Newport Academy – Double Hill Road, Bethlehem

his is my full, honest experience at Newport Academy in Connecticut.There are 4 houses with 7 pods. Each pod has 5-9 people sorted by issue (e.g. Bear for neurodivergent, Bobcat for depression). This is your programming… pod. You might get a roommate, a single, or a room with a bathroom.The schedule is "groups," activities, and free time. Groups are usually useless; you answer questions on a sheet or discuss a TED talk. You get three therapy sessions a week: primary, counselor, and family. I programmed with Bobcat but lived in Fox in a single room.The houses are very nice. Everybody curses all the time, including staff. You visit the basketball court, yurt, and play ga-ga ball. Once a week is "adventure" (paddleboarding, hiking). The adventure therapist is very nice and took me on an individual 5K. You do MMA twice a week with Jeremy, who is nice and fun. There is a gym with a treadmill, but the rowing machine and bike are broken. Your pod usually uses the Nintendo Switch once a week. You watch up to a PG-13 movie most nights.You get three meals and three snacks daily. Snacks are often unhealthy, with fruit occasionally. You can get a max of seconds at meals, or get a Boost drink approved by a dietician. If you dislike dinner, you can eat pasta. Lunch alternatives are sun butter, turkey, or ham sandwiches. The food is hit-or-miss, so I usually ate alternatives. Saturdays have a pastry buffet and Sundays have a cereal bar.The nurses are very incompetent. They watch YouTube while giving meds and often gave me the wrong ones. IF YOU GO, LEARN WHAT YOUR MEDS LOOK LIKE AND CORRECT THEM!!!There is a leveling system. Your first 3 days are "Focus" (no adventures, 7.5-minute calls). Self-harm, purging, or aggression puts you on "Refocus" for 3 days. You stage up weekly by doing binder work and behaving. "Mentor" is the highest level, giving 20-minute calls and an MP3 player. It is stupid that you only get music at the highest level. I only leveled up once because I complained about the nurses' medication errors.Some staff are nice, some are mean. The pod staff are called BHS (behavior health specialists). They curse a lot but are chill. One BHS named Haley (or Haleigh) is pretty awful, though the therapist named Haleigh is not bad. I was approved by the dietician to get fruit during snack because I was on a med that makes me hungry. When I tried, she said that the med should only make me hungry right after I take it (biologically, that's NOT how it works, haley!) and wouldn't let me take fruit. Staff scroll YouTube shorts and make fun of you in a Teams group chat. One client was throwing books, and during a psych meeting on a tablet I saw the notifications of the teams chat. They said "remind them of opposite action" ( a dbt skill) and another person replied "they opposite actioned the heck out of those books." There is no equine therapy or ropes courses at Conneticut; that is a lie. In Bobcat, one kid was pissing on the bathroom floor and it turned out to be my best friend. A few years ago, an incident happened where a staff basically broke some really bad rules and messed up. When I brought it up, Ms. Daneesha, a bobcat staff, got very upset and said she was going to talk to a higher-up to talk to me about it. She said she wasn't retaliating but it seemed like she was. The staff also let people bully you a lot and like I said suck at breaking up fights; they definitely are not trained well enough. People fart on each other a lot there. I had depression, SH, and family issues. Somehow, I actually was cured of my depression here. I am going to be honest: the overall quality of living there is kind of rough in conneticut as of 2026. However, I was skeptical at first, but if you genuinely trust the program, it *will* help you get better. If you're nervous, I hoped this help. 4/5.

The only star I’m giving is for my daughter’s amazing therapist. Other than that my daughter came home after 31 days and has not changed a single behavior. I told them she wasn’t ready to leave , I asked for a meeting… with insurance to fight for her stay. They told me they have no grounds for an appeal and she was discharged next day. My daughter has been home for a total of 7 days and in that time she has hurt herself, ruined our home, caused severe emotional trauma to our toddler, verbally assaulted every single family member. LISTEN TO THE PARENTS! We know our kids! You didn’t fight for her and I was not given the voice too and now we are stuck without options, alone trying to navigate this trauma. Her aftercare wasn’t even set up when they kicked her out. She still hasn’t see anyone!

So far we have had a really good experience. They have been very organized, caring, and kept us updated. They even called to check in and make sure everything was going okay, which meant a lot to us. My daughter is very… sensitive and it takes her time to adjust and feel comfortable, so having people who are patient and understanding makes a big difference. They have really taken the time to care for her needs. It has only been a week, so we are still seeing how everything goes, but so far we are very thankful and appreciate all the care and communication. We will update again as time goes on. ❤️

My 15 yr old son just came home after spending 2 months at Newport in Connecticut. Prior to Newport , our family was at its lowest point. My son was hurting on the inside but the only way he could express it was… violence towards himself or Us his parents. I knew the root was hurt because he experienced a lot of childhood trauma due to me being a severe alcoholic from the time he was born until I got sober when he was 10yrs old. After getting sober and healthy for myself, I tried it all to help him, therapy, psychiatrist, church. He continued to get worse. I finally found Newport and prayed a residential treatment program might help us. It did!!!! Newport exceeded my expectations. I was skeptical at first after reading other google reviews but my experience was amazing. They didn’t just provide the tools and therapy and psychiatric help my son needed, They also provided all of that for us as his parents as well. It was an all around family therapy that I didn’t realize we desperately needed. They told me from the jump if I put in the work while my son was residing in their program putting in the work that’s when we would see a difference. So I did it I showed up virtually to every family therapy session. I also got one on one parent therapy sessions. These parent therapy sessions were a game changer. I learned how to parent differently. I learned how to speak to my son. I learned about his diagnosis.. Every child is different, but I grew up that there was only one way to parent and I was wrong! Since my son’s been home, he’s thriving. He’s going to his group therapy every single day in an Outpatient therapy that Newport helped us find in our area before being discharged. We love each other, and we speak to each other with respect. I actually never thought that my son and his stepfather would ever have a healthy relationship and their relationship seems better than my own with my son. It has blown me away and the staff At Newport, not only exceeding my expectation, but saved my family. I hope whoever reading this knows I’m not blowing smoke. I am a real person with a real family that desperately needed help and when I sent my son to Newport and I followed all their instructions we got more help than I ever expected. I’m bad at explaining in words exactly what they did for us, but I encourage you to pray about it if your child is going through something and I also want to assure you, my son was safe and he came home happy and healthy for the first time in his life.

One thing I will say for sure, I would not be where I’m at TODAY in this present moment without the struggles and difficulties I’ve endured. So I commend the staff at Newport for being a part of my journey!

I highly recommend Newport Academy. Newport fundamentally changed our lives. Newport helped to stablize my daughter and to introduce her to the skills that she will need on her mental health journey - sure, she wasn't… thrilled to learn these skills but we were comforted knowing that she was in a safe and supportive environment. Residential treatment is not designed to 'fix' our kids. What it offers is a reprieve from the chaos and suffering so that adolescents and caregivers can begin to lay a new foundation to chart a path towards recovery. What I couldn't have predicted was how much Newport helps parents - it is unlike anything else. The psychoeducational groups and weekly support groups taught me how to show up differently for my daughter because I can't always control her actions (her brain is still developing!) but I can change how I respond and support her. Like most adolescents in crisis, Newport was the beginning of our journey. But the skills that I learned and the community of support that I found through Newport - I still attend parent support groups! - have profoundly impacted our lives. I know that if and when we are in crisis again, it will never be the same because I have more effective tools in my kit.

I would recommend this facility to anyone with teens struggling with mental illness and wish I would’ve found this place years sooner. Maybe it would’ve changed things. My child has been in several acute mental health… facilities before this one. Newport Academy was like night and day. From the intake experience, where they went above and beyond to assist me getting my daughter to a whole different state than we lived in so my insurance was accepted. To the entire time she was there. They even assisted getting her to the airport so she could fly back home. All the staff I encountered was always a positive experience and I believe this may really help my child going forward. If I had more stars to give I would. Thank you for all of the care and attention shown to my child during this time.

My son was a patient at Newport Academy in CT for 76 days. He was in such a bad place when we dropped him off and each time we saw him (either virtually or in person) we kept seeing more and more of him coming back to… life. When he first got there, there was a ton of support offered for us parents - they offered us an orientation type of introduction to the program (virtually because we were 3 hours away). We had family sessions every week and were given the opportunity to have them in person, which we did every other session so that we would get to see him and the therapist in person. It was his birthday while he was there and his family therapist was able to schedule an in person session on his birthday, so we could see him and give him a hug on his birthday. The entire experience was amazing, between the therapists who were helping both us and our son and the psychiatrist that worked with him the entire time that he was there to get his meds correct. There was also a person who kept an eye on our insurance, making sure that his stay was covered the entire time he was there. All of them were great at communicating back with us to keep us up to date on his progress and status. My son struggled a bit after coming home from Newport, but the foundation that they established with him and the work that he did at Newport with his mental health has helped him to be fully sober for over a year now. He just graduated from high school the other day and to be honest, I didn't think that was possible before he went to Newport. I would highly recommend Newport to anyone that is considering in patient treatment for their child. The comprehensive treatment that they offer, as well as the kind, knowledgable and supportive staff is all a big reason for that.

Our family’s experience with Newport Academy was life-changing. One of the most important lessons we learned came from Parker’s therapist, Catherine, who taught us to “be comfortable in the uncomfortable.” Recovery… isn’t easy, and growth doesn’t happen overnight. Newport helped us understand that healing often comes through working through difficult moments rather than avoiding them. Our “Shift Happens” moment came when we stopped focusing on how long the process would take and started focusing on small daily victories. Instead of looking for one big breakthrough, we learned to appreciate the little signs of progress—better communication, improved confidence, healthier choices, and a willingness to keep trying. As a parent, I realized my job was not to fix everything immediately. My role was to support, encourage, and believe in my daughter while she did the work herself. That change in perspective gave our family hope and allowed us to recognize just how much progress was happening along the way. The therapists, academic staff, and residential team genuinely cared about Parker and challenged her to grow while supporting her every step of the way. We are especially grateful for the guidance, structure, and compassion shown to our family throughout the process. Newport Academy gave our daughter tools she can carry with her for the rest of her life and helped our family see that progress is measured one day at a time. We will always be grateful for the role they played in Parker’s journey.

When I was going to send my daughter here for her anxiety/depression I immediately went to the reviews. I was a bit hesitant because I feel most people who leave reviews are going to be the negative ones and I needed to… just hope for the best. This is the second time my daughter has been in residential for her anxiety and depression. She is very much a people pleaser and not someone who acts out which makes it hard for therapists to see what’s really going on inside. She was gone for over 2 months and I will honestly say that she came back worse than when she left. They changed all of her medications while there which increased her symptoms when she arrived home. She is a petite 17 year old girl and when she entered the facility she weighed 104 pounds. She had told me the food there was awful and she wasn’t eating much so I spoke to the staff to make sure the dietitian was paying close attention to her and to make sure she was eating enough. She is not one to have problems eating. They said they were going to do so therefore and trusted this would happen. When she arrived home she weighed 91 pounds. She lost 13 pounds during the time she was there which are her doctors here very concerned. I contacted the facility regarding this and they immediately got defensive and asked if I was accusing them of her weight loss and asked me if my scale was calibrated correctly. In addition to this they suggested that eating disorders can happen at anytime and asked if I wanted a referral for one of their locations for eating disorders!!! My daughter has never had and does not have any type of eating disorder but they refused to take any responsibility for anything. She immediately went back to other meds once she was home and had also began putting her weight back on. I would never send her here again. They did not keep me updated on her meds. They took her off of some of medications that were prescribed to her by her doctors that she took for IBS without contacting them or me before doing so which had a significant effect on her. Therefore in addition to her weight loss when coming home she also ended up with issues from not having bowel movements for weeks due to them removing her meds for her IBS. This was in no way a positive experience in helping her achieve ways of calming her emotions and putting her on a better track. The only reason I am giving them 2 stars instead of one is because the only positive thing was that she liked her therapist. He was a nice and understanding person. I hope for some others this place will work if you choose to go but I myself would never recommend it. She was located in the Utah facility.

when it gets chaotic, IT GETS CHAOTIC. but the staff and treatment team was lovely. i loved everyone there except a few....

Program was decent. Specific staff was disappointing. They do not have equestrian services. There was no daily yoga. These are both advertised online. I was not placed into an aftercare program after being discharged… from treatment. They dropped the ball and it was overall disappointing.

*Warning to parents: This is not a place for healing.* If you are looking for genuine clinical support for a depressed child, keep looking. This program functions more like an overpriced summer camp where "therapy"… takes a backseat to manual labor and busywork. In my experience, one-on-one sessions were rare (once a week), and the group sessions lacked any real depth or insight. The "hands-off" policy is actually just a lack of accountability. When a resident in my cabin became violent and began punching holes in the walls, the staff did nothing. We were left feeling trapped and uncomfortable in our own living space. Furthermore, their "cold turkey" approach to electronics is counterproductive. Rather than teaching healthy integration, they opt for total confiscation, which only adds to the residents' distress. As someone with ADHD and Autism, I felt completely misunderstood and unsupported. Do not send your loved ones here.

My child was sent here pre-covid. They took her off campus and she ran away. They were about to kick her out, with no aftercare- then they suggested a wilderness program. The transport team dumped her in an ER… mid-journey- and the hospital there said she was fine. She was not. She was visibly manic. Nobody bothered to adjust her meds. They just kicked her out after losing track of her in the town. One thing that stuck out to me was her dietary issues not being accommodated. She has ARFID. She was not eating. I suggested they just give her at least bread and milk so she would not starve. They said they could not give her special treatment because it might trigger the ED patients. Meanwhile, what is ARFID? But they wouldn't work with her in private to, at least, not trigger the other kids while giving her exposure therapy (or at least bread and milk). Her items disappeared when she came home, and she reported being assaulted by another girl.

As a therapist and professional in the field for over 15 years, I'm selective about the programs I recommend to families. Newport Academy has consistently stood out. What sticks with me is the feedback I hear after: a… strong clinical program, meaningful family involvement, staff who genuinely care, and a campus that keeps kids engaged with hands on experiential work. I've visited the campus myself, and I've seen enough success stories from clients who've gone through here to recommend it without hesitation to any family weighing their options.

I was at Newport Academy in 2023. My experience wasn’t perfect but it was better than most places I’ve been to. I would suggest this above 90% of programs. If your kid needs help, definitely explore at home options at… first. But if they are still struggling, Newport may be a really good option.

Over promise and under produce should be the slogan for Newport! My daughter was here for 40 days, and most of her time was spent coloring. We were promised so many things before she was admitted. As soon as she was… admitted and we left, it was radio silence for days. I had to reach out to 2 Directors to find out what was going on. My child is vegetarian, and most meals did not have a vegetarian option, other than yogurt or sides. One night her dinner consisted of mozzarella sticks. This is for a child who has 2 documented eating disorders, who was supposedly in a pod for eating disorders. We were told she would have 35-40 hours a week of therapy, between individual and group, but got 5 hours a week IF lucky. All groups and outings were taken away due to "schedule changes in the program" so the kids were left to sit in a living room and color all day, witnessing other children harm themselves or run away. Staff was rude to the kids in the pods, and when kids asked for help, they were often ignored or told to deal with it themselves. Communication was lackluster, with one person telling us one thing and the next person saying the exact opposite. For the amount of money this place charges, it is sickening that they don't care about the kids and helping them. They just see them as money coming in the door. We had about 3 staff that seemed to actually care. Do research, and find a better facility that will actually help your child, not traumatize them more!

They had my phone when i was there and they refused o mail it back to my house when i left and i ended up losing that phone due to them. They stopped responding to my calls/emails and they still have my phone...

If you are sending your child here ask LOTS of questions and confirm everything with everyone at the actual location. If academics are important, they over promise and under produce. My daughter is a honors student and… spent her one and only day coloring during academic time. We were told there was 20-30 hours of academic time; then once she was there we were told the program had recently changed and it was 2 hours - 4 days a week with an hour of free time she could use for studies. No schoolwork is allowed until they coordinate with the school which they refused to do prior to admissions. There were kids there that had been waiting for 2+ weeks and still had not started, so they were coloring. My daughter wasn’t allowed to read her school assigned book as it was not approved yet. We were told they could accommodate her taking her SATs offsite, but then told no that wasn’t possible. We were told that bringing your own bedding was encouraged yet upon admission she wasn’t allowed any of the bedding we had brought. They told us all about the yoga “class” so I had arranged for that to work as her PE credit at her school but again upon admissions was told something different- no more yoga. We had bought plane tickets and booked a hotel room to visit over Thanksgiving, as we were told there would be visits allowed, yet once again the story changed. First I was told no visit on Thanksgiving and it wasn’t until I decided to check her out that I was told there would have been no visitation. So we would have showed up, after spending $3000, to find out it was a “no”. I was told that there would be options for her food as she is gluten free. She asked for a gluten free snack and was told the kitchen staff wasn’t aware she was gluten free. After picking her up she told me she need to take her medicine (mental health medicine) and I asked why she didn’t take it that morning. She said they told her that it wasn’t in the list and they would have to give it to her in the evening, to which she responded she couldn’t take it at night or else she could not sleep. This was unacceptable! She did say the girls in her “pod” were very sweet and the staff was nice and some of the girls said it was helpful and it seemed as if they had made friends. Multiple times I was given the excuse that things are different in each facility but I reminded them that she was always going to one location so there was no way there could have been any confusion about what was or wasn’t offered. When you are putting your child in the care of someone else and you are repeatedly misled or misinformed, it is very hard to believe anything and there is no trust. If academics are important, this is not the place for your child. They talk a good game and if my child was in danger of hurting herself, I would not care about school but I had stressed the importance of her schooling and asked LOTS of questions only to be misled. The admissions person was in CA and, in hindsight, it’s obvious she knew little about the Bethlehem location. This may be a great program for some kids but make sure you get correct information!

Newport was such a helpful and worth it choice for my recovery. I was provided with great care no matter the time of day or night. My family therapist moe, helped my parent and I start to grow a relationship I never… thought id have. My CC's were amazing people! Its really hard to go into residential knowing you wont be home for a long time, but all of my staff made it so much easier and fun. It makes a big difference when your staff and treatment team can have fun and want to be there with all of you so thank you guys for that! The food i will say i struggled with. It wasn't the best tasting or most diverse menu but some days it was pretty good. All of the teachers at Newport are amazing. They make learning fun and relaxed while also still encouraging you to get your work done. I was scared to go to residential but Newport was such a great experience for me and has helped me through things I thought I couldn't even ever live with. I would definitely recommend Newport to any adolescent or family looking to find healthy and helpful treatment with mental health.

Genuinely a great experience. I received a lot of the help I’ve needed for years. The family therapy was very helpful with Gloria in creating a better communication system between me and my parents so far. The food was… good when Ben made it, but it wasn’t the most balanced. Overall, the living space and treatment team was great and I hope you decide to send your adolescent here.

ive offically been home for 3 months after a 3 month stay at newport in connecticut. im using a burner account to write this just in case. anyways, here are the issues i am now facing since leaving newport. 1. i have an… extreme fear of loud noises/people 2. cant trust any doctors, they may be lying 3. i feel guilty for going to the bathroom without permission 4. i hide things that dont need to be hidden in my room (chapstick, pencils, etc) 5. trouble talking about my feelings because im scared of being judged 6. fear of ever asking my parents for help (they might send me back) 7. more substance issues than i went in with this is NOT a place of healing it is a place of hurt. if you truly loved your children you would NEVER rip them away from their home and ship them off to go live with a bunch of psychotic strangers for 30-90 days.

My experience was absolutely amazing. I was in the Mustang pod, October 25 (2023) - January 7 (2024). I was previously at a rehab in Minnesota and it was a unanimous decision that I needed more treatment. From the very… first day I got there everyone was so welcoming, kind and accepting. I have severe allergies to egg and peanut so that also gives me really bad food anxiety. The nutritionist there was so so helpful and made sure I always had a fulfilling meal, from Breakfast to evening snack to the food I have to eat before breakfast (meds). Since I was in the substance abuse pod, we were able to go off site to NA/AA meetings. That helped me immensely. Kayla and Lisa the counselors for this pod are literally heaven sent. I love them so much and never made anything I talked about feel embarrassing or stupid. All the activities we had throughout the day like Gong, Equine, Music therapy, Tea making, Yoga, Gym, Nutrition, Adventure (S/O J.D), Art, Alumni, MMA (Love Vince, he's awesome.), and others I probably forgot to mention. For school, the teachers I had helped me a lot and made sure I was caught up and beyond where I needed to be in order to pass my sophomore year. (Ayeeee shout out Chris) There was quite a bit of drama, but nothing intolerable. The only thing I really disliked was how immature some of the staff was, making some people in my house (Dove) feel invalidated etc. That obviously isn't something that changed how my entire experience was but i was also one of those people they didn't 'like' for a little bit. I think they need to be more mindful when choosing who to hire. When we just have chill time in between activities, the CC's were so fun and easy to talk to. They all had such a huge impact on my stay. And the cooks!!! Holy crap. They kept me feeling included 3x a day every single day. When we had continental breakfast, they would make me egg free muffins, or the French toast bake egg free. And when it was something I just didn't like, I was able to eat a Sun butter and Jelly, Pasta, or cereal. I never went to bed or woke up hungry, unlike my other experience elsewhere. Overall it was such an eye opening experience and forever changed my life for the better. Also they did an amazing job administrating my Vivitrol injection monthly. One of the CC'S would go in there with me and hold my hand and talk to me. I'm sober to this day, (2 years coming up!!) Reading these reviews makes me upset, because in these programs you have to want to get better. You have to try and if you don't you're going to have a bad experience. It sucks at first, I would literally cry every week before, during, and after family therapy, but it's not because the therapist is bad. These 1 star reviews are solely personal. It has nothing to do with the staff. They're simply doing their job and making sure you are putting in the work to get better. Its not supposed to be fun. But if you put the hard stuff aside and focus on petting the horses, or making your tea bags when it's that time, you will find it to be tolerable. A good attitude = good outcomes. ANYWAYS if an actual human is reading this tell everyone I said sup

It’s been about a year since i left Newport. out of all treatment places i’ve been. Newport has helped me the most. i know ive had my ups and downs while being there. but overall i feel as if newport has helped me the… most. thank you to all the staff and CC’s especially Kristen💗 thank you Newport

if there was a 0 star option i’d pick that this place is terrible as a former patient there’s so many things wrong they aren’t validating, you only get 15 minutes to call a day, and overall just everything was weird, we… did all our own dishes and put away the food which seems kinda unsanitary and i threatened to run away they said not our problem that’s LA police departments problem…. the one thing they taught me is how to pretend your okay because if you seemed bad they would threaten more time like it’s jail or smth and the food. AWFUL. they legit just went on about how i have denial problems and i don’t know i’m not okay but the reason i was so not okay is because of that place i have ptsd it scarred me and i’ll never be the same ever again

I had really high hopes as a parent of FINALLY getting the help my child needed. 90 days of having her 4 hours from home. I was not even able to call her. We sacrificed and did what was recommended in hopes it would… help. I was misled as to what the recommendations would be for her upon discharge. It took MULTIPLE emails and phone calls and lots of frustration to finally get her discharge summary, to then not have it be at all what was discussed. Since she’s been home, she hasn’t been any better. She just picked up new behaviors in treatment. Newport was a waste of time and the transition staff needs better training.

After three years of searching for the right support for my daughter; I can confidently say that the treatment team at Newport Academy is the best we've ever worked with. The staff’s dedication, expertise, and genuine… care have made all the difference (especially Cheyenne, Jenna, Amanda, and Travis). The therapists, psychiatrists, and support staff worked seamlessly together, creating a holistic and individualized treatment plan that addressed my daughter’s unique needs; after a short time I truly felt like they knew and understood her. They fostered an environment of trust and understanding, allowing her to openly engage in her healing process for the first time. It didn’t happen over night, but when it did, it was beautiful to see. Their emphasis on family involvement, the therapeutic environment, and the diverse range of supportive activities all contributed to my daughter's growth (she loved the equine therapy and the adventures with (Cece). Today, my relationship with my daughter is stronger than ever. Our support community is much stronger, and she actively participates in peer support through Newport’s Alumni app, which has been incredibly beneficial. To a family considering Newport Academy, I wholeheartedly recommend it and advise that you fully engage in the process. Advocate for your baby, trust the clinical team, lean into the family therapy sessions, and embrace the available resources. It's a journey that requires commitment from everyone, but the rewards are immeasurable. It was by far one of the most challenging decisions I’ve ever made, especially as a BiPOC parent, but I would 1000% do it again. I will be eternally grateful to the amazing people we’ve met there.

As much as I did not want too go here, it really did help me when it came to points of view and perspectives. It’s always going to be hard the first week or so. But once you accept the fact you are there and try to… learn and just heal you’ll come to see that Newport academy is not a punishment. It is a great place as a learning opportunity and to heal from things you have not tried to heal from yet.