Mountain Springs Preparatory Academy

Our daughter attended and embraced Mountain Springs Preparatory Academy’s (MSPA) program from 08/2015 through high school graduation 05/2017. It was an excellent transition program from intensive residential treatment to real life. I always describe MSPA as a place most beneficial in getting kids back on track with academics and life when only a lightly-therapeutic approach is needed. Our daughter’s academic advisor and the whole MSPA team customized her program and challenged her. She embraced the live classroom academics, concurrent enrollment with Southern Utah University, Cedar High School and Southwest Applied Technology College, the challenges and learning associated with a co-ed environment, working part-time as a volunteer veterinary technician, staying physically active with mixed martial arts, skiing, water polo, and scuba training, and preparing for college with ACT, SAT, AP coursework, college applications. She also trained as an emergency medical technician and has her advanced emergency medical technician certification. Our daughter embraced independent living in the Independent Living House at age 18 and transitioned to her own apartment for the final 8 months prior to graduation. Our daughter is mentally and physically healthy AND she is going to college! It has been a long road. MSPA truly has been a blessing to her and to her us!

Our son first went to a wilderness program followed by a residential treatment center and concurrently at MSPA. MSPA has plenty of structure with excellent coaching. It is a very goal oriented environment so kids can experience success and failure, rewards and consequences. They also let kids off site, for therapy which is independent of the program, and other activities. The kids get to learn how to be independent as they progress through the program. We are happy that our son landed at MSPA - he will finish high school and start college nearby under the guidance of their staff.

We chose to send our daughter to MSPA after she graduated from a sister program at Moonridge Academy. She was thriving in Moonridge, but we felt she was not ready to come home. MSPA was the perfect "next-step" for her. We brought her home after a year at MSPA. Once home, we had our ups and downs, but I'm proud to say that she finished high school a year early and has now completed her first year at the University of North Texas!

MSPA was a transforming juncture in our daughter's journey. The milieu of staff, students, school, peer socializing, activities, responsibilities, accountability created a real life setting for growth in a safe environment. The staff's dynamic engagement with our daughter was a surrogate for our love at a time when we did not have the skills or energy to reach her with our love. We were locked out of her world.
MSPA is unique. There are many schools on the web that have glossy websites and promises. My sense is that MSPA is in a class of their own. The school is a gold standard for staff that cared for our daughter 24/7 in a deeply meaningful way. Their words and actions reflected an unwavering belief in her and love for her. MSPA stands out in the application of a matrix system that offers students and parents a concrete chart of the baseline and the progress of growth. The program facilitates the integration of meaningful behavior change. This is vastly different from the behavior of compliance-only-to-graduate from other programs which results in superficial change and the return to old behavior patterns once students graduate. This is not a nuance. It is the difference between an investment of time and money and a waste of time and money. Our daughter graduated four years ago. She has integrity and is growing into her values. There are opportunities within her grasp that without MSPA would not have been an option.

Our daughter attended Mountain Springs Preparatory Academy from September, 2008 to June, 2009. She found herself at MSPA three months short of 18 after three months in a wilderness program and five months at a therapeutic boarding school. We were cautioned that we may have waited too long and that she might choose to leave when she turned 18 in December. Thanks to the program and staff at MSPA, when that moment came, she decided to stay not only an additional two weeks to get her high school diploma, but to stay for an entire additional semester in order to complete the MSPA MAPP program and do outside community service in Cedar City.
Today our daughter has graduated college with honors with a B.A. in Psychology, with plans to continue on for a Ph.D. in Forensic Psychology. When I recently asked her what made MSPA a turning point for her, she said that the program gives students an opportunity to be independent and make their own decisions by earning privileges to go places without supervision. She said this allowed her to slowly integrate into a life beyond a tightly controlled school setting. Whatever it was, it certainly worked for our daughter, and we are very grateful. Even though it has been five years since she was at MSPA, I know the school hasn’t changed in philosophy and all the same critical staff members are still there, working with the same energy and dedication.

The staff and teachers are very qualified and caring. They get to know each student in order to motivate them to work on what they individually need. The classrooms and houses are clean and organized. Students are accepted unconditionally and feel they belong. Our daughter attended and had a positive, growing experience where she learned to deal with life's ups and downs in healthy ways.

Mountain Springs is a great place for students to learn and interact with other students. The small size is perfect, especially for students that have difficulty with a particular subject. Staff is wonderful and keeps the parents updated with weekly calls.

This school made a huge difference in my life. They provided everything I needed to be ready for the return home. The 'level system' is very effective and reasonable. The staff is wonderful. They're fun, supportive, caring, and honest. I requested to attend a local high school for broader social skills experience. They were more than happy to accommodate this and allowed me to attend school functions such as Homecoming. The trips and weekend outings are a total blast! I have some great memories from road trips to rafting. Absolutely incredible experience that I would recommend to everyone.

Mountain Springs is an excellent school designed to help get its students back on track with real world experiences to learn from. Before MSPA I went to a wilderness program, and even though I was under the initial impression that 8 weeks in the middle of nowhere was enough, I would have slipped back into my old self if I went home. Mountain Springs gave me a place I could challenge myself. When I slipped I had people there who genuinely cared and who would help me back to my feet, and when I succeeded, I had people who believed in me. This is still the real world and if I did not want to change it did not matter where my parents would have sent me, I would have failed. I learned I wanted to change because the old me wouldn't have even half the life I have now. The people who work at Mountain Springs are some of the best people I have ever met in my life and I am thankful for them for every day I have where I am not the old me.

Mountain Springs Academy was a very positive experience for my son. While initially adopting the same attitude he had at previous programs…..”this doesn’t work”….”I hate it here”…..”nobody here knows what they’re doing and they don’t care about me”…..he eventually realized the staff and environment at Mountain Springs were exactly what he needed. He made friends, invested in himself and the program, became more respectful, and thrived academically. The change we saw in him from the time he got there to the time he left was one of the most dramatic in his life. As a parent, I also found the staff to be wonderful. They are available and caring and that attitude has lasted even after my son’s time there. I still contact Ariel for advice years after my son’s time at Mountain Springs! I highly recommend it to other parents.

MSPA is a great place for a teenager who isn't necessarily ready to go home, but is ready to transition from an RTC or schools of that type. I was a previous student at MSPA and I can assure you that I wasn't ready to go home. Now that I went to MSPA, the staff and students there slowly helped me transition from an extremely strict place to home. There are a ton of fun activities that are offered. Zion National Park is a little less than an hour drive away and during the summer, there are many activities students may join, such as the Summer Games.

MSPA provided very good classroom instruction and a positive environment for our son Sean. He responded well to the personalized instruction and aced his college-prep courses. This was a dramatic turn-around from Sean's academic performance a year earlier when he received all Fs. Sean attended MSPA after completing the program at Island View in Salt Lake. Island View helped a lot in Sean's turn-around. MSPA provide the right environment for Sean to continue his progress.
Sean wanted to attend college after graduation, but didn't start looking at schools until late January. We were impressed by the individual counseling and encouragement that Ariel provided. Sean was able to get into an excellent college and enrolled the following September.

Mountain Springs provides an important and unique opportunity in the vast array of boarding school options. We are specifically designed as a practice, “step-down,” environment for students who have completed a residential treatment placement or wilderness therapy program. Having worked here in many different positions since 2006, and now being the Assistant Head of School, I know that we provide a meaningful service to this select population of high school students and their families. I have seen students truly apply what they have learned in practice and not just in theory. I have seen families heal and students become ignited with a passion for living a life worth living. I love going to work every day and helping these teenagers grow stronger internally day by day.
This school is consistently open to student and parent feedback and improvement. We have a student government and ways for students and parents to advocate for changes to policies and practice. In this way, we are continuously open to improvement.

I've enjoyed teaching the diverse students we've had at Mountain Springs. I work closely with mentors, other teachers, and administration to create a safe learning environment. I've also been impressed with the important role students play in making our school a great place to make choices, learn from the consequences, and continue progressing.

Mountain Springs Preparatory Academy has been, and continues to be, a great school and program. I have seen so many students thrive in this school. I love seeing students graduate with a high school diploma who tell me that they had given up hope of ever seeing that day come. The individual attention that each student receives from the small classes and caring teachers makes it impossible for them to slide by unnoticed, and nearly impossible for them to fail. The variety of educational opportunities is amazing. Besides the course offerings available in the Mountain Springs classes, students often take concurrent enrollment classes at Southern Utah University and/or classes at Southwest Applied Technology College. These students then leave with a high school diploma, as well as university credits and skills certifications that open up valuable career options. The transformation I’ve seen in so many students over the years has been marvelous.

Mountain Springs Preparatory Academy was a huge blessing in our life. It was the perfect fit for our son who needed the more individualized attention in school and yet still needed a "true" step down program before coming home. One of my biggest concerns with any program was if he would be safe. I think often other parents have the same concern. He was totally safe while at MSPA. The school ended up being a great fit for him in so many ways. He began the program still caring little for his own life and graduated with a new passion for his future. The caring staff makes every effort to engage your child and to "get" your child and to help them in any way possible to act and "be" more healthy. Their ability to break through to kids might come from their willingness to try a mirage of ways if one doesn't work (both in school and in therapy). The teachers want the students to engage in the learning process and to understand what they are learning and why; they have infinite patience. Leadership, deans, teachers and staff will work tirelessly to help your child. Their communication is beyond excellent. I love how each element of the school is focused on the individual and not on what's best for the masses. I literally have nothing but praise to speak about MSPA.