I genuinely cannot believe I am making another post about the John Volken Academy after all these years, but I feel like I have to. This is a PSA for parents, partners, courts, probation officers, and anyone desperately searching for help for somebody struggling with addiction: please do not send someone to the John Volken Academy based solely on how good it looks on paper. I pray to god that someone in investigative journalism reads this.
JVA presents itself as a free, long-term therapeutic community where people overcome addiction through structure, accountability, education, vocational training, and meaningful work. I understand why that sounds appealing. It sounded appealing to me. Some parts of the therapeutic-community model even helped me, which is one reason it took years to fully untangle what happened there. Harmful programs are not always harmful every second of every day. Sometimes the positive parts are exactly what make it difficult to recognize the coercion happening around them.
JVA currently advertises campuses in North Salt Lake, Utah; Kent, Washington; and Gilbert, Arizona. It also operated a registered residential program in Surrey, British Columbia. That residence was eventually ordered to close, but JVA remains connected to Academy Farms in Langley, where its own materials have described JVA “students” performing animal care and other commercial work. I have not found a public record clearly establishing whether Langley is operating as the residential replacement for Surrey, so I am not claiming that as proven fact for my own safety concerns only. I do believe it is an important question regulators should answer.
The Utah location is also relatively new. It was established after Red Barn Academy’s planned closure triggered emergency action from the Utah Division of Consumer Protection. Red Barn’s own website now says that it became part of JVA and that its staff and student body remained unchanged throughout the transition. JVA currently advertises a residential campus in North Salt Lake.
I entered JVA’s British Columbia program many years ago during an extremely vulnerable period in my life. Before admission, I was told about gardening, greenhouses, growing food, education, community, and a healing environment modeled after a therapeutic community in Italy. I believed I would spend considerable time outdoors and participate in something genuinely restorative.
What I was not told was that residents were expected to work more than 40 hours a week, commonly six days a week, in businesses associated with JVA. Much of my time was spent working inside a large commercial store with harsh lighting and we did not leave the facility. Later, while I was still a resident, I helped develop another JVA-associated business. This was not ordinary employment. I was not receiving ordinary wages, and the same organization benefiting from our labor also controlled our housing, communication, what we ate (which was commonly expired food from the department store we worked in) medication access, personal property, discipline, movement, and progression through the program.
Immediately after I arrived, my phone, passport, debit card, wallet, backpack, and other belongings were taken and locked away. I am American. I was in another country without my passport, phone, money, transportation, or meaningful knowledge of the surrounding area. Although I had been told that I could leave voluntarily, I did not experience leaving as a realistic option. It was not.
I tried to leave on foot more than once. Program members followed me in a vehicle and brought me back despite my saying that I wanted to leave. I was then subjected to consequences that included additional labor, isolation, demotion, ostracism, and restrictions on speaking. At the same time, representatives of the program told my family that I was doing extremely well. I was not doing well. I was frequently experiencing panic attacks, crying, and desperate to leave. Additionally, I was told I could not bring any of my controlled medications, including my anxiety medication, and later discovered all Canadian residents were allowed their controlled medications.
Contact with my family was tightly controlled. I could not simply call my family. Letters were screened, and residents could not freely criticize the program in any way. Regular, brief video contact with my family did not begin until I had already been there for over a year, and only if it was approved. If your loved one is currently inside a program like this, please understand that a cheerful letter, an upbeat telephone call, or positive comments during a supervised visit may not give you an accurate picture of what is happening. At the Surrey program, our communication was monitored or restricted, and speaking honestly could have consequences. Daily life was governed by an extensive student manual that residents were instructed not to share with outsiders. We repeatedly recited a statement called “The Promise” which was creepy as hell. New residents, called “inductees,” were assigned another resident as a shadow and required to account for their movements. Cameras were installed throughout the facility, and recorded behavior could be used against residents in disciplinary proceedings.
Residents also disciplined one another through a practice called a “pull-up.” Someone would tell you to “check yourself,” and you were expected to respond, “Thank you.” You could not defend yourself or explain what happened until a later encounter group which lasted for two hours and could become highly abusive. Consequences were publicly displayed and could include speaking bans, organized ostracism, humiliation, additional labor, isolation, and demotion to an earlier phase of the program. In my experience, these were not always neutral tools for accountability. They could be used to silence, target, shame, and control people. You could be pulled up just because someone had it out for you. Medication handling was one of the most disturbing parts of my experience. After I entered student leadership, I and several other residents were given access to the medication room. We reviewed medication lists, distributed medication, and watched other residents take it. We were residents, not licensed medical professionals.
When another resident’s controlled medication began disappearing or running out early, the student leaders with medication-room access were drug tested. I knew I had not taken it and demanded independent laboratory testing. JVA eventually took me for that testing but never showed me the result. I was blamed anyway and years after leaving the program, was told by someone who had been in leadership with me at that time, that they planned for me to take the fall. I was demoted to an inductee status indefinitely, ostracized, assigned physically punishing and sometimes humiliating work, and placed on an extended speaking ban during which almost nobody in the community could speak to me and I could not speak to them. This continued for months.
I also witnessed residents being admitted with serious psychiatric, developmental, eating-disorder, and medical needs that the program did not appear qualified to manage. One resident’s eating disorder became life-threatening. Because I saw her every day, I did not initially comprehend how much weight she had lost. I finally recognized the extent of her deterioration while looking through older photographs of her when putting together a slideshow for a graduation. She began fainting at work. I was required to keep vehicle keys with me so I could drive her to emergency departments whenever necessary, sometimes repeatedly within the same week. And then I was expected to show up for my work duties the next day even if I had been in the ER all night. I did not have proper authorization to drive in Canada at the time, and program personnel knew that. I repeatedly told leadership that behavioral modification could not safely treat her condition. Eventually, I encouraged her to contact her family and leave because I was terrified she would die while under our supervision. Another resident developed severe paranoia and auditory hallucinations. I helped arrange an outside psychiatric appointment and eventually helped her contact her family so she could leave for more appropriate care. Residents living inside the same program should never have been responsible for recognizing and managing emergencies of that severity.
Before entering JVA, I had studied psychology, sociology, cults, and high-control groups. That knowledge helped me recognize relatively early that I was living inside what I believe functioned as a high-control, cultlike system. It helped me navigate the environment strategically and eventually leave in a way that allowed me to recover my property and return home on my terms. Many residents did not have that background. Some stayed for years and later became employees or leaders within the same system. Some are still there today.
When government representatives, donors, or other visitors were expected, we knew in advance. Residents were expected to be on their best behavior and present the program positively. People understood that failing to comply could result in severe consequences. That is why a scheduled tour—especially one conducted in front of program personnel—cannot establish whether residents are safe or speaking freely.
These concerns are not based only on my memories. The British Columbia Assisted Living Registry later substantiated multiple regulatory violations involving JVA. Its findings included inadequate employee-qualification records, failure to document a resident’s complaint, a report of retaliation after a resident contacted the Registry, residents being instructed to use JVA’s internal complaint process before contacting regulators, and comments that diminished a resident’s dignity.
The Registry also found that residents were not adequately informed before admission that working at Academy Farms and JVA Movers was a condition of residency. They were not properly informed about required work hours, workplace assignments, their ability to choose where they worked, or injury protection. The Registry further found that the person overseeing residents working at Academy Farms lacked adequate experience, skills, or qualifications to monitor their health and safety.
I was one of several people who raised concerns about the Surrey program. JVA eventually dropped its appeal of the closure order and announced that the residence would close. However, a later inspection found that the Surrey address was still providing housing, psychosocial support, and assistance with residents’ money or personal property to 11 people while operating as an unregistered assisted-living residence.
Years after leaving, I still hear the program’s language in my head. I can be standing in a store considering a purchase and hear, “Is it a want or a need?” Certain rules, phrases, and expectations remain embedded in the way I think. I have rebuilt my life and reintegrated into ordinary society relatively well, but that took years of work. I consider myself one of the fortunate ones.
Several people I knew through the program later died. I am not claiming that JVA caused every one of those deaths. I am saying that the number of people I cared about who are no longer here weighs heavily on me, and it is one reason I refuse to remain silent.
Additionally, having been in certain positions I was in while I was a student, I have information that is highly concerning but that I will not share on here. But I will say, as with most cults and high control groups, the JVA goes much much deeper than simply the recovery and therapeutic community side. I believe that functions as a front. Take that how you will…if you know what I’m insinuating, you know.
If you attended any JVA location and feel safe sharing, I hope you will tell your story in your own words and at your own pace. You do not have to identify yourself publicly. Preserve original messages, photographs, manuals, medical records, admission materials, and correspondence. Consider giving sensitive evidence to a qualified attorney, journalist, or regulator instead of posting everything publicly.
I know some former residents describe JVA positively, and they are entitled to share those experiences. I am not trying to erase them. But positive testimonials do not cancel out coercion, undisclosed labor, unsafe practices, restricted communication, or substantiated regulatory violations experienced by other residents.
It has been many years since I left. I wish I did not still feel responsible for warning people. But if one family reads this before surrendering someone’s passport, telephone, medication, freedom of communication, and practical ability to leave, then making another post was worth it. And I will continue to do my best to expose this place to honor my friends and loved ones who cannot, because they are no longer with us.
Public sources:
JVA’s official U.S. locations page
British Columbia’s substantiated complaint findings
British Columbia’s finding that the Surrey residence continued operating without registration
Red Barn’s statement that it transitioned into JVA while retaining its staff and student body
Academy Farms’ description of its relationship with JVA
