Child abuse runs rampant. A resident broke her arm and the staff ignored her for almost a week because they thought she was faking it. The entire campus was overrun with strep because the staff thought we were faking being sick. They regularly withhold food and the only way this place has ever helped anyone who actually has mental health issues or chemical dependency issues is solely through scare tactics. Staff bullied one of the residents to the point where she tried to kill herself multiple times until they just sent her to JDC. Also the food is deplorable. It was almost always expired. Instead of putting kids on medications to help them, they simply heavily sedate these literal children (most of whom just need a loving parent) and then harshly punish them for falling asleep during the day. If you care about your kids, DO NOT SEND THEM HERE.

Went there 50! Years ago! And Im grateful 🙏 I wish I could see or hear from some of the people I knew my name was(is) Becky, Becky Ittner if U went there 50 years ago or 46 years or more look me up on Facebook Rebecca Ittner the picture U will see is of a woman and its in black and white

I was there 21 years ago. The staff then treated us kids like dirt, trent was the worst. One of the staff brought his brother to work there, where he subsequently tried to drown one of the kids from my cottage (cherbourg) in a puddle. The few good staff there was never lasted long for reasons unknown to me. Please, despite my name, take my advice, keep your kids out of there. Looking at whats going on there, it hasnt got any better.

Naturally Im bias as I work here as the training coordinator. With that said, Ill give Nexus-Gerard Family Healing (new name) a 4 star review for a few reasons.We are aware that we have areas to improve on. The amount of attention given to these areas rivals fortune 500 companies. No joke! My job here is to contribute to this improvement mindset by continuously improving the type and quality of training given to all employees both new and old. The cultural here is of a learning organization which is helpful for me to do my job.You will always find a reason to smile. Even on the toughest of days where youth push staff away to the fullest, there will be a reason to smile each day. Watching the youth come here with cracks in their foundation (Traumatic Injuries and Behavioral roadblocks and constraints), and watching them leave after a successful discharge with the tools to build a house on a fixed foundation in itself is rewarding.Great place to work. Nexus-Gerard Family Healing and our parent company, Nexus Family Healing (a non-profit organization) go out of their way to make sure that our staff are well taken care of by providing them benefits that rival Fortune 500 organization.Never thought Id work residential but here I am and happy that I did. Our youth deserve the best and I am committed to providing them the best.

William Ingram is a real tool representing this company on facebook

I have worked at Nexus-Gerard Family Healing for over 28 years. I truly believe in the amazing work that is done here for children and families. The facility as a whole has worked hard to become trauma informed and to provide the best care for the youth and families that we serve.

I went to Gerard when I was 8 to when I was 9, I personally had a good experience there. But it was weird. You’d live in rooms in a so called house. But the school is across the street. Everything helped me. But I think it depended on where you were sorted. Cause they had like 8 to 13 year olds in one room and 17 to some others age in another room in another building. But it definitely depends on what you had trouble with and where you were sorted.

My daughter was here for one year and we had an amazing experience as a family. I wish parents realized that they are a huge part of their childs experience here. You cant just drop them off and expect for them to be fixed. The parents need to be accountable for their actions too. Parenting a special needs child is not easy. But learning your own skills to help them is everything. Dont blame the child. Yes, They need help but so do YOU!

I shared my experience in other comments. it’s a place you should only be at if you 100% need to be there.

Gerard Academy is a family centered residential treatment facility dedicated to improving the lives of the youth that they serve. They go above and beyond support to families and caregivers, they offer outstanding training to their staff, and they respect the individuality of each youth in treatment. I highly recommend Gerard as a wonderful place to work or find help or respite from difficult situations.

I went there for 6 months. If your kid who went there is saying its horrible, its because they just didnt like it. It really helped me to deal with my anger. Im a lot calmer than I used to be.

This place changed my life for the better 10 years ago when I was here. At first I was very hesitant because I had gone to a previous residential treatment center called Northwest Passage in Webster WI, which was a horrible horrible place. I originally was expecting the same treatment as I received there. But I was wrong. The staff here are genuine and kind hearted. I met some of the coolest people here and have also stayed in touch with many staff who I befriended as well. If any parent would like to reach out for any questions they may have, I made a group on Facebook called Gerard Academy that have 400 members both past and current residents, as well as some past and current staff, that will be happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have about this place. I am very grateful for Gerard and although I didnt see it right away, this place changed my life for the better.

I didnt like the length of time they keptI dont agree with the holds. I dont think any child should ever have to go here. I was there when I was 12

How do you LOSE A CLIENT , SOMEONE CHILD!!!! Are you not watching them, is that not what u get paid for.? Or are you that short staff that the state needs to come in and supervise ? How was it that my daughter was able to run away from there ...un notice for who knows how long.

If I could I wouldnt give it any stars I wish they would send someone under cover to see what is really going on I was there for a year and spent 6 months in my room with an hour outside couldnt speak to anyone but my therapist and thats not even the beginning these children are being abused over and over and over again when theyre suppose to be being helped please for the childrens safety and successful future get inside and really find out how this facility is being ran

This place is horrible. They serve rotten food. They are there to contain vs. help children. They made up false reports about my child and lied in court to cover up their failures.Do not allow your children to go here.

Putting my daughter into Gerard academy was the biggest mistake Id ever made the staff are untrained professionally,the counselors are master manipulators and personally they are in this for the money.my daughter came out of Gerard angry ,cold and bitter.dont let some county workers let your children become a victim of Gerard and if you carefully look into Gerard back ground you will find a report of one of the kids killing themselves while in their care.i do not recommend Gerard academy to anyone.

When i was 13 years old i satyed at Gerard academy i had a lot of anger issue i had a hard time making friends that were my age i stayed on a dorm called boardo it wa a dorm for 13 year old boys to 16 year olds i stayed their for about a year i saw a lot of kids come and go that got discharged from that place If. their was a lot of a good staff and teachers and nurse. i had a lot of health problems and they new how to take good care of me. The teachers and the staff really made sure that everyone stayed safe if their was out burst going on.

WOWI am shocked it shut down. Plus got soo bad.Will say I am 58 yrs old. Plus I was there my 8th grade yr. It was hard for me at first.Being there did help me soo much.Got to know few kids. Wasnt soo horrible.

Ive been there and the place sucks , there was a lot of abuse and unessary touching... the staff were untrained adults , i was put in to holds and i had my shoulders dislocated twice because they didnt know how to do their job... this place only made my problems worse !PLEASE DONT SEND YOUR KIDS THERE IT NOT GOOD!

Gerard Academy let me create precious bonds with girls that i will never forget. I MISS YOU GUYS!!!!!

Shut this place down or do a complete overhaul. Staff arent trained properly. While some may feel helped by the program, an unignorable amount have only had their issues exasperated by the program. I was sedated via injection and forced to come here for 9 months and am no better and if anything worse off for it. Youre essentally forced to admit you have a problem and submit to authority here, what a terrible mentality to push. Psychological manipulation. To any kids trapped here, if you see this run away 2-3 times and insurance will be forced to drop you and youll be let out.

I seen people get injured in holds cuz they dont know how to do it they need to shut this place down the staff are very rude and only allow us ten personal possesions which are comfort items for us and they dont even allow over half of them this place sucks the milk they gave us was spoiled and often chunky they just didnt care. they didint focus on the individual treatment for people but for the whole unit which doesnt make us better

I was a resident years ago here for 9 months. Let me just say, it was possibly the worst 9 months of my life. I was going into the program for help with my depression & family issues and only came out worse with new anger & trama. I was supposed to be there for only 45 days..on my 44th day they told me I wasnt aloud to leave. What? I wasnt even court ordered! But I reluctantly stayed against my will because I wanted help. Things got really ugly in that place. Really ugly. Almost every night I had to Cry myself to sleep & try to drown out the screams & cries of little kids (down to 6 years old) because theyre would be serveral grown men putting them in holds. The only time you are supposed restrain residents is if they are being a danger to oneself or others. However , that is not the case here. For one example of many, a girl in my unit answered a phone call from her mom, residents can not answer the phone, staff have to transfer it. Within seconds, the 16 year old girl who couldnt have weighed more than 140lbs was thrown down on the ground & put into a brutal restraint by a man who was well over 300 pounds. Then other staff came and helped the restraint by one taking her legs, one on her arms and the only on her chest. Keep in mind, a lot of these girls were there because of past abuse.For this girl, she was physically mentally & sexually abused by her farther for years. Can you imagine being thrown to the ground & sat on by grown men while youre supposed to be getting treatment for the abuse youve had? Another night, a girl who was there for Simalar reasons as the other girl, was put into a hold for hitting the wall in an intimidating manner and while 4 staff held her down, her pj pants started to fall off. She then began to break down & scream. She begged them to please get off her cause they were triggering. They still wouldnt Release her even tho she wasnt being threatening. She sobbed & sobbed as her pants where on the floor, please no, please Im so sorry Ill be good just please please please dont do what my daddy did to me no no no.. They told her to shut up because she was triggering the other girls on the unit but they didnt care that they were triggering that little girl who was TWELVE YEARS OLD. They then escorted her outside in the snow; pants still down & all. There would be many many times were the staff would get hold happy, because they really didnt know how to handle any situation any other way. You couldnt always see who was getting restrained if you were on different units, but you could hear their screams across campus. Youd always know who is was that was put into a hold when all the units would go to the lunch from to eat, because theyd be covered in massive bruises all over. Rug burn would be on their face & most the time, theyd have a limp. Those were the lucky ones though, if you didnt get your ACL torn (which happened to another resident due to 300+ pound men putting her in a hold incorrectly & kept her there) you really couldnt do anything about it. Youre a juvenile so basically you have no rights. You can try to talk to your parents/ social worker about getting out of there like I tried, but Gerard puts off a good front. Its a beautiful campus with what seems like great morals. Couldnt have been more wrong when you see what really goes on behind closed doors. The staff are barely trained in any psychology or even how to de-escalate a situation. Very very Underqualified to be working with mentally Ill adolescents. The program itself is setting kids up for failure. I heard this place is actually being investigated and I hope its true because I wouldnt send the devil himself here. Please note, I have nothing against treatment centers or anything . Im for them, they help people who need help & without them Im sure many people would not be successful or stable but I am against the abuse of power & mistreatment of children. So please, if you are a concerned parent who is looking for help, please know the program you are going in before its too late!

I only had one experience here and was not impressed with how I, or the child I was visiting, were treated. Id look elsewhere for quality treatment.

Awesome

Great