In answer to some previous question...
RMA or CEDU was a good experience over all but, there were a few problems. I will tell you about some. As some of you may know, Rocky Mountain Academy was started by a group of seven students from CEDU highschool that came to Idaho with a lady named Mare. Anyways, when the school was first designed the agreements, or rules, were first made by the students which was a good idea, because if the students made them, they were thiers and they would follow them and keep the new studens "in agreement with them." Overtime the upperschool slowly faded away. When I was there no one really cared about following the agreements besides me and a few others. This was because to the kids, they werent agreements and they were just rules to be enforced. So of course when you have a lot of kids that are ODD, or oppositional defiant, you will enter some problems. Another huge problem is that in the 15 months that I was there all of the older students either graduated high school or program, or just got pulled, so there was no one to help keep any of the kids in line, basically no one cares anymore. Also the school used to have a lot of structure. A lot of energy was put into explaining the phases. None of this happens anymore, the only reason that kids move up to a different phase anymore is just to get the privialges. It used to be that when you moved up to challenge phase which is almost upperschool, that there was energy put into, kindof drifting you away from RMA a bit and handleing some of your problems on an individual basis as opposed to in raps, to get you ready for the real world. None of the phases are explained anymore so they appear to have no meaning. I believe someone asked, what was fake and what was real... Well the truth is that the way the school is run is off of raps and propheets, that is entirely fake. Kids no days don't do well in group setting of sometimes twenty people, so when they talk it is usually fake because they are scared, that is why some energy has been put in reducing the student number in group sessions. I will be honest, i learned more in that school out of raps and propheets. Before the propheets start working again, they have to be redesigned to accomidate they new melleniums young adults, because the truth is that we are different than the kids in the 1960's when the program was written.
I believe someone asked, who runs the school, Staff or therapists... Hands down the therapists run the school. I had the greatest therapist I will ever have. When i went into his office it was like leaving RMA, I could talk about my problems knowing, they would never leave the room. That is the problem with raps, it is hard to open up when you know that 20 people are listening. Also, the therapists can override any decision that is made by program staff if they dont think that it will help the student taht they are working with. This is a really good thing because the therapipsts are the only ones in the school that have PHD's let alone any degree in social work or counseling. So the truth is the therapist do run most of the school, but for it to be as effective as it should be, they should just take it over, and re-write the program. And please, don't take this as me bashing on all of the staff, because there were a few there that have changed my life in a posotive way, and I have gained friendships with them that will last forever. Also don't take this as me bashing the program, because, I have learned a lot from that place and I have gained a relationship with my parents I couldn't have gotten any place else.
Please keep asking me questions, I would love to answer more, ask me about propheets, the negatives, the posotives, anything. Oh, and I really appreciate the suppoprt, at this time in my life it is something that I really need to stay sane. LOL. (Laughing Out Loud)
