Petition to Shut Down Provo Canyon School - please sign

[cherish wisdom]

About 500 former students-patients, their family members and human rights activists have signed a petition to close Provo Canyon School. The petition asks the authorities to shut down this facility that has a "history of torturing America's youth." Many have made comments about there abuse which includes, forced drugging, denial of necessary medical care, punishment with isolation and seclusion, sleep deprivation and other physical, emotional and psychological abuses. If you'd like to view the petition it can be found at:
http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm
The signatures can be viewed at:
http://www.heal-online.org/sign.htm
This is the MOTHER OF ALL ABUSIVE PROGRAMS. If you think WWASPS is bad - this is where the founder of WWASPS - Robert Lichfield - learned the ropes of abusive behavior modification. He dropped out of college to be the Residential Director of Provo Canyon School. Of course he is now a mega-millionair as a result of his savy in the teen-industry.  I call it the teen-torture-mindcult industry.  

Please Sign if you have not done so :nworthy: [ This Message was edited by: cherish wisdom on 2005-04-25 23:25 ]

[cherish wisdom]

ATTENTION PARENTS - ATTENTION PARENTS ---- If you truly love your child you will not be deceived by PCS.  Their tactics and lies are evil in more ways than one.  I was locked up at PCS in 1988/1989.

 

FALSE ADVERTISING---------------------------------

PCS mislead my parents in the 80's and I am sure they are doing the same now.  PCS has pamphlets that show the numerous activities that the child will take part in once at the school.  This simply does not happen.  Neither does the therapy sessions that are meant to help the child.  PCS is not truly a "school."  Although the teachers could be just as vindictive as the counselors who were hopped up on steroids, employees of PCS saw school as a privilege for the child.  The counselors would often not allow children to attend classes so that they would always have some kids to punish during the day.  I was at PCS for fourteen months and probably attended class about six of those months.  

 

ABUSE - PHYSICAL AND MENTAL-----------------------

For minor misbehavior or no bad behavior at all, the child would be made to stare at a wall anywhere from three to ten hours a day.  For many children including myself, this would result in dizzy spells.  This was mainly because of the room that this was taking place.  It was in a unit of the school that had locked doors and no windows.  During my stay there was a time when I stared at a wall ten hours a day for six months straight.  There were other eight foot by eight foot rooms that were used for solitary confinement.  I was locked in solitary for over 24 hours once, and I have seen friends locked in for over three days for what counselors would regard as a "poor attitude."  PHYSICAL ABUSE would often occur as well.  Almost daily you would see a small child slammed to the floor by a 250+ pound BYU football player.  Of course these goons had absolutely no credentials to work these positions.  Most of them were not bright and resort to violence when they were frustrated with a child.

 

INSURANCE FRAUD-----------------------------------

This may be an area that does not receive as much focus as the other complaints by former students.  However, this is something that is very disturbing and very real.  According to the staff members at PCS, your child is so fucked up and such a mess until the time when your insurance begins to run out.  You will be told that your child is (magically) transformed into a well-adjusted person only when your insurance is gone and you are no longer of any value to them.  Another disturbing fact is the financial compensation that Psychiatrists across the United States would receive for referring parents to PCS.

I have dozens of disturbing stories regarding my stay at PCS but it is probably best that I do not get into all of the specifics in this forum.

 

EVERYTHING WE SPEAK OF IS TRUE--------------------

As someone who endured fourteen horrible months in such an evil place, I see it as my duty to educate parents about what PCS is truly all about.

 

Though I feel that sites like this are a positive thing for former students, friends, and family, I am also very aware of the amount of power and wealth held by PCS (PCS was owned by The Charter Corporation when I was there).  I have knowledge of payoffs that PCS has made to former students in order to stay out of court.  The class action lawsuit (twenty+ students) that I was a part of in the late 90's was only thrown out by the judge due to the statute of limitations law.  Previous to that ruling PCS had tried to settle with all of us for about $5,000 which was an incredible insult.  We are talking about an evil facility that is absolutely petrified of receiving bad press and going through a huge trial.  They know that if they ever go to court and the truth comes out they will be forced to pay up big time.

 

I have always been consistent in saying that as much as it would be nice for me to receive financial compensation for what PCS put me and my family through, I would rather not receive a dime if it meant that PCS would be shut down.

 

By the way, there are hundreds more former students out there that don't even know that this forum and ones like it exist.

 

THERE ARE OTHER OPTIONS--

GOOD LUCK AND GOD BLESS--

 

You can lead a camel to water but you can't make it stink (any more than it already does)
-- Job

[Anonymous]

I suffered greatly as a result of my time spent at PCS (years of nightmares, fear, shame...severe anxiety, anger, etc...)  Now ten years later, I have come to terms with what happened to me there.  I am able to step back and look at it through the eyes of a young professional- and I am appalled at what I see!  How could this have happened??  Who allowed this facility operate??  Why hasn't more been done to protect these children from such abuse??

If this program is properly and thoroughly investigated, I am quite sure it will not be allowed to continue operating.

 

*** please note that the children at this facility have been instilled with fear... they are threatened with harsh punishment should they speak negatively about the program to ANYONE.

[Anonymous]

17 years after being released from Provo Canyon School, I still occasionally wake up with night sweats and panic attacks that I began suffering after my experiences at the school.  From 9 DAYS WITH 2 SHOWERS IN ISOLATION FOR A FAULTY URINE SAMPLE (My parents were told that I admitted to purchasing pot on a ski lift while on a visit, even though I was CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING with my father in full view!) to Dr. Gwilliam verbally attacking me when my brother and father arrived for a visit to the point my brother said "I am not going to sit hear and listen to you bash my sister."  I had no warning that "Dr." Gwilliam would turn on me.  

 

Both my brother and father were concerned that I was on so many medications that my hands shook and my speech was slurred.  Dr. Gwilliam indicated that I needed to be highly medicated to keep me from being violent - even though I had no history at the school of violence, only depression which I was punished for (not adjusting well on the reports – so no privileges).  When I had complained to the medical doctor, he only upped my dosage.  I was forced to take extremely large doses of medication but was punished for wanting to know what I was taking and wanting off.  Considering the issues the FDA is now reporting in such medications as Xanax and other MOI’s and SSR’s, I consider it gross negligence that my concerns were brushed aside as being trivial.

 

After working steadily for the hotel and school cleaning, to receive a check for only $70 after one year was an outrage. I was told that money had been taken out for outings and personal items, however my mother was paying bills for those same things.  She was also being charged quite a bit of money for items that she herself had bought me.  No one goes through 2 boxes of tampons a month if there is not a serious medical problem.  

 

And in the end was anything accomplished other than my mother being bilked out of her money?  No - because they never addressed any of the issues that had resulted in the total breakdown of my relationship with my parents.  No family counseling.  I carried the anger with me for another 12 years after leaving before making any changes on my own.  I even called to have my medical and psychological records sent to another counselor.  After 1 year, all Dr. Gwilliam had wrote fit onto less than 7 sheets.  Nice intensive counseling.  And after Dr. Gwilliam’s turning on me I did not trust him to tell him anything – just continued to keep it buried as I had before everything came crashing down.   No therapeutic, rape trauma, eating disorder or drug abuse counseling provided.  No program to help me develop positive and healthy ways to deal with problems.  Just intimidated into proper behavior and told that I was the problem over and over and over.  Let it be known that after my experience at Provo Canyon School, not only did I immediately revert to my prior self-destructive behavior with a vengeance, but I also began to suffer severe and debilitating panic / anxiety attacks not experienced prior to my admission.

 

Oh yes - and their "education" was so great that many of the classes taken at PCS had to be retaken at my next high school even though I had passed the classes.  I had to retake Algebra II with Trig (same book) because PCS lumped it under "Algebra".

[Anonymous]

The emotional, mental and physical torture I experienced while at Provo Canyon School in 2000-01 has haunted me since the day my father finally came to the campus, saw the truth for himself and took me out immediately. That was 4 years ago and still to this day I have nightmares of screaming girls being drug into the cold concrete rooms they called "observations". They would be drugged against their will with a shot in the butt and put to sleep. I remember being told to "get on a chair" where I sat for about 2 hours straight before any staff acknowledged me. Finally, one of the staff came over to speak to me. The first words out of her mouth were

"You are a disease and anyone you speak to...anyone you look at...anyone that gets near you is bound to catch your disease."

After that she put me on a "no talk" standing order where I was unable to speak whatsoever for 2 months straight.

Today I am 19 years old and have been out of Provo Canyon School for 4 years. I live 10 minutes outside of Hollywood and am working with a Miramax producer who is very much interested in my story. Right now we are almost finished writing the screenplay and will be working on a film within the next year or two. If that doesn't open up the eyes of parents across America I don't know what will.

[Anonymous]

It's 2005 and I am still haunted by that place even though I was there five years ago.  I had just turned 13 years old.  I felt as though i was being held prisoner.  What had I done to deserve this?  Everything I did there was considered to be "wrong".  Nothing was ever good enough.  The floor was never clean enough.  The sheets were never tight enough.  The toilet was never shiny enough.  There was still dust on the window sill after having cleaned it 3+ times.  I remember one time a peer (who has also signed this petition) and I cleaned the isolation rooms, both on our knees scrubbing the hard concrete floor.  I was not allowed to talk to my parents and the 10 minute phone calls that I did have every other week were monitored.  The staff and therapists made me carry around a coin and with every statement that I said I was made to flip the coin; the side of the coin determined whether I was lying or not.  I had to do this for at least a week.  What they had done is a very high level form of cult abuse.  Their whole program is inhumane.  I'm sorry, but being stripped down of your clothes, tranquilized, and strapped to a bed then told by one of the staff members that you are "ruining her night because she was supposed to meet up with her friends to go somewhere" is not what I think of as humane.  We were punished for everything.  I kept quiet for a very long time.  There is so much more shit that went on that i struggle to talk about today.  I was looking through this petition and found at least 4 names of girls that were at Provo Canyon School with me.  That, in itself is helping me to realize that everything that I remember is true and did happen and that Provo Canyon School should be shut down.  I am in shock that it is still running today.  I do not understand how the United States of America can overlook such a place and just let it stand as though it is doing no harm.  Provo Canyon School should be done away with.

[Anonymous]

I spent 2 years of my life getting abused physically and mentally by Provo Canyon School staff. many simple rights were taken there like being able to use the restroom when you need to. i underwent severe punishment in a constant mind-trap. i recall one night at about 1:00 in the morning i was forced to sit indian style and stare directly at a wall in the snow while it was snowing   in my boxers for 2 and a half hours. another time i laughed once when everybody had just gotten into bed and i was grabbed from behind from a staff by the neck and arm where my face was smashed into the wall and then dragged 15 feet to a confinement cell. my friend tried to stop them but they "P.I." him which stands for a physical intervention. they dragged me into the back holding cell and through me into the wall. i sat in that sell from 10:00 that night until 9:30 the next morning in my boxers with the confinement door shut with the cold air-conditioning turned up all the way. i sat on the cold cement floor  until 9:30 in the morning until i was given a small paper cup with water to take a muscle control pill that doesn?t allow you to move your body, and if you do move your body you got really bad cramps and spasms. Around 4:00 that day i was finally given food  but it was hard to eat because i had extreme rib cramps from being slammed into the wall. the nurse came to inspect my ribs and said that there was nothing wrong and i was just complaining to get attention. my ribs were bruised pretty bad because the next day my ribs  had a big bruise mark going across them. i asked to see the nurse but they refused to look at my ribs so i asked the "senior-on" which is pretty much the person that is in control of the entire facility that day. the nurse told him not to worry about my complaint because i was just trying to get attention. i went through hundreds of mental trapping mind games that fled my mind with constant depression. it got so bad at !

points that a level of insanity was closely reached. one of my friends got pushed to the limit and one day they found him, they kicked down the bathroom door where they found him in a large thick puddle of blood. he had locked himself in the bathroom, broke the mirror and slit his wrists going with the vain. he then stuck the piece of glass up into his neck in two places. i guess evidently he was trying to slit his own throat. they found him spasing and shaking because he had lost so much blood. he had spent nearly 3 and a half years in this place before he decided that he couldn't take it anymore and he needed to escape. stuff like this happens everyday in this place where it is just ignored as if nothing has happened. some cases are even worse then what i have mentioned today. a girl about 6 years before i went there was found in the shower where she hung herself. she died and no justice was done nothing was even looked into they just told her parents that she was severely mentally unstable and nothing was ever done about it to this day. this place doesn't help you it just creates so many problems and instabilities once you get out that you are set up for instant failure. i have ran into several people on the streets that i knew when i was in there and they where just there for talking back to their parents, minor school absences, and occasionally smoking pot they turned into crackheads and severally emotionally disturbed. the question is how long is a place like this going to go on for until something is done about it?.... where is this society taking us?....do we really want are children and loved ones heading in this direction?....u choose which direction you want your child to go in...but this is just the spoken words of truth from someone that has gone through this experience and wants to let you know what really goes on behind those never-ending locked doors....

[Anonymous]

Doesn't Provo Canyon have it's own thread somewhere? Why is it on the WWASPS thread?

[Anonymous]

On 2005-05-09 19:59:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Doesn't Provo Canyon have it's own thread somewhere? Why is it on the WWASPS thread?   "

PCS doesn't have its own forum (might be an idea though).  It is where the WWASP people learnt their trade so there is a connection.

[Anonymous]

My daughter was essentially tortured at Provo Canyon School. It must be investigated and shut down. Provo Canyon School is a very dangerous place for children and destructive to families. It is extremely punitive and uses abusive behavior and emotional modification. MBT

[Anonymous]

The worst 8 months of my life was spent at Provo Canyon School. I was doped up, beaten, and abused physically, and mentally. when i hear "dial 9" i freak and still have issues about asking to do everything that drives my wife nuts. worst experience ever and will do whatever i can to close the atrocity

[cherish wisdom]

Bob Lichfield and Karr Farnsworth - both founders of WWASP learned their techniques at helping kids at Provo Canyon School.  Probably one of the most notoriously brutal programs in the USA.  Bob was director of residential living - he dropped out of college (who needs it to help kids?) and started his own network that has made him one of the RICHEST men in Utah.  

A bishop keeps on saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say at the age of eighteen.
--Oscar Wilde

[Anonymous]

I'm the girlfriend of a Provo Canyon School survivor and at first I never really took to heart any sarcastic comments from my boyfriend about his experience at this "institution". When he called this place a prison I brushed it off thinking he was being over zealous and dramatic. After reading some of these stories I now know why he is the way he is. He is constantly on guard, paranoid of someone coming to take him away from his family, or hurt/attack him for no reason. He has problems socially interacting with others and with looking people in the eyes. I now know why his confidence and self-esteem is so incredibly low when in fact he is truly a beautiful, amazingly compassionate person with so much potential to give to the world. I can only pray that facilities like this, that demean individuals and completely strip them of theeir human rights are not only shut down, but for those individuals who run them pay the price for what they have done to their victims.

[Anonymous]

Provo Canyon School should NOT be called a school. My child was not only restricted of his civil rights but fell behind one whole school year in Academics because he was not taught on his school level.  My son was in fact drugged and locked in most of the time watching videotapes or climbing rocks all day.  Most of the things he did learn was how to curse and how to survive the system.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately Provo Canyon School is still going strong and working hard to discredit all who complain of abuse as being manipulative liars.