my name is Audrey Hunt and i graduated from mission mountain school 7/13/02. i would not suggest that anyone be sent there. sorry if that sounds harsh, but i believe that all mms did for me was "get me away." i didn't know who i was or how to live as a 14 year old in san francisco. i needed help but was never offered therapy at home. i have anger about my parents just giving up on me and letting other people deal with the problem. i was put in a situation where i couldn't make friends because it was rewarded to "call each other out." the whole system is based on fear of consequence as opposed to knowledge of love. i went there thinking i had to be a certain person to survive and get by in the world and i left thinking i had to be a mission mountain cut-out. it was said many times when it was referred to that the shool was brainwashing the students that "our brains needed to be washed." i completely disagree. we needed the love that we weren't getting at home, love enough to know that we could love ourselves and each other.
john mercer did not involve himself in our daily life. we begged to shovel the horse manuer at his house becuase we would get his approval and maybe a cola. when we were to have phone calls we would sometimes have to wait hours outside his door because his schedule was more important than ours or our parents.
when my parents called to see how i was doing it would sometimes take weeks to get back to them. how could a school that expensive take advantage of parents who are already in such a vulnerable place.
there were weeks at a time when i didn't shower because we were on intervention. the reason we were in the woods in tents working sometimes 12-14 hours a day was ridiculous. girls had been trading bras.
when i left, i was left with a skewed vision of what i needed to do to take care of myself. i had no social skills left and felt like a horse who'd finally been broken and then was sent back into the wild to fend for itself. i was struggling and when i called the school to talk to my counselor there or to talk to anyone who said they would support me after i left, i was given voicemails and my phone calls were never returned.
i'm actually at work and would love to write more but don't have the time.
here is my contact information:
Audrey Hunt
415/794-3518
audgpodgii@aol.com
