The industry's trade groups: associations of programs, of the educational consultants who refer families to them, and of the
companies that serve them. They write members' ethical principles, publish research, run conferences, speak for the industry
to lawmakers and the press, and give members a logo to show parents.
Under each one are the programs whose records on this site list it as a membership. Know of a group that belongs here?
Tell us about it.
11 trade organizations.
Association for Experiential Education (AEE)
Professional association for experiential and adventure education (members inside and outside the industry) · Active
Also known as: Association of Experiential Education
What it does
Accredits, certifies or inspects members
Funds or publishes research
Conferences, training and networking
Accredits programs: Wilderness Treatment Center announced its AEE re-accreditation in 2007
Yearly international conference and regional conferences
Symposium on Experiential Education Research (SEER); with Project Adventure, the Research and Evaluation in Adventure Programming (REAP) symposium (2010)
Therapeutic Adventure Professionals Group (TAPG): a professional group within AEE
A broad association of outdoor, adventure and experiential educators, many of them outside the troubled teen industry; wilderness therapy programs join it and present at its conferences. The programs listed name AEE in their own NATSAP member profiles (2009 to 2016-17); Woodbury Reports called Penrith Farms an "organizational member of AEE" (2008).
Association of Mediation and Transport Services (AMATS)
Association of youth transport companies · Bend, OR, United States · founded 2007
What it does
Sets standards or ethical principles for members
"AMATS Standards for Ethical Practices" (2007) for "any person or organization which contracts directly with parents, guardians, government agencies, programs or educational institutions for the transportation of minors or young adults"
Leaders and key people
Jeff Johnson (founder and executive director, 2007-2008; OnPoint Consultants, Loa, UT)
Cathy Villines (executive committee, 2007; Center for Safe Youth)
Bill Lane (executive committee, 2007; Bill Lane and Associates)
Brian Shepherd (executive committee, 2007; Right Directions)
Traverse Youth Transport (provisional member, 2007)
Formed in May 2007 "to establish best practices and standards as guidelines for the transport industry." Woodbury Reports printed its ethical standards in September 2007 beside NATSAP's, IECA's and OBHIC's, in an issue on the ethics of professional relationships in the field, including "secret agreements, understandings, or payment of any kind for favored treatment." Its 2007 members were youth transport companies, the businesses that take teenagers to programs.
Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA)
Association and certifying body for equine assisted psychotherapy · Santaquin, UT, United States · Active
What it does
Conferences, training and networking
Certifies practitioners in "the EAGALA Model" of equine assisted psychotherapy and learning (Part 1 and Part 2 trainings); programs advertise "EAGALA certified" staff
Yearly conference (7th in Ogden, UT, 2006; 10th in Asheville, NC, 2009; 13th in Las Vegas, 2012)
Leaders and key people
Greg Kersten (co-founder; founder of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy; joined Silverado Boys Ranch in 2006)
Greg Kersten v. EAGALA, filed June 26, 2007, Fourth Judicial District Court of Utah: wrongful termination, defamation, breach of intellectual property license, conversion of intellectual property and of personal property (as announced by Kersten's company)
The programs listed name EAGALA in their own NATSAP member profiles (2009 to 2016-17); Woodbury Reports called Penrith Farms an organizational member (2008). Many programs advertise horse work led by EAGALA-certified staff.
Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA)
Trade association of educational consultants · Active
What it does
Connects programs with consultants or other referral sources
Affiliations
National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP): ex officio seat on NATSAP's board
The trade group of the educational consultants who refer families to programs. NATSAP's strategic plans give it an ex officio seat on NATSAP's board and describe "Link 'n Learn," where consultants and NATSAP programs "meet and network."
Business alliance of small private-pay programs · Clearwater, FL, United States · founded 2005
What it does
Conferences, training and networking
Dinner meetings at which it gives awards to educational consultants: the ISPA Visionary Award (Dana Dean Doering and Martha Moses, Boston, 2007), the Distinguished Service Award (Leslie Goldberg) and the "ISPA Gem Award" (Joseph P. Dobson, an IECA member; San Francisco, 2009), awards to Janet Greenwood and Nancy Ike (2011) and the Courage in Service Award (Judith E. Bessette, 2013)
Leaders and key people
Andy Anderson, MRA (founder, managing partner and president; Andy Anderson Consulting)
Woodbury Reports announced its members as they joined: the Gersh Experience at Daemen College (December 2006), Wilderness Treatment Center (April 2008), SeaChange Hawaii and Soltreks (2011), Compass Rose Academy, Latham School and reStart (July 2012) and Cedar Ridge Academy (January 2013). New Lifestyles left before the spring 2013 IECA conference. In August 2012 Anderson wrote that ISPA had 17 members and would stop at twenty, and that he had turned away programs that did not fit its standard: "caring for families and their loved ones comes first, profits come second." Woodbury's February 2007 headline spells it "IPSA."
Council on Accreditation (COA): wrote its wilderness camping standards with it
Founded in the early 1990s as the National Association of Therapeutic Wilderness Camps, it changed its name in 2006 to the National Association of Therapeutic Wilderness Camping "to dispel the perception that only a camp could be a member." It traces the field to Campbell Loughmiller's Camp Woodland Springs in East Texas. The programs listed above are those whose staff sat on its board in 2008; the transport company SafePassage Adolescent Services was a corporate member with a board seat. Until 2008 it was run by volunteers.
National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP)
Trade association of programs · founded 1999 · Active
What it does
Sets standards or ethical principles for members
Lobbies lawmakers or works against regulation
Public relations for its members or the industry
Funds or publishes research
Conferences, training and networking
Connects programs with consultants or other referral sources
A logo or listing members show parents
"Link 'n Learn," "an innovative service that allows educational consultants and NATSAP programs to meet and network" (2018-2020 strategic plans)
Engages "an outside public relations consultant" to develop "pro forma press releases and P.R. tool kits that can be used by member programs"
Leaders and key people
John L. Santa (president, 2006)
Jan Moss (executive director; testified to Congress in 2007)
Lobbying and testimony
2006: formed an alliance with a psychiatric hospital trade group "to mitigate the potential impact of ill conceived regulatory efforts such as the proposed Miller legislation"
Testified at the 2007 House hearing on residential programs (executive director Jan Moss)
Its strategic plans list "Legislation- Schiff bill," "Miller/Schiff Legislation" and "UT/CA repealing funding" among threats to members; government relations staff were to "Forward Journals and newsletters to members of Congress"
Funding
With the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Council, named as a funder by the research center that produces most wilderness therapy outcome studies
Publications
Journal of Therapeutic Schools and Programs
NATSAP News (newsletter)
Yearly strategic plans
Programs on file that list it as a membership (61)
Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA): ex officio seat on NATSAP's board
NATSAP did not require its members to be licensed until 2009, ten years after it was founded. It says it is "not about accreditation" and does not inspect its members (GAO, 2008), but programs show its logo beside accreditation seals, and in GAO's 2008 calls a program told a caller NATSAP "absolutely" inspects its members. Its strategic plans list "HEAL online/Fornits," "Google Reviews," "Anonymous" and "Negative press" as threats. In October 2020, during the Disability Law Center's investigation in Utah, its executive director told about 130 members: "Let's not email" (KUER). Its 2024 statement that there were "no indications of abuse" in a 12-year-old's death at Trails Carolina, later ruled a homicide, and its press release on The Program have been taken off its website.
Accredits private schools, including programs' schools. Woodbury Reports announced: Ashby Academy starting NIPSA accreditation (December 2006); Greenbrier Academy for Girls a NIPSA Candidate School, "a pre-requisite for full accreditation" (June 2008); Elan School receiving NIPSA accreditation (2010); Turning Winds Academic Institute's "accreditation and membership" (2011). The other programs listed name NIPSA in their own NATSAP member profiles (2009 to 2016-17).
Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Council (OBH Council)
Trade association of wilderness programs · Active
Also known as: Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Industry Council; OBHIC; Outdoor Behavioral Health Council
What it does
Funds or publishes research
Funding
Gave at least $1 million since 1999 to the research center that produces most wilderness therapy outcome studies (Undark, 2020); the center later named the OBH Council and NATSAP as its funders
Undark reported in 2020 that all seven of that research center's researchers had worked in the industry or had strong ties to it, and that the studies appeared mainly in journals founded by related trade groups.
Yearly conference: The Rectory School, Pomfret, CT (2008); Grand River Academy (2012); Purnell School, Pottersville, NJ (2013), where staff of Shortridge Academy (2012) and The Family Foundation School (2013) presented
Leaders and key people
Betsy Deane (board of directors, elected 2010; admissions director, Cherokee Creek Boys School)
Its conferences have been hosted by ordinary boarding schools (The Rectory School, Purnell School) as well as by programs. The programs listed name SBSA in their own NATSAP member profiles (2009 to 2016-17); Woodbury Reports also described Cherokee Creek Boys School as a member of NATSAP and SBSA (2010).
Association of young adult (18+) transition programs · founded 2012
What it does
"A forum for the collaboration on issues of mutual concern, including young adult issues, operational issues, and other aspects related to providing young adult transitional services"
Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA): announced its formation at IECA's 2012 conference
Announced its formation at the IECA conference in Boston on May 2, 2012; its members had met since October 2011. The founding members were AIM House, Benchmark Transitions, Dragonfly Transitions, Echo Springs Transition Study Center, Fulshear Ranch Academy and SFYI International School. The others listed name YATA in their own NATSAP member profiles (2012-13 to 2016-17). Young adult programs are listed apart from teen programs on this site.
