Author Topic: Sign petition to close abusive Provo Canyon School  (Read 4077 times)

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Offline cherish wisdom

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Sign petition to close abusive Provo Canyon School
« on: April 28, 2005, 01:57:00 AM »
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    

Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.
--Friedrich Nietzsche

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline Anonymous

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Sign petition to close abusive Provo Canyon School
« Reply #1 on: April 28, 2005, 02:06:00 AM »
provo canyon school was a never-ending game played within the gates of hell. I spent 2 years of my life getting abused physically and mentally by staff that worked there. 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....
 :eek:  :eek:
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Sign petition to close abusive Provo Canyon School
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2005, 12:08:00 AM »
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".
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2005, 12:41:00 PM »
My child was abused at PCS.  She also witnessed the abuse of many other children. They use isolation as a form of punishment and keep children encarcerated in these concrete closets - they are called observation rooms - for weeks at a time. They must ask to go to the bathroom and often this request is denied if it has not been at least three hours.  They must sit on the cold, concret floor for hours at a time.  They also use chair isolation and forse kids to sit and stair at a wall for hours. They can't look away they must "sit in structure" which means they must keep their eyes glued to the wall. If they look away or laugh then points are taken away and they must sit for a longer period of time.  

It's a truly punitive place and I would discourage any parent from sending their child their.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Sign petition to close abusive Provo Canyon School
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2005, 06:58:00 PM »
I attended Provo Canyon School between the years of 2000 and 2001. The emotional, mental and physical torture I experienced there 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.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Sign petition to close abusive Provo Canyon School
« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2005, 05:37:00 PM »
The methods employed at this institution are appauling. The "behavior modification" techniques reported by the students to be utilized at the school are archaic and unethical. The use physical punishment, forced confinement, and other punishment is inappropriate unacceptable. Testing attitude and future intentions by the use of a lie detector is offensive and inhumane.As a human rights advocate and a parent, I demand that this institution be shut down immediately. The individuals who have run this institution and supported these practices should be punished and barred from ever having a role that can impact young people again.We must send a message that prisons treating adolescents inhumanely will not be tolerated or condoned.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #6 on: May 08, 2005, 11:48:00 PM »
In 1999 I was sent to PCS.  It's 2005 and I am still haunted by that place.  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.
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Offline Anonymous

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Sign petition to close abusive Provo Canyon School
« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2005, 08:45:00 PM »
provo canyon school was a never-ending game played within the gates of hell. I spent 2 years of my life getting abused physically and mentally by staff that worked there. 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....
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline `

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Sign petition to close abusive Provo Canyon School
« Reply #8 on: May 10, 2005, 12:34:00 AM »
hey provo canyon survivors, just wanted to let you know i signed your petition & saw some other familiar names over there as well.  ::heart::
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #9 on: May 16, 2005, 01:26:00 AM »
The treatment I received at Provo Canyon School changed me in ways that I am still struggling with, fourteen years later.
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« Reply #10 on: May 16, 2005, 06:25:00 PM »
I was at Provo Canyon School during 2000 and 2001 and the emotional, mental and physical torture I experienced there 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.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #11 on: May 21, 2005, 12:58:00 AM »
My time at Provo Canyon School was the worst 8 months of my life, 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
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #12 on: May 21, 2005, 09:48:00 AM »
bump
 it up
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #13 on: May 25, 2005, 12:23:00 PM »
I lost two years of my life in this place. I truly believe they think they are helping those who enter PCS, but they really are making things much worse off for the "patients."

 

To quote a staff that was working while I was there during my stay "I wonder if we are helping you guys, I mean you guys have become so dependent pretty soon you will have to be asking if its okay to be wiping your own butts"

 

I left PCS with a dependence on people more than I ever had before. I didn't do anything with out asking if its okay, and it damaged me and lowered my self-confidence with myself. Believing that I had to have someone showing me and guiding me through every thing in order for me to be able to do a job, etc.

 

They also knew nothing about the issues regarding why I was there in the first place. I was at the school for family issues...and self harm. The school could not help me in my family situations b/c my parents lived states away, so instead of making my family situation better, it made it worse. After two years of being locked up, i went home to my family, feeling like a over-staying guest. As for my self-harm issues, they taught me better ways to hide my self injury, and punished me for my only way I knew how to cope. Instead of taking the time to teach me better coping skills, etc.

 

The list goes on and on about how this place impacted me in the worst way possible. I know for a fact that many of the girls that I keep in contact with that were there at the same time as me...feel the same way.

 

This place really should be shut down.
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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #14 on: May 27, 2005, 01:01:00 PM »
Provo Canyon School is a very abusive program that's been in business since 1977. It's amazing that it's still going strong.
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