Grove School,

175 Copse Road, Madison, CT 06443

"The year I spent at Grove is what I work on in trauma therapy. Please don't send your kids here."

"I'd give it zero stars if I could. I was only there for a few weeks before my parents pulled me out because it was so bad. Academics are rudimentary. They control the students so much that they will be ill prepared to make any decisions of their own as adults. All of the students are constantly on edge, not just because of their conditions, but because they are afraid to say or do anything that might arise the ire of the school. In the few weeks I was there, it seemed that students were being encouraged to more or less inform on each other - you could tell someone something benign and all of a sudden be pulled in to be 'talked to' about it, such as simply having a crush on another student - this did not happen to me, but to another student. It was implied that this was commonplace, and one should not talk to other students about any personal things which were not already known to the staff. For what is supposedly a therapy-based school there was shockingly little therapy. In my 3 weeks there, I saw a therapist once and a psychiatrist once, and then only for 20 minutes. If you do your research, you'll find multiple instances of abuse at the school in the past 10 years - and those are only the ones which have made the news because of lawsuits and arrests. Residential treatment programs, as a whole, are a minefield. I don't know anyone who has gone to one and benefitted. Abuse is a problem at the majority of them because of a lack of oversight and poorly trained staff. If your child is struggling to the extent that you are considering one, or it's being recommended to you by a professional, consider other options such as daily therapy programs and occupational therapy, or even a traditional boarding school with a good psychiatrist on staff. Residential treatment programs get away with a lot under the guise of being a 'medical facility', and often leave kids more damaged. This is coming from somebody who is now healthy, stable and in their 20s."

"I was a student there from 2/9/73 to 6/24/74, Jack Davis was the H/M, it was all boys, boarding only, half the student body, but very expensive, heaven for a teen boy with issues. GREAT FOOD, NEVER ANY VIOLENCE."

"I recommend the Grove School in the highest possible terms. Our son started at the Grove School after attending a wilderness program. After he completed his wilderness program, both the staff there and the consultant we were working with suggested that he attend therapeutic boarding school. Making the difficult decision to send him to the Grove School was - and I say this without hyperbole - one of the best decisions we've ever made. The pros at the Grove School have worked with hundreds of families like ours and are the best of the best. Our son's path to stability was not easy, but, more than a year later, he is happy and enrolled in a conventional private school locally, and The Grove School played a key role. Small classes, excellent teachers and top notch therapeutic staff are among the Grove School's many strengths. Grove School also offers a wide variety of after-school and weekend activities; there's truly something for everyone. The students themselves also deserve credit for the school's success. Our son made meaningful friendships that he'll remember his whole life. The Grove School had a life-changing impact on our son's life. I'm truly grateful."

"It sucked ass, very corrupt, avoid at all costs"