an education, never happened! Kids are allowed to bully and then they have to decide if they want to be bullied or become a bully. I eventually pulled him after 10 months. The dividers in the bathrooms had been removed and kids had to shit next to each other. Everything about this place is an abusive fraud. Don't send your kid here, this will not help them. read more

This place is ok, they try, but the management -- Brent - money miser. They can not keep quality staff (people that actually care) or others. So the continuity of knowledge is lost. It is next to 2 major colleges so they always have "fresh meat" staff. The staff on average can only endure for 3 months. No training, no continuity with the people that primarily interact and help your kids. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS - read more

I think that the rants on this review page are completely unfounded. My daughter was there for 16 months, (after attending Red Cliff Ascent, their sister program), and she never saw any of the abusive treatment that's being described. Responding to one of the scandal mongering reviews, there is no "white room". The negative comments are so outrageous that I can't help but think that it's possibly the competition trying to discredit this well-run, effective and caring program. read more

Discovery Connections is the new name for Discovery Academy. The company is trying to shed a poor reputation that they developed over the past year or so and potential customers should be made aware of the name change. I recommend looking at the Discovery Academy reviews, though any review that mentions the "white room" is lying. The buildings have drywall walls, not white brick walls, so that picture was taken somewhere else. I am attaching my review of Discovery Academy here. Discovery Academy switched to Edgenuity for their curriculum this year (2021). Edgenuity costs about $300 a month for a student to take up to 6 classes. You could save a lot of money by sending your student to a therapist and enrolling them in Edgenuity on your own. Here is a link to Edgenuity so that you can verify the price for yourself. parkcityindependent.com/... It is sad that Discovery Academy decided to use online videos instead of the licensed teachers that they had. The point of a therapeutic school is that the student can get therapy while also keeping up with school, but if the school takes all of the curriculum decisions away from its teachers and just uses an online program instead, then there isn't a reason for the student to go to the school. Edgenuity may be an accredited program, but there are good accredited schools and bad ones. Edgenuity could be a useful tool in a school that has teachers at the helm, making educational decisions based on the interactions they have with the students. One of the benefits of a computer homework system like Edgenuity is that it can grade assignments instantly so that the student knows instantly what they did right and wrong and can start fixing their misconceptions right away. But without a teacher teaching the student, customizing the lesson to the students, a computer homework system quickly turns into a rote memorization exercise. Students guess on the multiple choice questions, remember the letters for the ones they got right, try again and change the answers on the ones they got wrong. Please, if you are thinking about sending your child here, ask if the school is still using Edgenuity. If they are, please send your child somewhere else. read more

I'm very disappointed with this program. I really though i was sending my daughter to a real program that would help my girl with her issus program, but it was nothing like i thought would be. instead of bringing self esteem they broke my childs, as she says they broke her in pcs by the way she was treated. in total i felt that my daughter was discriminated for being hispanic and not rich like the other girls. read more

please do not send your children here. there are many other programs out there that are much better and kinder to ur child. though some of the staff are just and fair there are also many who abuse their power as well as verbally abuse the student. The therapists are there for your kids once a week but the kids cannot request to see their therapist on days that they are not planned to. This is a problem because emotions and feelings going on that day cannot be talked about when they are most needed to be talked about and instead have to be held in the teens mind until the decided day. visit the FDA Facebook page to see how others opinions and reviews read more

I called not to long ago acting like a parent who was thinking bout sending my child to this facility.... the first thing i was told. I wasn't even asked if my "child" was a boy what i was told that there was a special going on right now "only 7k a month!" there was never any concern of why i would want to send my "kid" there... there was never any explanation as to what his or her day to day life would be like... just send em here and we will watch them for you was the vibe i got... when i was here it was awful... the first thing your subjected to is getting naked in front for 3 men... which for a 14 year old is a pretty traumatic and embarrassing experience.... its still makes me shiver when i think about it.. I was given no care... 2 of my meals a day were pb and j sandwiches on stale bread... I learned how to play poker and spades.... besides cleaning this is what i spent most of my time doing... the 3 months i was there i was NEVER allowed to talk to my family.. not even once... which was really tough on me... Im now a parent of my own and could imagine sending my kid to live in such deplorable conditions.... leaky roofs.. no educations... no nothing... i still have nightmares where i wake up and i think im there again... and i cry... it still confuses my wife... I have never forgiven my parents fully for putting me through this bullshit... your kids needs better your kid needs to just build a relationship with you... Your kids High risk you say? he or she is disrespectful? doing drugs? sneaking out? guess what that can be fixed with love and an open discussion... not from a point of anger but fix it with love... my parents have long since apologized for sending me there but the abuse will stick with me the rest of my life... i hope this place burns to the ground.... please hear my pleas your kid needs you... not to be knocked around by people making minimum wage who dont give a fuck about your child.... the bottom line is your child is attached to a dollar amount... let me guess they want your kid to go to their "wilderness program" for only 50k that should be a quick fix right? wrong.,.. but thats a whole different program with even more issues and abuses ..... I know if youre a parent reading this youre making a tough choice... but i beg of you... just try and find local help dont send you child away... they will feel given up on they will feel worthless they will feel like you dont love them... and thats a resentment that will last a life time.... read more

I went here in 2015-2016. For my freshman year of high school. Undoubtedly I think these negative claims have some validity. But I want to give my honest critique of this place because I've thought about my experience there a lot and Want to inform people with my experience of spending 11 months there. I went here after attending red cliff ascent. And I can confidently say that the structure of the program was deeply flawed and had massive potential for abuse, from both the staff and students. I will go into detail of this but I first I will say that when I attended this program I was subjected to an unfathomable amount of bullying and violence, my therapists were manipulative to both me and my parents, some of the staff were extremely cruel and belittling. There were major problems that weren't properly addressed such as sanitary conditions, lack of supervision due to understaffing, which lead to bullying, violence , and sometimes even rape. But that is my own anecdotal claim. However that is not what I want to be emphasized from this. Because neither the staff or students that were there in 2015-2016 are there anymore. There are rules, guidelines, and conditions that are a formula for disaster within this program. Starting with the demographics; this is a "one size fits all" program. Which means they accept troubled kids from a variety of reasons ( such as drug addiction, sexual violence, video game addiction, suicidal tendencies, clinical depression, self harm, sexual trauma, fighting, and gang related court ordered reasons) and propose a very rigid solution for these very complex psychological problems. Such as therapy groups, and individual therapy once a week. The amount of time per day on average for therapy is about 2-3 hours, which I didn't find useful, plus school. But other than that we had a considerable amount of time for doing nothing. And locking up to 80 kids ( boys, in my case) with a whole spectrum of issues in the same building with a lack of supervision is a recipe for disaster in the first place. The rule such as the collective principal: which is that everybody will suffer for your mistakes, is a flawed principal that has no utility in the real world. For example: if you fight or choose to attack somebody, than everybody you live with is held accountable for it. Which obviously ends up with that kid getting beaten up oranges in a sock (it doesn't leave bruises) for making everybody suffer for his mistake. Since these kids are only in contact with each other, they naturally developed their own sort of culture that splits into cliques and than hierarchies. And from that certain traditions are developed and than passed on such as beating up the new kid, making kids cheek their medications so that other kids can take them, stealing hand sanitizer from outings and drinking it with their friends to get drunk, and having weekly "fight nights" in the laundry room. I lived with a kid while I was there that cut his leg open and almost died and he got hospitalized, and the staff made us clean up the enormous pools of blood off the bathroom floor. In conclusion I think it is a toxic environment to send your kid to, especially if he/she has severe emotional issues. I've seen many of the kids I lived with spiral into depression including myself. I left having more issues, making even worse mistakes, and becoming considerably suicidal for a period of time. Thankfully I decided to get my life together and looking back on it, I think going through such a traumatizing experience humbled me and made me a wiser person having gone through it. Unfortunately a majority of my friends I made there are mostly locked up, dead by suicide or drug overdose, or helplessly addicted to drugs. A small amount of them are living a healthy life that was promised by the program. If I were to give advice to a parent that is worried for their child such as my parents once were. The most simple answer to this would to try wilderness treatment programs. Even though I don't agree 100% of their methods and those methods vary depending on the program, I went to 2 wilderness programs and out of the 7 treatment facilities I went to I would recommend this method of rehabilitation the best, but I wouldn't recommend sending them to any rtc or boarding school. read more

I used to work as a mentor here for two years, and I do not recommend sending your kids here. I could go on and on about this place and how badly it's run, and how negatively impacted the kids are after being here. The only reason I stayed so long was because I cared for the kids, and wanted to do whatever I could to bring something positive into their lives while at Discovery Academy. But please do not send your kids here, they will suck you dry of money and leave your kid more traumatized than before. read more

The treatment team at Discovery Academy is second to none in my opinion. From the admissions process, to intake, to residential care, therapy and education, I feel my daughter is safe and getting the wrap around care that she needs. The biannual parent seminars were a valuable part of the program, helping parents better understand and connect with their troubled children. I appreciated receiving information about additional resources, the reunifications process, and the chance to meet other parents struggling with similar challenges. read more

Do NOT send your child to Discovery Academy. Their website homepage states that they are following guidelines established by the CDC regarding Covid-19. The staff assured us that covid safety precautions were in place and that it was a closed campus. Nothing could be further from the truth. During his 17 day stay at DA ,our son was taken to a water park, movie theater, Chinese buffett, other restaurants, grocery stores and convenience stores. Some of the students have part-time jobs off campus and are coming a going. And we never received any therapy sessions during that time. Would give this place negative stars if possible. read more

Please don't send your kids here. As a former staff, college degree holder, and after working in a similar field, I can tell you this place is not worth a cent of your (nor the governments) money. Your son or daughter will AT BEST see their therapist not the prescribed multiple times a week, but rather 1-2 a month at best. Among the entire therapy team there are perhaps a couple who are even remotely involved in their residents' lives. Upper management is condescending to both students and other staff. They are particularly apathetic to the small DC boys group (a smaller, more expensive group with virtually NO additional treatment relative to the already meager "treatment" the rest of the school receives. Laura, the chief operator, is condescending and has a serious superiority complex. She is terribly out of touch with the treatment center experience from your child's point of view. Her lack of compassion is evident in the constant refusal of any/all extra curricular requests. She pushes to keep boys in the more expensive DC program when they obviously need a different sort of treatment. She is apathetic to the work that staff constantly puts in. I believe that it is her decision making that maintains one of the lowest wages among similar facilities which leads to immense staff turnover, indicative of a lower mentor quality (mentors are those who stay with your child 99% of their day to day life). Having been on the inside, it is quite clear that the management if this facility treats it SOLELY as a money generating mechanism and in that sense they are quite efficient! In regard to treatment, however, very little progress occurs over the months/years of each resident's stay here, unless they are lucky enough to have a GREAT staff in their daily program. read more

My son attended Discovery Academy the beginning of 2018 for six months. To this day I regret listening to our educational consultant and the owner of Oxbow where my son made progress. He was assaulted by another student on his first day where his glasses were broken and nothing was done. We were told that it was a step down program and that the staff would work with him to transition into the community by getting a job and having more independence. On the contrary, he had no freedom nor was he allowed to have any phone calls. The agreement was that he would be there for no more than six months. Soon after checking him in we were told that he would be there for no less than two years. His therapist would lie and deceive him to the point that my son didn't know who to trust. I had a conversation with Brent Hall the Executive Director a few years ago regarding our concerns. As far as I know nothing has been done. I truly am surprised that so many five star reviews are on their website??? I would like to know if his therapist was fired and if they started properly training and observing staff members. read more

I worked at Discovery Academy for years as a frontline staff and I can truly say we do whatever we can to help reunify our clients with their families and start them on a healthier path. The best results come when the parents are ready and willing to work with our clinical and residential team and trust in the process. I've seen clients go from having serious substance abuse/emotional/academic issues/social issues to being successful members of society, parents, college students, ect. Our lead female therapist and female program director are dedicated to their clients and the families. The frontline staff care about the kids and do what we can to help. Residential treatment is not an easy option. It's hard work for the clients and the families. Be prepared for a tough ride, but it's worth the reward. read more

It was great luck to find this school. My son was failing math, and thus lost his interest in math a long time ago. The school has very good specialists that have the ability to revive student's interest in the subject, and with very close attention deepen student's understanding. My son is already so much better at handling advanced math problems. read more

There absolutely rancid and vile the staff threaten to "drop" them or "beat them up" just because there in a bad headspace it's ridiculous the way they treat children there and as a past attendee, it's fucking gross. The therapists especially Matt kiefer and joe do nothing for those kids but eat the parents pockets. read more

In a perfect world, this isn't a perfect school but then my son wasn't either. He was there for 10 months and it helped him learn limits and I attribute it to changing the downward path we were watching him travel. He came back with a little more respect and focus of his future. I wish the school program was faster but we don't regret sending him there. He came back a lot more mature so I'm grateful to the staff and administrators. read more

DO NOT SEND YOUR KID HERE. i developed ptsd from this place. My addiction, depression, and anxiety grew worse and worse as i was there. Not to mention the physical and mental abuse that i encountered while i was here. they punish if you don't meet the "Mormon standard" or if you are in a bad head space. they train you with fear here. they lie to parents about what is really going on and i didn't know this until i left. please whatever you do do not send your kid here. they will get worse. i ended up having to go through so much more therapy and treatment programs after i left this place. read more

This place is super pathetic, and it's funny. I went here for 11 months. I was supposed to be there for 6-8 but they wanted to bleed my parents' pockets some more. There are very few staff there that take their job seriously. I was jumped a few times and the kids who did it were let off with warnings, but then I used a phone that someone had snuck in, and it was the biggest deal in the world. The staff use their ability to "restrain" kids as a way to show their power. Trust me, don't send your kids here. It's a money grab and completely different than what it looks like on the outside. read more

If you actually care about your children - DO NOT SEND THEM HERE !!! I've spend 6 months in Discovery Academy and I know exactly what it is on the inside. It is very much like a real prison with its own "local authorities", who abuse weaker individuals and bully the ones, who are not like them as a group. Kids who spend too much time in this place are filled with anger and frustration, and they let it out on anyone they can that is getting in their way. If the "leaders" don't like you - you're in trouble and if they do - you better make sure it stays that way. My therapist made an impression of a failed psychologist, who could not get a real job in her field. Her sessions dispelled my boredom from time to time, but not a single one of them was actually helpful. That is not to mention that most of the staff are ACTUAL former prison guardians (their own words). I was send there by my own will, because the other choice was to do 11th grade over again (I got behind in school due to attending another program that was in the wilderness). When I described the place to my parents, they immediately offered me to come back home, but I refused because I really didn't want to graduate high school as a 20 year old. However, being was incredibly hard because you feel like a legit prisoner and because the atmosphere is FILLED with HATRED. I was one of those, who wasn't "popular" and I had to FIGHT FOR MY DIGNITY EVERY DAY. Mentally I am a strong person which is why I handled it alright, although sometimes I still have nightmares that I'm in DA and feel like a prisoner again. A weaker person could easily break down in my position and be scarred for life. Now last of all, but MOST importantly, I REALLY CANNOT IMAGINE HOW THIS PLACE COULD HELP ANYONE. Every person that got out who I checked on went back to their old lifestyle and it didn't change. And now the only person, who was nice to me and was my friend there is being charged for MURDER and going to spend (at least) his 20s in prison!!! So please, don't send your kid there if you actually care about his or her life and don't want to just "get this weight off your shoulders". I've seen a lot of kids there with all sorts of problems and they all had just thing in common - their parents sent them to DA and they suffered. If you wish to help your kid - be kind to him and try to connect with him. Trouble teens are most often the ones, who did not receive enough love from their parents. Trust me, you will not help them by sending them to this horrible place. Thank you for reading and heal your children with love, it's really the only way. read more

As a previous survivor of this shameful excuse of therapeutic school for youth, I can only share my experience and urge parents to rethink such an abusive and life altering solution. Dr. Thorne was pro electrotheropy for the "gays". I was heterosexual but was deemed depressive and was forced to take inappropriate dosages of an antidepressant twice a day as well as a sedative every night with counter effects and potential for seizures. I was forced beyond my will to take these meds for 2 years. If I refused, I was placed into a white isolation room with bare mattress forced to stand and stare at a wall at half hour intervals as punishment. Each interval was named a demerit. At one point I had 2000. I was in isolation for several weeks staring at a white wall. Whilest in there another girl decided to slit her wrists with bra wire. And I was forgotten for 8 hours. I witnessed counselors abusing girls, and know of girls who were drugged and raped. The physiological abuse was however the most disturbing part of the experience. Every way you react is judged and determines the level of "trust" you are given, which only promotes hiding your actual troubles and accomplishes nothing. It wasn't until over a decade later that I could start to think back at the damage this place has caused me. Please do not send your children here. read more

never ever ever send anyone you love here!!! it will never turn out the way you wish it will. talk with your child, find out how you can actually help them. don't be lazy! do the work!!! read more

From the Mormon cult that runs this hell hole, to the soggy expired food, this place really is as sketchy and illegal as a business can be. If I could give a 0 star review, I would. I was sent here 3 years ago when I was dealing with severe depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. I was sent to 3 residential programs, 3 psych wards, a wilderness program, then this place (all back to back). One thing I can tell you with absolute certainty is that adolescent "treatment" is one of the biggest scams in existence. Therapists make commissions whenever they convince parents to send their suffering child here. They use fear tactics, labeling, and lies to make money. That's all it is and that's all that should really matter to you. This place is a business, not a treatment center. Even then, it's a dishonest pathetic excuse of a business. While I was imprisoned at this place, they built a whole music studio that I NEVER saw any "student" ever use. They built it to show parents when they did campus tours and I even heard them say directly that the studio is used by the students. Any "student" who would speak out and try to expose the fake tour, would be punished severely. Staff members paid minimum wage abused us physically and mentally every day, making the living situation constantly stressful. Meal quality is below the quality of the worst McDonald's store I have ever been to. They literally fed us expired food (I am dead serious). I refused to eat the expired food and was put on a "suicide watch", which banned me from leaving the building, even to catch a breath of fresh air. Highly unreasonable, highly uneducated, and highly ignorant are the staff. Anyone with any drug, behavioral, or mental illness should definitely not be in an environment like this. While I was at this place, someone slit their throat with a razor blade they snuck in. He almost bled to death and I have never seen so much blood coming out of someone's throat in my life. He was taken to a hospital where he got multiple stitches. The staff didn't even bother to call an ambulance. They just scolded him while his face started getting pale from blood loss and shoved him into the company van. A few months after I left the boarding school, I heard news that he had taken his life as soon as he got out of the program. Almost every person I kept in touch with after getting out of this place crashed and had a mental breakdown shortly after leaving. Many of the drug addicts got back into drugs. Many of the depressed kids got even more depressed. Those with anxiety got even more anxiety. You get the point. For confidentiality, I will not disclose any names as they deserve their privacy. As for myself personally, I am no exception. I crashed and continued to contemplate suicide for another year after leaving this place. I am now a 20 year old college dropout with self made financial freedom. I followed my own spiritual path and found a life purpose. I write this review from a good place, almost 3 years after leaving. I am not writing a biased review as much as I am writing an informed one. If your child is suffering, you are suffering. It's hard on you, but it's also hard on your child. Learn to understand and truly connect with your son/daughter. Learn to respect them and support them. Don't let fear get the best of you... one fear based decision can last a lifetime. My parents regret sending me here. I forgive them and have made peace with life, but I am one of the lucky ones to survive this place. PS. Check out the Landmark Forum if you want true transformation. Within a month of participating in the forum, I made $50k, started a business, healed my relationship with my parents, met the girl of my dreams, and am on track to fulfilling my life goals. It has been over 6 months since I have taken the landmark forum and I am still going strong. These are real lasting results. Discovery Academy is not. read more

Do not send your child here. This place is no help trust me as former student I now suffer from many disorders, I learned how to act out physicallly I need lots of care now , this place ruined me! But I'm strong enough to keep going, I will make a story about this place , it will be heard' read more

I am a former employee at Discovery Academy. I worked here for almost a year because I felt bad for the kids and really wanted to make a difference. The management did not care what was going on and viewed the kids as money signs. There are no cameras except two that view the parking lot. New staff do not get training before being thrown on the floor which has resulted in many kids being hurt. We get AEGIS restraint trained , but most staff run to restraints instead of actually working to talk your child down. I have seen many kids thrown to the ground and against walls , and giant men 5 times bigger than the child hold them completely down. I have seen therapists skip out on getting their clients (your children ) because they did not want to deal with the kid that week , and have residential staff tell them why. Discovery Academy does not care about residential staff which is why their turn over rate is huge , meaning every few months it's a brand new team of people who have never worked in treatment and have zero training and zero idea what they are doing. Also I will be honest , if you have a son and want to send them here , the male staff always leave your child unsupervised and that causes them to become worse. Not better. Management will always tell you what you want to hear. read more

This is one of those programs that takes advantage of parents who don't know where else to turn and charges them astronomical prices for low quality treatment. I had worked previously in one of the pioneering, most renowned treatment centers, and after a few weeks of working here I quit. The training for mentors (the people the kids spend the most time around) wasn't sufficient to handle crisis situations and staff often escalated situations that could have been deescalated if handled better. If I hadn't previously worked in a program where we were well trained, I probably would have done the same. I was hired as a mentor to boys on the autism spectrum in a program called Nexus. Things may be different in DA's other programs, but the way they treated these boys was NOT ok with me. Like I said, I've worked in another program, so I know treatment is difficult and emotional and at times intense, and you have to hold boundaries. But the kind of difficult this was was not the kind that will help kids change or grow, merely drive them into submission. It is purely contrived reward and punishment conditioning with unclear standards, so there was little consistency among staff members judgements. I think a lot of employees genuinely wanted to mentor and help kids when they signed up for the job but they just didn't receive adequate training to handle situations correctly and as far as I could tell, the program is not up to date with current industry standards in mental health care. Many of the staff did not know how to effectively support the kids with healthy relationships, even though this is emphasized in their advertisement. If anything, many staff taught the clients that when someone doesn't do what you want, yell at them and threaten them. Many staff were disengaged and some spent entire shifts on their phones with little personal interest in the kids, until they acted out. Most days the boys just watched tv for hours. Again many staff were well meaning but just didn't have any idea what they were doing. What I REALLY don't understand though, is how they could advertise a program specifically for boys on the Autism spectrum and NOT TRAIN a single one of us (not an exaggeration) about ASD or how to best help these boys!! I relied on youtube to learn what I could about ASD and it seemed like many of my coworkers were unaware of or just didn't care about their sensory and processing needs, which caused a LOT of problems. This program doesn't help the kids to see their potential or good qualities. In staff notes and meetings, they focused almost entirely on '"fixing" clients negative behaviors with little conversation about how we could actually help meet their individual needs that were driving the behavior. Take this review as you will, I have nothing to gain personally if DA's business is effected. But I can't not let people know what they're paying for if they send their kids here. read more

They have a good program, The place is in the middle of Gods country! Your kid will be safe and also will learn some life essential skills Relationships, Respect and Responsibility. The program is expensive for sure and there is no quick fix. What is your kids life worth though? The bad reviews are mostly from defiant kids. No surprise there. read more

Let me start by saying I graduated with my honors at DA in 2015. I was there for 15 long months. If It wasn't for this program I would of never graduated high school or went to college. If you are in need of some type of treatment please realize Discovery Academy is great for children who WANT to get better, depending on their circumstances. You cannot force someone to go into treatment if they don't want to change their life style. I don't agree with the major of the rules that DA has in place, and they definitely need to fix things but looking back on my experience there I wouldn't be a criminal justice major today or honestly be alive. I've learned a lot and worked a lot on my anxiety which is why I'm making this review.. Besides the food being so gross I lost a lot of weight, learned how to work out and get myself where I needed to be health wise. This place mixes all types of people with different therapy issues and ages together which in my opinion isn't the best idea.. I was never into drugs but I learned a lot of things that I never knew before due to the kids I spent time with there. read more

I attended Discovery Academy from March 18th 2008- November 26th 2008. It was one of the hardest times of my life, but it got me back on track. I loved the peace of the mountains and the wonderful cooking of Luda who became a surrogate mother for all of "her boys". I re-discovered my passion for learning and began to dig into books ravenously by the likes of Cormac McCarthy, Orwell, and I started working towards high school graduation which is something I never thought possible before. There were hard times of course, but there were also many days of healing and looking back I couldn't be more grateful for my experience at Discovery Academy. I had lost my father at the age of 14, and he was my best friend. I had always been a bright kid, but when the world dealt me the hands it did I collapsed under its weight. I stopped caring about school and my family and myself and I fell into a pattern and habit of drug use. When I first came to Discovery Academy I was lost, hopeless, and apathetic, but through time and effort I re-engaged in school, I made huge strides towards re-building familial relationships, and I earned my right to go home again and re-start my life as the boy I always had been. I earned my High School Diploma, and I began my collegiate career with a focus in psychology. I went on to earn my associates and bachelors degrees in psychology and here I am, a man who has made good from dark corners of human experience. If your child is suffering like I was and you have the means to make a change like Discovery Academy a reality for them, then please, visit the campus, give it a thorough look over and make a personal evaluation that best suits your family and your child. This program did wonders for me. read more