Prostitution + cocaine addiction at 13? Those sound like serious problems.
Where are you from and do you think your parents had "problems" or "issues" that may have contributed to your juvenile delinquency?
Maybe you just needed a change of environment to clear your head.
Attempting suicide is quite serious, and anyone who does such a thing should receive medical evaluation and treatment by proper professionals. Ivy Ridge seems to promote itself as being a school, not a medical treatment facility. Did you receive professional therapy there? or see a psychiatrist?
The fact is that most kids who get sent to places like Ivy Ridge and Provo Canyon School were never really in danger of being "deadorinjail", or even institutionalized. -
My parents enrolled me in Provo Canyon School only after our local psychiatric hospitals refused to admit me as an inpatient- 3 different times! I was not suicidal, nor homicidal, nor in a state of psychosis.
The doctors in the admissions office recommended therapy for all involved. After a few months, when our therapist suggested that my parents should take SOME responsibility for the drama at home, well, my parents had had just about enough of her!
They found out about Provo Canyon School from a very sick man- Dr. Richard Schwartz (formerly of Virginia Straight).
Provo Canyon admitted me- no questions asked.
At PCS, everyone asks you "Why are you here?". I would always say "Family problems". Now I understand why this answer evoked such puzzled looks from all who asked.
