Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Facility Question and Answers
Discovery Academy - Provo, UT
necolumen:
I think its time for me to jump in here, as I graduated discovery academy in 2005. All the staff their thought I was trustworthy, believed in the program, and was 'cured' from depression, which in of itself is a dubious claim. None of that is true of course.
Side Note: The Facility is ran by a Brent R. Hall, and is owned by the ASCENT CORPORTATION which also owns 'RED-CLIFF ASCENT' wilderness program.
I have recently learned that i am a manic-depressive, and I do have a better hold on it now, almost three years later.
I truly hate that place, I faked my recovery from depression. They tried to slow down the rate at which I blowing through their school curriculum. They initially made it so that I had to get a 96% to pass a test or I had to retake it. I will personally testify, in court if need be, that they are actively defrauding the accrediation system. but enough about that.
I graduated as a level 4, the highest 'level', which is a measure of trust, in their 'program' their was only one other 'level 4' after I and a few others, graduated. So I have been Through the program, faked it, and know its ins and outs. Not only that, but because of my level, I was privy to information, discussions, and general musings of some of the staff.
I am a highly intelligent individual, no boasting; IQ, memory, psyche, and standard tests continually back that up. Some of the more intelligent staff, being a majority college students, were eager to engage me in conversation. I learned a lot.
Below is part of an e-mail i sent to someone in regards to their son's plight at discovery academy. I tried to make it as factual as possible. And include much about the inner workings as possible.
Well, I can tell you that it won't actually help the kid if he has actual problems. Most of the kids their when I was their were kids with drug problems or problems with the law. Its essentially a lockdown school, cant leave campus by yourself, alarms on all the doors, daily chores, it a like a step up from a military school. The environment their is controlled by 'therapists' and two people in charge of the boys and girls divisions respectively, Alan is the guys, guys and girls cannot normally interact at the school. You get punished with 'reflection points' which are similer to demerits. A reflection point is an hour of work. kissing a girl is 75 reflection points for example. Running away is 150. Saying a racial slur is 10. Cursing is one.
I particularly found the place unhelpful, and sometimes hostile. The staff is mainly college students. The therapists see students once a week for an hour, some even less than that. There are strong religious (mormon) overtones, all community service benefits the LDS in some way or form. All media, books and tv is regulated, cd players and mp3 players are not allowed, though students can own a radio. You cannot send letters without permission of a therapist, nor call anyone. They reccomend everyone stay their a year or more, it is not a non-profit organization as far as I can tell. While I was there (9 months) I saw three students return with more severe drug problems.
Failing to Follow the rules results in PHYSICAL RESTRAINT
The school there is all self taught they have four teachers a day for the whole school and everyone works independently. Thus students who are depressed about being there or are not good self-teachers tend to fall behind.
I personally graduated from there with a full highschool diploma and completeion of 'the program'. To complete the program you must show yourself progressing in 'therapy' and trustworthy and hardworking their are 12 'levels' representing level of trust and responsibility, level changes happen every two weeks or 4 weeks I cannot remember, and rarely do students progress that fast.
Perhaps I should mention that I absolutly hate discovery academy. If your kid has actual problems their are better places to send him, if he doesn't, the therapists will make one up.
The people who run the place are unreasonable, they are for the most part fundamentalists, and you will hear such rehtoric and beleifs coming from their mouths often.
I have considered filing legal action against them, but I really do not have the time, with college, and the money, being that I am in college.
If he is a good kid, he should not be there, end of story.
If you are looking for a legal challenge, perhaps you take up the actual existence of these schools. Think about this for a second.
If you lock your kid up and never let him go out into the world, social services will come after you. If you physically restrain your child from leaving the house to go outside and play, Social Services will come after you.
Judicial Oversight needs to be in place to represent a neutral third party in determining whether it is proper to send a child to one of these places.
I got a little carried away there, food for thought I guess.
Best of Luck,
Andrew
___________________________
Anyway, its 3:38 am where I am so i am off for now.
[/b]
Che Gookin:
--- Quote from: ""necolumen"" ---I think its time for me to jump in here, as I graduated discovery academy in 2005. All the staff their thought I was trustworthy, believed in the program, and was 'cured' from depression, which in of itself is a dubious claim. None of that is true of course.
Side Note: The Facility is ran by a Brent R. Hall, and is owned by the ASCENT CORPORTATION which also owns 'RED-CLIFF ASCENT' wilderness program.
I have recently learned that i am a manic-depressive, and I do have a better hold on it now, almost three years later.
I truly hate that place, I faked my recovery from depression. They tried to slow down the rate at which I blowing through their school curriculum. They initially made it so that I had to get a 96% to pass a test or I had to retake it. I will personally testify, in court if need be, that they are actively defrauding the accrediation system. but enough about that.
I graduated as a level 4, the highest 'level', which is a measure of trust, in their 'program' their was only one other 'level 4' after I and a few others, graduated. So I have been Through the program, faked it, and know its ins and outs. Not only that, but because of my level, I was privy to information, discussions, and general musings of some of the staff.
I am a highly intelligent individual, no boasting; IQ, memory, psyche, and standard tests continually back that up. Some of the more intelligent staff, being a majority college students, were eager to engage me in conversation. I learned a lot.
Below is part of an e-mail i sent to someone in regards to their son's plight at discovery academy. I tried to make it as factual as possible. And include much about the inner workings as possible.
Well, I can tell you that it won't actually help the kid if he has actual problems. Most of the kids their when I was their were kids with drug problems or problems with the law. Its essentially a lockdown school, cant leave campus by yourself, alarms on all the doors, daily chores, it a like a step up from a military school. The environment their is controlled by 'therapists' and two people in charge of the boys and girls divisions respectively, Alan is the guys, guys and girls cannot normally interact at the school. You get punished with 'reflection points' which are similer to demerits. A reflection point is an hour of work. kissing a girl is 75 reflection points for example. Running away is 150. Saying a racial slur is 10. Cursing is one.
I particularly found the place unhelpful, and sometimes hostile. The staff is mainly college students. The therapists see students once a week for an hour, some even less than that. There are strong religious (mormon) overtones, all community service benefits the LDS in some way or form. All media, books and tv is regulated, cd players and mp3 players are not allowed, though students can own a radio. You cannot send letters without permission of a therapist, nor call anyone. They reccomend everyone stay their a year or more, it is not a non-profit organization as far as I can tell. While I was there (9 months) I saw three students return with more severe drug problems.
Failing to Follow the rules results in PHYSICAL RESTRAINT
The school there is all self taught they have four teachers a day for the whole school and everyone works independently. Thus students who are depressed about being there or are not good self-teachers tend to fall behind.
I personally graduated from there with a full highschool diploma and completeion of 'the program'. To complete the program you must show yourself progressing in 'therapy' and trustworthy and hardworking their are 12 'levels' representing level of trust and responsibility, level changes happen every two weeks or 4 weeks I cannot remember, and rarely do students progress that fast.
Perhaps I should mention that I absolutly hate discovery academy. If your kid has actual problems their are better places to send him, if he doesn't, the therapists will make one up.
The people who run the place are unreasonable, they are for the most part fundamentalists, and you will hear such rehtoric and beleifs coming from their mouths often.
I have considered filing legal action against them, but I really do not have the time, with college, and the money, being that I am in college.
If he is a good kid, he should not be there, end of story.
If you are looking for a legal challenge, perhaps you take up the actual existence of these schools. Think about this for a second.
If you lock your kid up and never let him go out into the world, social services will come after you. If you physically restrain your child from leaving the house to go outside and play, Social Services will come after you.
Judicial Oversight needs to be in place to represent a neutral third party in determining whether it is proper to send a child to one of these places.
I got a little carried away there, food for thought I guess.
Best of Luck,
Andrew
___________________________
Anyway, its 3:38 am where I am so i am off for now.
[/b]
--- End quote ---
Thank you very much for posting this.
Anonymous:
A voice from nowhere
Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:02 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was at DA for 1 year and I can look back and say that sending me there was the best decision my parents ever made. I was hooked on drugs and I was struggling with bipolar (but didn't know it) - I was on my way down a road with no positive future. Nothing bad ever happened to me there, I had a wonderful therapist that made me feel good about myself. I did get in trouble on occasion and was punished but never to any extreme or that I didn't deserve.
No having said that, I do not believe that the owners now are the same as when I was there - all this info may not pertain. I was there 1993-1994.
This was a very generic post. I was there when you were, and doubt that anyone from that era could honestly make such statements about Discovery Academy....you obviously knew that the demerit system consisted of students standing, without moving, facing walls for 25 minutes at a time, often for hours daily. What is your name? Who was your therapist you rave about?
Ursus:
--- Quote from: ""necolumen"" ---Side Note: The Facility is ran by a Brent R. Hall, and is owned by the ASCENT CORPORTATION which also owns 'RED-CLIFF ASCENT' wilderness program.
--- End quote ---
I believe they also own Discovery Ranch (emphasis theirs):"Learning from the experience of Discovery Academy (Our boarding school that offers teen residential treatment) and RedCliff Ascent (Our wilderness treatment center), Discovery Ranch is the first troubled teen treatment center in the industry to offer clinically intensive care with the foundation being experiential therapy. Like most wilderness treatment centers, the focus on experiential learning is what sets us apart."
http://www.discoveryranch.net/[/list]
RedCliff Ascent is where Hyde School sends errant types who resist change even through 2-4 (Work Crew), 5:30's, and Outpost. The student is kept waiting in the Dean's area (a bad place to be anyway), and escorts come to 'cuff the unfortunate one and haul them away.
unfortunate one:
Hello everybody. I am new here. I am 27, married, and live in Salt Lake City. 10 days ago my Mom had my 17 year old brother taken into Discovery Academy. Well, yesterday he and another boy escaped. I guess the administrator's office door was broken by a different boy, so my brother went in the office, shut the broken door behind him, and walked right out the door in the office to the outside world. He made his way to my house, and told me of all the REAL things that go on there: mold in the kitchen areas and prep areas, uncooked meat served and when the kids get sick they say its the flu going around, out of the 6 boys in his sleeping room 2 have bronchitis and 1 has nemonia and they refuse to take them to the doctor or give them any medicine, the staff calls all the boys "Homo" or "Fag" regularly, they refuse to let my brother read the Bible, the other boy who broke out with my brother broke his arm at an activity in there and they did take him to the doctor but 2 weeks later when his hand was blue because the cast was restricting the blood they refused to take him back and he ended up having to bash the cast against the fireplace stones to break the cast off for relief.
My brother is now back at D.A., and I'm freaking out because even though I sent my Mom links to this forum and links about lawsuits and complaints, she refuses to accept the truth, and becomes more brainwashed by the minute as to how good D.A. is.
I just need some relief. There is absolutely NOTHING I can do, as my Mom is parent/guardian, and she refuses to hear/see the truth of D.A. I don't know what to do, and am sick worrying about my brother's safety and well-being. What can I do to get him out? I showed up to D.A. today, unannounced, to tour the place to try to verify anything of what my brother described. However, they of course denied me to see any of the facilities. I'm worried as ever, if any one knows anything I can do, or has some comfort they can impart, it's MUCH needed and appreciated!!!
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