Vanderheyden

As a former resident from about 13-14 years ago, I must admit at first it was a scary experience but one of my best memories. The staff and other residents were great besides maybe 2 residents. As a member of the LGBT I still felt safe without judgement. It’s a beautiful place to be able to grow mentally without the exhaustion of family peering over you. Yeah, it sucks to be away from family and you’ll miss them but it helped me grow from being totally anti social because I felt comfortable with all the people I seen everyday. I don’t understand the hateful reviews because I never went through it and it was during a time when it should’ve been worse than now. Because, LGBT didn’t have the rights they do now. I also lost A LOT of weight when I was in there compared to my friends because they were putting on weight while I was losing it. Also, for it being gross food is a lie they use to have some fire breakfast there (for the person talking trash about the food). They also spoiled me for my birthday making my favorite cake (icecream cake) and another staff member making my favorite cookie into a cake. It’s a give and take relationship with the staff and the residents you treat them with respect they’ll give it back and when you don’t? They aren’t nice which is how it should be until you apologize and make amends.

I love working at Vanderheyden. It is wonderful seeing our students grow. The school encourages a positive behavioral support environment and the students have the opportunity to participate in many uplifting events throughout the school year.

The staff r helpful. Then I hated the place but now I wish I was there still....... They helped me become mature enough for me to go to a group home. Which I never thought I could. Don't get me wrong I love my group home. The food was excellent. We had all different types of food. The activities were very good. I lost weight so that's a plus. So overall it was a good place to be