As a former student who graduated from the program in 2023, I'd like to respond to this response by…read moreMary T. This woman is not involved in day-to-day operations; that would be Jason. While falsely portraying a family-like environment, coming off as caring, faithful god-loving people for the girls and the staff, the Theilbar family is actually extremely greedy, profiting off of families' fear in the name of God.
More than one of the staff members confessed to me that they are paid minimum wage, which in Montana is $10.86 per hour. In the response, Mary states, "This cost reflects the round-the-clock nature of specialized mental health treatment," which they are only paying people less than 11 an hour for. I understand there are also teachers, therapists, admin workers, and other employees, as well as expenses related to maintenance of the facility, but the disgusting amount they bleed from scared families far surpasses these costs, and they continue to reap extreme benefit from desperate situations.
I'm not even going to go into the fact that the therapeutic treatment aspect is subpar and most of the girls that were there during my time are estranged from their families, and half are pregnant before 20, which is ironic when the reunification is so emphasized, it's literally part of the "program"
I am sure things aren't exactly how they used to be, given my time there from June 2022 to May 2023, and even then, things were constantly changing, but what I do know is that during my stay, my parents were charged $10,000 a month. That doesn't include the therapy hours and any extra activities that would be even more money.
The way the payments work is that it is a 10k a month rate when you pay in quarters, or if not, it's even more. From my experience, that is a tactic to keep people there longer and make more money. I finished high school in March and was kept until the very end of May because my parents had already paid. There was zero therapeutic benefit at that point. With my therapist, who was really amazing, but I was lucky many were not, and she left shortly after me, I would only discuss the stress of being there in Clearview and how much I missed home.
The most important point I want to emphasize isn't the trauma that every single one of these girls has because of this place, which even I, years later, am still grappling with; it's the way the Theilbar family capitalizes on vulnerable families who are just scared for their daughters.
Looking at the financial gain they make of this business, it's all too clear they know what they are doing, and they know how profitable the troubled teen industry can be. From me alone, my parents paid 120 thousand dollars (more than my entire tuition for college), and pretty much at all times, there are 50 girls attending Clearview, so the 120k times 50 would be 6 million a year in reality, it's probably more. It's hard for me to estimate the operational costs of the facility, and I'm sure it's not exactly cheap, but it is clear that this family has gotten rich from this.
On the outside, Jason is a super charismatic, godly nice guy, but for years, the contrast between his righteousness and the realities of the operation he is running has always bothered me. With a long-standing history in this industry, including other schools that have been shut down, it's clear that nothing changes, and as long as the money keeps flowing, there will be no end.
