Outcome Statistics of Residential Therapy at Red Rock Canyon School

(Consistent Cumulative Stats for over a Four Year Period, Updated for 2010)

There are many programs throughout the United States designed to help troubled youth. They vary in philosophy, on how they work with the students, and the results they obtain. Wanting to be among the very best, we have instituted a number of proven methods to empower and help our students be more prepared for life and to make better choices in the future. We also wanted to get feedback to help us be able to improve and ensure we stayed on track. Hence, for the last three years on over 290 departing students so far, we have used the "Youth Outcome Questionnaire" (a nationally-recognized, statistically normed test) to get a before and after take on how well our students have done. It is administered within the first week of their arrival and again before the student actually leaves the program. We also created our own "Student Satisfaction Survey" to get direct feedback on staff, programs, etc. including student comments. The statistics that follow not only include our best students, but all our students.

The following are some of the steady and consistent findings of these instruments (all the statistics are cumulative over a four year period):

On the "Youth Outcome Questionnaire," overall 99% of the students improved and 87% of that improvement was statistically significant or represented profound or solid changes in their lives. This kind of outcome puts us among the top programs of the country in terms of general overall program effectiveness. And our statistics have improved over the years.

From the Survey, we found that 95% of the students felt they had changed quite a bit and were more prepared for life, 87% thought staff were helpful, 83% liked school and 87% like their teachers. In addition, we found that 86% thought they had become helpful and contributing to other student’s lives, 94% felt they were honest, open and truthful in therapy and it was beneficial and important to them. Overall, 80% of the students rated their experience at Red Rock Canyon School to be in the excellent to outstanding category (100% feeling it was from average to the outstanding), which was consistent with how the departing students answered most of the other questions.

Student comments were about 95% positive and contained constructive criticism as well as expressions of gratitude. All the following statements were from the December 2009 report representing 20 students who left Red Rock Canyon School since July 2009. (Note: such good comments as the following would not be typical of new students, but they are the comments of departing students. The students who have been here a while and therefore began to feel very benefitted):

General Comments:

"I changed in that I don’t steal anymore and don’t lie about stealing or anything."

"I have a whole new outlook on my life and my future."

"I’m prepared for what’s to come."

"I feel good that I came here. It helped me."

"Here I learned the value of work ethic, life skills, communication, and much more. I learned to look at the positive rather than the negative."

"I feel that I have improved immensely. I have a lot more self-control. I graduate from high school tomorrow and I am on the right track."

"Here at Red Rock: it helped me find myself so I can live a healthy positive life when I leave."

"It was bad my first day, but I noticed that I made it that way."

"At first it was rough, but I learned to be grateful for what I had. I really know deep in my heart I have changed for the better."

"I am grateful and thankful a lot now."

"I feel that Red Rock has helped me a lot with how I look at things in life."

"I have changed a lot since I have been here and my peers have even noticed this!"

"I have changed the way I look at things greatly."

"I’ve changed a lot since I’ve been here. This is a great program."

"PPC is a key factor as to why I am happy with life."

Staff Comments:

"Staff do their best for the most part. They always try hard."

"Staff were all good. I had no problem with anyone and I wouldn’t be where I am at all if it weren’t for them. I tried to contribute as much as I could to help the group."

"I really like my unit."

"All in all, I got help from most of them."

"I liked my unit and helped them sometimes. I liked my staff too."

"I love staff."

"The staff helped me out a lot."

"Great feedback, helped me see things in a new light."

"Staff did their job on my unit and did it very well."

"The staff are good."

"All staff were good. Some had different methods of teaching, but they all did the best they could."

"The staff were super — are really helpful."

"They were always there for me & my peers."

"Staff were awesome."

"____, ______, _____ , and ___ ___ especially were very good staff who cared very much and I feel deserve some sort of appreciation from Red Rock."

School and Teacher Comments:

"I liked the self-study. I got to work at my level."

"____ helped me greatly in this program and should be given an ‘award’ and a ‘a raise.’"

"I have been making a lot of progress. I checked and helped peers and made sure they were on task."

"I love school. Tommorrow October 15th, 2009, I graduate high school with a little over 6 months left until I turn 18. I put things off, but I finally stepped up to the plate and finished with flying colors."

"I am leaving here with a 3.3 average and I am proud of myself."

"School is the best part of the program."

"I did not do well in school, now I’m in the 11th grade. Wow, did I make progress."

"I got very caught up and ahead in school!"

"I love my teacher because she cares!"

"I did pretty well in school for myself."

"I have made much progress in my work."

"I did great in school."

"______ is nice, and positive teacher. She goes out of her way to help you out."

"Very demanding. Helpful with my school, very caring and giving."

"Best teacher I ever had --- made a good effort to help everyone, was nice, and never gave up on anybody."

"____ is a good teacher. Most of the time he helped me out."

It was great to have been a student with ____, because she taught me a lot in more than school."

"Good teachers."

"I thank the teacher a lot. I built a good relationship."

"Teacher was very nice — very helpful."

"____ and ________ were both good teachers."

Therapy and Therapist Comments:

"Dr. Bob is a good therapist. He helped me in wanting to change my behaviors."

"#7 reason I’ve improved so much. Thank you Dr. Bob!

"Dee is the only therapist I ever opened up to."

"Therapy is good."

"I worked on making a good relationship with my therapist and was very open with him. I enjoyed therapy and it really helped me."

"I like the therapist — he helped me and showed me respect."

"Lane is the best therapist I ever had. He waited till I was comfortable so I could open up."

"I let everything out, afterwards I felt relieved. Therapy really helped."

"Therapy ran good for me."

"Thank you, ____, you helped me in a lot of ways."

"_______ was very helpful, honest and insightful."

"Therapy helped me a lot."

"Therapy greatly helped me and my family."

"I don’t think I could have had a better therapist. Helped me immensely!

"She was great."

"My therapist(s) were both good. They both helped me a lot — went to bat for me, and made my stay here a whole of a lot easier. They taught me good communication, tolerance, and other skills."

"____ is a very nice person --- he’s helped me a lot. The only thing that I do not like is the fact that he is one of the 2 or 3 people I cannot beat in chess . . . yet!"

"Again, I could not have made it through Red Rock without ____ by my side every step of the way."

"I am that new and improved Odin that they wished me to be!!!"

"He helped me a lot. If it wasn’t for his support, I would not be where I am now."

"I think my therapists were great therapists."

In conclusion, not only do we feel are we doing exceptionally well, even outstanding, but we have scientific evidence that proves we have an effective program that is helping our students make major changes in their lives. Very few programs in the nation can show better, more consistent outcome statistics than Red Rock Canyon School has done, especially since, as explained above, we use a well-documented, nationally respected research tool in order to obtain outcome results.

You can feel assured that your son or daughter is in a fine program that cares about how well they do and are not only trying, but are, in fact, maintaining the highest quality program they can to benefit your teenager and help them make good decisions in life.