On 2005-08-23 06:16:00, Anonymous wrote:
"You guys asked for program names, insisting that if there were some good programs out there you wanted to hear about them. So-you were given Carlbrook. Oh wait- it can't possibly be good. All these grads are just brainwashed! The posts reflect a caring attitude by the staff, openness to individual growth and letting kids find their own way within the bounds of a safe structure. You severely hurt your credibility and show marked immaturity by refusing to accept that maybe, just MAYBE the folks that run Carlbrook may have hit on a good model. Is it perfect? Not at all. What is? My kid attended the school and didn't complete the program for reasons unique to him. However, he came away with some important tools and some great friends- teens and adults. My kid resisted a lot of the therapy, but loved the workshops. I fought the school on several fronts and disagreed with some of the techniques. However, there was absolutely no abuse, brainwashing, withholding of food or any of the things you seem to think are part of every program. There are some staff there that could be better, but there is also the strongest therapeutic team in the industry.
You are hearing from people who actually know what they are talking about. They actually HAVE experience with this program and are not simply bashing any and all program based on a possible (in most cases none at all) experience with ONE program."
I'm really confused by this post. You fought the school on several fronts and disagreed with several of their techniques, but you thought it was a good program, yes? I am very interested to know what those fronts and techniques were that you disagreed with.
Also, my school didn't withold food, either. We were fed very well, actually. We had to be. We needed that energy to do what we had to do.
Look, I have no idea if the school is good or not. It could be a great school, ok? It's just that my alarms go off when I find out that ex-CEDU/RMA staff and Cascade staff are not only working there, but are DEANS there!
I can't speak for the Cascade guy, because I didn't know him, and I didn't go to Cascade, but I did read testimonials from the place, and it seemed pretty bad, (especially since I haven't found very many positive testimonials) and it got shut down under some very weird circumstances, and I know that some of the staff that went to work for Cascade came from the school I went to. (CEDU/RMA)
Someone said something about "people moving around a lot in the industry." Well, I question the backgrounds of some of the people who are moving. (Not only that, I question the whole industry.) Don't you find it interesting that Tim Brace's bio on the Carlbrook site makes no mention of CEDU/RMA and Grant Price's makes no mention of Cascade? Do they (or someone else) want to distance themseves from those programs, or do they (or someone else) not want prospective parents to find out about it?
Maybe it's just coincidence, though, because they are allowed only a limited amount of space to convey a lot of information, but still. Do you think whoever wrote the webpage may have had a clue about this, or were the faculty allowed to write their own bios?
Interesting to note: I've also seen ex-CEDU/RMA staff bios on other school sites where they are now working, and they don't bother to mention CEDU/RMA in their bios either. (I think maybe one of them did.)
I'd be interested to know how Tim feels about RMA/CEDU now... he sure loved the program when I was there. But then again, so did I.
One thing you said was very key here:
"You are hearing from people who actually know what they are talking about. They actually HAVE experience with this program and are not simply bashing any and all program based on a possible (in most cases none at all) experience with ONE program"
Yes, we are hearing from people who have been in this program, but who have only been out of this program maybe a few months to a year, so they have very little perspective. I'm seeing dates ranging from 2005 to 2004. Nothing earlier. (And if I start hearing from oldies only after this post, now that I have mentioned it, it will seem suspicious, too.)
I know that for me, it took me several years to deprogram myself, as well as therapy, to get over RMA and really get a clue about things. Before that, I was as gung-ho about RMA as these people were, and would have said the same things as all of the ex-Carlbrook posters in this thread. After a few years, the story will be different, possibly. With RMA/CEDU, there were people who hated it, people who still loved it, and people like me, who felt that the theraputic aspect was totally abusive and dysfunctional, but could give props to the fact that it kept me out of trouble and helped me prepare for college, so view it as a mixed bag.
I'm not expecting Carlbrook to be like RMA, and I'm really not applying the CEDU model to it, because I honestly don't know what it's like there. But I question its program based on its choice of personnel, and it sounded like at one point, you questioned its program, too.
I hope, for the sake of your kid, that the school wasn't a bad place to go, though, or at the very least, it was mild to moderate in terms of the loopyness in terms of therapy. But like I said, my alarm bells go off in terms of some of the faculty who are in charge.
However, hopefully, it's not a bad place to be.
I also question how intensely defensive you are about all of this. No offense, but are you really a parent?