Wasatch Behavioral Health – Orem

I went here, i recently got out, despite the other bad reviews i had a completely different experience. So much has changed over time and Aspire is a warm, (its actually freezing in there lol) loving place that helped… me find and love myself. The staff are beyond amazing people who help to make everyone feel loved and cared about. The supervisor and manager are the most sweetest and genuine ladies ever. Through Aspire I've found what I wanna do for myself and they helped me get back on track to graduate school. This place was a safe haven that helped me become who i am now. Sure, there was a bad run in with a staff, but they listened, they cared, they helped. Aspire is a place that I've grown to love (never wanna go back tho srry) sooo take with that what you will, if you're a girl going to Aspire, trust me, you just need to be open.

Was here for 4 months when I was 16. It was genuinely a life-changing experience. It’s definitely hard and confusing at first, as it’s a new unfamiliar place with new people and new rules, but once you learn and follow… the rules and actually devote yourself to healing, the process is so helpful. You learn valuable skills, things are explained to you kindly, the activities are helpful and healing based, and when there is an emergency it is taken care of promptly and with care. Keep in mind this is a high security level program, and it is this way to protect the students. If a student does something or acts a way that is an outright danger to the other girls, they may be taken to a different facility to learn to control themselves better before coming to Aspire, as Aspire is a group home dedicated to healing and growing, not being a behavioral hospital. Trust me, I was a direct victim to another girl’s violence, and staff handled it delicately with care. The girl even was able to return a couple weeks later, and we made peace with one another. I love Aspire, I loved the staff and my therapist, I loved the activities, and I will forever be so grateful for being placed here in my time of need, despite my initial fears and worries. A truly wonderful place.

I was placed here for about a year. Please don’t send your girls here. They will not come home better! They will be more traumatized by being here than not. While being here you are required to ask a question of, “can I… cross” what I mean by that is the staff would place tape on the floor leading to the different areas of the building. For instance if you wanted to grab dinner you would be required to ask, “can I cross” in order to step into the area to get food. You would be punished for anything and everything. When you would be in trouble, they would place you on “re-wind” this would make it for you would sit down your “hallway” at a desk, you would not be allowed to talk to anyone. Including staff, and other clients. You would not be allowed to walk around. The only time you could do that was when you were doing chores. The staff there are rude to the children there and belittle them for their behaviors. They are completely entitled of being a higher power than the kids. And they definitely made that clear. The therapist there do not help support the children, and blame it more on the kids then the abusers. This would cause a problem when the kids are trying to express their emotions. For the kids who where in there they could not actually express themselves in healthy ways because they where not taught how to. So this caused a lot of lashing out and kids breaking things. Tearing things off the walls and it came to the point of the kids even physically fighting one another in order to get out of aspire. I understand when a young woman is struggling it is difficult to support them. But forcing her into a place like aspire only creates resentment towards the caregivers, and in the end develops more trauma for the children. Please do not send your children here because this place will not help. It hurts more than anything. I honestly pray for the girls who are there currently and who have been there. Because it hurt me being there more than it would have ever helped by just being loved.

Sending my daughter to Aspire University was not an easy decision. When I first saw the online ratings, I was genuinely worried. But we were at a point where we needed help, and staying stuck felt worse than taking the… risk. Over time, Aspire proved to be exactly what my daughter needed. She’s grown into herself in ways I didn’t know were possible—more self-aware, more confident, and far more emotionally skilled. Her emotional intelligence has increased significantly, and she’s learning how to navigate challenges instead of being overwhelmed by them. I’m deeply grateful to the entire team for the care and consistency they’ve shown. They helped my daughter recognize the strengths that were already there and supported her in building skills that will stay with her long-term.

When I first read the Google reviews for Aspire University, I was honestly terrified to send my daughter there. The rating scared me—but at the time, I didn’t know what else to do, and we were out of options. Choosing… Aspire ended up being one of the most meaningful decisions we’ve made. They have helped my daughter grow into the wonderful teen she’s always been, but couldn’t yet see in herself. Her emotional IQ has increased tremendously, and she’s developing skills—emotionally, socially, and personally—that I never thought would be possible for her. I will be forever grateful to the entire Aspire team for the care, patience, and genuine investment they’ve shown in my amazing daughter. They saw her potential when she couldn’t, and they helped her find it.

I attended vive for 11 months. It was horrible. Although they are a “no-touch facility” so many staff have out their hands on girls. There was very much favoritism. If you were not the “favorite” it was horrible. The… favorites were the girls who were struggling the most. The therapist would rarely see you. They would constantly extend your stay. If you didn’t eat your food you would get punished and sent down your hall for days on end not allowed to speak to anyone at all and forced to wear scrubs. Girls were very mean to eachother overall. So much competition of who could get the “worst.” At one point another girl tried hitting me. Staff would not respect girls privacy and would say full first and last names. You would get punished for going to the bathroom. There is so many instances it caused more trauma then help. Not being able to see family and hours away from home is traumatic to anyone. If you were in pain they wouldn’t care. There was Very few good staff. All of the good staff left during my stay. Girls would constantly run away. I do not recommend sending your child there if you want what’s best for them!

I attended Aspire academy for 6 months. My experience was honestly much more traumatic than it was healing. The idea of sending a child to a completely new place with strangers all alone in itself is traumatic. Just… imagine, having your freedom taken from you in moments. You're sent to live in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar faces, hours from home. Unaware of the time that will be spent there or when the next time will be that you will see or speak to your loved ones. Favorites were definitely played by the therapists and staff. There were times when my therapist had even mentioned in our private sessions personal things about other girls there to me. As well as asked me to keep an eye on them or assign me to advise them on certain behaviors. Some staff would talk badly to myself and other girls about their least favorite of the girls at times. Staff would also ignore or speak rudely towards girls they did not favor for no reason at all. In most settings ignorance wouldn’t pose a big issue, however in a facility where you must ask for everything it did. Things like food or hygiene or even using the restroom. Another issue that occurred a lot was portion control. At random times the treatment team would decide to change the requirements of portions of each meal you would need to consume to stay on a good floor level. This switched from 25% to 50% to 75% throughout my 6 months there. The issue with this was depending on the staff that made the meals the portions were always really big or really small. At times it also occurred that certain foods were left uncooked and girls were still required to eat them. On another note, there were times where girls were required to share showers if there were not enough for each of us to share our own. This never proposed an issue until I was told to share my shower with this one girl. There were times when she left literal blood clots in my shower and on the floor. From the time that I began sharing that shower I developed a fungal infection on my feet. It progressively got worse over time. From my third month to the time I had left it had spread up my ankles. Even now, over a year later I have not been able to fully get rid of it. This issue was brought to the staff, therapist, and nurses attention and they all brushed it off. Now other than those few things there were some bigger issues in the facility. This facility is considered to be a no touch facility. However, there was an incident where a girl tried to crawl out of the back door after dark when one of the male staff had opened it and he grabbed her by her hair and pulled her back into the building. Another issue that I found quite concerning was that when girls went over their shower time in the mornings there were certain staff that would fully walk in the shower and turn them off. I see that as a huge violation. One of the biggest issues however that I had found most unhygienic of all was that during chore time a girl would always get assigned to do the laundry. This included all of the girl’s used towels and scrubs, as well as garment bags. We were instructed to simply pull the towels out of the basket and place them into the washer. The issue was that half the time the towels were either covered in blood or fecal matter from the other girls. Both of which I touched. When I had told the staff they brushed it off. It wasn’t until I made a big deal of it to the treatment team that they allowed us gloves to do laundry if we asked. There were many other occurrences I could go on about but I think you guys get my point. I don’t believe that places like this should ever be an option for a child or any person for that matter. What is needed is time and a safe space to heal. Not constant pressure and punishment. I advise any parent looking for help with their child to just be patient and give them space. Be supportive and don’t isolate them from the world. Hope this helps!!!

I went there. It was honestly more traumatic than helpful. Please understand the harm of sending your children away. That itself is heartbreaking for the child. When I was there, staff were kind, but treatment lengths… were constantly extending, making it feel hopeless for anyone there. When I was there we were yelled at and grabbed when acting out, even though it is a no touch facility. I am in no way trying to get anyone in trouble, I am simply letting people know what it is like. I have grown a lot as a person, and I truly believe that if you are struggling as a person or parent, this is a last resort. I needed to grow on my own, and being surrounded by constant pressure to behave and be perfect is awful. The level system was also very unfair. When I was in trouble, I was sent down my hall and had to sit by myself, couldn't talk to anyone, and had to be constantly working on "therapy homework". It is not a good environment l. Please let this be a helper when making a decision about where to get help.❤️

This place and it's staff have been wonderful for our daughter. They listen and do their best to come up with plans that met our childs needs as best they could. The staff is always polite and helpful.

As someone that’s been there, please don’t go there. They are terrible with clients, the therapists don’t listen and don’t take anything you say for granted. Got kicked out because I was doing something there that got… me there. It makes no sense if I’m struggling with something that got me put there why would you kick me out? Terrible terrible, don’t go there.

Very difficult to work with

They are very helpful with family issues