About Us We are a licensed residential counseling center located in Flanagan, Illinois, approximately 2 hours southwest of Chicago. We offer a structured program in a farm setting for boys who are struggling with issues at home, such as substance abuse, family conflicts, or academic problems, and who need a new environment that will immerse them in the Word of God to help rebuild their lives. The Ranch Program at Salem is committed to changing and rebuilding the lives of young people. The Ranch Program combines an environment of Christian relationships with a superior treatment program, paving the road to recovery and reconciliation for young men with Christ first and then their families.

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Counselor's Corner : Alex came to Salem having defeated his parents with persistent sin. Even though he felt “betrayed” he was grudgingly cooperative with the Ranch behavioral teaching program. Alex was rigorously discipled and counseled from Scripture. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, Alex complied and benefited. He now excels in school. He came to love his horse and excels at riding. He began to get along with other boys and is now a helper. After six months he is heading toward a return home bearing the fruit of a changed heart.

A Salem Success Story 'My world had ended - and that was exactly what needed to happen' Adapted from the first-person account of a Salem resident.   Alex, a Salem success story I was fourteen years old, addicted to marijuana, filled with anger and rage,making wrong choices daily, on the brink of flunking my ninth grade year, and separated from my parents because of my actions. Things were not good! I can see now that I was miserable and didn’t know it. I had allowed my life to be taken over by my anger, disappointments, anxiety, and use of drugs. All of this was due to the choices that I made daily to please myself - and not God. On April 19, my mother removed me from my classroom, and I was taken to a place that I did not want to be - Salem Ranch. I thought that my world had ended. “My” world had ended—and that was what needed to happen. The Salem Ranch environment helped me adjust my thoughts and behavior through discipline, structure, accountability, and responsibility. Through the Ranch program, I have started to understand the high cost of my old behaviors , and I have learned to call them by their real name: sin. These sins were destroying me, my relationships with others, and my relationship with God. Once I realized that I could change, with God’s help, I was able to take steps toward healing and reconciliation. For the first time in my life I am not trying to please myself. I am allowing my perspective and my priorities to be molded by God, Salem Ranch, and my parents.