I can agree with Ginger and everyone and I can agree wiht Perri. The program is fishy. There is corruption and greed running the program operators and that will never lead to a good program. Until someone opens up a program or a therapy center that is run by people whos heart and credentials are good and in the right place and who actually (supprise supprise) want to help the kids who go there, then it will fail miserably. Because it all comes down to whos running it. Even as ok as CCM was to Perri and I, because of the people running it it had corruption that may not have effected us, but it effected others there and that makes it an unhealthy thing. I think the reason Perri is intent on advocating for her change is because not ever single principle of the program sucks. Im sorry guys but i just dont think it was 100% retarded. I learned a great deal about being responsible and taking accountability for my actions. To me that dosnt mean accepting accountability for stuff that isnt mine. It means that where I need to responsiblility for my actions I do. I cant go on blaming others for my mistakes. For instance I quit smoking two days ago. i get into the habit at times of blaming others for my ability to not quit. My husband smokes and that makes it hard, my friends smoke and that makes it hard, nicotine gum is too expensiv eand gross, blah blah blah. But when it came down to it, I just needed to suck it up and stop making excuses of why I needed to keep smoking. Another example is my mom and I got inot it a while back. She was helping my husband and I buy a house, helped us fix it up, and is still tring to help us sell it. Now, my mom put in more work than me and my husband when we fixed it up and paid for all the materials. All she wanted was for us to show we cared and put in the effort it takes to fix up a house. But we always had excuses as to why we couldnt. Cant find a babysitter, JJs sick, Im tired, blah blah. the truth was we both are lazy and didnt want to do it. When my mom confronted me about the house not gettign done soon enough, i took a good look at my ecuses and realized I was the one responsible for my actions. I needed to put in more effort and I was just not doing it. I cant go very long without realizing where I am mistaken about things and change that behavior. I think that is a grat thing for me. i dont think Im a ba person. We all do that from time to time. But Im glad that I can change that quickly now. All I know is I was a miserable unhappy person. Then I went to the program. After that my life changed, and I feel for the better. But to be fair, I also continued therapy outside the program and continued working on my relationshoip wiht my parents too. we would not be as close as we are if I hadnt done alot of work on our relationship after the program. I can see Ginger and others points about the parts of the program that are fucked up. But I can see the small glimer of good it has too. Ginger is right though. The greedy bastards who are running the program WILL NOT REFORM IT. They just wont. That would mean less money and a conciouse. So no it wont happen. I am more looking foreward to the programs shutting down and someone new with better intentions and safer ideas to open a better program for those who need it. For now teaching our kids how to be responsible, strong, caring people is the best defense we have. We need to teach our kids from the beginning that they are loved. That they are creative beings who can healthily experess their feelings. We need to bond wit them from birth, make them feel safe so they trust us and believe in themselves. We need to teach them to be more aware of their community and their world so they learn to care for others. we need to teach them how to make choices and how to deal wiht disappointment in a healthy and real way. I guess for now that is the best we can do.
Amanda
