Carlbrook School was awful. I graduated from there in 2008. Just last night, my boyfriend (who also went to Carlbrook) and I both had nightmares about it.
They were psychologically manipulative beyond belief. No, there were no gates or guard dogs, but they emotionally trapped you; they promised us that if we ran, we would be shot/captured/raped by rednecks ("Deliverance" references were made repeatedly) or that the police would get us and that our parents would get extended custody of us until we were 21.
The workshops were so messed up...we had to attend our own funerals and write our own obituaries and tell our friends that they should die (all on staff orders). We had to talk about the most disgusting and traumatic things in our lives (most involved sexual disclosures or abuse) every week. We were shouted at by staff and students about how foul, gross, unforgivable, and unwanted we were. We were "broken" down until they convinced us that we hated ourselves, even if we didn't.
Later on in my stay, I was a student support for one of the therapeutic workshops and saw the scripts (every workshop was scripted and formulaic; they had perfected the art of screwing with kids' heads) and one section actually read "Next, turn off the lights, play Track 05, whisper in their ears, and break them. Break them until they are on the floor. Once all of them are crying and/or screaming, play Track 06."
Carlbrook School was traumatic. You are brainwashed. I didn't believe in brainwashing until I got out of Carlbrook and realized that what they did to me was NOT okay, it was NOT normal. I am still dealing with the psychological conditioning to this day. My parents understand now that it was a mistake to send me there.
Grant Price is insane. He is very my-way-or-the-highway and makes no effort to actually get to know you or help you. Justin Merritt takes no part in his creation; he stands in the background and feigns ignorance as the staff mess with the kids. The advisors are incompetent and cruel. The only staff that actually are about the kids are the Securitas staff (who are often fired for becoming "too attached to the kids" -- they're fired as soon as the other staff notice that they're worried about how inhumane the place is. The Securitas are responsible for patrolling the dorms at night and working Suspension, which is where you sit in a desk and are not permitted to move or talk without express permission. You must keep your head straight and cannot look at anything besides your desk, talk to anyone, get up, etc. You can be "in suspension" for anywhere from one day to 9 MONTHS. The average is about 2 or 3 months) and some of the teachers (though the male teachers at that place definitely have inappropriate relationships with the girls -- nothing physical happens, but they develop very close friendships with the girls (who are ages 15-18) and have private meals with them and cross many boundaries in terms of talking about their sex lives and that type of thing.
Andy Coe, in my opinion, was actually really wonderful. He was one of the few adults there that I trusted (other than the English teacher and an advisor/former student named Sally Martin). However, I want to know more about how he was allegedly duplicitous, as I wonder if I was duped.
