Approach
Provo Canyon School combines an academic program with individual, group, family and recreational therapy. Treatment teams for each student include staff, therapists, doctors, and teachers. According to the school's promotional materials, most of the faculty are certified in special education. Treatments may include anger management, sexual issues/trauma resolution, impulse control, stress reduction, assertiveness training, substance abuse groups and additional recreational therapy.
Provo Canyon School's stated philosophy stresses that "youth must take responsibility for their actions or inactions," extending from "cleanliness and order of personal belongings to daily interactions with staff and peers."
The "behavioral modification program" used by Provo Canyon School in its earliest years included physical restraint, physical punishment, isolation from the outside world, progressive restoration of liberty, lie detectors, monitoring of personal communication, and administration of drugs. However, a 1979 permanent court injunction specifically prohibited the Provo Canyon School and its Medical Director from: "(1) opening, reading, monitoring or censoring the boys' mail; (2) administering polygraph examinations for any purpose whatsoever; (3) placing boys in isolation facilities for any reason other than to contain a boy who is physically violent; and (4) using physical force for any purpose other than to restrain a juvenile who is either physically violent and immediately dangerous to himself or others or physically resisting institutional rules."
The school has specialized programs for substance abuse and addiction problems. Its Sommerset program, formerly called the Academy at Canyon Creek, is a pair of early adolescent programs for boys and girls ages ten to fourteen with ADD-ADHD and related behavioral challenges.
At one time, the school required highly regimented behavior, but it has become more relaxed over time. Whereas in the past isolation from family was enforced, the facility now explicitly encourages family visits and helps organize family support groups.
Read more about this topic: Provo Canyon School
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