I am a graduate of Spring Creek Lodge, a WWASP program, and now i currently work there on and off while i go to school. The other day at my shift change we were read a letter from a parent with her child currently in the program. The mother talked about the changes she had made in her life and the changes she had seen in her son and in her family. The woman had visited Spring Creek on a few occasions and met many of the staff members. The woman made no comment on the cost of tuition or on the mistreatment to her son. The woman was happy to see her child healthy and happy with a better outlook for his future, which this boy at one point did not see any of this possible.
I come from a single parent home, with a struggling mother fighting to support her two daughters. I was a very rebelious child, starting weed, alcohol, and cigarettes at the age of 11, and moving to meth by about 14. I was in and out of trouble with the law and disobedience to my parents. By my 16th birthday my mom was to the point where it came to intervening in my life or watching her daughter slowly kill herself.
I was enrolled in Spring Creek Lodge December of 2000. I spent 18 months in the program until i graduated the program and high school (one year earlier than my class at home). At that time I had already been accepted to college and was getting ready to enroll in my first year at the University of Montana. I am now ending my sophmore year with a 3.25 GPA. I am clean off drugs (not saying I haven't had my ups and downs and fair share of relapses), anf working towards building a new life.
I am not at all trying to promote the WWASP programs, I'm just stating my own experiences that I have had in my own life. Being in the program is just a small part of it, working there has been a huge experience in its self. When i go to work it's not about the paycheck, it's about the kids there. I put more of myself into them than I did myself while I was in the program. And, no, I have no special liscence for my job, but if you could see the look on there faces when you walk onto the facility it makes all the difference. I have watched girls throughout their whole program and actually observed and helped them make some amazing changes in their lives.
In the end it is all the choice of the kids ro make the change when they get home. The program gives them guidelines to fallow and life skills to help them through it, and its their parents love and devotion to help them through it. There is not a day i can recall where my mother complained about the money she spent (which she did not have) to keep me in the program until I completed. All i ever hear from her is how proud and happy she is of the things I accomplished, and the main part is the fact that I am off drugs.
My main reason in writing this reply is that there are many aspects that aren't looked at in these articles. The BBS isn't the program, and it doesn't have anything to do with what is going on in the programs. I believe that placement into these programs is up to the parents of the children, not myself or anyone elses. For that reason, I am not promoting or not recomending the program to anyone, I'm just stating my own opinins and views about my eperiences.
Shaundel Boyce
