Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Facility Question and Answers

Unita Academy, Wellsville, UT

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Pile of Dead Kids:
Uinta has been on a damage-control spree recently, some of it involving the wiki.

Previous poster is likely part of this.

ToniB:
I am touched by your defense of your Dad.  Please realize everyone of these parents is mounting a defense of their daughter as well and that every thing posted by a student or a parent is also true.  I'm sure Uinta is better than most but that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement.  A good place to start is the facts:  review the therapy of each student, see that it is consistent, regular and often, have the residence staff have input into therapy calls, summaries, etc.  Look at the therapist notes and determine if there is a disconnect between what is told to the parents and what is actually going on.  Review interactions with the psychiatrist.  Is  there an issue medication could help alleviate?  Are "problem" students discussed more in depth with the doctor?  A common thread I see in all these posts is a lack of communication and real feedback by the staff.  That's a therapy problem, a business problem and a marketing problem.  Like it or not, you are in a business.  I also do  not necessarily view the story of the old man refusing to abandon his home in a positive light.  Aside from the fact that it has no relevance to the issues raised by the posters, my thought is that it is all well and good to be sympathetic to his situation but at the expense of your FAMILY?  What kind of message was that sending to you? The man's family could have been called to intervene or neighbors could have made some efforts.  The fact that this person was not confronted also appears to go to the lack of communication issue and hints at a possible conflict avoidance problem that also runs throughout the emails.

CA Mom:
My daughter, M, was at Uinta Academy for about 13 months due to severe anxiety and depression that manifested in self-hurting behavior (hair pulling and picking at her gums), inability to get out of bed and regularly attend school, inability to nourish herself properly (she had lost 20 lbs. from a normal weight), and a tendency to make the focus of her life based on others (often boys) rather than her own goals. M’s dad and I had divorced 3 years earlier just before she began high school, which M took rather hard, and we shared custody every other week.

M was doing OK until the third year when her dad began a new relationship with a woman and her children in another city about 30 minutes away. Whereas his focus prior to this had been to be the best dad he could be and work with me to make M his top priority, that changed as he began to leave M alone or with her adult brother a great deal of the time she was to be with him. By the time M got to Uinta, she had mastered “splitting behavior” that allowed her to get what she wanted by pitting her parents against each other.

For the most part, Uinta did a good job of working with M to turn her around, with one exception. Although we had insisted that M’s loss of weight was not due to a traditional eating disorder, but more her anxiety and depression, Uinta insisted that she sing EVERY time she went to the bathroom to prove that she was not purging, and this went on for several months. They kept insisting it was about M’s need for control, but it felt like an unnecessarily cruel deprivation of M's privacy.

When M was nearing time to come home, it was decided that she would do better living in one home rather than bouncing back between two. M and her dad had managed to convince the Uinta staff that I had anger management issues that contributed to her anxiety. In fact, I was just stricter with her and was the only parent who set limits and expectations for her. Therefore, M chose to live with her dad because she could manipulate him easier and he would give in to most everything she wanted. Despite my pleas that this would not be a good arrangement if for no other reason than the fact that he was not around enough to supervise her, they supported M’s decision because her dad lied that he would change his life to be around more for M. The very first weekend M was home, her dad left her all day on Sunday to go with his girlfriend and her children.

Now a little over 8 months later, M has completely resumed almost ALL of her prior negative behaviors. She sleeps at odd hours and for too long, she performs poorly in jr. college and misses class despite being an extremely bright young woman, she has now lost 15 lbs. of the weight she had gained back, and she still exhibits her self-hurting behaviors, although less so than before. She still lets her social activities dictate her life rather than any goals for a future, and she spends money on eating out or on whatever extras she wants without performing any chores because she knows that her dad will subsidize it. What a waste of around $30k of her college money!

If your daughter has any issues related to a divorce, DO NOT SEND HER THERE as they will thrust her back into the very situation that contributed to her problems in the first place.

Pile of Dead Kids:
Alternatively, if you were less of a malevolent bitch she might not have had any problems in the first place.

DannyB II:

--- Quote from: "oldest" ---I am responding to the site because I was talking with my dad, Jeff Simpson, this weekend and he mentioned to me he had just recently been informed of it by a parent and after checking it out was very disappointed.  After I checked out, I wasn’t disappointed, I was angry!  Just so you know I am not some young immature woman who had to attend program after program!!!  I am a mother of three beautiful, smart, and caring girls, my oldest a teenager. I have a degree in Health Science and am now working on my BSN.

I can’t respond to some of the comments made by these moms nor do I know the young woman that made the comments about Uinta and my dad, but I do know my dad and mom.  They are two of the most compassionate and giving people you will ever meet.  I need to make some comments about the 5 program woman’s statements.  They are so out of character for my dad as to be ridiculous. When the first girls came to Uinta they actually lived with my parents on our farm.  As the program expanded my parents moved out, giving the farm up to the program.  Both my dad and I have Celiac disease.  We have always been careful about what we eat and consequently, have developed some “favorite” brands.  As with most families, my parents have certain brands of food they prefer.  One is Hunts ketchup, also, Best Mayo (we weren’t a Miracle Whip family), Campbell’s soup, Lays potato chip, Jif peanut butter and so on.  My dad also likes to make jokes.  He is very quick witted and funny. I can definitely see him making a joking comment about Heinz ketchup and politics.  I can also tell you that he never tried to influence our political ideas and I know he wouldn’t do that in his program.  He has always encouraged all of us kids to form our own, well thought out and researched, opinions. I also know he was a huge supporter of Hillary Clinton in the last election and donated heavily to her campaign!  Last I checked, she is definitely NOT a Republican!  So this young woman has no clue what she’s talking about.  Also, my father would have never made the “garbage disposal” comment, she claims.  He raised 3 daughters and a son and was always very sensitive to food/eating issues! Say what she may, it’s just not true.  Lastly, he would never abuse any animal, especially one of his horses!  I have seen him cry when a horse had to be put down.  I have seen him stay up all night with a sick horse in the middle of the winter.  I’ve seen him stop on the roadside on the way to church and cross a muddy field in his best suit to free a neighbor’s horse that was tangled in barb wire.  

Just a few other things about my parents.  Some people try to portray people like them as greedy.  We didn’t buy our first home until I was 16 years old, because my parents spent most of their career, working for non-profit organizations that didn’t pay well, helping underprivileged and unwanted children and adolescents.  At one time my dad worked in a program that tried to PREVENT children from having to leave their homes by sending a “family preservation” therapist to work with the family in their home.  I remember one Christmas, early in the morning, he got a phone call from one of his families that was in a crisis.  He immediately went over to their home and didn’t return until late that evening!  They have dedicated their lives to helping children and their families; and for a few people to try and tarnish their work and their names is despicable!  

One last thing to show you the character of my father.  He always wanted a farm, so many years ago we were able to buy a small farm in Northern Utah.  The place where they eventually started Uinta.   The gentleman we bought it from was very old and when the time came for us to move in, he refused to leave.  We had to leave our home as the new residents were to move in.  It was early fall and school had just started so we moved a borrowed camp trailer under the hay barn on the property and moved into it waiting for the elderly gentleman to move out.  He kept insisting it would be a “few weeks.”  We soon realized he had no intention to move out.  Sometimes he would unhook our water hose attached to the trailer or unplug the electrical cord attached to an outside outlet.  My dad never said a word, never got mad, and never confronted this old man.  He would say, he’s old, he’s attached to the farm and it’s hard for him to leave.  My dad could have legally had him removed, but he never considered that.  Do you know how difficult it can be for a family of six to live in a small camp trailer, especially under those circumstances? Well, you get through it with a LOT of patience and love. About three months after we got there, the old man passed away and 2 days later, after his family moved his belongings, we moved in to the home!  That is the kind of compassion my father has for people.  I doubt many other people, especially those that blog on these sites would have been as understanding and compassionate.

To those who read this, that is who my parents are.  Granted I’m their daughter, but everything I’ve posted is true.  

I’ll finish with a story my dad told us as little kids.  There once was this Indian tribe and in the tribe was a woman who liked to talk about other people.  It didn’t matter if the gossip was true or not, she always had something negative to say about other people.  After years of this she was ostracized by everyone in the tribe and no one would talk to her, so she went to the wise Chief for advice, asking him how she can take back her words.  He told her that when everyone was asleep that night, he wanted her to put a feather outside each of the teepees of anyone she had ever talked negatively about.  That night she did so, placing a feather in front of every teepee in camp.  However, during the night a huge storm came in and blew the feathers to the four corners of the world. In the morning she went to the wise Chief and told him that she had placed the feathers as she was instructed, but that a storm had blown them away.  He told her to retrieve each and every one of the feathers.  She said she could not, it would be impossible.  He responded, and so shall it be to take back all the things you spoke of others!

Interestingly, one of the bloggers on this site named their first child after my father; another made ridiculous and untrue claims.  Maybe blogging on this site says more about the people who blog here than it says about who they are blogging about!
--- End quote ---



Jeesh, did everyone notice that Ursus and Che had nothing, I mean absolutely nothing to say to this poster.
Ursus and Che, this is why you two lack in the credibility department.
You don't even have the common decency to acknowledge a post that was written with intelligence and conviction.
Say something, act like you have some balance.
Both of you should not even bother to try and interact with the public here, just copy and post. It compliments your estranged personalities.

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