Nexus-Onarga Family Healing

I Lived here for about 2 years .Some staff were okay, and some were not. Restraints were a little too much with certain staff. A select few were always doing above and beyond in 2011.As Far as the Teacher's in schooling. 100 Percent Amazing, they always kept you on track, and giving you the ability and resources to excel in Knowledge.

I was here from 2004-2007. My experience here was very different from where I had been previous places. Youre out Im the middle of nowhere removed from your family,friends and most likely where you grew up at. When I first got there you were introduced to your administration for your program. I was put on program 2 the NFL floor I dont know if its called that now, but thats what it was called when I was there. My first few weeks there took some getting use to, very restrictive setting everything you do here is about accountability which in return taught youth here responsibility. The way the program is setup is strict as well everything you do is monitored by staff and higher admins. The room you get is a decent size one bed a dresser and a cabinet dresser to hang coats or bigger items. And a table and chair in there as well. The bathroom was in the hallway there was 2 of them, bathroom was pretty big too stand up shower sink toilet the basics. The floor itself is pretty spacious it could accommodate I would say 40-50 people at any given time. There was one room we called quads you got to earn that room to be able to sleep in a room with 3 other individuals which was considered a luxury well earned. A typical day consisted of waking doing your morning routine ie: washing up,showering using the rest room. When going anywhere we had to line up in a single file line to they could pretty much do count. You would head downstairs to the cafeteria to eat breakfast majority of the time you got to sit where you wanted. Lunch was the same and so wasnt dinner. The food wasnt too horrible at times. I would rate the food 7 out of 10. Your typical day consisted of group therapy, 1 on 1 with a therapist or counselor aka staff member. The people I had on my floor were Jim Herder, Mike Cordetti, bill Featherstone, and cannot for the life of me remember the ladys name who was our administrator for our floor. But they were tough people but at the end of the day they cared for you. Hats just my personal opinion from interactions with them. Oh her name was Rhonda lol. You got to watch tv but some channels or movies were restricted the same went for music,magazines, and photos. We had sports teams, track soccer softball, basketball. They had a swimming pool dont if its actually usable anymore because of problems they were having at the time with it. At onarga its about earning everything because when you come there youre dont get to do whatever you want until youve earned. Its a system that they go by, it all ties into your groups, staff interactions, peer interactions and what youre there for. I was able to achieve NFL veteran status before I left which was a tough task and grind. They dont give it to you easy I got turned down a few times along the way, but I kept pushing because I wanted to be the first person to achieve such a feat. It was very rewarding for me in the long run. Your main objective is to make your way over to the independent living program across the street from the main campus. Which is what a lot of guys shouldve been working towards. Everything wasnt always perfect you seen fights, you heard of in appropriate actions, and a whole bunch of code reds. There was a third shifter who there by the name of Joe farmer who I didnt like at first but after him and I got to know each other we turned out to be I would say good friend. Dale was one of the best, Melissa, Arami, Carl who we called Pelon which is bald man in Spanish lol. Theres a few others as well but I cant recall their names. The school system quite honestly from a person who lived there and went to the school on campus and Iroquois west high school. The schools are night and day compared to one another. I thought it was a joke and Im sure I wasnt the only. Im not saying that the teachers were bad its just not your regular school thats all. I would like to come back to Onarga academy or nexus academy and talk to the young man that are there now.