Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Facility Question and Answers

Rock Point School

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Samara:
I know Simon's Rock is a college students can attend in upper high school, but... that is not teh norm for most kids. It is an alterantive. A positive one. Bothy of the kids I knew would be labeled oppositional and were about to drop out of HS - but they flourished with this option. It was random to throw it out there, but I guess my point there are different alterantive environments.

I would still get Serb's input. He loved it, and he is nobody's EG pansy.

DannyB II:

--- Quote from: "Ursus" ---
--- Quote from: "Samara" ---Your best bet would be to get info from Serb. Serb is one tough son of a gun and CEDU did not break him. (Which is an anomaly.) He split multiple times until he was successful. He went to RPS by choice and loved it. He was very emphatic that it was nothing like CEDU etc. with all the crazy experientials, attack therapy, group therapy, etc.
--- End quote ---
I think some folks fail to realize that, if ya just happen to be "a perfect fit" for a program for one reason or another, or just "click" with some key staff member in a positive way, the warts are liable to be less apparent.

And if you are comparing it to some other place, especially one where you definitely weren't a good fit, those warts will be even less visible. It doesn't mean they aren't there. Or any less destructive to someone else.

Perhaps Serb's way just happened to "fit" with the mix of who was on staff at the time, or a particular staff member took a personal liking to him and hence helped paved his way for him. We don't know, nor may Serb even know. He may only see it from his side, from the perspective of who he is.

But what about a kid who doesn't fit with "Rock Point's way?" How does Rock Point deal with that kid?

The level system, the doling out of "consequences," and the blatant ignoring of info and problems which ordinarily would call for certain accommodations, is a dead give away. For *me*, at least. I don't mind that you apparently don't share my concern.

Incidentally, you mention Simon's Rock, which is a college. I do understand that they take certain bright, mature, and self-motivated younger kids in the 10th or 11th grade. But the goal when attending this institution is a baccalaureate, not graduating from high school or transitioning back to a (normal) high school for eventual graduation. Sorry, I really do not think we are talking about the same thing here. At all.
--- End quote ---


Ursus you understand you just described a set of circumstances that could happen in any job setting, school setting or treatment setting. There are always going to be people who fit in and are the teachers/bosses favorite. Then there will be the others who don't. Some will just coast by, causing no waves like Paul from Daytop and myself and others that just can not fit in no matter where you place them. They fill trapped and rebel against it.
I am not hearing that the newer programs are using, "the level system" what were hearing is they are trying to accommodate the different behavioral problems with kids. I don't see that they are doling out "consequences" willy nilly and blatantly ignoring info and problems that call for special accommodations. Maybe Hyde during your stay was like this but I believe many programs today are trying to help more so then ever. Yes you have your "isolated incidents" but on the whole we definitely do not have the wholesale carnage that went on during the 70's, 80's and part of the 90's.

Oz girl:
I am not suggesting that there is anything sinister about rock point itself. But which precise treatment centres allow kids the freedom of a normal boarding school? Which allow complete freedom of communication with the outside world. How many refuse to take kids that make it clear that they don't want to attend? How many refuse "escorted" kids on the grounds that it is unethical and an unhelpful way to begin treatment? What programs consult extensively with the patient on issues like medication? Do any that you are intimately aquainted with allow the patients to opt out of group therapy if it is not for them? Why do so many monitor phone commuicatio if there is nothing to hide? More importantly if this model for dealing with difficult and challenging teens is so successful, why is it only practiced in North America? Given that american kids are statistically no more or less unruly than their european counterparts why is there a need at all? Most countries have moved away from an institutional model for dealing with mental illness and anti social conduct in all but the most extreme cases. This is the same when it comes to incarcerating juvennile criminals. It does happen but only when the kid is a true danger to the community or a chronic repeat offender. Given that the US has some excellent universities and some pioneers in the field of issues like trauma therapy, attachment theory and drug and alcohol counselling  and spectrum disorders who all argree with and are responsible in some cases for the research that suggests institutionalization is a bad option, it is really hard to see this model as anything but a cynical way to make money from families that are in crisis.
Look at practitioners like Judith Herman and erich lindemann and see what they have to say.

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