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The Troubled Teen Industry / Cascade Survivor's = john and alex in denial
« on: October 10, 2005, 10:15:00 PM »
By John and Alex, I'm going on the presumption that you reference the yahoo site co-owners, Alex and Leslie (since I share an email with my honey as John / Leslie on that site).
By the tone of the post, I'll make a second presumption that you were, in fact, moderated in some way on the yahoo site as well.
The fact that you are slinging mud anonymously gives your post little credence, however; I'll respond anyway.
I had a very long and painful stay at Cascade. As with any experience, some pleasant memories shine through the muck. These memories mostly have to do with fellow students, a handful of truly caring counselors and teachers and very little to do with the program itself.
Having witnessed first hand the abuses staff heaped on the students from malice, a lack of education, a lack of experience, too little supervision, perversion and a host of other reasons I can say that I think the school closing was both bound to happen sooner or later and a fitting end to a program that had gotten away from it's original intent.
As to the Cascade Survivors site - to watch it grow (exponentially) and change since what it started out as in 2000 has been a long and interesting ride. Everyone has different opinions on the program, all of which are welcome there. Since the purpose of the site has evolved into a place to reconnect with former peers and make friends with alumni from other grad years more than anything else, abusive posts get moderated.
We encourage discussion about the program, although there will always be at least one person who is very "rah rah" about it all and will be offended by a dissenting view - it happens. As long as the posts, both for and against the program, are not abusive to the site members my moderating theory is that people should be grown ups and accept a difference of opinion. The minute a post crosses the line of civility, we speak up. There are other forums around where you can be as vitriolic as you wish about your thoughts and feelings on the program - in fact this seems to be one of them.
Long and short, don't assume what someone feels about their experience or call them out online anonymously just because they know how to talk about something in a constructive way.
We ALL have friends we mourn who were damaged physcially or mentally by the program. And we all know a few who were genuinely helped by it, in spite of its flaws.
Leslie Poston '89
By the tone of the post, I'll make a second presumption that you were, in fact, moderated in some way on the yahoo site as well.
The fact that you are slinging mud anonymously gives your post little credence, however; I'll respond anyway.
I had a very long and painful stay at Cascade. As with any experience, some pleasant memories shine through the muck. These memories mostly have to do with fellow students, a handful of truly caring counselors and teachers and very little to do with the program itself.
Having witnessed first hand the abuses staff heaped on the students from malice, a lack of education, a lack of experience, too little supervision, perversion and a host of other reasons I can say that I think the school closing was both bound to happen sooner or later and a fitting end to a program that had gotten away from it's original intent.
As to the Cascade Survivors site - to watch it grow (exponentially) and change since what it started out as in 2000 has been a long and interesting ride. Everyone has different opinions on the program, all of which are welcome there. Since the purpose of the site has evolved into a place to reconnect with former peers and make friends with alumni from other grad years more than anything else, abusive posts get moderated.
We encourage discussion about the program, although there will always be at least one person who is very "rah rah" about it all and will be offended by a dissenting view - it happens. As long as the posts, both for and against the program, are not abusive to the site members my moderating theory is that people should be grown ups and accept a difference of opinion. The minute a post crosses the line of civility, we speak up. There are other forums around where you can be as vitriolic as you wish about your thoughts and feelings on the program - in fact this seems to be one of them.
Long and short, don't assume what someone feels about their experience or call them out online anonymously just because they know how to talk about something in a constructive way.
We ALL have friends we mourn who were damaged physcially or mentally by the program. And we all know a few who were genuinely helped by it, in spite of its flaws.
Leslie Poston '89