One size fits all.
My son, four years out, is still under the brainwashing influence hoisted on him for two years. It's somewhat sporadic and depends on his mood, of course.
We were talking the other night and he stated that he'd never send his own child, that he wouldn't voluntarily go, but that he wouldn't change the past if he could because every experience he's had made him what he is today. That, if he hadn't gone to HLA he wouldn't have dealth with his 'issue'. (How many times a day does a child hear this?)
Biting my tongue, I asked what 'issue' HLA had helped him with.
His response? A pause, a grin, and a laugh, "I don't know."
Could that be because an 'issue' was never identified? Because he never had an 'issue' that required two years of incarceration?
I told him that it seemed odd to me that if he'd had a legitimate issue that HLA had helped him with that he'd atleast know what it was, and be able to verbalize how they had helped.
Obviously uncomfortable with where the discussion was headed he lamented that HLA is no different than the dog-eat-dog world. That he had learned how to 'survive' in their system, master their program and make it work to his advantage, toward the end.
I didn't have the heart to tell him that he'd been incarcerated for two years for nothing. He's a brilliant person and will come to that conclusion in his own time. When he's ready to accept that reality. All the research I've read indicates that a child must accept their captors- that their 'treatment' has a real and valid purporse and some benefit. Otherwise, they live with constant internal conflict and frustration.
I assured him that there were more desirable means to deal with issues that don't require two years incarceration and isolation from family and the real world. He agreed.
He was accepted based on the unprofessional opinion and inaccurate complaints of his father. There was no evaluation to determine that he had an 'issue' and/or what the best form of treatment (if any) might be. My opinion (based on research and consultations with 3 PhD child psychologists) is that the best form of treatment would have been escape from a neurotic step-mother, hell bent on 'perfecting' a child who was not her own (in order to be valued by hubby), and freeing up dad's time for her own benefit.
Having lived with my son and his father for a number of years, I know his father's complaints.
My son is persistent. He doesn't accept no, until he has been given enough information to understand why he is being denied what he wants. Ironically, just like his father. And this little 'issue' was not corrected at HLA, probably much to his father distress.
His father seemed to think he had an 'issue' with not 'finishing' things, whatever that means to him. A projection of his father's own shortcomings.
And apparently he seemed to perceive 'ODD' as an issue when our son turned 14 and could no longer ignore his step mother's irrational, belittling, abusive behavior. Ironically, defiance is the approriate and common response to being treated with disrespect.
He didn't need a program, his father did. And HLA was most happy to oblige... for a fee.
