Diamond Ranch AcademyReviews 53

I keep thinking about how blessed our family has been to have been able to have our child at DRA. I still can't believe the transformation I have seen in my child. In May of last year I dropped a defiant, angry, hurt, disrespectful and lost child with no self esteem off to DRA. The young woman that I picked up from the airport is positive, respectful, mature and a completely changed young woman.
Thank you for all you do! Thank you for carrying my hope for my daughter and handing it back to me!

I attended this facility for eight months. They did not treat my addiction whatsoever, did not allow me to do my schoolwork, forced us to pick tumbleweeds in the rain and snow until our hands bled, made me sleep on concrete floors, and constantly reassured all of us how we were pieces of $#*! along with the reminder that our parents truly resented us; not to mention the strip-searches in front of male employees (I am a female and was fifteen at the time). There is not a single fellow peer who attended this program with me that does not have some form of PTSD from this experience and a huge distrust with their parents and authority figures afterward. I am the only one that has attended college- which would not have been able to happen without years of expensive therapy to deal with the atrocious memories of this place. If your child is here and you have not received a negative letter or phone call from them, that is because they are not allowed to with fear of being thrown in RFI, kind of like the SHU is prisons. The Diaz family is a disgrace to the therapeutic boarding school reputation. Also, do your research! At least four children have died here from suicide.

Diamond Ranch is a wonderful place to help your teen get back on track academically and/or with life. It is structured more like a boarding school rather than a traditional treatment center. The students wear their own clothes, they play on sports teams, they still go to the movies and eat out on the weekends. They are able to get the help they need therapeutically without missing out on being a teenager. As a mother with two children, I pray that I would have the strength to send my child away to get help if needed. Knowing that there are places like Diamond Ranch out there makes that decision a little easier. The faculty and staff are loving and attentive and care for the students even years after they have graduated. They work hard to make sure that your child is well taken care of and watched over. Truly such a wonderful school and a positive environment filled with good good people.

Incredible and positive things happen at Diamond Ranch Academy and I am grateful to have the opportunity to work for such a great company. The people that work here genuinely want the very best for the youth and go above and beyond to support them through their journey here. DRA is unique from many other companies as there is a very positive environment here. I am proud to be a part of this great organization and feel that as staff, we are making a positive difference in each of the students' lives.

My year old son has been going to Diamond Ranch Academy for 5 months now. My husband and I both think this is the one of the greatest decisions we've ever made in our lives! My son LOVES being there and has learned so much since he started. He has become way more social and comfortable with other kids and every one else as well.

Each day of the week they plan an activity for the kids to learn from, or just to simply have fun with. The activities are amazing, My son especially loves art classes.The facility itself is very clean and secure,
As parents, we love seeing a smile on our son's face when he is dropped off and picked up.It tells me that he is comfortable at school and having a great time there. We feel very lucky to have found Diamond Ranch Academy, and happily recommend it to parents who have children who may need emotional healing to develop their self esteem. It is really a wonderful, caring place.

Diamond Ranch Academy was a livesaver for my son and our family. A year ago, my then 16 year old son was failing out of, and cutting classes at, his third high school in three years. He was struggling with personal, academic and mental health issues and my wife and I had reached the end of our rope. Our sons future, our family life and our other kids were all a mess. Not knowing what to do, and having little information concerning DRA other than calls with a few of the family references, we made the difficult decision to send our son to DRA. After 5-6 months, we began to see a change our son started to feel better about himself, he started to return to his normal personality, he began to have hopes for his future and he learned the mental, personal and educational skills needed to make those hopes a reality. Now, a year later, he has left DRA, is a week or so away from getting his high school diploma, and has been accepted into a four year national college. Without DRA, its wonderful staff and our sons hard work, we would not be in this situation today.

It will not be an easy decision to send your child to the Diamond Ranch Academy. Certainly, I had not experienced many things more painful than to see my son leave in the early morning with two strangers, and to realize that I was entrusting him to the care of an institution and people that I had researched but not seen personally.

I cannot assure you that your child will have a positive and successful tenure at the Diamond Ranch Academy. But I can assure you that there is one individual there, Rod Peterson, the director of the art program, who helped my son to realize a talent that no one (not even my son) realized existed. For that I will be forever grateful.

Mr. Peterson mentored my son. He advised my son. He remained steadfast in his belief in my son, and he directed him responsibly, patiently, and with genuine care. Even after my son left the DRA, after the faculty and staff's responsibility toward my son had terminated, Mr. Peterson continued to address my son's interests, potential, and needs. He attended a Utah State High School Art Awards Ceremony in Springville, Utah, with my son. He later entered one of my son's paintings in a separate competition in St. George. He demonstrated through his actions that he believed in my son, and I fervently hope that because of these actions, my son will believe in himself.

Mr. Peterson's art program at the Diamond Ranch Academy is a site of safety and creativity, work and self expression that provided my son with that one link that he needed with "life" to continue at the Diamond Ranch Academy, and ultimately to have some success. The DRA Art Program is a testament of the value and the importance of art as a medium to touch the soul of a boy who closed off other media. Mr. Rod Peterson is a testament of the value of a caring professional who knows how to reach those individuals who may feel abandoned and alone. He is an example of all that is good in the beauty and wisdom of art.

Before we decided on Diamond Ranch Academy (DRA), we were desperate parents. Our son was on a downward spiral, and we had to make a quick decision. We took a leap of faith, and decided on DRA having only spoken with staff. It was difficult, but we are certainly thankful for our conversation with Dan, and the ultimate decision we made to send him to the school.

We cannot say enough about our teen's experience at Diamond Ranch Academy (DRA). From the transport to the campus, to the graduation celebration 11 months later, the experience was beyond what we had expected. While there are many, many aspects of DRA that are worthy of discussion, the one aspect of the Academy that underlies all the others is the quality of the staff. The moment our son entered DRA he was greeted by and thereafter interacted daily with individuals who were one-hundred percent committed to his success. The therapeutic experience at DRA is second to none. But, equally important is the availability of extracurricular activities in which the students are encouraged to participate. Many teens, our son included, would have never been able to enhance their self-esteem through theater or athletics in a regular high school setting. However, DRA makes available to students a wide variety of activities that allows them to grow in strength and character. It is only up to the students to decide where and how they would want to participate. Watching our son compete in wrestling, perform a solo, and have a key role in a play, may have been the proudest moments of our lives. His achieving these milestones were only brought about through the dedicated work of the staff in building his self-esteem and his confidence. For that we will be ever grateful.

For those considering a therapeutic boarding school for their teen, we would highly recommend Diamond Ranch Academy. We believe in the program, and more importantly, we believe in the staff. They are second to none.

My response to Unknown U is while its true that theirs is a group of struggling teens at DRA, it is also true that they are the same kinds of kids they hung out with on the outside. These teens are mostly unhappy kids who don't realize their way isn't working for them. DRA provides an environment with less distractions and negative influences, so teens can be safe and take advantage of opportunities to learn new tools that do work for them and positive life lessons that many won't obtain any other way. There are no guarantees. It may be years before a DRA graduate can really appreciate all the rich and fertile seeds that were planted, but they're there when they're ready to sow them. It's a special privilege to go through the DRA program and if there are scars they aren't as deep as those that come from continuing along a downward path of destruction. It's every parents responsibility to intervene when their child is in trouble, to keep their child safe, and to recruit as much support as possible. With DRA the family works with a professional and sincerely caring team who provides advice, positive redirection and long-term support for the whole family. My hope for you is that you become all that you're meant to be because I know it's in you - you had glimpses of your power and strengths during your stay at DRA

From our first inquiry almost 6 months ago, DRA has been there for our family. We believe with all of our heart that DRA saved our son's life. He will agree that he needed to go there too. It hasn't been easy but worth every step. EVERY Staff Member at DRA has been helpful, caring and accessible. They offer programs for the parents along the way, encourage communication between the kids and their families and help with timing the transition back to home/college. Sending our son away was the hardest thing we ever did but knowing he is in loving care and getting healthy makes it all worthwhile.

We did a tour recently and we were very impressed with their facilities, we have searched the entire west coast and nothing even came close to this campus. It feels as if you are at a University, it does not have a feeling of a teen treatment center at all, however when you meet the staff you do get the reassurance that this is a valuable treatment center, the staff is highly educated, knowledgeable and know each child that is attending Diamond Ranch Academy. This is the place for any child that is going through some difficult times.

Our son has been at DRA for almost 7 months, he just turned 14. Although we miss each other, we are so happy we made the decision to send him. The staff and kids are great. We feel that our son is in the best most capable hands. They are doing for him what we were not able to do for him. He is becoming a confident, caring, responsible young adult. We just came back from a visit and are thrilled with how much he has progressed. We see changes in him every time we visit. He is excited about the school now and is proud of how much he has accomplished. We are looking forward to his first visit home. It scares me to think what would have happened to him if we hadn't sent him to the academy. Thank goodness we had this option. I am so eternally grateful for this school and to the staff! It is a very hard to not be with him during this time but he will be returning home soon a healthy, non medicated, responsible, caring, young adult.

While our daughter has only been at DRA for 4.5 months, my wife and I can see a dramatic improvement, and can't wait to see how she'll progress over the next 6+ months. Before coming to DRA, she was in and out of juvenile detention, failing high school, involved with the wrong crowd, self esteem was low and her passion for sports had disappeared. After years of counseling, in-school and out-of school help, we felt we were out of options until discovering DRA. Our latest visit was this past weekend, and what a blessed weekend. Our daughter's passion for life is back. She is consistently getting A's and B's in school; she is succeeding in her favorite sport of soccer, and even now is talking about college. This is the same young lady who just 5 short months ago didn't care if she graduated from high school. While her and our journey has just begun, it is looking incredibly bright thanks to the DRA program. They have not only given us hope, but also provided a clear vision of the future our daughter can have. DRA's program addresses the overall health of the student from therapeutics to academics to athletics to faith. Simultaneously, DRA provides family counseling to help the family heal, and prepare for the road ahead once the student comes home. Helping students realize their potentials, and healing families is DRA's mission. A mission that we are eternally grateful for, and thankful for the help we are all receiving. My hope is that DRA's program can be duplicated and grow beyond Utah to provide the means to help many more families having similar challenges. If you have a troubled teen, and feel you are alone in what you and your family are facing, don't hesitate to reach out to DRA for assistance. You'll learn that your family situation is not unique, and DRA is very well equipped to help. Yes, it's a painful decision to make, but a decision for the well-being of your child and a means to give them a bright future. We are so thankful for what DRA has been able to do for our daughter and our family over these past few months, and look forward to progressing toward her graduation.

Diamond Ranch Academy (DRA) has been a life saver for our son and our family. Our son ended 8th grade on a sour note, and then the summer experimenting started. We as parents figured that he was going through a phase, and getting ready for high school. We as parents also thought that we had everything under control and could fix whatever trouble he throws at us. After all the groundings, taking away cell phone, taking away computer, and more chores, we still thought we had it ALL under control.
Then high school started, where we thought he was just getting adjusted to high school, and we kept on top of him to get through his first semester. After making a lot of new friends and getting through his first semester with OK grades, it started to turn after Christmas. Little did we know that behind the scenes, it was all falling apart. The new friends were perhaps not such good friends, and the new found freedom of high school was not such a good thing either.

The start of the second semester is where it all started. We as parents knew something had happened and that incident would be bad for him. But we did not know that it would be that bad. The lying started, the attitude started, the depression, the drug use, and ultimately the flunking out of school. This is when we as parents had to make the "hardest" decision of our parenting life … to send your kid off to boarding school.

Once our decision was final, DRA and their transition partners made the process as smooth as possible. From the pickup, to the delivery process, and the picture of our son arriving at DRA was handled with such care and professionalism. The DRA staff and therapist kept us informed as our son progressed through his first phase, which was the toughest. As parents, that first phone call was really nerve racking, but again the professional therapist and staff made us feel at ease and comfortable.

The DRA staff, therapist, and teachers worked their magic with our son to build up to our first visit, and we couldn't believe how our son had changed in such a short time. The facilities on the DRA campus are very impressive and far exceeded our expectations. Also impressive is the area around the DRA campus, with Zion National park close by for outdoor activities and the local St. George town for shopping and eating.

Our son is due home for his first home visit, and we are looking forward to the changes that he brings and the work in progress we have ahead of us. DRA has done a great job in setting goals for our son and challenging him in all areas.

Stay tuned for more …. (rate 4 stars, cause we're not finished yet!}

Our son had a very hard start to DRA. His transport was very traumatic. Once arriving at DRA, Brigham and the rest of the staff made him feel safe and helped him transition into the program. The first few weeks were rough. Once the meds were figured out and he started to trust staff, things got a lot better. Now he sounds happy and positive when we talk to him! He likes and trusts the staff. He loves the animals and all the sports that DRA offers. We are so happy that we chose DRA for our son to get the help that he needs. We are grateful for a wonderful, caring staff! Our son has been there for 2 months.

My son's academics have improved because the teachers take the time to cater to his learning style and see what supports are needed. He feels successful for the first time in a long time in school. He has the option to join extra-curricular activities, sports and clubs. The facilities are brand new and provide the setting of a private boarding school. The natural beauty that surrounds the school is majestic.

I didn't send my son to DRA because he was doing well at home. I wasn't looking for a ‘fun' boarding school where he could have leisure time and hang out with friends. I sent him to DRA because he was in desperate need of redirection. I sent him to DRA because it's a ‘hope' away from home. I am one of those parents who needed support to educate my son because he made wrong choices at home and was spinning out of control. I was enabling my son without knowing.

I'll spare you the details of why or how we arrived to the decision of going to DRA. I will let you know that if you are reading my comment it is because you are seeking a place where your son or daughter could be guided in the right direction. Daily, as adults, we must face our realities head on…as teenagers this is a very difficult process. Usually, parents can cope and have systems in place to support their teenagers. But when we lose this thin line, this thread, we could lose our son or daughter. There are many schools advertised on the Internet making it a difficult choice to send our children away. Perhaps many are good intentioned institutions and perhaps they are not the right choice. When looking for a place away from home, it's not easy…first because we don't want to send our children away from us, it gives us a feeling of failure and second, we are taking a leap of faith.

Today, DRA gives me hope that my son will have a better future. Although it is completely up to him if he turns the page and goes in the right direction, I couldn't think of a safer place to have a teenager who needs support away from home. Ultimately, he is being taught to rethink, to empower himself out of the mess he got into in the first place. The program is comprehensive. I'm not sure it's for all children; I recommend you ask admissions if it is the right program for your child. Personally, this is one of the most difficult decisions I have had to make. It's the partnership, the weekly glimpses of hope that let's me know I made the right choice.

At Diamond Ranch Academy caring and thoughtful professionals are providing excellent service to our family. The therapeutic environment encompasses family counseling, academic progress, and success for students. Engagement in fulfilling sports, arts, and other activities are part of the therapy. A philosophy of guiding students through learning natural consequences for their actions helps raise teens' self-esteem and capacity to live a successful life. Teens themselves may not always be grateful when they are not coddled, but I believe these life lessons in personal responsibility will help them to success in personal happiness and health. The loving and caring environment extends to all the professionals associated with the school, including coaches, teachers, therapists, administrators, and staff. The school offers hope for our family! We needed additional resources beyond those offered by the traditional high school and the intermittent conventional behavioral outpatient therapy that was offered in our hometown. The DRA holistic boarding school environment seems to be teaching our family member, and supporting parenting in ways that I believe will have a lasting impact on our lives. Thank you DRA! We need many more schools like DRA in today's challenging and increasingly complex environment for teens!