My name is Dani. I was at Cross Creek for about 3 years total and am listed as "Dani" on that site. After leaving the program, I lived with someone who worked there and his wonderful family for 2 more years. As a favor to someone who works there and called me, I agreed to have a post I wrote when I was 17 or 18, which was also written willingly but upon request, changed to include my graduation from college. Also, I needed to come to a place where I could admit to myself that although many people who worked with me did care about me, I could hold on to that and simultaneously think for myself about the situation in its entirety, as well as about the astounding number of claims coming from programs all over. I've realized that caring about kids and having qualified people as the decision makers are two different things. I was 21 then, and I'm 28 now. I was told that the article was for the program newsletter, which was compiled by someone I care about, and I didn't see the scope of this situation until maybe a year or so ago when I found some of this online. I apologize to any families or students who feel I was part of a deception. I hope that you understand that my views on the program have evolved in light of new information and education.
After I began reading online about what is going on in programs, I became concerned. Also, I began working with children and learned what is legal and what is not. I now realize that some of what happened at Cross Creek that I once perceived as normal now concerns me. Cross Creek appears to be one of the tamest WWASP programs, so I guess I should consider myself lucky.
I wanted to vomit after seeing the Hobbit, the dog cages, and Steven Frederickson and the others shaking years later while discussing their memories. Amberly Knight described the conditions as similar to Abu Ghraib. I work with children every day to make the world a better place, and it sickens me to think that I possibly had any part in hurting kids.
I never consented to have my photo or story online. I emailed the program to have it removed, probably about a month or two ago, and see it's still up. I know it can take a few weeks to do, especially if your computer techs are off-site. Thank you for posting that link as I hadn't checked back myself. I just left a message at Cross Creek and you should see one less picture pretty soon.
I know that everyone who works there knows me and will probably be shocked that my opinions have evolved. I know that there are plenty of people at WWASP who care about kids, or were when I was there from 11-13 years ago. I do think that to some it was just a job or a paycheck, and major decisions made about the program appear to be financially driven. I would list Brent Facer, Garth Lasater, Jana Moody, Bernie, Cameron Pullan (though he did dole out group consequences liberally), therapist Darryl if he's still there, Glenda Gabriel, Mary Beth Litchfield, Cathy Christiansen and the Pearts as people who stood out as going the extra mile to make the kids there feel comfortable and respected, who at least believed they were doing something good for kids. They never belittled me or made me feel like trash, and I think that if they knew something was wrong, they would have wanted to fix it. Cross Creek seems to have been run differently than some of the other programs, and again my heart goes out to anyone who was ever placed in a stress position, isolated/confined, or otherwise treated inhumanely in a program.
