Peninsula Village Q/A thread

[Hrt2hrtScandal]

No, I was in lock down for six months. I did not even see outside the unit for most of that time.

[nimdA]

wow...

Ok Let's talk about individual therapy next.

Care to elaborate onto the amount of and type of individual therapy administered at PV?

[Hrt2hrtScandal]

There was no one on one or individual therapy.  I had  one hour of family therapy with my dad once a week. This was with a senior staff member, or clinician. At first PV would alternate with my mom and dad until the above mentioned incident. After that it was just with my dad.

[nimdA]

How were these sessions conducted?

[Hrt2hrtScandal]

Basically everybody checks in with three feelings or emotions and then the group leader or community leader (a level 2 patient) asks who calls time. If you want to say something you put out your hand as though you were going to receive something in your palm. A raised hand is for staff only. Staff oversees the group therapy. We were supposed to have group therapy with the staff psychologist and another male senior staffer once a week but it usually happened less often than that. We did not mind though because we all dreaded those sessions.
Family therapy either occurred by phone, or if parents live nearby in person and was usually once a week. There is a small room in the lower level of the STU unit where the family therapists conduct family therapy.
I would like to add that therapy is what PV calls it but it is unlike any "therapy" that I am familiar with.

[nimdA]

I would like to add that therapy is what PV calls it but it is unlike any "therapy" that I am familiar with.

Please elaborate on this statement. Could you compare and contrast a situation that you experienced with therapy outside of PV with a situation you experienced inside of PV?

[Hrt2hrtScandal]

It wasn't therapy in the sense of "what is the problem and how does it make you feel?"... it was more like "you're wrong", or that is how it was to me. They would ask how you feel, but that wasn't what they wanted to hear, then they would ask you questions about your life and you would give details and they'd say that you were story telling or something. It was too complicated for me for it to be therapeutic. It was also just harsh for me too.

[nimdA]

Could you describe one of your therapy sessions at PV?

[Hrt2hrtScandal]

Well, you start to talk about how you feel, and then a bunch of girls tell you how bad you are and how your a liar, pretty much like staff does, and the person who has called time ends up in tears. I usually felt pain in my chest, or maybe my heart was actually broken.

[nimdA]

What did the staff expect of a resident during these sessions?

Specifically:

What did the staff expect from the group of residents towards the one person?

[Hrt2hrtScandal]

Specifically:
What did the staff expect from the group of residents towards the one person?

Staff expects the "truth". They don't want you to tell "stories". They want you to take "responsibility for your actions". Then they expect the group to confront you and help get the "truth" out of you. The problem is "the truth" is never good enough.

For example, before I went to PV I had tried pot one time (and didn't like it), and had more than one beer on one occasion. I should probably add that I come from a small town and most of the kids in my group of friends are very sheltered. Really, all through high school our idea of fun was going to someone's house, watching a movie (very rarely one over a PG-13 rating) ordering pizza, drinking soda until someone got gas, and giggling and laughing a lot about it.

Staff did not want to hear that I tried pot once and drank beer one time. I could tell that story again and again and be accused of lying. However if I had said I was a heavy pot user, and an alcoholic crack head prostitute, they might have accepted that as the truth and maybe I would have been able to advance in the program.

[nimdA]

Was participation in these sessions manditory? What might have happened if you sat quietly and said very little?

[Hrt2hrtScandal]

Well, YES! It was very mandatory. If you didn't come to group you would have an assist which is where two staff members stood on either side of you and forcefully pulled you up-if you resisted an assist you were probably about to get restrained. If you were on shutdown, which is prolonged exclusion from the group, then you could not go. In the first 3 months I was there I tried to give a lot of feedback to my peers and talk a lot so that I could get out of STU, especially after my restraint. It worked for a while, but things went really downhill. I got put on feedback restriction, which meant I couldn't give my peers feedback, and I usually didn't call time in group therapy.

[nimdA]

I was thinking more what would happen if you just sat quietly in group and didn't participate.

[Hrt2hrtScandal]

I was thinking more what would happen if you just sat quietly in group and didn't participate.

A peer could call time for you, but you didn't have to talk. Not participating though was like asking for trouble. They would really get on you if you did not participate, and I guess I don't need to explain that you were expected to sit quietly if you were not going to say anything.