A Parent’s Guide to Reading & Understanding Online Reviews

Are you looking into treatment options for your troubled teen? It’s completely natural for concerned parents to check out a facility’s reviews—especially when it comes to residential treatment. After all, you want to make sure that your child is in the best hands possible. You want to be assured that they’ll be safe and taken care of.

At Turn-About Ranch, we encourage you to check out our reviews on Google and on Facebook. As of this morning, Turn-About Ranch had 110 reviews on Google. Of these reviews, 20 are “one star”, 3 are between “2 and 4 stars”, and 87 are “5 star”. Our reviews on Facebook reflect very similar results. What is ultimately to be gathered from the public opinion and what is the best way for a diligent parent to interpret such varied reviews? The following are some general tips to help parents sort fact from fiction and to read between the lines when reading online reviews.

Turn-About Ranch Reviews Policy

First and foremost, we feel it is important to state that Turn-About Ranch has never and will never pay for reviews. We do actively request feedback as our success can only be measured by the success of our students and families. These honest reviews help other parents as they go about making the best treatment decision for their teens. In addition, we believe that there is always room to fine tune our methods and services.

We feel the best (and only) way to truly “take our own pulse” is to routinely request candid feedback from both students and families who have directly participated in the Turn-About Ranch program.

How to Analyze Reviews & Get What You Need From Them

While this list was created with Turn-About Ranch and other teen residential treatment programs in mind, these tips can also be applied to any other type of business, organization, product, or service you may be researching.

1. Be Wary of Reviews That are Over-the-Top Negative

Some negative reviews are so extreme that it’s only reasonable to question just how truthful it is. Such reviews are often planted by competitors or those with agendas or other motivations. We’ve seen people with the agenda of judging parents of struggling teens. However, those are usually easy to spot and come from individuals who have never invested in Turn-About Ranch’s services

2. Pay Attention to How Many Reviews a Program Has

The general rule of thumb is to lean towards programs or services that have received a lot of reviews. Conversely, be more careful with programs that have only one or two reviews. Check all of the mainstream review platforms like Google and Facebook.

3. Be Cautious with Reviews That Sound More Like Stories

There are a lot of creative writers out there who like to tell their tales on reviews. Perhaps they’re inspired by what they’ve seen on TV or read on Reddit. These reviews are easy to spot. They come across like narratives and often use a lot of adjectives.

4. Don’t Take Meme-Like Reviews Seriously

The mental health of your teen is not a joke. Unfortunately, there are people who will use review platforms to joke about mental health or teens getting the help they need. Some of these people are the trolls we referred to earlier and they shouldn’t be taken seriously.

5. Look for Evidence That the Person Actually Took Part in the Services

When checking Turn-About Ranch reviews, for example, you want to make sure that the reviews you’re reading are from people who can actually speak for the ranch experience. You want to know that they are parents of current or former students or were students themselves at some point. You may find reviews that are simply opinions about our services but don’t have actual experience to back up their reviews.

6. Ask Questions

If you have any questions about a person’s review, feel free to ask! At Turn-About Ranch, we welcome any questions that come our way. If you see a review and would like to hear what we have to say about it, all you have to do is reach out and ask. You can also reach out to the reviewer directly and find out more about their experience directly.

7.Request a Referral List

Ask if it would be possible to speak to any parents/families that have been through the program. This is one of the very best ways to get firsthand information from other parents that have “been in the trenches”. We would be more than happy to help you get connected with other parents.

Ready to Learn More About Turn-About Ranch?

Following these tips should help to sort the worthwhile reviews from those that are based on opinions without direct experience. While reading reviews is an important part of gathering information about any product or service, learning to read reviews in a way that is beneficial to you can go a long way.

Turn-About Ranch offers a real ranch setting with real experiences designed to encourage personal growth and change. We strive to make a positive difference in each student and family we work with. The views and opinions found online don’t always reflect the sincere desire of each staff member to help and inspire each student for the better. We are grateful for the honest feedback we receive and earnestly strive to better our ability to affect positive change.

Turn-About Ranch is a program made of real people working with real families and real situations. Change rarely happens when we are comfortable. Real change is not an event, but a process of self-discovery and hard work. When it comes to behavioral and mental health issues, the results are emotionally based. Turn-About Ranch has always been a program that cares about each individual it serves and the outcomes we help students and families achieve. That is why we stand behind the experience with our guarantee. You can learn more about our guarantee by visiting our admissions information page.