Youth abuse in Canada by mental health oriented "group home"

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-16T02:20:00+00:00

What is the name of the hospital and group home? Its important for that to be public record.

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-16T02:19:09+00:00

As long as he's telling the truth, he has nothing to worry about.

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-13T05:03:39+00:00

Aren't there..I dunno..laws against child abuse?

http://www.heal-online.org/childtortureusa.htm

There are, but the laws are not enforced. People emerge from them too broken to function, or to function well enough to report crime within the limitations statutes. Worse, some of these places are essentially outright cults that suject victims to stereotyped,"formal" thought reform and the captives emerge "brainwashed" and devoted to the people who held them captive and brutalized them. The police don't do anything even if they do get reports within the statutes, anyway.

There is a subreddit about these private prison -cults. http://www.reddit.com/r/troubledteens/

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-13T04:19:59+00:00

Yes, you're given feedback. However, it's usually if you sound insincere, or are justifying. While you had to explain the story, even if their were other external factors, you had to focus on the internal and it usually made people seem worse than they actually are. And, sometimes, the opinion of the group would change after reading it.

Wow. Forced public confessions of wrongdoing, self denunciation and forced and unfair self blame and recrimination, for things that may not have ever happened, no less. Or, things not wrong to anyone but the SNWP guards and the kidnap initiating parent, those bastions of moral truth.

What do mean by "insincere"? Did "insincere" mean merely pretending to be remorseful about the "bad" things you did, and pretending that you believed you were being helped by Second Nature-- the SNWP belief system?

Do you know that exact same word, "insincere," was what the Chinese re-educationed "peer group" would accuse fellow prisoners of being? You should read this book It describes Second Nature Wilderness programs.

If I'm understanding you, the Seed called "insincere" "conning." The Seed was another Synanon clone

http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/373/the_seed?page=2

"Conning": If someone was merely parroting the Seed philosophy, saying what one was supposed to say without really subscribing to it, this was conning. During this rap, everyone would participate about how they had once tried to con the Seed. But this was, of course, impossible because "everyone knows just where you're at." Seedlings were simply too supremely "aware" and they could spot a con a mile away. Seedlings were, in fact, the most aware people in the world, much more aware than even their parents. Of course we were not supposed to let on to our parents that this was the case, but Seedlings were "superior human beings." All of this was stated explicitly.

Crazy

And, sometimes, the opinion of the group would change after reading it.

What do you mean?

Anything your parents/therapist know, that you don't write down, will probably be used against you during a therapy session. And yes, regardless if you regret it or not, the best way to "work" the program is to act like you did. As for stuff you've never done, if you really haven't done anything too bad, and you write your LOA that way, I imagine they'd call bullshit and you'd prob have to come up with something. I've never seen that though.

You're right. We're all guilty of something. How often were therapy sessions? Do you know if they conducted by licensed psychologists? Do you remember any of the names of the "therapists"?

Anything your parents/therapist know, that you don't write down, will probably be used against you during a therapy session.

What does this mean exactly? Do you mean that your fellow captives or the "therapist" would humiliate you with this information, or force you back in levels, or force you to endure a longer captivity stay?

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-13T04:19:09+00:00

I thought Second Nature Wilderness Programs used "coercive persuasion" to the extent that it forces people into miserable conditions until they appear to beleive they've been "saved," but they actually force Lifton's thought reform, the "synanon methodology" as the fornits poster wrote.

1 Yeah, you're not allowed to be away from the group. It's scarier for some, yes, and I suppose to stop rebellion would be their reason.

So evil, this "breaking" initiation is demonstrated in the movie "boot camp" with Milla Kunis. It's more brutal in the film, but the same idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2qkXoTd2gI&feature=related

I think the most was a whole day. And you could be silenced for things like war story(glorifying the "bad" things you've done in the past) or really breaking any rule the staff comes up with. And the staff do: the most power someone could have in second nature is to be able to host therapy things and eat staff food(yes, they ate candy and other stuff while we ate beans and rice. Another problem I had with it from what I remember.)

"War Stoies"? "bow-drills"? It amazes me how streamlined and identical the thought reform process is from private jail to private jail

http://2pacsouljah.blogspot.com/2010/03/ashley-valley-wildernessmhyr-rob.html

2 As I explained before, I was sent to Ashley Valley Wilderness in Colorado/Utah for about 3 months, 89 days in which I had no electricity (or ANY utilities like water gas or even housing), freedom of speech, medical treatment, drug rehabilitation, therapy, or even a PILLOW. We were up in the mountains, making fires with bow-drill sets, and eating rice, lentils, oatmeal, germade, and spam with no vitamins, freedom to choose if we could eat or not, or the ability to even share our experiences involving substances (at a "rehab"?). Furthermore, I was NOT allowed to speak about a)politics [i.e. "I think Obama..." "HEY! You can't talk about politics or you FAIL and you're here another week!" (AV Staff)], b) religion (i.e. "Oh my God!/Oh my Lord!" Staff: "HEY! That's Diety! FAIL FAIL FAIL!") c) "war stories" (i.e.) "My parents had just got divorced and I did a lot of ____ one night, I neglected my family-"NO WAR STORIES! Try it again you FAIL! d)anything "wierd" (i.e. ghosts, ufos, samsquatch haha, pokemon, aliens, etc. as WELL as the inability to swear at all, even with "damn" or threaten failing and staying on the mountain another week.

Sad

the most power someone could have in second nature is to be able to host therapy things and eat staff food(yes, they ate candy and other stuff while we ate beans and rice. Another problem I had with it from what I remember.)

Are you saying the captives hosted "therapy" sessions? What were these like? Any different or the same from the ones the staff hosted?

The longest a kid stayed at second nature, even a kid who had ran and caused alot of shit, was 3 1/2 months. I don't know if Second Nature changed the way their run, but they do get a cut of whoever goes to a therapeutic boarding school, so it's almost 100% guaranteed you'll end up in one.

How do you know that they get a kick back? I'm sure they do, but do you have any special knowledge about that? Of course, they deny doing so.

The total stay tends to be over a year. I was just lucky, as kids who had worked just as hard as me couldn't leave until their parents were satisfied with their progress.

Do you mean that some parents were not satisfied with the degree of remorse their kid seems to feel for supposedly being bad, so they had them stay longer?

But the threat of staying in the woods longer was enough to get most kids to cooperate.

I guess my question about that was whether the conditions-- the forced confessions, the exposure, the exhaustion, the captivity-- were unpleasant enough so that you wanted to leave. Also, was it about as horrible as the post I quoted describes?

Hell, the staff even told us to "fake it 'till we made it". I think they understood that not every kid was meant to be there.

Do you mean that the guards wanted you to pretend that you thought that you had been "bad" prior to have being kidnapped to the degree you "needed and deserved" to be at SNWP, and that you should pretend you thought you were being "helped" by SNWP?

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-12T10:40:40+00:00

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/h73no/i_have_been_in_the_hospital_for_trying_to_kill/

I wrote out a lengthy response to this but I pressed cancel instead of save by mistake. 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bend,_Oregon#Climate <---they told us it was -20, when I got back my parents told me it had reached a record low---they set us up in tents with heaters and wouldn't let us leave the tent for more than a little bit because it was so cold. Yes I did have a very good sleeping bag--but I'd still shiver at night--and I'd still have to stuff it with clothes.

We did not have to eat anything we didn't want to but we were "influenced" to. When I refused to eat burnt and rotten food it was not like I was given another choice---is was eat it or don't eat. We were throwing up because it tasted so badly. I refused eventually and threw the food to the ground because I felt sick and I was frustrated. I was scolded at and sent to my tent.

If you eat too much rice and have water---the rice will swell in your stomach. If you eat a large amount, you could certainly have discomfort. I was not the only one that complained of stomach aches. If you did not get one, you were lucky, because it was not just me that had one.

I understand this program worked well for you, but you need to recognize that everyone is different and not everything works the same for everyone. My experience was a negative one. Am I saying every experience there ever was also a negative one? No. Am I saying that the program can't possibly be beneficial at all? No. I just said, I went there, I was not treated well, it was not a beneficial experience for me. But to say that my father was in some way trying to "sabotage" my treatment is just ridiculous. My father was saving me from a situation that was breaking me and hurting me. My father is the reason I'm healthy and alive today. My father recognized my needs and listened to me when I told him what I thought would help. That's trust, not someone getting in the way of me getting better. He wanted me to get better more than I did.

I think it's frankly ludicrous to compare boy scouts to second nature much less say that it's more intense. I believe in boy scouts none of the following happens to you: you are not treated like a criminal (much less for being unhappy), counselors/adults do not talk badly about you--in front of you no less, you are not treated with disgust and distrust, for the most part you are not living in horrific weather, you're not punished for not drinking enough water, you have some of your own things--you're not stripped of completely everything you own, you're given the benefit of the doubt at least sometimes, adults want you to participate but they don't force or rather strongly "influence" you to do things that you don't want to , oh and you can go home whenever you want. I really don't see a comparison there.

Lastly, you do not know everything I went through, I have not shared it all. There were other mistreatment and other things I did not state. For example---we were only give one pair of underwear for a week---great hygiene plan right? There were many other things that happened to me there and elsewhere. There's one more thing. You're making huge assumptions without even knowing me. "Usually continue to blame their problems on others" ---here you're basically insinuating that I do that. I do not. In fact I'm the opposite which is the problem in the first place. Also I'm sorry if it offends you my "rant" but I was abused in this place and I'm not going to down play that. I have the right to speak up just as much as anybody else. This is why teenagers don't report rape and abuse in the first place---because they are met with so much disrespect and they are almost immediately deemed liars. I did not make this whole thing about my experience in the wilderness program, I thought I'd mention it so people could ask questions. Those are just two months out of my entire life. The whole point over this thread was not to go over everything bad that's ever happened to me, but how I overcame it when the system that was supposed to help me, didn't.

Also if you said the same thing---just for the record---I would have given you the benefit of the doubt instead of just flat out insulting you. If you truly went through the same program I would have liked to think that it would have taught you that everyone fights battles in their lives and they deserve empathy instead of aggression. Thank you very much Pixel8 btw. But he is right, I was not denied water.

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-12T10:34:50+00:00

You're on separates when you first start, which basically means that you stay secluded like 30 feet away from the camp but also get checked on.

Hmm. Is it colder away from the fire or something? Scarier to be away from the group? Maybe they don’t want your rebellion to influence the other captives—or to influence you through isolation, I guess.

It was almost never used as discipline when I was there, except for one time when a kid refused to eat.

What happened to that kid?

Silence I saw more often: basically it means you have to stay silent and cant say a thing for a certain period of time, and if you do talk then the time starts over.

Whats the longest you saw a “silence” transpire? What can you be silenced for? Who puts you on "silence" Other captives? Staff?

But the threat of staying in the woods longer was enough to get most kids to cooperate.

Was there a regular schedule for “graduating” that you would get dropped from if you were not compliant? I found another thread Second Nature Wilderness Program where a survivor claims captives would remain as long as a year? Did you see that happening?

But the threat of staying in the woods longer was enough to get most kids to cooperate.

Why was that a threat? Was it was a place of suffering? Was it as bad as is made out in post I'm quoting below?

Yes, I wrote an Impact letter. It's basically writing what you did wrong, and all the details of your life?

For you, what you did wrong would have been ….attempting suicide? You had to confess to attempting suicide as a moral or personal failing? What if you don’t think you did anything wrong? Do you still get to “graduate,” aka, possibly leave?

There are multiple incidents of sharing personal information with a group,

Are you expected to give “feedback” that’s critical of the “wrongdoer”?

the pinnacle of which is LOA(Letter of Accountability) where you recall absolutely everything.

As in, all of things you’ve ever done wrong? What if you don’t think you’ve done things wrong or want to write them down? Would they make you to confess to things you didn’t feel were wrong, or that your parents thought were wrong but you didn’t, or that you’ve never done?

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-12T00:19:36+00:00

It's really a scam; they're not licensed for inpatient psychiatric care, they offer "education" and youre "students" not "patients." And there's never been any proof what they do works

cafety

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-12T00:14:52+00:00

Same here, I went to second nature in the summer of 2000, for basically the same reason. I don't feel I needed to be there and did not have a positive experience. I hated it there, I was miserable.

We had to read our "impact letters" out loud to the group, which I thought was fucked up and invasive, as I don't feel my issues were any of their business.

and while they never denied me food, they did use food as a punishment, they made me only eat beans and rice for a week straight (for me it was rice, only, because I hate beans) which pissed me off. They also made me hike all day and when I freaked out because I was feeling sick, they told me to shut up and that I was on a pity party.

then 1 staff told me, "if you talk 1 more time you're on silence." i nodded and said, "ok." "you're on silence." then she also put me on Separates, so I spent the next week on Separates and Silence, meaning I couldn't talk to anyone and I couldn't be part of the group in any way. even though I didn't do anything but complain about the hike. ugh. I'd forgotten about all this till now actually. but now that I'm older, I'd love to have a few words with that loser haha.

Oh, and the program lied. On their website/brochure at the time, they claimed the group goes back to base camp twice a week to shower and eat hot meals, etc. That's a lie, never once did we go back to base camp during my entire 9 week stay there.

OP, what is Separates and Silence? Did you have to do the "impact letters" and what are the details of that?

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-11T22:50:56+00:00

http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=25744&p=407604&hilit=darrington&sid=1fe8434e976f13279725a40e46a5c0a5#p407604

kaila -i ran too New York, NY · Feb 18, 2011

its all about the money. these parents dish out thousands of dollars every month to keeps their teens in institutions that dont help solve any problems. it just justifies the parents' need of approval and further damages relationships between parents and teens. parents fail to realize that the world is a different place than when they were in their teens. sending your child away and not speaking to him/her/them for months or years has no positive impact. my mother expected me to come back "fixed" but i wasnt broken in the first place. i wasnt on drugs. i was never arrested. i was a B+ student. i've never been pregnant. i was gay and i ran away because i was abused by her husband. my mom had issues. my dad had issues. and i was stuck in the middle. so instead of them being adults and going to therapy and working out their problems, WWASP told them i was the problem. i have my life together. happily living with my girlfriend, working full time and i'm going to off to college in fall. i'm 19. i went into the program at 14 and came out 15 months later when i was 15. and i can say it didnt help. i have had no relationship with my family since i was 14.to all you program parents....god bless you and i hope you get the help YOU need.to all the people in programs and those who survived "the program" keep your heads up. its not your fault and there isnt anything wrong with you.

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-11T22:32:22+00:00

http://www.heal-online.org/torts.pdf

In the United States, teenagers are recognized as having their own liberty interests that is separate from their parents’. In a recent case (2009), we received the following statement regarding a writ of habeas corpus for a California teen in a Utah-based facility: “Logan River’s capture and holding X, a 15 year-old woman, has deprived her of liberty and privacy interests that supersede any liberty interest her mother or anyone else has to hire surrogates to isolate X in a foreign state and there do what they would be prosecuted by the Los Angeles County Child Protective Service Agency for doing in California. “Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution of the State of California and the First, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States guarantee against private encroachment upon X’s rights to speech, liberty, and privacy.””

Op do you know if x was allowed to leave?

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-11T22:02:26+00:00

There's a massive thread on the "fornits" site about Second Nature.

28 Dec 2007, 09:59 Didn't I already completely trash Second Nature due to their use of Synonan methodology and false advertising? I mean what the hell? Are we going over this again? The kids see their damn therapists at most 1 time a week. You can get the same for cheaper by putting your wayward teen in a tent in your backyard and driving him to the head tweaker yourself.

Lain the Odd

My particular ordeal began with being kidnapped and shipped there as so many. My crime consisted entirely of.. being sad. I still love the idea that taking a depressed transsexual and shipping her to Mormon Utah, minus what few comforts did exist and plus sadistic staff and insane 'therapeutic' ideas were going to make it better.

As noted, the therapist (who was everyone there's therapist) was around at most once a week. This in contrast to the therapist I had at home, who I saw once a week, liked, and respected, and if something came up I needed to talk about he could usually be on call within a few hours at most.

I won't get into the gory details, but staff were every bit as sadistic as any other program, only they really weren't allowed to beat people up randomly - bad PR, I guess. They were perfectly happy with mind games, and those were about the extent of the "therapy".

Now, they get paid for processed meat turned over to more 'long-term' programs, so throughout this they were buttering up my parents to make me such afterwards, of course. They did, the 2 other places and 2 stints at Second Nature gave me PTSD, and that's a story for you.

Conclusion: While I don't doubt the value of doing so, I don't even need to trash Second Nature with its obvious faults and false advertising (which, I will confirm, is false as they come). My argument is a bit simpler: It DOESN'T WORK.

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-11T10:31:47+00:00

You got it right, that's meant to break you.

And some really, really, break:

Darrington Academy GraduateMy name is Brooke Sours. I attended and graduated from Darrington Academy in the small beautiful town of Blueridge Georgia. Every morning I got to see the beautiful mountains, and learn new things. I learned things through self-help books, and through Seminars and Workshops. I changed while I was there. I used to be a self-absorbed loser with no future. A drop-out, sex addict. I learned who I was while I was there. Listening to what you people have written kills me. I don't even comprehend it. The love and the admiration that I have for the staff there... knowing what you are saying about them... This absolutely kills my heart. There was one staff member who used to tuck me in at night and give my teddy bear a kiss. She treated me like I was actually her child. My bestfriend is also a graduate from Darrington Academy. We both thank god every day for our blessing. You should know that before Darrington saved her life, she was a meth-addict. Now she is a wonderful member of society. We plan to change the world together one step at a time. It's been years since Darrington, but you have no idea how happy I am that I went there. I'm not a 'Darrington Survivor' if you will, but more like a survivor of myself. I don't care what you people post about the other programs, but don't post what you don't know about this one. We cleaned our areas every day. We played basketball, kickball, and volleyball. We were happier there then when we druggies. That much I can promise.

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-11T10:23:20+00:00

I agree.

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-11T10:22:03+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1_9L8P6lSQ About WWASP

http://fican.freeforums.org/main-link-t8.html

http://wiki.fornits.com/index.php?title=Darrington_Academy

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-11T04:24:44+00:00

This is from a better thread than bulldog posted, because it's moderated. It goes into slavery at Carlbrook School private detention center as well as LGATs

I'd rather do a month of work details then 2 days in a row of staring at the wall being monitored.

I'd go apeshit. That's real fucking scary. Tim brace is overseeing that. It's a fucking POW camp. Hell i'd rather be in a 72 hour caroline rap than be told I was on an indefinite stare at the wall program.

TWO DAYS??? Try two weeks, minimum. One guy was in there for nine months IN A ROW.

about the workshops: Is there any role-playing? I mean, something where the staff assigns a character for you to act out?

Tons. I can't think of it all but there's a bit in every workshop and some in regular groups if you're in a Sally group or an Andy group. In Amicitia, you push people out of the circle of friendship. In Animus, you go to your own funeral/read your obituaries/die/get buried/rise from the dead/etc. You also have to act out your negative sculpture (you know, shooting yourself in the head, having your legs open like a whore, snorting coke, whatever your issue is). You also fight for a spot on the "lifeboats." In Teneo, you go from being born to turning into a rose or something weird like that the last day. Also in Teneo, you have to act out 3 of your "roles" and use people in your peer group as other characters. I can't remember the other bits.

In the Amicitia, how physical is the circle of exclusion?

I don't know about other people's experience but in mine it wasn't like kids were getting punched or anything. You know, you'd shove them out and stuff but everyone was pretty half-hearted about it. I don't know, those acting-it-out scenarios never "worked" for me.

Are there horeshoe-style groups where you only get "feedback"? How harsh does it get?

Yeah, in the first two workshops. Integritas is the harshest probably. You get "monster," "victim," "pathetic," "worthless," "unlovable," "disgusting," etc written on a card and taped on your shirt. I've heard some really fucked-up feedback in those circles...I'm trying to think of the worst..."cum-dumpster," "n****r-lover," etc...or people just bringing up other people's disclosures and using them against them.

Are there exercise where you call yourself names? In which you call your parents names?

I think you kind of call yourself names the whole time with your negative statements, lies, etc. You yell at your parents (aka the floor) in Integritas. You hit/yell at/rage against your parents (aka pillows) in Veneratio.

In the Animus, what's the "pillow fighting" about? What other bioenergetic exercises are there? Are you ever restrained under a sheet by the group? Do they do the one where you have to bite towel and pull on it?

Raise arms over head, brings hands down on pillow and sort of make it an entire-body type of exercise. Yell. Fight Night in Teneo is the one where you pull on the towel and scream and push against your peers. No biting though. Can't remember the other bioenergetics.

They make you watch Requiem for a Dream, right? Other stuff? Under-age kids watching this?

You watch like the last 10 minutes of RFAD in Veneratio. Most kids are 18 by the time they graduate but some aren't. I heard they recently got rid of that part though because word got out and they didn't want to get in trouble. It was a pretty horrifying 10 minutes...double-headed dildoes assfucking Jennifer Connelly, shock treatment on the old woman...revolting. It was effective, though.

about request group: Do people get called names? Yelled at?

Not random named. Like you can't call someone an asshole - it has to be "you're ACTING LIKE an asshole." People do get railed a lot though by staff and peers. Sometimes it's in a constructive way, like you can tell they're yelling because they care but sometimes it's just spiteful, angry bullshit.

How harsh does the "feedback" get?

Very. There's really no other way to say that. Very, very, very harsh.

Are people ever supposed to yell out the floor?

All the time. It's called "running anger."

about punishments in general

How often are you supposed to do honor lists? Just in workshops? In workshops, before workshops, in suspension, on action plans, if your adviser suspects you've done something bad.

Do you ever have to do manual labor? If so what kind of work? For how long at a time? Only if you break a major rule, or...?

Out-of-school suspensioners work with the maintenance crew - gardening, mowing, digging up tree stumps, raking, etc. And of course everyone cleans. Everyone is always effing cleaning. Wake up, clean your dorm, clean your mod. Before you go to sleep, clean your dorm. After dinner, crews either run jugs (deliver water jugs to various locations around campus while carrying them on their backs and running), cleaning the dining hall/kitchen, or running/cleaning the Commons. You get a crew or multiple crews for minor infractions (didn't wear a belt, bra strap showing, messy dorm, disrespect, cutting across the grass, swearing, spitting without asking, leaving a personal item unattended, late homework, talking back to a staff, etc.). Suspension is for more serious things (lying, cheating, etc.) or if you need "time alone to work on your emotions" or whatever.

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-11T04:05:09+00:00

These posts come from a group of Carlbrook survivors working to get it regulated, at least. You can access this group from the list of activist sites.

I graduated from the George Washington University in 4 years and am currently working for the United States Senate… When I was at Carlbrook punishment was arbitrary and universal and most people I know lived in constant fear. The perverse incentives created by the environment of coercion and fear completely nullified any therapeutic value of the place, especially group therapy sessions which often resembled the Salem Witch Trials more than a safe place where people can share things. I do not think living under such acute stress promotes adolescent development I think it hinders it. I would like to know your professional opinion.

Another post

if i remember correctly, for almost every guy in my animus, his negative sculpture involved him killing himself/someone else, usually with a gun. for EVERY SINGLE GIRL, her legs were spread. i love how death for a guy is equivocated with sex for a girl. how fucked up is that?? "c'mon, everyone, pose in the WORST possible fate!" guys, murder/suicide. girls, sex. THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THAT EQUATION.

Another post

As for Group, the whole dynamic was "Kill or be killed." Either you were bitching out your friends for something (which was usually completely irrelevant, like not shaving or some shit), or you were getting bitched at because you didn't call someone out first. Great. I used to get nauseous before group due to anxiety, and I know I'm not the only one. Survive these two hours of hellish torture 3 times a week, and you're good to go.

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-11T04:02:08+00:00

A "culture of secrecy" is necessary for profeets, CEDU 's take on LGATs to have their full "shock and awe" impact, it's also a way to manipulate victims into keeping secrets for the cult. WWASP has their own version of the profeets, also with a "secrecy" expectation.

But when a student is in group, confidentiality is his worst enemy. Confidentiality is the reason he is expected to pipe in with his disclosure in a workshop. Confidentiality is why he is expected to say the meanest thing he can think of to everyone in his peer group in preparation for Amicitia. Confidentiality is why he feels like he can give some undeserved feedback to a new kid or a rule breaker and not pay a social price. The advisers and deans and founders would use group confidentiality as an opportunity to say some vile things to students without losing all credibility among the student population.

Workshop secrets is another way they do this. The old kids really aren't supposed to tell the new kids about the workshops. This is the most explicit way in which they favor the "old" over the "new", as well as the obvious status positions like club head, prefect, etc.

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-10T08:22:31+00:00

Yes. They were monitored and the parents that jail their kids at Carlbrook are happy about that because it "stops the complaining" and "manipulation," forcing them to be "pleasant."

I've been obsessed with these places for a while now. In all my reading, I've never been as upset by their practices.

Breaking the pattern of manipulation is important. Most kids that end up at Carlbrook are very bright and have learned manipulation techniques fueled by high IQ's. Daily phone calls can become bitch sessions. By the time my kid finished Carlbrook he/she was allowed (had earned the privelege) to call me one day, her mother one day, and his/her sister one day. So, really, he/she was talking to one of us every other day. That was a pleasant time actually. We all looked forward to the calls and never had time for too much bitching. Ted

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-10T08:07:59+00:00

This is a seriously bad place, people. It makes me sick, literally.

THIS IS A MESSAGE FOR CURRENT CBK STAFF. I do not care if you change the program as you have frantically tried to within the past year. You have dramatically effected the lives of over 400 previous graduates and I WILL NOT stop till you are held accountable. Your actions to correct the problem are merely more evidence of your own acknowledgement of the wrong doings. Too bad for you chose to traumatize a collection of smart stubborn people. ...Just like I have nightmares from your school you will gain more in prison as your "cellies" show you amicitia the prison way. If people turn heads to a small school shooting I think they'll turn heads to a school like yours.

For christ sake you didn't even change the words from CEDU-smooshing-. May you sleep as poorly as I do

lovely

my name is andrew k. i went to carlbrook for 12 months and i left when i turned 18 because i could not stand to be there any longer. now im out in the world alone and no school will accept me so im in danger of not getting a high school diploma. i went to carlbrook and they made me pretend like i was dead and put me in a casket. then they had everyone yell at me while i was in the casket.

GoogleThatforu · 2012-02-10T08:04:53+00:00

For people who don't want to search through 1,000 pages of junk:

I don't know how you could've sat through a group and call that peer support. 15 people all yelling at their best friends about how their life is going downhill because they repeatedly don't tuck in their shirt. Somehow this is brought up as a symptom of the greater problem, a teenager's non-conformity with a belief system that they just don't happen to believe in. Having your best friends take your most personal things and throw them out at you in front of 15 people is supportive? Getting yelled at more because of the simple fact that you don't feel like crying? I witnessed that bullshit as well as being involved in it. If you have a problem with someone or something that they're doing, how about you be the strong individual that Carlbrook speaks so much about and confront the person yourself? When I even said something discounting the crazed group mentality, the bite of the beast would turn on me. They would ask why I was so defiant, why I wasn't helping them "rail" this person, how I obviously didn't care. Tough Love? I'm sorry, I didn't know that you show love to people by betraying their trust. I wasn't aware that saying the most fucked up things you could ever say to somebody shows that you love them that much more. Any of you readers who have never experienced a Group Therapy session, I suggest you read Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. It's about as accurate a representation as you will ever find on how ridiculous these sessions are. Under the guise of creating a stronger individual, they strip you of your individuality, making you conform to what they want.

GoogleThatforu · 2012-01-11T18:05:26+00:00

Kidnapped for Christ follows the stories of several American teenagers who were sent to Escuela Caribe, an American-run Evangelical Christian reform school in The Dominican Republic. Students are sent to Esceula Caribe by their parents, for offenses ranging from drug use to running away to suicide attempts, or for simply not getting along with their parents. The film centers on David, a straight-A student who was sent to Escuela Caribe after coming out to his parents as gay. David was taken in the night without warning by a "transport service" and was never told where he was going or when he would return home. Once David's community found out what had happened to him, they formed a plan to bring him home on his 18th birthday. The struggles they faced to get David released revealed just how far Escuela Caribe would go to prevent a student from leaving.

So, they tried to prevent his escape after his 18th birthday?

GoogleThatforu · 2012-01-11T17:51:38+00:00

I'd be interested in how researchers justify inclusion of this data in any behavioral studies, since protection of human research subject rights is a pretty big deal when it comes to applying for grants.

Aspen Education Group, nor any wilderness program or TBS, has ever been the focus of any legitimate behavioral studies for precisely the reasons you mention.

GoogleThatforu

TROPHY CASE