Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Facility Question and Answers
Help Me Please!!
Anonymous:
I am considering a placement for my son. He is 12 years old and a very troubled boy. My psychiatrist reccomends a facility called SUWS for a short term placement followed by a long term placement elsewhere. That elsewhere has yet to be determined. Of course I am very concerned and would like to know all of my options. Sending my son off to a wilderness program does seem desirable, but on the other hand I have read so many bad articles about these places.
If I do send my son to a wilderness program what do you suggest that I look for?
What are the possible alternatives I may have overlooked?
In the end I just want my son to be safe. I accept that he will make many mistakes throughout his life, but I know I will not be able to live with myself if my child has a rotten start at life through bad choices.
Anonymous:
need a ruling, please! is a wilderness program considered a facility, Mr. Moderator?
yes it is. [ This Message was edited by: Three Springs Waygookin on 2006-06-06 20:08 ]
Troll Control:
--- Quote ---On 2006-06-06 06:10:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I am considering a placement for my son. He is 12 years old and a very troubled boy. My psychiatrist reccomends a facility called SUWS for a short term placement followed by a long term placement elsewhere. That elsewhere has yet to be determined. Of course I am very concerned and would like to know all of my options. Sending my son off to a wilderness program does seem desirable, but on the other hand I have read so many bad articles about these places.
If I do send my son to a wilderness program what do you suggest that I look for?
What are the possible alternatives I may have overlooked?
In the end I just want my son to be safe. I accept that he will make many mistakes throughout his life, but I know I will not be able to live with myself if my child has a rotten start at life through bad choices. "
--- End quote ---
SUWS is a confirmedly abusive wilderness program.
See here:
suws
Also, may I ask what your child's diagnosis is? Has he been evaluated and given a full battery of psychometric testing by a reputable psychologist that specializes in adolescents? If not, this should be your FIRST STEP.
What concerns me further is that your psychiatrist is recommending this course of treatment at all, considering the copious research that indicates "wilderness therapy" provides no therapeutic benefit whatsoever and that long-term placement and aggregation of distressed teens leads directly (causality, not correlation)to a higher rate of pathology and delinquency, not a "cure" for it.
You should do your research carefully and engage the services of a reputable practitioner that uses research-proven effective treatment. The path to giving your son a good start in life shouldn't be paved with research-proven ineffective treatment.
Has he had individual/group therapy? Has your family tried Functional Family Therapy in conjuction with an after-school program for your son? What about mentoring?
In any case, residential treatment for adolescents should be reserved for those who are severely clinically disturbed and are a physical danger to themselves or others - this condition represents less than 1% of severe clinical pathology - and should never last longer than the requisite period to stabilize the child (30 days maximum).
In other words, if your son has been diagnosed with a severe mental disorder, this still would not require residential placement unless it were accompanied by acts of violence to self or others.
That being said, if your son does indeed meet these criteria, a "TBS" or "Emotional Growth" or "Boot Camp" or "Behavior Modification" placement does not and can not provide the appropriate level of care for this condition.
Good luck with your son. Explore your community-based options with a reputable adolescent specialist and make an informed decision on your child's treatment planning. Don't be hoodwinked by slick marketers that prey upon your desperate situation - brochures mean nothing - ask for longitudinal clinical studies that show efficacy for their particular program (not surveys). If they can't provide that, they are hucksters, plain and simple, and should be strictly avoided.
Anonymous:
We had great sucess with Second Nature Wilderness Program. Both the Utah and Georgia campuses are good. It is not an abusive program. My son loved it and we we received great family therapy as well.
Troll Control:
That's great that you got lucky and had a "good experience." That in no way, shape or form provides evidence of efficacy. Your anecdote, while some may find it "soothing," means absolutely nothing in regard to clinical validity, nor is it a typical experience.
Again, do your research. "Wilderness Therapy" is research-proven ineffective through clinical study and the results are incontrovertible. A single anecdote does nothing to change that. It's like saying "I drive drunk and I've never crashed." Well, great, but research shows it is dangerous to drive drunk.
_________________
"Compassion is the basis of morality."
-Arnold Schopenhauer[ This Message was edited by: Dysfunction Junction on 2006-06-06 10:14 ]
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version