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Facility Question and Answers / Re: Logan River Academy
« on: September 24, 2010, 07:50:25 AM »
this is quite a bump (11 months) but after looking through the various posts on this board, well as the wiki, I was pretty surprised at how little seems to be written about this place, and what is written is incredibly short-sighted and ignorant.
I know that a number of the things mentioned here have already been said, this is just a complete version of all of those aspects based upon my experience there.
I should point out that everything I know about this place was 100% accurate circa late 2005-september 2006, meaning that it could be totally different now, but I would suspect that not a whole bunch has changed there.
This is the only "therapeutic boarding school" (or whatever the currently accepted is euphemism is) that I went to as a teen. My issues were mostly depression/drug-related but I didn't think they were a huge deal at the time and almost 5 years later, I know they weren't a big deal. Just a slightly more intense manifestation of normal teen angst blown out of proportion by overly protective (but genuinely concerned) parents and then compounded in turn by an "educational consultant" (who, incidentally, I never met or even talked to on the phone until after I was done with the program and living at home again) who supposedly knew what was best for me and wanted to help...for the obligatory fee. It goes without saying, but I was fairly affluent growing up--a fact that I feel neither pride nor shame about, but I should point out that most people in the same family financial situation that I knew growing were/are spoiled brats out of touch with the world.
The experience definitely left me bitter, but the actual program wasn't actually the worst part once I got somewhat acclimated. It definitely sucked and was a crappy experience, but through my various interactions with several other people who have had similar experiences through the years I've concluded that it really is not nearly as bad as some of them get. It operates on a level system of which I can't recall the specifics beyond Level 1 being the lowest and Level 8 being the highest (with levels 7 & 8, and maybe 6 residing in the "high status" unit).
Arrival at the facility was with an "escort" who fed me line upon line of what I later learned was pure BS about the place during the entire trip there, which is pretty standard I guess. I really never got too upset about that though--he was just trying to keep me calm because I'm sure he's had kids go nuts on him before, and I was almost certainly feeding him just as much BS about how I thought this was a great opportunity for me or whatever anyway. When I got there, I was searched and interviewed, which I totally expected, but then I had all my clothes taken from me, searched again, including the "squat-and-cough." It seemed intense to me at the time, but seriously, after having been to actual jail several times when I was 18-19, I realize that this was nothing. I then had to sit in devo for a few hours before going to my assigned unit and later getting my clothes and whatnot back.
Which brings me to devo, which was more or less accurately described already. Somebody may have mentioned this too, but the amount of time spent in devo for any given infraction was based upon the severity as determined by fairly subjective "class" and points systems. A minor offense, such as offhandedly cursing in the residential portion or forgetting homework at the school would be regarded by most staff and teachers as a class 1 infraction. These didn't actually warrant any time in devo by themselves, but 3 accumulated in a week would give you a class 2 infraction, which could also be a punishment for something slightly worse, like cursing angrily at a student/staff in a derogatory way. A standard class 2 would be 8 devo points, which would be four 25-minute sessions of sitting upright, looking straight ahead, and doing homework/reading a "therapy book" (which was basically either a torn-up AA Big Book/NA Basic Text or a hopelessly corny Chicken Soup For The Teenage Soul). You couldn't doodle/draw but really you could as it was rarely noticed if done in a discreet manner. There were also 5-minute "breaks" after each 25 minute structure session, but as far as I recall the only thing that differentiated these from the structure was that you could ask to go to the bathroom, change your body's position in your seat, and ask to get a new book.
Devo was pretty mind-numbing, but it really didn't suck that bad unless you committed a class 3+ offense. As far as I recall, a class 3 was at least 50 points and a class 4 was 200+. 3's were generally the most extreme versions of class 2's, like fighting, and the mild forms of class 4's, which were things like drug/alcohol/tobacco use--even if it wasn't actually carried out, plans were enough for punishment. Class 5's were reserved for those who ran away from the facility and if I remember correctly it wasn't based on points but it was a standard minimum 30 days of living up there in the tiny devo room---sleeping (they did have one bunk), eating, and school. You would also get your clothes taken away from you (including underwear and socks most of the time for some reason I could never understand--it seems hard to do anything bad with those, especially considering that recent runaways were not allowed out of direct eyesight except in the bathroom, and even then the door needed to be open).
Being male, I really don't know a whole lot about the girls' staff/devo, but I have no reason to believe its not fairly similar to the boys'.
Still though, nothing about the entire experience is really too bothersome to me when I think about it, except for recalling a portion of that staff that was fairly large (but definitely not the majority) who truly neither gave a crap about their jobs, nor understood what the implications on the effects of having such a position of authority in the life of a teen that was already obviously not doing so well was. Pretty much every single staff there that did not hold a high-ranking (within the staff) position was an undergraduate student at USU, which is also in Logan. In fact, the psychologists were pretty much the only staff members that had a post-graduate degree, as the rest of the staff had a bachelor's in a totally irrelevant field (which is not that big of a deal--that seems to happen for everyone with a degree at every job ever) or a grad student. As a current undergrad student, I can tell you with a great degree of certainty that neither I nor anyone I even sort-of know that is in my peer group would be a good choice for a job like that. Take that for what you will. Still, as much as I hate to say it, I totally understand why some of the staff were bitter assholes. Not to excuse it, it is totally unprofessional, but I get it.
Most of the kids there were really, really, really tough to work with. They adamantly refused to listen to anything anyone says based solely on the reason that it was not something that they were saying. I saw so many kids willingly work towards getting punished for reasons I still don't understand. It seemed dumb to me then, and it seems incredibly dumb to me now. They piss and moan about how they get "beat up" when in reality all that happened was they got restrained after viciously attacking someone. They talked about their "freedom" and the "oppression" the face like being a self-centered asshole committing felonies to support their drug habit is somehow a political ideal. They acted like being sent to LRA by a court in Los Angeles (which seems to be where a majority of the kids are from, interestingly enough) was cruel and unusual, while being completely ignorant of the fact that most of the kids in the same position who didn't have rich parents who could afford an expensive lawyer would have been in CYA so fast it would have made their heads spin.
The program really didn't help me too much, but I'm of the school of thought that dictates that I'm responsible for my own actions, so ultimately nothing could/would change for me until I made and honest effort tried. And I did and, holy shit, it worked. Far better than any program or medication or treatment in general ever did, too.
If this program helps your kid, then great. It really is ultimately up to them, but this could help. I really can only say what worked for me. I don't know what works for anyone other than myself.
I mostly agreed with you right up until this portion. This portion of "educational consultants" are an even bigger scam than psychiatry. As I said before, I never interacted in any way with my "consultant" before going there. They hide behind the shield of using terminology (and even the same title) from an actual professional field that is kind of retarded in and of itself (educational consulting) to sound legitimate, much in the same way that psychiatry/psychology (the "founding fathers" of which are all well-documented proponents of methods that would be considered cruel and inhumane, even in "psychiatry" today, or drug addicts. See Wilhelm Wundt, Ivan Pavlov, Sigmund Freud, et. al.) hides behind the terminology of an actual science (medicine) to sound legitimate.
As far as the bold section goes, unless you are an omnipresent and omniscient being who is able to know the thoughts of anyone and everyone, anywhere, at any given time, speak for yourself and ONLY yourself when it comes to how people feel.
Still, your choice of major is enlightening as it explains a great dceal about why most psychologists are, in fact, head cases themselves--their initial interest in the field came from being on the receiving end of treatment themselves.
exactly. just browsing the index page feels like witnessing a private high school civics class oral report from that one kid who thought he was a revolutionary because openly smoked a lot of weed and would blast rage against the machine in the parking lot...from his lexus. idiots.
oh and yes I am well aware that due to this post being so long, pretty much no one will read it. which kind of proves my point (if I had one).
I know that a number of the things mentioned here have already been said, this is just a complete version of all of those aspects based upon my experience there.
I should point out that everything I know about this place was 100% accurate circa late 2005-september 2006, meaning that it could be totally different now, but I would suspect that not a whole bunch has changed there.
This is the only "therapeutic boarding school" (or whatever the currently accepted is euphemism is) that I went to as a teen. My issues were mostly depression/drug-related but I didn't think they were a huge deal at the time and almost 5 years later, I know they weren't a big deal. Just a slightly more intense manifestation of normal teen angst blown out of proportion by overly protective (but genuinely concerned) parents and then compounded in turn by an "educational consultant" (who, incidentally, I never met or even talked to on the phone until after I was done with the program and living at home again) who supposedly knew what was best for me and wanted to help...for the obligatory fee. It goes without saying, but I was fairly affluent growing up--a fact that I feel neither pride nor shame about, but I should point out that most people in the same family financial situation that I knew growing were/are spoiled brats out of touch with the world.
The experience definitely left me bitter, but the actual program wasn't actually the worst part once I got somewhat acclimated. It definitely sucked and was a crappy experience, but through my various interactions with several other people who have had similar experiences through the years I've concluded that it really is not nearly as bad as some of them get. It operates on a level system of which I can't recall the specifics beyond Level 1 being the lowest and Level 8 being the highest (with levels 7 & 8, and maybe 6 residing in the "high status" unit).
Arrival at the facility was with an "escort" who fed me line upon line of what I later learned was pure BS about the place during the entire trip there, which is pretty standard I guess. I really never got too upset about that though--he was just trying to keep me calm because I'm sure he's had kids go nuts on him before, and I was almost certainly feeding him just as much BS about how I thought this was a great opportunity for me or whatever anyway. When I got there, I was searched and interviewed, which I totally expected, but then I had all my clothes taken from me, searched again, including the "squat-and-cough." It seemed intense to me at the time, but seriously, after having been to actual jail several times when I was 18-19, I realize that this was nothing. I then had to sit in devo for a few hours before going to my assigned unit and later getting my clothes and whatnot back.
Which brings me to devo, which was more or less accurately described already. Somebody may have mentioned this too, but the amount of time spent in devo for any given infraction was based upon the severity as determined by fairly subjective "class" and points systems. A minor offense, such as offhandedly cursing in the residential portion or forgetting homework at the school would be regarded by most staff and teachers as a class 1 infraction. These didn't actually warrant any time in devo by themselves, but 3 accumulated in a week would give you a class 2 infraction, which could also be a punishment for something slightly worse, like cursing angrily at a student/staff in a derogatory way. A standard class 2 would be 8 devo points, which would be four 25-minute sessions of sitting upright, looking straight ahead, and doing homework/reading a "therapy book" (which was basically either a torn-up AA Big Book/NA Basic Text or a hopelessly corny Chicken Soup For The Teenage Soul). You couldn't doodle/draw but really you could as it was rarely noticed if done in a discreet manner. There were also 5-minute "breaks" after each 25 minute structure session, but as far as I recall the only thing that differentiated these from the structure was that you could ask to go to the bathroom, change your body's position in your seat, and ask to get a new book.
Devo was pretty mind-numbing, but it really didn't suck that bad unless you committed a class 3+ offense. As far as I recall, a class 3 was at least 50 points and a class 4 was 200+. 3's were generally the most extreme versions of class 2's, like fighting, and the mild forms of class 4's, which were things like drug/alcohol/tobacco use--even if it wasn't actually carried out, plans were enough for punishment. Class 5's were reserved for those who ran away from the facility and if I remember correctly it wasn't based on points but it was a standard minimum 30 days of living up there in the tiny devo room---sleeping (they did have one bunk), eating, and school. You would also get your clothes taken away from you (including underwear and socks most of the time for some reason I could never understand--it seems hard to do anything bad with those, especially considering that recent runaways were not allowed out of direct eyesight except in the bathroom, and even then the door needed to be open).
Being male, I really don't know a whole lot about the girls' staff/devo, but I have no reason to believe its not fairly similar to the boys'.
Still though, nothing about the entire experience is really too bothersome to me when I think about it, except for recalling a portion of that staff that was fairly large (but definitely not the majority) who truly neither gave a crap about their jobs, nor understood what the implications on the effects of having such a position of authority in the life of a teen that was already obviously not doing so well was. Pretty much every single staff there that did not hold a high-ranking (within the staff) position was an undergraduate student at USU, which is also in Logan. In fact, the psychologists were pretty much the only staff members that had a post-graduate degree, as the rest of the staff had a bachelor's in a totally irrelevant field (which is not that big of a deal--that seems to happen for everyone with a degree at every job ever) or a grad student. As a current undergrad student, I can tell you with a great degree of certainty that neither I nor anyone I even sort-of know that is in my peer group would be a good choice for a job like that. Take that for what you will. Still, as much as I hate to say it, I totally understand why some of the staff were bitter assholes. Not to excuse it, it is totally unprofessional, but I get it.
Most of the kids there were really, really, really tough to work with. They adamantly refused to listen to anything anyone says based solely on the reason that it was not something that they were saying. I saw so many kids willingly work towards getting punished for reasons I still don't understand. It seemed dumb to me then, and it seems incredibly dumb to me now. They piss and moan about how they get "beat up" when in reality all that happened was they got restrained after viciously attacking someone. They talked about their "freedom" and the "oppression" the face like being a self-centered asshole committing felonies to support their drug habit is somehow a political ideal. They acted like being sent to LRA by a court in Los Angeles (which seems to be where a majority of the kids are from, interestingly enough) was cruel and unusual, while being completely ignorant of the fact that most of the kids in the same position who didn't have rich parents who could afford an expensive lawyer would have been in CYA so fast it would have made their heads spin.
The program really didn't help me too much, but I'm of the school of thought that dictates that I'm responsible for my own actions, so ultimately nothing could/would change for me until I made and honest effort tried. And I did and, holy shit, it worked. Far better than any program or medication or treatment in general ever did, too.
If this program helps your kid, then great. It really is ultimately up to them, but this could help. I really can only say what worked for me. I don't know what works for anyone other than myself.
Quote from: "abcsoup"
I also HIGHLY recommend that you would send your child to a wilderness program before this, because it REALLY gives a huge jump start and it was definitely a big part of my success once I arrived at LRA. Put a lot of research into it before you chose what wilderness program, but I went to second nature and I could honestly say it was the best experience of my life. I'd also recommend hiring an educational consultant, that's what my mom did and I think he helped her make decisions that were definitely the most beneficial to me. Also, as much as you may hate your kid for whatever they are doing, give them CONSTANT support, they still love you even if it doesn't seem like it. My mom used to be my worst enemy and now she is my best friend.
I mostly agreed with you right up until this portion. This portion of "educational consultants" are an even bigger scam than psychiatry. As I said before, I never interacted in any way with my "consultant" before going there. They hide behind the shield of using terminology (and even the same title) from an actual professional field that is kind of retarded in and of itself (educational consulting) to sound legitimate, much in the same way that psychiatry/psychology (the "founding fathers" of which are all well-documented proponents of methods that would be considered cruel and inhumane, even in "psychiatry" today, or drug addicts. See Wilhelm Wundt, Ivan Pavlov, Sigmund Freud, et. al.) hides behind the terminology of an actual science (medicine) to sound legitimate.
As far as the bold section goes, unless you are an omnipresent and omniscient being who is able to know the thoughts of anyone and everyone, anywhere, at any given time, speak for yourself and ONLY yourself when it comes to how people feel.
Still, your choice of major is enlightening as it explains a great dceal about why most psychologists are, in fact, head cases themselves--their initial interest in the field came from being on the receiving end of treatment themselves.
Quote
WASTE NO MORE TIME ON THESE SPOILED LITTLE RICH FORNIT BRATS
exactly. just browsing the index page feels like witnessing a private high school civics class oral report from that one kid who thought he was a revolutionary because openly smoked a lot of weed and would blast rage against the machine in the parking lot...from his lexus. idiots.
oh and yes I am well aware that due to this post being so long, pretty much no one will read it. which kind of proves my point (if I had one).