The Bodin Group

We hired The Bodin group when we were in crisis and needed help making decisions about schooling and therapy for our child. Miriam Bodin helped us during the crisis, educated us on our choices and continued to stay in touch with us while we got support at a wonderful school that we would never have found with out Bodin. When life was good Miriam helped us place our Child in their new high school where everything has been wonderful this year. I think the Bodin helped us pick the best support and help we needed.

Over the past four years Douglas Bodin has guided and supported my husband, my children and me through some of the most difficult decisions we have faced as a family. By the time we found Douglass we were completely exhausted — emotionally and financially — from failed placement after failed placement for our addicted loved one.
Before hiring the Bodin Group, the solutions we were able to find on our own — through internet searching and referrals — simply didn’t work: they were ineffective, over-​priced and even dangerous. We had run out of options and were living in fear that our loved one would be lost to us, either incarcerated or dead. Douglas’ depth of experience in the world of services available for addiction and mental health issues, along with his calm, compassionate, steady problem solving approach, came as an enormous relief. Douglas was able to access our needs — those of each family member as we were all affected by the trauma of living with addiction in the family — and help each of us get the support we needed.
The road to recovery for our family has been very challenging but Douglas has walked beside us through every turn. Douglas has participated in countless meetings and phone conversations with us and our loved one’s doctor or therapist and served as an invaluable «set of ears» to help us understand what was going on and help us make some very important and difficult choices. He has helped us come up with solutions to the many legal and financial problems that addiction often leads to. He has made himself available to us at all hours of the day, on the weekends and on holidays. Despite the fact that we aren’t located in the same area, we have always felt that the Bodin Group responded to our questions and concerns as if we were all siting in the same room.
The term «Educational Consultant» does not adequately describe the numerous vital roles that Douglas has played in our lives. I shudder to think where any of us would be today without his help. In our darkest hour Douglas Bodin, his staff, and the professional resources that he secured for us, have made a life and death difference.

Horrible horrible experience. 14 years ago Miriam recommended against my THERAPISTS recommendation to send me to the Island View Academy. I was locked up against my will for over a year. I was traumatized, my ptsd was made much worse and the center, which has since been closed for abusing it’s clients and illegal activity, used tactics such as physically restraining it’s clients, locking them in «time out «rooms and withholding contact with others.
Bodin and associates LOVES recommending Aspen Education group centers, I believe because they are PAID to do this, but beware, they are scammers and abusers.
I’ve attached several
Links here: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspen_Education_Group

Hillary French at The Bodin Group is a LIFESAVER! Our son was struggling in school and had basically given up on life. We were at our wits end, when someone suggested getting an educational consultant. We found The Bodin Group and Hillary took our case. Hillary was able to see us right away and within less than 48 hours, our son was on his way to his first facility — to detox from all of the horrible psych. meds he had been placed on and properly evaluated. What a relief, when finally someone says they understand and can help too! From there, Hillary found a wonderful wilderness program with a therapist that was a perfect fit for our child. After 9 weeks there, Hillary got our son into an amazing therapeutic school that has been a gift to our whole family. In such a difficult, heart-​wrenching journey, Hillary showed tremendous consideration, support and she was always the voice of reason. It wasn’t until our son ran away the first day of being dropped off at the therapeutic boarding school that I realized the true worth of Hillary. Hillary was a calm, supportive, competent person at such a worrisome time. Hillary really had our backs! This journey is too hard to go through without help. I strongly recommend Hillary French as your educational consultant for your child who is spiraling out of control.

From the time that our son first went off the rails six years ago until today, we have relied entirely on Miriam Bodin. We were in a particularly difficult situation because we were in the UK, where there is no real help for ‘troubled teens’ and things were worsening by the day. Fortunately, we were able to get in touch with the Bodin Group, and from that moment we started to find solutions.
Miriam’s first suggestion was that our son go to wilderness — a step which, as he says, saved his life. On all the other placements through our long journey, Miriam has been absolutely insightful and endlessly patient, helping us to make the right decision. Educational consultants such as the Bodin Group are essential in creating continuity between schools, treatment centres, wilderness programmes, etc. But for us the Bodin Group provided much more than continuity — we felt we were closely accompanied at the toughest time in our lives.
Our son is flourishing today in a small liberal arts college with a recovery programme suggested by Miriam. There’s no way he’d be there, happy and doing well and staying sober, without the help of the Bodin Group.

My wife and I have learned two very important life lessons the past 3 years: 1) All things happen for a purpose; and, 2) we are not all gifted with every skill and knowledge that we need to do this life alone.
My wife and I were searching for a solution for our son who was dealing with some difficult times in school and in his life. Grasping at our last straws, we spoke with a medical professional and, separately, a work colleague who dealt with a similar situation with her daughter. They both said, separately yet in unison, «Bodin Associates is where you need to go.» We met with Trine Syverinsen, one of the counselors at Bodin. She assessed the situation after speaking with us and then with our son and provided us 3 – 4 recommendations on schools and programs that would serve his needs academically as well as in his life skills. She clearly had one strong recommendation that she felt was ideal for our son’s situation, but offered other solutions that could also meet his needs. Her #1 recommendation fit our situation like a glove. Our son attended that high school (out of state), and the turnaround has been phenomenal. Trine monitored the situation independently and on our behalf as we all walked that journey together.
We were blessed that two friends led us to Bodin. We were richly blessed to have worked with Trine to find a solution for our son. And we truly recognize that when we were at our last option, reaching out to the professionals at Bodin gave us that hope to find a solution for our family.
I strongly recommend Bodin Associates for the educational consultation they can provide for your child who may be struggling with school and, more importantly, with life.

Trine at the Bodin Group has saved our son’s life. He was failing at school, failing at home and failing at life. Yes, Bodin is expensive, but can you really put a price tag on the value of your child’s life?
Our son was sent to Wingate Wilderness Therapy, where he had a rock-​star therapist who helped to identify additional diagnosis that had never been made. While at Wilderness, we visited Therapeutic Boarding Schools that were recommended to us. The one we decided upon has been fabulous for our son and he is well on his way to becoming a responsible, productive member of society. We have Trine and the Bodin Group to thank for that. Trine personally visits the programs she recommends and stays current with the methods employed by each.
Because our son’s behavior was spiraling out of control, he actually left home before he had a chance to meet Trine. He has since said to us, «When I come home for a family visit, I would like to meet Trine and thank her for helping me.» That alone speaks volumes for how much we are grateful to her and the Bodin Group.

If I could give ZERO stars I would. After 5yrs of a custody battle the judge referred my «ex» and I to Jonee Donnelly, as a co-​parenting counselor, and a 5 star wonderful one she is. When our 15yr old daughter was caught taking the family car & showed signs of abusing drugs unfortunately rather than face the consequences of her behavior, she accused dad of letting & encouraging her to do those self destructive things and mother seized that opportunity to initiate legal action in family court & the criminal court against Dad. In the midst of the fall out of that chaos, it was recommended that we contact the Bodin Group. I initiated the contact and made the 1^st 3way call with mother, Doug Bodin & I.
When we asked about his firms role, he explains that they help us choose a safe program that fit the child’s needs, because there had been some press about wilderness camps and academies that were abusive to the kids. A few days later according to mother it was no longer necessary to consider sending the rebellious 15yr old away because she had a change of heart & told her therapist that she wanted to put her life back on a healthy path.
Fast forward 3mo, Dad gets an email from mother, she & Bodin had unilaterally shipped not only the 15yr old, but also our 13yr old son out of state to «lock down» wilderness camp programs. I never received one phone from Bodin! But then mother was paying the $ 500/​day+ fees for each child’s 60 to 90 days wilderness «experience»… for both kids $ 30,000/month. Shipping your children off to «behavior modification» programs is clearly as much a rich man’s game as is a 5yr custody battle to try to remove father from the lives of 5 children. I call Doug Bodin immediately, to ask how could this happen without any involvement from father??? Yes, at the time mother had 100% physical custody, but I was still legally their father! And what had happened to the «turn around» attitude in my daughter in the 3 intervening months? No answer. And where were they… out of state? No answer.
Since then I’ve essentially been told «no retainer fee paid to Bodin, I can’t talk to you». It’s clear to me that the parent with the $$$‘s is the client, not the other parent & not the teenager. How could it be in a teens’ best interest to be admitted in such extreme programs and neither Bodin or the institutions selected INSISTing that father be involved w the staff of those institutions, if nothing else than to get a holistic therapeutic assessment?
I find out that my daughter is at an «Academy» in Utah, and my son is in South Carolina. I spend a few hours writing an email to «Uinda Academy» where my daughter is and attaching documents which clearly PROVE she was admitted with a one sided perspective from mother that conveniently fits her campaign to remove father from the children’s lives. Their reply?
«…I have cc’d your requests to [your ‘ex”], and she will get a hold of you via the legal system in order to let us know how we can correspond with you…».
I replied
«…As a parent with joint legal custody of _​_​_​, please clarify why your institution’s communication with me as her father would be restricted or in any way be less than that afforded to her mother? Given the nature of the facts I have presented you with, and the incorrect assumptions which _​_​_​admission and treatment have been based upon, please clarify why your institution’s position would be to do anything other than consider BOTH parents perspective on an equal basis moving forward… I have a time urgent interest and a legal right to be well informed about _​_​status & well being. I believe access to records, being kept informed of progress & a dialogue with the staff… is the legal right of both mother & I…»
Their reply?
«…I am sorry we cannot get into a dialogue yet. I need specific writing from a judge saying we can do that…»
Wow!!! My daughter is in not only a «lock down» institution, but a «lock out» one! I started researching these «Academies» and was shocked at what I discovered. The one my son is at thanks to Bodin & my «ex» has a Director that lost their license for «inappropriate sexual conduct with a patient»! This industry is big $$$‘s and has a very dark underside, their are support groups for people recovering from having been sent to these progams, there are many children that have died or gone missing, & clearly there is a pattern of manipulative parents in divorces using the system to extract the other parent from a child’s life. See for yourself. Do some research before rather than working things out as a family using local resources, defaulting «raising your child» to people you & Bodin really don’t know.

It is hard to figure out how to rate a service like Bodin’s. I mean who wants to need the help of an educational consultant? It means your family is in crisis, your child’s a mess, etc. And I won’t lie to you, the costs of Bodin, as with other ed consultants, is high. So, my review is really focused only on how Bodin did at helping our daughter and our family.
Our daughter has gone to three different programs that Bodin has helped guide us to. And each one has really met the needs that were presenting at that time. In fact, they’ve met them very well.
Our ed consultant at Bodin is Trine Syverinsen, and she picked up our case when we were in the midst of a crisis, and immediately got what was going on with our daughter and stepped in to help. I think she did an excellent job of matching us with the right program and staying involved to make sure things went well once our daughter was there.
She has been supportive and responsive throughout the process and we feel we have a good rapport with her. If you are reading this, I’m sorry you are going through troubles. Give Trine a call and see if she can help you. Good luck!

Our child has mild learning differences, is very bright, and was unable to be in his public middle school due to anxiety and bullying. He was in crisis and we needed help placing him in a better suited school. While this is not the core of their business, we were assured that they knew about this type of child and could help.
We found our consultant was very nice and caring. We also found her completely out of date with very limited current knowledge of schools that would be a good fit for our son.
She came up with a Middle School that could not take him for another 9 months. That was really it. We ended up finding another school on our own that she hadn’t seen for many years. It was a great school and really met our needs.
Our recent time working with her was for High School. Since we still had money left over from her high retainer, we thought we’d give her another shot. For our 3 meetings, we only really were given the name of one school in SF (a public school that is lottery only). We talked about a couple of other schools that we knew about which she didn’t really seem to be current on. We asked about one specific school near her Lafayette office, but they had nothing to say on it. She spoke of getting back to us with more info, but never did.
Her company serves a variety of clients and may do great things for others. But we felt she was unable to find a match for our child and we were left to do it on our own. Learning difference children, at least high functioning ones, do not seem to be their strong suit. Be forewarned.

Bodin in Palo Alto is all about money. They sent my son to a wilderness camp then off to Idaho which cost me between bodin, wilderness and intense therpy camp 100K in less than 2 months. I believe they get kick backs from these programs. The program in Idaho was horrible. My son came back worse than when he went. They insisted he got medicated, hospitalized him and starved him. When he got back we visted with Bodin ONE time and they never called us back to see how he was doing. We paid 7500 for them to recommend a program that is a cult in my opinion. You would think they would care how he is, checking on us etc. Worse mistake we have ever made. Do your own research and get references from parents and childeren that went to the program you are considering.

I’m not sure what experience the other reviewer had, but ours was very positive. I beg to differ on the other reviewer. Bodin & Assoc does not received a «kick back» for referring clients to their programs. As a matter of fact, they pride themselves on that. Our daughter was in need of help & after we tried ALL other alternatives, we sought out the help of Bodin. Not only were they informative on all options that would best suit our daughter, they were there at a moments notice when ever we needed to talk to them. They found the perfect location for her and 11 years later we have never regretted our decision. Our daughter is a happy, well functioning adult who contributes to society and living a healthy lifestyle. This would not have been the outcome if we had not taken action when we did for we were on the brink of losing her. Our daughter has told us many times that this was the best thing we ever did for her.
Thank you Douglas Bodin!