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Messages - Carlbrook Graduate

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The Troubled Teen Industry / Carlbrook
« on: May 27, 2006, 05:49:00 AM »
What happened to this forum?  I used to come here to actually talk to people and give them my personal experiences with this school as well having a place to maybe get something done.  Everyone has gotten carried away with the whole Karen bullshit and you can't find anything of value without sifting through pages of incoherent posts rambling on about this parent named Karen.  As someone who takes 2 seconds to actually think about the situation, I can't believe that people are still carrying on with this after 4-5 months.  Let's get back on track and actually give people who want to know about Carlbrook a chance to find out.  The truth from people who've been there, people who both love and hate it.  If not, maybe someone should start a moderated forum somewhere else.

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The Troubled Teen Industry / Carlbrook
« on: February 07, 2006, 06:57:00 AM »
To the parent who sent me a PM- please send your e-mail again, I did know your son.  To the other person who went to Carlbrook on this forum- I don't know how you could've sat through a group and call that peer support.  15 people all yelling at their best friends about how their life is going downhill because they repeatedly don't tuck in their shirt.  Somehow this is brought up as a symptom of the greater problem, a teenager's non-conformity with a belief system that they just don't happen to believe in.  Having your best friends take your most personal things and throw them out at you in front of 15 people is supportive?  Getting yelled at more because of the simple fact that you don't feel like crying?  I witnessed that bullshit as well as being involved in it.  If you have a problem with someone or something that they're doing, how about you be the strong individual that Carlbrook speaks so much about and confront the person yourself?  When I even said something discounting the crazed group mentality, the bite of the beast would turn on me.  They would ask why I was so defiant, why I wasn't helping them "rail" this person, how I obviously didn't care.  Tough Love?  I'm sorry, I didn't know that you show love to people by betraying their trust.  I wasn't aware that saying the most fucked up things you could ever say to somebody shows that you love them that much more.  Any of you readers who have never experienced a Group Therapy session, I suggest you read Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.  It's about as accurate a representation as you will ever find on how ridiculous these sessions are.  Under the guise of creating a stronger individual, they strip you of your individuality, making you conform to what they want.  Start thinking for yourself and stop repeating the mantras that have been embedded in your heads.  You work harder to sell the institution than they do.  Who are you trying to prove that it's good to?  Why do you care what a bunch of people on a message board that's mostly anti-RTC have to say?  If you don't weigh both sides of the equation, you can't give an honest opinion.[ This Message was edited by: Carlbrook Graduate on 2006-02-07 04:00 ]

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The Troubled Teen Industry / Carlbrook
« on: February 03, 2006, 02:27:00 AM »
I understand what selfish parent is saying, but I disagree.  Personally, I loved the wilderness.  I was told I should've graduated within 4 weeks but my parents didn't decide what they wanted me to do, so I was out there for close to 2 months.  Honestly, something like that was good for me.  I made a lot of changes.  2 months away from what I was doing was great for me.  Not 2 years.  You don't know whether or not your child would've grown out of it within 2 years.  A lot of the people who went through there still haven't changed a bit.  Is the failure or success a reflection on the program or is it a reflection on their maturation process?  You have to want to change no matter where you are, whether it's a rehab or therapeutic boarding school.  Eventually you're going to realize you want to change or you don't.  If you do, you make the effort to do so yourself.  You make all the changes yourself.  You make all the choices. BTW, I know a lot of families who were forced to sell their houses in order to send their children to Carlbrook.  Don't you think that if they really cared for the well-being of the students and their families they'd have a financial aid program?  How can a company claim to, and in the words of many Carlbrook staff, "be in the business of helping people" and then tell a family they need to come up with the money no matter what the cost to their lives?[ This Message was edited by: Carlbrook Graduate on 2006-02-02 23:43 ]

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The Troubled Teen Industry / Carlbrook
« on: February 01, 2006, 08:58:00 PM »
Nope, wasn't me.  Hearing about that surprised the shit out of me though, he was a nice kid.  He had a nice life too, nice car, the works.

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The Troubled Teen Industry / Carlbrook
« on: February 01, 2006, 05:09:00 AM »
Ha.  You don't think I went to Carlbrook?  Ask me anything you wish kind sir.  Integritas, Amicitia, Animus, Teneo, Veneratio?  Who's your hero?  What about your truth?  Or how about your superhero?  No, I know, what's your lie?  What about your nightmare?  How about you go do some bioenergetics?  Go listen to your fucking Mike and the Mechanics, or do you not remember the song it's not easy?  I don't know who you are and I honestly don't care.  I speak from my experiences and I don't speak for anybody but myself.  I say what I saw with my eyes during my incarceration.  Yes, I said incarceration.  What else do you call a place that the staff is able to withhold and monitor all your communications with family and friends?  Where you are monitored by security at night and every window and door has an alarm?  Don't try to discredit me because you can't believe the truth.

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The Troubled Teen Industry / Carlbrook
« on: January 24, 2006, 12:34:00 AM »
It's funny how most of the things being brought up in this forum are things I myself brought up while at Carlbrook... to parents who may send your children to these schools, I challenge you to take the time to do the research on the negative aspects of these programs.  The workshops they use (another name for LGAT) have no long-term psychological benefit.  In fact, many LGATs have induced psychotic breakdowns.  They try to piss you off as much as possible, then make you break down and cry.  They are a school.  They make large sums of money.  Do the math.  There are over 100 kids at this school.  Each student pays over 100,000 for a 16 month program.  Many great regular boarding schools charge this much for about 4 years of school.  The average staff member does not make a lot of money.  When I was there, they crammed 5 people in a dorm room originally meant for 2 people, yet continued to state that they weren't about the money.

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