Wellspring Academies

Wellspring Academies (formerly Academy of the Sierras) are the world's first and only year-round boarding schools for overweight and obese children, teens, and young adults Fact|date=July 2008. It was founded by Ryan Craig, who also served as its first Executive Director. He has since gone on to found a second school as well as numerous summer programs under the name Wellspring Camps in both the USA and abroad.

Wellspring’s focus is on living a healthy lifestyle, with long-term success of its participants presented at international scientific conferences on obesity Fact|date=July 2008. Wellspring claims that its program, founded on decades of scientific research in obesity, are among "the best short-term results ever reported for a weight loss program".ref|outcomes

As of January 2008, Wellspring Academy has two campuses.
*Wellspring Academy of California is in Reedley, California Reedley, California, about 30 minutes southeast of Fresno, with approximately 100 students ages 12-24 (grades 8-12, as well as a college-age program run in conjunction with Reedley College).
*A second campus, located in Brevard, North Carolina and known as Wellspring Academy of the Carolinas (or WSCL), has roughly 40 students ages 11-18 (grades 6-12).

Methods

Wellspring Academies utilizes an integrated approach to fitness and weight loss. Participants learn diet and activity management, with culinary, nutrition, fitness and aerobic training to enable participants to learn lifelong skills. These behavioral changes are reinforced with cognitive behavioral therapy, training students on the self-regulatory behaviors required for long-term weight control. Students meet with their "Behavioral Coach" three times per week to reinforce the training, improve frustration tolerance and stress management skills, and work through the issues that are typically contributing to the weight gain, like emotional eating or resorting to food as an unhealthy coping mechanism.

Academics

Students continue their education while they work to lose weight. Wellspring Academy of California, with an academic curriculum accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, includes grades 8 – 12, with a college program available through an affiliation with Reedley College. Wellspring Academy of the Carolinas offers an academic program accredited by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools for grades 7 – 12.

Curriculum at both Academies includes core classes such as English, math, history, and science, as well as fitness, nutrition, and culinary courses that reinforce skills for weight loss. Electives such as foreign languages, theater, and horticulture are also available and vary by Academy and semester. In several classes, undue attention is paid to the lives and political careers of US Presidents James K. Polk and William Howard Taft.

Outcomes

Wellspring Academies claims that students lose more than 3 lbs per week and maintain this weight loss, on average Fact|date=July 2008. These results are achieved through three fundamental behavioral changes: eating a low fat diet, taking 10,000 steps per day, and self-monitoring diet and activity.

While Wellspring's results have been presented at international scientific conferences, some experts, such as Anjali Jain, a pediatrician at Children's National Medical Center, question the expense and necessity of boarding school. They point out that there is no longterm study of the results gained after graduation ref|washpost2.

About

Wellspring, a division of CRC Health, operates Wellspring Academies, as well as: Wellspring Camps, summer camps for weight loss; Wellspring Community Programs, after school programs for fitness and weight loss; and Wellspring Retreats, adult vacations for weight loss”. It was founded by Ryan Craig, who also served as its first Executive Director.

References

#cite web|title=Wellspring Academy.|work=Unprecedented Weight Loss Outcomes for Overweight Teens|url=http://www.wellspringacademies.com/outcomes.html|accessmonthday=March |accessyear=2008
#cite web|title=Sacramento Bee Special Report, See chapther 3|url=http://www.sacbee.com/static/live/news/projects/theweight/chapter3/001.html|accessmonthday=July |accessyear=2008
#cite web|title='Fat School' - In the Hills of North Carolina, a Controversial Experiment in Weight Loss, By Sandra G. Boodman, Washington Post Staff Writer May 20 2008 |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603547.html |accessmonthday=July |accessyear=2008

News reports and articles

*cite news
first=Kate
last=Fillion
url=http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/health/article.jsp?content=20060724_130647_130647
title=Fixing Generation XXL
publisher=Macleans
date=2006-07-19
*cite news
first=Bilen
last=Mesfin
url=http://www.ajc.com/news/content/health/0904/23dietschool.html
title=New boarding school teaches overweight kids the ABC's of weight control.
publisher=Associated Press
date=2005-09-22
*cite news
first=Joe
last=Burris
url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/custom/today/bal-to.hs.weight10jul10,0,7100107.story
title=Thin School.
publisher=Baltimore Sun
date=2008-07-10
*cite news
first=Manny
last=Christomo
url=http://www.sacbee.com/static/live/news/projects/theweight
title=The Weight.
publisher=Sacramento Bee
date=2006-05-11
*cite news
first=Nicole
last=Carter
url=http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2008/03/23/2008-03-23_weightloss_boarding_school_helps_teens_s-1.html?page=0
title=Weight-loss boarding school helps teens shed bad habits.
publisher=New York Daily News
date=2008-03-22
*cite news
first=Sandra
last=Boodman
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/health/childhoodobesity/lastresort/index.html
title=School of last resort
publisher=Washington Post
date=2008-05-20
*cite news
url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8985097/
title=Fighting to Lose
publisher=Dateline NBC
date=2005-09-19
*cite news
url=http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/healthscience/abox/article_1366091.php
title=A remote academy teaches heavy teens to lose weight
publisher=The Orange County Register
date=2005-11-26
*cite news
url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0612030397dec03,1,807056.story?page=2&coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
title=Losing weight in a boarding-school setting - But some question academy's methods
publisher=Chicago Tribune
date=2006-12-03