all programs soon to be shut down

[Anonymous]

yeah right idiots!

[Anonymous]

One can only dream ....

[cherish wisdom]

With the new Nationally televised program, Brat Camp, these programs are only going to proliferate. The program shows very caring and loving counselors who give lots of support and hugs to the children. People aren't seeing the down side.
Reform is something that we should all try to work for to make the programs safer for children. I personally would like to see the more abusive programs closed. It has happened in Mexico and elsewhere. Public awareness is essential.
As long as there are parents who can not handle their difficult teenagers - or ordinary teenagers- there are going to be programs. We need to continually expose the abuse that goes on to educate the public and we need to support efforts to make the programs safer.

I am not a vegetarian because I love animals;  I am a vegetarian because I hate plants.  
-- A. Whitney Brown

[Anonymous]

its happening, a board of independent psychologists have decided wwasp programs are safe effective!  Sorry guys mission failed!

[Anonymous]

On 2005-08-05 13:20:00, Anonymous wrote:

"its happening, a board of independent psychologists have decided wwasp programs are safe effective!  Sorry guys mission failed!"

Can you provide any proof?

Are these psychologics really independent? Or are they as "independent" as Dr. Chappuis, in bed with WWASPS and covering up for the abuse?

WWASPS is an abusive treatment cult. There's no getting around that.

The message is getting out, WWASPie. More and more survivors are speaking out. WWASPS gulags are being shut down one by one. Sorry guys, mission failed!

[Nihilanthic]

Coersion/fear/punishment/humilation based programs were deemed to be ineffective and dangerous by psychologists :eek:

Too bad thats what WWASPS is.

I am sick unto death of obscure English towns that exist seemingly for the sole accommodation of these so-called limerick writers -- and even sicker of their residents, all of whom suffer from physical deformities and spend their time dismembering relatives at fancy dress balls.
--Editor of the Limerick Times
(Limerick, Ireland)

[Anonymous]

"all programs soon to be shut down"

Yeah it is pretty unlikely, at least for now.

There are still PLENY of ignorant, mean-spirited, abusive, gullable, stupid parents out there left to fleece for all their cash.

[Anonymous]

abusive wake up wake up the programs are not abuse you really do CREATE your own experience there! Is it tough? Surely!  But you decide whether the experience will be positive or negative, have incidents of abuse take place, most likely although in my year + in the program I never experienced even one, you need to realize that this abuse is just ignorant staff abusing there power and is not the program itself.  The program is so much bigger than the staff, and even the students, afterall it's ONLY goal is to save the lives of America's most troubled youths such as yourselves.  Those of us who's lives have been changed and saved will forever stand as witnesses to the true benifits of the program, after all it's not program jargon that life is based on results it truly is, ask any ceo, doctor, lawyer, or any employer for that matter and you will see.  Even ask God himself, like surely is based on results, and those of us who are sucesful are much more believable that you.  Hopefully someday you'll wake up and smell the roses, until then I guess you'll continue to smell the stench one experiences where their heads are so far up the arses they can hardly even breath.

[Anonymous]

On 2005-08-05 15:22:00, Anonymous wrote:

"abusive wake up wake up the programs are not abuse you really do CREATE your own experience there! Is it tough? Surely!  But you decide whether the experience will be positive or negative, have incidents of abuse take place, most likely although in my year + in the program I never experienced even one, you need to realize that this abuse is just ignorant staff abusing there power and is not the program itself.  The program is so much bigger than the staff, and even the students, afterall it's ONLY goal is to save the lives of America's most troubled youths such as yourselves.  Those of us who's lives have been changed and saved will forever stand as witnesses to the true benifits of the program, after all it's not program jargon that life is based on results it truly is, ask any ceo, doctor, lawyer, or any employer for that matter and you will see.  Even ask God himself, like surely is based on results, and those of us who are sucesful are much more believable that you.  Hopefully someday you'll wake up and smell the roses, until then I guess you'll continue to smell the stench one experiences where their heads are so far up the arses they can hardly even breath."

The program's goal is to provide Litchfield and company with money and power.

WWASPS is a cult. The program itself is abusive. Abusive practice, such as "restraint" (violent take downs), solitary confinement, etc., are an integral part of the program. Emotional abuse in Lifespring-style seminars and "group sessions" in which the main purpose is to break the prisoner's spirit are also an integral part of the program.

The program's goal is to not to "save the lives of America's most troubled youth". The program's goal and purpose is to make you believe you've been saved.

You wake up and smell the roses. WWASPS' prisons are being shut down one by one. More and more survivors speak out about the abusive and cultic nature of the program. More and more parents realize they've been duped.

WWASPS is going down.

[Anonymous]

yeah that person quoted above even talks like a cult. 'the program is so much bigger than the staff' oh come on, of course its not. this person is completely retarded who posted 2 posts up. my god i feel sorry for you- think for yourself... you fucking programmie.

[RN on Board]

The goal of the programs is to make money for Lichfield and his large exteneded family and his friends. It's all about money. If even one child is abused then a program should be shut down in my opinion. By the way, several professional organizations have come out against teen programs, and research has demonstrated that they are not effective.

[Anonymous]

Here's one from the National Institute of Health...
 'Get Tough' Youth Programs Are Ineffective, Panel Says
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

October 17, 2004

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (AP) - Boot camps and other get-tough program for adolescents do not prevent criminal behavior, as intended, and may make the problem even worse, a new study has found.

Further, laws transferring juveniles into the adult court system lead these teenagers to commit more violence, the study said. More promising, it said, are programs that offer intensive counseling for families and young people at risk.

A 13-member panel convened by the National Institutes of Health reviewed the available scientific evidence to look for consensus on causes of youth violence and ways to prevent it. Its report was released on Friday.

"'Scare tactics' don't work," the panel concluded. "Programs that seek to prevent violence through fear and tough treatment do not work."

Youth violence has declined from its peak a decade ago but violent crime rates are still high, the panel said.

Violence can be traced to a variety of conditions. Among the possible causes are these: inconsistent or harsh parenting, poor peer relations, gang involvement, lack of connection to school and living in a violent neighborhood.

The trouble with boot camps, group detention centers and other "get tough" programs is that they bring together young people who are inclined toward violence and teach one another how to commit more crime, the panel said. "The more sophisticated instruct the more naive in precisely the behaviors that the intervener wishes to prevent."

It also rejected programs that "consist largely of adults lecturing," like DARE, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.

One barrier to setting up effective programs, the report said, is resistance from people operating ineffective programs who depend on them for their jobs.

"All the evaluations have shown they don't work," said the panel's chairman, Dr. Robert L. Johnson of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. "Many communities are wasting a great deal of money on those types of programs."

The panel looked for programs that have been tested using rigorous research methods and concluded that "the good news is that there are a number of intervention programs that have been shown" effective.

The report cited two: a therapy program where youth and their families attend 12 one-hour sessions over three months, and a community-based clinical treatment program that targeted violent and chronic offenders at risk of being removed from their families. This second program provided about 60 hours of counseling over about four months with therapists available at all hours.

One key, Dr. Johnson said, was letting counselors observe families and children together and offer suggestions for better parenting.

Both programs reduced arrest rates and out-of-home placements, with positive effects four years after treatment ended.

National Institutes of Health

[Anonymous]

it makes no difference what a few doctors say  thousands of lives of sucesfull youth stand as witnesses of the effectiveness of these programs, I am one such "survivor" as you would call it, and I owe much of my sucess in life to my life-changing experience in a wwasp program, I have now been out for 5 years, and am nearing completion of college majoring in social work, psychology and spanish, upon completion I am planning on attending Columbia or Harvard University where I will obtain a graduate degree and then I'll open up my own program possibly with WWASP if the opportunity arises.

[Anonymous]

The program's goal is to not to "save the lives of America's most troubled youth". The program's goal and purpose is to make you believe you've been saved

What the heck are you talking about believing i've been saved, lets take a look at the results and decide for ourselves:

Pre-program:

-Completely out of control from the time I was 12 through the time I entered the program at 17.

- Dropped out of highschool at 16, when I finally did graduate I had a 2.1 gpa.

- Daily drug use including marijuana, cocaine, lds, shrooms, and pcp.

- Several arrests for petty to violent crimes.

After graduation:

-  I am currently a senior in college mantaining a 4.0 gpa with a double major in psych and social work, and a minor in spanish.

- Planning on attending Columbia or Harvard for graduate school next year.

- Very close relationships with my parents.

- Very happily married.

- Currently valedictorian at my college for the senior class.

- Member of several academic honor societies.

- Own and operate sucesful internet based business.


Now I know that you guys may say that these results are no reflection of my year in the program, however I strongly contend that they are a direct relfection, no i'm not programmed I have just chosen to apply the tools learned in the program in my life which has created lots of sucess for me.  Out of curiosity where are you guys at in your lives?  I'd be really interested to know, are you using drugs? Smoking? Attending college?  GPA?

[bandit1978]

Where am I now?  Basically everyone here know about me-  yes, I finished college.  I'm a nurse, working in DC.  I'm well-traveled.  I have a very healthy relationship with my boyfriend, who is an MD + PhD, and will soon be a cardiologist.  I don't have kids, don't abuse drugs, don't get in trouble with the law, ect...  I'm active in a few charities and political groups.  I'm close with many of my family members.  

I have accomplished all this IN SPITE of my experience at PCS, not (in any way) because of it.  Indeed, I still struggle with symptoms of PTSD, at age 26 (nightmares, though less frequently thanbefore, + anger at my parents ignorance in sending me there-  though, to their credit, there just wasn't all this information from survivors available back then, in the early 90's.)

They listened to the recommendation of a local pediatrcian- Dr. Richard Schwartz of Virginia (a man who's own work does not get much credence from his peers).  They send me there without even visiting the place first.  (Uh, and if I remember corrently, my mother would have never placed is in an elementary school without her speaking with all the staff, and spending a day observing, while my sis, bro and I would also spend a day with the class, and also trying out the after-school activies)  So I just found it to be pretty damn negligent that my mother had never even been to the state of Utah until she came to visit after I'd been there for 3 months.  


**Okay, and to the person who says "...you make your own experience there..."   That is such bullshit!  In truth, the staff decide what your experience will be like.  Every staff member has different expectations for different students, nothing is ever totally clear.  First and foremost, these staff are not educated, and are not qualified to parttake in the making of implementing or evaluating of any care plan, nor are they in a position to provide any sort of therapy and care plan assessment.  They just don't have the knowledge base perform these duties.  Anyway, the staff there at PCS are LOSERS!  And I have personally seen them push vendettas on kids they didn't like, and I have seen them directly responsibile for some children's hellish exerpience in these programs.