Lon Woodbury at Struggling Teens recently visited  Island View Residential Treatment Center and did a site visit report. This was his first visit to the facility in 15 years and it sounds like things have really changed according to his report.
While my son was in Wilderness I did an RTC tour and Island View RTC was one of the first treatment centers I visited. Island View was also our  treatment center of choice and we really wanted him to go there. From experience I have learned that what we want is not always going to work and this placement  did not work for us. Do to some of my sons behaviors when he arrived, they did not feel they could keep him safe so we had to find another placement after about 4 weeks. At the time my feeling was ” If IV could not keep our teen safe (it is a full lock down) then who can?” Luckily they gave us time to find a new placement and we moved our son to Heritage in Provo, Utah. At the time it was very traumatic, but looking back it was the best thing that could have happened. Heritage obviously was a better fit and we really did not want our teen at a facility that does not want them.
Many parents speak very highly of the facility. The treatment program usually lasts for about one year, some a little longer. There are many situations where a teen may need a placement for longer than a year. Most teens from Island View transfer to another facility. I think they may have a great program for adopted teens.
Below are images from my visit in June 2007 to  Island View RTC.
Read Lon’s site review, it reminds me of my site visit how impressed I was with the facility and the residents that I was able to talk with.
Experience with IV? Leave a comment, let us know how the program worked for your family.
Note 3/22/10:  Blake Taylor a  therapist that worked at Island View since 1999 just left. I think he was very popular with the parents and teens. From what I understand he has moved to another facility near by but I don’t know which.
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My name is Dustin and i am a former I.V resident. I left in 2000, i did not graduate the program, i had a goodbye group. I was there for 1 year. To not graduate was a hard thing for me for a long time but as years went on i realized my time there was wasted and long over due for me to leave. I was sent to I.V for family conflict, drug abuse and depression. I didnt know what was wrong with me at the time and after i left i still didnt know for years. Alot of an adolescent life is the process of growing up and maturing. The program made several mistakes while i was there, but the number one was sending me home. I wasnt ready, and while i made mistakes while i was there, it wasnt time for me yet. The problem was i turned 18. I wish i had done more with my time at I.V but i must stress this program isnt for every one. You must really know what your child is going through before making this choice. I.V has alot of good therapy to offer every age and most problems, however they will over prescribe and always find reason to keep and treat young adults. I witnessed and experienced such things. It is a fine line that must be walked and watched there. My therapist was amazing (Colleen!), however i had problems with other therapists, that I am sure are long gone, (Todd, Mark). They have the students in a lock down enviornment, they bully, claiming its for therapy, but its not ok. Its an unacceptable practice, and in my case it was the reason i didnt accplish much there. I still took plenty away with me (thinking erros and such), but this place really is on the fence with what i beleive to be great and horrible all at the same time. Listen to your child, talk to them and warn them of what might be in the future for them if they dont work in therapy or straighten up, but dont just listen to reviews, they are each personal to the story of them or their child. Each case is different. Purple Team! I love you guys! I hope all of my team is safe and doing well in their lives!!
Im 22 now, i left island view when i was 16(christmas break before my second semester of junior year in highschool). I now attend Auburn University in the school of business. i came up on this site the other day and it got me thinking about my visit to island view and what it taught me. I got some tools out of it but there were some things that i can reflect on now and think they were actually harmful- at the time nearing the end of my stay i thought they were perfectly ok. what i got from it was actually learning what i was going through (social anxiety, low self esteem ect), and the tools to prevent/ or catch these bad bahaviors in the future and stop them. I still can do that today(to an extent but not nearly as effectively as when i first came out of island view). what they did there was basically “Brain washing”. Some of the consequences for bad(but still normal for everyone else outside of treatment centers) behavior was Yellow Zone which is sitting in a chair from 630am until 930pm outside of your room in a hallway until you sat there for your assigned number of hours. people brought you food, you didnt go to class, and you couldnt talk to anyone, cant read, cant look at magazines… you get the picture.. and you sat there for anywhere, if i remember correctly, 12 to 72 hours depending on the severity of your action. you always were given 72 hours though. i accumulated over 1000 hours on it.. thats your money at waste!! another consequence is called Individual focus or Team Focus, depending if its your whole team who is doing bad or just you. this is a week – 2 weeks in a cubicle!!! none of your own clothes just grey sweats(so as to not spike emotion), they take all of your belongings-no paper or pencil, no pictures of home. again someone brings you food and of course no school. cant talk to anyone and youre there 630-930 and you sleep on a mattress out in the hall(as you do on yellow zone) and maybe an hour of therapy once per week. i had 4 days once and it was stopped early.–you turn insane.. you become used to just sitting there and staring at the grey walls of the cubicle for 15hrs per day. when i left island view i told a therapist and he was shocked. he said those punishments resemble tactics used for torture, not sure how true that is but it definitely made you think differently.
When i was released i was the happiest ive even been. i was confident, calm, relaxed, and just content and happy. but the problem is that they condition you to think and feel a certain way- which in my opinion is ideal for happiness, but they condition you in this incredibly unrealistic environment. So when you leave youre in your “honey moon phase” and for couple months you dont talk back to your parents, or be dishonest ect. but a huge flaw in their system was preparing you for the REAL WORLD. at island view its against the rules(punishable by yellow zone) to say someone elses name who wasnt present, so people didnt think anyone was talking bad about them. this raised emotional security. but when you go home and get back into school boom nobody acts like that and your whole world is flipped upside down. A MAJOR flaw is going back to the home environment. for some of us our parents play a huge role in making us anxious, depressed, ect. youre conditioned from this home environment just as you are in island view or anywhere else. and if that home environment didnt change just as much as you did then there will be some problems. Im still not sure it was worth it or not. i fell into some pretty bad behavior a few months after i got out and i kinda had to do some growing up and rebuilding again on my own.
I graduated from Island View in 2009 when I was 17. I was there for a relatively short amount of time, but it was time well spent. It was certainly helpful in terms of getting my life together, but it was also a very enjoyable experience. I didn’t realize this during my stay, of course, but I feel nostalgic when I look back at my time there. Being sent away was kind of a shock at first, but I soon felt comfortable because Island View had a very nice and welcoming environment. I met a lot of great people, some of whom I still keep in touch with after three years. The milieu therapy was very helpful for me because many of my problems had to do with trouble relating to others. The open environment helped me learn how to better understand other people and behave more appropriately and maturely. The staff there was great and was easily just as helpful for me as the therapists. They are with you 24/7 and are very patient and understanding. Our team had all types of people, each with their own unique issues that they brought to the table. Yet, the staff was able to cater to everyone. Although I did have some closer friends, I felt like I knew everyone really well and I could easily have had a great time with any individual on our team.
I was sent to Island View when I was a sophomore in high school, and I left as a junior. My life was obviously very difficult for me during that period of time, but I knew it was important for me to keep up with school and that doing so would pay off eventually. One of my main concerns about being sent there was that it might affect applying to college. But the school was very accommodating for anyone that had extra considerations like I did. I was taking an AP class that year and I was able to still get credit for it at Island View. I was also taking a foreign language that they didn’t offer, but I was able to earn credit for that as well. Island View effectively helped me keep up with all my work and continue my track towards college. After returning home, I finished 6 more AP courses and got accepted to 6 of the 8 colleges I applied to. If being sent away impeded on my progress in any way, it was definitely worth it because there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have even finished high school with the path I was on.
We made the decision to place our son in the hands of Island View with a heavy heart. It is not an easy decision. Within a few weeks we knew he was in the right place. Island View provided a safe platform for our child to find out more about himself and the reasons for his non-consequential behavior while also attending school and gaining back insight and self-esteem. They have some of the best, most dedicated staff working with the kids. Island View also works to help repair the family and are excellent at teaching parents about how to cope and change while their child is away and upon their return. We will always be glad we chose Island View for our son.
I agree. Sadly our journey did not end with RTC as a parent hopes. Our son continues to be troubled into his 20′s.
As parents of a current I.V. student who has been there nearly four months, we are very pleased with the program. And we — and the educational consultant that we hired to find a program — thoroughly did our homework. The entire program (and especially our daughter’s therapist) is doing a great job of helping her rebuild her self-esteem and self-confidence, after years of struggle and failure in many areas of her life. We’re feeling hopeful, rather than dread, for the first time in a long time.
Judge all you want. But most people have no clue that parents have tried every other form of help for their kid and family for YEARS (over a decade for some us). RTC was the final step, after giving our daughter every other opportunity possible to make better choices. She just couldn’t do it, without a total immersion environment. And she now agrees — without any “brainwashing.”
I was the very first resident at Island View when they opened on September 12, 1994. I was 17 years old, had multiple behavioral issues, including drug addiction, co-dependency, lack of self discipline, truancy, etc. I was there for 3 months. After I was released, I continued to attend school there on a daily basis until I had enough credits to graduate. After skipping out on 2 years of high school, graduating was an amazing feat. I could not have done it without their help. I was married and had a child at age 18. When I was 20 years old we learned that my husband had terminal brain cancer and he passed away a year later. Unfortunately I resorted to past behaviors as a way to numb myself from the pain of losing my husband and became a full fledged adfict once again. It was only by using the things Island View had taught me that i was able to regain my sobriety and begin to live a healthy and full life. Even though I relapsed, their influence saved my life for a second time. I know a lot has changed since they first opened their doors but I will be forever grateful to the staff and doctors of Island View.
Jeff,
Where did your twin brother go???
Nice comment and well said. Good luck to you. I can tell you have come a long way.
I am an Island View graduate. I was there for 9 months. I also went to a step-down where I graduated high school (Family Life Center). I consider myself today to be incredibly successful (I am sober, in healthy relationships, get straight A’s and have applied to transfer to schools like Berkeley, Stanford, etc. I plan to be a political candidate or social worker). Yeah, i guess you could say that I meet the criteria for exactly what an Island View staff or therapist would love to see happen. As grateful and humble as I am to be in this position of experience, I caution you before sending your child to Island View.
From my experience, I have learned a lot about right and wrong. There are many good things (explained in who I am now). But – there are also some things about the system at IV that I STRONGLY disagree with.
1. System of bracelets. It is great for students to have initiative to graduate to another level and to gain priveledges as a result. But in my opinion, it’s unacceptable to put labels on the wrists of teens who have probably lived much of their life with a stigma of some sort. Its categorizing, and it’s not okay. Students can learn on their own how to have confidence from their own achievements.
2. Who advizes the staff at Island View? I am still traumatized from a staff member who called me “stuck-up” and “two-faced”. While this was partially true, the innapropriate manner of her confrontation and doing so in front of several other people was humiliating and added to the trauma I was trying to recover from. I suggest that IV hires more professionals, maybe from the outside to observe what happens behind closed doors, especially in group therapy – an EXtremely vulnerable time for each teen.
3. The over-dramatization of the rules has caused me to this day (I graduated from IV 3 years ago) to think I’m slutty if I’m wearing a tank top that is not thicker than three of my fingers at the shoulder, afraid that somebody will humiliate me (drop a slip?) if I use a swear word to truley express myself, etc. In fact, during my first year of coming home, I couldn’t look at the silverware in my kitchen without thinking of the reasons why they weren’t allowed at IV. That leads to my next point.
4. My over exposure to the psychologically troubled minds of other students at IV has contributed to the accumulative post traumatic stress disorder that I developed after graduation and moving on with my life. I have heard TOO MANY STORIES and DETAILS of the diverse trauma others have experienced. If I am going through my own healing process, it does not help to carry the burden of somebody elses (after all, you it’s hard not to care about your own team).
5. If you are not willing to work on your own issues, don’t expect your child to even budge.
As a last note, THANK YOU ISLAND VIEW FOR SAVING MY LIFE. I in no way regret what I have gained from IV.
I am a superstar now. What circumstances did I NEED just to be NORMAL?
I graduated Island View Residential Treatment Center in June of 2009. I do not even know where to begin with all the reasons why a parent should NOT send their child there.
The tour guides may seem great, and when a resident speaks to you, they may seem to love it! But really, we were given the impression that if we said anything negative about IV, that we would be in trouble. And the kids you will be speaking with don’t want to be in trouble, especially because they are more than likely about to graduate and are an upper level, so are enjoying privledges.
Residents of all levels live in a constant state of anxiety, that I can assure you. We are berated, humiliated, and isolated. The punishments vary, but all are harsh. That may sound like a good thing, except that they are of such a nature that teaches us only to act like robots so we can get out of there faster.
This place is a scam and a nightmare. You may think that this will be a place of therapeutic treatment, but think more in terms of jail. Your therapist does not keep secret what you talked about in a session, but will, without warning, share it with the whole group. You and your teammates are forced to turn against each other in a dog-eat-dog environment.
The staff is a load of unqualified college students, who clearly have issues of their own, and have their own agendas for what residents they want to succeed.
The food is a nightmare, and almost everyone there ended up on fiber supplements because of constipation, and most gained at least 10 pounds while being there.
While residents all had different issues, we were all put onto psychiatric medication soon after arrival. So if you don’t want your child dependent on these drugs, I don’t recommend IV.
Sadly to say, nearly all of the people I knew at IV graduated and plummeted into the worst behavior of their lives thus far. Some tried drugs for the first time, many got pregnant, and others began using self-harm when never having used it before IV.
At IV we were constantly taking in comments about how we were untrustworthy and unstable. Often we were compared as less than to teens in the ‘real world’. Leaving there, we began to believe our identity; ‘messed up’ kids. Most people I know still are traumatized from the events that occurred. I would think that you would want your children to feel confident and strong, ready to be successful with their lives. I can assure you that this is rarely the outcome.
Island View has a good reputation, and this is because when there, we are brainwashed. I know ‘brainwashed’ sounds like an extreme and juvenile term, but it is nothing short of the truth.
The school is a joke, and many of the teachers have issues of their own. When we miss school for a punishment, it is not excused and we are not allowed to make up work. If you are looking for quality education, this is not the place.
Please let me make this point– I do not think that residential treatment is a bad thing, some truly need it, I know I did. However, no matter what you hear, please, for the sake of your kids, do not choose this place.
Hi Jeff, I can tell you were posting from your heart. There is a big difference. Yes I do believe that RTC’s “can” be a good alternative for an out of control teen. Sometimes parents don’t have the tools to take care of their children properly to give them what they may need. Sending my child away was one of the hardest things I have ever done and I feel because of it he is alive today.
My goal is not pro RTC or con RTC it is to support parents during troubling times.
I appreciate that you took the time to share your experience in a very honest way. Wishing you much luck in the future and I am sorry you lost your Dad at such a young age.
Wow this is such a classic case of Island View withdrawl. Generally, it takes a little over a month before the Island View bubble pops and you start think clearly again. It took me actually almost 2 months after graduation.
You start to realize that the Test braclet you are probably still wearing and that “coin” you keep in your back pocket means nothing in the real world. You cared so much about getting out, and knew the only way to get out was to do the program. You spend year playing the game and when you devote that much to faking it, you end up convincing yourself that its what you want. So this Test braclet and coin is everything you worked so hard for in the last year, but sorry sweety. That is just a piece of orange chord, and a cheap coin with latin written on the back.
If you read this, you will probably hate me. I repersent reality and question your hard work. The sooner you accept that everything you did in island view was not helpuful but also harmful, the sooner you can move on and start doing real stuff with your life. My twin brother went to a similar program and accepted reality before me. Now he is having a good life at Harvard, and I’m at a lesser school still nerve racked about my expierences of IV.
I just realized that this is a pro-island view site, and they monitor your comments. Hopefully they will post this comment.
I found this site from googling IV. I was sent to IV when I was 17 years old and my experience there was far from positive. I never did drugs, never had a disciplinary record, nothing. I had post-traumatic stress due to the loss of my father who died less than 6 months before I was admitted. There was obviously nothing wrong with me, but this place is much like an old fashioned psych ward where once they have you, it’s impossible to get out. Today I am a college student, and have received formal apologies from my uncle and home psychiatrist that sent me. I did have problems though. I suffered from depression and anxiety that were due to my loss. Island View never once addressed any of these problems. Instead they spent 4 months of my stay trying to convince me that I did take drugs and was lying to them. “Are you sure you didn’t do drugs? It seems very unlikely that someone could go through those experiences and not resort to drugs or alcohol.” -That was Rich my therapist. My so called private sessions lasted 30 minutes once every other week. In the mean time the rest of my therapy was evaluated my on floor staff members. This staffs members are not trained, never received formal schooling accept for any instructions they received from IV prior to the job. They were all young people in their late 20′s-early 30′s trying to make a quick buck. I was faced with all sorts of punishments. Let’s see. Yellow zone: loss of all privileges, CMR (communication restriction, meaning you can’t communicate with anyone, including staff), and sat in a plastic chair in the hall way for 72 hours. Simply because I made SAO (sexually acting out). It was a family: guy joke. I still remember the joke. My friend said he was Irish so I said, “oh so you drink a lot and beat your wife.” Some kid heard me said that and “held me accountable, meaning he cried to staff which put me on YZ.” Now for the actually licensed therapist, they only have 1 psychiatrist which meets with you the first day and then never sees you again. He writes all the prescriptions based off of what these malpractice therapist say. At home I went to a very good high school and never had a grade less than an A. At island view, our teachers were not even licensed to teach. Only the science teacher actually had formal schooling. They graded me not only on my performance in class but on my “therapy” so I left Island view with B’s. My art teacher actually tried to fail me because I wasn’t doing well on the unit. Well because of their incompetence, when I applied to college, I got rejected from Harvard. You might think that is a long shot, but my twin brother had the exact same transcript as me and got in- minus Island View. Island View without legitimate cause locked me away from society for 8 months of my life. The place may not have physically abused me to an extreme degree, but for someone like me who was already in bad shape before going there; it caused a lot of distress. Even today I have nightmares about being there. The same nightmare always occurs that I am back at Island View. However, I always remember that I am over 18 and they can’t legally detain me. Then they open the door and I realize I am in the middle of nowhere Utah, with no money, no ID, no food, and no way of getting home. That when they say, your free get out of here. This dream is what “Walkers” go through. The people that don’t get out, and wait to be 18. I remember other residents saying how when they get out, they will go back to island view. Not to visit, but to shoot the place up. I use to cringe at the thought of such violence, but today with everything they did to me, nothing would make me happier then to see that place burn to the ground trapping its criminal employees inside forever.
For all parents still seeking help for their teens. A place like Island View is a scam and abusive. If your kid had problems, then act like a parent and PARENT. I had to suffer because my uncle who gained guardianship over me was “too busy” to help me. Oh and by the way all the pictures on their website were professionally done. Those are actors.
I would also like to say to the author of this page, and any other parents. How dare you! You walked through Island view while they gave you a personal tour and let me guess had 2 residents tell you a bunch of positives about island view. Yea I did that too. If we refused to, then we were punished. Island View manipulates the living shit out of parents, gives them lies that feed off of their emotions. I’m sure you have one of those education consultants giving you information that seems unbiased. Wake up dumbass, consultants like Andy Erkus receive a large commission for all the kids they send to these facilities. If you do some research outside of the Island View website, you will see the nightmarish tales of this facility. Here is some facts, when I was there, there was already 2 recorded suicides, and multiple law suits for child abuse.
Thanks for the helpful reviews. Adolescent residential treatment centers like these are sure to help troubled teens as well as those with mental disorders in teens. Keep it up!
I am 16 years old, iam a girl. Actually i came across this site from googling IV because i feel sick being away from there. I graduated the program on the third of this month, so last friday (less than a week ago) I cannot’t tell you what an amazing expieriance it was for me. I seriously turned around my thinking and made me WANT to change my life. I love Island View, i live at home now and attend public highschool. I have and many drug offers and very inviting people try to get me to relapse in old behavior (drugs, drinking, promiscuity, being fake) and now, i dont even hesitate to be like later, you dont deserve my time. i strongly suggest island view! JEFF is the best therapist ever! oh! and i made the best friends in the world there that are like sisters to me now and when i graduated the girls that left before me are an automatic suopport system, even though we all live throughout the country.
I am glad to know about Island View Residential Treatment Center. Now troubled teenagers suffering from various disorders can get specialized treatments here. Treatment centers offer psychotherapy programs, counseling programs and medication treatments to dealing with depression, stress and other behavioral issues in struggling children.