Comments wanted about BRAT CAMP

[Anonymous]

Hi Everybody ...

As a long time critic of the privatized OBH (outdoor behavioral healthcare) industry, I do not believe ABC is presenting a "realistic" picture of the inherent risk these programs present to the safety and well-being of the children who participate in them.

In particular, I am very concerned that parents who watch this show will be lulled into a false sense of security that these programs are a safe and viable treatment modality when in fact, there are fatalities that tell a much different and tragic story. (e.g. see impact statements written by the parents of Michelle Sutton, Ian August and Aaron Bacon)

Please sign the TAUSA guestbook if you would like to share your thoughts and feelings relative to BRAT CAMP and in general, the for-profit teen help industry.  

http://www.teenadvocatesusa.org/foreveryoung.html

T.I.A.

Barbe Stamps
Founder
Teen Advocates USA

[Anonymous]

You people still don't get it...this site is just about preaching to the choir....people out in the world just think you have a wierd obsession with boarding schools or are against parental discipline and control completely

Teen Advocate and Isaic's List or whatever the hell it's called are just front organizations undermining parental decision-making when kids get off track. They trump up everything and if some isolated tragedy does happen they try to exaggerate and lie about that as much as they can too

BTW, one big reason kids get off track is that the kind of people who post here and who involve themselves with these front groups try to get a message out in society that kids should not listen to parents...they should drug and booze and whore it up and never ever be responsible...and oh no, they're being victimized again because their parents tried to put them some place away from their bad habits

So I for one don't believe a thing that comes out of the mouths of losers who are part of the anti-therapeutic boarding-school/wilderness-industry: that would include YOU

Good news is the society has gone beyond you trouble makers, I predict these reality shcws will lead to waiting lists at the existing programs and the creation of many, many more

[Anonymous]

They trump up everything and if some isolated tragedy does happen they try to exaggerate and lie about that as much as they can too

It's a bit difficult to exaggerate about kids dying.

BTW, one big reason kids get off track is that the kind of people who post here and who involve themselves with these front groups try to get a message out in society that kids should not listen to parents...they should drug and booze and whore it up and never ever be responsible

Yes, that's the message most reasonable level-headed people would get from the Teen Advocates website.   :roll:

[Anonymous]

On 2005-07-18 08:01:00, Anonymous wrote:

"You people still don't get it...this site is just about preaching to the choir....people out in the world just think you have a wierd obsession with boarding schools or are against parental discipline and control completely



Teen Advocate and Isaic's List or whatever the hell it's called are just front organizations undermining parental decision-making when kids get off track. They trump up everything and if some isolated tragedy does happen they try to exaggerate and lie about that as much as they can too



BTW, one big reason kids get off track is that the kind of people who post here and who involve themselves with these front groups try to get a message out in society that kids should not listen to parents...they should drug and booze and whore it up and never ever be responsible...and oh no, they're being victimized again because their parents tried to put them some place away from their bad habits



So I for one don't believe a thing that comes out of the mouths of losers who are part of the anti-therapeutic boarding-school/wilderness-industry: that would include YOU



Good news is the society has gone beyond you trouble makers, I predict these reality shcws will lead to waiting lists at the existing programs and the creation of many, many more"

 :rofl:  good one!

[webcrawler]

On 2005-07-18 08:01:00, Anonymous wrote:

"You people still don't get it...this site is just about preaching to the choir....people out in the world just think you have a wierd obsession with boarding schools or are against parental discipline and control completely



Teen Advocate and Isaic's List or whatever the hell it's called are just front organizations undermining parental decision-making when kids get off track. They trump up everything and if some isolated tragedy does happen they try to exaggerate and lie about that as much as they can too



BTW, one big reason kids get off track is that the kind of people who post here and who involve themselves with these front groups try to get a message out in society that kids should not listen to parents...they should drug and booze and whore it up and never ever be responsible...and oh no, they're being victimized again because their parents tried to put them some place away from their bad habits



So I for one don't believe a thing that comes out of the mouths of losers who are part of the anti-therapeutic boarding-school/wilderness-industry: that would include YOU



Good news is the society has gone beyond you trouble makers, I predict these reality shcws will lead to waiting lists at the existing programs and the creation of many, many more"

You're mistaken if you think parents have any control about what goes on behind closed doors at these places. They scare kids into not telling about bad things and they tell parents to not believe their kids if they say anything negative because it's just a ploy of manipulation to leave.

If you want anyone to listen to your side perhaps you should stop your personal attacks by saying people here are losers. BTW maybe you should post your name since you are so tuff and all posting on here non-stop attacking people.

If we are only speaking to the choir as you say please explain why you are here. Either you are worried parents will come here and change their mind about locking their kids away or you are here to emotionally abuse people that have had traumatic exps. Hell, maybe it's both.

A lot of people come to this board to process what happened to them and to seek old friends. Only a person that has been in one of these places can truly understand.

If Ginger was a therapist and charging us $100 an hour then it would be acceptable in the eyes of people like you, but since peers are communicating with each other you seem to think there is a problem and think it's whining, etc. If you don't like it here move on and stop worrying about how people here process and cope. Everyone is not the same. Personally, your attitude is a large indication of how the program workers really are. You are just as cruel and ugly inside.

If we are only speaking to each other, than why don't you just leave since you feel so left out and all.

[Anonymous]

Well, I don't think anyone would pay her $1.00/hour, or maybe sometimes, for comic value.


And your advice that I should "play nice" and not call the web rats here "losers", well, I'll take my chances on turning somebody off with vocabulary, thanks anyway. "Losers" is pretty tame compared to most posts here, maybe even your own---but then you agree with those opinions---I guess the standard is a little different there, isn't it?

Thanks for the advice---it's about what I'd expect and so I take it for what it is clearly worth.  So your little cadre of world saviors can keep toking up and patting each other on the back as the industry you're bashing grows and prospers. In this insulated little fornits bubble, wonder how long it's going to take for you to figure out that you've lost.

[Anonymous]

On 2005-07-18 08:01:00, Anonymous wrote:

"You people still don't get it...this site is just about preaching to the choir....people out in the world just think you have a wierd obsession with boarding schools or are against parental discipline and control completely



Teen Advocate and Isaic's List or whatever the hell it's called are just front organizations undermining parental decision-making when kids get off track. They trump up everything and if some isolated tragedy does happen they try to exaggerate and lie about that as much as they can too



BTW, one big reason kids get off track is that the kind of people who post here and who involve themselves with these front groups try to get a message out in society that kids should not listen to parents...they should drug and booze and whore it up and never ever be responsible...and oh no, they're being victimized again because their parents tried to put them some place away from their bad habits



So I for one don't believe a thing that comes out of the mouths of losers who are part of the anti-therapeutic boarding-school/wilderness-industry: that would include YOU



Good news is the society has gone beyond you trouble makers, I predict these reality shcws will lead to waiting lists at the existing programs and the creation of many, many more"

You wanna tell me what's so "therapeutic" about hiking kids to death?

Or restraining them to death?

Barbe Stamps
Teen Advocates USA
http://www.teenadvocatesusa.org

[Anonymous]

On 2005-07-18 09:10:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Well, I don't think anyone would pay her $1.00/hour, or maybe sometimes, for comic value.





And your advice that I should "play nice" and not call the web rats here "losers", well, I'll take my chances on turning somebody off with vocabulary, thanks anyway. "Losers" is pretty tame compared to most posts here, maybe even your own---but then you agree with those opinions---I guess the standard is a little different there, isn't it?



Thanks for the advice---it's about what I'd expect and so I take it for what it is clearly worth.  So your little cadre of world saviors can keep toking up and patting each other on the back as the industry you're bashing grows and prospers. In this insulated little fornits bubble, wonder how long it's going to take for you to figure out that you've lost.

"

Curious. If the rest of us here are 'losers' as you say, what would that make you?

[Deborah]

Trouble makers? You people? Who?

You have mischaracterized a large number of people on this site. On what do you based such a broad, sweeping judgment?

101 deaths does not constitute a few ?isolated? tragedies and certainly is worth of discussion and critique. Who else in society is talking about the real risks and abuses? TAUSA and ISAC both function with the utmost integrity. The claims at ISAC are supported with affidavits- hardly ?trumped up exaggerations. How do they ?undermine parental decision-making?? If you took your blinders off you could see that they actually advocate for the safety of kids, which may be a foreign concept to you. Consumer protection? like recalling faulty toys.

Now, your next comment is a prime example of exaggeration:
?BTW, one big reason kids get off track is that the kind of people who post here and who involve themselves with these front groups try to get a message out in society that kids should not listen to parents...they should drug and booze and whore it up and never ever be responsible...and oh no, they're being victimized again because their parents tried to put them some place away from their bad habits.?

Was there a specific report at TA or ISAC that you feel is inaccurate, or was that yet again another sweeping judgment?

Defend your comment that we ?antis? are against parental discipline and control.  The overwhelming majority of opinions here are that parents should parent, which includes discipline. Parents aren?t parenting or disciplining their kid when they ship them to a BM warehouse. They in fact have abdicated responsibility. ?Control? is rarely a useful strategy; and only employed by those who are too ignorant to know anything else to do.

PS.. Just curious if you are at all related to Paul.

[Antigen]

I predict that a whole lot of people will buy into the troubled parent industry based on the tempered down version of it they see on Brat Camp. They'll be extremely upset w/ the actual product and, likely, sue enmass. Overall, I think this will backfire. Time will tell.

When an innocent Californian millionaire gets killed by a drug squad
trying to seize his house with a bogus search warrant, people better ask themselves if they really want to turn their cops into money-makers.
--Vancouver Police Const. Gil Puder

[Anonymous]

Thanks Deb!  Always good to see (and read) you on Fornits!

This Anon apparently has no clue that children who come in contact with the BM industry are at serious risk of abuse, neglect, exploitation and victimization.

Some, like Aaron Bacon, Michelle Sutton and most recently Ian August, may even end up begging for their very lives before collapsing and dying out there in the wild.

Here in Aaron's own words, he describes his pain and suffering at a wilderness therapy program called North Star Expeditions before dying in the back seat of a truck.

----------------------------------

Outside magazine, October 1995
Loving Them to Death

Excerpts from Aaron Bacon's personal journal:

Aaron Bacon "working towards success"
1-March-94

I have been shaking from the cold since I got here, my body being used to the weather in Phoenix is going to go into auto shock. I feel like I'm going to die. My whole body is goose flesh and I feel like it's being stretched over my body like the skin of an animal over a drum. I am scared. I don't know when I can talk or if I can. I was given "food" today and I have no clue how to eat any of it. I am being grouped with 9 advanced students (who I can have no verbal contact with, and of course no physical) 5 of the nine are girls, I can't believe that these people are happy and I don't. I have noticed that all of the advanced students have cheese and sausage. I am with one other "A teamer" (I guess that's what I am) he and I can talk as much as I want with him, thank (word scratched out). I've been sitting by the fire since I've been writing and I've been the closest that I've been to another person (or the longest length of time) and I am still cold as all (word scratched out). I have to write as I would speak now because "There is to be no use of profanity. This rule includes never using of the name of deity (God) in vain." What bull (word scratched out). They are . . .


One of the final entries
(This entry is blood-smeared and every sentence grows increasing illegible)

. . . blood every where, my nose has been bleeding for the past couple daze and even that scares me. I never get nose bleeds at home and that sort of reminds me of that airplane movie where (illegible) is always saying he never does that at home.

GOALS

1) Who: Aaron Bacon
What: work on trail (illegible) when we hike
When: on the trail
How: (illegible)

2) Who: Aaron Bacon
What: self discipline
Where: everywhere
When: all of the time
How: listen and don't talk. do!

3) Who: Aaron Bacon
(illegible)
How: soul search and (the rest is illegible)

Barbe
TAUSA

[Anonymous]

On 2005-07-18 13:24:00, Antigen wrote:

"I predict that a whole lot of people will buy into the troubled parent industry based on the tempered down version of it they see on Brat Camp. They'll be extremely upset w/ the actual product and, likely, sue enmass. Overall, I think this will backfire. Time will tell.

When an innocent Californian millionaire gets killed by a drug squad
trying to seize his house with a bogus search warrant, people better ask themselves if they really want to turn their cops into money-makers.
--Vancouver Police Const. Gil Puder

"

Yes Ginger, I do believe you are absolutely correct. Especially given the "Brat Camp Wannabee" sales and marketing techniques we are now seeing on the Internet following the debut of the show last week.

However, as you say, there is a good chance the show (which is essentially an infomercial IMO)will backfire as parents who buy into the "mirage" discover wilderness therapy is a high-priced panacea and that they'd be wise to seek a less expensive and more effective alternative known as FAMILY COUNSELING.

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Results of Internet search key words BRAT CAMP

Sponsored Links:

Learn more about Sponsored Links | Provided by a third party
 
Brat Camps for Teens  -

Information and Resources for Parents with a Troubled Teen.
helpmyteen.com
 
Brat Camps for Teens  -

Resources & Hotline for Parents Dealing with a Troubled Teen.
http://www.parentteenguide.com
 
Teen Brat Camps  -

Information & Resources for Parents with a Struggling Teen. 24 hotline
http://www.teenhelp.us
 
MHYR - Brat Camp  -

Wilderness based therapy program for troubled teens ages 12-17 Coed
http://www.mhyr.com

Barbe
TAUSA