Dear Supporters and Survivors,

Thank you for your continued advocacy and shares. Since our last update in October 2025, new survivor testimonies, including a harrowing account of hazing and sexual harassment at U.S. locations, have surfaced, amplifying calls for justice. The John Volken Academy (JVA), formerly branded as "Welcome Home: Changing Lives" under The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) auspices, continues to operate in the U.S. despite its Canadian facility's forced closure in March 2025 amid substantiated abuse allegations. This update highlights fresh evidence, ongoing harms, and urgent actions needed to protect vulnerable men and women, including myself,  seeking addiction recovery and related mental health support, including from psychotropic medications, recreational drugs and alcohol.

Key Revelations from Recent Survivors Shared Testimony:

A recent set of investigative queries reveals former residents account of "hazing" at a JVA facility approximately five years ago, echoing tactics from troubled teen industry (TTI) programs like Provo Canyon School and the 70s Synanon. The survivor, who entered the program amid body image issues, depression, and substance use tied to childhood bullying and other ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences), described:

Forced Nudity and Mockery: Senior residents and directors, acting under program authority, ordered him to strip naked after a few months in. They circled him, ridiculing his body; exacerbating his stretch marks, eating disorder history, and self-hatred.   The trauma for anyone, let alone someone with pre-existing vulnerabilities, in life-long.  

Inappropriate Touching: The survivor disclosed "some touching" occurred, which he had never shared publicly until confiding in a chaplain. This aligns with definitions of sexual harassment or assault.  

That's sexual harassment... That's a form of being molested... That's sick.

That's not normal.

Lasting Trauma and Triggers: The experience fueled ongoing relapses, with the survivor feeling "unsafe" in sober living tied to JVA.  A new facility opening nearby in Farmington (U.S. location) retriggered PTSD-like symptoms.   He wrote a complaint letter post-graduation, receiving no response...despite family consultations with attorneys. 

This isn't isolated.  Survivors and their loved ones link it to broader "red flags," urging lawsuits for proper treatment and shutdowns. The survivor  has sought to "shut them down since the day he left," but institutional silence persists.   He is not alone in those sentiments. 

Broader Patterns of Abuse and Manipulation

JVA's model—long-term isolation, unpaid labor (up to 56 hours/week), speaking bans, and communication restrictions—mirrors coercive TTI tactics. Key issues, now corroborated by multiple sources.  

Unfortunately, we’re seeing a troubling pattern: many of the newspaper articles from the early-2025 coverage of the abuse in Canada have been taken down or are no longer accessible. It raises serious concerns about how easily information can disappear when people with influence and resources want it to.

Report Abuses: U.S. survivors, contact HEAL (https://www.healtrafficking.org)

Families: Share stories anonymously via petition comments.
Demand Investigations: Email me at ultra.elevens0i@icloud.com as we continue citing British Colombia location closure precedents.

Support Survivors: Donate to TTI reform orgs like UnsilencedVoicesUSA.org. If you're a former resident, join our private group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/johnvolkenacademy

Amplify: Post with #JohnVolkenAcademyAccountability #ShutdownJVA #JVASurvivor #JVASucks

Media:  Write a letter to your local newspaper editor, share on social media.  Make noise.   Talk to me, Clelia.  Join our survivor group chat and work up the courage to share. 

JVA's "perfect scam" veiled in undisclosed religiosity and ice cold cult-like recovery rhetoric has harmed too many. With your help, we'll expose it fully, secure reparations, and prevent future atrocities. No one deserves this under the guise of healing.

In solidarity,
Clelia Jane Sheppard and Friends/Supporters

Survivors United Against JVA

Sources verified via public records, survivor testimonies, and investigative reporting. Allegations pending legal validation; JVA denies systemic abuse, claiming "volunteer" model.

Some helpful quotes from Gabor Mate, psychologist: 

“Trauma is not what happens to you, it’s what happens inside you as a result of what happened to you.” 
“Not all addictions are rooted in abuse or trauma, but I do believe they can all be traced to painful experiences… A hurt is at the centre of all addictive behaviours.” 
“It is impossible to understand addiction without asking what relief the addict finds, or hopes to find, in the drug or the addictive behaviour.”
“Addiction is not a choice that anybody makes; it’s not a moral failure. What it actually is: it’s a response to human suffering.”
“The difference between passion and addiction is that between a divine spark and a flame that incinerates.” 
“The attempt to escape from pain is what creates more pain.” 
“All addictions — whether to drugs or to non-drug behaviors — share the same brain circuits and brain chemicals. On the biochemical level, the purpose of all addictions is to create an altered physiological state in the brain.” 
“What seems like a reaction to some present circumstance is, in fact, a reliving of past emotional experience.”

To every survivor of the John Volken Academy who is feeling alone today, struggling with brokenhearted-ness, crushed with guilt, weighed down by feelings of worthlessness, ashamed, or struggling with hopelessness:

You are not alone, even when the silence in your head is deafening.

What you went through was not recovery; it was betrayal dressed up as healing.

 The shame you carry is not yours; it was forced onto you in rooms where they stripped you of clothes, dignity, and safety.

 That shame belongs to them, not you.

If the nights are heavy and the memories scream, please hear this: The voice that tells you you’re worthless, that you deserved it, that you’ll never be okay again; that is not your voice.

That is the echo of abusers, the chemical chaos of trauma and years of self-destruction, the lies they drilled into you when they isolated you from everyone who loved you when you thought you could feel a silver lining of hope at your rope's end. 

You are still here.

That alone is proof you are stronger than they ever understood.

There is no “perfect” way to heal from evil. 

Your path doesn’t have to be linear, pretty, or fast.

Some days you will crawl.

Some days you will stand up and roar.

Every single one of those days counts.

Today is not too late to begin again.

Today is not too late to speak, to cry, to rage, to ask for help, to believe you deserve gentleness.

You do not have to face the demons alone anymore.

 Reach out; to a therapist who understands coercive control, to another survivor, to a friend who will simply sit with you in the dark. We need you here, exactly as you are: wounded, furious, healing, imperfect, alive.

You were not the problem.
You are not the problem.
You are the evidence that their system failed, and you are the reason it will one day fall.

Keep going.
We see you. We believe you. We are waiting for you on the other side of this pain; not fixed, not “cured,” but free.You are worth every fight it takes to get there.

Don’t give up on yourself.
We never will.