At EC they use "therapy" called culture shock , more commonly known as brainwashing! it practices all the same tenets...
Former students working at treatment facilities is not a healthy sign.
Do you know why everything is so clean?
Because students clean ALL THE TIME....daily all surfaces are checked with a flashlight---
I am all for keeping things in order but there is no reason at all to check surfaces witha flashlight, or the degrees of hospital corners with a compass...
Maybe those students have a chance of staying on the "right side" if they get psychological help---which they will not get with the untrained staff at Escuela Caribe.
As a student at Escuela Caribe, you have to stay on high alert all the time---your flight or fight response is constantly aroused---known as hypervigilance....something that doctors are just now discovering shortens life spans....
I daily have to practice telling myself to calm down b/c I lost any sense of finding my off switch down there----
Students are not allowed to get upset, or to show their true feelings. If they were to become upset, they received physical exercises and shoving and sometimes the strap....
You do not know what that student really thought---b/c he is just talking for points..you always have to think about your points....You have a pointsheet that you are graded on every hour of the day. It is totally subjective, and as I have mentioned, neuroses inducing.
if that student were to say to you the truth that EC is awful---you would have told whoever was in charge and his life there would have been screwed....as a student you are trained to say the right things and ignore what you really feel---there is probably a reason why your first instinct was skepticism....
To really know what goes on, you would need to spend time in a house where you observe the daily routine...but they would never let an outsider do that....Your idea of the program would change were you to see a staff member knock down a kid who is "out of line."
I cannot even believe you would naively say you would send a child there----that is never an option---family counseling is the only way to solve problems----
my parents never tried counseling---I went to NHA from a short term facility. They were referred by Focus on the Family, who should have known better than to recommend this extremely abusive program.
Being locked up warped me---introduced me to situations I never would have considered....
It says so much about this country that long-term facilities are an alternative to child-rearing...that even though you brought a child into the world for a mere $3000 month you can be rid of your problem child as opposed to actually dealing with why your family is dysfunctional.
Sending a child away can be devastating to an adolescent's psyche. This is from one who experienced it.
[ This Message was edited by: Dre on 2005-04-22 18:31 ]
