History of Cedar Ridge
Cedar Ridge was founded by Robert Alexander Nielson in 1996, after he spent time working in Cross Creek Manor in La Verkin, Utah. He learned of the (now disbanded) WWASP model, and decided he could do it “better,” in Roosevelt, Utah. Robert or Rob was unlicensed at the time. He brought some girls from Cross Creek Manor, and a boy to live in his single wide trailer in the desolate, isolated high desert of northeastern Utah. Cedar Ridge, which is now called Makana, is in Roosevelt: a boom and bust oil town in the middle of nowhere. The facility was far from town, on one long dusty, bone shattering, washboarded dirt road. Sage, cacti, and stunted pinyon pines were all that grew there. This was not the picturesque southern Utah multicolored, Mighty-5, over-instagrammed-desertscape, nor the greatest “snows on earth” of the Wasatch Front for which Utah is notorious (these images are being falsely featured on Makana’s deceptive marketing materials). Roosevelt is a small town, with a population of ~6,000. It is located in the land of abandoned or semi-functional oil wells, now the site of fracking. The region has recently gained notoriety for its abnormally high rates of infant mortality.
See: What’s Killing the Babies of Vernal, Utah?
Like rural communities almost everywhere, affected by government divestment and ongoing outmigration, Roosevelt offers few prospects for education or employment. Roosevelt’s “best and brightest” tend to move elsewhere in pursuit of opportunities unavailable in northeastern Utah.
Overall, educational attainment rates are low when compared with the state of Utah as a whole. The town itself is overwhelmingly white, Mormon, and borders on indigenous land. Few Utes ever chose to work at Cedar Ridge. Perhaps “boarding schools” didn’t appeal to them? See: Atlantic Piece on Indigenous Boarding Schools
Rob procured the land that would become Cedar Ridge at some point in time. It was adjacent to, or on top of (?) Ute property. This was unclear. It depended on who you asked. The property was zigzagged with oil pipelines.
Rob often liked to talk about himself. He was originally from Chandler, Arizona. He would frequently narrate his life history for students. He said he had an unconventional childhood, having been raised on a commune. He served in Vietnam. His military training influenced the techniques that he developed for managing troubled youth. It was disciplined, hierarchical, and we were to be obedient-- much like boot camp..Rob Nielson earned a black belt in Shotokan Karate from a Japanese sensei in Arizona. He came back from the war traumatized. He returned to Roosevelt, and started to build geodesic domes from prefabricated kits. Why domes? He liked the way they looked. The children would build many of them.
Rob taught karate and performed hypnosis in lieu of talk therapy. He went to college in Southern Utah and there he met his first wife, Pam Neilson. Pam was a high school career counselor at Pine View High School. They married, had kids. He got a bachelor’s in psychology from Southern Utah University and then completed his Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy at UNLV (or so he claimed). This is a pattern among some male therapists that founded these programs. Psychology at SUU and then Master’s at UNLV. What were they teaching their students?
As mentioned, Pam recruited a few of the first students from Pine View High School in St. George. The others came from other WWASP programs.
Rob branded Cedar Ridge as a non-WWASP program.
Our parents were told that this was “not one of those schools.”
It was “reformed.”
It wasn’t “abusive, like the others”...
Once in Rob’s “care,” these children confirmed what he said. Cedar Ridge was less restrictive. Cedar Ridge, was indeed, “better” and “different.” They parroted what was expected from them. They said and did whatever they had to to get out and go home, things that would make them feel ashamed as they grew up.
The program was engineered to churn out children to sell Rob’s ultimate product (no, it wasn’t reformed or healthy teenagers) but their words. The entire program was meant to manufacture positive teen testimonies about the efficacy of Cedar Ridge. Thus, many traumatized children of Cedar Ridge were asked as adults to tell the world about its goodness. Some complied. Most ignored the Nielsons, only wanting to forget what happened behind closed doors.
Children in Observational Placement in Tranquility Bay, Jamaica (a WWASP program)
Saying a program isn’t “like the others” doesn't mean much considering what we know about “those” programs: places where children have been electrocuted, placed in dog cages, forced to have cuddling sessions, starved, attacked by dogs, and subject to round-the-clock attack therapy. Clearly, being an “alternative” to places like Tranquility Bay in Jamaica, Cross Creek Manor in southern Utah, Spring Creek Lodge in Thompson Falls, Montana, or the Academy at Ivy Ridge in Upstate New York, is a shamefully low standard.
See Links Below: BBC Feature on Tranquility Bay, JamaicaBethel Boys Documentary Short Testimonies of WWASP Survivors
THE HUSTLE: NATSAP & THEIR SALES TEAM
Cedar Ridge was affiliated with NATSAP. NATSAP is not an accrediting or licensing body. In order to be members, schools and programs are required to claim to be in full compliance with NATSAP's published Ethical Principles and Principles of Good Practice. However, in the United States House Committee on Education and Labor hearings in October 2007, NATSAP Director Jan Moss stated that the organization had no process for checking up on this compliance, nor correcting any programs that stray from these guidelines. NATSAP is also responsible for publishing a journal and sponsoring the majority of research that suggests residential treatment is suitable for troubled teens. This research has been discredited due to conflicts of interest.
See: NATSAP - Wikipedia
NATSAP connected Cedar Ridge to a vast network of educational consultants based in California, Connecticut, and Chicago. These consultants started aggressively marketing Cedar Ridge to parents looking for a place to help their struggling teens. Within the NATSAP world, these educational consultants received a kick-back for each child placed in residential facilities.
At first, Cedar Ridge was relatively cheap: $3,000 a month. Some people mortgaged their homes to pay for “treatment” there. Insurance and state subsidies were not as heavily involved in sponsoring treatment for troubled teens or foster children at the time. As a result, most of the children sent to Cedar Ridge were from relatively affluent families. Many of them were adopted. Many of them were displaying moderate behavioral problems, such as not wanting to go to school.
Our parents saw the pamphlets and marketing materials that featured smiling teenagers in a bucolic atmosphere, and described Cedar Ridge as a “structured family environment.” They couldn’t know what was happening inside.
HOW would we have told them?
MARKETING CEDAR RIDGE AS AN ‘ALTERNATIVE’ TO HIGH SCHOOL
Pam Nielson helped Cedar Ridge to distinguish itself from other troubled teen programs because it had an “accredited” school program. We had few teachers but she knew what she was doing. She was a high school counselor at Pine View High School in St. George, Utah, until Cedar Ridge started to turn a profit in 1998/1999. She thereafter became the entire educational establishment at Cedar Ridge. We had to complete BYU correspondence courses, by mail. While we had few teachers or individualized attention, our high school diplomas, unlike some other programs, were actually valid.
Graduating from Cedar Ridge was a source of embarrassment after we left. What kid wants an RTC on their transcript? What college would respect that “diploma?” We lacked laboratories. We lacked good instructors. Learning chemistry via a mail packet taught me that I was terrible at math and science, which I would learn later, wasn’t true.
PSEUDO-PSYCHOLOGY
Rob Nielson was mostly known for hypnosis, karate, and came to develop strange pseudo-psychological techniques, such as, “tractor therapy” (where young women sat on his lap and he drove a tractor). Rather than conventional talk therapy, he preferred hypnosis. We would lay back into a chair, and he would instruct us to close our eyes. “You are falling deeper and deeper…” As many of us were teenagers, and hadn’t actually got into trouble, in our hypnosis sessions, we had to confess to acts we didn’t do, often of a sexual nature. As one of the former inmates explained:
“In one of our sessions, he claimed to have the gift of giving women orgasms on command through the power of suggestion alone.
I was fifteen.”
Rob developed “The Fears Chart” as the center of Cedar Ridge’s therapeutic approach in 1998-1999, after a parent’s weekend with a ropes course session. Rob hypothesized that at all times, we are reacting to our fears. We are constantly in a state of “flight or fight.” Thus, the focus of treatment for Cedar Ridge children (and our parents in the workshops) was to work on overcoming our fears: of abandonment, rejection, of not being good enough. These “fears” were definitely the product of living in a structured environment and having been abandoned by our parents, being subjected to a punitive and unpredictable level system, fearful of spending months in the isodome.
MASSIFICATION OF THE PROGRAM & CUTTING CORNERS: 1999-2000+
At first, Rob was the only therapist. Although he wasn’t licensed for a full year after Cedar Ridge began accepting children. The program’s structure shifted along the way. At first, Rob brought a handful of program kids to live with him in a single wide trailer. Then, he purchased the first double wide, and then another. The program began to massify in 1998, after we, the children of Cedar Ridge, built the basement of that double wide trailer, which became the downstairs Boys Home.
After the launch, Cedar Ridge started accepting dozens of children a week. The program went from 11 children to 30 in a month, then it was up to 50-100 within a few years. We don’t know how large it got by the time it was purchased by Makana. Most of the students were boys.
In 1998-1999, the children of Cedar Ridge were allowed to wear their own clothing. We even had the opportunity to write the script for a play, a take on Romeo and Juliet adapted for troubled teens. We performed it at a parents weekend. Rob was horrified and such artistic activities were then reserved only for “high level kids.” Apparently, our enjoyment was considered subversive.
As the program grew, Rob withdrew from the day-to-day administration of the program. He taught karate, ran the seminars with parents, facilitated weekly “group therapy sessions” with all the students in a large dome that was recently finished (before completion, it fell on the children and one staff who were building it). It was at this time, in 1998-1999, that Rob’s son, Wes Nielson and Sean Haggerty took over the responsibility for the day-to-day supervision of the program.
Things took a dark turn as the program began to massify. They invented elaborate, perverse punishments that seemed arbitrary. We never knew when violence was coming.
STAFF: UNDERQUALIFIED, OVERWORKED, AND UNDERPAID
Even though our parents spent a small fortune sending us to Cedar Ridge, staff members were unqualified and poorly compensated. Many had only a high-school diploma. Some were ex-cops, former military, ex-ranchers, and parents. Most didn’t have formal education in providing psychological treatment or care in a residential facility.
See: HEAL Data on Cedar Ridge Staff
Cedar Ridge staff started out earning little more than minimum wage. They, too, were subjected to surveillance and a level system that they had to “work” for promotions. They worked very long hours and were tasked with enforcing stringent and arbitrary codes of conduct. Among low level students, after each and every task, they had to initial their “point cards.” A staff member had to grant permission to each student to speak, stand, use the bathroom, and get up from the kitchen table. It was grueling work.
There were too many children and too few staff. They had to watch the children shower, defecate, sleep, and compile detailed notes about their behavior at all times. The children of Cedar Ridge often arrived after completing wilderness therapy. Others were escorted (or kidnapped) from their parents’ homes. These children were traumatized with the loss of freedom they experienced. Given this trauma and the unpredictable "token economy," children would invariably snap.
Staff members, who were tasked with supervising too many children at once, and were decidedly overworked and underpaid, often resorted to taking “short-cuts” with children in distress, like restraints. They'd command children:
“Get into prone!”
The next thing a child knew, he was being pinned to the ground and placed into stress positions by one or more staff members. A restraint would arise for anything from basic noncompliance, not accepting a consequence, not understanding a rule, or lashing out. Children were rarely, if ever, violent at Cedar Ridge.
See: 2020, Cornelius Fredericks, a child who died during a restraint
At Cedar Ridge, being restrained automatically resulted in a revocation of the few freedoms an individual did have. A new child who acted out would be dropped from level 400 or 500 (where the child entered), to level zero. By 2001, level zeros were placed automatically on “suicide watch” and placed in orange jumpsuits as a means to humiliate them in front of the other students. They couldn’t leave the sides of staff and were under surveillance at all times. They didn’t have the privilege of sleeping in a bed, but slept on the floor next to the desk of staff members with the lights on.
Around this time, in 2000-2001, the children of Cedar Ridge, built the isodome: a specific torture apparatus for children who didn’t want to “work the program.” Most of us were forced to shovel food and feces, while others were placed on “roots” and forbidden from coming indoors. Some students were forced to carry logs for months on end or buckets. Cedar Ridge was an endless series of manual tasks and petty punishments.
See: Pointless Punishment: The Pedagogical Consequences of Shoveling Shit
We, the children, built the entire facility. We built the fences, the buildings, poured the concrete, planted the grass, laid sod, spread gravel, pulled weeds, and cared for animals (and were forced to slaughter them at times). The entire facility is the product of our sweat, labor, our blood, tears, and our lives. It was recently valued at 3.6 million dollars, according to Makana’s 2019 tax records.
THE PROFITS OF ‘PROFESSIONALIZATION’
As the program massified, Rob hired new therapists. This allowed him to increase the prices of admission and claim to offer comprehensive psychological treatment at the program. Cedar Ridge was no longer marketed as an RTC, but from 2002 onwards, a therapeutic boarding school. It went from $3,000 to more than $6,500 per month.
While in residence, we were forbidden from wearing our own clothes and placed in uniforms. This was just another way of denying us autonomy over our own bodies. We wore sandals in the winters if we were on the lower levels, so we wouldn't think of running away out of fears of frostbite.
We received individual therapy bi-weekly, at most. Those in charge of modifying our minds were the new therapists.
- Greg Burnham, for instance, is remembered for his creative and cruel methodologies, and calling the children “bud.” He has a long, sordid history in this industry. He got his start, we assume, at Cedar Ridge. He forced a girl to carry buckets full of pebbles for months on end. She had to carry a log. Then, all the children were required to clap whenever she spoke, in order to fulfill her “need for attention.” Gregg Burnham left Cedar Ridge and has continued to work in the troubled treatment industry, at programs such as New Haven. He is remembered by survivors for his creative “therapeutic” interventions. He currently works as a clinical director for Outback Therapeutic Expeditions, which given his track record is a cause for concern.
- Brad was also a new hire, who joined the program in 2001-2002. He quickly left after a sexual abuse scandal involving one of the girls. We do not know where he went after Cedar Ridge but are eager to obtain information.
- Brent Crane joined Cedar Ridge and stayed on for some time. He tended to work with the young boys. He and Robert Neilsen were cited by Utah’s Licensing Division in 2016 for failure to report sexual abuse at Cedar Ridge. This was by far not the only incident of abuse, but it was a case that they were caught for. Currently, Brent Crane resides in Texas where he offers “free therapy.” It is unclear whether he is licensed.
- Rob Nielson tended to prefer working with the younger girls. He liked using them in hypnosis sessions as they were more “suggestive.” In reality, we were tired. In hypnosis we were briefly given respite from the endless chores and given a chance to lay back and close our eyes.
Given the fact that staff were overworked and underpaid and that children were unable to freely access phones or call for help, and unable to leave at will, this placed children in extremely vulnerable situations. As a result, staff members were able to get away with physical and sexual abuse, most of which went unreported. An ex-police officer sexually abused a 12-year old girl, for instance. Allegedly, Cedar Ridge paid off local reporters not to run with the story, as the facility repeatedly had bad press, especially following the incarceration of Geary Oakes, who went to prison in 2009, after sexually abusing children of Cedar Ridge for a decade.
See Court Documents Here: See, Duchesne Nurse Charged with Sex with Teens
HELP IS NOT ON THE WAY.
Relations with Roosevelt. The children of Cedar Ridge did not only perform manual labor on the property of Cedar Ridge. We also did free labor for the neighbors and friends of the Nielson family. We bucked hay, performed construction, and all forms of manual labor, free of charge. This, along with Cedar Ridge being a major employer in the region, providing year-round work for displaced oil workers, ranchers, and others, helped the Nielson’s establish a positive reputation with the community. We were also occasionally brought out to play in basketball tournaments, volleyball tournaments, and softball games--although we were forbidden from fraternizing with non-Cedar Ridge children. We were like ghosts.
Because of the Nielson's relationships with locals in Roosevelt, running away from the isolated and insulated program was that much harder. That didn’t mean that we didn’t try to escape, but it meant that the neighbors, police officers, social workers, doctors, and mandatory reporters did not listen to us, report child abuse, or question what was going on in the facility. Those adults, who are paid to protect children, ignored the signs of abuse when confronted with it. Generally speaking, we were unable to go to the doctor, but when we did, it tended to be serious. It was troubling that no one listened to us, when a simple burn turned green and needed to be scrubbed out with a wire sponge; children entering with fractured bones; with repeatedly removed stitches.
We did our best to beg for help.
We were scared. And unless we “got with the program,” there was no way out.
Most of us faked it until we made it. We bullied the newcomers. We never fully trusted each other. And we only wanted to forget what happened at Cedar Ridge. As one woman put it, “I don’t want to give that place anymore than it already took from me.”
COMING FULL CIRCLE: A DARK PLACE
We will fill in the remaining gaps in this history in later posts. Needless to say, in 2020, Makana purchased the business license from Cedar Ridge (which included buildings, land, and 'assets'-What does this mean? Farm animals? Children? Contracts with parents? Parental rights?). The license now says, “Makana (formerly Cedar Ridge).” It is operating with the same license number. We are reminded of the words of a friend, who has a PhD in clinical child psychology:
“Why any qualified person or business would purchase a property with a building called the ‘isodome’ is beyond me...It is isolated and rural. Kids are cut off from the outside world. It is the perfect place for abusing kids.”
#CedarRidgeAcademy
#MakanaFormerlyCedarRidge #RIPsurvivors
#RooseveltUtah
#BreakingCodeSilence
#WWASPSurvivors
#CrossCreekManor
#WWASPSpinOff
#EndInstitutionalChildAbuse
#JusticeforCornelius
#ShameonRobNielson
FURTHER LINKS
- See: Cedar Ridge Academy: Battling Sexual Abuse http://www.troubledteensearch.com/cedar-ridge-academy-battling-sexual-abuse.html
- See: Court Cases https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/8132620/Fabozzi_v_Oakes_et_al https://www.morelaw.com/verdicts/case.asp?n=2:14-cv-00426-EJF&s=UT&d=112121
- See Cedar Ridge Academy’s Website here: https://www.cedaridge.net/