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CEDU / Brown Schools and derivatives / clones / Former CEDU Therapist
« on: January 12, 2006, 06:07:00 PM »
You underscore my point that most the 'therapists' at CEDU schools, (my experience was with RMA) appear to have been well-intentioned. But when you are using powerful psychological technology, you have to be more than merely well-intentioned; you have to be well-trained. I daresay that a B.S. in Psych and a few employer sponsored seminars doesn't cut it.
Respectfully, had you been thinking critically instead of emotively, you may have seen some red flags. What you should have known is that negative reinforcement is not that effective, and that 'tearing a person down' (an often used phrase at RMA)is controversial at best, especially when coercion is involved.
This having been said, I am willing to apply the same standards to myself that I would apply to you; when I read testimonials by people who claim to have suffered damage, or when I hear them map present emotional difficulties to their stay at a CEDU school, I consider the possibility that the simple relationship they see may in fact be more complex. By the time a child is 14, a lot of groundwork has already been laid, character formation is well underway, and events may or may not have the long-term impact that is routinely claimed. To be blunt: For every person who suffered real damage, there may be another who has found a convenient way to dodge responsibility. There is an element of self-aggrandizement evident in some posts which leads me to conclude that there are some elements of a story which have been omitted, consciously or unconsiously.
Lastly, claims of damage or abuse aside, there is a serious issue of misrepresentation that appears to be quite well documented. I don't think most of the parents knew what was really going on; when they found out, they displayed a consistent pattern of pulling their kids.
In my stay at RMA, I did witness and experience what I would call verbal and emotional abuse, which came dangerously close to physical. My diary from my stay is a classic chronicle of sa person attempting to withstand the lies which were being foist upon them. I never 'got with' the program, I was hammered in rap regularly, I was on ban from pretty much everyone, and mercifully, I did not 'graduate', so any damage I sustained was probably minimal. Others' mileage doubtlessly varies.
Bridget
Tacoma, WA
Respectfully, had you been thinking critically instead of emotively, you may have seen some red flags. What you should have known is that negative reinforcement is not that effective, and that 'tearing a person down' (an often used phrase at RMA)is controversial at best, especially when coercion is involved.
This having been said, I am willing to apply the same standards to myself that I would apply to you; when I read testimonials by people who claim to have suffered damage, or when I hear them map present emotional difficulties to their stay at a CEDU school, I consider the possibility that the simple relationship they see may in fact be more complex. By the time a child is 14, a lot of groundwork has already been laid, character formation is well underway, and events may or may not have the long-term impact that is routinely claimed. To be blunt: For every person who suffered real damage, there may be another who has found a convenient way to dodge responsibility. There is an element of self-aggrandizement evident in some posts which leads me to conclude that there are some elements of a story which have been omitted, consciously or unconsiously.
Lastly, claims of damage or abuse aside, there is a serious issue of misrepresentation that appears to be quite well documented. I don't think most of the parents knew what was really going on; when they found out, they displayed a consistent pattern of pulling their kids.
In my stay at RMA, I did witness and experience what I would call verbal and emotional abuse, which came dangerously close to physical. My diary from my stay is a classic chronicle of sa person attempting to withstand the lies which were being foist upon them. I never 'got with' the program, I was hammered in rap regularly, I was on ban from pretty much everyone, and mercifully, I did not 'graduate', so any damage I sustained was probably minimal. Others' mileage doubtlessly varies.
Bridget
Tacoma, WA