PREVENTABLE DEATH AT ASPEN ACHIEVEMENT ACADEMY

[TheWho]

I worked for Aspen at the time of the suicide and was there several years, and know everything that happened. It saddens me to hear all of these attacks on Aspen, and its employees. Although it is in fact part of a corporation, the employees and management are the most loving, incredible people I've ever met in my life. During the whole time I worked there as a field instructor, I've never seen anything remotely abusive. Every week, during graduation at Aspen, several parents come up to our director and literally say to him 'You saved my kids life'. He has heard this hundreds, if not thousands of times from parents and students alike. How come you guys never talk about this?

Do you know why the suicide did not become news? It wasn't some elaborate coporate coverup....the student's family wanted to keep it quiet, they did not feel ANY bad feelings toward Aspen. To this day, they are still 100% supportive of the academy. Sorry for going on here.....I understand why this is important, I believe completely in accountability...and I know there are programs out there that need more accountability, but I can tell you this--Aspen Achievement Academy is not one of those.

It was rarely the case when I met a student or parent on graduation day that was not completely grateful for being involved with AAA. I understand that it is had to believe someone like me, who is not an independent source.....but it is the truth.

Thanks for posting that.  There are a few of us here who understand this and know that the vast majority of children who graduate do extremely well and look back on their experience at Aspen or other TBS's as a positive changing point in their lives.  There are a few posters here on fornits who did not do well or did not benefit from their stay at other RTC's either because they didnt finish or didnt apply themselves.  This has left them bitter against anyone who had taken the opportunity they were given and moved on with their lives.  They tend to run other people down and the schools they attended.
Many parents don’t post here because they see thru the negativity and hostility towards other posters who are trying to share their positive experiences.  But it is nice to hear the good stories when some stay and decide to share with us despite the lack of a warm welcoming.

Looks like some of the regulars here are starting to change their minds some?

Why cant you guys just ignore thewho.  You give him way too much credit and putting his name on all the anon posts isnt fooling anyone at least the guy has a log-in name.

[Troll Control]

I worked for Aspen at the time of the suicide and was there several years, and know everything that happened. It saddens me to hear all of these attacks on Aspen, and its employees. Although it is in fact part of a corporation, the employees and management are the most loving, incredible people I've ever met in my life. During the whole time I worked there as a field instructor, I've never seen anything remotely abusive. Every week, during graduation at Aspen, several parents come up to our director and literally say to him 'You saved my kids life'. He has heard this hundreds, if not thousands of times from parents and students alike. How come you guys never talk about this?

Do you know why the suicide did not become news? It wasn't some elaborate coporate coverup....the student's family wanted to keep it quiet, they did not feel ANY bad feelings toward Aspen. To this day, they are still 100% supportive of the academy. Sorry for going on here.....I understand why this is important, I believe completely in accountability...and I know there are programs out there that need more accountability, but I can tell you this--Aspen Achievement Academy is not one of those.

It was rarely the case when I met a student or parent on graduation day that was not completely grateful for being involved with AAA. I understand that it is had to believe someone like me, who is not an independent source.....but it is the truth.

Thanks for posting that.  There are a few of us here who understand this and know that the vast majority of children who graduate do extremely well and look back on their experience at Aspen or other TBS's as a positive changing point in their lives.  There are a few posters here on fornits who did not do well or did not benefit from their stay at other RTC's either because they didnt finish or didnt apply themselves.  This has left them bitter against anyone who had taken the opportunity they were given and moved on with their lives.  They tend to run other people down and the schools they attended.
Many parents don’t post here because they see thru the negativity and hostility towards other posters who are trying to share their positive experiences.  But it is nice to hear the good stories when some stay and decide to share with us despite the lack of a warm welcoming.

Looks like some of the regulars here are starting to change their minds some?

Why cant you guys just ignore thewho.  You give him way too much credit and putting his name on all the anon posts isnt fooling anyone at least the guy has a log-in name.

[TheWho]

I worked for Aspen at the time of the suicide and was there several years, and know everything that happened. It saddens me to hear all of these attacks on Aspen, and its employees. Although it is in fact part of a corporation, the employees and management are the most loving, incredible people I've ever met in my life. During the whole time I worked there as a field instructor, I've never seen anything remotely abusive. Every week, during graduation at Aspen, several parents come up to our director and literally say to him 'You saved my kids life'. He has heard this hundreds, if not thousands of times from parents and students alike. How come you guys never talk about this?

Do you know why the suicide did not become news? It wasn't some elaborate coporate coverup....the student's family wanted to keep it quiet, they did not feel ANY bad feelings toward Aspen. To this day, they are still 100% supportive of the academy. Sorry for going on here.....I understand why this is important, I believe completely in accountability...and I know there are programs out there that need more accountability, but I can tell you this--Aspen Achievement Academy is not one of those.

It was rarely the case when I met a student or parent on graduation day that was not completely grateful for being involved with AAA. I understand that it is had to believe someone like me, who is not an independent source.....but it is the truth.

Thanks for posting that.  There are a few of us here who understand this and know that the vast majority of children who graduate do extremely well and look back on their experience at Aspen or other TBS's as a positive changing point in their lives.  There are a few posters here on fornits who did not do well or did not benefit from their stay at other RTC's either because they didnt finish or didnt apply themselves.  This has left them bitter against anyone who had taken the opportunity they were given and moved on with their lives.  They tend to run other people down and the schools they attended.
Many parents don’t post here because they see thru the negativity and hostility towards other posters who are trying to share their positive experiences.  But it is nice to hear the good stories when some stay and decide to share with us despite the lack of a warm welcoming.

Looks like some of the regulars here are starting to change their minds some?

Why cant you guys just ignore thewho.  You give him way too much credit and putting his name on all the anon posts isnt fooling anyone at least the guy has a log-in name.

[sarahjm18]

ok so i am a past student from aspen academy and you guys dont know what the hell you are talking about.
apen does nothing but care for their kids. if it werent for them, i would have never lived past another year. but now, im doing amazing!
all of us were put before them not matter what, they always wanted us to be safe.
here's an example:
just like every student first starting out in a wilderness program, i did not want to be there for a little while. so one day, we were taking a day hike up a mountain. once we got up there, they told us we had to go back to our main camp because base had just radioed in a said a strom was coming. i was annoyed so i just stod there and since were a group that sticks together, the other girls and staff were staying with me. but once the weather conditions were extremely life threatening(hail, thunder, lightening, sleet, rain, you name it) they were begging me to go back to camp. but i would not go. normally, they would all have to stay with me then but because the weather was so bad and it was life threatening and they wanted to KEEP US SAFE, one of the staff took the rest of the group down to camp and the other stayed with me. i then made a big scene and basically faked a seizure so that they would send me home. she was on the radio non stop trying to get help. it was all muddy and every step you took you sunk down. no truck could get within miles of us. even so, other staff from base came out there in those terrible conditions and walked through all that mud to get me. they wanted to save my life and completely put their own lives in danger just to help me.
they care about everyone as if they were their own kid.
if they knew this kid was going to do this, they would have stopped it right then or taken him out of the program.
i know people that their parents attempted to send their kids to aspen academy but the academy wouldnt take them because the kid had suicidal thoughts and they did not want to risk the kid's life. i love that place and everyone there. it changed my life and it will continue to do so for anyone that ever goes there.

[Pile of Dead Kids]

[sarahjm18]

I worked for Aspen at the time of the suicide and was there several years, and know everything that happened. It saddens me to hear all of these attacks on Aspen, and its employees. Although it is in fact part of a corporation, the employees and management are the most loving, incredible people I've ever met in my life. During the whole time I worked there as a field instructor, I've never seen anything remotely abusive. Every week, during graduation at Aspen, several parents come up to our director and literally say to him 'You saved my kids life'. He has heard this hundreds, if not thousands of times from parents and students alike. How come you guys never talk about this?

Do you know why the suicide did not become news? It wasn't some elaborate coporate coverup....the student's family wanted to keep it quiet, they did not feel ANY bad feelings toward Aspen. To this day, they are still 100% supportive of the academy. Sorry for going on here.....I understand why this is important, I believe completely in accountability...and I know there are programs out there that need more accountability, but I can tell you this--Aspen Achievement Academy is not one of those.

It was rarely the case when I met a student or parent on graduation day that was not completely grateful for being involved with AAA. I understand that it is had to believe someone like me, who is not an independent source.....but it is the truth.

Do the parents have to attend group meetings at aspen? That could be the reason they feel the program saved their lives.

Or it could be because you torture the kids and tell them the only way they can leave is to convince you that they beleive the program saved their lives, as they were headed inevitably, twords being deal/insane/jail
They then communicate this to the parents

Ok, so I attended aspen achievement academy and successfully graduated. I am here to tell you that in absolutely no way does AAA even attempt to brain wash you. That’s why it works and that’s why the results actually last. When I first got to aspen, I did not want to learn anything. I didn’t want help and I hated everyone in my life. I stayed like this for the first couple weeks of my stay. And you know why it took me so long before I realized how amazing and life changing the place was that I was at? Because they never pushed the program on me. All they did was love me and care for me. If I wanted to rant and rave about how much I hated them and I thought that place was stupid, they would sit there and let me. I was a lot to handle but they never lost hope in me, even for a second. Soon, I started becoming accustomed to aspen on my own terms. I started being receptive and letting people in. For the first time, I actually showed my emotions to another human being. I started making relationships with people and feeling love and attachment, which was all new to me. I could do this because I started feeling love for myself. I started feeling like I could actually do things on my own and that I was worth things being done at all. When I finally busted my first fire, a huge new window of light opened for me. I thought, “maybe there is something to all this.” That’s when I began changing my life. *notice I said that I (meaning me) began to change MY OWN life* All aspen ever did for me was give me a place of love and support and showed me that I was worth something and that I actually did want to make something out of myself. I am now attending a college in New York where I am studying Psychology.  After this, I aspire to first, work at one of the many aspen programs, and then, eventually, open one of my own. Without aspen, my life would never be what it is today and I would never have had experiences that I will cherish for a life time. One of the greatest things about aspen is that they have you do things on your own, they aren’t going to hand things to you on silver platter; including your emotions.

[Pile of Dead Kids]

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