This is a preliminary introduction to the  Aspen Education Group that will be greatly expanded during 2008.  Aspen Education Group was acquired by Bain Capital in 2006 and brought within CRC Health Group, which was already controlled by Bain Capital.  Increasingly, Aspen Education Group is being referred to as the "CRC Youth Division" or "CRC Education Division."

Aspen Education Group is probably the largest provider of behavioral and mental health services to young people in the U.S., where services are funded primarily by out-of-pocket private payments by families.  Very few of Aspen's clients are supported in whole or in part by government or insurance funding of any kind.   

We believe that the general quality of Aspen facilities is adequate.  In the case of some of their facilities they are superb. In other cases they could use some improvement.  As we develop commentary on individual  programs, it will become evident who is who or which is which.  

We are very concerned about the aggressive marketing conducted by the Aspen Education Group.  Too often we hear of clinicians advising parents that sending their child to a therapeutic program away from home is only a good idea if it is an Aspen program.  Clinicians who give that advice are falling victim to this aggressive marketing.   Many Aspen programs are good programs, but people who speak as if they are the only good programs are at best misinformed.  Aspen is very generous with perks for their loyal referral sources.  We are not suggesting anything as black and white unethical as cash  payments, but we are not comfortable with the apparent level of conflict of interest among the people who promote Aspen programs and appear to be neutral. For more detail on this problem, click on this sentence.

After criticizing Aspen marketing, we want to be very sure that we are not conveying an impression that Aspen/CRC programming is generally of inferior quality. As we have more time to write about Aspen, we will show that this company developed from the understanding that the best way to be successful financially is to offer quality, effective, safe service.  We believe that Aspen is committed to quality improvement and we find them responsive to criticism and feedback.  However, the same is true of many other organizations. And like most other quality organizations, Aspen does have its weak spots. 

We do want to make sure it is clear that to the extent that
Aspen offers quality services, it is just one of many companies that offer quality services. We also do not believe that the Aspen name guarantees quality.  We want parents to challenge the ethics of referring professionals who convey the impression that all Aspen programming is superior the offerings of all other providers.  We believe that the admission directors on site at the schools and programs are generally more accurate than the corporate sources of information. 

See also http://www.strugglingteens.com/news/aspen-index.html

We continue to invite feedback.  Feedback in good taste in reasonable length from the provider organizations will be published.  Feedback from other sources will be considered for publication. We welcome feedback in good taste that disagrees with our point of view. 

Remember that even the worst programs have successes, and the best make mistakes.

Thank you for your patience as our construction project continues.  This article will be expanded and commentary on individual Aspen/CRC programs will be a added.  

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 assert something as fact, we have done our best to be accurate, but we cannot guarantee that all of out information is accurate and up to date. 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. Readers are responsible for verifying accuracy of information supplied here prior to acting upon it.

Last revised June 27, 2008