La Europa Academy

PLEASE READ!!! I am a former student of La Europa and I personally can't recommend this place. I believe in my heart that the people running this treatment center have noting but good intentions but their execution is extremely poor. They have a very weak understanding of working with adolescents and their methods have potentially harmful outcomes. To any parents reading this, unless you are in immediate danger of losing your child, I think it is best that you find a qualified compassionate family therapist in your area and start working on your issues at home. I am a huge believer in the power of a good, kind, and compassionate therapist. Most teens act out because they don't feel loved, cared for and safe. Learning to create that environment for your teen is so important!! And no offense but in many cases I see sending your child off to treatment as lazying parenting. Typically our issues and ways of coping stem form our parents, so working as a family is key. All this being said, if your teen is suicidal or involved in using dangerous narcotics and their is a immediate possibility of losing your child, then by all mean send them into treatment. I do not believe that residential treatment centers are a good option necessarily, but of course it is better you have your child in treatment and alive then not in treatment and dead. Do be honest with yourself though, is your child really in danger or are you just a paranoid parent? My mom's paranoia is what got me put into La Europa and I can promise you that discovering the tools, with a good therapist at home, to heal my family would have saved me from having to do years of therapy just to get over the stress of having been placed in residential treatment. Also note that this is NOT a therapeutic boarding school. Yes there is school, yes there is therapy, but this is a residential treatment center which is different. Some parents don't seem to understand this. Out of all the people I know that went to La Europa I have one friend that is grateful for her experience here, but that one friend is someone who was in immediate danger and needed to be placed somewhere where she could have 24 hour supervision. I will give La Europa two stars instead of one for this reason. Edit: I just took a look at the La Europa website and I am feeling extremely disappointed in La Europa at the moment. Their website is extremely dishonest. It makes this place look like some kind of super fun art camp when in reality it is much more Girl Interrupted then fun art camp. Really really misleading.

It is a HIPPA violation to disclose whether or not any reviewers formerly went to this school. They are doing damage control and coincidentally saying that all their one star reviews are from people that never went there. They know word has gotten out about the abuse that goes on in this school and will say whatever they can to discredit the reviewers. Before sending your kids here, please listen to some adults who went to Europa on youtube and hear their devastating stories. If you do admit your child into this program I can promise you that it will be the biggest mistake and regret of your life. A large percentage of graduates from these programs end up committing suicide, doing hardcore drugs to numb the pain, arrested and sent to prison, and a few have killed others Please check the yelp reviews as well since the really reviews from past students are being deleted!

Knew someone that went here and this place is a living nightmare

This place saved my life. It was terribly difficult in the beginning but after a few Months I developed skills that helped me process the addiction and self destructive behaviors I was doing. They specialize in DBT therapy. It works. To the other folks who are giving this place bad reviews, if it didn’t work for your kid, fine. Most of the kids who come here have intense problems stemming from their parents and family situations. This place helped me heal my relationship with my mom, sisters, and brother. I also made lifelong friends. As for the food, they had a bad chef, then they got a great chef and the food was amazing. What can I say? Residential treatment is no picnic, and it does not have 100% success rate. If your experience was successful, you’re probably not on here posting ratings.My mom showed me the poor ratings, and we’ve always been very honest together about what is working and What is not. That’s the reason that I decided to post a good review, because I really can’t imagine my life without the time I spent in this place. I went against my will, and I stayed because I was finally putting my life together, I started getting school credits again, and judging by the quality of life I have with my family now, this place did its job. It is a lockdown residential facility, a place of last resort for girls who have exhausted family therapy, one on one therapy, School Therapy it failed therapist after therapist. It’s not a spa, it’s not a timeshare condo in Hawaii. The therapist I worked with at la Europa, LAUREN, is my goddess, my spirit animal, my second mom. She is totally amazing, and all the other therapists are amazing. The staff, to be honest, they come and go because it’s a bad job or a job that therapists in training do, to become licensed. Kind of interesting that the better I got, the better my relationships with staff got. In other words, I learned how to own my behavior and understand how it effects other people’s behavior. Ah ha. But overall, even when you’re in your darkest place, there’s always at least one staff member or two who is there for you and very helpful. If there are staff members who aren’t, or if there are other girls there who are sexualized, welcome to the real world. Learning how to navigate people you don’t like, or sexualized situations, it’s all part of being a teenager. And besides, all that stuff is very highly monitored and managed. It always come up in groups or the treatment meetings anyway. It’s not like there’s a dark secret other world. Anyway, I’m glad I was there and I’m glad I got two years of high school credit and I’m glad I found the meds that worked for me and I’m glad I have my life back and my family back. All thanks to the work I did at La Europa.

This place was horrible for my daughter. I pulled her after seven weeks, brought her home, and we started the healing process. Sexual aggression from other “inmates” went uncontrolled, sharps were available and easily hidden, the food was unhealthy and the exercise and academic programs inadequate at best. Staff were punitive and really into their version of mind control. They lied to me on several occasions about easily verified issues, and when I pulled her out, threatened to call the sheriff on me. The best thing I did was rescuing her from this place and getting her the support and giving her the love she needed to heal after a terrible traumatic event caused her to derail. Parents, sometimes it is better to keep your child close than cast them from your home. Definitely not easy or convenient especially for those with demanding careers and other children.