Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Brat Camp

Unusually Resistant Kids, Or Softer Program

<< < (7/10) > >>

Deborah:
There are a many, many beneficial things for kids, that don't include the unnecessary risk of death, abuse, torture, and humiliation.

Deborah:
The potential for erring on the side of caution being abused should not enter the equation.

You must understand that many of the kids who died needlessly were seen my medical personnel and/or were hiking with an EMT, one in particular, who ignored her medical training and used the program method of ?flushing out fakers?. This woman knew the signs of heat exhaustion, yet deferred to the program owner?s direction.

My son was left alone, for his ?solo?, with no water, no light, no food, no protection from the elements; with only a black trash bag to lie on and a pancho to cover his head; in an area where he had already had a close encounter with a rattlesnake. He was vomiting frequently all night. He screamed for assistance. No one was in ear shot- all tucked into their nice warm beds at base camp. He was 14. This was cruel, abusive, and neglectful. He could?ve died alone in the woods that night. I feel very fortunate. My neighbor?s son, Ian August, wasn?t so fortunate. He died. I had shared the reality with his mother. She sent him anyway. I?m sure she felt, like most parents, that it wouldn?t happen to her kid. Well it did. And any number of tragedies could?ve happened to you too.

Yeh, they could?ve happened at home, but not under the guise of therapy.

Anonymous:
Wilderness therapy, by it's very nature, is inherently risky but it appears most kids aren't killed because of Mother Nature ... they are killed because of human error, greed and willful indifference to their health and safety.

Consider the tragic case of the boy who died at Catherine Freer after a tree branch covered with snow fell on him while he was sleeping?

Who is to blame?

Mother Nature or human error?  

Barbe
TAUSA

Anonymous:

--- Quote ---On 2005-07-24 16:57:00, Anonymous wrote:

"
--- Quote ---
On 2005-07-24 16:51:00, dougm wrote:


"Okay, I read the court thing, and I will be honest, I was appalled. The setup hasn't changed with sleeping bags, tarps, clothes, food etc. but never once when I was at Sagewalk were we forced to eat stuff other than what was issued to us, and we didn't consume anything "natural" other than steeping some leaves we found and making tea (wasn't great in retrospect, but it was quite a welcome treat at the time) nor were we made to wade in water  (what the hell were the counselors thinking???). I need to say that Sagewalk is much different and in no way did I ever experience any of the abuse that he did. However, I still stand by my conviction that wilderness therapy can be quite beneficial for most kids."


--- End quote ---



Here's a novel idea. Send the parents to a wilderness therapy camp and put them through the exact same regimen ... only instead of reading letters written by their bratty kids, they would be the ones writing letters to their children apologizing for being lousy parents and begging them for their forgiveness.



I can see it now ... the kids coming to pick up their new and improved parents ... riding off into the sunset singing Kumbaya.



 :silly:



"

--- End quote ---


That's just asinine, not all parents who send their kids to these programs are bad. My parents did everything they could to help me, and quite frankly, you're generalization of the parents of these kids is an insult.  One kid that was there was because he was physically abusing his mother. I appreciate the links that have been sent to me about genuine abuses by these programs, but making blanket statements do nothing more than make you look silly.

Deborah:
An experienced camper doesn't set up his tent under tree limbs that are heavy with snow.
London presented Nature as the enemy. Totally neglecting the ignorance of human's who think they are the masters of the universe and enter that domain ill-prepared. You go with irreverance and ill prepared and you might not return. It's one thing if an adult wants to take those risks, quiet another for an ignorant adult to put a child at risk. A child that's not their own, no less.

Wonder if CF has 'retrained' (educated) their staff on this matter.

The guys who put my son out were Mtn Rangers/Wilderness First Responders and ex-military. None of that training would have saved my son if he'd had appendicitis that night.
Credentials are not security, particularly when the sadistic personality of staff over-rides common sense.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page