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"The dedicated staff at Three Springs deserves much credit. for caring, for sharing and for daring to believe. boys can change negativity into a positive energy."

- Parent of Program Graduate

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To fully understand who we are and what we do, there is nothing like reading about other people's actual experiences at Three Springs treatment programs.

These reference letters from parents and graduates will give you insight into how Three Springs treatment programs work, the emotions faced by residents and their families, and how our programs ultimately affect the lives of residents and those who care about them.

Learn how Three Springs can benefit your family.

Letters of Success: From a Mother

To place our son in the Three Springs program was the most heart wrenching decision we as parents ever made. It meant not only trusting people we didn't know, in whose care we had to place him, and trusting in the effectiveness of the Three Springs program and the stage system, to help bring about the changes in him and us that were so desperately needed.

After 10 long months, on a hot July afternoon, we experienced the incomparable joy of participating in our son's SGM graduation and seeing the pride he took in his success. And now, three years later, because of Three Springs, we are again experiencing the joy of his success and excitement, as he prepares to leave home for career training.

Ours is just one of hundreds of Three Springs success stories. I pray that yours will be one, too.

Letters of Success: From a Father

About a year ago, we were asked to look at several proposed advertisements for the Three Spring's program put together by the ad agency. The final ad was to appear in national media, and the staff wanted the input of several of the parents whose children had been in the program for a while. One ad immediately struck a chord in my heart and soul...it was a picture of a man's lower face with several tears making their way down one cheek...the caption simply said, "I want my daughter back."
The program at Three Springs made it possible for this wish to become true. It not only gave us Emily back, but more importantly, helped her recover her own identity and gave her the tools to deal with this tough world we all live in.

During this period, we have been privileged to witness the depth of dedication among the Three Springs staff that continually inspires me. Effie and I will be forever grateful for what you have done for Emily and for us.

Letters of Success: From a Father

Family Services - Three Springs Treatment Center

Having just returned from my son's graduation ceremony at Three Springs, it seems a good time to convey my admiration of and appreciation for the work you do there. You have my permission to share this letter with any audience for which it may be appropriate; a reader should know that it was unsolicited.

When my son entered Three Springs in the spring of 1995, he had become an expert at abusing drugs, alcohol and people. His self-hatred led to two suicide attempts. We tried all the conventional approaches: therapy, drug regimes, hospitalizations. As my son attempted to destroy himself, those around him also fell apart; by the time he was placed at Three Springs, his mother and I (we were divorced in 1983) were no longer speaking.

Thirteen months later some 20 of us stood in a circle and participated in my son's graduation from the program. In the circle were my son's group members, his counselor and Three Springs staff members. I stood next to my ex-wife, her husband, their daughter, my son. It wasn't only my son who had been "saved", as his mother put it at the ceremony, but his extended family as well.

I believe that these changes could occur because of the unique vision behind and structure of the Three Springs program. I thoroughly enjoyed my visits there; after 30 years of working in higher education, I have never seen an institution better able to translate theory into practice and to realize its ideals. As I have said to my wife a number of times, if I had another life to live, I'd like to spend it involved in a place like Three Springs.

Three Springs has designed a simple and elegant solution to the problem of dealing with out-of-control adolescent boys. It starts with the physical. The outdoor life and rugged daily routine releases energy and demands a continual reckoning with the "real". The structure complements this: the lining up and counting off, the insistence on the politeness of a "yes, sir", the promotion through rank from buddy to SGM. Taken together, these routines show the boys that behavior has immediate and concrete consequences.

The therapeutic component at Three Springs is fully integrated into the daily routine. As a result, expressing and dealing with feelings becomes a continual reality in the boys' lives. Opportunities for expression are structured through increasingly intense stages: the personal conference between two individuals, the group huddle that can be called anytime, the nightly group meeting. And the decorum enforced at the nightly group meeting - the announcement of topics, the expectation of feedback, the procession around the circle, the prohibition on interrupting or back talk - ensures that everyone can be heard in a safe and respectful way.

The quiet expectation of family support extends the Three Springs experience back into the homes of those who send boys there. It has certainly transformed both of the households that are my son's homes. When he entered Three Springs, the two households were estranged. I did not talk to my ex-wife, and my spouse had become so alienated by my son's behavior that she had opted out of any contact with him. The program's conference calls served early on as mediation with the "other" parent. The first home visit allowed my wife to discover her affinities with my son, and his with her. By the time she visited Three Springs in the spring of 1996, she and my son had rebuilt their relationship to the point where he was boasting about the acuity of her comments at nightly meetings. Certainly Three Springs makes it clear from the start that the child cannot grow unless the family heals itself; more importantly, Three Springs provides the means for this to happen.

The policy of a gradual reinsertion of the child into the world - the sequence of town visit/home visit/group home/aftercare - allowed my son to test the waters without drowning in them. (The Three Springs school was also essential in this, although, in my son's case, schooling was not our first concern. For those who are concerned, it may be worth noting that while at Three Springs he scored a 790 on his verbal SAT exam.) The first half year at Three Springs requires an absorption into the rhythms of the place, and many programs might expect only this. The temptation to become comfortable with the program's deeply assuring routines is offset, once the child is ready, by the challenge and the promise that there is also a way back.

All of this depends on the work of a dedicated and professional staff. The counselors are in the front line of the action, living, eating and sleeping with the boys. To a visiting adult, the counselors were warm and welcoming: my participation in every phase of a weekend's activities was encouraged. The counselors had been clearly trained to hold off or to engage as the case requires, allowing for individual growth and discovery. Time and again I watched a counselor lead out a boy by knowing how to wait or what to say. The carefully articulated Three Springs philosophy deserves some credit for this, but a philosophy is only as good as the people that implement it. And here the Family Services staff does its essential work.

As our Family Services contact person, you played a crucial role. Whenever I had a question, I could call. You never played into self-serving anxiety or unfounded hope. As the year wore on, you gently nudged us all toward more open, less conflicted communication. From the start, you said that our son would "make it". Even that early on, you had displayed a probity that made me believe you, despite my fear that you might just be saying what a parent wanted to hear. You worked out a treatment plan and you stuck to it, while translating it into an accessible and reassuring vocabulary for our family.

I will miss Three Springs; it taught me more about teaching than five years in a graduate school, more about parenting than many years of therapy. You were a big part of that experience, and I send this along as a token of my respect and gratitude.

Sincerely yours,
A Three Springs Parent

Letter of Success: From a Mother

To Three Springs Parents

There is no one who can understand how painful and difficult it is to place your child in a residential treatment center. except another parent who has had to do so. The decision of which facility and program will be the best for your child is tremendously perplexing. Then when the decision making has been completed, you find that you are beginning another extremely important process.. that of understanding the program of your child's treatment center.

It is essential that as your child becomes a part of the program at Three Springs you also become involved. My husband and I felt that we could not allow the necessity of treatment for our daughter to replace our role in her life; instead, we became partners with Three Springs. We supported their decisions, realizing that every decision was made in her best interest, even if the reasoning was not always readily apparent to us. We involved ourselves with her treatment so that she would know that even though we were living separately nothing could truly separate us.

We spoke with her Family Service Worker on scheduled phone conferences, attended family conferences, asked a million questions questioned a million answers and initiated calls any and every time we needed to. However, we made sure our daughter always viewed our decision regarding her placement as firm and final. We refused to jeopardize the help she needed and was being offered by allowing our, or her, emotions to interfere. We attended every Parent Support weekend, participated in all that was scheduled and were a part of the Group Meeting process. It was hard, and we all struggled and learned.

The more we learned about the program, the stages and how the system worked, the better support we were for our daughter. The program works. We shared many painful moments and tears, and we watched her grow. We saw her work through her issues by going through the program stages which required her to be responsible for her choices, honest, respectful and open - resulting in her being given responsibility, being respected, being trusted, making appropriate decisions and finding peace within herself.

There is no magic formula. It is a hard process. It requires effort, understanding and love from both you and your child -just as it always has - but the guidance and integration of the program at Three Springs makes it work. Do not stop parenting your child. Accept the help offered by Three Springs to you both. Get to know and trust the staff and your child's counselors. They are with your child 24 hours a day, seven days a week; their input is invaluable and accurate.

Learn the stage system, how it works and why it is set up the way it is for your child and every other child there. Its consistent structure is designed to benefit each resident individually, and it may take different measures for each child to achieve the same stage, for every child is unique, but the processing they need is the same. Attend as many of the parent support weekends, group trips and ceremonies of other residents as you can to understand the impact they will make on your child. Network with the parents of other residents in the program and specifically in your group. Listen to the advice the staff gives you about your son or daughter. Be a part of the solution you have found for your child at Three Springs. No system is perfect, but be patient. It works.

Good luck!
A Three Springs Parent.

Letters of Success: From a Mother

I did not choose a hospital

Laden with sterility, doctors, nurses, and clinical testing.

I did not choose a lockdown

Laden with locks, warden and guards.

I did not choose a Psychiatric Center

Laden with more and more psychiatrists.

I did not choose a strict Military School

Laden with drills, marches, and salutes.

I did not choose an outdoor Boot Camp

Laden with verbal screams, physical tests and no school.

I did not choose a public school

Laden with large classes, designer jeans, and drugs.

I did choose Three Springs

Laden with Trust, Truth and Honor

I did choose Three Springs

Laden with good teachers, counsellors and parental support

I did choose Three Springs

Laden with Therapy, Therapy, Therapy.

I made these choices

Laden with love and understanding.

Knowingly I give this to you,

For you to receive all these that Three Springs can give

For you to receive the knowledge of you.

And all the while you mature and learn,

I know you are safe.