Consumer Warning Report: Utah’s Troubled Teen Industry
The Troubled Teen Industry: A National Outrage
Utah’s Troubled Teen Industry (TTI) has always been controversial and concerning news topic due to reports of abuse and neglect of vulnerable teens and financial exploitation of the teens themselves and victims’ families. Some say these residential treatment center facilities offer therapeutic interventions for young people dealing with mental health struggles, problem behaviors or trauma, but many have faced scrutiny for operating more as businesses with a profit motive than as providers of compassionate care.
This report will summarize the dangers posed by Utah’s TTI, present facts and statistics, and demonstrate the urgent need for reform. We will also discuss the closing of RTCs, ways to avoid bad residential treatment centers and introduce Wildflower Mountain Ranch as a model for what a good residential treatment center looks like with are ethical, trauma-informed care for troubled teens.
The Troubled Teen Industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry that encompasses residential treatment centers, therapeutic boarding schools, wilderness therapy programs, and behavior modification camps. One of these states is Utah, which has become a hotbed for these programs thanks to lax regulations and a favorable legal climate. But the industry has been dogged for decades by allegations of abuse — physical, emotional and sexual — and of financially exploiting families desperate to save their children.
Residential Treatment Centers Key Statistics and Facts
Utah’s Clout in The Industry: With over 100 residential treatment centers and therapeutic boarding schools, Utah is one of the nation’s primary providers of these types of residential treatment centers.
Lack of Regulation: In Utah, RTCs that identify as “boarding schools” or “wilderness programs” are not required to be licensed, leading to a regulatory loophole that allows many RTCs to operate without oversight.
Reports of abuse: The Salt Lake Tribune over a year ago reported that there were over 12,000 reported incidents of abuse, neglect or maltreatment in Utah’s RTCs from 2015-2020. These included seclusion, physical restraint and being deprived of basic needs.
Involuntary Servitude: Many families are drawn into dropping their teens into enrollments and flooded with high fees based on aggressive pyramid-type business models. Many programs cost more than $10,000 a month, without much clarity on the services they are delivering.
The Human Toll: Stories From Survivors
The accounts of survivors who have experienced abuse inside Utah’s TTI are equally heartbreaking and disturbing. These stories speak to calls for more accountability and reform in the industry.
Case Study: Survivor Story
One RTC survivor, who asked to be anonymous, talked about her time at an RTC in Utah. She was admitted to the facility at age 15 after battling depression and self-harm. Rather than being given the therapeutic care she needed, she faced severe discipline, including solitary confinement for days at a time and court-mandated manual labor as punishment. “They told my parents I was doing better, but all I was doing was learning how to hide my pain,” she said. “I was more broken when I left that place than before I came there.”
Another Survivor’s Account
Another survivor, then in her 20s, described being physically restrained by staff members at a wilderness therapy program. “If I didn’t do what they wanted me to do, they would hold me down for hours,” she recalled. “I still have disturbing flashbacks about it.”
These are not just isolated stories. They are the result of a systemic pattern of abuse and neglect that has gone unregulated. To read more survivor stories and review the disreputable company list database, we recommend you visit these independent TTI watchdog websites:
https://www.unsilenced.org/ Unsilenced is a nonprofit organization committed to ending institutional child abuse within the Troubled Teen Industry (TTI) through advocacy, education, and the pursuit of justice.
https://www.breakingcodesilence.org/ Breaking Code Silence is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that represents children, youth, and adults who are/were incarcerated in the U.S. troubled teen industry (TTI), a network of privately-owned, powerfully punitive, and often wilderness-based therapy programs, residential treatment centers, therapeutic boarding schools, group homes, boot camps, and faith-based academies.
TTI Legislative Efforts and Reform Initiatives
Momentum to address abuses of Utah’s TTI has been building in recent years. Advocacy groups, lawmakers and survivors have called for laws to increase oversight and better protect vulnerable teens.
Key Legislative Developments
HB 399 (2021): This bill, which was signed by the governor after passing through the Utah Legislature, requires RTCs to report incidents of abuse, neglect, or maltreatment to the state’s Department of Human Services. It also requires background checks for staff members and restricts the use of physical restraint and seclusion.
Federal Legislation: U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley introduced the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act in 2022, with the goal of creating federal oversight over residential treatment programs and stronger protections for teens in these programs. It was passed in December of 2024.
Despite these legislative pushes, advocates insist that more can be done to hold facilities accountable, and to guarantee that teens are receiving safe, efficient treatment and care.
The negative spotlight caused several RTCs — which have been plagued with litigation and public concerns — to lose their licenses in Utah. These closures underscore a need for more scrutiny of the industry — even as the programs offer a warning for families thinking about subjecting their teens to this kind of treatment. There is a long list of such companies in the databases of the two watchdog agencies I previously mentioned, along with the names and information of current residential treatment centers facing state regulatory issues and complaints and litigation from families.
We encourage any parent or agency to carefully consider visiting any facility and do their due diligence and research them at these watchdog agencies.
In a sea of troubled companies in Utah’s TTI, Wildflower Mountain Ranch (WMR) has a business model we recommend to other residential treatment centers to follow. They provide a beacon of hope in this troubled industry.
Based on a trauma informed, family-centered approach, this non-profit residential treatment facility for adolescent girls emphasizes individualized, emotionally safe treatment.
Wildflower Mountain Ranch Residential Treatment Center for Girls, Mental Health Treatment
Restraint-Free Environment — Unlike many RTCs, Wildflower Mountain Ranch Residential Treatment does not employ physical restraint or seclusion as part of its treatment approach. The program is based on trust and healthy relations.
They practice understanding emotions as a is key in their work and utilize animal-assisted therapy. For example, Wildflower Mountain Ranch Residential Treatment provides equine therapy and other animal-based therapies to enable teens to learn how to understand self-awareness, empathy, and emotional regulation.
Evidence-Based Practices — This program incorporates evidence-based therapies such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), and Neurofeedback to meet the individual needs of each resident.
Telehealth Family Therapy with WMR: WMR understands the importance of family in the healing process. Teletherapy family therapy sessions are offered to allow for shared healing in family systems.
Wildflower Mountain Ranch Residential Treatment is a Lighthouse Amid a Sea of Troubled TTI Companies
We find that Wildflower Mountain Ranch is a model for ethical, trauma-informed care for troubled teens. A good example of that ensuring the safety of residents and their families does not have to come at the expense of effective treatment; in fact, the two can exist side by side.
Recommendations for Families
For parents who are at the point of considering that their teen may require residential treatment, it is essential to do the research and ask the right questions before signing their child up for a program. Some key recommendations include:
Confirm Licensing and Accreditation: Make sure the facility is licensed by the state and accredited by a recognized organization (e.g. the Joint Commission).
Observe the Facility: If you are able, tour the facility in person to see the conditions and meet staff members.
Ask Detailed Questions About the Treatment Techniques: Find out about the program’s therapeutic orientation and its policies on restraint, seclusion and discipline.
Look for Complaints: Investigate the facility’s history, checking for complaints or allegations of abuse.
Explore Other Options: Outpatient therapy and community-based programs can often meet your needs with less restriction than residential treatment.
Summery
Utah’s Troubled Teen Industry has a long history of abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation with lasting consequences on the lives of countless teens and their families. The introduction of legislation and facility closures are positive first steps, but far more must be done to protect vulnerable adolescents and give them access to safe, effective care.
Wildflower Mountain Ranch is an outlier model portraying how trauma-informed, ethical treatment can be done. Wildflower Mountain Ranch Residential Treatment is pioneering a better way — one that prioritizes individualized, family-based care and emotional safety, and proves that there are alternatives to harmful practices.
There are other good residential treatment centers like Wildflower Mountain Ranch Residential Treatment, but a parent or other professional must carefully conduct a search to find and vet them. Often it can be difficult, so we provided this one example to show that they do indeed exist to provide parents hope and help. As this saying illustrates, it can be a little like finding a needle in a haystack.
As consumer protection advocates, we encourage families to be prudent when considering residential treatment programs, and to call for more accountability from the industry. Let us join together to build a future where every teen receives the compassionate care they deserve.
Sources
- The Salt Lake Tribune. (2021). Investigation: Abuse, neglect reported thousands of times at Utah’s residential treatment centers. Retrieved from https://www.sltrib.com This source provides detailed investigative reporting on the abuse and neglect within Utah’s residential treatment centers, including statistics and survivor accounts.
- Merkley, J. (2022). Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act. U.S. Senate. Retrieved from https://www.merkley.senate.gov This source outlines the federal legislative efforts to address abuses in residential treatment programs, including the proposed Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act.
- Utah State Legislature. (2021). HB 399: Residential Treatment Amendments. Retrieved from https://le.utah.gov This source provides the text and details of Utah’s HB 399, which mandates reporting of abuse and limits the use of restraint and seclusion in residential treatment centers.
- National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP). (2023). Understanding the Troubled Teen Industry: Risks and Recommendations. Retrieved from https://www.natsap.org This source offers an overview of the Troubled Teen Industry, including risks associated with residential treatment programs and recommendations for families.
- Wildflower Mountain Ranch. (2023). Program Overview and Therapeutic Approach. Retrieved from https://www.wildflowermountainranch.org This source provides detailed information about Wildflower Mountain Ranch’s trauma-informed, family-centered approach to treatment, serving as a model for ethical care in the industry.
Written by the Consumer Financial Protection Advocates of Utah (CFPAU.org) Date: March 12, 2025
