Upcoming Media and News

Upcoming Media and News

June 6, 2025

Venture Academy has garnered media attention many times over the past few decades, with coverage from reputable organizations such as CBC, Globe and Mail and others. These articles and radio spots typically focus on issues related to special education and treatment programs, their effectiveness, the challenges posed by insufficient government funding, and the current landscape of mental health and drug use among adolescents. Such content tends to resonate with specific audiences, who engage with the material before moving on. All of it has been deleted from our website as much of it is considered out of date.

Important – Coming Soon

In the coming days or weeks, Global News plans to release a series of stories about Venture Academy. This coverage however, is expected to take a different approach, leaning towards sensationalism and aiming to evoke significant concern and controversy. While there may be an attempt to present a balanced narrative, the overall tone is likely to be predominantly negative, reflecting current trends in media reporting.

The following is a statement from a father of a child who attended Venture Academy, who attempted to communicate with the reporter; however, the father indicated the reporter declined to engage, expressing a preference to speak solely with the child.

“It’s frustrating from all angles how the practice of journalism has suffered from partisan thinking and moral drift. While it’s not all “fake news”, the power of the media to influence thought and create bias in search of notoriety and clicks is quite unsettling. Trust and reliability has disappeared. Instant dissemination is dangerous and unhealthy and we no longer have space for reflection, contemplation, assessment and critical judgement.”

Healing and Growing Can be Hard – we care about that.

Every child deserves to feel safe, understood, and surrounded by the unconditional love of their family. And every parent longs for the chance to be an active part of the solution, not just watching from the sidelines as their child navigates treatment. Working with families, rebuilding trust, and restoring hope, care and connection – these are at the heart of what makes healing possible.

Ethical Conduct Concerns

Some parents are expressing concerns regarding the ethical conduct of investigative reporters indicating the prioritization of negative narratives without the corresponding evidence. Furthermore, it has been brought to our attention that at least one reporter is reaching out to minors and engaging in communication with them through texting aps and FaceTime without obtaining parental consent, refusing to listen to the parent about positive experiences while in the program.

Parents have expressed that the reporter will only engage with them if permitted to speak with the child privately, without parental presence. This request is viewed as unreasonable by parents who prioritize their child’s emotional well-being. It is important to note that nearly every parent who enrolls their child in Venture Academy does so with the primary concern of ensuring protection and safety in terms of their child’s well-being.

Why Now

The answer is complicated with many social and tech factors at play. In simple terms, we believe it’s about social media and how we as a society interact with it. None of this would be happening without social media. One of our staff tried to join one of the social media streams in order to speak about some positive aspects of the program. He was not allowed in the thread, as it was indicated that this thread was focused on negative discourse only. Last year, Netflix showed teens in wilderness programs and other situations. We received many calls from parents that month asking if “we were like that”. No, that’s not us. A parent told us that one of the reporters kept calling our program a Boot Camp. We are not a boot camp, never have been and never will be.

Venture Academy has been Canada’s pioneer in direct access (private pay) live-in treatment for youth struggling with mental health and related issues. It hasn’t always been easy but we’ve taken up the challenge to give families an option.

Have there been issues in the past, and will there be challenges in the future? Absolutely. Operating a program for nearly 25 years across three provinces, serving nearly 2,000 youth – many of whom have experienced the most severe mental health crises – inevitably leads to challenging situations. Are there employment issues from time to time? Yes. Philosophical differences between internal service providers? Yes. Challenging and conflicting regulatory requirements (and opinions) that must be navigated? You bet. Are there numerous other challenges to navigate daily? Indeed, there are. Is there more than one perspective to every story? Certainly. But nearly every program experiences this.

Public schools, private schools, group homes, foster homes, government run treatment centres have gone through similar processes in terms of investigative reporting and associated content. We are not the first, we won’t be the last, but we acknowledge this is happening right now and want to do our best to support our clients that may be affected.

We are taking it seriously and are willing to answer any questions regarding this or anything else we can help with.

For more on the impact of this kind of journalism on vulnerable clients please read the content below:

The Devastating Impact of Media Interference on Mental Health and Family Investment

No child should be used to fuel an agenda, and families must be proactive in ensuring that their teen’s experience is protected from distortion.

When an investigative reporter reaches out to former clients – especially minors -the consequences can extend far beyond just an interview. Adolescents, already vulnerable in their healing journey, may experience serious emotional setbacks, including confusion, self-doubt, and even relapse into harmful behaviours. For parents, the emotional and financial investment they’ve made in their child’s care can feel undermined, as misguided media narratives attempt to reshape their child’s experience into something negative—even when real progress was made.

Mental Health Setbacks for Former Clients

For teens who have completed treatment, consistency and stability are crucial in maintaining their progress. Yet, when a journalist with an agenda introduces doubt or encourages them to revisit past struggles in a negative light, the effects can be damaging:

• Reframing Their Experience Through Negativity – A child who once felt they benefited from the structured support of Venture Academy or any therapeutic treatment program for that matter, may suddenly question their own healing if confronted with leading questions or biased narratives.
• Resurfacing Trauma – Repeated questioning about past struggles or treatment methods can reopen emotional wounds, triggering anxiety, depressive episodes, or even self-destructive behaviors. Even clinicians, social workers and child welfare workers need to be cautious about this. Venture Academy staff never do this despite hearing countless stories about misdirected and failed strategies.
• Pressure to Conform to Online Narratives – If a former client sees negative discussions on social media about their treatment experience, they may feel pressured to align with the loudest opinions—even if those opinions contradict their personal reality or the reality observed by staff and documented according licensing and accreditation standards.
• Loss of Trust in Support Systems – Adolescents leaving treatment rely on ongoing family and professional support. If a journalist, well intended community professional or even friends and relatives, not convinced the child needed treatment in the first place, introduce doubt about the integrity of that care, it can erode trust in the very structures designed to help them continue their progress.

The Emotional and Financial Toll on Families

Parents who have invested time, resources, and deep emotional energy into their child’s recovery experience an entirely different type of distress when media interference disrupts their child’s healing:

• Feeling of Betrayal – After doing everything possible to find effective treatment, seeing their child manipulated into doubting the process is devastating for parents. They may feel like outsiders are undoing the hard-fought progress they helped achieve.
• Guilt and Emotional Turmoil – Parents who witness their child’s relapse due to negative media influence may struggle with guilt, questioning whether they made the right choice—even when they know their child’s care and treatment was supportive effective or both.
• Financial Costs of Recovery – Many families make tremendous financial sacrifices to afford specialized care, including Venture Academy’s program. If journalists distort the narrative, their investment—both emotional and financial—feels discredited, despite the life-changing impact they have likely witnessed firsthand.
• Damage to Family Stability – When a child becomes conflicted about their treatment experience due to outside influence, it can create tension within the household, making post-treatment reintegration more difficult and straining family relationships.

Message from the Venture Academy team:

“Our hearts are with you moms, dads, children and families affected by this approach in our program or other programs.”  We know you are tired of fighting differing opinions and a system that has failed your child.