Ryan D. Craig
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Wellspring Academies (formerly Academy of the Sierras) was a pair of
therapeutic boarding school Therapeutic boarding school is an institution where students reside on campus and are provided with both educational and therapeutic services. These institutions first began to emerge in the late 1960s. Description A therapeutic boarding school ...
s for
overweight Being overweight is having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is especially common where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary. , excess weight reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than ...
and
obese Obesity is a medical condition, considered by multiple organizations to be a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it can potentially have negative effects on health. People are classified as obese when ...
children, teens, and young adults, both operated by Wellspring, a division of
Aspen Education Group Aspen Education Group is an American company that provides controversial Health intervention, therapeutic interventions for adolescents and young adults, including wilderness therapy programs, residential treatment centers, therapeutic boarding ...
. It is said to be the first weight loss
boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...
in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. Manny Crisostomo
The Weight
''
Sacramento Bee ''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...
'', Special Report, October 2006
Mcclatchy and Blythe Bernhard
Losing weight in a boarding-school setting; But some question academy’s methods
''
The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN radio and WGN tel ...
'', December 3, 2006
As of September 2009 Wellspring Academies had two campuses. *The California campus is in
Reedley, California Reedley is a city in Fresno County, California, Fresno County, California, United States. It is located in the San Joaquin Valley, east-southeast of Fresno, California, Fresno, at an elevation of . The population at the 2020 census was . Its c ...
, about 30 minutes southeast of
Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...
, and has 90 students ages 13–24 (grades 8–12, as well as a college-age program run in conjunction with
Reedley College Reedley College (Reedley or RC) is a public community college in Reedley, California. It is a part of the California Community Colleges system within the State Center Community College District (SCCCD). It is accredited by the WASC Accrediti ...
). *A second campus, located in
Brevard, North Carolina Brevard ( ) is a city and the county seat of Transylvania County, North Carolina, United States, with a population of 7,609 as of the 2010 census. Brevard is located at the entrance to Pisgah National Forest and has become a noted tourism, ret ...
and known as Wellspring Academy of the Carolinas (or WSCL), has roughly 30 students ages 11–18 (grades 6–11).


History

The Academy of the Sierras was founded in California 2004 by Ryan D. Craig, who also served as the school's first executive director. Aspen invested $6.5 million in the start-up. The school's second location in
North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
was established in 2007.Nanci Bompey and Ashley Wilson
Wellspring: School helps kids slim down
, The Asheville Citizen, April 2008


Methods

Wellspring's focus was on living a healthy lifestyle, with long-term success of its participants presented at international scientific conferences on obesity. Wellspring claimed that its program, founded on decades of scientific research in obesity, had among "the best documented outcomes of any non-surgical weight loss intervention for any age group.". Admissions were ongoing throughout the year, with a minimum 4-month stay. Incoming students for the fall semester had the option to participate in a multi-week wilderness program conducted in a location near the campus. Wellspring Academies utilized an integrated approach to fitness and weight loss. Once in the regular program, participants learned diet and activity management, with culinary, nutrition, fitness and aerobic training to enable participants to learn lifelong skills. Students ate three low-fat meals and two snacks daily, totaling only about 1,300
calorie The calorie is a unit of energy that originated from the caloric theory of heat. The large calorie, food calorie, dietary calorie, kilocalorie, or kilogram calorie is defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one liter o ...
s and less than 12 grams of
fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specif ...
per day. Extensive daily physical activity, including walking or running at least 10,000 steps per day, was also required. Behavioral changes were reinforced with
cognitive behavioral therapy Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression, PTSD, and anxiety disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on challenging and chang ...
, training students on the self-regulatory behaviors required for long-term weight control. This included use of a Self-Monitoring Journal to record everything a student eats throughout the day. According to weight-loss researchers, the self-monitoring technique was a key component of long-term weight loss success. In addition, students met with a "behavioral coach" three times per week to reinforce the training, improve frustration tolerance and stress management skills, and work through the issues that are typically contributing to the weight gain, like emotional eating or resorting to food as an unhealthy coping mechanism. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was central to the Wellspring program as it had been shown in numerous studies to reinforce key self-regulatory skills (such as self-monitoring) and had favorable short and long-term effects on weight loss


Academics

Students continued their education while they worked to lose weight. Wellspring Academy of California, with an academic curriculum accredited by the
Western Association of Schools and Colleges The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC ( )) provided accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Samoa and Northern ...
, included grades 8 – 12, with a college program available through an affiliation with Reedley College. Wellspring Academy of the Carolinas offered an academic program accredited by
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is a regional educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. As of 2022, the organization oversees ap ...
for grades 7 – 12. Curriculum at both Academies included core classes such as English, math, history, and science, as well as fitness, nutrition, and culinary courses that reinforce skills for weight loss. Electives such as foreign languages, theater, and horticulture were also available and varied by Academy and semester.


Outcomes

Wellspring Academies claimed that students lost more than per week and maintained this weight loss, on average. Some experts, such as Anjali Jain, a pediatrician at Children's National Medical Center, questioned the expense and necessity of boarding school, pointing out that participants had not been followed long enough after leaving the program to evaluate the long-term results. Recent long-term results were presented at The Obesity Society 2008 Annual Meeting.


Related programs

Wellspring also offered Wellspring camps for summer weight loss in locations which included New York, North Carolina, Florida, California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Vancouver, Canada, and England. and after-school programs for fitness and weight loss


Closure

All Wellspring Academy campuses along with all Weight Loss Camps in the U.S., Canada and the UK closed permanently in January 2014 due to the economic downturn, the lack of insurance coverage availability and the inability of families to pay for the treatment program. In 2015 one for the former directors of the California facility opened up a similar program in Arizona for girls only entitled Gem Academy. Plans are in the works to develop an equivalent boys-only academy as soon as space, funding and staffing can be secured.


References


External links

* * * * * * * * * {{authority control Bain Capital companies Boarding schools in California Boarding schools in North Carolina Special schools in California Obesity organizations Diets Behavior modification Private high schools in California Private middle schools in California Private high schools in North Carolina Private middle schools in North Carolina 2004 establishments in California Therapeutic boarding schools in the United States Childhood obesity