Provo Canyon School - Springville Campus

This place needs to be shut down! Please do not send your children there

This place should be closed down immediately

I came here and stayed about half a year. What pcs is most notorious for no longer does happen. It honestly just sucks to be there so nobody likes it and only says the bad. The staff there were amazing and kind and some of the rules make sense though if you blast the ac in the summer to the point i shiver without a coat please allow us the option to wear a coat. Those who will self harm will just cut their thighs if this is the concern.? I really enjoyed how the staff were very caring for all though they did play favorites and at times some restraints that I saw could be a bit rough or even unnecessary which I honestly get because of human nature. There was plenty of time to have therapy though when i tried to kill myself during my time here I did not feel as though my needs at the time were met. If you get in trouble punishment does make sense though i think it is a bit excessive and goes against human nature to just have us sit their silently not able to do much. On the topic of this there was many differences between the girls side and boys side due to how ferocious the girls were though it is a huge imbalance of rights that I found to be unfair. Just look at the two stabilizing dorms on this campus i believe it was. Among many others such as girls getting paid to clean and boys not. I did not like how I had to have the door open when I showered. I spent half a year in this facility and coming out of it I still didn’t know all of my diagnosis. Physical health help was very negligent whenever I would tell staff I was tasting blood. Please work on communication. Pills may help yes though I was put on a pill and when I left a month after i was allowed to go outside to go on a hike and was falling asleep on the hike due to the pills prescribed while I was here. All in all I think this place is okay it just sucks to be there. Staff are great so please allow them to give more input because they spend all day with those attending. Please have common sense with rules such as blasting air conditioning in the summer and not allowing us to wear a coat when a majority of staff there wore long sleeve/sweater/etc. Not everyone needs or wants medication and the medication prescribed by the doctor who we very rarely see might not even know how we act thus what we need. Communication, please communicate effectively with the students on diagnosis and give more information on why you are giving them specific treatment or pills. Handing them written notes would be very efficient and straight forward I believe. I was here for running away and suicidal ideation and for psychosis (unbeknownst to me) which wasn’t even psychosis and just my parents lies so please listen to those attending? Upon turning 18 i have ptsd and avoid therapy and “mental health help” due to places such as here. Any time i think needle i feel pain. Any time i see a pill i freak out and when offered sometimes i blow up thinking they want me to be a drug addict again or that they want to trap me inside of places like pcs again. Psychiatrist called me “incoherent” and i just recently learned as to why. The reason why was because before being locked in pcs and given other drugs to become addicted to was because i was rarely allowed outside at my house and my communication skills didn’t develop. I wasn’t crazy I just had issues that weren’t listened to. I have laughed and cut myself and i didn’t tell my therapist because i didn’t feel a close enough attachment to them and then they yelled at me when they told me something personal about their life which was sad when i smiled and felt sad. Also i’m a bit to lazy to write a very good review as to what had happened on a phone where it’s difficult to edit and whatnot when this will probably not even go into consideration of those who are in charge of pcs whoever they are.

After hearing Paris Hiltons account of the sexual trauma she endured here I am not surprised at these reviews. Someone who actually cares needs to shut this place down and hold these perpetrators accountable.

Wiki says: "Provo Canyon School (PCS) is an abusive[7] psychiatric youth involuntary residential treatment center in Provo, Utah..."

While I was here there were here usually there was at least one maintenance problem at all times. Diet was so poor that most kids were on constipation meds. There were also multiple times kids were given the wrong meds. The next only applied to the springville campus (the one everyone starts at). It was a common occurrence for kids to restrain kids due to lack of staff and during codes there were multiple times when kids were left without staff entirely. Conditions were unsanitary and such as period blood that would remain on the stall wall for multiple days and rats on cottages. There were multiple occurences of broken glass, one girl was involved in breaking over 30 wwindows.At one point the windows of my cottage were boarded temporarily and during that time the boards were removed for inspection then put back up. There were many more problems. The only good thing about PCS are the cottage staff on both campuses. The program its self didnt help me its staff did. I was at the springville campus for about 6 months and the provo campus for about 9. I do not suggest this program for anyone.

Abused

I attended PCS from 2004-2005. As a person who has now worked in the behavioral health field for over 10 years and has seen hundreds of adolescent program I can honestly say that I have never seen a program with such violence, brutality, lack of clinical design and training. I witnessed horrifying events at PCS such as 300 pound staff members grinding children's faces into the pavement for not walking the way they desired. I watched staff keep another student in a 6x6 concrete room without any clothes for over a week. We saw a therapist for one hour each week, no group therapy, lots of sedatives and discipline. PLEASE PLEASE - do your research before sending children here. There are great programs in this country for specific mental health and substance abuse disorders, THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM!