AIM House Review

Out of curiosity, checked out the website of the Earl House, (which they now call the Shannon House). This place was god awful so no surprise they're trying to hide that Earl House even existed. There's no information about that place even existing around early 2016-mid 2016. There's only one article. The staff were rude, incompetent, and had a non transitioned (male who wanted future surgery with MALE GENITALIA) "shemale" as they told me in their own words, living in the women's house. They did not want to become female ever or feel female, they wanted to keep their male genitals. They were also bisexual so many a sexual comment, cat call, inappropriate touch happened because of AIMS putting them in the women's house. Highly do not recommend

I was an AIM House Participant in the Spring of 2019. Not only did this program save my life, it gave me my life back after struggling with addiction for many years. This isn't just your average 12 step program. It targets the person as whole using practices from eastern and western methodologies. The staff is incredibly knowledgeable and supportive.

I would recommend this program to any young adult struggling with addiction, depression and anxiety. Their willingness to encourage you while still focusing on you achieving and maintaining your recovery makes it a top notch program. Of course, you have to want to achieve those goals in order to make them a reality but the staff's personal experience in addiction and recovery makes this program unique in Colorado.

It is a great positive life changing experience. Staff member are very friendly, respectful and supportive. It is structured for you to achieve all your needs and wants in life. They are very flexible in order to ensure your success and you have a lot of freedom to do what you want. They basically build and determine the completion of the program depending on the time you want to finish it, with a minimum of three months. The Castle is amazing, great vibes with a lot of space and the vintage vibe makes it extremely cozy. Location is the best you can get, close to campus and any good place in Boulder. The only thing is that they are very strict when it comes to substance use. Although the punishment for it is not too bad and it could be way worse. The Castle is great, except for the wall sockets lol. They incorporate great values into your life like discipline, responsibility and integrity. You get to bond with a lot of people including participants and staff members. And if you really appreciate alone time, the basement is a perfect spot for it.

AIM House has been around for a very long time. There is reason for that...its a great program. I was a client at AIM House and I also was given the opportunity to work there as a Mentor Staff. I am so incredibly grateful to the founder of this program for so many reasons. He is my close friend and soul brother to this day. AIM House has employees who have been there since the beginning and that clearly says something. I am so grateful for what AIM House has provided me and the people who are there today are family to me.

Response to "Anonymous" - On behalf of AIM House, I d like to really directly address the concerns you ve noted in your Google review. I m sorry you chose this forum to bring up these complaints; unfortunately, there s no way for me to speak to this without sounding defensive. I m also cognizant that you re still in the Boulder area, and I don t want to say anything that would disclose your identity to others. I m sorry you are still struggling. We are all saddened that you chose a course of action during your time with us that led to your dismissal but, our rules are designed to hold healthy boundaries for each participant, and our community as well. You knew, and agreed to, these conditions when you enrolled. However, if you are in dire need of assistance, please contact anyone here; you know how to reach us. And if you d like to call me personally to discuss your complaints, I m happy to talk with you. Receiving feedback from former participants is never something we shy away from! I hope you will reach out to us, because some of what you spoke to in your Google review was really incorrect. Nevertheless, it saddens me to know you re hurting this much. Rather than lash out at us online, please take this opportunity to directly relate to us in a way that might manifest a positive shift. To quote Ghandi, be the change you wish to see in the world .

Respectfully,

Julie Randall
Director of Operations
AIM House

The most wonderful people work at aim house and have dedicate their lives everyday to helping people. I couldn't imagine a better place to heal than in Boulder, Colorado. They have an amazing program set in place and I have seen it first hand change many people's lives.

I found Aim House to be a form of a therapeutic boarding school. I made great friends and worked with my mentor who I love and trust. Individual therapy and groups were helpful, and I learned how to get started on my own life with support. I didn t feel like a patient or like I was in prison.
The only annoying thing was curfews but that is to be expected. I made good friends, I stayed in the area, I still talk with my mentor and friends from my group, and I still have support from them.

This program is not individualized, as it claims to be. It is designed specifically for substance abuse recovery and they unfortunately do not have the capability to help people suffering with different forms of mental illness. It also seems to be designed for people with major behavioral issues, and their general attitude is to not trust any of their clients. They are very quick to punish. This program also seems to work better for very young adults in their late teens. It is very impractical for those who have lived away from home before. Overall, I would recommend it to a young person struggling with substance abuse and behavioral issues who needs help learning to live away from their parents for the first time. It would be great for that specific client. I would not recommend it to anybody who does not completely fit that mold.

I am a registered nurse and Community Outreach Coordinator in Boulder and I interact often with other programs that provide mental health and substance use disorder treatment. I am very aware of the AIM House program and have worked with various staff there. The feedback I get from the community and my personal interaction with their staff has been very positive and AIM House is considered to be a valuable program for young adults struggling to become successful adults.

The only good experience about aimhouse is meeting and living with the other people in the program. The only staff who know what's going on are the peer mentors, the program director has no information on particpants and is rarely Invovled in the process of each individual, but is the person who contacts parents if a participant has relapesed and also advises on how long a person should stay without any real knowledge of a participants progress. The owner and higher staff are all related or close friends creating a toxic environment and a cult like upper management, where unqualified employees are given higher positions while some of the best employees in the eyes of me and other participants are picked out and treated very poorly by the program director and owner. The owner and director also seem to pick favorites and treat some participants at a much higher standard and care than others. They claim to guide people into the next steps of their lives but while here I noticed a complete lack of help. Many participants struggle to find jobs and in school, while staff will push them to keep trying there is no actual help other than verbal, no real skills are taught, most people fend for themselves and it seems the ones in need of more help go under the radar and get no help while in the program. I have seen many fellow participants go through this program gaining nothing and coming out the same person or worse off when they came in, this could be blamed on the participant but I also believe it falls on the staff too. With over 25 young men in one house and only 4 staff on per day there is no way every person is receiving the treatment they need, many people go unnoticed or even relapse with no help in the future after these slip ups other than there technology taken away for a week after the relapse. It seems this program is invested in the money then the treatment of its participants. Costing nearly $8,000 a month per stay. Some participants who are indeed ready for the next step are kept here after the program director convinces parents that their child needs more treatment. It seems money is more important then the actual progress of a participant making this program more a front promising to treat someone while not really helping at all, taking money from parents desperately searching for a solution to help their children. After being in aimhouse for 5 months out of 12 participants I have seen leave 10 of them left and fell back to old habits or worse off than before. In all aimhouse is porrly managed, unprofessional, and making promises that aren't kept with few success stories of participants after the program. I would not recommend aimhouse for your son or daughter.

AIM House has a wonderful staff and great people all around. I have seen this program change lives for the better and would recommend it to anyone who is struggling.