Island View Residential Treatment Center

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]

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." ^[8]

In 2004, the residential treatment center was acquired by Aspen Education Group.^[7] CRC Health Group, a company owned by Bain Capital,^[9] purchased Aspen Education for $300 million in 2006.^[10] 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.^[11] As of April 2014, Island View 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^[12] to troubled adolescents experiencing mood and behavioral dysregulation, substance abuse, and difficulties at home or school.^[13] The 90-bed lockdown facility^[14] provided care to students ranging in age from 13 - 17.6 years.^[13][15] The average length of stay at the treatment center was 8–10 months.^[13] Teenagers at the residential program were monitored 24 hours per day, seven days per week, by team directors and houseparent staff.^[16]

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.^[12] Residents typically received seven therapy sessions a week, in the form of five group, one individual, and one family therapy session.^[12] 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.^[17]

At Island View, the majority of residents were organized into teams by gender.^[18] 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.^[18]

Controversy

Lawsuits

Island View was at the center of two parental custody lawsuits in recent years, both of which played out on national daytime television and were subsequently dismissed.^{[19][20][21][22][23][24]}

Oversight Issues

Island View had an A+ Better Business Bureau ranking with zero complaints recorded in its final 3 years .

Deaths and bodily injuries

A 16-year-old Pennsylvania boy hanged himself in a bathroom at Island View in 2004 after he excused himself from a movie.^[25] The staff were unsuccessful in reviving him.^[26] Island View was cited for minor issues and required to submit a plan of corrective action. ^[26] The death took place before Aspen owned the facility.^[26]

References

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