Spring Ridge Academy, was a
behavioral health residential facility for female adolescents 13-17 years old. In 2023, Spring Ridge Academy announced on their website they had permanently closed.
Background
The campus was originally a house with a barn attached and only had one student.
By the end, it was capable of housing up to 76 girls with a facility that included classrooms, medical areas, labs, and athletic fields and courts.
Spring Ridge Academy was operated by Suzanne Courtney (Executive Director) at its time of closure.
Programming
Spring Ridge Academy described itself as a "clinical therapeutic program with a college preparatory academic curriculum".
The program included four phases that each student completed at their own pace.
The program's average length of stay was 14 to 18 months.
Parents or guardians who had their child admitted to Spring Ridge paid tuition and fees. Medical insurance may have covered part of the costs.
Controversy
In 2021, the parent of a former resident filed a lawsuit against Spring Ridge Academy, alleging causes of action for negligence and fraud, amongst other things.
The mother claims that the troubled teen program used non-evidence-based treatment practices on her daughter and misrepresented the tactics the program used before she enrolled her child there.
In a
large group awareness training
The term large-group awareness training (LGAT) refers to activities—usually offered by groups with links to the human potential movement—which claim to increase self-awareness and to bring about desirable transformations in individuals' Person ...
workshop, for example, girls at Spring Ridge Academy were allegedly instructed to beat their chairs with rolled-up towels containing their anger while other students screamed at them.
In 2024, Spring Ridge Academy lost the
fraud
In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...
court case in Phoenix federal court, with the Jury awarding $2.5 million in punitive damages.
Other former students have claimed that the workshops at the center of the lawsuit are "abusive" and "shame-based."
Former students say they had to participate in
attack therapy
Attack therapy is one of several pseudo-therapeutic methods described in the book '' Crazy Therapies''. It involves highly confrontational interaction between the patient and a therapist or between the patient and fellow patients during group thera ...
as well.
Spring Ridge Academy has also been accused of using
conversion therapy
Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, romantic orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. Methods that have ...
.
Other alumni have come forward alleging abuse as part of the Breaking Code Silence movement, describing the academy as a
cult
Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...
and as being exploitative of families.
One Spring Ridge Academy alumnus was also featured in a
Lifetime movie special Beyond the Headlines: Cruel Instruction, talking about the allegations of abuse in the troubled teen industry and the PTSD and anxiety that many survivors continue to live with.
Spring Ridge Academy issued several in response to the lifeline movie.
References
External links
* (Spring Ridge Academy)
Official website(New Day Rising)
NCES website
{{authority control
Schools in Yavapai County, Arizona
Boarding schools in Arizona
Girls' schools in Arizona
Alternative schools in the United States
1997 establishments in Arizona
Private high schools in Arizona
Residential treatment centers
Therapeutic boarding schools in the United States
Troubled teen programs