Catalyst RTC (2006-present) Brigham City, UT
Residential Treatment Center
History and Background Information
Catalyst Residential Treatment Center (also called Catalyst RTC) is a behavior-modification program that opened in 2006. It is marketed as a Residential Treatment Center for teenage boys between the ages of 13 and 18 with a history of Substance Abuse/Misuse, Low Self-Esteem, Anxiety, Depression, ADHD, Suicidal Ideation, Trauma, Relational Problems, Low Frustration Tolerance, Adoption Issues, Self Injurious Behaviors, and Eating Disorders. It is reported that all the boys at Catalyst must have some sort of substance abuse/misuse/experimentation in order to be enrolled. The program has a maximum enrollment of 24 boys, and the average length of stay typically around 9 months.
The program is located at 970 South 1025 West, Brigham City, UT 84302.
It has been reported that the boys at Catalyst at sometimes taken on co-ed “outings” with the girls from another program, Solstice RTC.
Founders and Notable Staff
Jordan L. Larsen is the Founder, Admissions Director and Owner of Catalyst RTC. Larsen formerly worked for the Academy at Canyon Creek (the confirmedly abusive Somerset Program when it was owned by Provo Canyon School). He also is reported to have worked for Gateway Academy.
Kreg Edgmon was the Executive Director and Co-Owner of Catalyst RTC from 2007 until 2019. He no longer appears to work at this program, but instead works as a consultant, writer, and speaker at “Something Greater”.
Seth Geisler is the Marketing Director and Co-Owner of Catalyst RTC. He previously worked as a Primary Therapist and Team Director at Island View RTC, a confirmedly abusive Aspen Education Group program. He has worked at Catalyst since 2006.
Adam Poll is the Clinical Director and Co-Owner of Catalyst RTC. He has worked at Catalyst since 2007. He finished his Master’s degree in 2000, but it is unknown where he worked between then and 2007 when he began at Catalyst.
Trevor Loria formerly worked as the Program Director and Co-Owner of Catalyst RTC. He now works as the President/CEO of Simon House Recovery Centre in Alberta, Canada.
Craig LaMont was a Board Member of Catalyst RTC (source). He is one of the Founders of Telos RTC, and he currently works as Telos’ Chief Executive Officer. He has also worked as the Vice President and later the President of NATSAP. He was also reportedly the Co-Owner of New Haven RTC.
Tony Mosier was a Board Member of Catalyst RTC (source). He is also one of the Founders of Telos RTC, and he currently works as Telos’ Chief Operations Officer. He is also the current President of NATSAP. He is reported to have previously worked as a Therapist at the confirmedly abusive Provo Canyon School.
Greg Rush was a Board Member of Catalyst RTC (source). He is also one of the Founders of Telos RTC, and he previously worked as the Director of Clinical Services at Telos RTC. He met Tony Mosier when he was working as a Therapist at the confirmedly abusive Provo Canyon School with Tony. He was also a Board Member of Catalyst RTC.
Program Structure
Like other behavior-modification programs, Catalyst RTC uses a level system consisting of multiple phases. The programs uses an “incentive-based” model. Each phase introduces new privileges. On the first two phases, residents are not allowed even basic privileges such as reading non-therapeutic books.
Everything at Catalyst is reportedly group-centered. If someone stole something, they would have something called an “accountability group” where they would all sit in a circle until someone confessed. These could last weeks and during this time everybody had no privileges. Everybody suffered from one persons wrong-doings. Group shaming (also known as attack therapy) is also reported to be a large part of the program at Catalyst. In this “accountability” groups, the whole group takes turns shaming the condemned student student until they try to change. This is described as very traumatic by survivors.
It has been reported that this program has a very homophobic atmosphere, and it’s values are heavily centered around the LDS religion.
During the spring to fall months, they boys are forced to run 3 miles every other morning. Unless they complete those three miles, they will get no “privileges” and be failed in their PE grade.
Daily Schedule
- 6:30 AM: Wake Up
- 6:45 AM: The Gym
- 7:45 AM: Get Ready for the Day
- 9:00 AM: School Block
- 11:00 AM: Therapeutic Clinical Group
- 12:30 PM: Lunch
- 1:30 PM: Leisure Time
- 2:30 PM: Study Hall
- 3:30 PM: School Block
- 6:00 PM: Dinner
- 7:00 PM: Evening Activity
- 9:30 PM: Get Ready for Bed
- 10:00 PM: Lights Out
Abuse
Catalyst RTC has been reported by many survivors to be an abusive program. Allegations of abuse and neglect that have been reported by survivors include unfair and excessive punishments, forced manual labor, homophobia, and untrained/unqualified staff members. Many survivors report PTSD and other trauma-related conditions resulting from their time at Catalyst RTC.
In addition, the human right’s organization HEAL has categorized Catalyst RTC suspected of being an abusive facility. As per HEAL’s defintion: “If a program is categorized as “Suspect” it means it meets one or more criteria (i.e. sister program of confirmedly abusive facility, shares staff with an abusive facility, or one or more complaints regarding the facility are on file with HEAL and/or proper regulatory and enforcement agencies, etc.)”
Survivor Testimonies
2020: (SURVIVOR) “I’ll start off with positives because in all honesty there are very few. When I attended in 2016/2017 the staff were great, the teachers were great, but a lot of the practices were flawed. It is a very comfortable living situation and the food is much better than most would like to admit. I must admit as well that some of the connections I made with the few quality staff, will last a life time. Now onto, negatives or “constructive” as they would like to call it. My first issue was in the parent tour groups. They seem to strictly plan tours for when the kids are in group and not in a potentially volatile state. This is an issue because it does not reflect the genuine lifestyle we lived. When the parents went to sit and speak with students, the same students were always chosen and we were given specific things to talk about. If you did happen to bring up a negative aspect of the program, you were put on “consequences” in order to reprimand you. They will have students tell you: the therapists are great, the food is amazing and healthy, the guys are all good and the staff is nice. Meanwhile, the staff turnover rate is through the roof, the therapists use the tactics they reprimand you for, in order to make you “change,” and it is rare that a whole house will get along well. Another problem I experienced was the unfair treatment between students and “Guinea Pig” mentality that the program enforced. The therapists and staff are inconsistent with consequences as well as rewards. One more issue is that they have a VERY VERY VERY loose set of guidelines for the people they accept into the program. It seems as though they want to help kids who have serious mental health issues, but are not equipped to do so whether it be in tactics, staff or therapy methods, they are equipped only to help high functioning kids. A majority of their staff are of the Mormon faith, there is nothing wrong with this, but it makes it much harder for the staff to relate to you at all, and it affects the relationships you can potentially develop. Their staff are not fairly compensated and thus their work reflects. The “change rate” of the people who attend here is much lower than they would like to admit. It is very easy to “fake it till you make it” in this program because the staff and therapists simply are not diligent enough. Because of this, out of the people I attended with, many either went back to treatment at a different place, or suffer silently. This program is not a guaranteed success. If you want to send your kid to a residential treatment center, this is not the one. I promise. I would much recommend a boarding school or even a lightly therapeutic. Don’t spend 10k+ a month for fake services that wont guarantee anything. Love your child and help them, don’t send them away. -A Former Student/Resident” – Jesse (Google Reviews)
2/8/2020: (SURVIVOR) “I went to the same fuckin place in brigham city. Only cool part were the people I met there. This place was absolutely shit. I went there for ptsd and substance abuse therapy but I found that place to honestly add to my trauma. It’s been a few years since I’ve been out and I’m still nervous about what I do in fear of being put on refocus or some shit like that. Changing my car seat from a window to the aisle got me on refocus. Expressing how I felt about the program to my therapist got me on focus. Like what the fuck? I felt as if I was being watched 24/7, even on my home visits because one time I had coffee in the fucking AIRPORT and when I came back my therapist started pressing and questioning me about getting coffee. To this day I’m still on alert for staff. They should not be called “mentors” at all.” – u/fungi47 (Reddit)
2020: (SURVIVOR) “I spent about an year and a half of my life here. The therapists are never around and half of the program they talk about doesn’t actually exist. I ended up seeing another program years later in my life. They classified Catalysts methods as abusive and traumatizing. Plus the majority of the tuition you pay isn’t actually spent on the kids as much as it is novelty items that we never actually get to use. I saw some awful things there even a kid almost dying from falling out of a van. Their response was to cover things up and tell us we have no right to know if the kid actually survived. What bothers me the most is that all the positive reviews on this site are actually staff that I know and are paid to write them. Please if you care for your son don’t send him here.” – Nick (Google Reviews)
10/31/2019: (SURVIVOR) “Catalyst RTC was a hellhole. It’s in Brigham City, Utah. They have an incentive based model with phases. Each phase introduces new privileges. You can’t even read non-therapeutic books on the first two phases (because it’s a distraction). I hated it because you were required to adhere to the program 24/7 (even in your sleep! YOU MUST WEAR SHORTS). Even the slightest things could get you in trouble. Thinking about being high could get you on a week long consequence. There was a very homophobic atmosphere and it’s values were centered around the LDS religion. Everything is group centered. If someone stole something, we’d have something called an “accountability group” where we’d sit in a circle until someone confessed. There were times where it lasted weeks and everybody had no privileges during that time. Everybody suffered from one persons wrong-doings. During the spring to fall months, we’d run 3 miles every other morning. Unless we completed those three miles, we’d get no privileges and be failed for a PE grade. Group shaming was a huge thing, where the whole group would shame a student until they tried to change. It was all just so fucked up and traumatic for me.” – u/minkdude29 (Reddit)
2019: (SURVIVOR) “hi, resident of 18 months here. after returning home and relapsing in a matter of hours I’ve decided I need to speak the truth aBoUt catalySt so everyone knows How it’s really a horrible place. we were abuseD 24/7 and the therapIsts are only in it for the money, they launDer more cash on a daily basis thaN fifa. the staff use catalyst as a way to satIsfy their Need for powEr and control bEcause they have nothing better to do than abuse teenage boys, but instead of pursuing LEgal action i’m posting a scathing google reViEw. many of us former residents refer to catalyst as catlschwitz, a clever nickname combining “catalyst” with “auschwitz.” that’s basically what it’s like, cause we’re forced to do manual labor all the time like weeding the garden or cleaning the kitchen. others have compared it to a military school because they force us to make our beds. the injustice. well anyways i gotta go now, hopefully this’ll convince a bunch of parents not to send their kids here so they don’t suffer the same fate as i did, namely being forced to examine how their choices actually effect people other than themselves. it’s alright though cause now i’m back living the good life, high as a kite and $18,000 dollars of my parents money down the drain. also if you read any positive reviews those are just kids who’ve been brain washed and/or bribed into saying nice things by the big bad therapists. adios, losers!” – Anonymous (Google Reviews)
2018: (SURVIVOR) “This program is absolutely terrible. The therapists do not give students equal time and treatment. The staff are mostly college students and have no relationship skills. The religion of the area, the LDS, church is influenced heavy in the teaching in everything. Basically what this program has to offer is poor and I am saying from experience. Parents, please find another program for your kids. – former resident” – Jonathan (Google Reviews)
Related Media
Catalyst RTC Website Homepage (archived, 2010)
