Island View Residential Treatment Center

Island View Residential Treatment Center
Address
2650 West 2700 South
Syracuse, Utah, Davis County 84075
Information
School type For-profit program, Residential Treatment Facility, Emotionally Disturbed Children
Founded 1994
Founder Dr. W. Dean Belnap, M.D., Lorin A. Broadbent, D.S.W., Jared U. Balmer, PhD., and W. Kimball DeLaMare, L.C.S.W.
Closed 2014
Age range 13 to 17
Accreditations Utah Department of Education, the California Department of Education and the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools
Annual tuition $120,000
Owner Aspen and CRC Health Group
Website http://www.islandview-rtc.com/

Island View Residential Treatment Center was a Delaware limited liability company[1] that operated a residential treatment facility in Utah and closed in 2014.[2] Aspen and CRC Health determined the program no longer fit their strategic objectives and no longer wished to operate the program.[3][4][3][5]

Background

The Syracuse campus opened in 1994 as the Island View Residential Treatment Center.[6] Its founders were Lorin Broadbent, DSW, Jared Balmer, PhD, and W. Kimball DeLaMare, L.C.S.W.[7] DeLaMare had previously served as the director of Utah KIDS, a controversial drug and alcohol treatment program that lost its license in 1990.[8]

Along with individual and family therapy, the facility utilized "Positive Peer Group" psychotherapy sessions that were held 5 to 6 times per week. According to the program philosophy, such "peer feedback is often far more powerful than the expert opinion of a professional, well-meaning parent or other well-meaning adult." [9]

In 2004, the residential treatment center was acquired by Aspen Education Group.[7] CRC Health Group, a company owned by Bain Capital,[10] purchased Aspen Education for $300 million in 2006.[11] Aspen and CRC Health Group owned and operated the Syracuse campus until 2014.

In April 2014, Island View closed and replaced by a newly created program with different ownership and management.[12] As of April 2014, Island View's no longer had a business license to practice in the city of Syracuse where their campus based.[2]

Residential Treatment Program

Before its closure, Island View treatment center provided subacute care[13] to troubled adolescents experiencing mood and behavioral dysregulation, substance abuse, and difficulties at home or school.[14] The 90-bed lockdown facility[15] provided care to students ranging in age from 13 - 17.6 years.[14][16] Most of the students there come from an upper-middle-class background.[17] The average length of stay at the treatment center was 8–10 months.[14] Teenagers at the residential program were monitored 24 hours per day, seven days per week, by team directors and houseparent staff.[18] While at the facility, students were generally only allowed to communicate with their parents.[17] Island View was akin to a cross between a reform school and psychiatric security hospital.[19] According to an Order by the state of Oregon, Island View "seems about as restrictive a placement as can humanely exist."[19]

The program offered a range of critical support services to troubled teens, including a therapeutic, positive peer environment and individual, group and family therapy (generally by teleconference as most students were from out of the area). Specifically, residents received subacute care involving intensive therapies, behavior modification, psychopharmacology, nursing assessment and intervention, diagnostic evaluation, and educational planning.[13] Residents typically received seven therapy sessions a week, in the form of five group, one individual, and one family therapy session.[13] It should be noted, however, that the majority of the "therapy" was done in groups and led by the unit staff who were not licensed therapists.[20] The program used a "levels" structure - as a student’s behavior improves, he or she was advanced to the next level with rewards such as extra phone privileges attached to each higher level.[19]

At Island View, the majority of residents were organized into teams solely by gender.[21] This structure typically consisted of separate girls' teams and separate boys' teams of 15-19 adolescents each with specifically assigned milieu or residential staff, teachers and others.[21]

Restraints and seclusion

Parents were required to authorize the facility to use behavior modification such as therapeutic holds and restraints.[22] The program's enrollment agreement authorized staff to therapeutically hold, restrain, control and detain residents by the exercise of necessary techniques and holds when deemed necessary.[22] Therapeutic holding is a treatment technique that the facility uses to "remove a resident from environmental stimulation ... when other forms of intervention failed to assist the resident in gaining control."[23] In the program's Authorization for Treatment and Emergency Medical Care, therapeutic holding was defined as when a "resident is physically held by staff members to prevent self injurious behavior, harm to others, severe disruption of the therapeutic environment and/or destruction of physical property." [23] And seclusion is defined as "the confinement of a resident from the therapeutic environment to the seclusion room or other room. The behavior must create a serious threat of harm to the resident, others, or be a serious disruption of the environment." [23] The program's enrollment agreements had also authorized staff to use other "Special Treatment Procedures," which is a "technique used for residents whose behavior makes them dangerous to themselves or others and/or if a resident's behavior significantly disrupted the therapeutic environment. This technique was only used when ordered by a licensed clinician for a limited, specified period of time or until the resident regained control." [23]

Parent roles

The program's website at one point said the single most important variable for treatment failure or mediocre outcome is a parents' level of commitment to the process.[24] Parents were coached by Island View on how to respond to their "child's manipulative attempt[s]" to try "every conceivable way to draw" their parents into rescuing them from the program.[24] When a child "puts up a stink," Island View reminded parents, "if you open one of those doors for him, because you feel bad for him or you think you want to help him, both you and Island View stand defeated. At that point, both you and us need to run after him, get him back into the corridor, be sure that door is locked and work on getting him down the hall toward the right door. All of that takes time and resources." [24]

Parents were deterred from what Island View calls "Making a Deal under the Table" because it "sabotaged treatment and rendered Island View powerless in bringing about lasting change with the child." [24] In the Frequently Asked Questions, some examples Island View gives parents of such a "deal" are when a parent, without the treatment team's approval and recommendation, "is pressured by the child into coming home for a visit" or "persuaded by Mr. Manipulation to come home for good as soon as he achieves" a certain level." [24] According to Island View, it is also a problem when "[e]ven though the rules are that a resident on [a certain level] is restricted to one phone call home per week, and the therapist has a weekly phone session with the family, the parent calls [Island View] every day, inquiring of anybody she can get a hold of, about the general well being of her child."[24]

Island View's parenting manual also included instructions for parents on how to deal with their child when that child complains about or asked to be signed out of the program.[25] Parents are warned that shortly after their son or daughter enrolls at Island, he or she may deliberately "attempt to arouse feelings of guilt and anxiety within you." Island View calls this "GUILT-LOADING." [25] The residential treatment center advises parents not to let "guilt-loading" overpower them because they "will help [their] son or daughter the most by no longer allowing him/her to manipulate the way out of consequences."[25] One method of "guilt-loading," parents were told, was "the 'horror story' approach. It is simply misrepresenting, exaggerating, or making up stories. All designed to make you feel guilty. Typical examples were: "They are not feeding me. They are feeding us too much, they are going to turn me into a pig. There is never hot water for the showers. My room mate is totally crazy, if you don’t get me out of here I’ll go mad. Nobody on the entire staff has talked to me for days. I’m the only sane person in this place. Compared to other kids here, I have no problems", etc., etc., etc."[25]

Grievance procedure

A student at Island View could initiate a complaint or grievance regarding the resident care delivery system but must have followed a long process to do so.[22] The complaints may have included allegations of abuse, neglect, punitive interventions, sexual harassment, etc.[22] A complaint needed to be filed and reviewed by at least seven different staff members before a student could forward the complaint to an independent party.[22] Even then, the complaint would only be reviewed by the State of Utah, Department of Human Resources, and Office of Licensing.[22]

Outcome surveys and research

According to Island View, the program was effective because there was data to back it up.[26] On its old website, Island View stated that "[t]hirteen years of consumer satisfaction studies and outcome surveys from Island View graduates and their parents tell us that approximately 85% of parents have found the program effective or highly effective in returning their child to emotional health. Since we follow all Island View graduates for two years following graduation,we know that the maintenance effect of changed behavior is enduring at a similar level. Change at Island View is not short lived, or a 'flash in the pan.'"[26] The actual data or findings of the outcome surveys or research was not made available on the website.[26]

Controversy

Lawsuits

In 2014, Miriam Blank, a mother from Houston, Texas, filed suit in Utah Federal Court against Aspen Education Group, Aspen Institute of Behaviorial Assessment, Bain Capital, Guardians of Hope, Harris County Office of Human Resources and Risk Management, lead defendant (father) Jack Nuszen, and Norma Willcockson, the alleged child trafficker that transported the teenage girl from Houston, Texas to Syracuse, Utah, against her will to Aspen RTC. In 2015, sisters of the teen brought suit against Nuszen as well.[27] The suits and appeals were dismissed as moot by the Texas Court of Appeals in August 2015.[28] The status of the child who was at Island View is not known.

In 2014, another former student, Ben Hinman, sued Island View, along with the Provo Canyon School, for personal injuries related to his stays there during 2008 and 2009, respectively, demanding $800,000.[29] The student claimed that Island View put him into a "private prison."[30] United States District Judge David Nuffer ruled against Hinman on all counts and dismissed the case in 2015.[31]

In responding to the lawsuits, Island View expressed concern over the use of "advocacy by insult." In court documents, Island View asserted that certain statements should be disregarded because they were "immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous" such as that Island View staff purportedly "had dangerous propensities to abuse teenagers entrusted to their care," that a former resident received "mindless discipline, manhandling, and drug induced controls," and describing Island View as "an academy of no particular merit." Island View maintains that such statements do nothing to help a situation and everything to hinder progress.[32]

Lack of oversight

Island View had an A+ Better Business Bureau ranking with zero complaints recorded in its final 3 years , but one of its corporate parents, Aspen, was criticized in an article in Salon, for their legacies of abuse, neglect and wrongful death allegations.[33] The article, "Dark Side of a Bain Success," found an alleged culture of what appears to be systemic abuse and neglect at treatment centers owned by CRC Health Group, including Island View.[34] "With rare exceptions," the author of the article says, "such incidents have largely escaped notice because the programs are, thanks to lax state regulations, largely unaccountable."[34]

The Salon's Art Levine was an eyewitness to what he termed a culture of abuse and neglect when, after being denied press access to CRC facilities, he visited Island View in 2011 posing as the father of a troubled girl.[34] During that visit, director Laura Burt confirmed the skeptical stance toward potential medical emergencies.[34] She told him that the medical staff would see his daughter immediately in case of a medical crisis but would monitor her if they suspected fakery: "We’re not going to rush her to the hospital if she’s just saying that and there is nothing that says it."[34]

Psychological and corporal punishment

Before the program's closure, Island View used a "levels" model that grants more privileges and freedoms as students follow the rules, but imposes sanctions of varying severity on those who slip up or disobey.[34]

Punishments at Island View were more often psychological than physical.[34] Former students report emotionally brutal isolation punishments and peer-driven encounter "therapies" were commonly employed to break down resistance at Island View.[34] The worst part for the former student who coughed up blood was when students in the program were prodded to confront each other about real or fabricated transgressions in harsh encounter sessions.[34] (In fact, she says, they were very similar to the group therapies cited in the June "torture" lawsuit against Turn-About Ranch.) [34] She further recounts that the sessions were so terrifying that girls resorted to desperate measures to avoid attending.[34] She recalls that some girls choked themselves to induce fainting; one rubbed feces in her own eyes to cause an infection.[34] Communication restriction (CMR) is also used to restrict residents from speaking to one another when they have misbehaved.[20]

Island View was sued for the use of restraints and isolation rooms after a teenage girl was badly injured when the facility's workers forcibly tried to remove her from her room.[35] Specifically, when a math teacher at Island View told her to stay after school, she refused and went to her room. He then came after her and ordered her to an isolation room for time out. She refused that to in emphatic and obscene language and told him to leave her alone. He then pulled her off her bed, and called for help from three others to enforce his command. In the melee that ensued, there was a loud 'pop' that stopped everyone in his tracks. S.M.'s right (dominant) arm was badly and perhaps irreparably broken, and its main nerve severely damaged. Given the rapes and murder she had been through, the last thing any untrained male should have done was to assault her." [36]

"They break you down, but they don’t really build you back up," the former student says of the Island View approach. "I have nightmares from it, and the memories are really awful."[34]

Another former resident reported in 2002 in an article in the SF Weekly that "she was traumatized by her time at Island View."[37] The young woman says "she underwent therapy in which she was to say that she loved her father, and that her mother was crazy."[37] She further stated that "[t]hey would tell me, '[y]our dad is not a bad father and your mom is crazy.' They would hold me in there until I would say it. I remember staring at the light reflecting against the wall, and those ideas seeping into my brain. I realized what I needed to do was to pretend that it was working. But I had to stay in touch with both realities at once. There was the me that I was inside, and the me that I showed to the outside world. Every night, it was like that movie Memento, and I would remind myself, 'OK, this is real, and this is real.' I remember thinking, 'This is weird. Is this a movie? Is this my life?'"[37] The girl's mother, however, was not allowed to visit her daughter who "could only make 10-minute calls to her mother after she'd earned phone privileges -- six weeks into her stay. To maintain contact, they sent each other letters, which were screened by the Island View staff."[37] In response, Dr. Jared Balmer, the executive director at Island View at that time said "that many children who enter his facility have similar reactions. 'A majority of the children here think that they have no problems.' he [said]. 'But they think that everyone else has lots of problems.'" [37] Yet the author of another article involving the former resident wrote that investigators of the L.A. Department of Family and Children’s Services were "disturbed at the questionable ethics of Island View, which had admitted Alanna based solely on the father’s bogus descriptions of her 'symptoms.'" [38]

Deaths and bodily injuries

The program failed to monitor a 16-year-old Pennsylvania boy who hanged himself in a bathroom at Island View in 2004.[39] The teen hanged himself from a shower support with a belt after he excused himself from a movie that was being shown before dinner.[39] When staff found him, they tried to revive him but were unsuccessful.[40] Island View was cited for minor issues and required to submit a plan of "corrective action." [40] The death took place before Aspen owned the facility.[40]

References

  1. ↑ Island View Residential Treatment Center (2004). "Certificate of Incorporation". Retrieved from the Deleware Department of State: Division of Corporations entity database.
  2. 1 2 http://islandviewrtccom.ipage.com/images/IVletter.pdf
  3. 1 2 "Closing of Island View Center".
  4. ↑ Angie Woodward. "Island View Residential Treatment Center Closes".
  5. ↑ http://www.restoretroubledteens.com/FeedItem/Island-View-RTC-Closes-Their-Doors/
  6. ↑ "ISLAND VIEW RTC
    Visit Reports"    .
  7. 1 2 "Aspen Education Group Acquires Island View & Oakley School". Woodbury Reports, Inc. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  8. ↑ Carter, Mike (November 8, 1989). "'Tough love' may be child abuse". The Free Lance Star. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  9. ↑ Island View RTC https://web.archive.org/web/20020106190942/http://islandview-rtc.com/positivepeer_therapy.html. Archived from the original on January 6, 2002. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ↑ CRC Heath Group. Form 10-k filed April 2013 (Report). Securities and Exchange Commission.
  11. ↑ Jonny Bonner (2009-12-17). "Parents Say Dr. Phil Exploited Troubled Teen". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved 2014-02-01.
  12. ↑ http://www.familyhelpandwellness.com/our-history/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. 1 2 3 Jon N. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, 684 F.Supp.2d 190 (D. Mass. 2010).
  14. 1 2 3 "Youth Residential Therapeutic Boarding School: Help to Lead Healthy Life | Island View". Islandview.crchealth.com. Archived from the original on 2013-11-26. Retrieved 2013-10-15.
  15. ↑ "The Report of the Accreditation Visiting Team : Island View School : April 21, 2009". Schools.utah.gov. Retrieved 2013-10-15.
  16. ↑ http://www.rules.utah.gov/publicat/code/r501/r501-16.htm. Retrieved 21 May 2014. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  17. 1 2 Student and Father and Mother v. Special School District of St. Louis County (2008). Text
  18. ↑ Island View Residential Treatment Center. "Therapeutic Environment". Archived from the original on 3 June 2002. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  19. 1 2 3 B. J. M. v. Eugene School District, Case No. DP00-105 (2000).
  20. 1 2 "not a mermaid ☠". Notamermaid.tumblr.com. 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2014-02-01.
  21. 1 2 Vardell, Don (2009-04-24). "Island View Announces Co-Ed Team, Adoption Programming & Clinician Re-alignment" (PDF) (Press release). Syracuse, Utah: Island View Residential Treatment Center. Retrieved 2014-02-01.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Enrollment Agreement (PDF), Island View Residential Treatment Center, retrieved 2014-02-01
  23. 1 2 3 4 Authorization for Treatment and Emergency Medical Care, Island View Residential Treatment Center Check date values in: |access-date= (help);
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 6 FAQ's, Island View Residential Treatment Center, archived from the original on February 10, 2003, retrieved January 31, 2014
  25. 1 2 3 4 "Guilt-Loading From: Island View RTC Parent Manual". News & Views (Woodbury Reports, Inc.) (42). 1996-10. Retrieved 2014-02-01. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  26. 1 2 3 "Why Island View | Education". Island View Residential Treatment Center. Retrieved 2014-02-01.
  27. ↑ Nuszen v. Nuszen et al, 4:2015mc00864 (Texas Southern District Court March 30, 2015).
  28. ↑ "FindLaw's Court of Appeals of Texas case and opinions.". Findlaw. NO. 01–13–01061–CV. Retrieved 2016-02-14.
  29. ↑ "Hinman v. Island View Academy et al". Justia Dockets & Filings.
  30. ↑ Hinman v. Island View Academy et al, 1:2014cv00015 (Utah District Court February 18, 2014).
  31. ↑ "Hinman v. Island View Academy et al, No. 1:2014cv00015 - Document 28 (D. Utah 2015)". Justia Law. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  32. ↑ Myers et al v. Dr. Phil Organization et al, 1:14-cv-00007, Reply Memorandum of Defendants CRC Health Group, Aspen Education Group, Island View Residential Treatment Center, and Ryan Mortenson (Utah District Court August 13, 2014).
  33. ↑ Art Levine (2012-07-25). "Romney Profits From Bain-owned Health Company Facing Wrongful Death, Neglect Allegations". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2014-02-01.
  34. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Art Levine (2012-07-18). "Dark side of a Bain success". Salon.com. Retrieved 2014-02-01. A for-profit health company bought by Bain -- that Romney profits from -- has exploded in size and tales of neglect
  35. ↑ Andreas Rivera (2013-02-23). "Dr. Phil and Syracuse treatment academy named in abuse lawsuit". Standard.net. Retrieved 2014-02-01.
  36. ↑ Myers et al v. Dr. Phil Organization et al, Case No. 1:2014cv00007 (D.).
  37. 1 2 3 4 5 Yeung, Bernice (December 18, 2002). "Girl, Interrupted". SF Weekly. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  38. ↑ Kramer, Jill (May 3, 2000). "Court Accused". Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  39. 1 2 "Teen facility targets suicide prevention". Deseret News. 2004-07-30. Retrieved 2013-10-15.
  40. 1 2 3 Stewart, Kirsten (13 October 2007). "Four recent Utah deaths in treatment programs". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 1 February 2014.

Coordinates: 41°04′34″N 112°04′35″W / 41.076003°N 112.076433°W / 41.076003; -112.076433

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