CRC Health Group is the operator of a wide range of treatment programs. It began as a chain of adult substance treatment programs. It  was acquired by Bain Capital, one America's pre-eminent venture capital firms.  It has expanded to include psychiatric hospitals, summer camps for children with special needs and a range of other health related services. 

In 2006, with the support of Bain Capital, CRC Health Group acquired Aspen Education.   Aspen Education was known as CRC Youth Division, for a period of time. CRC Health Group operates a number of programs of interest that are not part of Aspen Education, although the majority of CRC Health Group programs that are of interest of to us are still labeled with the Aspen Education brand.  CRC Health Group offerings that are not part of Aspen tend to serve adults over 18 only and many are primarily of interest to older adults.  We will give attention to those that we know serve younger adults well, and, of course, any that respond to our questionnaire.  However, we will continue to treat the Aspen Education brand as if it were separately operated.  That includes providing Aspen’s own page under this heading.   

We were not surprised that Bain Capital  acquired Aspen Education.  We were surprised that Bain Capital  put Aspen Education under CRC Health Group, as Aspen Education had a far superior reputation at the time of the acquisition.   Our fear is that as CRC Health Group integrates Aspen Education into itself it is essentially bringing Aspen Education down to its own level.  It appears that this time, mighty Bain Capital  simply did not do its homework.     

We affirm that CRC Health has some quality programs.  We have been very pleased with Sober Living by the Sea, Sunrise Ranch,  and several others. CRC facility Sierra Tucson has long been a very will known facility of excellent reputation.  On the other hand, most of the CRC Health Group in Pennsylvania are not programs where we at FamilyLight ^sm would want a family member to be a patient. 

We remain hopeful that Bain Capital investors will take a serious look at CRC Health group and serious improvements will result. 

Life Healing Center

Sober Living By The Sea

Sunrise Ranch

Aspen Education

Other links:

Official web site of CRC Health Group.

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Disclaimer: No  program review, no matter how positive, is a blanket endorsement. No criticism is a blanket condemnation.  When we express our level of confidence in a school or program, that is our subjective opinion with which others might reasonably disagree.  When we address compliance with our guidelines, you need to remember that these are only OUR guidelines -- not guidelines from an official source.  We have also set the bar very high, and do not expect any school or program to be in total compliance.  It is not appropriate to draw a conclusion of impropriety (or even failure to live up to conventional wisdom) from our lack of confidence in a school or program or from less than perfect conformity to our guidelines.  Some will say we expect too much.

Last updated  May 16, 2010/ deletion of some information occurred on February 1, 2013