"The school you helped me find has been a Godsend my entire family! We thought that we had lost our son a year and 1/2 ago. Not physically lost him, but spiritually, morally and mentally lost him. We knew that it was only going to be a matter of time before we would have physically lost him if he would have stayed on the same destructive path. We found this site through extensive research and prayed that the school you recommended was the right decision...to send our son away from home for the first time for his own good. In the first 6 months, we could see the changes in our son through phone calls, letters and emails from him and the counselors (and trust me, he had a couple of hiccups). Always a leader, our son became one that led others in the right direction versus the wrong direction. He had expectations and goals to meet. He learned to become humble in his experiences of being helped and helping others. The biggest test of what he's learned has been since he's come home. When he saw his old friends at the gym, the first thing that he told them was his legal name...he told them that he no longer will answer to his old street name. He shocked them into silence...but there was a newfound respect for him in their eyes! They were curious to learn more about their 'new' friend. When he came home, we had a celebration of his return with his family and he was overwhelmed by the love that was shown him. Before he left, he was too angry to see the love that surrounded him..to see his smile again was “Priceless”!! There is so much that I can say about the turnaround that my son has made...I'd never stop writing. I thank the Lord and the school for bringing my son back."
"When I was eleven years old, my father got arrested and hit rock bottom. At this time, my mother became heavily involved in drugs and alcohol and began to physically, verbally and emotionally abuse me. At the age of twelve, I started cutting, burning and piercing myself because I didn’t know how to deal with the pain. I then realized that self-mutilation wasn’t enough so I began smoking and drinking on top of that. I hated my life so much and wondered where I was going and what I was going to do with my life. I tried to commit suicide and couldn’t bring myself to finish what I had started. I now have hopes and dreams for my future unlike before, which is really great because I was miserable! Even though I have been through so much in my past, I can have hope for a bright future."
"I was in and out of schools and foster care because of my mother’s problems with drugs and other addictions. While in foster care, I was molested and it affected me in many ways. I’ve always had the wrong friends and a part of me just wanted to end the pain somehow. There were many twists and turns throughout my short life and that is what brought me to this school. Today, I am changing my life through God's power. I have found hope and a chance to start my life over again."
"There was an emptiness in my heart from the time I was a small child, which I believe came from being with my mother constantly, while my father worked long hours, leaving him emotionally unavailable and detached from the family. I grew further and further away from my family as the years progressed and grew closer to any substance or person I felt could numb my unhappy, empty life. After I was hospitalized twice for drug and alcohol abuse, my family had an intervention with me. At the school, I decided to leave my destructive past behind me and try a new way of living. I have the world ahead of me now and a confidence only God can provide for his children. I thank God for the second chance that was given to me.""
"As a pre-teen, I already had started getting involved with a gang. The way that I was living caused me to make some bad decisions and so I ended up in jail. Through a series of events, I was brought to the school and God began revealing himself to me. I began to know Jesus as an individual and a friend, I no longer see him as a symbol. As a result of God's work in my life, I graduated high school and am now attending college."
"My parents sexually and physically abused me and my sister. My grandmother found out and put us into foster care. I wasn't there very long and when I was raped in a foster home. Eventually, I was adopted by a good character family, but as a teenager, I tried to kill myself. My grandmother found out about everything going on and decided she had had enough, so I was sent to special boarding school. Since being there, God has been doing great things in my life, working on me and helping me heal from my past."