On 2006-01-12 10:16:00, Anonymous wrote:
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On 2006-01-12 09:24:00, shopgirl2005 wrote:
"I'm still doing my research on therapeutic schools and the only tangible thing I found was from the NIH and the only talk about RTC and Hidden Lake is not one of those.
Usually from what I've learned RTC are residential treatments like Brown Schools or so.
Hidden Lake seems to be accredited for therapeutic and academic purposes and please correct me (anyone) if I'm wrong.
The program seems perfect for my son but I still have my doubts. Some people say its ok but other on this forum no.
I currently have a list of parents of student who graduate from HLA and I intend to call all of them to ask them all kind of questions.
If someone has a good or bad experience with HLA please let me know.
I'm still searching for the best option for my son."
I've heard good things about HLA. The best advice is to call parents whos kids have finished the program and talk to them and have a list of questions ready. Of course like any business they will not provide names of kids who did not do well, but hearing from parents who have had their kids home for awhile will give you a good idea on how they are doing.
Dont be discouraged by some of the horror stories, like someone else mentioned. They are mostly kids posting who did not finish the program and are not doing very well, but do your research !!
Good luck Shopgirl"
I take umbrage with this post. I am an educated professional and was an employee of HLA.
I'm sorry, but if you think you can get the real story form parents of graduates, you are very mistaken. Parents do not EVER see how the program works. Before parents visit the kids who act out are taken away from the public areas of the campus, the campus is "G.I.'ed" by the kids to make it spotless and certain kids are hand picked to talk to the visitors. Parents will NEVER see anything that wasn't made for their eyes. This is a fact. I know because I've seen it dozens of times.
Furthermore, HLA IS an RTC. It is a facility where the kids LIVE full time (residential) and participate in the "program" (treatment) on the campus (center). They can spin it however they like, but they are an unlicensed RTC (albeit in a bucolic setting).
Most of the former residents who post on here are quite successful in their lives today, but view the program as a harmful setback (they are immediately branded as "not doing well" because they feel the program harmed them). They have educations, spouses and kids, just you and me. I'm not sure how that reconciles with "not doing well." Many are in fact graduates of the program.
I find it absolutely unbelievable that people who have no idea how the program works or what goes on behind closed doors fancy themselves "experts" on HLA because their kid went there and graduated. The vast majority of former attendees feel HLA harmed them, but they cannot express this to their parents unless they want to get sent back or be branded a "failure."
The true failures here are the parents who sent their kids away to a behavior modification center to be "fixed" instead of offering them real help from professional therapists at home and the charlatans and hucksters pitching a bm center as a "school."
Shopgirl, if you are relying on parents of graduates instead of real research for your information, you're headed for a fall and so is your kid. Check out askquestions.org for more information on "TBS's".
http://www.askquestions.org/details.php?id=209"And yet a parent seeking help for a troubled teenager may run across dozens of for-profit organizations offering exactly this kind of treatment regimen at costs ranging from $2,000 to $8,000 per month. Using aggressive and sometimes deceptive sales practices, these therapeutic boarding schools (TBS), wilderness programs, and residential treatment centers (RTC) are a booming industry. One site, NoSpank.net, collects news articles about the ?teen treatment industry? chronicling years of problems within these facilities."
