Southern Peaks RTC – Canon City

Getting a call back is difficult

0/10 would not recommend food

I honestly wouldn't say that SPRTC is the worst place to be I mean there not really any structure or programming going on but that is cuz staff come and go and kids run around and don't listen but I do appreciate some… of the staff that worked and works their like Therapist Lexi, Alicia g, sherry c, Ashley g, Jordan, Zach, Russell, Lily, Robbi, Vanessa, Virginia, Nikki, Marissa, shyane, Austin, Savannah, nadia and Heather. Im gonna be honest some of what was said on the news was exaggerated and some of it was true some of what is said on Google is also exaggerated. certain staff and peers is what got me through the program staff being supportive is what helped me the program itself did not I can't give the facility a 5 star rating cuz I've also had some bad experiences there but I can give it a 3 and a half cuz the facility is getting better but it's not ever going to be perfect cuz no where is perfect but I would recommend parents to give the facility a chance to help their kids but do know that the experience is different for everyone I'd like to thank SPRTC for the help they offered me and for trying to better their facility for the future

I wasn’t an easy kid. I was angry, depressed, and carrying years of trauma and abuse. I had been on probation since I was 11, in and out of juvenile detention, cutting off ankle monitors, trafficking narcotics — pretty… much everything you could think of. At 15, I got in serious trouble and was sent out of state to Southern Peaks. I can’t speak on how Southern Peaks runs today, and I’m not giving five stars because of the treatment plans or the structure of the program. I’m giving five stars because of the floor staff. I don’t know who is still there now, but the staff I had completely changed my life — Rob, AJ, Trina, Brandon, Adelma, Jeremy and a few others I can’t name off the top of my head. And of course, the youth on my unit (who I won’t name for privacy). Was the program hard? Absolutely. Did I struggle some days? Yes. Did I AWOL? Yes. Did I see some crazy youth? Yes. IDK if i’m just thick skinned but a lot of it motivated me to turn my life around, motivated me by showing me the path i was headed and giving me the shove elsewhere. But because of my floor staff, who sat and went through it with me, I healed in ways I never thought were possible. They supported me, built real connections with me, and many of them shared pieces of their own stories to help me work through mine. Everyone will have their own experiences, and I can’t vouch for the current staff. But because of the SPRTC floor staff I had, I now have a life worth living — a career, a car, my own apartment, and I’m continuing my college education. Take what you want from this

worst option for a residential treatment facility in colorado. i was here about 3 months ago and my mom had to take me out this place because it was so bad and more traumatizing then anything. i was in the windom unit… and there was so much drama and threats everyday. the girls there were destructive and wanted to fight a lot. barley any staff there and you can obviously tell staff don’t like there job. There was a few staff that made things a bit better like melissa, mitchell, and lily. they accused me of bringing in a phone and searched all my property and still insisted i had a phone. they also lie about your discharge and the whole 50 days i was there i only had like 3 therapy sessions. they don’t really take the time to care about your problems and if anything they make you seem like you’re the bad person and that’s why you’re in there. they barely listen to your needs and the food here is so horrible. there’s also people running away almost everyday and there’s riots and ccpd stays outside the back gate because of all the youth that try to escape.

Southern peaks is not the way to go. They have horrible staff. They kick people out because they don't want to take care of them anymore. They are a high level of care? Bullshit if they have a high level of care why do… they kick people out over things they are supposed to be helping with. Crazy. I was there twice 6 months and 5 months the only staff that has truly helped me and does there job is Lily Stupp. She advocates for you she stops everything and talks to you when you are upset.

This place has recently admitted to restraining children who need mental rehabilitation 75 to 150 times a month, PATHETIC. Today on local news this report came out.

This place sucks there's this one lady that works there that likes to talk about my daughter and say shit about her. They lie so much. This place needs to be investigated or they need to be shutdown. They lie so much. I… will be contacting the police on this one lady that likes to talk shit about people.

went there and it was quite horrible even after 4 years I am still depressive and suicidal in ways if ever recommended to send your child here DO NOT at all. the food is shit and I threw up multiple times and the gender… separation attempts are horrible staff are unprofessional.

I stayed at SPRTC for almost a year in 2013... maybe 2014. I’m not sure what’s making me add this to my blank review now, but I didn’t before because even thinking about that place still makes me shaky. I’m almost 30… now, and I still have vivid nightmares about my time here. Most of the staff were abusive. Many ended up under investigation, but nothing ever seemed to come of it. We would just hear that they were, they’d disappear for a few weeks and then return like nothing had happened. I watched a girl who couldn’t have weighed more than 90 pounds soaking wet get slammed into the ground so hard I’m still shocked she didn’t break her tailbone. She was black and blue for weeks and could barely walk. There were constant riots - kids fighting kids, kids fighting staff, staff fighting kids. Rocks thrown through windows regularly. The environment was chaos. All of us came from terrible situations, so I could never hold the behavior of the other kids against them. But the staff should have known better. The only conclusion I’ve ever been able to reach is that some of them were just bad people who chose to work there for nefarious purposes. SPRTC had a special unit for sexual assault survivors, yet they placed girls who had assaulted others in the same unit. That never sat right with me. I understand that some survivors go on to harm others, but it still seems obvious they should have been separated. I could write pages of what it was like to be here. I didn't understand how this was legally running then, and I don't understand now. I came out of this worse than I went in. If you have any type of control over whether or not your child goes here, please don't send them. 12 years later and it still affects me.

I was a client their it was Hell riots often i was jumped almost lost my life 12 time in two year a staff member named Cody actually had a gang member jump me i dont even want to give a star

Our 17 year old daughter just came home from spending 4 months at Southern Peaks in Canon City for repeated suicidal ideation/attempts. I was really nervous about sending her there after reading Google reviews, but it’s… the only place in the state that Medicaid covers, so we didn’t have a choice. We were really happy with the facility and staff. They’ve been going through a lot of good changes in 2025, and the staff seemed to genuinely care about the kids. Her time there gave our family the break we desperately needed from the stress of trying to keep her safe all the time, and she did learn and grow and stabilize (hopefully). They have a detailed pillar system and therapy curriculum the kids work through as they progress, and they get weekly individual therapy and weekly family therapy via zoom. The bad part is that they spend 24/7 surrounded by the most mentally ill kids in the state, and the kids definitely have a very negative effect on one another. There’s no getting around that. But overall I still think it was the right call for our family.

One of the worst treatment facilities out there. Food is raw, staff treat the kids very poorly unless they like you and in that case they help to feed your drug habits. Constant fighting and drama and the staff only… help those they like.

I was here for about 4 months. Worst 4 months of my life, dude. The food is uncooked and raw. The bathrooms and living space is disgusting. There was RAT FECES on my bed at one point. The staff don’t care how they treat… you and they love putting kids in physical restraints. The only reason I was able to get out is because my lawyer got a tour of the place and it was disgusted. This place needs to be shut down. The way staff treat the youth here is beyond foul. It’s disgusting. This should be a Juvenile Detention Center.. NOT a “treatment” facility.

I was here during summer of 2023 and the only reason I am even giving it a star is for the very few amount of staff who genuinely cared for the youth and made my stay tolerable. Otherwise this place is the worst place… you could go to for treatment and the only good thing I got out of being here was to never do the things that landed me there in the first place. Six weeks in and I got a hold of razor blades TWICE, the first time from a staff and the other from a youth that was able to smuggle it in from a home pass because the facility and staff failed to do their mandatory search&shower. When I needed stitches because I used one of said razor blades to engage in self-harm, it took them almost 4 hours to set up transport and get me to the ER. My first two months I was on a constant 1:1 in which the staff assigned to me were continuously falling asleep or just straight up getting up and leaving me on my own which is also how I was able to end up with stitches. Not all of my staff were bad at doing the one simple task of keeping an eye on me though, some were very supportive and understanding and actually made me their only priority and did not belittle or guilt trip me when I had unsafe days. The restraints were the most traumatic and the most painful thing you could go through. I’ve been tackled twice, I have had an unnecessary amount of people on me at once holding me down, and after a restraint I always had some sort of injury, I get that when it comes to restraints it’s because it came to having to physically stop whoever from doing something they shouldn’t be doing but the amount of force they used for an underweight teenage girl was crazy. I only successfully AWOLed once and the whole situation was very stupid. Staff were threatening to go hands on with me when it was not needed, things happened and I got upset so I jumped the fence, no one came after me when they should have especially due to the fact I was a risk for hurting myself, they didn’t even call the police and I was out and about walking around town until almost two in the morning before a staff member who had just clocked out found me covered in my blood and called people to come get me. There were relationships going on with staff and youth whether romantically or just straight up unprofessional, multiple times staff would bring in contraband to give to youth as well. There was tons of drama between the staff that was also very public in the setting. The only good things that I actually enjoyed doing was medicine bear and equine therapy but the staff who run it stopped including me in both because I had relapsed heavily in an eating disorder and from what I and other youth assumed, trying to punish me for it which was very hurtful. The medical team was very kind and helpful with getting me the care I needed during this time which I am very grateful for. The facility discharged me while in the hospital for my ED without any resources and basically just threw me out expecting my family to find me the treatment I needed which by the way, did not happen. Overall this place is horrible and unsanitary and needs a good deep clean or even better, to be shut down. For a facility who is trying to broaden their treatment more towards mental health, they are not equipped for it and should stick to working with kids involved in the justice system. I am forever appreciative to the recreational therapists who came to see me while I was in the hospital and for the morning staff in the school, those people cared.

I was mistreated here for almost a year! The staff treat you horrible and with no care n respect. The staff don't enjoy putting kids in restraints they love it ! This place needs a evaluation from the state. The only… good thing was the therapist Jennifer!

My daughter says that her experiences here have by far been the most traumatizing of her life. She and I do not recommend it.

Southern peaks is really not a good place to go. You have to find the right staff to go to or you will get manipulated and humiliated I went on different units and only 1 of them was filly therapeutic. Princeton is not… a good unit and there is few staff on that unit to talk to who genuinely care about you and your well being. Therapy was pretty scarce. When I was on the Princeton unit I was with a girl who managed to get 2 razor blades and I'm honestly surprised that she lived. The supervision us horrible because thc and nicotine was being passed around and the staff did not realize until they dropped theirs and it went missing. The "treatment" is not anything near treatment. There was many things that happened to me while being there that I won't ever forget. I was in a restraint which those are not useful and very painful they apply too much pressure and force because when they would proceed to apply more and more pressure because they would hold you in very uncomfortable positions. Standing upper torso is weird because they take your arms and wrap theirs under and squeeze so your shoulder blades can touch and you can move. If you move the slightest bit you get thrown to the ground. I am very thankful for Kelsey and ash during my restraints because they wouldn't yell at you to calm down when you were screaming and crying at the pain. I got my right shoulder popped out of place during an overly aggressive restraint. The food was horrible and they would force you to eat or you would get put on a clinical 1:1. They would take your clothes and make you wear stained up and gross pajamas even to school. I remember the verbal discrimination I received when I would walk out and do stuff that I probably shouldn't have done but I tried almost every single day to escape and they would fallow you until you were no longer in their sight and then when you weren't they would finally contact the police and tell them they have it under control and when they can not find you they put it in the police authority. They would act like they are so worried when you get back but when police were no longer there they would act if you had "fun" they never did genuinely care. I want yo thank austin,kailee,and Keith for their support.

I would not advocate for this establishment to those in need of assistance. The quality of the food is subpar. Although the majority of the staff members exhibit professionalism, the minority can display aggressive… behaviors. I have observed inappropriate relationships between staff members and multiple patients, which is a clear breach of professional conduct. Furthermore, a staff member made a false accusation of my assaulting her, but the security footage disproved her claim, consequently enabling my departure. I sincerely believe that, had this incident not occurred, they would have retained me until my insurance coverage ceased.

I absolutely love Southern Peaks, I have been in and out of the system as a juvenile and have never seen anyone try and help youth the way Southern Peaks does.

place gmfu

I wouldn’t even read this place one star I was there for almost a year. I was one of the girls that ran away with three other girls we escaped. They did not inform any of our family within weeks that we were missing… from the property they did not call the police, there were so many riots. The staff was very unprofessional when it came to restraints I had no bra on and yes it is kind of my fault cause I tried runaway because there was abuse by staff members, so I was tackled by a staff member named Tara, My chest area was exposed to the boys heading back to the unit. There were two other staff members named charity, and Vanessa. They would literally belittle the girls, and say, at least I get to go home. They’ll never let us make our one week phone call charity, and Vanessa have bounced volleyballs off of the girls faces. Staff members were being attacked by Kids on the units they got so bad. there was this one staff name Erica and there was my roommate that had a baby and lost it and she literally put this girl down so much. She went in the bathroom and try to hang herself, nobody went to check on her , you’re usually only supposed to be in the bathroom for seven minutes you’re not allowed and there is somebody’s in there you have to yell clear and one of the girls I ran away with is the one that found her hanging they did not call 911 and they did not Her checked out by the nurses or doctors !!!!!!The boys get to go to the cafeteria and an actual school. The girls are in this type of old shed thing with no windows no air conditioning and they will fill you and tell you every caseworker. Oh they have a swimming pool. The girls will go to school over here, they will sit there and lie to your face so when your kids call you crying saying this and now is happening you might as well just want to check into it. I was on probation at the time and because they would not let me get my one phone call a week, I had a warrant out for my arrest for four years didn’t even know about it I was one of the most traumatic things I ever experienced in my life. They will have hot seats to pend up the children against each other. overall experience it was like living in hell the only staff members that I did appreciate because they actually cared about the kids was a therapist named Carol and a bus driver named Janices and there was one night staff that I really liked and I forgot her name but from that place was the best thing for me that ever happened .

My nephew has been at Southern Peaks for almost 6 months and is doing well. The staff really seem to care about the kids and are kind and forgiving. My family and I are eternally grateful for the care my nephew has… received. He is a very emotionally and physically demanding kiddo, and the staff are able and willing to help him in any way possible.

My girlfriend is being sent here and reading these reviews are making me feel like I need to intervine