Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: FemanonFatal2.0 on June 20, 2009, 05:58:25 PM
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http://sorensonranchschool.com/ (http://sorensonranchschool.com/)
anyone heard anything? any experiences? just tried to visit www.Heal-online.org (http://www.Heal-online.org) (i know i must have entered that wrong, i think i put .com instead) and it came up with this.... can you guys help me do some research in case we need to put this place on our radar?
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http://sorensonranchschool.com/
anyone heard anything? any experiences? just tried to visit http://www.Heal-online.org (http://www.Heal-online.org) (i know i must have entered that wrong, i think i put .com instead) and it came up with this.... can you guys help me do some research in case we need to put this place on our radar?
I would imagine it's already on the radar, at least here. Do a Search on fornits, there's too many threads for me to just list. Here's some to get you started:
• Sorenson's Ranch (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3496)
• What do I do (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25709)
• sorensons.org - the truth about srs (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25836)
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http://www.heal-online.org/sorensen.htm (http://www.heal-online.org/sorensen.htm)
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sweet, weird that i never heard about it before, guess I've just been out of the loop too long.
Thanks for the links!
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sweet, weird that i never heard about it before, guess I've just been out of the loop too long.
Thanks for the links!
They are a bit litigious. That tends to squelch the rumble of discontent, 'till a critical threshold is reached...
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hmm wonder why?... lol
So are you saying they have sued survivors who have spoken out?
I think its about time to create a Sorenson Ranch Survivor's myspace and get the real story...
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hmm wonder why?... lol
So are you saying they have sued survivors who have spoken out?
I think its about time to create a Sorenson Ranch Survivor's myspace and get the real story...
There was a Sorenson's MySpace and they got sued. There was also a Sorenson's - Truth site, and that kid got sued. I don't know what is up on the net these days.
I think info on both of those lawsuits is included in my links above. I know that at least the MySpace lawsuit has also been mentioned on the Fornits Wiki (link to Wiki on the first page of the Sorenson's Ranch thread, but perhaps not functional).
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hmm wonder why?... lol
So are you saying they have sued survivors who have spoken out?
I think its about time to create a Sorenson Ranch Survivor's myspace and get the real story...
There was a Sorenson's MySpace and they got sued. There was also a Sorenson's - Truth site, and that kid got sued. I don't know what is up on the net these days.
I think info on both of those lawsuits is included in my links above. I know that at least the MySpace lawsuit has also been mentioned on the Fornits Wiki (link to Wiki on the first page of the Sorenson's Ranch thread, but perhaps not functional).
All the more reason to do it!
I'll make sure to keep the tone of the account manager's opinion neutral including the "about me" section however its the comments from the survivors that will ring true, they can't sue them all.
We might need to do a survey as well... that way the info can be collected and reported in an un-slanderous way.
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I guess that it is time to update the wiki datasheet (http://http://wiki.fornits.com/index.php?title=Sorensen's_Ranch_School&action=history). I went on google maps and you can actually with street view locate yourself inside their facility.
One problem we have faced is that there is no myspace / facebook group after they sued mysspace.
Another program is that they gave the state of Utah af beating after they won the right to hire one of their troubled sons with a criminal past as staff on the ranch.
I think that we will let one of our people scan the net once more for additional info next week.
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posting.php?mode=reply&f=9&t=27754 (http://fornits.com/phpbb/posting.php?mode=reply&f=9&t=27754)
SORENSoN’S RANCH SCHOOL
In utah
Also see "Sorenson's Ranch: Abusing Your Kids for Over 30 Years!"
One Parent’s Story
By Anonymous (for more info, e-mail: heal@heal-online.org (http://mailto:heal@heal-online.org))
Everything in my statement is true. I give HEAL permission to use my statement.
I WAS FIRST HOSPITALIZED FOR THREE MONTHS WHEN I FIRST ARRIVED AS I DID NOT GET ALONG WITH THE 'GUARDS' SO THEY HAD 12 OF THE LARGER KIDS (I WAS 16 AND SKINNY WHEN I ARRIVED, BUT I REFUSED TO BE TRAMPLED) BEAT ME AT ONE TIME CRACKING MY RIBS AND BRUISING EVERY INCH OF MY BODY. I TRIED TO LET MY FAMILY UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS HAPPENING, BUT THE MAIL OF COURSE WAS CENSORED AND I WAS BEATEN AGAIN BUT MANAGED TO FIGHT BACK AS I HAD NOT LEFT THE WEIGHT ROOM. I KNOW KIDS WERE RAPED, BUT I NEVER HAD THAT PRIVELEDGE, THANK GOD.
I ESCAPED 3 TIMES, BUT WAS CAUGHT TWICE BY THEIR BOUNTY HUNTERS BRIBING FICKLE HALF FRIENDS... AND TURNED MYSELF IN THE THIRD TIME WHEN I REALISED I DID NOT WANT A LIFE ON THE RUN. LUCKILY THEY WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SPOTLIGHT, AND HAD ME RAPIDLY EVICTED FROM UTAH FOR LIFE - OH DARN.
I WAS ALSO SENT ON THE IDAHO SURVIVAL PROGRAM THAT WENT HAND IN HAND WITH SORENSONS. I ALMOST DIED THERE, BUT TWO GIRLS FROM SEATTLE SAVED ENOUGH FOOD TO SEE ME THROUGH UNTIL THE NEXT WEEKLY FEEDING. I DON’T REMEBER THEIR NAMES, I HAVE TRIED TO FORGET THIS PERIOD IN MY LIFE, BUT I OWE THEM MY LIFE AS I DO KNOW TWO KIDS WERE ABUSED TO DEATH THE MONTH BEFORE OUR 'EXCURSION'.
THEY INVENTED TORTURES FOR ME ESPECIALLY, INCLUDING TWO WEEKS ON A DIRT MOUND IN MY BOXER SHORTS WITH TWO BOWLS OF RICE DAILY AND NO HUMAN CONTACT, I WAS MADE TO SLEEP IN A CHAIR AT THE END OF A HALLWAY AT NIGHT, THEN BACK TO THE MOUND, WHERE 'FELLOW STUDENTS' WERE ENCOURAGED TO THROW CLODS AND ROCKS AT ME. THEN IN WINTER I WAS MARCHED DAWN TO DUSK BACK AND FORTH IN THE SNOW WHERE I DEVELOPED FROST NIP AND MY RIGHT FOOT IS STILL DEVOID OF FEELING. ONCE AGAIN A BOWL OF RICE FOR BREAKFAST AND ONE FOR DINNER - THEY FINALLY RELENTED WHEN I WAS IN HIGH FEVER AND TALKING TO MYSELF, AS I LATER WAS TOLD.
SOMEBODY SMUGGLED DRUGS IN, AND Again i was TORTURED IN SIMILAR FASHION UNTIL I ADMITTED AFTER 3 WEEKS JUST TO MAKE IT STOP. THE HEAD OF LEGAL AFFAIRS EVEN RISKED HIS JOB TO EXPLAIN 'COERSION' AS HE KNEW I WAS NOT GUILTY BUT A SCAPEGOAT FOR THEIR INABILITY TO FIND THE TRUE CULPRITS. HE WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO EVER ATTEMPTED ANY HELP, BUT I FEEL HE WAS ONLY FEARING THE CONSEQUENCES IF DISCOVERED.
THE WAY THEY FOUND OUT ABOUT THE DRUGS WAS A BEAUTY IN ITSELF, A BOY WAS SO HIGH HE ADMITTTED HIS 'LOVE' FOR A CERTAIN COUNSELOR, AND WAS BEATEN TO WITHIN AN INCH OF HIS LIFE WHILE THE GUARDS 'DIDNT NOTICE' OF COURSE. I AM PROUD OF WHO I AM AND EVERY THING THAT MADE ME THIS WAY, EXCEPT THIS PERIOD. I GREW UP IN HAWAII, WAS PRETTY INNOCENT, BUT FOR A GOOD THREE YEARS AFTER I WAS EXPELLED FROM UTAH I WAS INCREASINGLY VIOLENT AND BECAME ADDICTED TO HEROIN, A DRUG I HAD NEVER TRIED BEFORE UTARD.
I WISH I KNEW OF THE FOUR YEAR PERIOD, BUT ITS BEEN ALMOST 18 YEARS NOW. SO I GET TO SUFFER MY MEMORIES WITH NO OUTLET. I OFTEN THOUGHT OF GOING BACK AND FINDING CERTAIN OF THE WORSE BASTARDS, AS I AM SURE THEY ARE SNUG IN THEIR LITTLE VILLIAGE, RELATED TO THE COPS AND JUDGES IN RITCHFIELD AS ALWAYS.
I WAS SO DESPERATE TO ESCAPE THE FIRST TIME I WALKED THE 18-23 MILES TO RITCHFIELD IN A SNOWSTORM WEARING A FLANNEL SHIRT AND CONVERS - AND STOLE A CAR, THE FIRST TIME I BECAME A TRUE CRIMINAL.
THAT NIGHT I WOULD RATHER HAVE DIED IN THE COLD THAN GET CAUGHT, I JUMPED INTO SNOWBANKS WITHOUT A THOUGHT OF THE HORRIBLE COLD EVERY SET OF LIGHTS THAT CAME DOWN THE ROAD SEARCHING FOR ME. I TRIED SUICIDE SIX TIMES, BUT WAS UNSUCCESFUL DUE TO BEING WATCHED AND FORCE FED. I AM A FAMOUS ARTIST NOW WITH NO CRIMINAL RECORD, OUT OF LUCK FOR THE FIRST THREE YEARS OF FREEDOM, AND OUT OF MY NATURE FOR THE NEXT FIFTEEN.
THE HEROIN ADDICTION IS ALSO 13 YEARS PAST, I AM NOT AN ADDICTIVE CHARACTER, I WAS 'SELF MEDICATING' AND TRYING TO FORGET BEING IN THE PIT OF HELL AND THE DEMONS I SAW THERE.
I HEAR STORIES OF PEOPLES SOB TALES, BUT I KNOW 88-89 WAS FAR WORSE THAN ANY TIME SINCE THEN. THAT WAS WHEN THEY WERE 'IMPECCABLE' AND COULD RUN RAMPANT WITH THEIR SICK AND TWISTED CHILD ABUSE AND SEX FANTASIES. SHORTLY AFTER MY DEPARTURE IS WHEN THE FIRST ACCUSATIONS AND DISMISSALS SURFACED, I HEARD FROM MY FRIEND TRACY ZAHORYN, WHO WAS SEVERAL YEARS YOUNGER, ALLOWED TO LIVE OF CAMPUS IN A GUARDS HOUSE, AND LATER BECAME A FAMOUS MODEL IF YOU CATCH MY DRIFT.
I HOPE TO GOD WHAT I FEAR HAPPENED TO HER DID NOT, SHE WAS SO SWEET WHEN I MET HER, AND SO JADED WHEN SHE CAME BACK TO THE REAL WORLD.
THERE IS SO SO MUCH MORE, BUT THESE FEW MEMORIES MAKE ME WANT TO SCREAM AT LIFES INJUSTICES, BUT I CAN DO NOTHING BUT HURT MYSELF.
Survivor Story #2
By Mike Horgan
Everything in my statement below is true. I give HEAL permission to use my statement. I was "being reformed" at Sorenson's Ranch School in 88 - 89.
I read this other persons (Alumni) letter and felt obligated to write my fair warnings as well. I wanted to cry while reading the other alum's words. The sad thing is the types of things the person described in their report happened allot and to so many kids. I realized I have repressed a lot of shit inside over the years and have not wanted to think about those big abusive Mormons. Judgmental, Prejudiced, Cruel, but at the same time they truly believe in their cult and think they are doing the right things to help. At my low, I also helped steal a car and try and break out, 2 attempts, I also marched through the wilderness program in Idaho with a bunch of fucking heroin addicts from around the country, some big black guy from Compton broke my nose… I had religion stuffed down my throat, forced to do allot of shit... But what was bad was the night time… we hurt people.. for the first 6 month's I got beat down a bit, I was 14, some kids were 19 even one 20 year old (court ordered). So with the time you stop getting beat and you start beating others. Fuck it right, it was sink or swim. I remember being strip searched, repeatedly, they (Staff) were always looking for contraband. We did have some good weed on occasion... They would call it "restraining" us... if you sat quietly and refused to follow an order the staff would slam you on the ground and whoop your ass.... this happened often and I couldn't figure out what good it did. I am aware of sexual abuse.. there was allot of bad shit going on... but like I said the Mormon Cult truly believes they are saving us poor little bastards. Too any of my friends who happen to run into this letter, sorry for any bad memories.. I turned out well, hope you made it out ok the same… And there were definitely some good "counselors", There were also some devious fuckers… I love my kids way to much to send them to a place like that...
P.S.
Learned how to be really fucking sneaky and manipulating…
love you all,
Mike Horgan 1988 - 1989
www.organiccrackrecords.com (http://www.organiccrackrecords.com)
Survivor Story #3
By Liz
Everything in my statement is true. I give HEAL permission to use my statement.
I read the testimonials on here, and wanted to respond... I was first sent to SRS in 1990. Things did get better from 1989 to now, but not by much... I remember all too much, things I wish I could forget. There were still so-called counselors with nothing more than a high school diploma and their "SICK AND TWISTED CHILD ABUSE AND SEX FANTASIES," as O.M. put it. I was there, with a short break for about a year, from 1990-1994. I have since found recent survivors and heard that there are still horrible abuse stories coming out of there. As a former resident of the school, I can attest to the horrors endured by many including myself. Those physical restraints they were doing in 1989 and when I was first there, were actually illegal as they didn't have a license to be doing them. They've since obtained one and are still performing them, but then? I watched them kill a teenage boy with one of their "restraints." He was beaten to death by at least 3 overgrown, overweight men. His head was split open, and he never returned from the hospital. Before it was a school for the more privileged of children (monetarily speaking), it was home to kids who were a ward of the state, and often not even the state of Utah. I was under the impression for many years that it had been cleaned up, and was now a good school. How they could have fooled me, after enduring what I did (as I know to be true for recent survivors as well) I'll never know.
If there are any parents out there considering to send your child to Sorenson's Ranch School, PLEASE contact me first. I promise to put you into contact with other survivors, both past and present... This is not a place for a child. If you love your child and are fearful for their safety, this is NOT the answer. My parents sent me away because of a "bad attitude," and when I returned I was much worse. After watching my friends get handcuffed and shackled to the school's fence for hours, even days and weeks (sometimes in nothing more than their underwear and a sleeping bag in the snow for fear they would try to run away), being fed nothing more than rice cooked in chicken broth only ONCE a day, having been tortured by "counselors" while on their camp-outs, raped repeatedly by someone I/we should've been able to trust, I was returned to my parents ready to try everything I had learned while attending SRS. I was quickly sent back as my parents were unequipped to handle what they had paid to create. Don't let this happen to you... You will undoubtedly be racked with the guilt my parents are still unable to face. Don't let this happen to your family. If you think things are bad now, I can guarantee Sorenson's and places like it will only make it worse.
SRS Survivor 1990-1994
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http://www.heal-online.org/sorensen.htm (http://www.heal-online.org/sorensen.htm)
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http://www.funadvice.com/q/should_i_sen ... _sorensons (http://www.funadvice.com/q/should_i_send_my_child_to_sorensons)
Hello my name is jason.I was sent there from 98-2001.It was the WORST enviroement and treatment I have ever had in my entire life to this day.I never had a criminal record...that is untill I went to sorensons ranch! I broke into a house,destroyed it and stole a 4wheeler in their garage and tried to get away but was caught.I even told the cops to just keep me,for I did not want to return to that hell hole.One day while in ISOLATION,( WHICH IS WHERE you SIT ON THE END OF your BED FROM 6AM-10PM LIGHTS OUT..no outside and they even tell you when to shower and use the bathroom,and when to even drink water,I was even told one time I was thirsty after a shower that I should have drunkin the shower water and to go sit down! And the most shocking that happened to me in isolation is when my back hurt sooo bad from sitting up(MIND YOU I WAS IN THERE FOR NEARLY 2 MONTHS FOR MY AWOL INCIDENT),I was told yo sit up by a man named JR SORENSON,I complied with a lil moan and groan and the next thing I knew I was being chocked by both his hands on the bed and being shakin up and down,mind you the other 2 staff memebers turned their head away.When I tried to tell my parentsa on the phone..they dissconnected the call and I was sent back to my room.Another incident is when I didnt have my shoes and I borrowed my friends from my cabin..once again JR sorenson,saw those werent my shoes and sent me outside BAREFOOT along the fenceline to stand... IN THE SNOW IN 13 DEGREE WEATHER.I've seen about everything from kids being restrained for saying no.. meaning they bend the shiit out of your wrist untill your quote " CALM". When she continued to cry,he pushed harder and told her to stop crying.I was denied the right to see the doctor and go to bed during activites while I had the flu because they thaught I would go awol.PEOPLE I HAVE MANY STORIES ABOUT SORENSONS Rnch. PLEASE PLEASE EMAIL ME IF YOU NEED TO KNOW ANYTHING AT ALL! Fun mail me
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Thank you for the testimonies!
Ill get working on a myspace, I'd really like to gather more survivor stories.
I noticed a new thread mentioned there should be a truth site set up, (for all intensive purposes I'll redirect that conversation here) what do you all think about this?
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Thank you for the testimonies!
Ill get working on a myspace, I'd really like to gather more survivor stories.
I noticed a new thread mentioned there should be a truth site set up, (for all intensive purposes I'll redirect that conversation here) what do you all think about this?
You are so great..I don't know. maybe this could be taken up by the "anti troubled teen alliance websites" that had a "secret forum" a while back. A "sorenson's ranch truth" site with SWORN survivor testimony, calling the FEDS or disabilities people with complaints from survivors in a methodical way (yes I know they don't do anything, but it gets sorenson's on the "map")
You are so great..I don't know. maybe this could be taken up by the "anti troubled teen alliance websites" that had a "secret forum" a while back. A "Sorenson’s ranch truth" site with SWORN survivor testimony, calling the FEDS or disabilities people with complaints from survivors in a methodical way (yes I know they don't do anything, but it gets Sorenson’s on the "map")
This is what I think would be good, from my incompetent, sickly person standpoint. A “truth” site, or maybe even a fornits forum (though I guess we have too many forums already, so maybe not) so that TORTURE goes on at Sorenson’s goes to the top of the google list. I’d bet Sorenson’s is using reputation defender, as they’ve managed to obscure their HEAL site AND sure victims and myspace into submission
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Regarding the law suit. It was Shaun Sorenson, a plumber and maintenance worker, provided none of those services and can keep his job, the court ruled.Sorenson was convicted in California for drunken driving in a hit-and-run crash.
From; Felon can keep his job at school, court says Deseret News, The (Salt Lake City, UT) - December 14, 2001 (http://http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=DSNB&d_place=DSNB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F369E1E7B240F38&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM)
It is not known whether they still dress youth on runaway risk in orange jumpsuit as it is described in this article Teens Deseret News - Google News Archive - Jan 10, 1996 (http://http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VsMRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fOwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4813,4348437&dq=sorensen+ranch+school)
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It is not known whether they still dress youth on runaway risk in orange jumpsuit as it is described in this article...
The Deseret News — FAMILY extra
Wednesday, January 10, 1996
Growing teens in the tall grass (http://http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VsMRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fOwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4813,4348437&dq=sorensen+ranch+school)
Rustic 'campus' in Koosharem offers troubled kids the direction they've been lacking.
By Lois M. Collins · Deseret News staff writer
Photos by Carmen Troesser · Deseret News photgrapher
Laughter and the sounds of singing split the early morning air. Three teenage girls harmonize "My Guy" and it echoes in the bowl formed by the mountains surrounding tiny Koosharem, Sevier County. They don't seem to notice the blanket of snow on the ground — snow the 7,000-foot altitude promises to keep until late spring.
By 7 a.m. the lights are on in all the cabins at Sorenson's Ranch Schools as teenage boys and girls get ready for breakfast. Some have chores to do. Season Archer sweeps the walk as the singers clown behind her. Halfway across the ranch, Louis Madrill pours feed for the pigs and horses and cattle, stopping occasionally to scratch a goat or pig under its chin.
The setting is deceptively pastoral.
Sorenson's Ranch School represents the last hope for more than 100 families in crisis. Almost all of the youths who stamp playfully through the snow have dabbled with crime or taken drugs or given their parents fits with erratic and disrespectful behavior. A few have done all three, although the vast majority have never been to court. A handful are orphans.
"Most of the kids were creating some kind of havoc and their parents want to nip it in the bud," says founder, Burnell Sorenson, of the private school/residential treatment program.
Matt Holliday, a Texan, doesn't remember a time when he wasn't in trouble.
Nine months into his stay at the ranch, he's working in the sawmill, unmoved by the snow. "I lived in Canada before," he quips, never taking his eyes off the wood as it comes off the saw. "This is T-shirt weather."
He's different than most of the youths; because he's 18 he has more say in his treatment program. He's no longer subject to the "point" system that drives most of the youths. He could leave, if he wanted. But he's agreed to stay because he hasn't completed the program and the longer he's away from former friends, the better his chances of staying drug-free back home.
Most of the boys at the mill say their drug use forced their parents to take action.
Jay Markowitz, 16, of California, figures he's here because of the friends he chose and the activities they pursued. But he admits he's only recently started thinking about the choices he's made.
J.C. Peraldo is halfway through his stay. From Miami, the 16-year-old believes he's alive because his mother finally said, "Enough."
"If I wasn't here.... My mom saved my life. Too many drugs, gang problems. I was bad."
Not all the youths at the ranch are immediately amenable to change. And some have been pretty creative in their resistance to "going straight." One boy tried to operate an on-site brewery. Staff ended the budding career of a locksmith wannabe who thought he'd create his own "keys to the future."
"Sometimes they get us. And sometimes you can't help but laugh," Shane Sorenson says. "They have all this creative energy and we have to find ways to channel it in a right direction."
Students move through levels, earning points and privileges with good behavior. The bottom of the trust system — a dreaded Level 1, with no privileges, total structure and no privacy — must be "earned." Everyone starts out as a Level 2. That way, there's room for improvement or decline.
How do you get to be a Level 1? a reporter asks a petite, blue-eyed blonde of 16.
"Well," she says, "I pierced my belly."
"Oh yeah. And I tried to force another girl out a window."
It'll be a long climb back to Level 5 and the choices and free time she craves, she admits.
Burnell Sorenson's great-grandmother Karen was the first Sorenson to settle on 40 acres of land that later grew into today's 500-acre ranch, back in the 1890s. She bought the land for $1.25 an acre. She lived there in a sod hut among the tall grass from which Koosharem takes its name, with her 10-year-old son Sorn.
She and her husband Ole had joined the LDS Church in 1882 and immigrated to Manti. He stayed behind to work for a time after she and Soren moved to Grass Valley.
Today, the tiny towns of Koosharem, Burrville and Greenwich combine to form a community of about 100 families, "all shirt-tail cousins because of all the intermarrying in the early days,"Burnell Sorenson laughs.
The townsfolk speak to each other in half-sentences — a shorthand born of easy and long-lived familiarity.
Most of the town's adults work at Sorenson's Ranch, which Burnell and his wife, Carrol, converted to a summer camp in 1959. Twelve years ago, it evolved to a residential treatment program, now directed by their son, Shane. Their other children work around the ranch. Burnell's brother Chad administers the on-site school.
Carrol and Burnell Sorenson both had long careers as teachers. "In a way, we were preparing for this our whole lives," Burnell notes.
When hard times strike, townspeople wander over and have lunch or dinner in the ranch's big dining room.
And whatever happens in Koosharem, everybody knows about it before school gets out for the day. "We're not snoopy," says Chad Sorenson. "We're just all right here."
Andrea Fuller believes historians will be able to research the disintegration of the American family and trace the genealogy of a generation torn apart by temptation and the need for self-gratification.
"It started with '60s parents who thought drugs, sex, love and peace were it, with no responsibility," says Fuller, head therapist at Sorenson's Ranch School. "A lot of youths have no good parent-child relationship; no adult role models they can depend on."
Chad Sorenson agrees.
A student sits at a desk in the corner of Sorenson's spacious office, working on an assignment. The door opens and shuts frequently, bringing in a steady stream of kids with questions. They call him Chad, but there's nothing uncomfortably familiar about that.
There are simply too many Mr. Sorensons on campus.
"They're the same kids you'd meet in public schools," he says. "Maybe their problems have escalated more. And their parents are financially able to say, "Let's try this."
"Academically, these kids are above average. But all kids like boundaries, whether they'll say it or not. It's a thing they need and we provide. Parents get caught too often trying to please a child. They don't want to be pleased; they want to be directed."
Youthful misbehavior isn't the only thing that brings youths to the ranch. Often, Chad Sorenson says, "it's a lack of parents' skills in knowing how to direct them. Parents in some way need more direction. And it's not the fault of the parents, either."
"I tell them, don't let the children put you on a guilt trip. You've done the best you can."
When it comes to drug abuse, crime and general mischief, he says, money and education levels don't make a difference.
This is Sorenson Ranch:
A barn, tall and plain, the biggest this side of Nebraska, the wood milled locally by crews that included teenage ranch residents. The school's math teacher owns the mill.
Kittens wild on the streets and waiting on the steps of the four room Grass Valley Inn next door, in case a traveler wants to cuddle.
Tidy four-person cabins, built by youths learning hopefully life-changing skills.
Teenage girls standing on the cold, hard floors in pre-dawn hours to curl their hair. They could be up to their hips in pig slop, but their hair and makeup would be just right.
The same girls sleep in the fields, ready to serve as midwives during foaling season.
Two boys walking up and down the half-mile driveway as penance for tardiness. "Time to think," Burnell Sorenson says. "Good exercise."
Young men and women sweating as they stack hay. Later, they'll sit up a little straighter and joust about which stack is higher or neater or fatter.
Classes, then therapy, then classes.
On excursion days, Sorenson's Ranch School is a campfire and a night under the stars.
"Are you going to tell the truth about this place?" several girls ask as they climb onto the horses they're training.
What's the truth? It's hard to tell in a one-day visit to a program that will absorb a year of their lives.
Asked about the truth, they laugh. A couple shrug.
One truth emerges in the course of the day. These kids smile more than most at treatment centers. And they're arm huggers.
It's a fine line, Shane Sorenson explains. Kids need affection, but it's dangerous to hug or touch them. Too many times, someone cries "improper."
The teenagers have found their own solution: They wrap their arms around the arm of teachers, counselors, staff. It's a mini-hug, full of affection and very "proper."
The program has hints of an outdoor work philosophy, with plenty of rules and labor and expectations. But it isn't an outdoor therapy program. "We're more love than tough love, I'm afraid," Shane Sorenson says. "We kind of treat them like they're our own."
What does the $100-a-day fee buy at Sorenson's Ranch School? Most of the teenagers stay between a year and 18 months, so the cost is not for the faint-hearted.
First, there's the staff: The school employs 11 certified teachers, five administrators and is certified by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. The therapy staff — most youths are in therapy two or three times a week — includes a psychiatrist, a psychologist, two social workers and a pair of therapists.
The place is overrun with townspeople who come in to help with tasks like cooking.
The science room is a zoo. Birds sing and fish swim in the midst of a miscellany of rodents and snakes. A horse skeleton dominates the back of the room; students took a couple of years gathering the bones in the fields, before assembling the eerie creature.
Besides core subjects, the school fields athletic teams that compete against some of the state's smaller schools in several sports. For elective subjects, students can choose to learn saddlemaking, leatherworking, construction, framing, electrical, plumbing, farming, ranching, carpentry, woodworking, auto mechanics, small engine repair, clay crafts. They find and polish their own rocks, create their own jewelry.
And the children who are lucky learn to take responsibility for — and live with — their own choices.
"This is rustic," says Shane Sorenson. "We don't want youths to be too complacent or comfortable. If you never want to leave here, what then?"
"We have kids hating it. 'It sucks.' We'll agree, it kind of does. Part of (a child's) success is the ability to come to terms with it."
You don't need a lock-down facility when you're miles from nowhere, according to Shane Sorenson. And everyone — and everything, from the people to the pigs and goats — roams the grounds pretty much at will on Sorenson Ranch.
Amid the Levis and casual clothes, a sprinkling of orange jumpsuits stand out. Those youths wear orange because they are "runaway risks." The hunter-orange is easier to spot on the open road or along the mountain trails.
Tony Ellington holds the runaway record among the current students. "He toured the whole West Coast," jokes Matt Holliday with mock admiration.
"I'm through with that now," Ellington adds. "It gets tiring after a while."
The 16-year-old Las Vegas native has been at Sorenson's Ranch School a year. Once, he ran all the way to Richfield.
Most runaways don't get very far. Everyone in town knows everyone else, including the youths at the ranch. A "hitchhiker" who gets a lift may find it takes him straight back to the ranch.
Burnall Sorenson worries about runaways — something every residential treatment program has. Koosharem is so remote. The temperature, because of the altitude, mirrors that 1,000 miles north.
"We're careful," Burnell Sorenson says. "We don't want anything to happen to these kids."
If you're interested, Shane Sorenson will offer you a soft drink and show you turn-of-the-century photographs.
Then he moves to the present. The walls of his spartan office are covered with photos of the youths for whom they've cared. A boy catching his first fish. A girl, head thrown back in laughter, riding a once-wild horse.
"Fellow incorrigibles," is how Burnell Sorenson affectionately describes the bond between the girls and horses at the ranch.
Sometimes a car will pull into the driveway and a former student, now older and wiser, will usher his children in.
"This is where I grew up," he'll say.
# # #
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Photo captions for the above article, "Growing teens in the tall grass (http://http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VsMRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fOwDAAAAIBAJ&dq=sorensen%20ranch%20school&pg=4022%2C4342751)" (by Lois M. Collins; Deseret News; Jan. 10, 1996):
- Amy Telep soothes a horse near the barn at Sorenson's Ranch School, Sevier County. Girls especially seem to bond with the animals.
- Counselor Marian Hatch talks to Chanelle Hubbard as Kristy Dalrymple gets ready for class in one of the ranch dorms.
- After an overnight snow, Season Archer sweeps outside the dormitories, above. Burnell Sorenson, far left, founded the private school/residential treatment program that his son Shane now directs. Teens living and working at the ranch helped build the huge barn behind them.
- Louis Madrill of Colorado helps with morning chores at the Sorenson Ranch School.
- Students help bring logs down from the mountain then, like Matt Holliday and Jay Markowitz, lend a hand in the sawmill near the Sorenson Ranch, where the lumber is being used to build a barn.
- Between classes, the hallways at Sorenson Ranch look like those in most any school.
- Amy Telep studies in the science room near a horse skeleton built from stray bones found by students.
# # #
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Regarding the law suit. It was Shaun Sorenson...
Full text of that article preview:
Deseret News, The (Salt Lake City, UT) - December 14, 2001
Felon can keep his job at school, court says
A convicted felon can keep his job at a private school, the Utah Court of Appeals has ruled, turning aside a challenge by the state Department of Human Services. State law prohibits felons from providing care or counseling at child care businesses. But Shaun Sorenson, a plumber and maintenance worker, provided none of those services and can keep his job, the court ruled.Sorenson was convicted in California for drunken driving in a hit-and-run crash.He works at...
Purchase Complete Article, of 184 words (http://http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=DSNB&d_place=DSNB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F369E1E7B240F38&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM)[/list]
Also:
Sorenson's Ranch School v. Oram, 36 P.3d 528, 2001 UT App 354 (Utah … (http://http://www.findacase.com/)
$2.95 - Utah State Courts - VersusLaw - Nov 23, 2001
Sorenson was convicted of two felonies in California, for driving under the influence resulting in accident/injury and for hit-and-run. ...[/list]
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The Sorensons are now treating trauma?
Oh, the irony... :D
-------------- • -------------- • -------------- • --------------
Breaking News
Posted: Jan 13, 2010
Sorenson Ranch School
Koosharem, UT
EMDR At Sorenson Ranch (http://http://www.strugglingteens.com/artman/publish/SorensonRanchBN_100113.shtml)
Contact:
Layne Bagley
800-455-4590
http://www.sorensonranch.com (http://www.sorensonranch.com)
January 11, 2010
Trauma can lead to many mental health difficulties and behavioral problems. Some common traumas are natural disasters, serious accidents, and the death of a loved one, rape, sexual and/or physical abuse, domestic violence, divorce, and even a major move when a teen is uprooted from friends and the local community in which one is uprooted from one's friends and community. Trauma can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD symptoms include being hyper-vigilant, over reacting to benign events that remind one of the trauma, emotional numbness, anxiety, anger, sleep difficulties, nightmares, and flashbacks. Sometimes trauma can lead to other mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and behavioral acting out.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a specific form of therapeutic treatment that has proven to be especially effective with troubled teens. EMDR is one of the few therapeutic techniques that have been demonstrated through evidence-based research to be effective. Sorenson's Ranch utilizes EDMR as one of the many techniques to achieve positive results for students. EMDR is based on a simple technique that gets both the left and right sides of the brain working while the student recalls the traumatic experience. With the facilitation of the therapist, the troubled teen is able to work through the trauma. EMDR is just one of the many therapies and techniques incorporated into the curriculum at Sorenson's Ranch School. Sorenson's Ranch combines therapy and real life experience to help troubled teens and troubled youth to overcome many different issues.
For more information visit Sorenson's Ranch on the web at: http://www.sorensonranch.com (http://www.sorensonranch.com) or call the admissions office at 1-800-455-4590.
About Sorenson's Ranch School:
Sorenson's is a second generation family owned school with over 30 years experience helping troubled teens. We were one of the first programs to combine therapy, experiential learning, academics and behavioral modification to help troubled teens.
Copyright ©2010, Woodbury Reports, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
-
The Sorensons are now treating trauma?
Oh, the irony... :D
-------------- • -------------- • -------------- • --------------
Breaking News
Posted: Jan 13, 2010
Sorenson Ranch School
Koosharem, UT
EMDR At Sorenson Ranch (http://http://www.strugglingteens.com/artman/publish/SorensonRanchBN_100113.shtml)
Contact:
Layne Bagley
800-455-4590
http://www.sorensonranch.com (http://www.sorensonranch.com)
January 11, 2010
Trauma can lead to many mental health difficulties and behavioral problems. Some common traumas are natural disasters, serious accidents, and the death of a loved one, rape, sexual and/or physical abuse, domestic violence, divorce, and even a major move when a teen is uprooted from friends and the local community in which one is uprooted from one's friends and community. Trauma can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD symptoms include being hyper-vigilant, over reacting to benign events that remind one of the trauma, emotional numbness, anxiety, anger, sleep difficulties, nightmares, and flashbacks. Sometimes trauma can lead to other mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and behavioral acting out.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a specific form of therapeutic treatment that has proven to be especially effective with troubled teens. EMDR is one of the few therapeutic techniques that have been demonstrated through evidence-based research to be effective. Sorenson's Ranch utilizes EDMR as one of the many techniques to achieve positive results for students. EMDR is based on a simple technique that gets both the left and right sides of the brain working while the student recalls the traumatic experience. With the facilitation of the therapist, the troubled teen is able to work through the trauma. EMDR is just one of the many therapies and techniques incorporated into the curriculum at Sorenson's Ranch School. Sorenson's Ranch combines therapy and real life experience to help troubled teens and troubled youth to overcome many different issues.
For more information visit Sorenson's Ranch on the web at: http://www.sorensonranch.com (http://www.sorensonranch.com) or call the admissions office at 1-800-455-4590.
About Sorenson's Ranch School:
Sorenson's is a second generation family owned school with over 30 years experience helping troubled teens. We were one of the first programs to combine therapy, experiential learning, academics and behavioral modification to help troubled teens.
Copyright ©2010, Woodbury Reports, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Now so long as they use proper accredited Dr.s performing the treatment everything will be fine, right.
They are using this treatment in the Arm forces extensively for soldiers and marines coming back from war.
Seems to be working, but that was never really the problem was it with the treatment centers, it was
implementation of said methods of treatment.