Venture Academy provides help for troubled teens in Canada including troubled teens who are experiencing family conflict, negative peers, school suspensions, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, drug and alcohol abuse, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Conduct Disorder, anxiety, depression, other clinically diagnosed disorders and other significant behavioural challenges.more...See more text
Fantastic experience. I'm not too sure about the other negative reviews but the staff have been great. Communication is on point and the help they are getting is phenomenal. They do not allow "criminals" into the program as they have a very rigorous screening process.
My son was terrified when I left him there. Some of the youth are court appointed to be there and he was scared because they were real criminals like a pedophile, car theft and very serious mental health issues who’ve done very bad things. These are the youth your child will be associating with, making friends with and learning more bad things from. My sons allotted 15 min phone call per week was monitored and he wasn’t aloud to say anything bad about Venture or his negative feelings.
I can’t believe they haven’t been shut down. The staff running this program are under trained/educated and are not equipped to provide a therapeutic environment as needed for children who are mentally ill or struggling in any way. The host homes are impersonal and lack food. The $15 k monthly fee will only help your child gain trauma experience. Please read the other reviews and do not send your child to Venture Academy. The intake people are selling garbage to desperate parents.
I was a student at both the Kelowna and the Ontario locations. While attending the Ontario campus I discovered I was pregnant, and the teachers began to withhold prenatal care to get me to participate and cooperate. If I was feeling too ill to do rigorous CrossFit training they would cancel my scheduled phone calls with my parents. If I was misbehaving they refused to send my letters home or give me my parents letters. They actively tried to get me to quit taking my psych meds. Do not recommend.
I was a youth there and it was terrible. They use messed up kids to get money and don’t properly help them. I have severe abandonment issues and they kept me away from my family and never helped me with them, they were trying to force my family to keep me there after my family asked to take me home after the 30 days. They had an unregistered group therapist and the one on one therapy was horrible. I 100% do not recommend this place. I got lice from there too and they didn’t treat it properly
Terrible! I went there and my mom said for only 6 weeks as a boot camp and then back home. The first night they said my mom could come visit me at the house, and she wasn't allowed. I wasn't even allowed to see my mom until like 4 months in. Completely wrong. And plus, when one kid was having an issue it resulted In all the other kids having to stay. I got zero credits from that place and had to do grade 10 2 times after that and made me switch to ILC where I could've gotten my grade 10 credit.
Venture worked for our family! My son has proudly celebrated three years of solid sobriety since completing this program and is about to graduate from college. We are so grateful! It wasn't perfect, but it gave me my son back.
Great concept, terrible delivery. Promises and assurances given during intake are only meant to get you to sign up and pay the $15000 enrollment fee for 30 days. After your child arrives, it's a whole new arrangement. Frustrated phone calls and repeated emails trying to get recognition of the promises made to you during intake will not result in any meaningful changes. DO NOT send your child here if you are looking for "clinically comprehensive assessment". That is just marketing lingo..
This establishment is an absolute money grab! They prey on parents at the end of their rope with their children, and extend the stay of the children based on the income of the family, not the needs of the children Louise, the director of the Barrie location, is the only person qualified for "therapy", however she has a business to run so her timeframe for "therapy" is quite slim. In other words, there isn't much therapy happening, if any. If you are looking for a place for your kids to be babysat by all means, you have found it. If that's not what you're looking for please find another alternative.
