Dear Jennifer, please stand and make your voice heard. E-mail, telephone any representative you can. Call your local paper to see if they will do a story. The most healing thing you can do is help those kids that follow YOU. Get pissed.

Thank you for illuminating the tiresome debate over the illegal placement of teenage Americans in institutions like the ones mentioned above. Maia's is at it again by brilliantly and delicately exposing the loopholes in the American justice system that hurts teens and cons parents. When will it STOP?

The article is biased. What would YOU do with a teen that constantly attacks his smaller schoolmates and tells you to do an anatomically impossible thing when you call him on it. Of course we want to brainwash them. That's what the army does to socialize people. That's why their techniques nave been borrowed. 150 died in camps? How many dropouts died of drug overdoses? The problem actually resides with those of you whose only interest is to protect these kids. Get it, these are the next wave of lawbreakers and we have little time to save them or society. They have been "protected" too long by mothers and fathers who haven't the vaguest idea of how to be a parent. Stop calling behavior mod "punishment." It is that but it is much more. Any program will require some logical consequences for bad behavior. Do you want to talk to them? By the time they got to these places they have been talked to death.

Dick: NO program has the right to kill children to "save" some of them. No program has the right to inflict life-long emotional & mental disorders (PTSD for example) in order to "save" some of them. Brainwashing is mental ABUSE...NOT treatment. Physical ABUSE is NOT treatment. Verbal ABUSE is not treatment. There are LAWS in this country against the various above-mentioned forms of child abuse. You do know that many institutions BREAK LAWS every single day which is routinely justified as "necessary to save a child's life," dont you? For someone who is so concerned about future lawbreakers, you would think you would be absolutely outraged by the CURRENT LAWBREAKERS running these abusive institutions. People like myself want to stop people from breaking the LAW by harming children in the name of "treatment." Yes, children need to be protected from LAWBREAKERS who get away with CRIMINAL ACTIVITY every day in "troubled teen programs."

Dick Maron: Unfortunately, Dick, there is no excuse for abusive facilities. You can say that some of the children are really bad (and some may break laws) but you cannot justify a program such as Tranquility Bay in Jamaica (one that beats the children there and who has no professionally trained staff). Some kids need some help, and for that there are community based programs that do not separate the child and parent or the child and their community. To separate, like many do, you create another void which leads to another set of problems. Instead of stopping these horrible future law breakers, you are increasing the likelihood of future law breaking. The fact of the matter is that most of the wilderness or other behavior mod programs are created for a purpose, and it's not saving the kids - It's making a buck. This is very easily understood if you look into who's running the facilities and how much they charge. Fortunately awareness is going up, and hopefully soon we can get some real action to get them straightened out soon.

Everyone who has endured a real military boot camp and felt that it improved their outlook and discipline relates to this false image. "It worked for me; the military made a man out of me" - is the classic response. The problem was then that this enforced discipline often lead to drunken binges and brawls when out on leave. Anyone on or near a military base knows that problem drinking and alcoholism are more heavily concentrated in military towns. That's how many cope with this type of gratuitous personal abuse. It's not the same as someone who voluntarily sacrifices to improve athletic abilities or for health and fitness. You can't superimpose discipline@ To be effective someone must have internal motivations and experience internal rewards. Relief from constant harassment and peer approval do not motivate someone to achieve self-discipline. Often these encounters result in gang mentality and hedonistic escapes when not being supervised. Proportionately, people in a "military discipline system" are way more messed up than the general population. Why would we use the military as a model?

Any human being, whom we all count ourselves as but surprisingly few even rate sentient, wouldn't hesitate to notice this and try to rectify it. I myself went to a minor version of one of these camps, and know what they are doing here - something very, very sick and wrong. Everybody hears and see what we want, and most people ignore it and most parents ignore US. I am better now but no thanks to them. I did that, not my mother, who sent me there, not the "educators" who "taught" me there, not my father, who thinks he's doing the right things, me. The funniest part is, I am the only one who could function in society, and yet I'm the only one who isn't allowed. Aren't Americans great?

There's a class war a-raging, all right (nod to BlueBerry, maybe more later), but even those who can afford "alternative treatment programs" are shirking good-sense, long-haul, family therapy and hold-on patience in favor of short-term no-fix-em's, as we all tend to be doing, here in America (don't really know about Canada). Our actual economy sucks, pretty much, and "average people" are struggling to pay their bills: that takes a lot of dedicated time; the kids will have to do the best they can, at school, yow, navigating the gangs and so forth, where the teachers may say they aren't and cannot be "substitute parents." May I say that the "American lifestyle" as "taught" by external social structuring condones ineffective parenting, altogether ?! If you are a parent, whatever your income level, your presence, your time, is probably limited by what you do to maintain your standing and your authority is therefore minimal - your most valuable commodity, for kids, is already compromised; but, hey ! you will be told and sold that ours is a model democracy, and that others in the world should emulate our successes (but, what of our failures within our own model ? And, for instance, do YOU know what's going on in YOUR local public education system ?!). Of course, certain corporate interests cater to the externally created consumer bent (yes, there is some degree of inclination involved, so the responsibility lies with the consciousness of us individuals), highly inclusive of our young (not earning a living, yet, but aren't they somehow entitled, as Americans, to ever-changing wardrobes, over-priced cell phones and calling plans, and electronic gadgetry galore ?!). And so, we think, there may be epidemics of ADHD, depression, obsessive-compulsive, addictive, bi-polar disorders, etc., and then, we grapple with the ensuing pharmaceutical industries' legalized drug treatments - which came first ? - then, the prevailing medical scenarios, including questions of the adequacy of, and negative discrimination involved in, health care coverage and treatment. Don't forget: the USA is #48 in the world for medical provision & performance. Daily, in addition to semi- seductive pharmaceutical commercials, we experience unabashedly adult-demeaning and/or "dumbing-down," TV advertising, but we adults somehow expect our kids to display "civil values," including "responsible behavior," or self-control. Kids with disabilities, having generally been mainstreamed into the Pub Ed systems, are more visible now, but not necessarily better-served in that tending-to-mediocre domain. How to teach in a classroom where needs may be both specific and diverse ?! How to have ANY childcare that is readily available, affordable, attentive and definitely humane ?! You, as an individual, commit to dispelling the double-messaging, eff- the-user and run-with-the-money hypocrisy within our institutions and systems; our society, as currently governed -- perhaps in transition -- is not (and has not been) encouraged to provide for the REAL material (certainly, not the non-material) well-being of kids OR adults; have you noticed all the empty rhetoric, general absurdity, inability of almost any entity to solve the smallest or simplest problems, rich/poor disparities galore . . . Be vocal, sign and send, network, COHERE on issues more important than what kind of freaking vehicle you have attained, with or without merit (BTW, I am now offended by big, personal vehicles when used as nothing but a sign of self-aggrandizing affluence, and feel that Americans who are guzzling resources by similar shows of quasi-power have deluded themselves into thinking they have "success" by such signs). Success for us, as a nation of people bound together by SIMILAR interests - let us hope the well-being of our children is one of the factors of cohesion - is running on empty, big-time; as a CONSUMER NATION, what do we expect, but national consumption ?! What do we need ?! A concept of "the beautiful life," which is not restricted to the wealthy, but accommodated by commonly shared expectations, visionary personal consistence, and stated demands for governmental attention to our individual and collective well-being: a simple statement, something we can work toward (by aligning to and with all our other survive-and-thrive strategies), but a complex thing to achieve. I will also state here, that "one-way" religions do not provide answers for "beautiful living" (though spiritual views may certainly aid), and that any "one-way" mindset may be an impediment to the humane progression of any society. Yet, think on your concept: what DOES constitute "beautiful living," wherein people feel supported in pursuit of life-purpose and meaning ? Is the character, of a person or a nation, defined by possessions ? And, as parents and guardians of children, are we committed to sharing knowledge about what it takes to attain human well-being, even - especially - during times of elevated social crises ? In closing, I send emotional encouragement to one bravely expressive Jennifer P., personally, without adequate words, but also in the way of continuing to say what should be said, about adult-child relationships and a most fundamental need for trust in human relationships: Jennifer, please forge right ahead with your own program. And, to all: If we don't state problems and symptoms, whatever they may be, we don't move toward solutions that may empower people to change the circumstances of their lives, and to heal; thanks to all the responsive, for care of self AND others.

torture and humiliation are no substitute for the healing power of love; they certainly do not make good teaching tools unless the lesson is hate and violence.

Another one that's missing comes below Kids Inc. Kids of the Canadian West (now the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre) is still open in Calgary, Canada. When I was 15 I smoked marijuana a couple of times and started becoming very politically involved. I made food for protests and homeless people with Food Not Bombs, and I sang with the Raging Grannies. I was a vegan and a social activist. I participated in local government and I worked for a local human rights lawyer. But my mother had it in her head that I was an "anarchist" (which I wasn't, it's just not practical). So, she had me forcibly incarcerated at AARC so they could fix me. Officially I was addicted to drugs I'd never seen and was an alcoholic (despite having never been drunk). There I kept in an unheated warehouse during they day and in "host homes" under the watchful eyes of "recovering" prostitutes and heroin addicts. I was not allowed to attend school, see family, talk to a lawyer, pick up the phone to call the police. I was told "you don't have to use drugs to be a druggie" and even "druggies don't have rights". We were under constant threat of physical restraint. We were not allowed to read - accidentally looking at a cereal box earned punishment. I personally was not allowed to use anything bigger than 2-syllable words because being an intellectual was "part of my disease". I was physically and sexually assaulted and hurt in ways I still can't talk about. After 6 months having not progressed even past "step one" (of the 12 steps of AA) as I could not "accept powerlessness" over an addiction I didn't have, I ran. I ran in bare feet and pyjamas in -35C weather with snow on the ground. I was one of the only people to ever successfully run, as I didn't turn to family who would have dragged me back screaming. Since then I have become very successful in ways that society finds important. I have a husband and young daughter and I am very happy with my career, unlike many of the "graduates" I've ran into since who have developed problems they never had before. But still, I have nightmares almost every night. I wake up screaming, crying or fighting off dream attackers. I am constantly afraid and I have lost faith in people. Before I was naive and I believed in the fundamentally good nature of humans and society. I believed that I was safe. I was wrong. And today I am a shell of the person I was and nothing compared to what I could have been.

Behaviorism is not synonymous with "tough love" or any other abusive, punitive-based treatment of humans. B.F. Skinner wrote often about the negative effects of punishment on the individual and soceity as a whole. He DID NOT AND WOULD NOT approve of ANY of the programs discussed herein. I am a trained, board certified associate behavior analyst in Florida who works with abused and neglected youth. My beliefs, training and code of ethics demand that A)I repudiate any ideas that people should be treated in the manner that is described herein and B) that I challenge the misinformation presented here with regard to Behaviorism. Read Skinner on punishment and education, learn about the humane treatments and technologies that behavior analysts have developed for people who suffer. Check out the website of Behaviorists for Social Responsibilty.

This culture of torturing children is also evident in a popular fringe psychotherapy known as "Attachment Therapy" (aka Holding Therapy, Compression Therapy, Rage Reduction, etc.) and its boot camp parenting methods. Attachment Therapy/Parenting has been linked to kids being starved, killed, and locked in cages. Here's a clip from a training tape made at the Attachment Center at Evergreen in Colorado: http://youtube.com/watch?v=i5qZrVzqGO8&mode=related&search= And as done in Utah: http://www.kidscomefirst.info State and federal funds go to training therapists and treating children with this stuff. Horrible. Horrible. And it's been going on since the 1970s. Why do many Americans think breaking the body and spirit of children is beneficial? What can be done to stop all this abuse?

And for a fully formatted version of my response to Ms.Gonnerman's article, please see http://www.judgerc.org/ResponsetoGonnermanArticle.pdf Matthew L. Israel, Ph.D. Executive Director Judge Rotenberg Educational Center

@ Marcey et al and other teen boot camp, wilderness therapy, therapeutic boarding school, etc. apologists: If you think these methods actually address anything other than strictly face-value appearances for the time in question (and the time in question *only*), you've got another "think" coming. The long-term effects of these brainwashing enterprises last far, far, far into adulthood, and the net result ain't pretty. I do believe the sanitized term for it is PTSD. Something will happen, the way it always does... life will deal you a sucker-punch or two, and then you're right back there, when you had no control over your life cuz you were too young, and the horror of that brainwashing and the attending bullsh!t side courses comes flooding back... You think that crap *cures* us?! WE ARE TICKING TIME BOMBS!!! tick tick, tick tick, tick tick...

How many more children and teenagers,having to die or be left damaged for life; will it take to finally drive these pseudo-psychiatric facilities and the sadists behind them out of business?!

All you parents out there who did not have the balls to take care of your children should be abused and violated. Sending your children to some far out place to be cured is horrendous. Think about it and maybe you'll get a clue. The only thing you accomplish is someone else is handling what you brought into the world and couldn't take care of. You should be ashamed.

NAMI comes from this. Child abuse justified. It's appalling.

I have worked in residential care and see how physiological dysregulated most of these adolescents are. They get drugged by psychiatrists and told what counselors (many of them recovering addicts) believe, often at variance with what the therapists are trying to accomplish. Even without the harshest behavior modification programs such as those of Straight, these places do not use appropriate modern tools such as brainwave biofeedback to regulate the central nervous system, testing for dietary abnormalities, sensory handicaps, and brain-based attention and learning disorders. Parents need to believe that others can do a better job than they, because they have often exhausted their parenting repertoires and are clueless about the physical problems their kids have. The solution? Nature, gardening & other useful work, meditation, healthful food appropriate to the individual's body, biofeedback of all kinds, isolation in attractive rooms with pillows and good books when behavior is out of control, clear boundaries for decorum and respect of others, lots of good music, dancing, art and crafts work, public speaking, cooking, mechanics, building, creating and opportunities for sports and exercise, along with individualized education and values clarification workshops. Separation from the family is ok if the family needs a break to gain skills and perspective or the child or teen is destroying property, endangering him- or herself, or being uncontrollably emotionally abusive without remorse. But the drugs need to be let go for the most part, unless merely in the short term until more natural modifiers can take effect. There is no place for punishment other than timeout from social activities and attention. The timeouts should be ended with the request of the perpetrator, provided the perpetrator proves s/he can maintain appropriate involvement in community life with a return to the community. Residential treatment is costly and a hug money maker for the owners (though, to be fair, the responsibility for the welfare of the residents is huge and the wisdom, maturity, and knowledge to deal with them fairly is immense). Consequently, there must be sufficient positive enrichment and regulating value in the programs themselves to warrant such huge outlays.

I can't thank Maia enough for her courage to investigate and continue to report on this subject. I was in Straight and was thought so highly of, the Semblers paid me to work for them at Straight, I was a “Staff” member. They are not too happy with me because I have told the truth about what went on inside Straight. When I was a young boy before my experience with Straight, I had been molested by several men. I have to say my experience with Sembler’s Straight was far more harmful and damaging than being molested before Sembler's Straight, Richard Bradbury

Dick asks,"What would you do?" Thankfully we now have quality neurofeedback training that will exercise the brain, help it grow up where necessary, and help it function optimally - meaning improving impulse control and addictive tendencies. Check it out. It works, everyone is happy, no one is violated. And no drugs needed!

Hey Rollins, you should contact me. asymptote DOT friday AT gmail DOT com

Teri, if Rotenberg works, where are the peer-reviewed controlled trials showing that it does? Anecdote is not data. A claim that it works for 99% people is just that: a claim, to be taken about as seriously as an advertisement. Extreme measures require extraordinary proof. That "school" has been open for decades and it still has no adequate published data showing that its methods are safe and effective. If you could show me two published peer reviewed, randomized controlled trials of long-term outcomes (at least a year) with decent sample sizes in which this method was compared head-to-head with the best non-punitive, positive treatments and proved superior in terms of both safety and efficacy, I would think it would be acceptable as an experimental method requiring further research, for use on only the most severe cases. Just like experimental, risky cancer treatments: used only when everything else has failed, only in research settings, only for particular types of cases and only under highly controlled conditions. That is not what goes on at Rotenberg: it is not used only for the most severe cases, it is not limited to particular diagnoses, it is not strictly controlled, it is not properly studied, the staff is not highly trained and there are, as a result, numerous opportunities for harm and abuse. No research has ever found punitive and humiliating treatments superior to kind and empathetic ones, so I am highly doubtful that any properly controlled research would actually back this. But if it did, it would be a different debate entirely.

Whenever I have had to make an argument to a troubled parent about how abusive these places are, their first question is always "Well, what are we supposed to *do*?? Are you a parent? Do you have children?" No. I don't have children. What I do know is that we live in culture of punitive behavior modification, and... sorry... but as much as you want a "reformed" child, abuse will make things worse. If you send in a kid who is causing problems, expect a whole lot more when they get out. It may take a few years for the kool-aid to wear off, but watch out when it does, because if you think they hate you now, they may hate you forever afterwards, and could possibly destroy themselves in the process. I wish it would be possible to do some sort of cohesive study on post-program suicides, because there are many. It's just darn near impossible to prove what the cause of the suicide is, even though most of us know that it has to do with all of the PTSD and trauma that occurred while they were detained. These places do not churn out "fixed" or reformed children.... they churn out survivors. Do you want your child to be one of us?

As the parent of a son who's estranged father put him in one of these programs, I can't overstate how much evil they can do to a child. My ex-husband who had managed to remain conspicuously absent in his son's life until he reached his teens and started having issues, found a program that was low cost and located conveniently. There wasn't a single staff member with more than a high school education, including the program's founder and perpetrator. Because there are some strange loopholes in the laws, there are more programs like the one my son was forced into than most of us want to know about. In my son's case, the program was charading as a "private Christian boarding school". Because those types of schools are virtually unregulated, they were able to get away with what they were doing for quite some time. It wasn't until myself and some other people made some loud noises, that the school was finally closed down. They made the mistake of putting on their website that they were a school for 'troubled teens', and touted their miracle effects on seemingly 'bad kids'. Because of that published claim they were eventually shut down. Interestingly, the woman behind all of this had previously lost her license for day care and fostor care. Even after having a proven track record for abusing children, she was able to create and run her "school". Some of the kids who are survivors of the experience are doing okay, some are not. It's not likely that any of them benefited in the long term from being deprived of toilet paper or being forced to wear nothing but underwear if they were percieved to be a potential runaway. There are some nightmare stories of what happened to kids who did run away. My son escaped and was living on the streets in Tucson until I was able to find him. The time before I found him was one of the worst things a mother can endure. The irony of this is that my son did have issues- he stole some jelly beans, he stayed out past curfew riding a bicycle without reflectors, he did a few really inane and stupid things. He'd have been better treated and allowed more dignity if he had committed a far worse crime and been sent to a juvenile detention facility. He's 23 now and still hasn't found his way back from the destruction of his self worth and self confidence. He has panic attacks that are so debilitating the fire department has been called because he appeared to have had a heart attack. He's gone from being a bit cocky and foolish to being unable to see himself accomplishing anything. The point I'm trying to make is that this isn't something as rare as we'd like to think. It's not just the large corporate and connected enterprises that are doing these things. There's a good chance that there are places in your town that are "Straight" wannabes who are probably far worse than the more mainstream locations that we're all aware of. In spite of the consistent fondness these places have for claiming to be "christ based", I can't believe that a god of love and grace would care to find his name and image attached to these people's versions of "tough love".

Maia, Thanks again for your continued coverage of the troubled teen industry. you may remember that I was focusing my attention on the corruption and exploitation at Aspen Ed's programs. I continue my work and I've made a dent. The specific program that drew me in, Youth Care, Draper, Utah, is under investigation for the death of a 14 year old boy. Clearly it was medical negligence. The DA was planning to suspend YC's operations. This is unprecedented re: Aspen programs. You may know that Aspen was merged with a rehab or adults company called CRC. The financing of this deal was done by Bain Capital and other huge p.e. firms. By extraordinary coincidence I am well aquainted with the medical director of CRC. Prior to the boy's death at Youth Care I had given him concrete evidence of Aspen's m.o. including medical negligence. The psychiatrist/medical director's name is Tom Brady and I consulted with him over a period of almost 20 years before he went out of practice. I knew of him well and respected him. Many therapists I knew used him for med. evaluations. He had been intellectualy honest and he was very unpretentious. He'd often see people for low fee. All of this unusual for a psychiatrist. Oh, and he teaches ethics at a grad program in the Bay Area. There's a story re: our contact which I won't go into but I have a feeling that CRC/Brady's involvement had made some difference in how this death was handled. Have to run. Elisabeth Feldman elisabeth.feldman@gmail.com

What are you supposed to do with these, "children?" Wait until they can get a gun and and kill someone,then listen to their mother tell us what a wonderful boy he was and so misunderstood at school, by his teacher and classmates.."He was always in bed by nine and always had his homework done, even though he was nineteen and still in the seventh grade"...No one ever understood his "moods",the poor boy!!!!Or,she was such a nice girl at home and soooo polite to adults and the four abortions and three bastards she delivered were just miscues with her man friends and they all said they would marry her,but just didn't have the time with their burglaries and car thefts to follow through with the "marriage",but she's doing fine on welfare and now pregnant with her fourth,how can she be expected to work??But, she's a proud African-American and will be a great mom once she turns fifteen and can get her own place and not be under the careful scrutiny of her devoted mother.....

Maia: I still don't understand where you are coming from; What policy is JRC not following ? What do you mean by every other area of medicine ? Your arguement sounds well though of and intelligent; but it doesn't make sense. Have you ever drank a protein drink from a health food store. ? You will note that more than 90% have not been approved by the FDA; does that mean that it won't benefit a particular individual ? I mean; that is what you are trying to say in a simple way. In 1960, Dr. Israel developed a behavior modification program in Rhode Island; thereafter in 1971 he started the Judge Rotenberg Center. (this can all be found on the website) He didn't just say well; I am going to devise a treatment that no-one will be able to monitor and cause extremen long lasting effects. All; doctors or anyone for that matter; that are trying new treatments or protocol have to go through the same rigors as anyone else.! I don't understand how he has something to "fear" ? You are using certain metaphors, So; I guess, I am entitled to use some of my own. The proof is in the pudding. Some of the students there as I said have been there for a number of years; they go to the doctor regularly; they see other specialists; - if they had any underlying affects from the treatment, they would inform the school immediatley, and appropriate steps would be taken. I am sure of that. The whole concept behind the adversive treatment is that they don't continue their destructive and life-threatening behaviors. If you would track one student over a time; and had your facts straight you would see that. The program is monitored by the court system. The cases are all open books. The parents are well aware of the treatments that are offered; There is a committe on students rights; I don't know what you are saying about there are ways to systematically study the treatment given at JRC. Each student is monitored for every behavior they exhibit; the charts are studied according to what they say by the doctors and staff that work there. If there are issues; with that student, these are addressed and a new plan would take place. Again; this isn't a cookie cutter program; each student is very unique and requires equal attention. Which I belive they certainly try to give on a daily basis. I worked there; so I saw first hand the daily routine; like I said before. I am not a physician and don't have all the "medical answers" that you pose; but look on this blog and you will see that all of this is matter of opinion, and until you have a child like this; you will never know what its like. I do hope that you consider going there and talking with the staff; and perhaps looking at some of the videos of the kids that go there. You will see the difference, I am sure.

Sandra--you have hit on a very important point: the military does not exist to turn young men into well-adjusted citizens. The fact is that people and government create militaries in order to fight a war; the purpose of the military is to kill people. The current standard of mental health is harmful enough; if ever we succeed in creating a national standard of mental health that expects us to be ready to kill one another when the order is given, then I fear for us all. Language such as the war on drugs, and the war on autism suggest that help has little to do with it, and war a lot more.

I hoping to hear from you as to whether you or anyone else knows anything about the Second Nature Wilderness Program?

I found the post from Mogan in Denmark to be very helpful. Sometimes it takes someone that is outside our culture/country to put things into perspective, and point out things that are so commmon and widepread we often do not notice that they contribute to a serious problem. Her points are valid, and highlight the social ills that form the foundation of the problem of troubled youth. We are so used to families that need 2 incomes to survive and live a decent life, little to no paid vacation, long workweeks, stressful and instable job opportunities, lack of healthcare, and no paid maternity leave, that we do not even notice that these add up to serious social disfunction. Tack on a cultural attitude of "winning" through force, and you can see how the problem is bigger than "bad" parents, lax rules, or low standards. Also, not punishing our children for our shortcomings is an idea that we should consider. Discipline should not be coersive or punative, if it is to work. When we look for answers on how to "fix" these kids, we should look towards places that are successful. If you want to learn how to play baseball, you don't watch and learn from the worst team in the league!!! Thanks Mogen!

very disturbing - we sent our 16 year old son to Second Nature in Utah in April 07 for 12 weeks - seemed to help a lot but we were encouraged to send him to a theraputic boarding school so he is now at academy at swift river in MA. Seems like a good school but he is not too happy. Waht do you knowabout these programs?

We have a relative on her way to be a "counselor" there; what have you heard?

WOW! This was rather scathing article about behavior mod programs! Some of you are pretty heated about the idea of these things existing, eh? Let me share my experiences . . . I have been a guide in wilderness programs for the last 5 years and I think I have had enough experience to make a pretty sound judgement about these "boot camps". What all of you have to remember is that sometimes good intentions are carried out in bad ways that are detrimental. I have worked for a program that had the best of intentions but fell far short on providing the nessecary support to their staff in the field. This program (which was a for-profit program) was after the $$$. They would often admit more kids than they had room or staff for and as a guide, that seemingly "no big deal problem" was magnified 10 fold in the field. This program would often hire people with little or no experience to work in the field with kids. This was sometimes bad! I have spent my fair share of field time trying to undo the damage inexperienced guides would do; this would take away from my time working with kids on a slew of educational, communication, interpersonal, and behavioral, issues that needed addressing. I most recently worked for a non-profit wilderness program that had it's s**t together! They had adequate student to staff ratios (8:3) maximum, they offered incredible support to field staff, and worked their damndest to keep parents involved in the process. After all, the kids in these programs are not 100% responsible for their predicament; parents have to own their share in the breakdown of the family system. This program was not, nor did it tout itself as a "fix all". This program hires only licensed therapists with a master's level or greater education. They have a full time MD that they can and do consult with, and an EMT that provides weekly medical assessments to students enrolled. Every group in the field has at least one guide in it that is at a minimum a wilderness first responder or EMT. All groups in the field have a satellite phone and radioes in case of emergency and are required to call in every day. The program would not hire 19 or 20 year olds to work in the field, they require a Bachellor's degree and some experience working with kids. As for my role in these programs, I was respinsible for, first and foremost, kids safety: physical, mental, emotional!! Second, my philosophy is always believe a kid when he/she tells you something is wrong. I had one serious medical incident in my groups in 5 years!! (a minor cold injury for which the kid was evace'd and never returned to the field, for their safety). In my experience, these programs have the opportunity and obligation to meet the needs of their clients and provide support to families that are unsure of their resources or have exhausted all their resources. Anyone seriously considering sending their child to a wilderness program must do their research!! I cannot emphasize that enough!!

while you are correct on alot of this, it is not blunt enough. They are using torture tactics on American Children that they are not allowed to use on prisoners of war. I am a survivor of a Lester Roloff home the first of which he opened in the late 50's, these places have been around for a very long time. I was in the Rebekah Home for Girls 1985-86 and one of the many corporal punishments I indurred was being forced to kneel with a pencil under each knee for just over 8 hours in a bathtub. These places are not just about tough love they are about the systematic abuse and torture of our kids. Lorri

Rachel, I work for CBC Radio's The Current. If you see this message perhaps you could e-mail me at Joan_Webber@cbc.ca I would like to speak to you about your experience if you are willing... thanks very much, Joan

It's good that you are concerned but don't you think you should have researched BEFORE you sent your child there??

You Americans are severely [deleted]ed...lol Un[deleted]ing believable!

I am also very irritated by people from other countries reading this and thinking the america is the only country with young people in trouble. It is not only in the US that children take guns into schools and start shooting (though admittedly we top the list). A lot of the problems we have here are spreading to other western nations, so get over yourselves and your superiority and pay attention.

It sucks to see all those who went through these programs so up in arms. I can say, from experience, I know the hardwork and commitment it takes. I may have been one of the more luck ones to be in a place that wasn't consumed with torture and abuse, although some of my peers may disagree. I do believe these types of programs exist. I was 15 when I went into Elan. I wasn't a horrible kid. I had never done drugs, I had only experimented with alcohol. I was however completely defiant and lacked all of the necessary tools to decipher the difference between the right and wrong paths. The worst thing I had ever done legally was to "steal" my grandfather's car at the age of 13. He was away on a trip, I was cleaning his house with a friend and she and I went for a joyride. We brought the car back, and put it in its proper place and moved on. I paid no mind to the neighbors that were looking over his house for him. I was not a hard core criminal. My parents chose that incident as the last straw and decided to hold me accountable for my actions. I was place in Long Lane, a juvenile prison of sorts. Somewhere along the way, a caseworker who took light of my case believed I was more emotionally disturbed rather than a criminal. I was accepted at Elan School in Poland, Maine in 1993. Initially, i fought the system and everything in it. i tried to get kicked out as I had in many other placements. It didn't work. For the first time in my life, there was someone (in my eyes) that was not going to give up on me despite my defiant behavior. I fought the system for the first 16 months at Elan using everything I could come up with to be released! They held tight and for the next 15 months, i got my life together. It was not without a whole hell of a lot of work. I busted my butt and was "confronted" many times. I lived through many "general meetings" that were directed at me with my peers screaming in my face. I sat through many "encounter groups" where people expressed their displeasure with me. You go back in the archives... I didn't have a perfect or effortless stay. It took a lot of dedication and interest to change my life. AND I DID!!! I never "graduated" Elan. The state, who was funding me, pulled me out before the actual ceremony because they were funding me to go to college and for my own apartment in my home state of Connecticut. I still took the knowledge that I learned in Elan with me. I use that knowledge and power every single day of my life. I think it is important to say, while i was there, I witnessed absolutely no abuse. That is not to say that it never existed. I wasn't around from the beginning of their existance, but I can say....without Elan, I'm not exactly sure where I would be. I made many relationships with the staff and peers that i cherish to this day! It was EXACTLY what I needed.