On 2006-07-03 17:41:00, Pls help wrote:
"If your kid had a hardcore meth addiction why would you not seek proper medical treatment with real doctors as opposed to sending you kid to some programme in the middle of nowhere?
If these programmes are not designed to scare middle america then why do so many have lame catch all surveys with questions like:
is your child sexually active?
Do you suspect your child of drinking or "experimenting with drugs?
Does your child have trouble following basic rules?
and the perenial favourites which they all seem to have a variation of
Do you feel your child is susceptable to peer pressure?
Have you noticed a drop in your child's grades?
after ticking the boxes for all of these questions to see what the prognosis was for
WWASPS, Aspen (who seemed to house many programmes in free and easy utah),& whose "video therapist" advised "that it is always worse than you think" without defining what "it" was, Changing winds (located in rural montana) & many others, I found most of them claimed my "child" was at least at moderate risk & I should consider a programme. Of what risk who knows?
Herpes? Being an embarassment to the family? Terminal brattyness? hardcore drug addiction?
Because if it was the first three, by all means send the kid off to be told what an awful person they are for a few months or even years depending on how compliant they are. Especially do this if you are a stepmom & you married dad for his money & not his shitty kids. They can move through a series of levels or everyones favourite euphemism "phases" & if they are really good they can have sugar on their cereal. That will learn em! @ least your friends who have polite well behaved kids dont have to witness the little monster you seem to have raised.
In the event that your kid actually has an addiction or a mental illness which requires a doctor, to quote everybodys favourite Aspen Salesman Dr Phil
"what are you thinking""
Meth addictions have different levels. If the person is snorting, it's one thing. Smoking is worse. Injecting is bottom-line dangerous shit, and the addiction is far more harrowing. Most programs are reluctant to take IV drug users for that reason. But still, you're assuming (again): Any kid in trouble must be mentally ill. That's just not true.
For most of the kids in alternative programs, the drug use is part of a behavior pattern. If the behavior and its reasons are not addressed, then de-tox and CDC programs are useless. They also tend to be ineffective because they run 28 days, regardless of results. In addition, they can cost $30,000 for that one month.
You also assume "middle America" is stupid, but that's your problem, I guess. The questions you cite as designed to "scare" them are standard questions on all apps for all forms of treatment. Do you think the doctors and therapists shouldn't know about problems in school, drug use, etc? How could you try to work with a kid whose background and behaviors are a mystery?
Assuming again . . . so the picture you entertain is kids having it hammered into their heads that they're awful people? It astounds me that you seem to endorse that, but you still don't get what goes on at the alternative programs.
Contrary to all the hype, most programs are trying to show the kids how valuable they are by holding them to a standard and insisting they start practicing some self-respect. It's okay to challenge kids, you know; they don't need someone patting them on the head and teaching them how vulnerable and powerless they are. They need someone to point out that they're capable and powerful, and teach them to develop that in a positive way.
You really should consider visiting a few of these places. Every one of your posts is filled with ignorance and assumptions.
