Following is a summary of Three Springs Residential Treatment Center in Alabama, written by a family that attended the Paint Rock Valley Girls program.
Three Springs Residential Treatment Center program for girls is called Paint Rock Valley Girls, it is an outdoor-based program about an hour east of Huntsville, Alabama. It’s in a valley, with a peaceful pastoral setting and three creeks running through the property. The boys program is about a quarter mile past the girls, the boys and the girls do not have any contact.
It’s not a “wilderness program” but combines a lot of outdoor, back to nature experience. Girls live in large log cabins up a challenging hill which they go up and down daily. The four cabins are spacious with a large stone fireplace and rustic wooden beds which accommodate 15 girls plus staff. There is no electricity or plumbing therefore they tend to be hot in summer and cold in winter. The girls dig and move the “necessary” outhouses as needed. Also in this area or “up the hill” is a large campfire site for nightly groups and a log structure which functions as the weekend kitchen with large wood stove for heat/cooking and indoor picnic tables. On weekends, the girls haul up pre-assembled ready to cook meals and drinks for cooking Sat/Sun. This includes gathering wood for the fire. Each group is a unit unto themselves and there is little contact with other groups/parents/girls.
The Lower campus includes modern classrooms with a new computer lab with internet access (ALWAYS supervised), nurses unit, counseling/staff offices, outdoor pool, showers/toilets, commercial laundry machines, kitchen and eating area, a storage cabin for personal stuff for day use, a huge stable and horse area and fields/ceremony circle, plus more. Just up the road is a small interfaith chapel. The boy’s program has the main library, the girls have a smaller one. There are also basketball courts.
What we liked about Three Springs Residential Treatment Center:
It is easy to access through Huntsville, Alabama. Several hotels give Three Springs families a discount. Good activities website and visitor center for “town visits”. Staff was very supportive and caring. They have a strong parent monthly support, including on site groups with your child and parent support groups including seminars in co-ordination every three months. There is a stages workbook for the child and parallel one for parents to do and turn in. Special ceremonies were held for progress to a new stage. School staff was excellent and very supportive–one module rotated to things like life skills, health and safety, woodworking, equine and outdoor ropes plus other challenges. Special groups were available for sexually abused, adoption/attachment, CD/addiction.
Parent support was strong. The Family Care Worker got permission from each new family in a group to email all the others the contact information which allowed the new family to be “mentored” with support and sharing by the others in the group. We all knew about the other girls in the group from the parent email exchange, either directly, or from the individual group site, each group had their own and you only connected with YOUR group (about 15 families). These connections have lasted a long time and we still stay connected via email with a few.
One of the positives was that the child actually did their own laundry weekly, assisted in the kitchen with the cooking staff to cook and serve their tables and do clean up. On weekends, they fired up the wood stove and did all the cooking, like hot cereal, soups, stews and other meals including the clean up. This was in addition to keeping their bed area organized and cabin cleaned. There were also other ground “chores” like planting flowers, helping in the stables, etc.
What we would have liked to have seen more of at Paint Rock Valley Girls:
The biggest drawback for us was the therapy component, no individual therapy. They had good peer-peer confrontation with feedback and group feedback daily. Family therapy was not with the child present, but every other week we received at 40 minute update with the family care counselor. The child would be present for family every 2-3 months. Phone calls were limited only 10 minutes weekly at staff convenience. All mail was screened–in and out.
Due to the back to basics concept, there were only rare off campus activities, except for the “special” trips like going to the Adirondacks for a week. CD players could be earned close to graduation, but otherwise, no music, no guitars, no TV, they did have some opportunity to watch appropriate VCR/DVD’s. Medical coverage was good with the nursing office, but child needed to be at a level to go off campus for any needs like orthodontist, dental, medical unless it was deemed “urgent.”
The residents in our group who graduated seemed to have a high “return” rate, either to Three Springs or other programs so feel more transition/aftercare is needed.
Overall opinion of the Residential Treatment Center:
A solid program, many residents came via Educational Consultants. Three Springs has several levels of care and programs for both boys and girls, including more restrictive and less restrictive than Paint Rock Valley Girls. They were also starting a new therapeutic boarding school for girls. Many programs have been operating with success for years and we found only mildly negative feedback online. Three Springs website is accurate and contains a lot of information about programs, news articles, etc.
We felt the program seemed better suited for compulsive disorder issues or out of control issues than mental health issues. Aftercare is provided for those who complete the program with opportunity to return for visits.
Posts
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I arrived at Three Springs 20 years ago when I was 14 years old. Man, that makes me feel really old. :/ I still have my medicine bag with all my stones and I still have my graduation shield. I remember that very first group and Miss Russell asking me why I was there and I said, “Because my parents caught me smoking cigarettes.” Ha! At that moment I really couldn’t think of any other reason why I was there and I was furious with my parents for dropping me off in the middle of nowhere, but I would not trade my time spent there for anything else in the world. It taught me to be realistic about my strengths and my weaknesses. It taught me to take responsibility for my actions. It taught me to address my problems directly, be they problems I have with myself or with other people. Yes. The work is strenuous, or rather it was when I was there. We slept on campsite every night except for really cold nights. If it snowed or turned very cold we slept on the main campus where there was heat. Yes, the toilet was an outhouse. And when the hole was full, we had to dig another one and move it. The trail to my group’s campsite was the shortest but it was also mostly straight up the mountain. We had to carry water up every night and kerosene for the heater every night during the winter.
If you are actually a parent reading this and you are wondering whether or not to send your child here, well you have to decide what you want for your child. You can continue to allow them to act the way they act if the thought of a little hard work might make them cry and you just can’t handle THAT or, you can decide that a little hard work and discipline might (just might) be good for them. I was a spoiled, rotten brat before I went to Three Springs. I expected to get everything my way. It sounds like some of these graduates still expect that a little bit. Disappointing, really. But, I digress. My parents tried everything from counseling to military school and nothing worked. Three Springs changed my life and as hard as it was (and make no mistake, it was very hard) it was the BEST thing that ever happened to me.
A.K.W. Is what they called me, I finished the program 8 years ago and oh my god has it made a big difference in my life. I still to this day tell people about the program and also tell parents that have kids that need help. I will never forget Three Springs. The staff there are very caring, dedicated and just all around good people. I would go on aftercare trips for about 4 months. At first I thought that the “south” would never change me, but after being there for 14 1/2 and knowing that I was not going home till i finished was what helped me accept the program. I could go on and on about Three Springs but I dont have enough time. To any parent out there, If you have a son or daughter that needs help, This is truely the place you would want your child at. I will say one thing that my parents told me, Its not only your child going through the program but the parents as well. So If you decide to sent your child here you need to know that its a changing process for you as well. You only talk to your child once a week and by letters as much as you would like. Good luck to anyone that is thinking about starting the program it will make a difference in your lives.
-Amy W. Minnesota
wow kate, you wouldn’t believe it, I was admitted in ’99 and left in 2001
LMAO I remember the blinders and all that, putting the gravel on the hill, d-hall, school, etc. the totem thing
anyway I remember when going to the horse barn or whatever, we were supposed to use blinders or something, but it’s so crazy we would always stare over at the girls campus whenever
the showers sucked but everyone one of us would make jokes saying if we ended up over at the girls shower one day every one of us would get laid because of depravity from both sides
wasnt there some special ‘privelege’ for magazines or whatever?
anyway that is so weird if you left in 2002 and i left in 2001, im guessing you were admitted in 2001, you were probably one of those people I fantasized about and crap. No offense. I mean I was always flattered by the idea of ending up on the girls campus. Unfortunately never happened. But hey, wtf so many people complained that at choices or whatever the chicks sucked but that at the main girls campus the chicks were awesome.
anyway, back to the main topic
michelle, the funniest crap ever, is the fact that i didnt know the place has been around for 36 years, I thought it had only been around for 26
anyway you must have been one of the first people there, for three years though?
one thing all jokes aside i hated about the place 10 years ago, because I have no idea what it is like now, is that people didnt level up based on their behavior, they leveled up based on ‘improvements’
i really thought it was a money grabbing scheme
i can tell you, I’m sure I have way more behavior problems now than then, I had practically no behavior problems then, and I was there for probably like almost 2 years, and other people passed me
of course it wasn’t supposed to be a contest, but being that no one wanted to be there it kind of turned into one, between us I guess
of course that was , geez, 10 years ago or whatever
i dont know what its like now, crazy place, always busy, way in the middle of nowhere
oh well whatever Im gone now, at least it wasn’t jail I guess getting beat by blacks or whatever
also back then i knew mr cooch, mr stephens, mr foster
i just called recently and I have no idea if mr cooch is still there, mr foster is gone, and mr stephens…. definately left a long time ago
being that groups could never communicate, i actually think there were some counselors i didnt know at all…. although to be honest we could talk to them at the time, and yeah it was sgm back then not sgl, before sgm was dgl dont know if that is still around, but yeah they could go from group to group, dont remember if it was random or if it was just when allowed because they had to sleep on campus. or wait actually i think they were allowed to sleep with another group if allowed
This is coming from a previous “tenant” of the Three Springs Wilderness program.I was 14 yrs old when I got to Three Springs and stayed till Iw as 17 and am now 36.I can honestly say it opened my eyes to alot of things.If not for Three Springs and the counselors and all the caring people there I wouldn’t be who I am today.I thank Three Springs from the bottom of my heart for what they showed and taught me.It’s by far the best program out there for kids with troubles….
I am a past graduate of Three Springs Paint Rock Valley. I was sent there in 2006 and graduated in 2008 and still attend aftercare. In my opinion, Three Springs PRV has gone downhill. It is no longer a stable place; the training for the counselors is lacking, the girls have not enough structure, and due to lack of training the girls are no longer held accountable, and seem to be just a bunch of brats (I love the girls, but it’s the truth). If you want your child to be taught that child abuse is ok, then send them here. Restraints are ridiculously violent, and we were forced to do labor that I’m sure is against the child labor act. Also, due to lack of funding, they have put both the girls and the guys sides together, expecting that they won’t notice each other, and if they do notice (which always happens) they must suffer illogical consequences. Also, the consequences there have no logical explanation, they are very intense and irrelevant to the bad decisions made by the child, which from my point of view is another source of child abuse. It was in the beginning, a helpful program, but I think that now, due to lack of training of staff and funding, it is one of the worst places to send your kid.
I am graduate of Three Springs from two years ago. Currently they have decided to treat us like SGL’s. Which they changed the stage system recently so that is the new SGM. It’s very confusing but the point is they no longer let graduates walk around freely, wear normal clothes, or even let the female graduates wear makeup. They are supposed to put up blinders and act as residents while on campus. This type of treatment is degrading and uncalled for when we as graduates spent 16 plus hours each day while at Three Springs to work to graduate and get respect. If this is what I am reduced to I wonder why they allow us to graduate at all.
yeah, i went there i don’t know 8 or 9 years ago and i didn’t think too great of it. I really learned that it’s as if the place kept certain people there longer if they thought their parents could be convinced so. Anyway i was in a group called matowa and that disbanded quite a while back. it was like said above we went to a gazebo and built fires and had a privvy or something or another to use the bathroom and also ate in d-hall and rotated which group cooked each week. It was ok there was a cool conselor named mr stephans who no longer works there. Last time i was there was about 8 or 9 years ago and the last guy i remember talking to was mr cooch pronounced mr couch. I don’t know if the chick saying they broke her ribs and restrained her was telling the truth a lot of people there would lie about crap like that I don’t remember the restraints being really violent. Anyway whatever beautiful place but hard to move up in rank. I left a rgm never made it to sgm or graduate after about 18 months. Don’t know if they still have the same system
Or dont! I was there many years ago I do not know if it is the same as when I was there as I was one of the firsts one there! There was 1 campsite with cabins and a outdoor potty and a open area where they did a bon fire every night and did group therpy the other campsites had tents and again the area for the bon fire . I helped while there build a gazebo where the fire would be at later but the “hill ” you have to climb we had to carry pea gravel up[ and down it on our backs! in a FULL 5 gallon bucket try that see how much it weighs we did it every day a couple times a day that would keep the ground from being soft and would give us something to walk on they took us on a outing one time to the nashville zoo because I was from Tennessee they had me ” watched” by 2 staff and 2 teens and at lunch at mcd’s I got up I guess fast but I was only putting my trash up they jumped me ( restrained ) and held me down and said it was me running away they broke my arm and 4 ribs they popped my knee out with there weight and I later had to have 2 pins put in it to hold it in place all this and I did not even resist them I did scream as that hurt so bad shorty after this happened my worker fro the state removed me from 3 springs and I was the last one from my county to ever be placed there! I spent 4 days in the hospital in Nashville then they took me to 3 springs I later had to spend 4 more days after surgery and several trips to the doctor…..I later got a settelment from 3 springs as they admitted they were wrong and that there methods do dealing with me were far from professional……. I hope that this makes you just think this through before you send your child here!
10 years ago, when I was 16, I was admitted into the program. I graduated high school while there, and graduated the stages program after about 17 months. I continued on with aftercare, and graduated that program in 2002.
I can’t say enough good things about the program. Seriously. I absolutely would not be able to do the things i do now without it.
As far as the one on one treatment, yea, its good to have. You need to talk about whats going on in your life and what you’re feeling, but in reality, (as most of us know) sometimes we also need to be able to function while we are going through these things. For me personally, I needed to learn to “suck it up”. that’s where the group came in. I had a group of girls I could express feelings to, and rely on to help me get through the day to day stuff. Just my thoughts.
If you are thinking of sending a child to three springs, do it. And stick with it! It only works if you are in it all the way!
They actually do offer one on one therapy now. At least once a week each residents meets with their clinician. The residents also are able to see both a psychologist and a psychiatrist.
I would like to learn why they do not have one on one therapy