Turnabout Stillwater Academy Visit Report October 10, 2009

He brought into the corral a small immature horse, pointing out to the parents what the horse was doing and why, so that parents could possibly see their childs own behavior at times, and maybe even their own. The comments and questions of the parents indicated that the obvious lessons from the parent weekend were hitting home. The equine therapy is an important part of Turnabout's program, however, there is much more. In the 1980's, a group of parents whose teens had attitude and behavior problems participated in a local Tough Love group.  Many parents attend Tough Love meetings to gain guidance, information and support.

By 1988, the parents decided they needed more than just weekly meetings. Also a small group of therapists got involved seeing the need in the community. So they all started what was formerly called the TurnAbout program. It was a vast expansion of the Tough Love group.  A system was created where parents took other parents’ children into their homes on a very temporary basis to help the situation that was causing the family concern.  This has definitely evolved over the years, however, it is still the basic concept behind the current living arrangements. Currently, students enrolled in the program live with participating parents on a rotating basis. This type of living arrangement with participating and well-trained parents allows tuition to be considerably lower than that of other programs. Lee reports that this family-based system works quite smoothly and has many advantages.

Once a parent enrolls their child, the parent is automatically involved with an extensive parent network along with the staff at Turnabout Academy. In many ways, student’s schedules are similar to what they would encounter when attending a regular school, except the days are longer to accommodate counseling and equine therapy.

The students arrive at the Center in South Jordan at about 7:00 AM after breakfast with their host family, and they leave to attend dinner at their host parents by 8:00PM.

Almost all program functions, academic classes, chores, counseling, equine therapy, are carried out within that time frame. Academic classes end no later than 7pm Monday - Friday.  Stillwater Academy, Turnabout's private school, really gives students a chance to get back on track, raise their grades, and rediscover the joy of learning.

Stillwater Academy is fully accredited by the Northwestern Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities (NAAS). Accreditation is a great benefit for students looking to transfer credits earned back to their home school after graduation from the program.

Stillwater Academy has also been recognized by NASET (The National Association of Special Education Teachers) as a School of Excellence, the highest award given by the association. At the host homes, students function within a strict structure. Host parents receive considerable help from other parents and the staff to ensure that the program details are structured appropriately. Their Center is located in South Jordan, Utah and they make a point of not locking doors, except for restricted access to medications and sensitive records. There are no obstacles preventing a child from running out and down the street.  However, to prevent this many of the students walk in pairs, some in threesomes, consisting of one new student, or one seen as a run risk, and one or two older students assigned to help them and guide them in getting to know their program.

The program’s large staff enables someone to always be on hand to keep an eye on the students.

More importantly, there seemed to be a tremendous sense of safety. Despite assumptions that adolescents will not do something unless forced, this sense of compassion and safety is the key to success for many highly structured programs like Turnabout Academy. It is what enables students to eventually want to become a part the program.

Students also quickly experience the feeling of success, in many different ways. Turnabout  Academy does operate on an achievement based level system. The more specific goals a student achieves, the higher the level the student attains and then the responsibility and trust they acquire. Those students at the highest level answer the phones, assist in tours, greet visitors and help teachers. The students are able to contribute to the program and the running of the school as soon as they have demonstrated the necessary level of responsibility and trust. All teens want to contribute to whatever community they belong to, and Turnabout Academy and their staff taps into that desire. 

In my experience, Turnabout Academy has some very unique aspects to their program that I have yet to see elsewhere. They have equine therapy on their ranch in Lei, intensive parent involvement, realy home life living, therapeutic components and academics.

Turnabout serves teens who are struggling with defiance, failure in school, learning disabilities (ADD/ADHD), depression, substance abuse, adoption issues, PTSD, and mnay other challenging issues.