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Schools & Program
Visits - Nov, 1999 Issue #63
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Cross Creek Manor
LaVerkin, Utah
Marie Peart, Admission Director
(435) 635-2300
Visit by Jodi Tuttle, Roving Correspondent
June 21, 1999
jodit@redrock.net
Surprise was our reaction as we drove into the new facility at Cross Creek
Manor during our Utah Consultant Tour. This new building consists of not only dormitory facilities for 150 girls, but also classrooms
and a conference room, which were wonderful. In the past, consultants have wished that Cross Creek Manor had more windows in the building.
Well, now they have many large windows so that girls can have a feeling of openness and a view of the outside world. In addition,
the outdoor exercise area has been replaced by beautiful playing courts, plus a shaded spectator area where girls can take a break
from the Southern Utah sun.
Cross Creek Manor is a Residential Treatment Center for girls, ages 12 –17.
Girls stay a minimum of six months. The Cross Creek program provides a balanced program that includes a structured daily schedule,
behavior modification, intensive seminar/workshops, physical fitness, emotional growth development courses, recreation, therapy and
individualized academic instruction.
Students follow a vigorous daily schedule, with a firm set of rules to assist
students in learning appropriate behavior. Appropriate behavior is encouraged, reinforced and rewarded, while poor behavior brings
immediate consequences. A merit system requires each girl to earn her status and privileges through a multi-level program based on
positive behavior. As the girl advances through the program, she is given additional opportunities and responsibilities.
“The seminars have made a total difference in my life and that of my parents,”
was a statement from one girl with whom I spoke, who believed the seminars were the primary events at Cross Creek that impacted her.
All students participate in a series of seminars called TASKS (Teen Accountability, Self-esteem, and Keys to Success). In them, students
take a look at issues such as honesty, integrity, trust, agreement, leadership, communication, peer pressure, self-limiting beliefs,
anger, responsibility, accountability and decision making. Students learn to evaluate the choices they have made by examining the
results they have experienced in their life, and then use the information to create effective new choices.
The academic program at Cross Creek Manor offers techniques that allow students
to maximize the learning process and the earning of credits. Course credit is based not on time spent in class but on mastery of subject
matter. Students are not held back by other teens in the class, lesson plans, teachers’ schedules, course offerings, or class availability.
A student receives credit when she demonstrates that the subject matter has been mastered. Many of the girls who visited with us stated
that for the first time in their lives, they felt good about their academics and have gained a positive attitude toward school.
The emotional growth and personal development program includes group feedback
sessions to assist students in developing self- awareness. During group sessions, girls interact with each other in a warm, open,
and honest environment in which they learn, communicate, express their feelings, and develop awareness of what is working and what
is not working for them in their lives. The program also includes other vital materials, such as the use of self-improvement audiotapes,
specifically-designed reading materials, and educational, skill building video tapes.
Cross Creek has also developed a program for boys that is identical to their
program for girls. The boy’s program, called Cross Creek Center, includes both individual and group therapy and seminars with a self-paced
academic program based on mastery of the subject matter.
In addition, another program called Cross Creek Academy has been added to
the Cross Creek programs in LaVerkin, Utah. This program is a co-ed specialty boarding school that teaches values, integrity, honor
and respect for authority. The main difference between this program and the others is that Cross Creek Academy is for students who
have made some choices in life that are not in their own best interest, yet would not fall under the category of needing therapy.
Students in this program have basically the same academic model, emotional growth component, and seminar/workshops that are found
in the other two programs, differing only in that traditional therapy would not be involved in the program.
I was definitely impressed with the new facilities and extra space that students
now have. I have seen the growth in Cross Creek over many years and feel that their new program and facilities are highly evolved
from the beginning days of Cross Creek Manor. For the most part, the girls with whom I spoke realized that they needed to be in the
program, felt that they had made major strides in their lives since being there, and yes, would recommend the program to others.
Copyright © 1999, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced
without prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author attribution accompanies the copy.)
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