RE: Legislation necessary to Better Regulate Utah Teen-Industry.
To The Editor:
I'd like to encourage the governor and other law makers to move forward and approve any and all legislation to improve conditions for teens seeking residential treatment in Utah. There are numerous teen programs, boarding schools and boot camps in Utah and there have been many reports of untherapeutic and inhmane care that have been read by people throughout the nation.
My own child, diagnosed with severe depression and post traumatic stress, was essentially tortured while a patient at a prominent facility in Orem Utah. The brutal care she received and witnessed was in no way appropriate for her diagnosis. As a licensed registered nurse, law school graduate and mother of five, I continue to be shocked as reports of abusive treatment in the Utah teen industry surface. More must be done to protect the children who come to Utah for therapy and rehabilitation. Many of these children have diagnosed mental illnesses, and must be protected by the state from abusive measures and inappropriate behavior modification. These children have little to no contact with the outside world and are often severly punished when they attempt to disclose the abuse they experience or witness. Hence they are extremely vulnerable to every type of abuse.
My own child was punished with a week-long isolation and seclusiong for discussing the brutal care she was receiving in a group therapy session. She was also punished for telling other girls to write grievances. This type of mental abuse would be considered torture and cruel and in-humane. Yet it was done recently by a facility listed as a hospital on the utah.gov website.
I continue to be dismayed that these types of programs continue to progress and thrive in Utah.
Once again, I admonish the lawmakers and people of Utah to move forward and continue to make this teen-industry safer and more therapeutic for all involved. The entire nation is watching and waiting.
Sincerely Yours,
I cannot see how a man of any large degree of humorous perception can ever be religious -- unless he purposely shut the eyes of his mind and keep them shut by force.
--Samuel Clemens "Mark Twain", American author and humorist
