I am not disputing the fact that some good may come out of Pathway for some people. Maybe some really were benifited by Pathway. If you are a beneficiary of Pathway, please don't try to convince me how great Pathway is and what a wonderful place it is.
The fact remains that for me it was not a wonderful place. Forget the laws that were broken. Forget the restraining, the yelling and the intimidating confrontations. Forget all of that. Pathway forced me and my parents to believe I had a serious drug problem. This is what I can't get over. How could I be forced to believe something that in the bottom of my heart I knew was not true? What was I supposed to do when I had my parents, other host parents, graduates, staff, therapists and other clients all teamed up against me determined to "help" me get through my "denial?"
I have noticed that most of the arguments in support of Pathway come from current PFC parents, recent graduate parents and from recent client graduates . Seem strange? This reaffirms my belief that brainwashing, to an extent, does go on in Pathway. It took me quite a while to get out of the Pathway bubble, and it took my parents even longer.
I was informed that many changes are being made in Pathway, and I have been invited to attend the open meeting on Friday night. I am also happy to hear that many of our complaints about Pathway are not going unheard. EMSR
I write on this site to communicate with people who have been through the same struggles as I have. It is very much the same as people attending AA, NA or any other support groups. For 26 months I was not able to share ANY of my true feeling for fear of being punished. I really don't want to spend all of my time on this site arguing with supporters of PFC. If PFC was so good to you, start a PFC supporters web-site. Don't bother us.
[ This Message was edited by: SurvivorEMSR on 2003-07-17 10:17 ]