About Us

About Us

J Bar J Youth Services

62895 Hamby Rd
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 389-1409
Located in beautiful Central Oregon, J Bar J Youth Services operates four major programs for intervention and treatment of at-risk youth. Based on nationally recognized “best practices” and as pioneers in cognitive behavioral treatment, J Bar J programs target risk factors for anti-social behavior stressing individual achievement and academic excellence. Listed below is information regarding J Bar J Boys Ranch and the Academy at Sisters, J Bar J’s residential treatment programs.

J Bar J Boys Ranch

The Boys Ranch offers a unique living, working and educational program for young men ages 13-18 providing opportunities for personal growth, maturity and reformation. This 40 acre Ranch provides quality residential treatment in Oregon’s High Desert, famous for unlimited sports and recreational opportunities. We help young men ages 13-18 who display risk factors for anti-social behaviors. We target the attitudes, values, beliefs and negative personality factors that impede self-efficacy and success. Quality educational programs are an integral part of placement.

Academy at Sisters

PO Box 5986
Bend, OR 97708-5986
(800) 910-0412
(541) 389-2748
The Academy at Sisters is a private therapeutic boarding school in Central Oregon for troubled girls, providing an individualized treatment program based on a cognitive behavioral model. This approach has been recognized by the National Institute of Health as the most effective approach to dealing with the targeted population of adolescents we enroll. We teach the relationship of one’s perspective of the world, self-talk, and how it relates to our emotions, feelings and ultimately our choices in life. This gives our students the self-efficacy and opportunity to change their lives.

Other programs for struggling teens included on this website are offered by:

Catherine Freer Wilderness Therapy Programs

PO Box 1064
Albany, OR 97321
(541) 926-7252
Our time-tested and proven wilderness therapy program helps troubled teens rediscover the values that are important to lead successful lives: family, responsibility, honesty, trust, and respect. For 20 years, we have been helping to facilitate long-term change in struggling teens. Our company is employee-owned and operated, and our team is comprised of professionals who believe in the value of wilderness therapy and its ability to help facilitate long-term change in troubled teens.

Odyssey NW Wilderness Programs 

1106 Harris Avenue, Suite 201
Bellingham, Washington 98225
(360) 671-4999
The Odyssey Mission is to promote positive experiences in wilderness by establishing a community of individuals through a safe, structured curriculum and environmentally sound practice. We know that the wilderness in wilderness therapy plays an important role in the level of programming we provide—that is why our wilderness is the beach and the ocean. Our positive experience model is at the heart of our wilderness therapy programs, and shows in the smiles, happiness and feelings of success that our students experience as they interact with these pristine natural environments.

Second Nature Wilderness Programs

Second Nature Cascades (Oregon location)
20332 Empire Avenue
Bend, OR 97701-5712
(866) 205-2500
Second Nature features a clinically driven treatment model vs. a program driven treatment model. A licensed clinician develops an individualized treatment plan for each entering student, tailored to the specific therapeutic needs of each student. Second Nature features unique “niche” groups. This ensures each participant is placed with the therapist and group best suited to meet his/her specific clinical needs. Second Nature is owner operated. Owners participate in all facets of daily operations as managers and therapists guiding treatment, running groups, and carrying caseloads.

Cherry Gulch

PO Box 678
Emmett, Idaho 83617
(208) 365-3437
(208) 365-7235
Cherry Gulch is a therapeutic boarding school for boys ages 10 to 14. Our philosophy is that the beauties of nature combined with expert therapy and the satisfaction of a job well done can melt the troubled hearts and soothe the most tender feelings. Our goal is to provide early intervention and prevention to help troubled youth realize their full potential and become well-rounded, pro-social young men. We are a private boarding school that offers highly-trained, compassionate staff in a picturesque environment ideal for treating emotional, social, and behavioral problems.

Northwest Behavioral Healthcare Services

(503) 722-4470
(800) 527-3303
18000 SE Webster Road
Gladstone, OR 97027
Provides residential services to troubled youth, ages 12 to 17. The staff of Northwest has shown itself to be successful with those more “difficult to treat” — especially those with a dual diagnosis who require a secure setting for their care. The goal of Northwest’s adolescent treatment program is simple: to make kids well so that they can have a meaningful and satisfying life. To achieve their own unique level of greatness. That takes patience, compassion, discipline, and understanding. Along with competent professionals, it also takes a diligent parent. Working together, there is hope.