Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Badpuppy

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 9
1
World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS) / NYRA Forums
« on: June 30, 2006, 05:08:00 PM »
Quote
On 2006-06-30 11:28:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Wow, read this guy's story:



Introduction



Hello! My name is Sean. I stumbled upon this site through Google because I wanted to share my personal experience being in a residential treatment facility and experiences with a psychologist who specializes in behavior modification.



A little about myself. Today, I am 35 years old, currently on permanent disability, who now has been properly diagnosed with PTSD and major depression. Had I been properly diagnosed long ago, there would be no need for this message today.



How it all started:



When I was 3 years old, I was adopted by my grandparents because my mom was not currently working and she was in the process of a divorce with my biological father. As I got older, on the block where I lived, there was no kids who lived on that block, let alone the same street I was on. So basically, all of my life, I was around older people, and could not relate to kids my own age.



When I was sent away:



In 1980, I was 9 and in the fourth grade at the time. The committee at my home school voted unanimously to send me to a residential treatment center called the Hannah Neil Center for Children. Ironically my fourth grade teacher was one of those who was active on the committee at that time ...



(YOU CAN READ THE REST BY CLICKING THE LINK TO NYRA)



Very powerful shit, sounds like the Straight and The Seed, same kind of "re-education" bullshit."


I have been through this with this guy and he obviously confabulating. Read the whole thread. School systems do not operate the way he claims they do. His story impugns the credability of the legitimate victims.

2
World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS) / Parents Sue WWASPS . Read Complaint Here
« on: June 30, 2006, 04:54:00 PM »
The fee for a lot of litigation are based on a contingency. But they are still expensive out of pocket to the clients because expenses in a major trial can be high. I beclieve David Pollacks suit was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds. A lot of good suits will never get on board because the parents will be put on trial and investigated. They have potential liability and might be found negligent. Not a lawyer.

3
The Troubled Teen Industry / Academy at Swift River - Information Needed - IMPORTANT
« on: June 30, 2006, 04:01:00 PM »
Quote
On 2006-06-28 05:25:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Gargling milk,

                 Therapists at home are totally unprepared or able to deal with the problems of troubled youths.
"


You say this based on what? This is what they do for a living. And you do have an investment in poselytizing for the school. It is at the very least, called cognitive dissonance.

4
The Troubled Teen Industry / Marathon Workshops
« on: June 30, 2006, 02:25:00 PM »
Quote
On 2006-06-28 04:27:00, Three Springs Waygookin wrote:

"To give the kids a fighting chance I sure as hell would not send them to Three Springs.



Look its like this in Florida most people do not realize that the contract facilities(private companies under DJJ contract) are some of the most heavily regulated in the country.



Yet somehow Martin Anderson was still beat to death. Some kid just died from strep throat at a DJJ contract Outward bound facility, and by my own witness I saw just how easy it was to bend the laws and regulations in favor of the program.



You keep saying you want to reform these facilities. I say ban them all as I promise you there is just no long term promises that can be made regarding the safety of youth in these programs. I used to be a big fan of Eckerd Youth Alternatives as I worked for them as a wilderness counselor for two years.



There they have weekly uninterupted phone calls, uncensored mail, each group has its own teacher, group treatment coordinator, and an on facility nurse.



Ok this is all nice and juicy. Even better a resident has the right to call the abuse hotline at any time of the day or night. He can also file a grievance in a locked box that can only be opened by a program director. These grievances recieve immediate attention and are logged in a file for DJJ auditors to review.



The food is relatively decent, and the counselors recieve better than average training for a program that is kept basic and streamlined.



Sounds good?



 :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:





Man the shit that went down in that place was unbelievable. Group's rioting and beating the hell out of their group  members. A counselor went nuts and had to be fired for nearly attacking a resident. Master counselors, supervisors, restraining kids for cursing in huddles.



Despite the supervision of the State of Florida and I promise at the time it was fairly heavy. DJJ auditors do not eff around in anyway when they go through a program in the state of florida. Despite all of this abuses still happened on a regular basis as the power to bend the laws in the favor of staff still exists, and always will exist no matter what pencil dick laws get passed.



Ban all the damn TBS programs. Send mental health kids to mental health treatment programs not friggin BM warehouses.



The drug war places Leo in a round room and instructs him to piss in a corner.
--Antigen

"


How are kids hurt by regulation, inspection, and standards? Sure situations occur. But their is a greater burden to cover-up and bend a rule, than if the standards are not their at all.[ This Message was edited by: Badpuppy on 2006-06-30 11:26 ]

5
The Troubled Teen Industry / Struggling Teens or Struggling Parents???
« on: June 27, 2006, 05:05:00 PM »
Quote
On 2006-06-07 12:43:00, Anonymous wrote:

"I know he can't go to a casino, but he seems to think he can at age 18, and his friend at age 19, so we will go, and they will find out the hard way that they won't be able to get in, so then we will go see a movie instead.  No I do not want to take him to a casino, no, I know he won't get in, and yes, I am not stupid, or brain dead. and yes, I know he has had in the past and probably still does, a gambling problem.  He is 18, and wants to go, make his own decisions, so he will make this decision, and find out he can't go there.  I am not as stupid as you may think.  "

Leslie, you know he has a gambling problem. Why would enable him? Going to Las Vegas of all places is lunacy. Why not drive him to to the the local drug dealer to see he can be served?

6
The Troubled Teen Industry / Academy at Swift River - Information Needed - IMPORTANT
« on: June 24, 2006, 05:56:00 PM »
Quote

On 2006-06-22 15:11:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Boredom on the weekends is definitely worse in the winter when we are cooped up, but we do offer ski/ snowboarding club, snow shoeing, crafts, use of our indoor athletic facilities and indoor climbing wall.  In the summer we send kids outside a lot and try to have a lot of organized sports and activities.  As I'm sure you know, it can be difficult to get teens excited about participating in group events-  many complain and perfer to do their own thing.  Once they are pushed to try something new, they often love it.  So it's a bit of a push pull.  If we had more money or bigger vans, we could get more kids off campus, volunteering, visiting museums and other cultural spots, bring more varied performers to ASR, etc.  



We have not had a kid try to run away in at least 6 months.  We are taking much "softer" kids than we did a few year back, and they are generally more compliant and less out of control.  So they are more apt to talk things through with staff instead of trying to run.  We do not confront as hard as we used to.  We give kids more healthy outlets for their frustration than we used to.  



I would say that most kids adapt well to our environment and are happy on a daily basis.  I often see kids laughing and participating in fun events, yet then go into a phone call with their parents and talk about how much they hate ASR.  I wish I had a videotape to show the parents that life at ASR is a pretty fun, very safe place.  Once kids make it thru the halfway point, they usually can admit that they are making great friendships and love most of the staff.   Of course, there are always a couple kids who cannot adapt and are abnormally unhappy at ASR, and usually they move onto other places before long."
[/quote

Your notion that kids are happy on daily basis is refuted by the test results in the Shapiro study. And BTW, the kids did not leave their or waive their first amendment rights because ASR does not have a fence.  You say that ASR is taking softer kids. This assessment is based on exactly what?  If they are softer why do they need to be in residential treatment?[ This Message was edited by: Badpuppy on 2006-06-24 15:07 ]

7
The Troubled Teen Industry / Academy at Swift River - Information Needed - IMPORTANT
« on: June 22, 2006, 10:31:00 AM »
Quote
On 2006-06-21 22:36:00, Anonymous wrote:

""Letters from kids to parents are read pretty thoroughly in the first part of the program because kids can be really hurtful and disrespectful.  Most are very angry at their parents for sending them away or for situations at home.  We try to support them and guide them as they begin to take these issues on and learn to trust their family again.  We do not censor the letters for content unless they are really out of control-  in that case we would teach the student about effective communication and try to help them re-write the letter in a more productive way."



Do they learn to "trust" their family again because that family had done something (intensive family thereapy for instance) to deserve that trust? because without a clear understanding of WHY they don't trust their family they are just being set up for failure.  They go and trust, open themselves up to that family when they go home and get retraumatized so to focus on the child trusting the family without exploring the reason for that distrust and a meaningful change on the part of everyone it is just bogus.  In fact it is worse for the child because they no longer have the pretection of the defenses they have built up and some kids come from some pretty sick families.



If you don't censor for content why even read the mail at all?  "


You do understand that reading mail to parents is illegal. Kids substantial liberty interests cannot be waived by a contract. What happens if a kid is being abused? You are not looking to protect anyone except your economic interest.

8
The Ridge Creek School / Hidden Lake Academy / Vulcan Challenge - Fire Element
« on: June 12, 2006, 01:06:00 PM »
Quote
On 2006-06-09 11:44:00, Anonymous wrote:

"
Quote

On 2006-06-09 05:59:00, Dysfunction Junction wrote:


"http://www.uia.net/~messiah7/brk_fringepsych.htm





"Attack therapy is an outgrowth of ventilation therapy. Here the patient becomes the subject of verbal abuse, denunciation, and humiliation. This assault may come either from the therapist in individual session, or from peers in a group context.... As one critic put it, 'Tact is "out" and brutal frankness is "in." Any phony, defensive or evasive behavior... is fair game for... critique and verbal attack."





Sitting on the hot seat and verbal confrontation emerged from "human potential" centers, and were used extensively in LGATs:





"Another variant of the confrontation therapies appeared in the commercially sold large group awareness training programs such as Mind Dynamics... and Lifespring..... Marketed to individuals, organizations, and business and industry as experiential education, they typically use powerful psychological and social influence techniques, not always bringing about the advertised claims of success and profit to the buyer, and sometimes bringing psychological distress to the clients" (Pp. 113-114).





It is noteworthy to mention that every single program that uses "seminars," "propheets," "marathons," "workshops" - call them what you will - employs harmful derivations of the Lifespring LGATs, a concept that was completely discredited by mental health professionals decades ago.





Quote


Also, do you see confrontation and skillfull challenging as the same thing in therapy?







No trained therapist would view these two concepts as similar.

"




Though I agree with some of the things stated in this paper, it is not a scientific study as much as it is an opinion.  Again, I think(and this is just my opinion, not scientific) these exercises can be either good or bad depending on the professional that is facilitating them.  It is not the type of therapy as much as it is the ones facilitating it.  This brings us back to the point that Len Buccellato will never spend the money it will take, nor create the type of healthy work environment it will take, to attract and keep people that can effectively pull off this type of therapy."


Artificially manufactured attacks, where an attack is part of an encounter exercise is inappropriate for incarcerated juveniles. Juveniles attack each other enough in group encounters without having to make a game of it. What they need to develop is emphathy, compassion and support for each other. It is in fact TACT that they need to learn. They need to learn a skill set that allows them to give and recieve criticism without alienating their social and business relationships. They need to learn how to pick up social cues without being hit by a blunt object. They need to learn how to experientially relate to the people in their social environment. They need to learn how to express vulnerability, and that vulerability can be turned into a strenth. They need to learn the value of humor and self-deprication in expressing an idea. Attack exercises are counterproductive for the needs of this population. When you start playing attack games the group proccess itself becomes less real, and more distant-- in essence just another way to manipulate, con, and get over.

9
The Troubled Teen Industry / Wilderness program effectiveness
« on: June 11, 2006, 09:47:00 PM »
[

That is the funniest shit I've heard all day."
[/quote]

Why would you think that some kids wouldn't want to do this? They volunteer for much more physically demanding endeavors This wouldn't be for me when I was a "youngun", but their are freinds of mine who would have found this cool. Now whether or not it was anything more than a nice camping experience is another question.

10
The Troubled Teen Industry / Wilderness program effectiveness
« on: June 11, 2006, 09:16:00 PM »
The issue in medical and psychological treatment is that the burden of proof falls upon the one trying to establish treatment as effective. It has to be this way to safeguard the public from deleterious medical approaches and fraud. In the  case of TBS's there is an additional handicap in establishing effectiveness because the Surgeon General scrutinized the existing research and concluded that residential treatment is ineffective. The hole is much bigger. Practicioners don't have time to read every relevent unless it is in an area of their expertise,  and they will weigh  consensus from a generally unbiased source far more heavily. Any industry study is properly viewed with great suspicion. Any person conducting a study needs to have their study reviewed with a close eye twords particular affiliations. It doesn't mean that one automatically disreguards the outcome because of the source, but heavy caution and scrutiny needs to be used when you know the conductor of the research stands to gain from the outcome. [ This Message was edited by: Badpuppy on 2006-06-11 18:34 ]

11
The Troubled Teen Industry / Wilderness program effectiveness
« on: June 11, 2006, 06:12:00 PM »
To a great many urban and suburban dwellers there is nothing of any relevance in learning to survive in the wilderness. The closest to the wilderness we will ever be, is watching the Nature Channel on high definition. The survival skills we need are hailing taxis in the rain, spotting the good mechanics, finding the best housing bargains and navigating urban transit. That is what will build our confidence, self esteem, and locus of control. I am thinking about setting up an Outward Bound in San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, Fort Lauderdale, or Harvard Square in Boston. lol[ This Message was edited by: badpuppy on 2006-06-11 15:19 ]

12
The Troubled Teen Industry / Wilderness program effectiveness
« on: June 11, 2006, 02:24:00 PM »
If anything the Outward Bound Program bolsters the arguement that when kids are having fun they are lot easier to connect to. Voluntary complance is a very powerful ethical and practical distinction. It actually is run more like a teen summer camp, than a Wilderness Therapy program. Interestingly enough, they manage to run their program without food deprivation, forced physical labor, or exercise used as torture to break kids. This program really doesn't belong in the typical Wilderness Therapy Class.

The typical use of a WT program is to make kids compliant so they will be more manageable in residential treatment. I believe 80% of the kids are being sent away after wilderness.

There is also the issue of the lack of oversight, standards of care, and fraudulant marketing. Most parents are clueless about credentialization and the deception of this industry makes choosing a total crapshoot.

Then there is the issue of cost-effectiveness. $20,000 buys twice a week therapy with an experienced professional for two years. Is Wilderness Therapy really the most judicious choice?  PLS HELP and DJ, the points you made are excellent

13
The Troubled Teen Industry / Wilderness program effectiveness
« on: June 10, 2006, 09:37:00 PM »
Quote
On 2006-06-10 14:38:00, Anonymous wrote:

"From the Journal of Child and Adolescent Group Therapy, vol. 10, no. 1, published in 2000, and likely written a bit (as it usually takes time to get articles accepted into such journals) ...



The national rate of recidivism for an adolescent placed in an institution for rehabilitation is 65% (Pommier and Witt 1995). Because this rate is so high, the mental health and judicial systems are interested in treatment and rehabilitation alternatives that can produce lower rates of recidivism. For this reason, the studies that evaluate the ef?cacy of adventure therapy programs have looked mainly at the issue of recidivism along with the many factors such as self esteem or locus of control that contribute to lower rates of recidivism. As a result, the small group interpersonal interactions that characterize adventure therapy, and directly contribute to it?s positive effects, have been overshadowed by rates of recidivism and data from clinical scales.



In some cases the literature provides only blanket statements such as, ?Across  the board these programs seem to be successful.  . . . we see lowered rates of recidivism,? (Golins, 1978, p. 26). However, such anecdotal responses can usually be backed up with evidence from empirical studies. Kelley and Baer (Wright, 1983) conducted a thorough and respected study in this area, involving 120 adolescent offenders. The treatment group participated in a twenty-six day therapeutic Outward Bound course and the control group received the routine treatment of institutionalization or parole (Wright, 1983). Nine-months following treatment, they found that only 20% of the treatment group in comparison to 34% of the control group had recidivated. At the one year mark, the treatment group?s rate of recidivism held at 20% whereas the control group?s had risen to 42%. In their long term follow-up, ?ve years after the experiment, 38% percent of the treatment group had recidivated in comparison to 58% of the control group (Wright, 1983).



Adams (Berman and Berman, 1989) found similar results with an adolescent inpatient psychiatric population. His follow-up study was conducted twenty-eight months after the treatment group had participated in a thirty day wilderness program, and the control group had participated in the standard hospital program. He found that those in the wilderness program had a recidivism rate which was 15% less than those in the standard program (Berman and Berman, 1989). These studies show that adventure therapy in a wilderness setting is not a panacea for this population, yet at the same time they demonstrate that adventure therapy consistently and signi?cantly proves to be more effective than the routine treatment of these adolescents.







Also ... Wright (1983) evaluated the effects of a

twenty-six day adventure therapy program on the self-esteem, self-ef?cacy, locus

of control, and problem solving skills of delinquent adolescents. Through the

use of quantitative and empirical measures he found that the 21 participants in

the treatment group showed statistically signi?cant increases in self-esteem, self-

ef?cacy, and internality (locus of control) in comparison to the 26 adolescents in

the control group (Wright, 1983).









"


I would like to locate and read the studies. I would like to know the sample size an the Adams study. It is likely that the treatment group was not as ill as the control group. 15% is not much of a difference in a small sample size. Was this voluntary compliance? If it was, the differance could be the motivation of the patients?  How well were the subjects matched? It is exceeding unlikely that a wilderness therapy program any effect on psychiatric hospitalization. What was the standard program? Did the same therapists treat the treatment group and control group? Were the medications and diagnoses matched? What care was given after the standard post hospitalization care? Was there a differance in family support and parenting skills? Did socioeconomic status or I.Q. affect the results?

In the Kelley and Baer Study without looking at it, we have a skewed population because part of the control group was institutionalized. You have more conduct disorder and anti-social personality disorder in the control group. Poorer outcomes to be expected. Let me see if I can find this study online without going to a research library.[ This Message was edited by: Badpuppy on 2006-06-11 14:37 ]

14
The Troubled Teen Industry / Struggling Teens or Struggling Parents???
« on: June 06, 2006, 05:33:00 PM »
He is better off not living with you. Dorms are cool places. Don't get too nosey. Work on your tendency to hysteria. Ask questions in his comfort zone. Grades, who he's seeing, what professional aspirations he has, etc. Take everything he says with a grain of salt. His personal habits are no longer in front of you. Lots of things happen on college campuses you don't need to know about. Get therapy and learn how to give him help, what to help him with, and what I want you to deny him. If your current relationship lasts, the odds are that your son will meet him sooner or later assuming he is not abusing you. This period requires a different set of parenting skills than when he was living with you. You both need to let go.

15
The Troubled Teen Industry / Struggling Teens or Struggling Parents???
« on: June 05, 2006, 08:20:00 PM »
Quote
On 2006-06-05 10:59:00, Anonymous wrote:

"I will tell you for the last time. My son and my new boyfriend will never meet.  My son tells me that he cannot come home because of what he did before he left.  There must be a lot of angry people here who are out to get him, as my son has told me. "


You will be a parent until the day you die, and in death you can teach your son something important about life. You screwed up the first eighteen years, but you still probably have another 30 left. Life is a long time. Set an example for him by working on your problems. If you become a better person, it will help him become a bettter person. Take a long term view. I strongly suspect your son is not done with royally screwing up. But if you take a long term view the odds are pretty good that it will come out fine in the end.  But be prepared to wait 10 years.

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 9