Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => CEDU / Brown Schools and derivatives / clones => Topic started by: Anonymous on June 21, 2004, 01:56:00 PM
-
I need help BAD...I am on my off campus visit and am trying to get help. I called children services and the police department. The fucker at children services said he couldn't do anything and that I needed to call the police. The police said they couldn't make a report unless I gave them my name. Yeh, right. So they can beat the shit out of me probably. There is staff named Glen Sutton who has been licking kids in the face, neck and ear. He licked a kid named Eric and Chas and Justin. I don't know what to do. This staff got in trouble for anotehr incident involving a girl too. I just don't want it happening again and I know the school won't do shit. If someone else can call chidlren services - 208-2670-3187 or the Bonners Ferry police at 208-267-3151 to help me. My mom won't take me home and I just need help.
-
On 2004-06-21 10:56:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I need help BAD...I am on my off campus visit and am trying to get help. I called children services and the police department. The fucker at children services said he couldn't do anything and that I needed to call the police. The police said they couldn't make a report unless I gave them my name. Yeh, right. So they can beat the shit out of me probably. There is staff named Glen Sutton who has been licking kids in the face, neck and ear. He licked a kid named Eric and Chas and Justin. I don't know what to do. This staff got in trouble for anotehr incident involving a girl too. I just don't want it happening again and I know the school won't do shit. If someone else can call chidlren services - 208-2670-3187 or the Bonners Ferry police at 208-267-3151 to help me. My mom won't take me home and I just need help."
as much as i'd love to help you, i don't believe that it will werk... i haven't seen any of this and i don't know what's going on, really. you, however, do. the help that i can offer you is that if you really want to make a difference, please have the courage to step forward. if cedu beats you for it, that would be awful, but that'd make even better grounds for a lawsuit.
please, do it for the kids who need you...
-
Yeah being on home visits suck when ya need to go back. Especially with what you are dealin with here. I mean if what you said was true, I dont see why talkin to the police would be a problem. Sounds like the dude is a perv and needs to be out of there.
On 2004-06-21 10:56:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I need help BAD...I am on my off campus visit and am trying to get help. I called children services and the police department. The fucker at children services said he couldn't do anything and that I needed to call the police. The police said they couldn't make a report unless I gave them my name. Yeh, right. So they can beat the shit out of me probably. There is staff named Glen Sutton who has been licking kids in the face, neck and ear. He licked a kid named Eric and Chas and Justin. I don't know what to do. This staff got in trouble for anotehr incident involving a girl too. I just don't want it happening again and I know the school won't do shit. If someone else can call chidlren services - 208-2670-3187 or the Bonners Ferry police at 208-267-3151 to help me. My mom won't take me home and I just need help."
-
I will call. Don't know what that's gonna do because they need a name. Can I talk to your mother? Why were you put there in the first place? (I am totally not trying to make you justify, I want to help you get around any credibility issues.) How far is your Mom from the school? What state do you live in?
-
Ginger is there anything we can do to help this kid?
-
I will call but I need more info. So please respond.
-
Another thing, what reason did the children's services give you?
-
I want to thank everyone for their help. I wish my mom was half as much fucking help. I have to go back to campus in a few hours so I won't be checking this again. To answer the questions you asked I was just a pot head and that's why I am at brainwashing school. The children portection said they couldn't do anything because what Glenn did was a crime and needed to be reported to the police before they could do anything. Bullshit in my opinion. He licked like 7 or 8 different of us. My mom won't beleive me either because she saw the rose ceremony and she is boguht into their brainwash propaganda. And I lived on the east coast before I was kidnapped. And maybe I am a pussy but unless you live on campus you should't be saying what you would do. I have seen a lot of kids get really shit on and screwed with. Everyone wish me luck and thanks for this website. Everyone at the school loves this web site. THANKS! Please do call and help if you can.
-
don't know what to tell you. Sounds like Glenn needs a visit from ol' Doc Crowbar. :evil: Hang in there, we are all pulling for you. I just don't know what to say, I'm sorry.
-
Glenn was one of the few people at RMA that was legit man - totally caring for the kids, and a good role model. I find this truly hard to believe, Glenn was a great guy. I miss him.
-team eclipse member alum
-
listen, i have a problem, i said i'd call someone who most likely won't do anything now but it could come in handy later, but i want to make sure i'm doing the right thing. Either the kid is lying (it does happen); or the licks did happen and it was grossly inappropriate. Whatever, maybe it happened and G. thought it was funny (not predatory) but the kid did not find it comfortable. (I wouldn't.) You could even be a plant to deflect blame from CEDU. This happens too.
Wait a minute--I need to recover I'm making myself dizzy with all the "could happens."
But that kid seemed so scared, and CEDU is so adept at manipulating parents, that it seems unlikely he was making it up. If he was making something up, I think he'd make up something more concretely liable. I hate the thought of a kid living in fear of returning to that Lord of THe Flies hellhole. I think he was credible.
I remember a lot of happenings at CEDU that weren't molestations but weren't appropriate either for the client-staff relationship. If my team leader licks my face and ears, there is an undertone of submission.
-
relax, glen is a good guy whose probably just fucking with you because you seem like and easy target.
-
If Glen likes to fuck with easy targets then glen isn't a good guy you moron
-
-
I am interested in opinions (positive or negative, in terms of the "emotional growth" program) of people who were on Team Eclipse at Rocky Mountain Academy in the 1990's. Especially of interest to me: what counsellors or other school employees made a difference, in how you remember the whole experience? For those of you who found something useful about RMA, what parts of the program were helpful, what parts should definitely be eliminated? Do you think being there for the whole program versus the first year, or some part of it, made any kind of difference?
-
Have you read any of these posts??!!! What are we going to say? Yes, one year of mental and verbal abuse and manipulation of parents and kids is OK? One year of absolutely sham academics is OK? One year of mind numbing cultish brainwash is OK? One year of BS therapy by non-accredited primal screamers is OK? Give me a break!!
Maybe your son turned out great but that is a real credit to HIM.
-
To Mr./Ms. Anonymous--
Yes, I have "read any of the the posts", why else would I make my inquiry here?
And thanks for your input, whoever you are, in spite of the tone of your remarks; but surely you realize that you do not necessarily represent the whole spectrum of experiences of those who have been at RMA, or anywhere else, for that matter. While I appreciate your comments, I would also like to hear from others, specifically those who were at RMA in the later part of the 1990's, in particular on Team Eclipse.
I am interested in hearing different accounts from a variety of people who were there in that time and context. I want to hear about what being there meant to different people, absent the supposition that it had to be good, or that it had to be terrible: what helped them and what hurt them in the program?
Hope it doesn't disturb you too much that people may have different views on these matters. If that is at odds with some kind of pre-suppositions that you assume to be universal, well, that's just one of those things that can happen when people have free will.
And, yes, my son is doing very well; in spite of the exasperation that your post suggests, it's nice of you to note that. I agree that this is indeed a credit to who he is; as well, it seems obvious that his functioning is a result of the opportunities that have come into his life, and what he has chosen to do with them.
My interest is in gaining a better understanding of what sort of experiences can help a person grow to his or her full potentia;. This is the reason for my question.
-
First, I wasn't exasperated by your son's progress at all. I have two small children and I'm happy every time I hear of a parent with a well-adjusted child. I just don't credit CEDU with all of it.
Second, I do appreciate that there are many other perspectives on the program. But you can't argue with lack of credentials or bad academia (some were padded by the way so they could pass muster later). You certainly can't argue with the verbal and mental abuse these raps and propheets engendered, or that ex-staff are in fear of this place. Or that students were traine dto bully and spy... that people with REAL disorders of anxiety, ADD, and depression were given the exact "treatment" to exacerbate the condition. You can't really argue that CEDU was founded by a nut job on synonon principles. YOu can't really argue that CEDU didn't unnnecessarily restrict you from your family and isolate you further by shutting down the real world so all the world is a CEDU play.
Nope, I don't understand your perspective. Is it OK for others to have that much control over your kid and BS you to keep you from pulling him out?
I've read from a mixed site that this girl credits CEDU for saving her and she is doing the same stuff she always did pre-CEDU. I'm also reading many people who caame out of CEDU unprepared to deal with real life and real academics. THAT IS WHAT CEDU SHOULD BE DOING!! Just screaming at you breaking you down in propheets and calling you a slut because you had sex with one guy is not "preparing you for the real world. In fact, my team leaders couldn't even keep the stories straight. I was always getting reemed for stuff that didn't happen. In one case, my family head who was an admitted coke addict found out I experimented with drugs and that was it! I was now a coke addict. I don't think he even believed it but he used that fear to keep my parents from pulling me out. THe funny thing was that I EASILY gave it up months before CEDU and have never been tempted to go back. My vices are legal: pizza and cupcakes!
Anyway, it is difficult for me to see your sincerity and digging for pearls cast before swine.
-
It isn't a big problem for me if you "can't see my sincerity", I don't know you and you don't know me, beyond a few internet exchanges. But I do appreciate your comments--I'm here for the information, more or less, which I take at face value as representing a specific person's experience. So thanks.
On the basis of what I currently believe, I could actually argue with some (though not all of your criticisms of CEDU) but what would that accomplish? You sound pretty entrenched in your own experience and I'm guessing that your energy does not lie with understanding someone else's at the moment.
I agree with you fully that the fact that a child is doing well has to do with more than any one program, circumstance, etc. in his or her life. You are lucky to be that insightful when your own kids are small--I certainly wasn't and many mothers I know aren't.
I'd appreciate any particular observations (again positive or negative) from others, in general and especially involving the RMA/Team Eclipse/1990's experience. My most central interest is the difference that particular staff interactions made in eventual outcome.
-
I started to write a detailed argument on how you could still support a school that has integrity issues on every level, along with bad therapy and academics but I realized that after everything already written you seem pretty "entrenched" in your beliefs.
-
Well, maybe not quite the opposite: but if you mean by "entrenched" unwilling to consider changing my beliefs if the evidence dictates it,you are dead wrong.
I am trained as a scientist, and so I do strive to look at the facts of a situation, even when the facts are unclear, ambiguous, or difficult to come by. It is true that some of the facts that I have at hand (my own experiences, those of a number of others who I know well) presently convince me that there have been, at least for some, beneficial aspects to the emotional growth/CEDU program. Some of the information that I have heard at this site, and elsewhere, convinces me that there have also been clear problems within these programs, and that these programs have, at the very least, been useless for some people.
It occurs to me that the differences in how various participants (both parents and children) have ended up feeling about the overall experience, may be based on some real, potentially knowable differences. There may be differences either in terms of individual personality structure and personal outlook, or in terms of specific events and interactions that happened to any given person during his or her stay at one of these schools. There may, for example, be some very positive things going on in a certain program, as well as some useless or even detrimental things: these are good things to clarify, especially in terms of developing new programs.
I hope you can see that it would be unreasonable of me to just disregard part of what I know (ie, that some people feel that they benefited from these programs) simply because some people feel that they did not. One has to apply some degree of critical thinking to sorting out what is going on when such differences exist---I just think it is too easy to define everyone who had good experiences as brainwashed, or mistaken in what they attribute to their good outcome.
So, am I "entrenched", as in unwilling to change my hypothesis that the programs in question are doing some helpful things? I don't believe so, if what evolves is that there are other explanations for the good outcomes that have occurred, I would have to reject the hypothesis that these programs are doing anything useful. As far as possible (and I do believe it is possible) I would like to find this out.
But by all means, if you think that further discussions on the subject are a waste of your time, don't let me bother you.
At the same time, if others have comments on the CEDU experience (pro or con) especially in terms of staff interactions and especially (but not limited to) the RMA/Team Eclipse/1990's experience, I'd be grateful for the input.
-
I guess I know what I saw and that was rampant therapeutic, emotional, and mental abuse. Maybe some people got stronger for it. I actually subliminated it for years. Lots of people have nightmares and some form of PTSD 10, 15, 20 years later. (are you one of those people who would write them off as losers or wimps?) Some staff were well-meaning, many were sadistic bullies, some were caring people just trying to find themselves. There are always the people who are willing to stick with abusive partners because of their other good traits.
-
Bullshit dude, I was at RMA in the early 90's. Team Eclipse was one of the fakest teams at RMA, and believe me, that is saying a lot. I actually believe that you think RMA was good for your kid, RMA churned out a lot of dysfunctional people, kiss-ass motherfuckers. That was the whole deal with RMA. I forgot what we used to call faker motherfuckers. Fool yourself all you want, CEDU was good for no one.It does not promote strong self image, indeed it teaches you how to be a proper bitch.....think about that.
-
I've had a bit of back and forth with the mother of agood son who attended. My hypothesis is that whatever strength he got from the program does not override its many abuses and cult-control of your minds and family. Also, from some ex staff posts, there seems to be rampant financial negligence and shady dealings. Everything was smoke and mirrors. Will you tell her of your experiences w/o rancor--just straight up, the good thebad the ugly because I've reached an impasse. Thanks, Shanlea
-
Shanlea--I've been off for the last little while putting in hours for my clinical psychology internship and have had no time to check on this site until this evening.
Imagine my surprise to find out that you have posted, more than once since I last checked, with the intention of getting people to respond to my earlier inquiries about the Eclipse/RMA experience.
All this is good information, thanks for your interest.
I know that you like to post anonymously as well as with a recognizable identifier (ie Shanlea), but I tell you, after watching this site for a while, I have pretty well determined that I cannot put much credibility in posts that are not somehow ascribable to one particular person.
It is not as if a name on the post gives me any specific information about the person providing the opinion---it is just that if I rely on "anonymous" posts how can I tell if these represent one person, posing as different people, or a legitimate collection of several people advocating a particular opinion?
I will bring what I have observed here to my son's attention, when the family is together this weekend, especially the responses that relate to Team Eclipse. I intend to ask him for his opinion about the rather derogatory view that some (often anonymous) correspondents hold of that particular experience. Again, if he chooses to involve himself in these discussions, I will support him in that, as I will support him in choosing to not respond if that is his preference.
It seems kind of strange: I am perfectly willing to consider that the emotional growth school experience was, for reasons that are yet to be defined, negative for some people. Yet, at this site, I have not seen much interest in looking at why some adolescents do well after the CEDU experience, and go on to live happy, good lives, with positive memories surrounding the years spent in these schools.
I suppose that I could accept unquestioningly the point of view that the individuals who could be called CEDU success stories are brainwashed. Yet several of these people are known to me reasonably well and I see no sign of delusion or dysfunction in the ways (which are appropiately individualized) in which they have gone on to live their lives after CEDU.
Puzzling, but then life is sometimes like that--I am confident that patience and further information will help to clarify the situation.
-
Yeah, I did post under anon and my user. Sorry for the confusion. I understand it can cause credibility problems. Sometimes I get bit by the paranoia bug after reading some posts... I am feeling vulnerable because I am a single Mom of two small children...
As far as CEDU is concerned, it took me years to figure out why I had issues with the program. I am definitely not blaming them because my life isn't perfect and I need a scapegoat. My experience was bad because I wasn't treated with integrity and honesty. I actually left because of the mental abuse and bullying, but more important, I felt that I would be badgered until I had "facilitated breakthroughs" that would require me to lie about myself and my experiences. I didn't go to CEDU because I was a liar so to have my whole story so twisted was repulsive to me and made it impossible to accept the therapy. It is complicated. I also felt there were too many kids there because their parents thought raising a kid was too tedious to them. There were other kids I felt were downright dangerous.
I believe many positive experiences are the result of achieving difficult tasks (for me it was all the physical labor, getting over my vanity, and finding I was not the fragile person I always thought. Because I never had to work hard at home, working hard and seeing I was good at it validated my work ethic.) I felt the "therapeutic" aspects were synanon based mental torture. I also question the insulation of CEDU. In addition, parents are sold a bit of a distorted version of the school. For example, parents only got glimpses of the propheets and some of their attendant exercises but not the total mental annihilation that we got.
People who went through CEDU shared intense experiences they will unlikely ever share with any other group of people again. Cedu experiences are built to do just that. For some, that strong brotherhood and unique bond is unshakable.
THe worst thing about CEDU was that they promoted bullies and delusional (if charismatic) gurus. However, some of the other staff were very caring people. (Others on this site might disagree with that.)
I will now stop wasting your time with my posts because I know you are interested in Team Eclipse stories.
-
On 2004-07-01 20:13:00, ottawa5 wrote:
"Shanlea--I've been off for the last little while putting in hours for my clinical psychology internship and have had no time to check on this site until this evening.
Imagine my surprise to find out that you have posted, more than once since I last checked, with the intention of getting people to respond to my earlier inquiries about the Eclipse/RMA experience.
All this is good information, thanks for your interest.
I know that you like to post anonymously as well as with a recognizable identifier (ie Shanlea), but I tell you, after watching this site for a while, I have pretty well determined that I cannot put much credibility in posts that are not somehow ascribable to one particular person.
It is not as if a name on the post gives me any specific information about the person providing the opinion---it is just that if I rely on "anonymous" posts how can I tell if these represent one person, posing as different people, or a legitimate collection of several people advocating a particular opinion?
I will bring what I have observed here to my son's attention, when the family is together this weekend, especially the responses that relate to Team Eclipse. I intend to ask him for his opinion about the rather derogatory view that some (often anonymous) correspondents hold of that particular experience. Again, if he chooses to involve himself in these discussions, I will support him in that, as I will support him in choosing to not respond if that is his preference.
It seems kind of strange: I am perfectly willing to consider that the emotional growth school experience was, for reasons that are yet to be defined, negative for some people. Yet, at this site, I have not seen much interest in looking at why some adolescents do well after the CEDU experience, and go on to live happy, good lives, with positive memories surrounding the years spent in these schools.
I suppose that I could accept unquestioningly the point of view that the individuals who could be called CEDU success stories are brainwashed. Yet several of these people are known to me reasonably well and I see no sign of delusion or dysfunction in the ways (which are appropiately individualized) in which they have gone on to live their lives after CEDU.
Puzzling, but then life is sometimes like that--I am confident that patience and further information will help to clarify the situation. "
here's what cedu does: program children with their standards of morality and obedience. i'd consider that brainwashing.
if you're going to start your own skool, at least advertise it properly (not pretending that it's all loving and nuturing) and don't manipulate the parents dishonestly.
-
by the way, as you can see, i'm totally not anon... i think that cedu is completely unethical (standardized approaches effect a small percentage of people, and this particular standardized approach tends to hurt more people than it helps.) i'm all for ethical therapy.. my job is to draw the definitive line between the two.
-
[ This Message was edited by: Hell on Wheels on 2004-07-07 19:27 ]
-
I had to respond finally: I went to RMA and graduated in Dec. 1990.
I am DEFINITLY fucked up from it. If the scientists and parents cannot understand such an off the cuff vulgarity as a description, it is because they cannot comprehend the amount of negative thinking behind it. For me, "Fucked Up" ten years later is in fact a terrific understatement.
I have looked off and on for years for a community to talk to about my post RMA life and why it is the way it is. I don't really feel like I can talk to ANYONE about it because of the true and accurate account of the "fucking fake ass motherfuckers" would be the people from RMA while people who are not intimately knowledgeable about these programs and probably cannot be becuase they did not attend them AS STUDENTS. It is really huge to talk about and perfectly understand the flustered comments and tone of some of these responses.
I have started to write about my experience and really will be active in moving on...finally. So. Check in with me...XB
-
I like your interests. I would like to talk/write further with you. I don't often write to someone un solicited so.
I went to Rma when I was fourteen. did you? I am now thirty, so I assume I may be older. I have started research for a book. don't worry it'll be autobio. It's just damn hard to open this can o' worms. Fortunatly, I wrote in notebooks throughout RMA. I had to fight to be able to keep them since they kept "negativity". I was miserable there. then finally, it's clear in my journals i felt brainwashed. Then when i was blank I was again reprogrammed with the most harebrained and unrealistic ideas. some of which are brilliant.
that's about all I want to say right now.
any response would be welcomed.
-
i'm compiling a book of stories of people's experiences and insights within/about the schools... i'd love to include yours. email me if you're interested...
sugarmagnolia00@hotmail.com
-
I graduated from RMA in 1993. I was there while the school moved from the ?Family? system to the ?Team? model and was a founding member of Team Vision. Simply ? RMA saved my life and has helped me to thrive all of these years later. I continue to reflect on some of the things that I learned while I was there and sometimes have new understandings of the work that I undertook. As an adult I have also begun to uncover some of the things about the program that are no longer useful to me. RMA taught me how to look at the world in a manner that was binary ? things were good or bad, black or white, safe or unsafe, life or death. This was a very useful model for me for years. It simplified the world and helped me to make sense of the chaos that had been the tenor of my life. At 30 years old though I am finding that life can be lived subtly ? bittersweet, ironically sad, powerfully silent ? and with far more quiet compassion than my RMA experience would have led me to believe.
I write today with an invitation. If you would like to know more about my experiences at RMA or since graduating I am pleased to offer them. Know though that my understanding is that the school from which I graduated really doesn?t exist anymore. I was among the last of my kind and was at the school before the days of good psychotropic medication (indeed, no one was on any psychiatric medication), mandatory reporting (vis-à-vis students stories that involved physical or sexual abuse), and the professional boundaries that are now the hallmark of professional therapeutic practice (all staff used to go through the program as students).
To my peers on this listserv, if you would like to chat or write with someone who was at RMA I am open to a dialogue. I am not interested in bashing the school, but if you would like to make sense of your experiences there or how they have impressed on your life since, and talking with someone who has an insiders view would be useful to that journey, I am open to being part of it.
Peace and blessings, Davila
-
Anything taht might be helpful to the current Investigation? See topic thread by investigator. It doesn't matter which school.
-
I knew Glen Sutton well -- more than a decade ago. He always treated me kindly and was a good friend. I do think he licked my cheek once when several of us tried to wrestle him into a snow bank and ended up losing.
-
I didn't mean the Sutton Licking Experience. I mean the stuff going at CEDU-RS. I guess through this investigation, some orgs want to know more about the techniques in general. I think the Investigator thread and supercalifragilistic thread has more info on that. Perhaps your record of events would be helpful.
-
I read both posts -- can't really provide anything to him that might help his investigation, though if his allegations prove true I certainly hope he is able to gain enough evidence to move forward. I was in Idaho at RMA in the early 1990s. He is looking at Cedu in running springs in 2000.
Best, M
-
Mad,
They are not just exploring specific issues to 2000. They are exploring the whole experience and techniques of the school. Thhus, you could be helpful.
-
PLEASE - call Chuck Wyatt! He is the investigator you've seen in these posts. He's for real! He is a detective with San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. He wants information from anyone who knows anything about any CEDU school. Any of them. He's pulling together county, state, and federal resource. Let's get together and help him! His info:
Detective Chuck Wyatt
26010 Highway 189
P.O. Box 384
Twin Peaks, CA 92391
(909) 336-0600
-
I've called and left a message to find out more about his investigation.
M
-
Pictures of BCA Staff to love and hate.
Click here
http://www.bouldercreekacademy.com/about/leaders.shtml (http://www.bouldercreekacademy.com/about/leaders.shtml)
-
MAD:
You had written me a few times before I was at all internet savvy and now have time to post replies. To me it sounds like you and I could have some notes to compare. I am curious to hear how the RMA changed immediately after I left. You were there about that time. Also, when you first posted you weren't sure about "CEDU bashing" but you did want to connect or respond if someone contacted you. I also noticed that you tried C.Wyatt, and I just did that too.
Where U at with it all now?
-
Hey there -- I am not into Cedu bashing. I'm one of those folks whose experiences at RMA were far more positive than not. I did call and speak with Detective Wyatt and provided him some information on what the school was like when I was a student and some of the changes that began during my last months in the school (mid-1993). RMA (and the other Cedu schools) began admitting students on meds, some existing students began taking meds, the schools became registered hospitals, RNs and MDs joined the staff, and seven of the senior staff all left within 60 days of each other. The school was wiped out leadership-wise and upper school students began facilitating profeets, not just supporting. It was an odd time. Best, M
-
On 2004-09-18 16:05:00, mad wrote:
"Hey there -- I am not into Cedu bashing. I'm one of those folks whose experiences at RMA were far more positive than not. I did call and speak with Detective Wyatt and provided him some information on what the school was like when I was a student and some of the changes that began during my last months in the school (mid-1993). RMA (and the other Cedu schools) began admitting students on meds, some existing students began taking meds, the schools became registered hospitals, RNs and MDs joined the staff, and seven of the senior staff all left within 60 days of each other. The school was wiped out leadership-wise and upper school students began facilitating profeets, not just supporting. It was an odd time. Best, M"
Thank you for your reply. Wow. I didn't know any of that. Did the seven have to leave or did they leave for ideological reasons? Do you mind telling me who they were? I also do not have a hard time at all seeing that the older students took over the program some. I can't wait to hear more about that. I think from what I've been reading here that I was there for the last part of the really freaky stuff they threw at you. I 'm sure being there while those kind of changes were made was strange. If I wasn't in a hurry at the moment I would post some more questions regarding that. I mean meds at RMA was just totally unthinkable. What did the new "doctor" staff think? Are any of them on this site? rambling, but I'm going for a while. hit me back if you want.
-
I don?t know what their reasons for leaving were. I had asked each of them but I didn?t think that that they were terribly candid, which in retrospect, I appreciate for the most part. I began to sense that members of the staff were fearful about a year before I graduated. I started talking about this sense in raps and people encouraged me to take care of my feelings. I ran indictments against staff who really seemed to be covering things up; likely how they were feeling. My indictments fell on deaf ears. I had some relatively good conversations with one of my friends who were on the staff and she found a pretty good balance between telling me that I was sensing a growing notion among the staff but that it wasn?t appropriate for me to be involved in what was going on. I had talked with my parents about leaving then; it had been so hard to see a place that I loved and had a sense of ownership in be changed programmatically without any process or explanation. Even worse, I experienced staff as either denying what was happening or sweeping it under the carpet and minimizing the growing changes. My parents were supportive of whatever I decided to do, stay or leave. One of my staff supports didn't try and reason with me emotionally as I might have expected. He instead pointed out the obvious, that I was almost done and only had my Summit to finish. Why not do it? I decided to stay and continued to express my discomfort with the changes.
Lisa and Brett Carry, Rae and Sharon Kreider, Doug and Mona Kim-Brown, Mary and Gary Weber-Quinn, and Randy (who had been married to Caroline Wolf) all left within two months of one another. Brett, Rae, and Randy had been ?Team Heads? and Doug had been headmaster of the school. The various ?Families? had been dissolved and Teams had been created in their place when I was in Challenge. Medication came to the school shortly thereafter and it confused the hell out of us because it had been so clear before that ?medication=bad? and now people were taking it (sometimes against their will). Think for a moment how surreal it would have been for a staff to run an indictment at someone who was refusing to take medication! It was crazy-making and many of us would cautiously flip the indictments on the staff ? they would usually relent pretty quickly, their hearts didn?t seem to be in what they were saying. Our world was no longer simple and black and white and those who had seemed to know what to do and when now seemed all too human. It was awful.
The Psychiatrist (Doug Ratelle sp.?) started after my I and Me. He seemed to be one of the few staff who knew about medication but also understood our discomfort with what was happening. He was comfortable with being indicted and was able to hold the very strong feelings that were fired at him by many of us who were displacing our anger at the school and our confusion over the changing program onto him. He was a good guy in my memory.
There was also a Psychologist (David Masseli) who came on staff who was offering individual therapy to people for whom raps seemed to have little utility. He also provided educational and personality testing to some, including me. I had sought out his services in preparation for college. I had always had some sense that I had trouble learning certain things and wanted some confirmation of it and to have some direction for what I might do about it. He was GREAT! I went through nearly a week of testing and then went over the results with him. He was able to help me make sense of parts of myself that had always seemed mysterious. My mom though was not into it (she didn't see the use) and when it came time for the second half of the work ? figuring out what I could do to compensate for a pretty clear learning disability, she stopped paying. It had been a ton of money and in her mind she had spent enough on me for the time being and this testing was a budget item she crossed off.
This is by no means a complete story. Even if I took more time I don?t really know what exactly was going on, what staff had been told, and why so many seemed to flee. It also was more than a decade ago and I can?t trust my memory to recall what I might once have known, but well, here are the highlights.
Best, M[ This Message was edited by: mad on 2004-09-20 05:11 ]
-
I wonder if they had to leave. Some of those that you mentioned would not have cut the mustard with licensed people around to monitor them. I know all of the staff you mentioned well.
Medication being administered was after the "selling"? how could CEDU even allow that? It's just that Mel saw that the times were changing and he saw an opportunity to adapt what he had with the times...what a boob he must have been. I don't really remember him...Just fantasies about stealing his jaguar. God I wanted to do that, I even had dreams about it. His daughter was my first family head.
Were Randy and Caroline still together when Randy left or had Caroline already started carrying on with student/ex-students? She was a real slag if you weren't one of her favorites. I was there when she got her tit-reduction. What a laugh.