TO EMILY GRAEBER (Island View escapee):

[Anonymous]

QFTing some more.

I'd like to make another thing clear.

Programs do not want the parents to interface with the child personally. In this way, they can manipulate the parent as ease.  That is why they tell you not to personally visit their child once he or she is caught.

The way they do this is through Fear. They prey on the parents' fear --your kid will be deadinsaneinjailorondrugs if you pull them out.  Unfortunately, this is baloney most of the time.  I know in my case, it was a lie, and in many other cases I have personal knowledge of.  In addition, WE, the kids, often either exaggerated our drug history or in some cases, lied about it, in order to move through the program. We were badgered so badly, we often were coerced to adopt false stories. Then, it became part of our story. We brought into it.  It was crucial that we believe the program was saving us...  the way they do this is by degrading us daily so that we believe the bullshit about ourselves. That we are incapable and worthless. Then, they could posit themselves as our Personal Jesus.

To the pro-program kids on Emily. Wait 5-10-20 years. Nearly every person I know on this site said the same thing you did. Most graduated the program brainwashed. After years and years of wondering why they feel an internal disconnect, why they are having so many problems relating post program, they start to piece the puzzle together.  

Hey parents! How would you like to be having this conversation 5-10-20 years from now?

I recently read a letter from a parent who sent her child to a program 20 years ago. I can tell you right now, she would not say the program had the long term effect she hoped for. Any of you interested in looking back 10-20 years from now only to realize you spent a boat load of cash and hope on your kid only to have them sitting at the fornits site spewing resentment, anger, and pain?

Don't let a good couple of years on paper fool you. Many of us had stellar resumes in an effort to "look good" initially. Inside, we were a mess.

There is a reason there are no longitudinal studies done.

Shanlea

[Anonymous]

No one wishes her to be on the streets.

However, the concern here is that she will be returned to the program that will subject her to trenchant psychological abuse. The fact she ran away will be used against her... Instead of caring for her and making her feel emotionally safe and respecting the root reason for her departure, they will criminalize her.  Now, the iron clamp will come down and she will be in a tighter box. Her problems will just become conflated.

Another problem is that parents turn to the program as the expert, instead of listening to their gut or their heart.  I've seen this happen across the board. They simply do what the program tells them to do, but don't investigate the matter for themselves.   They don't take their child's concerns seriously or respectfully.

Emily will likely buckle under new constraints, drink the Kool Aid, etc.   But don't count out the possibility that she will be on Fornits in 5 or 10 wondering wtf happened.

[Anonymous]

nah, I am kinda of pissed at whoever turned her in.

She is no better off and is going to face reverberations especially if she goes back to the pit or to WT.

she is much better off then being on the streets.  That is the most dangerous place for a young girl, runaway, with no street smarts,  thats no life.  She belongs with her family or back at IV to finish her program.. she has a nice long life ahead of her and a chance to be happy if she can get thru this rough spot.

Intersting, is a girl better off in a torture-cult devoted to destroying her, unravelling her brain like a spool of red yarn? Or, living with that nice family who turned her in, misguidedly, beleiving her family was nice, like theirs. Any family that would have Island view in on the discussions as Who says (not that you can beleive the aspen industry pr man) is not nice.

As tough as it is without parents, you are often better off without the sort that would send you to live life in an insitution, and you are better off on the street than in program, as you stand a better chance of coming out of them OK.

Actually chances are she would be dead living on the streets in a short time.  Kids do much better with family or with people who they love and/or who love them.  Second to that they are better of in a place where they can heal and grow.  The last place for a child is on the streets.  You certainly dont know much about street life or city living for a runaway teen age girl.

But she wasn't on the streets. Here's my thing, if her family really isn't going to send her back to Island View, I'm glad she got to   go home to see her grandmother before she passed.

But if  that places is as  bad as  they say it is and they DID send her back....I'm sorry but I would rather she be  with the "nice family" and her parent's can remain worried till the cows come home if that would keep her out of harms way.

I wish them a happy thanksgiving together...oh it's snowing outside.

[Anonymous]

Whom, no one wants to read your volley shots and returns with Deborah.





That is the most dangerous place for a young girl, runaway, with no street smarts, thats no life.


so she was living on the streets? I don't think so.


THE ISLAND is considering her for a JAN 08 re-admission. After she spends 8 weeks in Second Nature. Afer her poor parents are spent and probably grateful THE ISLAND will take her back.

Disgusting.

Show those assholes, Emily's parents. Don't send her back. Even when you have the peer group leader calling you spineless if your daugher runs and you welcome her back home.

The streets is where most run aways end up.  A young girl without street smarts wouldnt last too long.  She was lucky

she had street smarts

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if she's going back?

someone trustworthy?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if she's going back?

someone trustworthy?

this is emily. i did go back and after another 9 months, i graduated and am now at a boarding school in new hampshier called the white mountain school. its been a year now since i ran away, it feels like it was yesterday now.
just wanted to let everybody know that im doing fine, although i hate my school a lot.
peace and love
emily

[Oscar]

Does anyone know if she's going back?

someone trustworthy?

this is emily. i did go back and after another 9 months, i graduated and am now at a boarding school in new hampshier called the white mountain school. its been a year now since i ran away, it feels like it was yesterday now.
just wanted to let everybody know that im doing fine, although i hate my school a lot.
peace and love
emily

I am truly sorry that you had to go through that. If it becoming too hard to adjust back to the real world our wiki datasheet has a lot of links to survivor groups, who knows what you are dealing with. You are unfortunately not alone.

Stay strong. Maybe 2009 would be the year you can be released back into society. I have checked your present boarding school and while they use wilderness and community service, which here in Denmark are regarded for as an alternative only, it seems that it is less a prison.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if she's going back?

someone trustworthy?

this is emily. i did go back and after another 9 months, i graduated and am now at a boarding school in new hampshier called the white mountain school. its been a year now since i ran away, it feels like it was yesterday now.
just wanted to let everybody know that im doing fine, although i hate my school a lot.
peace and love
emily

is this the real emily? Is there anyway to verify that?
emily if you can talk what is your "school" like now? What was I.V. like?

[Anonymous]

What's gets to me the most is that they said they weren't going to send her back....in the end it's her decision if she ever forgives him.

[Anonymous]

nah, I am kinda of pissed at whoever turned her in.


Actually chances are she would be dead living on the streets in a short time.  Kids do much better with family or with people who they love and/or who love them.  Second to that they are better of in a place where they can heal and grow.  The last place for a child is on the streets.  You certainly dont know much about street life or city living for a runaway teen age girl.

But she wasn't on the streets. Here's my thing, if her family really isn't going to send her back to Island View, I'm glad she got to   go home to see her grandmother before she passed.

But if  that places is as  bad as  they say it is and they DID send her back....I'm sorry but I would rather she be  with the "nice family" and her parent's can remain worried till the cows come home if that would keep her out of harms way.

I wish them a happy thanksgiving together...oh it's snowing outside.

Looking back, I wonder if she wouldn't have been better off not going back....it sounds like she would have been much safer where she was if what I am hearing is true.

[jakegon]

DO NOT attempt to contact your parents until you are over the age of 18!

DO NOT reveal yourself to ANYONE you cannot absolutely trust - THIS INCLUDES ALL FAMILY MEMBERS WHO DID NOT HELP YOU ESCAPE - in any way!

DO NOT use your real name if at all possible.

CHANGE YOUR APPEARANCE as much as you can.

LEAVE THE COUNTRY if at all possible!

Assume that your parents WILL send you back to that hellhole if at all possible.

YOU ARE BEING TRACKED BY THE FEDS. Find a new hiding spot if the person hiding you ever showed up with you on any security camera.

TO THE FBI: Fucking investigate Island View itself while you're at it, huh?

its perfect idea they installed a security cameras, this is a good evidence..


_________________
Adt security

[Oscar]

If you went to a program owned by Aspen Education Group PLEASE READ!! Lawsuit starting (Reddit thread)

Hi, I have never posted on reddit, just looked around the troubled teen areas. My name is Emily, I am 23 years old and a survivor of Aspen's Second Nature and Island View RTC.

For the last two years, I have been doing heavy research on the troubled teen industry, specifically Aspen programs. I have talked to over 50 lawyers and am still looking. I have been encouraged by several lawyers to gather as many people as I can and have them write testimonies. These testimonies will be the driving force in starting this lawsuit. These testimonies will help the lawyer piece together a giant case. We have around 25 people right now that are working hard on testimonies and I cam coming here to reddit to encourage anybody that was sent to an Aspen program; RTCs, Wilderness Programs, Weight Loss Camps, or any academy/school/facility run by Aspen; to contact me if you want to be part of this lawsuit. We are not even at the minimum number of people needed for a really solid Class Action Lawsuit. Power in numbers!!If you contact me I will send you a general overview of what this is about and how to help. It would be greatly appreciated and so worth it for all of us. A huge goal in this is to expose Aspen Education Group, CRC Health, Family Help & Wellness, and of course Island View/Elevations, and all the other schools and facilities. Island View was "shut down", and re-opened as "Elevations", ( Former "head of education" now RUNS elevations-not qualified) and people that were night staff when I was there are now in very high up positions. The company that owns Elevations is called Family Help and Wellness, owned by Opal Creek Capital, owned by a former Leader at CRC/Aspen Education group. So basically, aspen still owns Elevations. There are a few other schools that Family Help and Wellness own, a few employees of Island View went off and started their own RTC; solstice which has 2 locations, yet, they are owned by the same company that owns Elevations. When these employees left they told us it was to get away from the intensity of Island View. Another Aspen school that was closed was re-opened and purchased by Family Help and Wellness. Their solutions to the many many lawsuits is to shut down and re open in what looks like a totally different company/ownership,but still run the same exact abusive programs. These companies promote Institutional Child Abuse, and every single day that these programs are open, children are being abused, and we need to do something about that. As survivors of places owned by Aspen, we need to come together and hold them accountable for what they did to all of us, and for all the innocent life's lost because they could no longer handle the pain. I graduated in 2009 and still go through daily suffering as a result of these programs. We were abused and traumatized, our childhoods ruined, our parents bank accounts drained for the sake of our "treatment". It is infuriating that parents pay upwards of $10,000/month to keep children in highly abusive settings. I want to help bring awareness to the horror that is the Troubled Teen Industry.

Please feel free to contact me here on reddit email: emily_g143@yahoo.com or facebook: Emily Graeber

[Oscar]

“Treatment Centers” for Troubled Teens Are Gothic Nightmares (Slate)