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Schools & Program
Visits - Sept, 2001 Issue #85
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Stillwater
Academy
Helping Families Help Themselves
Adolescent Day Treatment Program
Salt Lake City, Utah
Lee Caldwell, Director
801-484-9911
php@xmission.com
[Lon’s Visit on May 11, 2001]
[According to Lee Caldwell, this program recently
changed its name from Turnabout, to Stillwater Academy, to better reflect its academic focus. - Editor]
As a young man, Stillwater Academy Director Lee Caldwell, developed
his career in two directions. On one hand, he went to school and trained to be a counselor. At the same time, he followed his other
love, working with horses. His use of the term “starting” rather than the traditional term “breaking” reflects his approach. Over
time, he learned that counseling and “starting horses” had more in common than was first apparent. Improving his counseling skills
helped him become a better horse trainer. As he became better at handling horses, he also became a better counselor.
Caldwell learned there are many parallels between youth and horses. The main difference is that horses don’t have the higher mental
capability to be deceitful; they are very honest. A child interacting with a horse receives honest feedback from the horse, which
usually comes as a complete surprise to the struggling child since he or she has no clue regarding the impact he has had on others,
in this case, the horse. This can be a powerful learning experience for a child desperately needing insight on why his/her relationships
are doing so poorly. Caldwell gave a demonstration to a group of students while I was visiting. He “started” a spirited horse, pointing
out to the group what the horse was doing and why, in a way the students could relate to their own behavior. The comments, questions,
and rapt attention of the students indicated that the obvious parallels and lessons were hitting home. For example, Caldwell pointed
out that consistency is vital both for “starting” a horse and raising kids.
The equine therapy is an important part of Stillwater’s Academy’s program, but there is much more. This program was formed based on
the philosophy of parents helping parents, and it still retains this as a key aspect of its program. In the eighties, a group of parents
whose teens had problems participated in a local “Tough Love” group to gain mutual support and guidance. By 1988, the parents decided
they needed more than just weekly meetings, moral support and advice, so they started what was formerly called the TurnAbout program.
It was an expansion of the Tough Love groups into a system where the parents took other parents’ children into their homes on a temporary
basis when it seemed that would help the situation.
This of course evolved, but is still the basic concept behind the current living arrangements. Currently, students enrolled in the
program live with participating parents on a rotating basis, which allows for about one-third of the 50-55 students in the program
to be from elsewhere in the country. Two-thirds of the students are from the Salt Lake City area. As anticipated, living arrangements
with participating parents allows tuition to be considerably lower than that of other programs who work with comparable children.
Of course the parents have full staff support and training while participating, and contact with their own child is increased as it
is earned. Caldwell reports this family-based system works quite smoothly and has many advantages, not the least of which are parents
who are truly committed and involved in the program.
This unique model where parents help other parents, far exceeds the assistance offered by the usual parent support group and appears
to be quite successful. Once a parent enrolls a child, the parent is automatically involved with an extensive parent network along
with the staff at Stillwater Academy. If there are any parent support groups around the country looking for ways to increase the help
they offer each other, they might learn a lot from talking to Stillwater Academy.
In many ways, student’s schedules are similar to what they would encounter if attending a regular school, except the days are longer
to accommodate counseling and other functions like the equine therapy. The students arrive at the Center about 7:00 AM after breakfast
with their host family, just like when living at home, and they leave to attend dinner at their host parents by 6:00PM. Almost all
program functions, academic classes, counseling, etc. are carried out within that time frame. It is an accredited school, and the
counselors and teachers are hired on the basis of their ability to care for and work with these challenging children. At the host
homes, students function within a strict structure. Host parents receive considerable help from other parents and the staff to ensure
that the program details are structured appropriately and student privileges are assigned according to what each student has earned.
Their Center is located in a suburb of Salt Lake City. They make a point of not locking doors, except for typically restricted access
to sensitive records. At first glance, there are no physical obstacles preventing a child from running outside and down the street
at anytime. A closer look, however, shows some of the ways students are prevented from running away. Many of the students walk in
pairs, some in threesomes, consisting of one new student, or one seen as a run risk, and one or two older students assigned to help
them and keep an eye on them. Several of the pairs and threesomes had one or two of the students holding the other student by the
hand or wrist. This is the new student’s day until they have achieved a level of trust where they no longer need that kind of close
attention.
The program’s large staff enables someone to always be on hand to keep an eye on the students, preventing anyone from sneaking out
unobserved. More importantly, there seemed to be a tremendous sense of safety, which by itself is enough to quickly teach new students
that it is to their benefit to stay and take advantage of the program’s opportunities. Despite cultural assumptions that kids will
not do something unless forced, this sense of safety is the key to success for many highly structured programs like Stillwater Academy.
It is what enables students to easily “buy into” the program.
Students also quickly experience the feeling of success, which most had lost touch with long ago. Stillwater Academy operates a six
level system. The more specific milestones and goals a student achieves, the higher the level the student attains and the greater
trust and responsibility he or she acquires. Those at the highest level help the teachers, answer the phones and greet visitors. In
a very real sense, the students are allowed to contribute to the school as soon as they have demonstrated the necessary level of responsibility.
All children want to contribute to whatever community they belong to, and Stillwater Academy very effectively taps into that desire
to facilitate the child’s growth in the program.
When I suggested that in order for their structure to work they must take kids with fairly mild behavior problems, the staff objected.
They claimed that some of their new enrollees were very much out of control at home and at the beginning, resisting being there as
much as new enrollees do at most other Emotional Growth and Therapeutic schools and programs. However, Stillwater Academy does consider
itself to be a possible step-down program for graduates from the much more highly structured schools or programs. The Stillwater staff
also claims that their milieu very quickly convinces most of the new students to cooperate and start working the program. From my
brief visit and my impressions of how the Center felt, perhaps this program is more effective than I would have expected.
In my view, Stillwater Academy has some very unique aspects. It looks like they have pulled intensive parent involvement, equine therapy,
therapeutics and academics into a workable package.
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