I?m going to start off by apologizing for the fact this is so long!
From what I?ve read on other programs similar to SRS, they all seem to get you there about the same way. Either they send large men into your room in the middle of the night with handcuffs, or parents tricked you into entering the ?ranch? willingly. Fortunately, I was tricked. But I saw many people dragged in the hard way. What always got me was that staff could get top level ?students? to help out on these kidnapping raids. I don?t think there was much we wouldn?t have done for some time away from the ranch!
As of 1998, the program worked like this: Once you were there, you were immediately taken to a private office and told you would not be going home for a long time. You are then strip searched (this included a game of ?squat & cough?) by same-sex staff members to ensure that you don?t have anything considered ?contraband.? I was not told that evening why I was there. Your belongings are then searched & you are given only what they deem fit. (When I arrived, we were still allowed our own clothing as long as it was nothing too showy or inappropriate. But a few weeks before I left, they had switched to a uniform.) You are then assigned a counselor. Don?t confuse this with a psychologist! Counselors are nice terms for the babysitter you will have for the rest of your time there. You hang out with them until it?s bedtime. For your first few nights (I?d like to say a week, but I can?t honestly remember.), you have to sleep in the lodge. The lodge is simply a giant multi-use room. You eat, hang out, have meetings there, and if you are a new (or a level 1) you sleep there on rock hard window seats. The night staff is in there at all times to make sure you aren?t going anywhere. On Saturday or Sunday morning, you will be woken up at 6am to watch the level 1?s do workout for 3 hours. Workout included dozens of pushup, sit-ups, and jumping jack; along with running and other exercises. I?ve heard several of the staff members proudly announce that they want at least one person to throw up at each workout. Otherwise they aren?t pushing you hard enough! You don?t have to participate, just watch. The whole point of this is to make sure you understand that you don?t want to have to do this. After workout, the level 1?s eat breakfast (you?ll eat with them today) and get ready for their hike. Of course this wouldn?t be a workout if it weren?t a TEN MILE HIKE! Sometimes including a hike up ?Hogs Back? which is a mountain that is incredibly steep. Oh! And you?ll be doing this in a straight line, one right after the other, fastest person first, and the last person better keep up! (This hike varies from week to week, depending on what kind of mood the staff is in and how the group did in workout. Weather rarely changes the hike. Rain, two feet of snow, searing heat? doesn?t matter! The truck has heat & AC!) You?ll ride with the men in charge of workout in a truck, just to make sure you know what you?ll be doing if you are bad! After that week you get your own bed in a cabin. There are several cabins ranging in size from 4 beds to 8, most with shared rooms with at least one other person. You?ll start school on the first available weekday.
6 Level System: When you arrive your on level 2. You?ll be there for a few weeks (I think 6-8) assuming you get enough points to maintain the required percentage. Points are awarded & removed for several things, such as attitude, chores, grades, and punctuality. You will have no phone calls, letters, or packages for 3 weeks. After that your counselor would control the frequency of these things, always with a watchful eye to ensure they were only coming from your parents. Should your points fall below level 2 range, you?ll be a level 1. Meaning that you will have to do workout & sleep in the lodge. You?ll get no phone calls or letters and every afternoon you?ll do some awful chore. My favorite? Shoveling bull shit. No kidding. Actual shit from a bull. (And you thought that staff would be the only ones shoveling bullshit!) It would be up to your knees, which is ok because they give you waders or something right? NOPE! You have to ruin your own shoes! And socks? and pants? not to mention your self-esteem when the higher levels are told they are entitled to watch! The lowest level possible is orange. You get a lovely day glow jumper and get to sit in a field all day, even during school. Don?t worry about the weather! Freezing in the snow & scalding in the heat is part of the punishment! You are given water in a jug and someone brings out small meals (PB&J sandwiches mostly) throughout the day. You?ll do workout too! You will have NO rights at orange or level 1. Stay above 2 & you are for the most part ok. You get more freedom as you go higher, sometimes being able to live off campus with a family.
I would hesitate to say that they were physically abusive, only because I never personally saw it. There were, however, plenty of stories. I?ve seen them restrain people in ways that left bruises, but never saw them hit anyone. Physically degrading? Definitely. (Try being a 16 yr old girl with a large chest having to do jumping jack in front of a room full of boys without a sports bra! Start your period halfway through workout? Tough! You can wait! Or you could have the owner telling you how much weight you?ve lost in front of those same boys! He thinks 20lbs! More like 5lbs, but that just makes you feel HUGE, yet tiny inside.) Mentally? You better believe it! They have 2 types of psychologists; one is a shrink, the other is a doctor who gives out the meds. You?ll see your shrink a few times a month for 30-45 minutes. The doctor is there once every 4 months. They have a fun little game to play with your head too! The doctor tells you that you are there because your parent?s don?t know how to be parents so they have to pawn you off on the Sorenson?s. The shrink says you are there because you are bad & that you need to learn to get along with your parents (who are perfect). You learn to do this by having lots of therapy with your parents, right? No, it?s just you. But you do get to talk to them for 10 minutes a week? with your counselor listening. Your parents can come out to visit you after 3 months for an off campus visit. They can take you to some seedy motel in the nearest town for the night. That way you can enjoy some pizza and show them how much you?ve improved! After 6 months, you can go home for a visit for up to two weeks. On this visit, all of SRS?s rules apply and breaking one gets you docked points. This apparently helps them judge how your therapy is going.
As I said before, if you stay level 2 or higher you will be fine. The problem lies in the fact that they won?t let you do that. My counselor put me down at level 1 after returning from my home visit. My mother had told her that she was missing a pair of earrings and she felt I had taken them. After going through everything I owned the second I stepped off the plane and finding nothing, she determined that I still had them. Even when I swore that I did not, she put me at level 1. After 2 weeks of being a level 1, my mother found the earrings under the couch right near where she remembered last seeing them. When she told my counselor & me, I asked for an apology from my mother. I felt I deserved that. I also wanted to be taken off level 1 and returned to level 6 (the highest level) like I was before my home visit. This got me another 4 weeks of level 1. A week later, during a hike (in the snow) I got so cold & tired that I refused to go any further. I understood that would buy me an additional 2 weeks, but it was worth it at the time. Once back, I went off to the shower & overheard 3 girls talking about the ?fat cow? that quit the hike. (I?d like to point out that I was 140lbs? not considered fat!) But I was really hurt. My counselor found me crying in my room later that night & when I told her why she demanded that I tell the director at once! So the next morning I go in to see him. After telling him my story he demanded to know why I was lying. I was obviously outraged and told him that I was not lying. Why would I lie about that? He told me I had to apologize to the girls, or be level orange. I?m a girl of principle & felt that I should not have to apologize to them for making me feel like crap. I hoped that he would see my determination and change his mind. It got me 2 weeks of level orange and 4 more of level 1. Six months later, when I was back at level 6 and as I was leaving for home he says to me ?You?ve come a long way since lying about those girls! You know the last few months would have been easier if you?d just apologized!? They did this to every person who didn't make it to level 1 at least once in the first 6 months. I was not alone. I had been warned that they do this, but I trusted my counselor.
Why was I there: Good question! When you find out, let me know! I was told it was because my mom felt I was doing drugs, drinking, and having sex. She said was also climbing out my second story window to meet with boys. Here?s my problems with that: 1) I didn?t live with her? we lived in separate states. 2) I lived on the first floor in an apartment. 3) I?d never drunk anything other then the wine coolers she gave me. 3) I have still never touched so much as a cigarette, let alone a drug. I don?t even like taking my heart medication that I have to take to stay alive! 4) I was a virgin. So this was my crime: I was 15 and miserable in Portland and wanted to move back to California with my mom. And I was 5?5? and 140lbs. Basically I got sent to fat camp, without being fat. Don?t these schools look at anything before they accept you?
How did I get out: A Mormon family owns SRS. The principal is the Pastor at the only church in town. They don?t force you to convert, but they make it harder for you if you resist. Jewelry is not allowed? except for the ?Choose The Right? rings. Start going to church and they stop attacking you. You can zone the whole thing out, but you go, and they instantly treat you better. Start pretending like you know how bad you are, and that you are working hard to change. Start acting like they are helping you! You?ll be out in less time. Just lie to them. Lose all the morals you had & accept theirs. A friend of mine did this and was out in 6 months? I learned the hard way.
The good things: I graduated high school when I was 16, but since we spent $45,000 on a year there, I couldn?t afford to go to UCLA when I got accepted. I learned not to let people walk all over me, especially my mother. And I learned that I could conquer a huge mountain. Oh yeah! And that kissing ass and manipulating people works! Life lessons I won?t charge you a dime for!