Ed Con - "Aspen Education, Profit Over Vulnerable People"

[Pile of Dead Kids]

Again, in case anyone want to know about Tom Croake, this should provide a good primer.

The real question is why they can't give Tom his cut of the cash anymore to shut him up... and I think we know the answer to that! :rofl:

[wdtony]

It appears Aspen isn't going to be profitable for the Educational Consultant business anymore. This is a good opportunity for Ed Cons to make statement about how they stand against "bad programs". This will give the appearance that they are concerned with ethics and program policies and that there are "good programs" that they refer to, which isn't true.

I guess when the money is gone they attack the weak. It's a good sign of the times. Bye bye Aspen cash cow...

[wdtony]

CARF will accredit anything that moves.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/08/prweb4378294.htm

New Leaf Academy of Oregon Awarded Three-Year CARF Accreditation

Summary report states that program is “highly respected and appreciated” by its students, with families reporting “high levels of satisfaction”

Bend, OR (PRWEB) August 12, 2010

CARF International has announced that New Leaf Academy of Oregon, a therapeutic boarding school for girls ages 10-14, has been accredited for a period of three years. This is the first accreditation that the international accrediting body has awarded to New Leaf Academy of Oregon.

This accreditation decision represents the highest level of accreditation that can be awarded to an organization and shows New Leaf Academy’s substantial conformance to the CARF standards. An organization receiving a three-year accreditation has put itself through a rigorous peer review process and has demonstrated to a team of surveyors during an on-site visit that its programs and services are of the highest quality, measurable, and accountable.

“We are very proud of New Leaf Academy for its achievement of CARF accreditation,” said Phil Herschman, president of Aspen Education Group, the parent company of New Leaf Academy of Oregon. “Through the process of accreditation, we strengthen already strong programs and continuously evolve and improve our services for girls and their families.”

The CARF accrediting officials noted strengths in many areas of New Leaf Academy’s operations, particularly its “dedicated and supportive executive director and the management team [who] demonstrate commitment to maintaining quality services.”

“The management team demonstrates teamwork, collaboration, and good communication, creating a work environment that benefits the [students] served,” officials noted. “The leadership of New Leaf Academy of Oregon is a definite source of strength for the organization.”

The survey summary also mentions the “high quality clinical services” and the students’ input of feeling that they are “safe, supported, and treated with compassion, caring, and respect by all staff members.”

CARF is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body whose mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process that centers on enhancing the lives of the persons served. Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, and now known as CARF, the accrediting body establishes consumer-focused standards to help organizations measure and improve the quality of their programs and services.

New Leaf Academy of Oregon is a therapeutic boarding school for girls ages 10-14 who are struggling with emotional, family, peer and academic issues. Qualified staff provide therapeutic services and positive guidance for girls to help them learn to manage emotions appropriately, develop friendships, adhere to parental limits, communicate effectively with family and become self-directed learners. For more information, visit www.newleafacademy.com or call (877) 820-5050.

New Leaf Academy of Oregon is a program of Aspen Education Group, the nation’s leading provider of therapeutic education programs for struggling or underachieving young people. Aspen’s services range from short-term intervention programs to residential treatment, and include a variety of therapeutic settings such as boarding schools, outdoor behavioral health programs and special needs summer camps, allowing professionals and families the opportunity to choose the best setting to meet a student’s unique academic and emotional needs. Aspen Education Group is a proud member of the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP). Aspen also is a member of CRC Health Group, the nation’s largest chemical dependency and related behavioral health organization. For over two decades, CRC Health has been achieving successful outcomes for individuals and families. For more information, visit www.crchealth.com.

[Troll Control]

:bump:

[Dysfunction Junction]

Well, we thought we'd never see this, but Ed Cons are now recommending that no kids should be sent to ANY Aspen Education facilities due to concerns over safety and quality:

FamilyLight now recommends against referring to or enrolling in any Aspen or CRC Health school or program due to what the closing of New Leaf of North Carolina says about the value system of that company.

Enough, Already! -- Aspen Again
   
             
 On Tuesday, May 11, 2010, I received a phone call from a management person in the Aspen organization.  This is unusual.   Aspen officials don’t usually  phone me. But this is a person I knew and trusted.  She knew I did not like her employer.  She also knew I had the highest regard for her.   The message:  New Leaf of North Carolina was closing.   Aspen/ CRC Health Group/ Bain Capital had decided that only one program was needed in the organization serving the market of New Leaf.  The North Carolina program would close and the property used to upgrade the program for Aspergers kids.  The girls (and their parents) to whom Aspen/ CRC Health Group/ Bain Capital had committed to see them through the treatment process would need to relocate.  But now Aspen/ CRC Health Group/ Bain Capital saw what they believe is an opportunity to increase their profit margins, so they will disrupt the lives of the girls currently enrolled at New Leaf.

I no longer believe that it would be a responsible action for any professional referring person or any parent or any other person to place enroll any person or oneself in any facility operated by or affiliated in any way with Aspen/ CRC Health Group/ Bain Capital.  FamilyLight sm now solidly recommends against use of . any such program, school, or facility. This includes Wellspring Weight Loss Academies.  (This does NOT refer to Wellspring in Bethlehem Connecticut, which is not affiliated with Aspen.)  

It appears to me, after hearing this, that Aspen/ CRC Health Group/ Bain Capital is concerned only about its profit margin and will subordinate the interest of the people in their schools and treatment centers toward that end.  I was naïve.  I never should have been surprised.  Several weeks ago I posted on our website, in our review of Aspen Education,  the following:

CRC Health Group, controlling the Aspen brand name, is not just a for-profit organization but it is owned by a private investment firm Bain Capital with a fiduciary responsibility to maximize return on investment.  The reality is that the best care in therapeutic facilities is not necessarily the care that produces the greatest return on investment. We would like to  hear a commitment directly from Bain Capital that they have directed  CRC Health Group to provide the highest quality of care they can, observing that while short-term financial gains might result from taking shortcuts, the long term best financial performance will result from delivering the highest quality services with the highest standards of ethics.

When I posted that, I naively assumed that Aspen/ CRC Health Group/ Bain Capital actually could make that kind of commitment and live by it.  I thought that because there were (and still are) essentially good programs, managed by competent caring people, we could place confidence in some such programs. New Leaf of North Carolina was one such program.  It was under the very capable leadership of Catherine “Cat” Jennings, one of the very best of the best in this business.  It was a superior quality program.  

About three weeks prior to the phone call I just referred to (on May 11),  I had spoken by phone with Cat Jennings, being very honest about my concerns about Aspen/ CRC Health Group/ Bain Capital.    I said, “Cat, I am still willing to support New Leaf NC, but here is my concern.  I could refer a young lady to your program tomorrow, based upon my confidence in you.  Then in two weeks Aspen/ CRC Health Group/ Bain Capital could terminate your employment and the girl would be committed to that program, while the reason for confidence in it was gone.”  She replied that it could not happen.   Three weeks later all of their girls are being uprooted and the program is closing.

To be clear, while we were saddened by other closings of other Aspen programs, we could rationalize them as not confirming this kind of value system.  We were told Cedars was running extreme losses that were not sustainable and there was no way to turn that around. Same with Excel Academy in Texas.   We did not like how the shutdown was handled at Cedars but we gave Aspen the benefit of the doubt.  Mt. Bachelor and Sagewalk were closed by order of the State of Oregon without due process.  

In the case of Mt. Bachelor, if press reports were accurate, I was (to put it mildly) puzzled by the apparent willingness of Aspen/ CRC Health Group/ Bain Capital to allow procedures to be in place at Mt. Bachelor which were the kinds of procedures that had motivated Congressman Miller's push for tighter regulation of the industry.  We had questions about the judgment of a company that would have allowed themselves to be vulnerable to that.

So while we were highly critical of Aspen/ CRC Health Group/ Bain Capital over that, we again gave the benefit of the doubt as to how this concern might affect suitability of higher quality programs operated by Aspen/ CRC Health Group/ Bain Capital.   We no longer believe it is responsible to give the benefit of the doubt, after the choice by the company voluntarily to disrupt the lives of the very vulnerable girls they had committed to care for -- girls enrolled in one Aspen/ CRC Health Group/ Bain Capital's highest quality schools.  

Aspen/ CRC Health Group/ Bain Capital complained bitterly about the disruption to the students at Mt. Bachelor Academy when the State of Oregon shut that school down.  But by choice, they now do the same thing to the New Leaf students for the sake of a few dollars profit.  

To our dismay, superior professionals, Karen Fitzhugh, Frank Bartolomeo, Catherine Jennings, Jim Dredge, and John Singleton are either either gone from Aspen or have been taken from the assignment where they had proven their effectiveness.  Marc Dornfeld, Patty Evans, Jack Kline and the people who made the decision to close this program remain in their positions.  We think this  speaks directly to the value system that drives Aspen/ CRC Health Group/ Bain Capital.  We think this tells us why we should not trust this company with our children.  

We do not want this to be interpreted as a boycott where we would drop the concern if Aspen were to take corrective action, i.e. reversing the decision to close New Leaf of North Carolina.  That is not what we are doing.  We simply do not believe these are appropriate venues for kids (or adults), based upon the recent behavior of the management at Aspen/ CRC Health Group/ Bain Capital.  Of course we would consider changing our view if policy changes and personnel changes were to occur.  We would want reason for confidence that the profit motivation would not in the future lead to decisions detrimental to the students/ clients/ program residents. We fear that is unlikely with the present management at CRC Health Group and so long as Bain Capital manages  Aspen and  CRC Health Group for short term gain and appear not to consider the proper treatment of the population served in their facilities
 

Ouch.  Fucking ouch!

Looks like Aspen may be circling the drain and is losing the PR war.  With Whooter as a field general, that shouldn't surprise anyone!

This is relevant vis a vis the phony interviews Aspen uses to market theri abusive crap-holes.  Even the bottom feeders don't buy it anymore.

[Dysfunction Junction]

A good reminder of how programs advertise falsely.  Their websites are rife with falsehoods and I'm not aware of any program that actually delivers what they claim to deliver or actually employs the people thye claim to employ.  Generally speaking, they're a scam.