I attended the program from June-August of 2005. For the most part, it was a very good program. I'm doing very well now. However, we had one runaway at the end of the program... and I'm not sure that they handled that in the greatest way. They don't let you stop if you fall or are feeling physical pain. You can't drink water when you need/want to, there are only scheduled water breaks. There was one day where we hiked for 9 miles, and we ran out of water before the day was even halfway done. That was not exactly "safe". There isn't any abuse, at least not that I know of. The staff members are very respectful.
However, they don't seem to pay attention to your food intake. I have severe self-esteem problems, some may classify it as an eating disorder, and I was physically sick twice from not eating enough (once I fainted, once I was vomiting/passing out). They did nothing to enforce my eating at all. I'm lucky to be alive.
There was one group member that was going through opiate withdrawl... and she still had to hike. She puked a few times, she was visibly shaking. They accept just about everyone, so thats one thing to be careful of. About 90% of the kids have drug problems. You're the odd man/woman out if you have never done drugs, because most of the program is based on drug treatment. However, nothing is done to comtrol withdrawl.
There have been two deaths, one in Oregon, one in Nevada. One (Erica Harvey) was due to negligence. There is a wrongful death suit in place. However, the Corey Baines death was an accident, there was no way to prevent it. A large tree limb fell on his head.
Hope this helps.
