Author Topic: My friends mother may be sending her to wilderness therapy..  (Read 4511 times)

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Offline LauraLee

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Okay, this was originally posted in the Troubled Teen Industry forum, but because of excessive flaming/name-calling/other synonyms for immaturity, I've decided to repost here. (from a good suggestion from TSW, thank you!)

Original post:

"Okay, so my friend's mother is possibly sending her to wilderness therapy over the summer. She brought it up with me today at school, and I was a little shocked. I want to try to convince her mother NOT to send her (in the most rational and intelligent way possible) without sounding preachy or just trying to keep her daughter at home for the sake of our friendship. That's not the case at all, I'm just disgusted that wilderness therapy would even be considered, knowing my experience and of course, the experiences of others. I'm going to write her mother a letter, but how do you think I should do this?

I would love suggestions/topics to be covered in the letter. "

Thank you!
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline MightyAardvark

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My friends mother may be sending her to wilderness therapy..
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2006, 07:11:00 PM »
Hi there.
On the off chance that this all get lost in the melee I suggest you take a look at these.

Three hugely valuable resources you might want to look into, documents you can show your brother are the following.

The Surgeon General's report

http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/m ... /home.html


The DoJ report

http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/171676.pdf

The Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing report

http://www.teenliberty.org/ACAPN.htm

Also this report from Charley Huffine (A great man, he's very easy to work with amd massively knowledgeable) He's also the senior psychologist for the State of Washington

http://cafety.org/index.php?option=com_ ... &Itemid=79

 Hi there.
I suspect the first tactic will need to be an appeal directly to the mother, you'll need to go armed with armloads of information about the facility you are concerned about. My advice is to check out http://www.isaccorp.org and remember that you are dealing with a large organisation here and you can use information about the various personalities involved very effectively. Part of your argument needs to include the findings of the surgeon general's report (linked above). I've found that generally speaking the best way to talk parents out of doing this sort of thing is to arrange to talk to them in a relatively informal setting, over drinks etc and then to present them will a whole boatload of information that starts with
1)These places don't work, look here the surgeon general says so...
2)What kind of people are you entrusting your kids to (this will need to be tailored to the program in question)
3) Look here, there's a tonne of information that indicates that these schools are harmful
4) Look here, there are plenty of local effective treatment options here's what they are (depending on local tratment options, you can look these up very easily)

Generally speaking people who promote and advocate these programs are very prone to careful rationalisation and a strange sort of double-think. If you let him she'll probably simply brush away your concerns with some program-speak technobabble and you'll need to be prepared for this. My experience is that presenting hard data with the stamp of officialdom all over it is pleasantly effective. What makes it even more so is if you can enlist the assistance of a local authority figure or an individual the subject is known to like or admire.

Finally you'll need to understand that in the extreme the decision is out of your hands.
Obviously you can PM me with any questions or my email is kicking around all over the place.


They used to burn witches. Today we laugh at them. Today we jail people for marijuana. Tomorrow they'll laugh at us.

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« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
see the children with their boredom and their vacant stares. God help us all if we\'re to blame for their unanswered prayers,

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Offline Oz girl

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My friends mother may be sending her to wilderness therapy..
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2006, 10:10:00 PM »
Hey Laura
I forgot to add. I would also prepare my friend for the worst case scenario to try & help minimise any damage. If she mouths off when angry & is going somewhere big on "defiance issues" help her to avoid the punishments by coming up with strategies to fly under the radar and manage her anger. Is the place big on forced confession? Make sure she has a few lies up her sleve. Is she a bit on the over weight side, but going to a place which is all about forced exercise?  Try & help her to make sure she gets as much access  to water as possible. In the event that the place lets kids write to non relatives again if you can get a supportive adult that she can write to on side in the event of an emergency (this includes psychological) this could help.
Be ready to support her when she gets out it sounds like she will need her friends.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
n case you\'re worried about what\'s going to become of the younger generation, it\'s going to grow up and start worrying about the younger generation.-Roger Allen

Offline MightyAardvark

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My friends mother may be sending her to wilderness therapy..
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2006, 04:09:00 AM »
TSW has a point. The tactics you will need to consider will vary wildly depending on the program in question. The guidelines above can be altered to fit whatever template.

Is uniformity [of opinion] attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites.
http://lfb.com/?stocknumber=FF7485&code=10247' target='_new'>Thomas Jefferson

« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
see the children with their boredom and their vacant stares. God help us all if we\'re to blame for their unanswered prayers,

Billy Joel.

Offline Deborah

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My friends mother may be sending her to wilderness therapy..
« Reply #4 on: June 17, 2006, 01:29:00 PM »
I don't think so. In a previous post she mentioned that the mother had not divulged the name of the program she was considering.
With any luck, she isn't seriously considering this option, just using it as a threat. We shall see.
I'm sure LL will post when there is something to report.
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Offline LauraLee

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My friends mother may be sending her to wilderness therapy..
« Reply #5 on: June 29, 2006, 01:49:00 PM »
Well, so far all is well. My friend is not acting out (well, whatever that means.) and her mother is re-thinking her WT decision. Hopefully that will stay that way.

This is a really short update, but that's about all the information I have. I called her mother and explained my stance, and I think she listened. Well, even if she didn't listen, at least she realized she knows nothing about the industry.

Thank you all for your help!
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Troll Control

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My friends mother may be sending her to wilderness therapy..
« Reply #6 on: June 29, 2006, 01:53:00 PM »
Quote
On 2006-06-29 10:49:00, LauraLee wrote:

"Well, so far all is well. My friend is not acting out (well, whatever that means.) and her mother is re-thinking her WT decision. Hopefully that will stay that way.



This is a really short update, but that's about all the information I have. I called her mother and explained my stance, and I think she listened. Well, even if she didn't listen, at least she realized she knows nothing about the industry.



Thank you all for your help!"


Good luck!  Keep us posted.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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