Money, money, money, Did someone who went to CEDU schools play a part in getting you there? In my case, I know there was much done to ensure that I did the program. I was pretty good at it too. I guess I fall in to the percentage whose programming backfired! I feel so bad about NOT going back and "working the program sometimes"!!
Paul Auchterlonie, on the other hand, went into business with Lon (presumably they exchanged information regarding contacting or placing parents or kids in CEDU institutions.
Sorry, Paul, I rather liked you bu i gotta ask myself what was in your water, that wasn't in mine?
posted: Feb 21, 2007
10:02
By: Lon Woodbury:
"In some circles, there have been growing demands from critics insisting that private parent-choice schools and programs, both residential therapeutic and emotional growth boarding schools, be regulated through licensing. One stated presumption is there is no oversight over these programs because they are unlicensed and unregulated. There also seems to be the presumption that with oversight, these programs will stop the perceived abusive and punitive methods that are claimed common. Another presumption is that lack of government or any other type of oversight is the rule, and that responsible programs are the exception.
I've always wondered exactly what programs these critics have in mind.
True, there are some rogue operators who manage to get away with it for a time, despite being roundly condemned by legitimate professionals in the field, including responsible Educational Consultants and programs. Many have eventually been shut down by the authorities or otherwise forced to close their doors. I am aware of some who have settled in foreign countries to avoid any kind of oversight. (This doesn't include those who conscientiously follow US standards even when they are not forced to by foreign governments.) There are others I am aware of who take kids as a type of group home and claim their business license or permit (or some equivalent) is all that is necessary. But in my experience, these are the exceptions, the bad apples that any industry is plagued with. Apparently the critics believe that these rogue operations are the norm, thus the terms "unlicensed and unregulated." In their view, since the industry is "unlicensed and unregulated," federal legislation creating federal oversight is a vital necessity.
To answer the accusation that this industry is "unlicensed and unregulated," I went to the list of the top hundred schools and programs as viewed by the leading Independent Educational Consultants.
These are the schools and programs found in my Parent Empowerment Handbook?, and are based on an annual survey among the leading Independent Educational Consultants. The last edition was published in early summer last year. These schools and programs are the ones with the best reputations. They are presumably the most often used for placement by professional Independent Educational Consultants and are leaders in our network. These schools and programs are at the heart of the industry that is being accused of being "unlicensed and unregulated."
Below is a list of those schools and programs that are licensed and regulated. I didn't include those only under the umbrella of a state's Children's Protective Service, or equivalent, with a mandate to intervene if any child in their jurisdiction is abused, which is a form of regulation.
I also didn't include those who are just accredited for their academics, but that is also a form of regulation which includes a legal mandate in at least most states to report abuse if ever observed.
In addition, I didn't include those that only have active parent activities, since a steady stream of parents and Educational Consultants through a facility is in itself an informal form of oversight. :rofl: Finally, I did not include those who just have credentialed staff who have a legal responsibility to report unacceptable behavior, and also those who are members of professional organizations which also would have an interest in stopping abusive behavior they might become aware of.
I did include those who are accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), because this is a designation that is difficult to obtain, and in many ways is the gold standard for competency, effectiveness and professionalism in healthcare organizations. As a result, I took a fairly narrow view of the question of how many of the programs were regulated with state oversight. The list of 100 schools and programs includes many wilderness programs and therapeutic boarding schools, as well as many residential treatment centers and mainstream type schools who take students transitioning from more highly structured schools and programs. The following are the schools and programs, as reported to us for the Handbook, from the 100 leaders in the private industry of residential parent-choice schools and programs, that have either some kind of state licensure or JCAHO accreditation, or both."
___________________________________________________
I've left a lot of the drama about placement alone. I thought CEDU, the CEDU I've been writing about, and thinking about was dead. And it just wasn't my kind of thing. But I must respond to outright manufactured ends justify the means mentality of adults that were never in any programs and didn't ever participate in months or years of therapy...AGAINST their own will. So, I mostly want to respond to the beginning of this post. The ongoing phrasing used about perceived or claimed complaints or 'abuse' is somewhat patronizing. Everywhere I look I have to question what is ABUSE?
I'm going to take it to the personal level.
I remember you, LON! I Bet you're surpised. Do you remember R. Spears? Where do they all go? I have correspondence between my parents and you right now. You were working at the CEDU campus RMA in Idaho, remember? Isn't that where you became convinced of basically everything you believe about this industry?
Seriously? CEDU was the "grandaddy" and "Mercedes" of the Troubled Teen industry in the time you were working there. Remember how that was? Did you enjoy the air conditioned offices? The one you spent so much time in in the bottom of Emerson with the air conditioning while I was out slogging away on another work assignment? OH! Why was I on "another work assignment"? Because it took a long time to "break me". That was the term used affectionately by everyone, myself included, when I was finally coerced into believeing the great things about CEDU education.
You were on the phone with parents of kids, seeing only the parents point of view, werent you? You were recruiting, and wheeling and dealing, to save potential parents a few thousand bucks or a few months of free enrollment, should they recommend some other parents. NOT KIDS. You learned to talk to the insurance companies and the accredation enterprises, you know, to assist the parents in seeing the investment as a legitimate one. When did you start sitting in on raps anyway? I don't remember you ever participating in the "therapy" you were yelling, oh, I mean SELLING. Nope, you were selling , at the time I was at RMA, a product that you knew nothing about- That is FIRSTHAND.
Don't you miss CEDU? It was so GOOD how it turned out us wilderness counselors, educational consultants, and college grads, and most importantly, investors for NEW school/programs.
Lord, How it categorically changed those troubled teens for a few years? That's great! They were saved...for a while, maybe.
You were a good salesman of a 'working' product that sold brilliantly for a long time. Why don't you tell us what really happened to CEDU? You never had it so good! How did the Brown Schools and the change to pharmacological coercion fuck it all up? And another thing:
The reason for needed government oversite and regulation is not to help catch the "few bad apples" and spot abuse.
It is needed to define what abuse is. We only have one word for it whether you are put in a dog- cage, held against your will without contact with anyone you want for YEARS, held down until you have a broken arm or worse, made to sit in HUNDREDS of confrontational group sessions, kept up all night with known mind numbing techniques until you admit that the program is a much needed 'tool' for life, hiked to exhaustian with limited sustenance and hydration for a month, worked without pay, or simply ignored and treated as a pariah until you adopt the mentality of the group (or your parents and the promises made by the fucking educational consultant sending off the glossy brochures to parents hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles from where the positive, live altering experience can take place.)
Lon has been working in this field a long time, but why? You see, I'd really like an answer, because the "good" places, really weren't all that good, fair, or deserved.
P.S. I don't lurk at your duplicitous website, and I'm not an activist, per se, but please feel free (anyone) to cut and paste this to his site, and/ or contact me about the above asked questions and the above thread.
