I don't visit the "We've Been There" message board often due to the excessive pop ups and my slow connection, but this was posted a couple of days ago and wanted to share it with folks here. I really appreciated a former employee steping forward to tell the truth.
Deborah
What CEDU is Like from Former Therapist
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I worked as a therapist for CEDU in Idaho for several years. I witnessed or heard testimony from kids, other workers and therapists outlining incredible staff ignorance, incompetence and finally a, so called,"clinical program" that was using Scientology, EST, Life Spring and Synanon techniques that amounted to nothing more than mind control, emotional manipulation, intimidation, social depravation and sexual degradation sanctioned by licensed and unlicensed PhDs. I spent several years working in the program to bring about positive change and some bit of humanity. I failed.
The best staff; the ones who really cared, would be extricated quickly. I fought from within, all the way up to the CEO, and was eventually forbidden from sending e mails of more than 3 sentences - nothing ever changed. I eventually started reporting to child protective services. CPS eventually said that they could not do adequate investigations on the funding they had - and left it to the local (good old boy) police who all have relatives and friends working at the school. Nothing ever changed. The kids were afraid to speak up. When they tried to talk to their parents, staff hung up at any mention of anything bad about the place.
I eventually called State Rural Treatment Center Licensing and spoke with two of their staff on three occasions - ( Mostly the main guy, Jim Pruitt) Inspections were done without talking to me, any therapists or the kids. Toothbrushes were checked. They acted like health inspectors for a restaurant and gave them a clean bill of health every time.
During one period of time, a girl's body wash was urinated in before she used it, boys masturbated into each other's sheets, there were blanket parties; a toilet plunger found with feces on it. Masturbation was ruled "out of agreement." A staff member yelled at a child caught with Victoria Secret pictures while playing the song "whip it, whip it good" in front of the whole school population. Then he was humiliated in a group rap session where kids were supposed to join in the retribution. There were girls and boys who had sex on a regular basis. No education was given, only long time outs (restrictions), bans against talking to friends, work assignments, yelling and shame. Once a female staff was placed in a workshop and asked to work on "her emotional stuff" by pretending to hump one of my boys while moaning that she liked it. Another of my boys was forced to stay alone in a room for about 2 months while given periodic interrogation sessions and yelling. Boys and girls are regularly placed at chairs in the center of the "house" or in corners where they would sit for weeks (state code forbids this but the state workers let it go on with their knowledge) writing things like "what I hate about myself" What are the things that make me a liar" How do I make my family ashamed" ad infinitum. Depressed children are frequently hospitalized at NIBH because this process would make them snap and become suicidal/ or homicidal - I participated in assessing several kids pushed to danger to self or others and arranged hospitalizations. The result, approximately 85% of child population on psychotropic medications to control their behavior and allow them to stay in the program. Workshops can require staff yelling slut, whore, dummy, idiot etc. and with signs placed on the walls as my kids reported.
Staff weren't treated much better. Program staff went through the same as above - clinicians didn't see it for obvious reasons. And, Idaho has no "right to work laws" so people on salary are not required to be given breaks or even limits to the hours they work. As a therapist I would see 9 to 11 children a day, attend raps, staffings meetings and field as many as 30 phone calls a week each lasting on half to one hour and attend several meetings and staffings whole running "so called" clinical supervision in the house and periodic unpaid on-call time. I eventually gave up attending Raps - closed two weekly group therapy sessions in order to cope and was still working 14 hour days frequently with no breaks - not even 10 minutes in a day. When I asked for help, they called it a time management problem. They were laying people off, and, therefore, over-working the remaining staff was the only way to squeeze more money out. I spoke up about being over worked and said that this affected quality of service at the "parent conference." Suddenly I was being called on the carpet at every turn. I saw that they were forcing me out, so I resigned and offered a long notice on the condition that I could give attention to the trauma my children would experience in losing me. In response the clinical director harassed me by calling in human resources and accusing me of everything they could make up while I continued to work 14 hour days on my four day week schedule. I eventually was unable to keep up and became so stressed I went home sick and they said this was an early resignation, forbid me from returning to campus and sent me my final pay.
If anyone ever thinks of sending a child to a CEDU school or working for one, I would not recommend it. If anyone believes their child is safe in Idaho because the State Department of Health and Welfare forget it. Idaho Child Protective Services will do Nothing, State Facilities Licensing has nothing but a token function and the local police have better things to do than look after locked up rich kids. In summary, there are no checks and balances in Idaho and I suspect in many other States. For example Washington State has safeguards and there are virtually no Emotional Growth Boarding Schools there.
Take heed that, after working with them, I see this whole Emotional Growth Boarding School industry as corrupt. This company recently settled out of court on charges or racketeering and child abuse. They shut down a choice wilderness program "On Track" after it was involved in the death of a child while doing a restraint. The Alexia Parks newspaper articles section on
http://www.teenliberty.org See the We've Been There /Cedu bulletin board on the web for the awful history of CEDU and other such schools. Take heed.
Also, I can tell you first hand that most of the kids I have followed did "the CEDU act" (their words) through and at graduation "to get out" and then went back to smoking pot, drinking and having indiscriminate sex. I recommend that, you, instead of looking to this greedy industry, spend an inordinate amount of positive time with your kids. Recreate them and mentor them. Share your life with them. That is what they are crying out for.
These programs use the same techniques as cults and will temporarily change your child's behavior while he does some growing up over 2 years. Your child will look better behaved because he will know the "act" to get what he/she wants. They are conditioned to the "act." But your child is not a rat. He or she is a human being and deserves to be treated as such while he or she grows up. Aversive conditioning of children is not a therapeutically acceptable practice. I saw it's darkness, this industry, this practice. Unfortunately, you never will see the darkness directly, because they hide it so well. Don't make the same mistake I did and trust these people.
Mark Rist LCSW
Therapist
