On 2004-05-15 18:57:00, former CEDU therapist wrote:
"JT, I was a therapist at CEDU and I was PRESSURED about participating in a Profeet. They pressured me many, many times. I refused because I knew that the Profeets themselves were unethical and that as a therapist, it would be unethical for me to reveal personal information. Also, frankly, I don't have any big, horrible "dirt" in my past. Kids told me that they were accused of holding out and lying if they didn't reveal horrible histories, so they would lie in the Profeets just to get people off their backs. Then they were psychologically rewarded for LYING about their pasts, making up "dirt!" I find this despicable.
As for CEDU not allowing therapists to participate, this is pure and utter rubbish. Perhaps that?s how it is NOW, but when I was there, about 5 or 6 years ago, they really put the pressure on me to take part. The campus had had therapists for many years ? we were not new. Some therapists did participate; I did not. Your claim that therapists don?t know what is going on in the Profeets is DEAD WRONG. They really gave me a hard time for not doing it, and I knew several therapists who did go through them. They all regretted it.
Also, CEDU has a culture of administrative staff ?earning? their degrees from unaccredited, mail-order ?colleges.? This is very common there. California Coast College is the school of choice.
I consistently saw the most abusive and ignorant staff promoted. Without fail.
I saw kids who were actively psychotic kept there, despite my many warnings to CEDU that these kids were inappropriate. One kid was actively homicidal toward his cabin mates. I made all kinds of reports; the school pointedly ignored me. Finally, he was pulled by his parents.
I saw kids with eating disorders grossly mishandled. I saw a kid with Asperger?s Syndrome ?diagnosed? by a truly ignorant team leader as bulimic. I told the team leader that they absolutely had to stop escorting this kid to the bathroom; it was torture to her. There was NO history of bulimia and the parents were shocked to hear about this ?diagnosis? from the TL. When I told the TL the true diagnosis, that idiot said, ?don?t tell me she?s not bulimic; I can see it in her eyes. She has that same empty look I had when I was bulimic.? She wouldn?t have passed Psychology 101. She had no education and was a team leader ? in control. I had a Ph.D. You figure it out. That kid went through hell. Now that team leader has one of those California Coast College degrees. Whoopee.
I saw all manner of psychological mistreatment and blatant ignorance on the part of staff. CEDU bragged to parents that they had therapists there and that the floor staff and administration always followed our lead. This was a lie. Not only did they ignore us if we told them what they did not want to hear, they ridiculed us and told us we were being ?manipulated.? That is a big word at CEDU, because the staff didn?t have enough education to know any other words to describe behaviors.
I have many recollections of psychological mistreatment and saw a lot of kids emotionally wounded. Staff members who liked me told me that their team leaders instructed them to ignore the therapists and laughed at us behind our backs. I have clear recall of the ridicule some staff, including team leaders, inflicted on kids. I remember pointed and ugly sarcasm and a general smart-ass attitude. Such behaviors, aimed at a person who is angry at you, only inflames that person further, and is not a good teaching tool.
I was fully aware of hypocrisy of some staff, including team leaders. I learned from other sources how some staff were using illegal substances and picking up dates at bars, taking them home. I observed that the most successful staff within the corporation were more likely to be diagnosable with Borderline Personality Disorder and/or serious power and control issues. I witnessed staff enjoying having power over angry kids. I was unable to stay there because of these things.
I understand why parents send their kids there. They are desperate for answers, for help, and they don?t know where to turn. Some of them have lost control, and their kids are getting into dangerous behaviors ? behaviors that might kill them. However, there are better places... places that are truly therapeutic. My issue with CEDU is that most of the kids I saw were not heavily into drugs or in street gangs. They had educational or emotional problems, and CEDU was destructive to them.
Sure, some staff, perhaps most, went there because they loved kids and wanted to help. That?s why I went there. However, most people don?t know diddly squat about what is truly therapeutic for kids and those staff didn?t know enough to realize that what they were doing was wrong. I knew many staff like this ? I would tell them that some treatment was wrong, and they looked so relieved ? and horrified. They told me that they felt terrible, but thought they had to say/do those things to help the kids. Of course, then they were in a real quandry. They still had to put food on the table.
You are defending CEDU now. It is possible that you may see things differently as time passes. Or, perhaps, things are much better now than when I was there. I doubt it, though. I suspect that you are blinded by recency of your employment, or are so unenlightened and uneducated, that you truly are unaware of how abusive the tactics are. You may be one of the types of persons whom I had the most trouble with. However, you do state that you were making efforts to change things. I certainly hope this is so. My experience was bad ? here I am several years later, having found this post, having looked up CEDU on a whim. I was amazed how many negative feelings I had came back to me. I wonder about the kids, about how they are doing. I hope they are okay. Frankly, most improvement in a place such as CEDU is probably due to plain old maturity that time brings. That and the shock of knowing that your parents can actually have you picked up and taken from your life at home. And some kids certainly need to leave their neighborhood ? kids into gangs and drugs. Sometimes I tell parents to relocate because of this, as a part of addressing problems.
Of course, it is unhealthy to dwell on past wrongs and hurts. And I am concerned about some of these kids posting who seem so deeply wounded or angry. I am concerned, and I truly have no concept of how difficult it was for some of them. And I ABSOLUTELY KNOW that CEDU pointedly and purposefully ignored us, even thought we had LEGITIMATE degrees and YEARS of training. What does that tell us about CEDU?
In fact, I testified in a lawsuit against CEDU and stated that they ignored my warnings ? thank god I documented well. I had documented every warning I issued to them. The whole thing cost them money, but I?m sure they?ve swept all that under the rug. Can?t let people know about it ? bad for business. Funny thing is, things didn?t change even after that? even after they got into trouble for ignoring REAL professionals. Everything in the philosophy and ?treatment? of the kids stayed the same.
I need to stop typing. I?m feeling angry and I just don?t want to feel this way. It just pisses me off that kids got hurt right under my nose and I was railroaded time and again. Railroaded by ignorant and uneducated people who broadcast to parents that they worked hand-in-hand with us and always took our directives. Bullshit.
On 2004-05-14 08:25:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I have been reading posts on here for quite some time. I worked at CEDU recently and went through the entire emotional growth process. The propheets although a little odd at times were not abusive and I will not have to devote many years of my life to recovery from abuse in them. (There are a lot of experiences in them that need to be changed and that is happening)I believe that some people on here exaggerate their experience for shock value. Most of the people that I know that work there are there for the right reasons. Because they love working with kids and devote their lives to it. I will admit that some of them were trained under Mel's philosophy and are having a hard time admitting that there might be a different better way, but the schools are going through major reform right now to come in line with modern methodologies.
I also know that some of the people who post on here regularly crossed ethical lines when they left CEDU and attempt to convince people here that they know what they are talking about. I also know that there are therapists that post on here who claim they know what happens in the propheets but are only going off of heresay as I know that they did not go through the propheets.
If you are devoting years of your life to recovering from so-called "abuse" then maybe you went to work for CEDU for the wrong reasons. I did not work for CEDU to learn something about myself, I went to work to help kids and because I maintained this focus the experience was different for me. There were defintley philosophies in use that were far outdated so I worked to set an example and let people know that there is a different way that works and had success in this endeavor.
It just bothers me to see alot of the negativity that is rampant on this website and people ignore a lot of the positive things that happen there. There are some quality people who work there and continue to work there to help kids and they deserve "kudos" for that. I know there are people who visit this site that have some positve things to say and I encourage you to do so.
I am sure there are peope here who will have a heyday with this post. You can find something wrong with any place that you work, and you can also find a lot of good if you so choose. More people on here should question the intent of people who see only evil and wrongdoing.
Out
JT
"
[ This Message was edited by: former CEDU therapist on 2004-05-15 19:18 ][ This Message was edited by: former CEDU therapist on 2004-05-15 19:30 ]"
first off, i don't see the propheets themselves as being "unethical"; i thought a lot of the shit they did was a little bit silly, overdone, and ineffective due to the fact that they were so standardized and dated, but there were helpful elements and concepts behind them. i do, however, believe that the way they failed to acknowledge us as individuals was a bit unethical. again, as i've said a million times on this message board today, i believe that these facilitators are caught up in the ways that they've been taught, and refuse to be creative in order to come up with more efficient methods of helping (they probably treat/treated us in a sheepish manner because that is the manner in which they are accustomed to act.) a lot of them are not genuinely driven enough to accomplish their "goal" (in other werds, a lot of them aren't all that concerned about being helpful; they had some sort of ulterior motive or were just going through the motions aimlessly.. which i really don't believe they would do... that's a stressful environment to just follow behind. they must've gotten something from it or else they would've stopped. power, perhaps.) to change their methods... if they were, they'd be trying new tactics everyday until they got the desired results. also, i'm a firm believer that each individual deserves a different approach. we all have different psychologies, and thus, using the same standard method to try to change us all will not be effective; maybe 40% will be helped by this standardized approach, and the rest of us need something more original. so, in the context of propheets, i'm not sure that they shouldn't exist, however, i do believe that the facilitators need to be more sensitive to the particular needs of each individual and act accordingly... you can't talk to everyone the same way and expect a good result... i have no idea why they didn't realize sooner that their yelling at me just put my guard up; i have always had issues with authority, i like to live my life by my own rules and morals. rather than trying to help me create a positive lifestyle for msyelf, the staff were generally focused on yelling at me for being defiant and breaking their rules. they never thought to question why i had this authoritative issue, nor did they figure out how to break through my barrior. at this point, i could tell them how they could've done this... it wouldn't have been that difficult; all it would've required was an open/receptive and creative mind.
i agree with you about making up your past; i was one of those students who made up lies because the counselors were not satisfied with the disclosures i'd told them. before cedu, i'd never touched drugs, never kissed a boy (or a girl), i was just very depressed, which resulted in an eating disorder and serious issues with my parents (which were not resolved at cedu, or as a result of cedu methods, by any means. in fact, they were amplified by the neglect factor of having been sent there because my parents didn't want to take care of me anymore. i'd been hospitalized twice before.) however, while i was at cedu, i 'became' an alcoholic and a bi-sexual slut. it wasn't until after cedu that i actually did any of these things that i claimed to have done at cedu. i started doing lots of drugs, having sex with whoever gave me the time of day, etc.
about the bulemia thing, you must be talking about brandi... she tended to do that kinda stuff. she'd call girls sluts and bulemics just because that was her history. i had a friend that had previously had sex with one guy. in a rap, brandi called her out on having her legs spread wide open to the werld to make herself feel loved or some shit like that. it was the most inaccurate, projectile statement i'd ever heard. sure, this girl has a problem with looking for love from other people as a result of her abandonment by her biological parents, but she was far from a slut and brandi calling her one was absolutely ridiculous.
about the manipulation... honestly... i get so werked up about this. EVERYTHING WE DO IS MANIPULATIVE. we act to get results. if we don't realize that we are being manipulative by acting in certain ways, then chances are, we're not acting to get optimal results, we're just doing what we think we're supposed to do. i believe that if one claims not to be manipulative, they are either continuing to be manipulative, or they are in serious denial. and as i've said, if you're in denial of the manipuative nature of communication, chances are, you're not getting the results you want; if you are getting what you want, well, consider yourself lucky that your conscious mind allows itself to be overpowered by your subconscious without you being aware of it. god, cedu runs on manipulation... i hate the fact that they claim that manipulation is a bad thing; it's very... well, manipulative (but in an unethical, dishonest manner.) :smile:
wow, that was long, and i'm going to stop now... i could go on for pages.
my name is laura solomon, i went to cedu hs/ms between 1996-1999. were you at the cali skools? it's likely that i was one of your patients if you were, i went through nearly every therapist that stepped on that campus.
i'd love to pursue further communication between you and i... my email is
[email protected] please hit me up, if you're at all inclined to.
