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Did Anyone see the Film "Saving Crystal"

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Hamiltonf:
It didn't seem to me that AARC was all that great.  What was "groundbreaking" about it?

Anonymous:
Oh, I saw it.  This is Jessica.  I missed the first twenty minutes of it, but what I did see I found very odd.  All they showed of what I saw was the staff meeting with this kid.  They didn't really show the group aspect of it. When I was in Aarc, it was all about group, then once a week (maybe) you'de meet with your peer councellor and get a "treatment plan".

The one thing I noted when watching this was the lingo.  It just kills me.  Normal people just don't talk that way.. (in my opinion).

I found it sad that so many of the staff members are the same.  They are kids that I was in treatment with or was staff for when I worked there.  All I know is that when I was around AARC and working there, that's all that there was. I couldn't really have friends outside of aarc because I didn't know how to relate to people.

One thing I did notice, out of the staff I saw, is anyone qualified?  That to me should always be a big clue to things not being quite on the up and up.  When you can't hire and keep qualified individuals there must be a problem here.

I can't say that the film brought me back to when I was a client there because I just didn't feel it was very acurate to what actually goes on there.  But like I said maybe the first twenty minutes showed group sessions and how peoples self esteem and who they are is totally ripped apart.

I just wish that they would have aired that documentary that they were doing a while ago where I was on it, actually speaking out about my feelings about aarc.  Hmmm, I wonder why they didn't show that one, although even if they did, I'm sure they would have made me out to be "one of the unfortunate one's, a sick person, someone who has not gratitude"...

Anyway thats all for now.

J :em:

velvet2000:
I didn't see it but people have sent me their reviews on it and descriptions. Wes Farger wrote a review under News on http://www.thestraights.com.

I assumed that it was regular group sessions that were  being described to me. One person said "It seemed as though most of the documentary was Dr. Vause antagonising the clients, and one awful" I think he said awful, or dreadful, something like that..."female counselor breaking down kids self esteem". One person noted that Dr. Vause asked at one point "Who here is being treated for drug addiction" and only half of the kids raised their hands. It never occured to me to ask anyone I know who was there recently whether or not they were also openly "treating" "behavioral dissorders". I doubt that it was "addicted" kids "misbehaving", not only because of how much trouble they would be in, but also because I can't see any other reason why he would ask the question. All I can say about that is "Progression".

So from what I hear there were regular group sessions shown, and probably an Open Meeting, but if not it could be for more reasons then just not wanting to show Group on film. They've certianly filmed group sessions before, they just calm them down. AARC may not be concerned with confidentiality but most film crews are, and therefore they would only be able to film kids in group who had given permission, and that's harder to arrange than filming one girl and her counselor.

Someone taped it for me so sooner or later I'll be able to see it for myself. It was up against CSI...Which one would you choose?!

Anonymous:
Hey Velvet,

You didn't miss much..

Hey, in case you have been trying to reach me on email at work, I no longer work there.  Long story..I'll email you from my hotmail account.

Talk to you soon.

Jes ::alieneyesa::

Anonymous:
I saw the show and taped it. Not having been a survivor of AARC I can't say how representative the show is. From what others say it doesn't show real group sessions. There were lots of sessions shown involving parents and kids. Vause, to me comes across as a bit egotistical (actually, more than a bit)  and spent most of the show stutting around like Mussolini. When talking to parents he adopts a phony sympathetic manner. With the kids he acts antagonistic. Dresses like a car salesman. The main thing I got from observing Vause is that he isn't genuine and I'd never buy a  car from him.

 There was one horrid woman counselor who specialized in making people cry and a number of staff who just looked embarrased by the whole thing.

My wife watched part of the show (before leaving in disgust to do some sewing) and commented "if they're not screwed up when they go in, they sure will be when they leave-the parents as well as kids."

The whole tone of the show was very depressing and the prevailing emotion displayed was grief. I had to miss CSI to tape this thing. I felt depressed by the end of the whole wretched hour.

Can anyone explain why this thing was shown as part of "The Nature of Things"? The CBC does strange things at times but this was more suited to late night on CITY TV in Toronto or something you'd see on some small local station.  

R.G.

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