Sunset Bay Academy facts.
1. We are not affiliated with WWASP
2. We are INDEPENDENTLY owned and operated
3. We support all Anti WWASP Organizations
4. Child mistreatment is UNACCEPTABLE, UNPROFESSIONAL and WRONG
5. Our staff is All-Professional: Clinical Psychologists, Medical Doctor, Certified Teachers, Certified Chefs
Posted by Sunset Bay Academy at 1:35 PM 0 comments
Sunset Bay Academy needed the support of such services since they were new in establishing a therapeutic boarding school in Rosarito, B.C., Mexico. They did not have name recognition in United States to access the Therapeutic Boarding School Industry and associated themselves with WWASP for their external services.
Sunset Bay Academy hired bilingual licensed psychologists to implement the most important aspect of the behavioral health model. Their skills and expertise as therapists have created the greatest impact in providing a critical support system for both the students and parents working towards restoring and healing their families. In addition, Sunset Bay Academy relies on presence of the Program Director as well as the Medical Director who live on school grounds and are accessible 24/7. Each psychologist was carefully selected for their credentials, professional history, and most important, for their passion working with youth and families.
Sunset Bay Academy developed its program and was very clear that it would adhere to professional ethical standards setting itself apart from other international boarding schools. Given the climate of abuse that had plagued WWASP schools, Sunset Bay Academy delineated the parameters of their business relationship as a subcontractor of their existing services only.
Sunset Bay Academy would never acquiesce to “bend the rules a little”, physically discipline, or engage in unethical practices with our teens nor would it develop and design a mediocre program to appease WWASP’s appetite to increase their revenues. During this time, WWASP revealed their disturbing unethical billing practices with our parents by making it clear that they felt entitled to a larger stake in the program and expected Sunset Bay Academy to model its program as a WWASP school.
Sunset Bay Academy severed all business ties with WWASP and terminated their services in April 2009. Their immediate response was to harass all our parents with horrifying emails, letters and phone calls scaring them into thinking that we were no longer operating and offering them free transportation to move their children to one of their schools.
This tactic caused incredible fear and turmoil among parents. It completely backfired and set the stage for greater trust and unwavering bond to be established with our parents and our teens. We handled the transition with great care and ease with the amazing support of all our parents and changed our name to Sunset Bay Academy.
Despite, WWASP’s ongoing efforts to defame and curtail our referral sources we have survived. Today, we are a stronger organization and extremely excited about the possibilities for growth.
The irony of our history is that we remain a target for all the Anti-WWASP websites as they continue to associate our program with WWASP schools.
We applaud the efforts of these young men and women who are spearheading this effort to keep schools that dismiss their responsibility to the children and families they serve and continue to operate with unconscionable regard to the emotional wounds they create. It pains us to know that these young people were deeply hurt by these schools and have made it their mission to identify the disturbing practices of such schools.
Unfortunately, we are linked to WWASP as a former business relationship that was subcontracted when the Academy was founded. To this end, we invite any person associated with the website to visit and tour our school, speak to our students and parents. We are making a concerted effort to be completely transparent on our website and on the site visits and tours conducted by parents, California policymakers, community based organizations, scholars, and professionals in the behavioral health field. We actively solicit the feedback of professionals in the field to improve our program and strengthen all our services.
One such visitor, Dr. Steven Jella PsyD, MFT walked away thoroughly impressed “Sunset Bay Academy has a great staff that truly cares about the teens and their families”. As a result of his visit, we are currently finalizing an agreement with Alliant International University, School of Professional Psychology to become a practicum site for Masters and Doctoral students who will support us in developing qualitative and quantitative research as well as conducting critical psychological testing for each teen at our school . This partnership will enable Sunset Bay Academy to become an International behavioral health model that will have proven data to support and measure our program success.
Posted by Sunset Bay Academy at 1:22 PM 0 comments
