My dad told me that we were taking a "fun and exciting" vacation to San Diego to visit my sick Uncle Bill. They told me the trunk full of clothes they packed was just a bunch of electronics that needed to be returned to Uncle Bill. After the plane ride, Dad and I stood outside the airport. I asked, "So, where are we going now?" He said, "Well, YOU'RE going to a treatment center with 12 other girls and I am going home." Then this dude named Fernando picked me up and drove me to High Impact. When we got there it was a big military tent set up on a concrete slab. This was in front of the infamous dog cages. I sat at a picnic table as all the ridiculous rules were laid out to me. You must complete 2000 laps to complete the program. However laps are easily taken away if you commit an infraction. IE: scratching w/o permission, not washing a plate spotlessly with caked-on oatmeal within 10 seconds, moving your legs too much when sitting for hours on end. 80 laps would be deducted for each infraction, and if you forgot to raise your hand to ask permission to scratch yourself 3 times, no laps for you that day. Just a wasted 24 hours of distress. You had to take freezing cold showers with water that came from a wll not too far from where we slept. We couldn't drink the well water as it wasn't sanitary. So the "mamas" would have to walk up a long hill to get water from the owner's house. A lot of times they were too lazy so we were thirsty all the time. Forced to sneak drinks of well water from the shower. At one point I fell to the ground b/c my head was spinning due to dehydration. The mamas said I was being manipulative, trying to get more water than everyone else. As punishment they put me in the dog cage in the "high impact" position-belly down, arms spread out, palms facing up, feet crossed and held an inch above the ground. all day in the heat, and into the night when temperatures dropped into the 30s. i was then made to take a freezing cold shower in 30 degree weather. You could see steam rising from my body. Everyone had to shower in front of everyone, no privacy. One girl lied about me ramming into her as I was running laps. The mamas weren't hearing me though. They just automatically jumped on me, to the point where all I could do was scream and scream. Then the owner came down and said, "You need to do more laps." I wrote letters home and all my parents would say was that I should be grateful that I had beans and rice to eat. That's just the first time. After I completed the program the first time I was then sent to Cross Creek Manor. After about 6mos to a year, Ron Garrett came into therapy group and confronted me about threatening a staff with a pencil. Which was not true at all. I didn't even know what he was talking about. He and my therapist Sondra kept telling me I was playing dumb, and I should just admit it. So after spending 2 days in isolation I was exported to Mex. again. This time I had to complete 4000 laps, and the camp wasn't any better. The only differences were they allowed us to brush our hair and dress our disgusting feet (constantly filled with blisters and cuts, attracting flies when sitting for hours) at the end of the day. Oh, and then they added a zucchini to our dinner of chicken and rice. I would like to pursue this legally, but don't know how to go about it. E-mail me
jillianhubbard@hotmail.com
