http://www.thestraights.com/people/medi ... ntials.htmtheStraights and the
The Union Graduate School Crowd
While clinical director at Straight Miller Newton got a PhD from Union Graduate School (AKA Union Institute) in Cincinnati. At the time Union was a non-accredited, alternative college. He did not have to attend classes or take tests. He did attend some seminars called colloquiums. Newton had to write a paper which was his project to demonstrate excellence or PDE. In 1981 he received a Doctor of Philosophy for his paper "The Organization and Implementation of Family Involvement in Adolescent Drug-Use Rehabilitation." Essentially this paper described the six new parent raps which he implemented at Straight. In 1993 Dr. Newton was an Adjunct Professor of Neuropsychology at Union where he taught colloquiums in Cincinnati (December 8 - 12) and in Boston (June 23 - 28 and July 6 - 10).
Sharon Wegscheider is a woman Newton met who was also attending Union. Newton had her visit Straight and give an independent evaluation of Straight.
Dr. Newton left Florida and Straight in 1983 on the heels of state investigations and civil suits to setup his own rendition of Straight in New Jersey he called Kids of Bergen County. Later he opened his own international chain of programs called Kids Centers of America. Two of these were Kids of Southern California and Kids of the Canadian West.
According to Case # 584418 filed 3-9-89 with the Superior Court of Santa Ana, California it was alleged that an official from Kids of Southern California claimed that he or she had also attended Union Graduate School.
In 1989 CBS' West 57th Street exposed Newton's abuse at KID's. It was then that Canadian authorities learned that they had been paying for psychiatric treatment for Canadian kids in Newton's New Jersey program though the kids had not been receiving this care. And so the Canadian government yanked its support to Newton's program in New Jersey and also withdrew its support to establish Kids of the Canadian West in Calgary. Canadian Dr. Dean Vause who trained under Newton in New Jersey took over the plan to establish a Kids-style program in Canada. When it was finally opened Vause called it the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre (AARC). It is is still in operation and there is a movement to open an AARC-style program in Van Couver.
Dean Vause received a degree in physical education and history from the University of Saskatchewan and later got a masters in educational psychology. In 1994 Vause got a PhD from Union in Educational Psychology. His project demonstrating excellence is titled: "The Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre: A Treatment Centre for Chemical Dependent Youth and Their Families." In his Union PDE, Newton writes that Straight is "kids helping kids." Today Kids Helping Kids of Cincinnati is a Straight-legacy program running out of the old Straight - Cincinnati facility.
AARC's web page has this endorsement from Dr. Audrey Olsen Faulkner, MSW, Ph.D., ACSW, Social Work Professor with the Union Institute: My professional assessment is that the AARC is a model program, grounded in research on addictions and on adolescent development. And this endorsement from Dr. Robert McAndrews, Professor at the Union Institute: Now that I see the ‘hard’ evidence and follow your thorough analysis, as a critical reviewer I am convinced that your model and actual program is one worth replicating everywhere possible . . . Dr. Bonnie L. Kelly, Ph.D., a therapist in Pennsylvania has this to say on AARC's web page, The adolescents’ commitment to the program and the community’s support and involvement is commendable. [A Bonnie Louise Kelly received a PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1993 from Union, the year before Dr. Vause earned his. ed.]
