I am an exsafe counselor

[Cayo Hueso]

On 2004-01-20 13:23:00, exsafecounselor wrote:

"You are absolutely right.  The kids that were discharged during the eval period, had just experimented and had not really abused drugs.  In an earlier post, I actually cut and paste from the DSM the signs and symptoms that someone has to have to get diagnosed.  Personally, I think that a place like SAFE best serves those kids who have a pretty extensive drug history and who have been to treatment and failed someplace else.  That is just my personal opinion, however.



So do you believe that kids who didn't belong there ended up there anyway?  Just clarifying.

There are not enough jails, not enough policemen, not enough courts to enforce a law not supported by the people.
-- HUBERT H. HUMPHREY, speech (1965)

[exsafecounselor]

I too saw the WAMI video. (I think that is what you are referring to)  I too disagree with what happened.  I dont know if SAFE made a policy change in that regard or it was an over-zealous staff member who crossed the line.  What I am hearing about kids being overmedicated is also disturbing.  Like I said before, I dont think anyone has much to worry about.  I dont see SAFE being open at the end of this year.  They are having serious financial troubles.  

PS:  The main reason things are not great there anymore, is because I am not there.  HAHA

[exsafecounselor]

So do you believe that kids who didn't belong there ended up there anyway? Just clarifying.

All the kids that were admitted benefited from treatment.  The kids that did better however, were those kids in the later stages of drug abuse.  They suffered more consequences and were better able to make a connection between their drug use and their life being in the toilet.

[Cayo Hueso]

On 2004-01-20 13:30:00, exsafecounselor wrote:

"I too saw the WAMI video. (I think that is what you are referring to)  

No, that wasn't where I got the idea that that happened....it's been going on ever since adolescent treatment programs have been around.  Money drives the train, the more clients you sign up, the more money you make.

That's not even talking about how many narcissistic personalities are drawn to those kind of "treatment modalities".  They get to be God.

What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Cayo Hueso]

On 2004-01-20 13:32:00, exsafecounselor wrote:

"So do you believe that kids who didn't belong there ended up there anyway? Just clarifying.



All the kids that were admitted benefited from treatment.  The kids that did better however, were those kids in the later stages of drug abuse.  They suffered more consequences and were better able to make a connection between their drug use and their life being in the toilet.


"

That's not an answer to my question, that's a tap dance.

The right of self-defense is the first law of nature . . and when the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.

--St. George Tucker, in his edition of Blackstone's Commentaries

[exsafecounselor]

Here is a clearer answer.  Everyone that was their needed to be there.

[exsafecounselor]

A parent posted earlier that no children were restrained to keep them from leaving.  She was there when I was there.

[Cayo Hueso]

On 2004-01-20 13:43:00, exsafecounselor wrote:

"Here is a clearer answer.  Everyone that was their needed to be there.
"

Thanks, that's a clear answer and it tells me quite a bit.

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
-- Robert Heinlein

[exsafecounselor]

I sense your sarcasm.  I tried to provide a little more explanation, but you accused me of "tapdancing"

[Cayo Hueso]

On 2004-01-20 13:45:00, exsafecounselor wrote:

"A parent posted earlier that no children were restrained to keep them from leaving.  She was there when I was there.  
"

Again, if that's true - great...THEN NOTHING NEEDS TO BE DONE ABOUT THE TIME THAT YOU WERE THERE...but things are not that way now and they were not that way before you got there.

A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special

--Nelson Mandela

[Cayo Hueso]

On 2004-01-20 13:47:00, exsafecounselor wrote:

"I sense your sarcasm.  I tried to provide a little more explanation, but you accused me of "tapdancing"
"

Your first response to my question WAS a tap dance...the second was a direct answer and I do appreciate it.  Yes, there was a little sarcasm there, but I do appreciate and enjoy a discussion/debate/disagreement that does not get personal.  If I got personal, it was not intended.

You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.
--Albert Einstein

[exsafecounselor]

I like people like you.  I acutally like sarcastic humor, so there was definitely no harm taken.  Were you in Straight in St. Pete?  Some of the group staff that I worked with were in St. Pete.

[Cayo Hueso]

yep, two long years.  Easily the worst experience of my life.  Just to give you a frame of reference...my ex-husband (also in Straight) went to prison a few weeks ago on a parole violation (we've been divorced for 15 years).  He was in for 3 years somewhere around 90 - 93.  Before he was just sent back I asked him if he had a choice to go back to prison or back to Straight he said, without even missing a beat.....prison by far.  Sad sad commentary.

Who were the staff you're speaking of?

I have found that the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it

--Harry S. Truman

[Cayo Hueso]

he was in prison around 90-93...Straight from 82-84

The world is so exquisite, with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's no good evidence. Far better, it seems to me, to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.
--Carl Sagan

[exsafecounselor]

"Sad, Sad Commentary"  

What do you think is sad?  That he would choose jail over Straight because he is so sick or that he chose jail over Straight because Straight is so bad?