Clarinda Academy

This place changed my life back in 1998-1999. Getting sent here was one of the best things to happen to me in my life. Did I do great there? No. Never a eagle or pledge. Actually left there with everyone expecting me to go directly to boot camp. Went to court and the judge gave me a chance. Now I own my own home, have 2 great kids, and own my own business.

Kids remember.... You have to want to change to be able to change.

This place was a life changer, being sent here was the best thing that could ever happen to me. There is a lot of rumors of abuse here but my 1 year of living here I’ve never witness any form of abuse to any child. Aggressive kids do get physically restrained to prevent them from hurting themselves or other. 10/10 would recommend.

Man i came here in 2013 and left 2014. I just have to say "I HATED IT HERE" but to he honest now that i think back about this place i actually miss being here . The staff were awesome! I miss a handful of them . Clarinda Academy taught me alot . I wish i could go back in time and relive my whole stay again . 'Cause even though there was allot of discipline and things got a little hectic sometimes . I could honestly now say that i LOVED this place ! Take me back lmao 😢🤣

This place changed my life. It truly does teach you how to use different tools to make better decisions and it also teaches about holding yourself accountable and having integrity. They also made it possible for me to go to college. Great place for high risk youth.

I was there in the 90's and left when I aged out unfortunately but I left there a changed person. If it wasn't for the academy I would be in prison. I left being an EAGLE!!! I'm very proud of saying I went to Clarinda Academy

This place changed my life💯

My son was here in 2015. I can't tell you how happy my heart is to hear this place is closed down. Hopefully it is shut down and not ever re-opened again. Our county juvenile hall sent my son there. I visited him twice. He was the youngest one there. His clothes were stolen actually all of his stuff was stolen.
The staff was horrible. There might of been one or two there that actually cared about those kids.
They weren't taught a lesson they were given even more trauma than they went in with.
If I could give this place negative stars I would.

I was a student here in 2013. Worst year of my entire life. The concept and framework of the program this academy is said to provide has immense potential to succeed at helping troubled youth mature into stable, helpful, independent, and productive individuals. However terrible and malevolent people had corrupted the environment with neglect and abuse by the time i attended. When i was placed at Clarinda Academy i experienced an environment where students were taught and often encouraged to slyly bully and put down fellow students in order to move forward in the program. This resulted in the victimized students becoming stuck in constant regression within the program further extending their time trapped in such a traumatic environment. Group shaming was regularly used by both students and staff and was part of the daily routine. A majority of the staff abused the students both physically and mentally. Most staff misused their being permitted to physically "restrain" students. Simply not following directions or being disrespectful could immediately lead to being "restrained". And being "restrained" often began with the arms being grabbed and pulled behind the back and then used to lift and hold the student off the ground. Then if the student were to not calm down or fight back they would be thrown onto the ground and held down till they "accept expectations" (aka verbally blame themselves for the situation) and calm down sometimes being held down for hours untill they complied or passed out. They would often isolate students for very long periods of time while also depriving them of sleep.

My year staying there was the worst of my life. However i wouldn't change my going there if i could. Because even though the place was so terrible i learned alot from my experience there. I learned alot about the types of people i didnt want to become as well as how evil a person can become when the environment they are put in encourages malevolence.

I only hope that the academy has changed and that its not that way anymore and that the few staff who worked there that were actually good people have been able to change it for the better somehow.

I was there during 2006 2007 started on boys shelter ended up on lincoln hall my stay wasn't pleasant staff constantly telling me that I was gonna take the walk across the street to the prison they did alot of restraining there I was restrained over a look n yeah students r encouraged to bully each other to get ahead in the program I lost my pledge for falling asleep in g.g.i guided group interaction I think that it needs to be restructured n more time focusing on fixing the behavior instead of criticizing everyone over everything especially small n petty stuff

I have alot of unresolved trauma from this place. Im glad to see sequel is slowly but surely shutting it down

Well just found out they've been abusing these kids. Shut down! Shut down! Shut down!

kids are getting hurt

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