RCR saved our daughter's life. After trying everything available in our area, we were out of local options. Residential care was the last thing to try. We had to give up control of the situation. We were desperate to find her the help she needed after multiple in-patient stays and local therapy programs. I did a lot of research. Many places are very expensive. RCR is a more affordable option and provided a thorough and caring environment. Maybe some of these reviews expected their daughters to be babied. If so, this is not the right place. It's not a fancy 5-star luxury resort which is a good thing in my opinion. The girls learn to work, be responsible, and accountable. It is not a boot camp though. The therapists there were fantastic also. They have art, dance, swimming team, equine therapy, exercise and other things. Our daughter was there for 14 months and she is doing great now. It takes time for them to "buy in". You have to stick with the program to their graduation for it to work. Some girls leave early and predictably don't do well. Could I find things to complain about? Yes. I think anyone can complain about any school. The bottom line is, this facility in the middle of the desert in Arizona saved our daughters life. Communication was great with us throughout. read more

The amount of trauma and guilt I gained here is sad for me. I came in for very minimal issues at 16, and left with a plethora more. Randy told me I was faking my eating disorder, multiple girls were injured in unnecessary safety holds, along with a lack of proper education or qualifications for their staff. I've spent more time undoing the negative beliefs I developed about myself in the last 6 years than I expected. No need for justification on my part, they hide so much in this program from families I can only hope they are eventually shut down for Future girls' sakes. My education should not have been compromised due to a lack of educational resources as well. Cheers. read more

They gouge insurance and are overpriced. No doctors or nurses on staff like they bill to the insurance 20o per month.

‼DO NOT SEND YOUR FAMILY HERE.‼ The owner of this facility, Randy is an unqualified scam artist at best. He prays on family's desperate to help their daughter and convinces them that the 10s of thousands of dollars they need to pay will be worth it because their daughter will, in his words, be receiving 24/7 therapy in a family like environment. that is a lie, Randy spent the entirety of my daughters stay lying to me about my daughters wellbeing and mental health. They had my 13 year old sleeping in an uninsulated shack during monsoon season, Randy claims to care about the wellbeing of our kids and can't even take the time to insulate their living spaces properly. When I went to visit I was appalled by the things I heard and saw and I regret entrusting my daughter to Randy. There are no qualifications to work here either so I'm seriously curious what could he possibly mean by "24/7" therapy because according to my daughter and multiple other past peers they would have therapy once a week at best for 30 minutes to an hour and that was it. He also charges for "other activities" such as equine therapy but what he doesn't tell you is it's just his friend bringing his horse every few months or so for the girls to sit and look at for an hour, never once did they do any form of equine therapy and yet I for some reason had to pay for it. I could keep going this isn't even the worst of it so if you've read this far please read more reviews AND GIVE SOMONE QUALIFIED YOUR MONEY PLEASE!!! read more

Our daughter, at 13, has been medicated for ADHD, ODD, etc., over the years with little success. She's also been in therapy for years and was admitted 3x into acute care mental hospitals. We have dealt with her behavior - defiant, destructive, dishonesty, poor grades, etc. - until we'd hit a wall and our home became a warzone, and a break was needed. Our goal was for her to be evaluated 24/7 by trained professionals to see the 'real' person we were experiencing at home. Re-Creation Retreat has been a God-send for us. The directors & staff are transparent, provide weekly Q&A sessions with parents, family therapy via Zoom, teach us parenting secrets to deal with behaviors, and genuinely care about the girls, there. If you are struggling with a troubled teen, don't wait until they go too far down the wrong road. Give RCR a call. read more

I was a student here in 2021 from April until November. There is nothing about this program that has helped me or my relationship with my family. I would never recommend this to any girl or their parents. I despised my mom and there were many days where I questioned why she would put me in an environment like RCR. The owner Randy Soderquist is a liar he will lie to you and sell you on RCR but he does not care about you or your daughter as long as he is getting a check. The employees consist of his daughters, son, in-laws, nieces and nephews. I promise you there are some really good programs out there. RCR was the first program I was sent to and after that I had been to two others my siblings had been to some programs in other states they have all been better. Please take my word for it. There are good programs this is just not one of them! My relationship with my mom is so amazing no thanks to RCR. Because she believed me and she got me out of there I am still friends with some of the girls I was there with and they unfortunately can't say the same. This place will wreck your relationship with your daughter but more importantly it will wreck her relationship with herself! read more

The owners daughter and her boyfriend wore a saw mask running up and down the hallway scaring the girls at the time. Fearing our Staff had been over taken and we were about to die. Not funny to play a joke on girls in the middle of freaking no where. This family is sick and needs more help than the girls that get sent here. I snuck alcohol in, was able to manipulate my parents into taking me home because I never worked on a home contract even on level 5. My guess as to why? I was almost 18 and couldn't get sent back so they didn't care how it worked out as long as they got money from my parents. read more

Hi I'm Brooke Stalnaker and I'm a past student. I left RCR November 4,2022. There is good things and some bad things about it. Bad things - They like to yell at students and be very aggressive towards students. They don't give students time to tell them there side of the story. They always will be move staff over the students. One of the staff there just got fired for grooming a young girl. They make you eat and you can't go to the bathroom after you eat. Your not allowed to talk a lot. They will restrain and hold down your daughter. One time I didn't eat for a week straight and they didn't do nothing about it. Besides make ''em feel bad about it. Good things - if you want your daughter to straighten her ass up. Take her here. Honestly best decision I've ever made. I chose to go to rehab. I chose to grow the hell up and take responsibility for my actions. Before recreation retreat. I was doing really bad stuff. After that year I was there. It straightened me up real quick. I am so grateful for a few of the staff there. Well past staff there. Hannah, Jeff, and Cassie, and anisa. Frank. Chloe. read more

Hi, I am Nicola and I am 17. I just recently graduated RCR a week ago. To say this place saved my life, is an understatement. Before going to RCR, I was 15, a drug addict, and severely unhappy. On my 16th birthday, I found out I was being sent to my first residential, Re-Creation Retreat. I was beyond mortified. I felt betrayed by my parents, siblings, and by the world. I was extremely hurt and channeled that into anger. I arrived at RCR on November 22nd, 2019. Just two days after my 16th birthday, I felt alone, in the absolute middle of NOWHERE... Little did I know, that I would soon call Fredonia, home. Adjusting to the environment was kind of tough at first. Some of the reviews do talk about something called 'consequences.' We are all familiar with this term but at RCR 'consequences,' refer to a little slip of paper. RCR is a point-based program, in order to graduate you need to earn a certain amount of points. To receive more privileges you also need to earn points. There is a system in place to require you to do a lot of hard work to move up. Every time you move up, you 'phase' up. There are five total phases. At the end of phase 5, you apply to be able to graduate. In order to phase up and graduate you not only need to earn points, but you also need to read books and write papers on them. You earn points for participating in therapy-based groups, exercise, good behavior, etc. You lose points when you do something against the structure they have in place. This is to teach you how to self-govern. There are four categories for consequences, I will explain them below: 1. Reminders - reminders are only minus two points. For example, when you swear (not at someone), you neglect something either in your room or in the classroom, etc., or call out (say something out loud without raising your hand.) 2. Opportunities - opportunities are minus five points and result in either a 1,000 word essay, where you write about what you did, how it affected others, and how you can learn from it, a work project, where you do a task assigned by the staff (I've pulled weeds for 30 minutes, it's not bad,) or a presentation, where you basically do the same thing as writing an essay but in front of the others girls. You can get opportunities for talking without permission, swearing at someone, throwing objects. 3. Phase drop - You lose 100 points and get dropped down a phase, except when you're on the lowest phase, then they just take 100 points. You can get phased drop for having an inappropriate relationship (kissing) or severe destruction of property 4. Program restart - They take all of your points and you get sent to the lowest phase, or if you're already on phase one, they just take all your points. You can get program restarted for run plans or running and fighting. These are not limited to the few things I said. There were many other consequences that could be given out. Overall, the rules are strict. Some may say that some of the rules are unnecessary, like being late out of the shower, but if you can't follow a rule as simple as that, what makes you think you can follow any other rule? All the rules are in place for a reason. And it's not like they won't tell you what the reason is. I was able to ask many times for them to clarify why a rule was in place. The staff never hesitated to give me an explanation. Moving on to the staff, I am just going to tell you, I have never, ever, had a bigger support team than the staff at RCR. The best thing about each of them is, you know they have your back. They truly care about each and every girl that comes into their care. I never once felt uncared for by the staff. At the end of the day, the girls safety is the only thing that matters to them. Now I am not saying that there weren't times where the staff got on my nerves, because there were, but, I had to come to terms with what they were doing was out of love and to help me grow. Now, I am going to touch on the precautions they do take to make sure we are safe. At RCR, when girls are not following the rules to the extent of causing harm to themselves or other girls, staff have to step in. Safety holds are put into place when girls act out. A lot of people classify it as being 'restrained,' I myself used to call it that, and I still do. I believe that being 'restrained,' has a negative connotation, but it doesn't have to be that way. When girls would get restrained, the staff wouldn't do it out of hate, or anger. They wouldn't hurt the girls, but it would be uncomfortable, because it isn't designed to be that way. It is designed to keep the girl, and others around her, safe. I myself never was put into a safety hold, so I cannot speak from experience. I just want to make it clear that it does happen, but not in a malicious manner. Lastly, I want to say thank you to all the staff for creating a healthy environment to grow and be oneself. Graduate of 4/16/21 read more

Re Creation Retreat - When you phase up, you can go on outings, like this! - Rehabilitation Center Near Me - Fredonia, Arizona

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Rcr is a fear motivated place. Its always if you dont have a good day you get in trouble. When my parents came to visit they brought food for everyone and my twin brought what was supposed to be a virgin margarita and it definitely was not virgin. Staff never found out. I never got in trouble for it. Randy would constantly threaten consequences if I couldn't keep up during hiking even tho I since was diagnosed with a knee issue that caused pain and me not to be able to keep up with the group and it wasnt diagnosed so i just had to deal They dont take into consideration how every BODY is different. They also would not let me get anti depressants even after I tried to electrocute myself. They also never told my mom I tried to. Because that's why I was there and they didnt want me getting pulled and having my parents check go away. This is a for profit industry that needs much more regulation and needed more staff when I was there. Its supposed to be a 3 peers to 1 staff. It was barely 6 peers to 1 staff most days. read more

RCR is the best thing that happened to my daughter and I. My daughter had some trauma she was carrying around with her which made it very hard to make good choices and respond to her emotions in a heathy way. When we started looking for schools, we looked for about 2 years and finally made the leap to really do something after my daughter ran away for the first time. We had 7 schools to look at and luckily RCR was one of them. When we looked at the schools we first looked at price as that was the only thing I understood at first, then more about what the school offered, academics since my daughter is a honor role AP (advanced placement )student at a young age, location for logistics and visits, and then staff and operations. It seemed to have the right man for the job, Randy. Randy took the time to meet with me personally, then my family and really answered all of our questions and concerns and helped us to see that the way we were had tried to solve the problems we were facing was not the best way for our family and child's development which was hard to understand at first, but we were in an very difficult and unmanageable time in my daughters development from a teen to young adult. Randy is not just a guy who wants to help, he is the right person. His experience in the troubled teens, the court systems, and all his professional roles in his career made him the perfect fit on paper and when speaking to him and now after going through the whole program. it was not until my daughter got settled in and that I started to see the change. My daughter was a perfect student, she graduated on time and was also perfect on paper. Since my daughter was gifted and a high achiever is was very hard to find help for her and support for myself as a parent. Randy did a good job of helping my daughter to understand why she acts the way she does. My daughter calls Randy the miracle worker and he is. One time during the holidays which was a hard time to not have my daughter with us they had a signing event and when I saw Randy's face when he saw all the girls singing you could see he really does this to help our children, and our family(s). One really important point which was never discussed ( Or I did not pick up on it) was that since my daughter was away from the home I as a parent was able to decompress, get my life together.  I too was part of the problem.  I needed things in life I was not able to focus on and the space away from being an everyday parent allowed me to do this which was good for everyone. Now that my daughter is home it has been nothing short of a miracle. My daughter now understands everything I always wanted her to learn and understand from me. I feel like I am a better parent because she now cares to listen, so I have more of an impact on her growth and development vs before I was a crazy parent who knew nothing. I am now closer to my daughter then ever and I have RCR and the bravery and courage it took to have my daughter picked up in the middle of the night from my home which almost made me sick in fear to now knowing my daughter will be making the best choices and best mistakes she can with what she has without worrying about her sabotaging her own life due to her past trauma. Know that everyone will not be as lucky as we are, but I know if your child is willing to want to improve her life and future and is old enough to do so RCR is the right place for her. If she is not willing I do not know anyplace that will work until they are ready to change. My daughter was not ready to change when she went in and she found it inside herself while studying at RCR. My daughter as been expected to a UC College here in California and her future is on track to be a success. a BIG Thank you to RCR, their staff of professionals, and especially Randy for taking on this position as a leader and mentor to so many trouble teens. THANK YOU. PS. I am on the referral list if you ever would like to speak to me, just call and ask to speak to RCR and they will send you my information. I never felt more alone when I was seeking help for myself and my child and am willing to speak to support our children's futures to blossom. read more

Extremely traumatic... if you value you daughters and their mental health please reconsider your choice for treatment. She will most likely not get better from here because of the manipulation tactics used, the punishments for telling the truth, and the repercussions for breaking the rules. Please take it from a past patient who now needs medication for night terrors, anxiety, depression, and therapy twice a week for years. Your family therapy is a lie, the phone calls are a lie, the letters are a lie, so please listen to me when I tell you me, along with many other patients have talked with lawyers to try and get this program shut down. If you need more proof look up #operationbreakingcodesilence read more

When I was 17 my mom told me we were going on vacation to the Grand Canyon only to drop me off at Recreation Retreat. I spent about 9 months there. Keep in mind that this place is for profit. From what I could find (please correct me if I'm wrong) this place isn't even a licensed residential treatment program. They are licensed as a limited liability company and a juvenile group home. Some of their therapists are not licensed and it appears a lot of the staff had no experience working with children and only worked there because they were family. Upon my arrival it was very clear from the beginning there were a lot of rules. That in itself was not the issue. The issue was that these rules were made to instill fear into the girls there so they would be compliant. Something as little as smiling at another student, or talking without permission would get you a 1,000 word essay (sometimes more, it was staffs choice how many words) or a presentation (these seemed to be used to humiliate girls). I got a presentation while I was there for something asinine and a bit embarrassing and had multiple panic attacks because of it. I was still forced to give the presentation. How is that supposed helpful? Before I went to RCR I had no body image issues. I actually loved my body and how I looked. However they forced us to eat a specific amount of food each meal or else we got an essay. I once wrote an essay because I was nauseous and couldn't eat. After I left RCR I gained more weight then I ever had in my life. I have a very fast metabolism so it's hard for me to gain weight when I try. But somehow I gained a decent amount of weight and after not seeing anything but my face in a mirror for nine months I was shocked when I came home and saw myself. It has been almost 2 years and I'm still struggling with body dysmorphia that was triggered by this. "Group therapy" consisted of us listening to staff read a book and taking notes or watching things like Oprah, or documentaries and taking notes. I don't see how that's considered therapy. They listen to all of the calls and read all letters going in and out to make sure we didn't say anything bad about the place. Their reasoning behind it was so we didn't try to "manipulate" our parents. While I was there they knowingly medicated me for a mental illness they were aware I did not have. I was given anti-psychotics for boarder line personality disorder. I turned 18 on February 20th and from that point forward I made it clear to randy that I didn't want to be there. I tried to leave multiple times and asked if I could have my stuff so I could go. However I was manipulated by multiple staff members (I can recall 4 off the top of my head) to stay and graduate the program (which would have taken me another 3 months at least). While other staff that I know genuinely cared about my well-being said that they thought I was ready to leave and that I should do what was best for me. I was told that I have boarder-line personality disorder up until a few days prior to me leaving. I think it was March 31st that I had a conversation with randy about this where he told me that he thinks I have depression and anxiety and not boarder-line personality disorder and that I should get off my meds soon. I swear being on those meds made me crazy, I was so much more impulsive and depressed while I was on them. I could say so many more things about how this place traumatizetd me. Please don't send your children to places like this. read more

Don't want to personally explain my stay there. As I was there many years ago and am still coping with trauma from this place. All I can say is DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILDREN here. Also I am just now reading reviews and THE BAD ONES ARE TRUE AND PROBABLY COULD SAY WORSE THINGS. I am not an angry person this place is literal JAIL. I could go on and on, website is fake. Parents paid a ton of money for things I never got to do. Kids tried to kill themselves while I was there... so many things please don't go here ever! read more

I am a former student at RCR, I arrived there on 2,8,23 and I lefts 2, 23,24. This place did do a lot for me. THEY DO NOT ABUSE YOU. The place worked in five phases. The phases were designed in a way that would teach things and give you more responsibility. The first phase is phase one, Hero vs victim. This phase teaches you to be accountable for you actions. Phase two is scarcity vs abundance. This phase teaches you to be grateful for what you have, so they give you some of your things back. The phrase teaches you to live in a love state instead of fear. Phase three teaches you to make better decisions. Phase four is now talking about your future, figuring out what you want to do and in a way that will provide value to other people and yourself. The last and final phase talks about principle, which are natural laws that govern the world. The top principles that we talk about are choice, which says that you always have a choice on what to think. Control, you cannot control what other people think, and accountability, you can only take accountability for your own actions. The place is designed in a way that will benefit you. I was a very troubled teen who liked to play lots of games. I was slick and I thought it was funny to watch people run around in circles. I had a lot of beliefs that kind of caused me to think this way. The place helped me change my beliefs into something that would work for me. I was not just dealing with behavioral issues, but was extremely suicidal. I had gone through trauma at a young age. The place helps me to correct my behavior and to help me think differently. They did not change who I was, but they helped me find who I was. The only downfall that I thought was how strict they are. I hated it being there, but I am grateful for it now. There was structure, and if you broke it you would get a one thousand word essay. If you did something that was really bad, you would get dropped or even restarted. I was dropped twice for doing things that I was not suppose to do. I hated it at first and I complained to everyone about the place. I made the place sound a lot worse than it was when I was dropped. After phasing back up and going home on my homevisit, a trial run for a month to see if you can do good at home, I was able to be grateful for it. to phase up you do need to write paper and hit a certain expectation mark. The papers are there to get you thought on paper. Sometimes it can be hard to say what you want to say, but easier to write it. Overall, as a past student who was there for a while, that place did change my life. It is not as bad as people say it is. I graduated from there and was there for over a year, not once did someone get abused. It is a boarding school if that is what you want it to be, but if you act like it needs to be a RTC, then it is. This was not my first program, but it is my last. It is one of the nicer places, and we do a lot of fun stuff. I was able to see waterfalls and the grand canyon. read more

I'm a former student here I arrived on May 9th, 2022 and left on March 21st, 2023. I have been out for awhile but the more I look back the more I'm like wow. How I explain this place to people now is like a game. You do the papers to phase up then win staffs trust and approval and leave. It's a system and none of it guarantees any fixing to family's daughters. I got restarted on phase 4 and was restrained. They face the girls on their stomachs with their arms being held down then a knee placed on one of the legs. If your daughter has experienced any type of sexual assault the restraints are definitely triggering. There is other places that do better ways of restraints. Things got worse more towards the end of my stay when staff left and new ones were being replaced. A new lady got on treatment team which is where they approve you to phase up. I was on phase 5 applying to graduate and I was perfectly ready to go home and my head space was more focused on just getting home because I didn't want to hit the one year mark there. The new lady on treatment team Megan denied me because I gave a girl a bracelet which prevented me from graduating. My mom was already on a plane when they said I couldn't graduate so my mom just came to get me. There was no serious reason why they shouldn't have let me graduate. The whole reason why I went back there after my home visit was to graduate so my parents paid for 2 months after my home visit for nothing which is around 10k. I feel like them denying me was just so I could stay for one more week because then it would be the next month and then my parents would have payed for the next month that I was barely there for. There is manipulation here but there was a couple staff that didn't seem to be involved in the money or anything. I was there for the staff grooming and he is now fired but it took about a year and a half of accusations from girls to actually fire him. When I first got there all the girls got together to speak about that staff but I remember all of us getting in trouble because we were trying to ruin his life apparently. They don't trust or listen to any of the girls so it ended up taking a year and half just for something to be done about it. So what about the next staff member that comes in and gets accused of grooming will they do anything about it? If your daughter is getting in trouble and struggling with mental health there is better options and also just being there for them and making sure they feel loved there's a lot of places like these that are not considerate of the actual students and more so on the money. I also felt like a failure like allot of the time I was there when I got a lot of talking without permission consequences or safety essays which include usually mistakes like forgetting to sign the food sheet or leaving bleach out on accident. Writing a thousand words on how I talked without permission or how I forgot to sign the food sheet just made me feel ridiculous. None of the essays matter now the only thing it really did was improve my hand writing. I just recommend doing a lot of research on these places and listening to the reviews on residential treatment. read more

I was there for two months until they sent me away to another place. They are not experienced and also my therapist was trying to make me talk to my abusers I was not impressed! I would recommend Red Hawk Acadamy in scenic Arizona if you have to send a daughter to a program. They also told me they had horses, but they didn't. read more

this is repeat review from a physician bereaving mother . save your daughter dont send her here. my daughter came out traumatized after 3 years as randy would not release her they will pay yelp and remove this review read more

From a parent's perspective, I have found that the staff at re-creation retreat all seem to share a common desire to help the girls who have found their way into this place. The program is very well organized, and the steps to complete the program are clearly laid out. As a parent,while it is hard, initially to be separated from your child, even the early changes I've noticed in my daughter have been profound. Clearly one of the top priorities of re-creation Retreat is to keep the girls safe and establish an environment which encourages accountability and growth. To this end, I feel that Randy and the staff have largely succeeded. While it was difficult for me and my spouse to navigate the waters of what seems to be the often maligned industry of Behavioral programs for troubled youth, we have no regrets, and are confident in the future. I have no doubt that we have made the right choice, and that our family is better for it. read more

I recently graduated from RCR and I am so thankful for having the opportunity to do so. I finished the program in 6 months and it flew by. No, it was not all perfect, but all the staff did their best to make us feel as much at home as they could. I have not been to any other programs, but I have heard many stories about other one and I truest believe that RCR is one of the best places to go get some time to focus on yourself and get your life back on track. Yes, there are consequences, but it is all up to you and the choices you make that determine if you get consequences. There are essays, but to help reflect and help you find the real reasoning behind you behavior. I wrote only about 10 essays, maybe not even. It really is simple: follow structure (which is put in place to only help your journey) and you receive no consequences. The staff at RCR are amazing! I formed many amazing relationships with the staff and still continue to talk to some today. RCR is very good at recognizing the good. They reward you with phasing up, with includes more privileges, positive points, outings, which are amazing and once in a lifetime experiences, and many more. The cook at RCR is also amazing. We get freshly cooked meals all 3 meals of the day, all 7 days of the week. I believe stressful and tense situations are handled very well and reasonably. When a safety hold is performed, it is needed and not just for fun. While there is plenty of good to RCR it does have some of its downsides. Not being able to talk, besides in times when permission is given, does get very stressful sometimes. It hard to stay in a room with 3 other girls and not be aloud to ever talk, unless abound beds, meds, or chores. Not really a downside, but there are many writing assignments (phase advancements) which are there to help you reflect on your past, be aware of the present, and plan for your future. I found these to be very helpful. Overall, RCR is the place to go. read more

Girls are hurt here. Be smart, stay vigilant. Not everything is as it seems. Keep your daughters close.

We made the very difficult decision to send our 14/15 year old daughter here early in 2015. I have a few things to say about the staff and the program. Hands down the best value for dollar you can find. Our daughter returned home after nearly 6 months here and she has the following characteristics. -total honesty -great anger management skills -a very sweet temperament -self confidence -responsible -no thoughts or intentions of running away -individual accountability -follows through -avoids drama -helpful in the household -and the list goes on and on If your daughter has become a challenge then look no further. This isn't club med or a resort but it isn't a prison either. It is the perfect balance of austerity but safety. God bless the staff of RCR. Our daughter literally owes her life to he staff at this facility. read more

1. If you are looking at facilities, most states have "Children's Rights" that include the right to WALK OUT of the facility starting at age 14 withOUT your consent. Not here, the law states we can legally keep them until they are 18. THIS is a HUGE advantage if your kid is out of control and you want to ensure their safety. 2. This is not a military school, nor is it a health spa, it is a family environment fileld with exceptional professionals trained in youth counseling and re-invention. 3. This is where I recommend all of my friends and clients with teenagers in dire straights seek counsel. Gia Heller CEO The National Business Experts read more

Our daughter recently graduated the RCR program / high school after 18 months. She was not happy to attend AT ALL initially, but upon return home, she does cite humorous stories and fond memories about all the staff. Our daughter did, however, frequently complain about constant peer drama, intensely annoying peer behaviors, and dread returning to RCR girls following home visits. As one would expect, RCR peer backgrounds can be quite broad. Couple these different backgrounds with various beliefs on boundaries, and it is easy to see how it would be an exercise to live in harmony. However, this too, is a life skill we value as parents. The program boundaries are strictly kept, participation is mandatory, and doing otherwise results in negative consequences of 1000 word essays; her writing abilities have been greatly enhanced! It is/was this consistency that lead to personal growth for our daughter. The program is based on "principled living". We attended the parent weekend and optional zoom parenting classes as well. Randy encourages all to read the material the girls are learning day in and day out to enhance long term success. We took that call very seriously. There was nothing alarming in the material and, in fact, our entire family found it to be a path for better living. I agree with a previous review that this program, hands down, was the best "value" for caring and consistent, adolescent guidance for our daughter. Her dedicated and loving mentors, therapist, educators, and leadership remained constant during her entire 18 month stay: priceless. Our RCR family knew and understood our daughter. She is home now, headed for college in the fall and we will always be grateful that she found the love and beauty in herself we always saw. Thank you, RCR. read more

This place honestly saved my life. Often times, I see negative reviews about the school from past students. The program will not work unless you work it. It is important to note that this program is not for the faint of heart. You will have bad days, you will feel like life is unfair, you will even want to quit. BUT, you will also have good days. Even on the bad days, you are in a continuous state of learning. RCR really emphasizes the importance of growing and learning the most you can in order to be successful in this life. I learned so much at RCR and I would recommend this place to any and everyone, unfortunately only teen girls can attend, but it is a learning process for the whole family. I highly suggest sending your troubled teenage daughter to this school. It could be the difference between life and death. read more

I went to RCR for about 5 months I didn't graduate. I had very awesome friendships with many girls that were higher phases then me and they helped get through it. I left in the very wrong way and I regret it many times. I still to this day use all the life skills I learned there to help me get through things. Definitely have to say the relationship with my parents is amazing!! I have gained trust from my family members that did not trust me at all. I met amazing girls and staff members there that changed my life. Thank you Austin, Randy, Erica, Guy and tami for truly helping me out read more

ReCreation Retreat saved our daughter! I know you will read many reviews- and if you are parent really struggling with trying to determine if this is the next best step I was in your shoes. Our daughter was going down a path of destruction; We had tried everything we could to try and help her realize her choices were not going to lead to the life she was destined for. Sending her to RCR was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my entire life. It ripped my heart out and left it raw for many months- however, with a lot of faith, trust in the program, and prayers, our daughter learned some amazing life long skills. The therapy and group work allowed my daughter to look at her choices and sit in the consequences, to reflect, and grow. She had to choose to work hard and keep working hard- to look at her demons and decide to work through her stuff. She was at RCR for over a year- She admits it was the hardest thing she's done but is so thankful for RCR and knows it gave her a second chance. She did see some trauma with the other girls' choices but they were working their own programs and I believe seeing the growth of the others also helped her to have faith and want to make changes. She has graduated HS, got her EMT certification and is heading to college to pursue nursing in the fall. Randy, Hannah, Garret, Tony, and so many other staff held her accountable, helped her to look deep and learn to love the life she has and who she is. The consistency, leadership skills, learning personality traits and how to work with others, personal finance, and seminars were priceless. While the atmosphere is strict it is also loving. Our daughter was so strong willed- she sat on phase one for over six months... Will some girls fake the program? for sure- but for those girls who choose to really decide to look deep and work hard, they will learn to grow and really fly. She grew up so much in that year, we did a lot of counseling at home as well, while she was at RCR, and worked to see how we could help her keep growing once she returned home. I will be forever grateful for RCR. Her story could have been so different and seeing her on the brink of starting her next chapter and knowing she is ready to light the world on fire, brings such a sense of peace, gratitude and hope!! read more

I was sent to re creation retreat in Jume 2018. In the middle of the night in June two random people entered my room while I was asleep, and dragged me straight out of bed straight to the airport. They didn't let me say goodbye to any family and without telling me where I was going. I'll start of with saying just that gave me PTSD until I turned 18, which was last May. For two years I couldn't sleep at night because I thought those men could come and drag me out of my room again and even when I was able to fall asleep which was rare, I had constant nightmares to the point I would wake up traumatized and in tears. Every night before bed for 2 years I had to ask my family if they were planning on sending me away like that again but that still would not help with the anxiety and PTSD. After I was dragged to Fredonia AZ, I had a feeling that my ONLY parental guardian, my mother, had not been the one who planned all that out. At RCR they took me to a doctors appointment (by the way they had no trained medical professionals there) At that doctors appointment I ran away to a nearby house to call my mom. She picked up the phone. She then asked me where I was and why I was in Arizona. She did not know where I was as she did not recall signing the papers to send me away. Turns out some of family went to visit her in the hospital when she was very sick and on medication that can alter her state of mind. Those family members then had her signs those papers in that state of being sick and not in the right mind due to the medications in the emergency room they have provided her. She then proceeded to tell me to go to the airport which the people I ran away to drove me all the way to St. George airport. Then I was handcuffed and sent back there for 6 more months. The whole 6 months I was there they not once would allow me to talk to my mother, my only legal guardian at the time. They wouldn't even let me write letters to her to explain what was going on there. For almost all of the time there they wouldn't let me talk to the peers there at all and even sometimes looking at other people was not allowed. Just looking at one peer has gotten me a consequence. Because of that when I came home, I lost all my social skills and did not know how to communicate with people and had to relearn. The whole place, our rooms, and especially the kitchen were extremely dirty and no place where food should be cooked at all. One time a peer had cut herself with glass in front of other peers. No parents or anyone was notified about this incident. People can get physically restrained there just for not getting out of bed on time or for little things like that. While I was there we had "school" I learned absolutely nothing because I got no proper help or tutoring so it made me fall 6 months behind in school. When I came back and I almost didn't graduate on time. The owner of the place isn't even licensed in Arizona, only in Utah. Everything there is run by points. If you get a certain amount of points you can go home. However if you talk to someone, look at someone or don't push a chair in etc. you will lose points and have to write a 1000 word essay handwritten per consequence. Being isolated and going through everything alone there made me come home with loads of trauma and new mental disorders which seriously effected me later on in my life. As soon as I came home I told my mom everything and she immediately took me back with her. RCR only changed me for the worst. You CANNOT force someone to change. The only person who can make you change is yourself. If someone is not ready to change, want to change or not in the mindset they will not. When I got out I started getting into even worse stuff I had before and put myself in a lot of dangerous situations to try and stop the pain and trauma I had from being sent away. I was sent to RCR for throwing one party which I was manipulated into throwing by people because I was easily taken advantage of back then. Also back then I wasn't into drugs or harmful things towards myself. Those behaviors only happened AFTER rcr. I personally did not change for the better until recently when I actually was ready to change. Now I am the happiest I have ever been. I have a great job, I'm in school and built a future for myself. RCR held me behind in life and I could name more traumatizing things that happened during the stay and the after effects it's caused me but I will stop here. I am also not writing this in a place of hate. I understand those family members who had came to my mother to sign the papers only wanted to help and love me very much. However, they did not do enough research on where they were sending me. I also understand that some kids do need serious help and need to be sent somewhere but please do not send your kids here. Do some research and find a good, loving environment for them. read more

I truly believe RCR has changed the direction of my daughters life. They are an amazing group of caring loving people. They treat the girls like there own. My daughter has thanked me many times for sending her here. She said they are like a second family. When she went in she had very little self respect. She was failing almost all of her classes and she was making very dangerous and poor choices. Now she has all A's and B's and is loving school. She also is so proud of herself and knows she smart and can do anything she wants to do. She is an amazing young lady and she really knows it. I feel so blessed to have found them and would recommend if you have a daughter that is making poor choices, lying or doing anything to hurt herself this is the place to go. Thank you Randy and your team for saving so many wonderful young ladies and helping them to see their authentic selves. read more

I was sent to this program 4 years ago and it was one of the absolute worst things that has ever happened to me. I was 15 years old and struggling with anxiety and depression. This program promised weekly therapy to which I only recieved therapy maybe once a month by a male therapist. I have trauma caused by older males and requested to have a female therapist instead, my request was denied. This place is in between jail and military school. You have absolutely no rights here. All letters coming in and out are monitored. All phone calls coming in and out are monitored. If the girls in this program talk to eachother they are forced to write a thousand word essay. No hugging or touching of any kind is allowed at all. If your goal is to push your daughter away from you, send her here. Please do not read the parent testimonies and decide it's a good idea to send your child here. This is on average a 9 month-12 month program and for your daughter who is in a very fragile stage of life and state of mind, it is not the best option. Remember, if this is your child and your goal is to help her, there are many many more options than this place. read more

RCR has been one of the best things that has ever happened to our family! I know when parents are seeking help for their child it is scary and you wanna make sure they are safe and in a place they can heal. I was like most parents! I read the reviews some good, some really bad and was really unsure if we were making the right choice for our 17 year old daughter! We booked a bed and then I got cold feet and delayed the process. Scared to commit and so unsure of what would happen my wife and I had several talks with Randy. We decided to commit for the program and try it out. My wife dropped her off and so the process began. We started in October of 2017 (right before the holidays) and I will say was probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do! Our daughter was now in the hands of complete strangers. My wife and I agreed that if does the program we are going to do it to. Note to parents..if you do not commit to the program with your child then you are not helping them. If you love your child this is the best program out there! Randy and his team are our extended family! It is hard and there will be ups and downs! You will cry and you will want to go pick them up...but don't! Our daughter was always safe. She always had someone to talk to. She spent 9 months at RCR and graduated the program.She is truly grateful for her experience and for the people she met! She is a young ,self confident ,amazing young woman who has a future! Without RCR she may not be here today! I'm am blessed to have met Randy, his family and his team! Trust the program and believe in it and amazing things will happen! RCR is program that anybody and everybody should do. You will learn the skills to parent, lead,self-govern and many more life skills! Priceless experience and would recommend anybody to this program. The best!!!! read more

I am a parent of a girl at RCR. And I can honestly say that if we hadn't sent our daughter to RCR when we did there would be a good chance she would be dead by now. Something my daughter agrees with. She has learned an unbelievable amount about herself, gained confidence, has an appreciation of what she has materially. Has learned coping skills, developed a sense of community service. She has an increased sense of self-worth. On her home visit, she learned that she was not infallible and needed to do more work. So she returned and continues to work toward her goals. She has therapy with 2 amazing counselors who care and go above and beyond. They are the best we've ever seen. We have family therapy, on a bi-weekly basis which is extremely helpful. The staff at RCR truly have the girls wellbeing at heart. It is a very structured program, which is what is needed in order to put everyone on a level playing field and to ensure the safety of the girls; this is something the girls have to get used to. And they do...The staff are kind and make sure all the girls needs are met within reason. Randy Soderquist, the owner is wonderful. He's insightful, knowledgeable, supportive to both parents and the girls. He's very dedicated to ensuring that when the girls graduate, they have the skills to be successful and sober. We realize that each girl will make their own choices and that there is no guarantee that when they graduate they will do so however they WILL have the skills. There have been a couple of negative reviews, I can only say from my experience that RCR has an awesome program. and I would recommend it to anyone who's daughter is struggling. RCR does an amazing job. My number is on file should you wish to speak to me. read more

if i could give it no stars i would, is this a treatment center yes technically... but there are so many better ones around the country. this is the first one my mom found in a desperate times unfortunately. my first residential and certainly wasn't my last. went in with self harm issues couple months after leaving i now have a crippled opioid addiction. i can't necessarily blame it on re-creation retreat itself but definitely caused more issues than it did helped. To this day I still resent my mom for sending me here. i've been to my share of other places and they were great definitely helped me I am currently sober but due to the fact that I have been to many other places I can say by far that this was the worst. good idea executed very poorly. The staff were very unprofessional and biased towards certain girls . takes forever to get anything done around there. Some girl had crabs for a month even after telling the staff, couldn't bother to do anything about it. they punished me by taking my bare necessities away including my underwear and hygiene products also was not allowed to talk for two months without consequences. I have a lot more to say about this place but overall was not a great experience I was there for a year and I'm still dealing with issues from being here. read more

I graduated from RCR I think maybe four months ago. I was there for nine months. RCR had seriously made a positive difference in the relationship with my dad. I met some really incredible people there and even my best friend. The foods pretty good to but for me in my nine month visit I gained almost 20 pounds! I think that's the only negative thing about RCR. Once a week we would go on outings and they were always filled with laughter and really helped me realize that you can still have a good time sober. I am grateful for RCR and everything I learned while I was there. read more

I stayed at RCR for 8 months when I was a teenager over 6 years ago. When I first got out I hated the thought of RCR and never ever wanted to go back there again. Over 6 years later I have an amazing relationship with my parents and I am doing well in life and very happy. I am now 22 years old and work as a mental health technician at a lock down psych facility in California. I work on adult and adolescent units in my facility helping patients recover their lives in a similar way that RCR did for me. The program at RCR that Randy- and his team have created saved my life and my relationship with my parents. If I could do it all over again I wish I hadn't been so angry for the first 2 years after I got out of RCR because I realize now how beneficial and priceless that experience was to my life and the person I am now. Over six years ago it was my dream to leave that place and never ever have to think about it ever again. Today it is my dream to go back to RCR and bring a little bit of hope to the girls that are there now and maybe even their parents. It is my dream to present to Randy who I am now because I know he would be so proud of me. It is my dream to hug all of my past staff that took such good care of me there and tell them all thank you for loving me when I was the most unlovable. Thank you RCR for seeing the beauty in my ashes!! And helping get me to shine! read more

RCR saved my daughters life, period. These are her words, not mine. It's a VERY structured and difficult program, similar to a military academy. Everything is closely monitored and there is constant supervision to ensure the MANY rules are being followed. It's very tough and will be a GREAT fit for some girls and their families and not so much for others. As most parents who are looking for a place like RCR we have spent years in therapy. Some therapists we found to be useless, others miracle workers. Finding a residential program for troubled teens is the toughest thing we have ever had to do as parents. We were fortunate that RCR and the discipline they demand is exactly what are daughter did NOT want but despertely needed. There were two things that made RCR our choice was their focus on personal responsibility and helping the girls move from victim to hero. Our daughter was the ultimate victim, nothing was ever her fault. The first part of our daughters stay at RCR was the hardest by far. It took her a VERY LONG time to get it! But she finally did, and it has made ALL the difference. She knows that she is totally responsible for how she reacts to EVERY situation and how she interprets the meaning of each. She has worked her tail off to earn every single point and receive every single privilege. She did ALL that and is PROUD of her accomplishments, as she should be! We are in awe of the person she had grown into. It's not easy because each girl has to struggle with their own inner beliefs that are false. They have to come to terms with the reality that their current beliefs are not serving them. They have to accept that they have value, are important, and are worthy of love. All of these where incredibly difficult for our daughter, but SHE did it. RCR does not work magic and they are not perfect, but looking for that is a waste of time because it does not exist. They are a small business and have many typical small business challenges. But that is NOT what is important........your daughter all that matters! Sorry Tim O., I think you have your priorities mixed up! There are many residential programs across the country. You will read reviews both good and bad about them all simply because sometimes its a fit and sometimes not. If you believe your daughter is out of control, a victim, not following rules, making poor decisions, has low self worth, is using alcohol and drugs, and other self destructive behaviors, AND she is in need of a program centered around discipline and rule following, the RCR may be a GREAT fit like to has been for us. If you are looking for a program that is very flexible, or will coddle your daughter, this is NOT the place, keep looking! My daughter now has dreams and goals! She is planning on being a motivational speaker and going around to area middle schools and high schools and talking to kids about her story and where she went wrong and how she was able to get back on track. My daughter is an amazingly strong young lady, and that will serve her well as she has BIG dreams she is chasing! read more

Re-Creation Retreat is a gift to families in crisis. Loving, strict, caring - they are helping build responsible young women. We have seen nothing but caring, competent and responsive staff. Our daughter said that she doesn't know what she would do without RCR - we don't either! read more

I was at RCR from January 10th 2015 to April 5th 2016. I originally wrote a nasty review when I first got home because I left angry. I only talked about the bad things that happened. Honestly it's scary being dragged out of your bed and not having any idea where you're being taken. It's definitely hard at first but then again any huge change in your life is hard. I've experienced some of the best and some of the worst feelings I've ever had while at RCR. There were times I was so done with everything I would spiral down and because of that I was dropped 5 times. I honestly thought my life was over. I felt like if I even breathed wrong I would get a consequence. I felt like I had my natural rights taken away and all of my freedom. I got punched in the face, hair ripped out. Some of the staff have said things to me about how when I left there'd be no hope for me and how I wasn't going anywhere. Lots of people have got restrained, hurt themselves, tried to hurt others, people have thrown things, people get in trouble for things they shouldn't, and the girls don't always get the best treatment. However, I've also had the best times there. I made the best friends I've ever had and I talk to them every day, I graduated high school almost a year and a half early, I had experiences that I would never have had otherwise, and I have never felt more at home. I've never been more at peace and just been happy for no reason. I've never felt more accepted and at home. I didn't realize how much I appreciated eating meals with the family until I came home and no longer had that. Ive laughed and had more fun than I knew was possible and I was sober while doing so and in a program. This place honestly helped me so much. Then I went on my home visit after a year of being there and I dealt with things that caused me to step out of that happiness and stop caring. For the last few months I was at RCR I was angry. I left on level 4 because I knew when I was leaving and made the decision I no longer cared about anything to do with the people there or the program itself. The night I got home I relapsed and quickly went back to everything I was doing before RCR. I threw my plans that I had to succeed out the window and blamed everything I was doing on RCR. I've been home 4 months now and have finally been realizing lately that I don't want to live how I have been. I realized that RCR doesn't change people. We are given the tools we need in order to change and to be successful but until we decide we want to change, we won't. That's why some girls are ready to leave after a couple months and other girls sit there for years and don't change. Now that I'm no longer bitter and that I want to change and am taking those steps I am so grateful for everything this place has done for me. I'm now in an amazing relationship with someone who treats me better than I knew was possible because I now know my worth and what I deserve and I am applying to college and my life is back on track to succeed because I finally used the tools that I was given by this place and I can finally say that I am happy again and as I'm focusing on what positive came out of my experience, I no longer really think of the bad. The staff that work there care and wouldn't be if they didn't but personally Jenell, Sharla, Erica, Randy, and Austin helped me the most and I am beyond grateful! If you're going to send your daughter somewhere, this is the best place. read more

I love Re-Creation Retreat, although, I am extremely biased. Years ago I worked for a residential boarding school as a shift supervisor-- and I promised myself I would never do that again. It is a tough job and I received very little training at the time. Fast forward a number of years, a lot of volunteer work with teenage girls, raising three of my own, and I found myself applying for a part time position at Re-Creation Retreat--another residential boarding school. This time, my experience was completely different. The owners were hands on and ran a place that felt family oriented. I noticed staff genuinely cared. I loved that there was a lot of structure, support and training. I may be biased, but I've worked here for over six years now and I love what we do because I have seen a lot of teens make lasting, positive changes in their lives. I also know how hard we work to make sure we keep the young ladies safe, how much we train to keep our skills up, and just how privileged we--I feel to be able to work with these amazingly talented young ladies! read more

My parents sent me to RCR in 2010, right before Christmas, at the age of 16. I was very unhappy. I was sent there because I was failing high school, disrespectful to my parents, depressed, not eating, cutting myself, and texting a guy I had never met before! Before RCR, I had been in Kaiser's E.R. for suicidal ideation, then a mental hospital, and then a group home. These were just holding places. They didn't help. My life was a mess. I had very low self-esteem. I tried to find my self-worth in others. Yet, I was so resistant to change. I didn't do much for 3 months of being at RCR. I thought the staff were trying to brainwash me. But I finally realized that they were just trying to help. The staff told us that we don't have to believe everything they tell us. They said we could pick and choose what we wanted to believe. I soon started moving up in the program's levels, but my heart was still in the same place in many ways. After 6 months of being there, my parents came to visit me for my birthday. I told them that I would go back home and be respectful and do what I was supposed to, but that I was still going to cut myself, because I hated myself. This grieved them a lot. They said they thought about pulling me out of the program, but they decided to keep me in. I am so glad they let me graduate from the program, because I grew so much. I was at RCR for 14 months. The last level impacted me the most. It was so hard going back to RCR after my home visit. I was constantly bawling my eyes out. I missed the comfort of my bed, my pets, and my freedom. But I learned so much in that last level...I learned that it's never good to get to the point where you are completely comfortable and complacent in life. As humans, we should always be growing and overcoming challenges. I truly believe RCR saved my life. I am not saying the program was perfect. No program is perfect. I do have some "woundings" from some of the staff. But they were doing their best. I did have nightmares about returning to RCR. But it doesn't help to remain bitter about those things. We have to take the challenges we face and make something good out of them. The majority of my experiences at RCR were amazing. RCR is just a little taste of the real world. It felt like a slap in the face sometimes, but I needed it. I learned about integrity, accountability, and leadership. It also prepared me for work. We were on a schedule. We had to deal with being in close proximity all the time with the many very different personalities of the staff and students (prepared me for working with future colleagues). Today, I am 21 years old. I am not as far in life as I would like to be in, but I am healthy. I can't drive yet, because life hasn't given me much opportunity. But I am living with friends. I get sad sometimes, but I don't cut myself. I no longer skip meals. I have A's in my online college. I am about to get my certificate in Early Childhood Education through Vanguard University of Southern California. I got my first job a few months ago. I am a substitute teacher at a Jewish preschool. My parents still support me financially. But I absolutely love my job! My next step is finding a job that I can go to EVERYDAY. Something else I did after RCR is I went on a missions trip to India and Nepal! read more