Sorenson Ranch School
Koosharem, UT

Sorenson's Ranch School started as a summer youth program in the summer of 1959. The original people involved were Burnell and Carrol Sorenson, Ell Sorenson, Wayne Brindley and Milton Brindley. At the time of its inception Burnell worked as a teacher in the Whittier Unified School District in Southern California, and used his spare time recruiting for youth locally for the summer juvenile boot camp program. Some of the original facilities also served as a deer camp through the early 1960's

During the 1970's Burnell was the principal owner with Carrol and had several years representing the Youth Conservation Corps, which was a newly formed organization to provide youth from various backgrounds teambuilding, educational, and outdoor experiences while doing projects with the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service. Many of those projects still exist to this day in the surrounding outdoors of Grass Valley.

It was in 1984 that Burnell and Carrol retired from their teaching careers in Southern California to live full time in Koosharem. That same year Sorenson's Ranch School started to give year-round adolescent treatment to troubled teens needing help. Sorenson's quickly formed the basics to become an accredited boarding school and a licensed residential treatment facility. Because Sorenson's Ranch School was a pioneering venture, the State of Utah initially were unclear how to oversee and inspect our facilities to care for troubled youth, so the license was first granted through Youth Corrections to provide reactive attachment disorder treatment. Later this was done directly with the Department of Licensing. Wayne Holland, who is the current Chairman for the Utah Democratic Party, was the original licensor. Now Sorenson's Ranch School is a family-owned and operated residential treatment center accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools (NAAS). It is licensed as a mental health and substance-abuse treatment center with the Utah State Human Services Department and is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).

Because of the declining health of Burnell, Shane and Jill Sorenson took over the helm of the school around 1998 and Layne Bagley took over as the primary admissions person. Today the Clinical Director is Dave Nelsen, who has specialist training in Reactive Attachment Disorder, ADD, ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome, and extensive experience with adolescents suffering from behavior modification needs. Dave coordinates his efforts with our other primary therapists who bring considerable expertise to today's Sorenson's Ranch School.

Nowadays, Sorenson's is also a licensed residential treatment facility that includes treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, serves students with histories of different kinds of behavior modification such as problems with parents, substance abuse, low or non-existent self-esteem, learning difficulties, dropping out of or being expelled from school, extreme mental stress, and Reactive Attachment Disorder

Many new buildings have been added to the facilities. Among them are: school building, gymnasium, library/administration building, lodge, industrial arts building, and the largest wood barn built in Utah in the last 50 years. Troubled teens seem to respond well to the animal therapy offered at Sorenson's. With the consolidation of the farms, Shane Sorenson also assists in the sowing and harvesting of the crops, which are needed for the many animals on the youth ranch. Currently, we have horses, cattle, bison, sheep, pigs, chickens, turkeys, peacocks, rabbits, and goats

The Sorenson's ranch's wilderness program instills in its students the values of loyalty, respect, self-worth, personal management, and respect for property, cleanliness, and trustworthiness.

The improvement in the dormitories has been dramatic during the 50 years youth have been at Sorenson's therapeutic boarding school in Koosharem. In the early 1960's the cabins had no bathrooms or running water, with only one common bathroom on each side of the cabins for each specific gender. Indoor heating was installed in individual cabins in the 1970's, and consisted of small wood burning stoves. The 1980's brought the advent of indoor plumbing into each cabin along with central heating. In the last two years the dormitories have been completely renovated.

Overall there has been a total transformation in the comfort and coziness of student dormitory living. Moreover Sorenson's Ranch School has the goal of continuing to improve its services for its clients.

We teach a new way of life with emphasis on ranching, farming, camping, and country living. Many students go on to college or trade programs. All students have life-enhancing experiences.

We look to the future with excitement and hope for our staff and the clientele we serve.

If you are looking for a therapeutic boarding school as well as teen boot camps, juvenile boot camp and residential treatment center, or you are looking for a program for troubled teens as well as teen drug treatment, behavior modification and behavior schools, please visit our website.