#troubled teen program

[exposingtroubledteenindustry]

Nearly half of Utah’s wilderness programs for ‘troubled teens’ closed in the last year. Here’s what’s happening.

The wilderness therapy industry is struggling in a way it hasn’t since the early 2000s, when national scrutiny followed the deaths of a numb

[exposingtroubledteenindustry]

Teen vomited on multiple days before dying of infection at Utah boarding school, state finds

Despite determining that Diamond Ranch Academy failed to take Taylor Goodridge to a hospital when she fell ill, state officials allowed the

[exposingtroubledteenindustry]

Businessman asks 10th Circuit to revive defamation suit over Netflix ‘troubled teen’ documentary

Businessman asks 10th Circuit to revive defamation suit over Netflix ‘troubled teen’ documentary

Narvin Lichfield says the documentary “The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping” falsely portrays him as a criminal and child abuser.

[exposingtroubledteenindustry]

Abbie's have her kidnapped and taken tallpines.

This what the troubled teen industry looks like kidnapping and other crazy levels of abuse.

[exposingtroubledteenindustry]

Utah tried to close a teen treatment program over safety concerns. Here’s why a judge is allowing it to stay open.

A Utah judge has allowed the embattled Utah teen treatment center Maple Lake Academy to remain open as it appeals the state’s decision to sh

[opliberation-blog]

One day out of hundreds at troubled teen program, Straight Inc.

The memory I have from so long ago: she was a small girl with a lot of fight in her, 14 years old at the most but to me she didn’t look a day over 12. She had beautiful dark brown eyes that seemed to look through you all the way to your soul; her hair was brown with wavy curls that fell to the middle of her back.

Standing in a large room that resembled a cafeteria, blue chairs filled up a portion of the room. Boys were seated on one side and girls were on the other. I remember when she was told to stand up by the young man in the front of the room, she did not at first and the girls seated on both sides of her forced her up. Her eyes spoke the words her mouth did not at first. So much sadness and anger filled those eyes. Her eyes searched the room, hands were flying all around, she knew what was coming. As teens were called on, one by one by the young man in the front of the room, all she heard were screams. Their words were taunting her. They were trying to tear her down. Their words: You slut, You whore, Your nothing, Your parents don’t even want you. One by one they tried to tear her apart. They kept screaming, yelling, girls around her were touching her forcing her arms down trying to make her stand straight. Her thoughts in her head were overwhelming. She did not understand. Where am I? What is this place? Please God let me go home. The desire to leave was so strong; you could feel it off of her. The emptiness in side of her was so deep, so alone. She raised her hands to her ears to drown out the teens around her. The young man at the front yells, “put your hands down.” She slowly looks at him with so much hate and says, “no, what do you want from me?” “Why can’t you leave me alone?” Seconds later she is thrown to the floor. 2 girls have grabbed her arms, pulling them behind her back. 2 other girls are holding her legs straight out in front of her and soon she is carried to the back of the large room and placed in a smaller room. The young man from the front of the room has now picked 5 teens boys to replace the girls. The small girl now has one teen boy straddling her with his legs wrapped around her waist, 2 boys are holding each of her legs, and another boy is standing behind the boy straddling her pushing her arms to the ceiling. Executive staff, Ms. Crawford, is now in the room. Ms. Crawford is telling the young girl how worthless she is and how she will see to it that she never leaves this place, this place is called Straight, Inc. Ms. Crawford tells the boys make her scream, make it hurt. The young girl stayed this way, this day, in this position for 7 hours. When she was released from this position her arms fell to the floor she had been sitting on, her legs wouldn’t move. She fell to her side, lying on floor, she couldn’t feel her arms or legs, she couldn’t move. I remember her screams that day. I heard her scream non-stop for about 3 hours and then silence. The silence was chilling. That day the silence was worse then the screams. Her tears fell down her face for hours and then they stopped. The girl found a place, a place inside herself she could go to. She found in this place there was no pain, she found comfort with out pain. From that day no matter what they did she felt no pain. The girl in my memory is me.

[opliberation-blog]

4 Red Flags of Fraudulent Troubled Teen Programs

1. Families with 'troubled teens' often have other issues that need to be fixed.

Any therapy that excuses parents and blames the child may be a fraud.

2. Any program that tries to rush you into making a placement decision, may be a fraud.

Programs will say things like "When a parent has to make a placement decision in a hurry . . ." in pitching their program. That is a sign that they are more interested in making the sale, than in assisting the parent in making the correct decision.

3. Any referral service that tries to get you to ignore the financial impact of your decision, is probably a fraud.

Ed Con Artists and referral sources often try to work on your guilt or ego to convince you that more expensive is better. They will never tell you that the best solution to a family system program is most like a community resource that is relatively inexpensive or free. Instead, the Ed Con Artist will try to talk you into maxing out your credit cards or taking a second mortgage on your house to 'show your love' for your child. Do not fall for this obvious scam.

If they say things like "The most expensive residential school or program is the one that doesn't work. " watch out. There is no scientific evidence that residential schools or programs work. There is substantial evidence that they do not.

4. Any troubled teen program that advises you to ignore your child's complaints about abuse or injury because your child is trying to 'manipulate' you, is a potentially abusive program.

(Sources: http://www.reddit.com/r/troubledteens/, http://www.reddit.com/r/troubledteens/comments/gc8z0/welcome_to_rtroubledteens_now_what/c1msq1p, http://www.reddit.com/r/troubledteens/comments/gc8z0/welcome_to_rtroubledteens_now_what/c1mssbn)