Jasper Mountain

Don’t send your kids here or work at Jasper. Condensed Account of Workplace Misconduct Employment at the facility revealed a deeply dysfunctional system defined by coercion, favoritism, and ethical disregard. Leadership enforced conformity to a rigid internal doctrine known as the “Jasper Way,” valuing political alignment over professional merit or therapeutic integrity. Despite entering the role with extensive experience and academic credentials, I was misled regarding compensation—initially promised $29 per hour but later reduced to $24.10, with no resolution after repeated inquiries. This incident reflected a broader culture of administrative deception and indifference. A powerful internal clique manipulated operations through intimidation, gossip, and unethical disclosure of private information. Reports of harassment and severe psychological harm were deliberately ignored. Hiring practices consistently favored ideological compatibility and superficial “diversity” over competence, placing unqualified individuals in sensitive therapeutic roles. The environment normalized discriminatory rhetoric against certain identity groups, pressuring minors to conform to specific sociopolitical views. Supervisory staff lacked education in behavioral health, often escalating situations through unnecessary physical restraints. Employees who demonstrated compassion or verbal de-escalation were ostracized. Frequent off-duty gatherings at Applebees on Tuesday nights further compromised confidentiality as staff openly discussed clients, violating professional and legal standards and violations with HIPAA. The overarching atmosphere was one of moral decay, where authority was exercised for control rather than care.

My husband worked at this facility and witnessed extremely concerning and unethical practices—especially the unnecessary use of physical holds on children. Staff who raised questions or discomfort about these practices were quickly labeled as failing to uphold “Jasper standards.” Instead of encouraging accountability and safety, the culture punished anyone who tried to advocate for the wellbeing of the kids. The workplace became increasingly hostile after my husband began reporting troubling staff interactions with children. He observed unnecessary force being used and even saw a young child being berated simply for being a cis-gender male. When he brought these concerns to leadership, instead of taking them seriously, he faced retaliation and was targeted by coworkers. Some individuals even fabricated accusations—claiming he made inappropriate comments during shifts he never worked. Leadership allowed this behavior to continue, creating a toxic environment where truth and child safety took a backseat to protecting the institution. If this were just mistreatment of a single employee, that would be bad enough. But what is most alarming is the systemic nature of the problems: • unnecessary and harmful physical interventions with children, • staff pushing personal agendas onto vulnerable kids, • leadership fostering or ignoring retaliation, and • an apparent relationship with CPS that seems to shield the facility from accountability. The extremely high turnover rate, along with staff routinely working 18-hour shifts because no one else will stay, speaks volumes. Burned-out employees cannot provide consistent, safe, or compassionate care. Leadership repeatedly fails to address serious concerns in an ethical or appropriate manner. The result is a workplace so dysfunctional and hostile that it raises serious questions about how well children are being protected and supported. Families deserve to know the truth about the environment their children are placed in. If I could give negative stars, I absolutely would. I can only hope that parents see all the negative feedback and protect their children from being indoctrinated and further damaged by this place.

From all the reviews I'm reading, and from what I've heard from a family member who's gone here. This place should be in investigated by the feds. The federal government should get involved in an investigate every single person that works there. Sounds like an extremely abusive place and the people in charge should be held criminally responsible. Maybe I'll make a few phone calls myself and get the ball rolling

I had previously gone here in the second to third grade and it was absolutely terrible. I had been sent outside when it was hailing and spoken to in offensive and rude ways by teachers for even the very slightest of misbehavior or misunderstanding of the education as a child as well as forcing me to put my head down and not look up causing severe neck pain because of severe misbehavior. This place also did very little about bullying and assault because every time I'd report it, the kid would twist the story upon being confronted, the school would believe it, and I would get punished. DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILDREN HERE!

I moved from the Midwest specifically to work at Jasper Mountain 8 years ago. It was exactly the place I wanted to work for my last few years before retiring. Dr. Dave Ziegler had founded it 49 years or so ago. It was considered a cutting edge facility JMC that truly made a positive impact on families. When I started there it was exactly that and I was proud and challenged to work there. It was the most difficult job ever and definitely the most rewarding. JMC had a great mission to serve children, families and employees and it fulfilled that mission until it didn't. It took very little time after Dave Ziegler retired for the place to deteriorate into chaos. I was mortified to be a therapist there. Four of my clients were discharged before their treatment was complete, with no clear plan. They ended up in the homes they were taken from, one went to a residential facility and the other to a string of hotel stays with DHS workers. None of theses placements were successful. These children were discharged for " being too aggressive." They were the kind of kids the program was designed for. The place was being managed by HR people who had NO clinical experience. They fired some damn good staff and clinicians. Management started throwing money at employees to keep them there so they could keep the doors open. Other people left because of the changes that felt wrong and unethical. It became a job that people would despair as they headed into work. Fortunately, many of us (dozens!) ended up in a place where children, families and staff are valued and cared for. Most of us took major cuts in pay. But we are appreciated and still able to help high acuity children. My true hope is that something, someone will intervene and bring Jasper Mountain back to sanity and stability.

My determination of the "Star Rating" for Jasper Mountain is kind of torn. I have good experiences with Jasper Mountain, as well as I have negative experiences...which ultimately was a major contributing factor in the removal of my child from this program by myself, before his treatment was completed. My son was in the program for 7 months, and being there was hard on everyone involved, but most importantly it was very rough on him. It would be rough on any child with RAD, with their parents living in another state/time zone. While my son was in that program, there were times that I would express my concerns about medication decreases and him being punished as a result. The response that I would receive would embarrass any parent reading it. The doctor they use (Dr. S) suggested that I take parenting classes, and immediately dismissed my concern and made me feel like a horrible parent. First of all, I only have a child for the fact that I adopted him from foster care. As a foster parent you are required to go through multiple classes, and trainings, and certifications. As a matter of fact, Dr. S...I would say that foster parents are far more educated than natural parents....strange fact for you. At one of my visits, my son told me that there was inappropriate touching going on (other patient/residents touching my son). I reported that to my child's 1:1 support and I was instantly told that what my son told me was false. I told him that I just wanted to make someone aware what was being said. He shortly dismissed the entire conversation. Nothing was ever said of it again. Shouldn't that staff member have investigated the allegation just made before being so dismissive? Multiple times, I would call my son and he would be eating or in the shower, or in the restroom. I would be told that they would tell him that I called and that they would have him call me back. I never received any call and when I would ask my son, he would tell me that nobody told him that I called, and when he would ask to call me, they would tell him NO it's time for you to go to bed. Way to go Jasper Staff....let's reinforce that RAD and then complain about behaviors from children. During our conference call about my son, it was stated that Dru does nothing, and continues to do nothing with no improvement, and that he is breaking down staff members. Well, no kidding Jasper Staff. He is there for a reason! Don't complain to parents about their children's behaviors. That's the reason that they are there! I for one could honestly say that Jasper was the last resort, and that every other avenue has been exhausted. Jasper failed my faith in every way imaginable. About a week ago, I was made aware that his therapist no longer represented Jasper Mountain. I was shocked. I called and tried to find anything out. I even asked if my son was safe there? If anything had happened. Their response was that they could not speak of it. I begged them to tell me if my son was ok, and they told me "I'm sorry." That is when the decision was made that my child would no longer be in the care of Jasper Mountain. A facility that we as parents should trust our children with. I would never trust my child at this facility again. I would say, that my child has made great strides while he was at the facility. The medications that years of foster care placements put him on were no longer hindering him from feeling emotion. Through hard work from the staff and my child, our current team of out patient providers in the community feel that my child now has a chance that he never had before. So Jasper Mountain, I would like to say thank you for medically detoxing my child from all that garbage.

We are grateful for Jasper Mountain, specifically for their excellent and experienced therapists Larkin and Kiva! Larkin and Kiva were wonderful to our child and treated him, and our family, with understanding and respect. They held our son accountable for his actions but were very caring and experienced with our child's emotional issues. They kept us accurately up to date with our son's progress and were genuine and honest with us regarding rough patches they faced with our son. Most importantly, Larkin and Kiva never hesitated to get as much background information as possible about our son and our family to help better understand our son's needs. We greatly appreciate all of Larkin's and Kiva's time spent with our son at Jasper mountain and wish more therapists were like Larkin and Kiva.

Terrible counseling service