By Andrew R. Jones
Four days before a boy died at a Transylvania County wilderness camp and 16 months before two girls died by suicide at Asheville Academy, the programs’ corporate owner ordered 80 positions cut across the U.S. because it faced financial upheaval, according to internal documents obtained by Asheville Watchdog.
“Starting year with 29 kids below budget,” said a Jan. 29, 2024, financial document titled “Senior Lender Extension, Expense Reductions,” which was presented to corporate and individual program leaders.
Salem, Oregon-based Family Help & Wellness — which does business as Wilderness Training & Consulting — faced a nearly $7 million budget shortfall across its 16 outdoor and residential programs, according to the document. At an average daily rate of $655 per child, the company was facing a $19,000 shortfall each day and would need to cut $5 million in annual expenses, including 80 full-time equivalent positions, according to the document.
The planned staff cuts amounted to 11 percent of Family Help & Wellness’ workforce, according to the document, with residential programs expected to lose 22 positions, or two at each site.
Each residential program, including Asheville Academy, was instructed to provide a list of cuts by the end of January 31, just two days later, with reductions to be implemented by February 2.
Such programs provide children and adolescents a long-term place to live while they are treated for mental and emotional health issues.
Another internal document from December 2023 detailed the company’s growing financial headwinds, including its struggle to attract residents. The average daily census across its programs had dropped from 492 residents in 2020 to 393 in 2023, one graph showed.
“From ‘21 to ’23, Family Help & Wellness EBITDA [Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization] decreased 28% while profits decreased 67%,” the document stated.
In a section laying out the company’s approach to 2024, the document stated, “Hope that volume has flattened in Q4 (i.e. we’ve reached the bottom),” referring to the number of its residents.
Asheville Academy, then known as Solstice East, was budgeted to start 2024 with 31 residents but was projected to have 27. The program was licensed for 90 beds but had only four residents in August 2024, by which point it had rebranded as Magnolia Mill School, according to North Carolina Division of Health Services Regulation records and internal newsletters. In March 2025, the center had again rebranded, this time as Asheville Academy, and had 27 residents.
Family Help & Wellness underperformed financially despite drastically raising its rates over three years, the 2023 document showed. In 2020, the average rate per resident per day was $491 but climbed to $624 by 2023. (People familiar with operations at Asheville Academy have told The Watchdog that the most recent cost to board and treat a child there was $15,000 a month.)
“Concern remains Volume & Marketing,” the 2023 document stated. “As an organization, our approach to marketing (site level ED’s, Biz Dev, Admissions, FHW Marketing Coaches) have not been able to grow volume as an organization in 3 years.”
In addition to its financial challenges, the company was worried about its reputation and that of adolescent mental health residential treatment overall.
“Negative industry perception could create downward, cascading effect,” the 2024 document stated. “Pay close attention to prudent confidentiality & professional conduct… Strategy should result in best possible outcomes if we all keep our heads. We will communicate as frequently & transparently as possible.”
Family Help & Wellness did not respond to a detailed list of questions from The Watchdog.
‘Lender will not be in their happy place’
The company was borrowing money at the time and stated in the 2024 document that cost reductions would appease lenders, noting in one page of the document under the heading “NO REDUCTIONS”:
- “Lender will not be in their happy place.
- Less likely to grant extensions.
- Reference to future lenders not as strong.”
Under the heading “WITH $5M REDUCTIONS,” the document stated:
- “Lender in their happy place.
- Likely gain appropriate extensions.
- Gives us time to find our next partners.”
Dallas-based private equity firm Trinity Hunt Partners invested in the company in 2014under terms it did not disclose. Family Help & Wellness is still listed in the firm’s portfolio.
In a section titled “Senior Lender,” Family Help & Wellness noted that it was searching for “our next investment and/or banking partners” and listed areas of concern for the company:
- A debt payment was due April 30, 2024, and the company noted that it expected to get an initial extension to June and another to September “so long as we pursue a reasonable path to repayment.”
- Trinity Hunt Equity Partners had invested in the company for 10 years, twice as long as expectations.
Trinity Hunt Equity Partners did not respond to The Watchdog’s detailed list of questions.
In the documents, Family Help & Wellness called itself the “Largest, most diverse industry entity,” and then outlined a number of reasons for its success.
These included, “Conservative financial discipline,” “Quality of Site Leadership & Outcomes” and “Proactively eliminating unviable programs.”
In August 2023, Family Help & Wellness closed WinGate Wilderness Therapy in Utah, and in February 2024, it shuttered Triple Divide Lodge in Montana, less than a month after it hired a new director.
The company’s outdoor programs were “stable” and residential programs were “strong,” the Jan. 29, 2024, document stated.
But just four days later, a 12-year-old boy died less than 24 hours after arriving at Family Help & Wellness’ Trails Carolina camp in Transylvania County. An autopsy determined he asphyxiated after being placed in a tent overnight, and his death was classified as a homicide. Ultimately, no criminal charges were filed, but the program was shuttered.
Asheville Academy voluntarily shut down May 31 after two girls, a 13-year-old and a 12-year-old, died by suicide in May. As The Watchdog reported Monday, the program voluntarily relinquished its license June 4, permanently shuttering.
In early 2024, the program, then operating as Magnolia Mill School, was grappling with staff departures, leadership issues and parents’ concerns about the program’s viability.
Information about Asheville Academy, along with all of Family Help & Wellness’ other programs, was scrubbed from the company’s website some time after May 13.
‘Is this about the money?’
Financial decisions had taken a toll on Family Help & Wellness program employees and residents in western North Carolina, including at Asheville Academy — once known as Asheville Academy for Girls (AAG) — years before the cuts ordered in 2024, said former staffers. They spoke to The Watchdog on condition of anonymity because they feared their jobs could be jeopardized if they were identified.
Pay was insufficient for the region’s living costs, working conditions were difficult and staff was spread thin, especially because Family Help & Wellness was pushing to accept more students with higher levels of mental health needs, they said.
“We were accepting kids with much higher acuity, and we were not increasing our [staff] ratios,” said one former employee who worked at AAG between 2013 and 2014. “And that was something that I harped about. I was like, ‘I don’t know why we are doing this.’”
Clarissa Nemeth was a mentor at AAG in 2021 but left because of concerns about its culture. After witnessing a suicide attempt and other instances of self-harm, she said, she felt like residents’ mental health needs often surpassed the staff’s capabilities. But leadership continued to accept students and kept some on campus who Nemeth didn’t think should have been there, she said.
“There was a tendency to kind of want them to stay on campus,” Nemeth said. “And I think the obvious question that comes up in your mind is, well, ‘Is this about the money?’ … No one I worked with or under struck me as negligent or incompetent or abusive or anything like that; everyone was devoted to the students and wanted to help them thrive. But I think we were all working within an inherently flawed/dangerous model: a for-profit therapeutic boarding school.”
[Editor’s note: If you or someone you know are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. In addition, Crisis Text Line is a texting service for emotional crisis support. To speak with a trained listener, text HELLO to 741741. It is free, available 24/7, and confidential.]
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Andrew R. Jones is a Watchdog investigative reporter. Email arjones@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go toavlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
The post Asheville Academy, Trails Carolina owner faced financial upheaval before deaths appeared first on North Carolina Health News.
