When you provide info, if you want it to be taken seriously, it must be independent information.
So that brings us full circle, Gonzo. Below there is an
independent writer who wrote a book about spending 14 months in a program. I also provided a link to an
independent study which was overseen by a thrid party to insure there was no conflict of interest. They are from the state of Washington (I hope that state is acceptable to you)
Here are a couple of links for you:
1) This was a study conducted surveying 1,000 parents and graduates of a few programs. The study was overseen by WIRB (The Western Institutional Review Board) and they also approved the study. The results were presented at the Annual meeting of the APA American Psychological Association.
Link2) There was a writer who spent 14 months (I thought it was 16 months) inside a program and then wrote a book about his findings
LinkA Pulitzer Prize-winning writer untangles the mysteries of the
teenage mind as he witnesses troubled kids transformed by fourteen
months at a school that offers therapy for adolescents in
crisis.
Millions of parents struggle to grasp what goes on in their kids' heads,
on their computers, and among their friends. As an education correspondent
for U.S. News & World Report, David L. Marcus wrestled with similar
questions while reporting on the welter of pressures American teenagers
now face – a resurgent drug culture, proliferating temptations and threats
on-line, skyrocketing suicide rates (three times higher than in the
1960s).
To find answers, Marcus gained unfettered access to students, staff,
and parents at the Academy at Swift River in the hills of western
Massachusetts. The kids at Swift River had already ventured down a
number of perilous paths all parents fear their own children might
take – drug use, violence, theft, internet addictions, eating disorders,
promiscuity. Known for combining intensive academics, a wilderness
program and group therapy, the school helps troubled teenagers emotional
health....