Author Topic: Discovery Ranch  (Read 6508 times)

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Offline Oz girl

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« Reply #15 on: September 18, 2006, 02:15:03 AM »
I have a question.Lets say a family is having genuine issues getting along & a kid is acting out, or not coping with a blended family, divorce etc. How is a parent able to decifer a genuinely helpful & caring family therapist from one that is getting kickbacks from an ed con or who also doubles as an ed con? How can the credentials and professionalism of a therapist be guaranteed?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
n case you\'re worried about what\'s going to become of the younger generation, it\'s going to grow up and start worrying about the younger generation.-Roger Allen

Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #16 on: September 18, 2006, 03:24:34 AM »
It isn't as simple as the qualifications of the therapist, it's also the environment in which they work -- the program and the employer. Good therapists may sometimes be duped into taking a job that turns out to not be what they thought it would be, just as caring parents are duped into sending their kids to abusive programs. That might be one reason why staff turnover is so high in some programs -- the good staff, the therapists who care and want to help patients, realize they made a mistake in taking the job and they find themselves a different job.

A simple rule of thumb for parents is to read the warning signs on the ISAC web site: http://www.isaccorp.org/warningsigns.asp

If a program being considered by a parent violates one or more of these warning signs, red flags should go up. The more warning signs violated, the more likely it is that the program is an abusive 'tough love' facility or a cult that may harm rather than help a child.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Nihilanthic

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« Reply #17 on: September 18, 2006, 01:53:37 PM »
Quote from: ""Pls help""
I have a question.Lets say a family is having genuine issues getting along & a kid is acting out, or not coping with a blended family, divorce etc. How is a parent able to decifer a genuinely helpful & caring family therapist from one that is getting kickbacks from an ed con or who also doubles as an ed con? How can the credentials and professionalism of a therapist be guaranteed?


Its as simple as if the therapist wants to throw the child away in a brainwashing program, or actually provide therapy without forcing anything or blaming it all on anyone or convincing anyone its 'all about them'?

COMMON SENSE?

Jeeze. Are we THAT DUMB? ^^^^ The "dumbing us down" book above is realy yelling at me atm.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
DannyB on the internet:I CALLED A LAWYER TODAY TO SEE IF I COULD SUE YOUR ASSES FOR DOING THIS BUT THAT WAS NOT POSSIBLE.

CCMGirl on program restraints: "DON\'T TAZ ME BRO!!!!!"

TheWho on program survivors: "From where I sit I see all the anit-program[sic] people doing all the complaining and crying."

Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #18 on: September 19, 2006, 12:56:52 PM »
A good therapist treats the patient like a person, with dignity and respect.

A good therapist will ask the patient what the patient's goals are--what the patient wants to gain from therapy.  A good therapist will respect the patient's goals and genuinely listen to the patient, not view the patient as clay to be molded to the parent's specifications.

A good therapist will provide a patient's "bill of rights," either spontaneously or if asked, and will explain clearly to a minor what his or her rights will be in the therapeutic relationship, and what rights the parent will have in the therapeutic relationship.  A good therapist will also explain where, in the therapeutic relationship, the parents' rights end.

A good therapist should be able to tell you, if asked, what kinds of things they would not do, for ethical reasons, even if the parents requested it.  One of these things should include that the therapist will report, and will not cover up, if something should come up that gives the therapist reason to suspect that child abuse is occurring.

If a therapist doesn't tell you they are obliged to report suspicions of child abuse, when you ask them to describe the line between what some parents might want them to do and their responsibilities to a minor patient, that is a huge red flag.

A therapist cannot treat your child like a person and, at the same time, treat your child like the absolute property of the parent to be done with as the parent wishes no matter what.

A sense of ethics requires forethought.  Without having gone through training about where the ethical lines are, without having thought ahead, any professional will find it all too easy to cross the line into unethical behavior when faced with serious temptation.  Over time, that professional will lose all sense of proportion about what's ethical and what's not.  Nobody can stay ethical by just doing what feels right at the time without ever thinking ahead about precisely where that line is in a wide variety of situations.

If a therapist can't tell you, the parent, a number of things they won't do at the behest of the parent, then that therapist doesn't have the ethics to help your child.

Julie
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Oz girl

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« Reply #19 on: September 20, 2006, 04:55:29 AM »
A sense of ethics requires forethought. Without having gone through training about where the ethical lines are, without having thought ahead, any professional will find it all too easy to cross the line into unethical behavior when faced with serious temptation. Over time, that professional will lose all sense of proportion about what's ethical and what's not. Nobody can stay ethical by just doing what feels right at the time without ever thinking ahead about precisely where that line is in a wide variety of situations.

So in order to call yourself a therapist in the US is some kind of ethics course required the way it is for doctors?  Is a therapist allowed to also practice as an Ed Con or does it vary from state to state?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
n case you\'re worried about what\'s going to become of the younger generation, it\'s going to grow up and start worrying about the younger generation.-Roger Allen

Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #20 on: September 20, 2006, 07:58:41 AM »
Quote from: ""Pls help""
I have a question.Lets say a family is having genuine issues getting along & a kid is acting out, or not coping with a blended family, divorce etc. How is a parent able to decifer a genuinely helpful & caring family therapist from one that is getting kickbacks from an ed con or who also doubles as an ed con? How can the credentials and professionalism of a therapist be guaranteed?


I have a question.  Lets say you have a serious disease/infection.  How are you able to "decifer" a genuinely caring & qualified physician from one that is getting kickbacks from a pharmaceutical manufacturer or hospital admissions office?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline DRruinedmylife

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Re: Discovery Ranch
« Reply #21 on: November 14, 2012, 10:17:21 PM »
I attended discovery ranch 5 years ago when I was 15 years old. My parents sent me there because I was depressed, doing poorly in school instead of getting straight A's, got caught shoplifting a pack of gum from 7-11, spent too much time on the computer, and was "too angry and defiant". I had never done drugs, drank, or even smoked a cigarette at this point in my life. I had been raped when i was 12 and was unable to tell my male therapist or parents about this happening because my family is very Catholic. in comparison, most of the other residents had serious drug problems, were in gangs, were extremely violent, etc. Regardless of what they were there for, NO ONE SHOULD EVER BE TREATED AS INHUMANELY AS CHILDREN SUCH AS MYSELF WERE. I had repressed memories of the physical, sexual, and psychological torture i endured for five years until I watched a documentary on the stanford prison experiment in my psychology class. It brought everything back because I lived that experience, except for ten months and it was real. I don't believe that the people who tortured me were innately evil; i think it was a situation similar to Abu Ghraib. I was forced to do the most humiliating and degrading things possibly conceivable; I was forced to eat a girls used tampon, lick cow shit off a girls boots, unclog a toilet with my bare hands... adult male staff would masturbate to me showering, changing, and using the toilet while masturbating (keep in mind I was 15.), I witnessed a 15 year old boy be sodomized by a broom handle and have the living shit beat out of him because he tried to run away and watched a girl punch a window and slit her wrists in front of me because she couldn't take it anymore. They would arbitrarily lock me in a tiny pitch black closet devoid of food, water, a bathroom, or human contact for days, usually because I made an "inappropriate facial expression" like crying or raising my eyebrows when they screamed at me that I was worthless and no one could ever love me. The night staff was apparently fucked up on heroin, meth, pcp, etc the whole time and had virtually no training or qualifications, which I learned when a male staff member sexually propositioned me over Facebook when I was 18, so three years later, and told me what happened behind closed doors. I  had no contact with the outside world except letters to my parents which were censored, and observed phone calls once a month. I had to raise a baby cow for the slaughter to "learn to deal with loss", exercise until I threw up blood, pick up cow shit every day, I could go on and on. And the scariest part was that it was fantastic during the day; we would do ropes courses and go skiing and horseback riding and talk to a truly kind therapist every day who genuinely though I was insane or a pathological liar and convinced me I was hallucinating or having nightmares.... But I fucking wasn't.  I literally couldn't make this shit up. I thought I was actually crazy, but it was all real. I don't know why but when i was there I never wanted to leave. I felt like i somehow deserved to be treated like this and I think a part of me knew I could never stand living in the real world after all this happened. I stopped feeling emotions and didn't for two years. When I came back to real life I had forgotten how to smile and had to train myself to make facial expressions that corresponded to the emotions I should have felt in various circumstances. Even when I started feeling feelings again I realized on Wednesday that I had been experiencing emotions with maybe 50-75% of the intensity that I normally should, which was put into perspective when I finally accepted that these things truly happened to me and felt for the first time in my life the appropriate pain and humiliation that corresponds to being treated in such a way for such an extended period of time. Until now I had remembered my experience there as a happy one- I literally only remembered what went on during the day. The reason I am writing this now is because I ended up becoming an alcoholic and drug addict once I went to college and had finally had complete freedom. With the help of a REAL rehab and AA, I had achieved 14 months sober. After essentially being re-traumatized after remembering all this, I recently went on a five day bender started Wednesday where I got high and or drunk every waking moment, which culminated with me waking up on my bathroom floor on Monday morning covered in blood and vomit next to two empty bottles of wine and Xanax spilled across the floor with a five page suicide note on my computer that I'd written in a blackout. I am at a loss for what to do at this point. I'm in therapy, on medication, have been to three AA meetings in the past three days, and just feel like I am out of options and suicide or getting constantly fucked up is my only option at this point. I literally can't live with these memories. It makes me fucking sick that this place, along with HUNDREDS of others, still exists, quietly protected under the umbrella of the state government of Utah, and that parents are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for their children to be tortured and driven insane or into obedient, soulless sociopaths.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »