With snow-capped mountains rising to 12,000 feet around a valley, and five small canyon streams full of trout and beaver ponds, Koosharem seems like the perfect retreat from big-city conflicts and influences. And, for 100 teenagers, that is exactly what it is.
Teenagers from cities such as Denver, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Reno, Seattle, New York, and Salt Lake City are sent to Koosharem to live because they are "out of control." Most have been involved in drugs and sex, have refused to comply with authority or lack the desire to succeed. Many are dropouts and runaways, and some are suicidal.But they didn't willingly seek this remote town as a "cure-all" for their problems. In fact, almost all of them were sent kicking and screaming by desperate parents to Sorenson's Ranch School, a mental residential treatment center.
Sorenson's school is located on a ranch, providing a place to heal in a back-to-nature situation. Facilities include a central lodge, kitchen, dining area, all-purpose activity room, a library with 2,000 books, shop and craft areas, gymnasium, new classrooms, riding arena, training circle for horses, corrals for cattle and horses, and rustic dorms for student living. The staff of almost 80 people includes psychologists, therapists, counselors, nurses and certified teachers. Sorenson's is approved by the Joint Commission of Health Care Organizations and is accredited by the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.
"Kids are usually workable and teachable out of their environment," said Carrol Sorenson, owner/secretary of Sorenson's Ranch School. The ranch has many possibilities for students to learn and try different things. Activities include horseback riding, camping, farming and the raising of animals and produce that go along with ranching.
Twenty-two of the school's 100 students are wards of the state of Colorado. The "Colorado kids" won't be going home to a family. "After they're finished here, they will probably just go back to another facility - sometimes a foster home," said Sorenson.
But one of the "Colorado kids" has other plans. The 15-year-old had an extremely rejecting mother. She clung to her father, a drug addict, and experienced physical and sexual abuse. She has been in placement since she was 9. Regardless of her not-so-promising past, the girl has plans for a bright future. She wants to go to college and someday go into the business of breeding dogs and training horses.
Most of the students leave Sorenson's with a career goal, and many anticipate college.
That may be a result of the one-on-one counseling the students are provided. Students set eight goals upon arrival and have personal counselors who offer encouragement and hope. Every counselor has three or four students to whom he or she plays the role of mother and father. Students work with their counselors on gaining self-control, finding alternatives to school failure, establishing better communication with parents and gaining healthy attitudes for success in life.
One 16-year-old girl has been a student at Sorenson's Ranch School for three months. She had attempted suicide several times and was hospitalized after swallowing 90 pills - including several prescription drugs and some of her dog's medication - but says she now feels like she is a worthwhile individual. "I have learned to be myself and that I can be accepted for myself."
The school is based on a "points and levels" system that requires students to take responsibility for themselves and their actions. When they perform within this system of basic expectations with consistency, they earn privileges for themselves. However, there are consequences for mistakes and indecent behavior, such as assigned work hours and loss of privileges. When students repeatedly fail to comply with the rules they are sentenced to isolation. This is a time-out from everybody. Students in isolation are required to wear orange suits and are usually sent "to the fence," a separate place for students to work through their problems.
Once students decide to take responsibility for their own actions and accept control of their own lives, true change can begin.
"Sorenson's has helped me to understand myself and my true capabilities. I believe it has helped to make me a better person," said a 16-year-old boy from Andover, Mass. "I think that Sorenson's is the first step to a better life. However, I know the skills I've learned here must be carried on."