Elevations Residential Treatment Center in Syracuse, Utah, promotes itself on its website as a facility that provides “guidance, support, and relief to students of all genders” in a safe and therapeutic environment. However, accounts from former students suggest a much different reality, reporting by NBC News’ Tyler Kingkade and Elizabeth Chuck reveals.
Two former students recently reported suffering serious injuries while being restrained by staff members at Elevations. Over the past five years, state records reveal that Elevations employees have failed to comply with mandatory child abuse reporting requirements, improperly secluded children for extended periods, and conducted unauthorized strip searches.
Chloe Gilliland, 18, who attended Elevations from July 2023 to June 2024, is among those calling for the facility’s closure. “They need to close their business down,” she said. “I don’t understand how they can go to sleep at the end of the day.”
Elevations is part of Family Help & Wellness, an Oregon-based company that operates 10 treatment programs across four states for adolescents with behavioral and mental health issues. Many of these facilities, including Elevations, draw children from out of state.
Earlier this year, another program operated by Family Help & Wellness, Trails Carolina—a wilderness camp in North Carolina—lost its license following the death of a 12-year-old boy, who suffocated in a weather-proof sack he was required to sleep in. The boy’s death, ruled a homicide, occurred within 24 hours of his arrival. Trails Carolina has denied any wrongdoing, and no criminal charges have been filed, although the investigation continues.
Several other programs under Family Help & Wellness have been cited for regulatory violations, such as failing to report critical incidents involving child injuries or alleged abuse, and preventing children from contacting state licensing agencies.
Child welfare experts and advocates argue that recurring incidents across multiple facilities within the same organization indicate a need for closer scrutiny and better communication among states where these facilities are located. “If you have an entity that has numerous places, and you’re hearing about problems that are similar across several of them, why aren’t you looking at all of them, and why aren’t you asking the tough questions about that?” said Nate Crippes, a supervising attorney with the Disability Law Center of Utah, which has received complaints about Elevations.
NBC News spoke with four former staff members and 11 former students who attended Elevations in the past five years. Many of these former students are now active on a grassroots Instagram page, where they share concerns and advocate for more oversight of the facility. They described a chaotic environment with overworked staff, frequent physical restraints, and numerous incidents of self-harm.
“I genuinely left worse than when I came in,” said Stella Downey, 20, who attended Elevations from June 2020 to February 2021. Downey recounted having to intervene when peers, including her roommate, engaged in self-harm. “I would see her covered in blood,” she said. “It definitely has scarred me.”
In a 2022 statement, both Elevations and Family Help & Wellness dismissed the criticism from former clients, labeling them as unreliable narrators who mischaracterized their treatment. They argued that children are safer in their programs than in public schools. Elevations declined to comment on specific allegations, citing privacy laws.
Despite its claims of providing a safe environment, calls to the police from Elevations have increased steadily, from 15 in 2019 to 56 in 2023, with projections indicating that this number could nearly double by the end of 2024. Most of these calls involve allegations of mistreatment by staff or instances of children assaulting peers or employees.
Between May 2023 and May 2024, state records show Elevations reported at least 105 incidents of self-harm and 138 uses of physical restraints.
One former student, Miranda Goodwill, 20, recounted being violently restrained face-down by a staff member for throwing books at a wall in 2019. “I got up, and there was a bunch of blood coming down my ear,” Goodwill said. “They made me tell the people at the hospital that I just fell instead of telling them what actually happened.”
Youth rights advocates hoped that the closure of Trails Carolina would lead to increased regulatory scrutiny of Elevations, but this has not been the case. In Idaho, North Carolina, and Utah, where Family Help & Wellness programs are based, officials do not consider violations at affiliated facilities in other states when evaluating programs. Only New Mexico’s child welfare agency is currently reviewing a program associated with Family Help & Wellness, though its actions are confined to facilities within its jurisdiction.
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees facilities like Elevations, said it lacks the authority to consider violations in other states when making licensing decisions in Utah. Recent changes in Utah law have increased the number of state inspections for treatment centers and required more tracking of critical incidents, but there remains a lack of national data on the frequency of such incidents.
To address these gaps, the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act has been proposed. The bipartisan bill aims to create a federal interagency workgroup to improve communication among state licensing and child welfare agencies and establish the first national database for tracking restraints and seclusion in youth treatment centers.
Ben Jones, director of legal and policy initiatives for the youth advocacy group Lives in the Balance, described the bill as a “necessary step in the right direction” and stressed the importance of ensuring the safety of children sent away for treatment.
Rachel Jonas initially believed Elevations would be a supportive environment for her transgender daughter, Sabrina, who was struggling with suicidal thoughts. However, after a series of incidents, including Sabrina being physically assaulted and sexually harassed by other students, Jonas felt betrayed.
The California Department of Education later found that Elevations failed to report “allegations of sexual abuse to the appropriate authorities” in a timely manner and required the facility to show evidence of mandated reporter training for its staff to remain on the approved list for California.
Elevations charges over $500 per day to house and treat a child and is licensed to accommodate up to 90 students at a time. Yet, according to former staff members, the facility was frequently understaffed, leading to situations where students had to remain in their dorms all day.
Finn Pool, another former student, was placed at Elevations in August 2021 while dealing with suicidal thoughts. Pool reported to his therapist at Elevations, Ryan Faust, that he had been sexually assaulted by his father earlier that year. Instead of reporting the abuse to authorities, Faust called Pool’s father to discuss the allegations, leading to Faust’s later guilty plea for failing to report child abuse. A state panel concluded that Elevations appeared more focused on financial gains than on Pool’s best interests.
Since leaving Elevations, Pool has become an advocate for tougher oversight of the troubled teen industry and is now preparing to attend the University of California, Berkeley.
Jonas, meanwhile, reports that Sabrina is doing much better after leaving Elevations and transferring to the San Diego Center for Children, where she has felt safer and more supported.
Reflecting on their experiences, Jonas expressed relief at having her daughter out of Elevations. “I thank God every day that she’s out of that hellhole,” she said. “We are traumatized from that place.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
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