ABOUT MOONRIDGE ACADEMY
Moonridge Academy is a member of CERTS (Certified Educational, Recreational, and Therapeutic Schools and Programs), a family of five schools and programs for adolescent girls. Located in the desert in southwest Utah, Moonridge Academy offers residential treatment in a school-like environment for troubled girls aged 11 to 15 who are struggling with emotional, social, behavioral, and/or academic problems.
TREATMENT & ASSESSMENT
The program is built around adventure therapy, intensive clinical services, family support and education, and academics.
Residents participate in individual therapy two or three times a week, as well as daily group therapy and weekly family therapy. The center is equipped to provide dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) as well as dedicated treatment for trauma, sexual abuse, attachment issues, and more. Recreation therapy is a big part of treatment: clients participate in two hours per week of equine therapy or ropes course work, and spend one day a week entirely outdoors. There are also weekly yoga classes and daily aerobic exercise, and clients work individually with staff on wellness plans.
Parents participate in their own parallel program, which includes online coaching and quarterly seminars.
There’s an on-site school with traditional classrooms and an average class size of three to six students. Schooling includes the core curriculum, foreign language instruction, and special ed tutoring.
STAFF CREDENTIALS
The team includes a child and adolescent psychiatrist, a nurse, social workers, certified mental health counselors, and certified teachers.
ACCOMMODATIONS & AMENITIES
Moonridge Academy accommodates just 16 girls at a time. There’s a cozy common room with a flat-screen TV and, outdoors, a basketball court and a barn with horses and mini-horses. There are also two campus dogs. The three alumni polled by Best-rehabs.com to date gave the facility a four-star rating and two one-star ratings for both its accommodations and its meals/nutrition.
Parents are welcome to visit frequently.
WHAT ALUMNI SAY
Of the three reviews submitted to Best-rehabs.com to date, two were negative and one was positive. Both of the negative reviewers criticized the facility’s treatment and said that their stay at Moonridge Academy had made them feel worse, not better. “After reading about the program on the official site, the program sounds superb. You should know that activities are often canceled, sometimes out of the blue. ‘Therapy’ includes cartoons, no contact with parents, and endless hours of pointless bookwork,” Z. wrote, while M. simply described treatment as “horrible” and complained about rude staff.
“It saved my life literally. I can’t say thank you enough,” Rachel wrote, despite admitting that she was unhappy during treatment and came to appreciate the center only after discharge.
WHAT FRIENDS & FAMILY SAY
“Had a great tour of their campus. Its always impressive when a program maintains high academic standards and a small (female) student population size! Very impressive program…” a reviewer identifying themselves as NewStartTransports wrote in a five-star review on Google, in the only review Best-rehabs.com was able to uncover to date on an approved third-party site.
FINANCING
Moonridge Academy accepts both insurance and private payment.