Monuments RTC

Our family's experience with Monuments has been a positive one, and continues even after our son graduated from the program. The staff including Gordon, Mary Lou, Kristi, Mike & Landon have shown that they have the boys best interests at heart. Our son who now lives in Utah has kept in touch with some of the staff. It is gratifying to know that there are people nearby who truly care about him. It was a very rough road that lead us to Monuments more than 2 years ago. No parent wants to make the decision that it would be best for their children to live away from home for an indefinite period of time. But our son needed more help than we felt we were able to provide and we wanted him to be in a safe, caring and protective environment. We chose Monuments because the therapeutic program as outlined seemed to be the best for him. The staff were welcoming, the boys we met looked and acted well cared for and it doesn't hurt that the mountaintop is amazing. At the time of our first visit they were embarking on enlarging the academic & athletic spaces. We met some of the students who showed us what they were learning in class. We were able to tour the grounds and meet Gordon and other staff. The immersive Horsemanship program is impressive and over time our son fell in love with the horses. He learned how to ride & care for the horses, and grew to love them. The Brian Head ski area is nearby and the boys are able to ski & snowboard during the winter. There are weekly trips into town to shop, go to the movies and have dinner at local restaurants. We participated in weekly family therapy sessions which helped to keep us sane & looking forward. Subsequent visits including Family Week only reinforced our belief that our son and other students were receiving the best care. The educational program gave him skills that enabled him to graduate high school early and attend college. He buckled down & was willing to put in the hard work academically to succeed. He and the other boys performed community service, including cutting down firewood and delivering it to their elderly neighbors for warmth during the winter months. We are proud of him and grateful to the Monuments staff.
Oct 29th, 2021

Oct 10th, 2021

My little brother has been struggling with depression, school, friends, you name it since he was about 10 years old. My parents tried everything. He even did wilderness and then a residential program (one that was supposed to be the best.) My parents ended up pulling him because it wasn't helping him. After a couple of years they sent him back to wilderness and then to Monuments. Our family is so indebted to Monuments! They gave me back my brother and peace in our house finally. Everyone there cared about him and he felt it and so did all of us! He learned that he is smart and he is capable and he is a good person! He learned to be a good student because of the time the academic team spent helping him one on one learn how he learns best. He is now a sophomore in college. He has an awesome girlfriend. We all have a great relationship with him. At the worst of his time before Monuments, my other brother and I (and probably my parents too) thought he wouldn't live to see 21. Now we know he will. I am not going to start shouting out all of the people there who helped him change his life around because it was literally every single person!. These guys are the real deal. They really care. Thank you Monuments for giving us back our brother! You guys are the best!
Oct 9th, 2021

Sep 26th, 2021

I did not work for Monuments, but my husband did and I have worked in the RTC world previously. I only have experiences shared from him and other employees, but Monuments feels poorly managed from what I have seen. At one point, an administrator told my husband that another employee was outshining him. To me, this seems unprofessional. Never in my professional career have I had an administrative leader compare me to fellow co-workers. It seems like the leadership is full of good hearts and intentions but lacks training in leadership and communication skills. It seems like therapists are often stuck in a hard spot with parents complaining about the lack of residential structure, but also having very little ability to change the residential situation or make improvements. At one point, my husband tried to make some changes to keep the residential more organized based on parent feedback; none of this ever came to fruition and it was also thrust upon the therapists even though the administration and leadership team should be taking lead of their own program. Granted, I don't know all the details since my husband abided by confidentiality guidelines, but in general, he would express concerns over residential staff and structure not functioning effectively to monitor the students. And then he would become frustrated by admin not making any improvements despite the issues. Very rarely did my husband feel appreciated at his job; yet, many of the educational consultants loved to place clients with my husband, and his families were all very happy with his work. It was frustrating for me to see how many hours he spent both at work and at home (taking notes, giving advice to parents, helping staff deescalate students late at night, and taking students to dentist/hair/doctor appointments), but also knowing that other employees who had less experience got higher raises for seemingly no documented reasons. Their system feels like it plays favorites and it was very discouraging to watch from the sidelines. Ultimately, we were so dissatisfied with Monuments as an employer and organization that my husband was willing to take a 30k pay cut just to get out. All the money and bonuses in the world wouldn't be enough for him to go back. I will say that there are many great people who work there. So many good intentions and hearts, but unfortunately lacking in organization and leadership, which does a disservice to the students who need it most.
Oct 1st, 2021