I strongly encourage ALL PV survivors to obtain their records from the program. Call PV at 800-255-8336 and ask for Deborah Montooth in records, and ask for a release form to fill out. When you get it, check every record they offer to provide, and add "all treatment notes/restraint log entries" to the "additional records" line.
There is a statute of limitations - however, if your records have never been reviewed to see if PV deviated from the standards of practice of adolescent psychology, it changes things. I'm not a lawyer, but if you're suffering PTSD after Peninsula's "treatment", that treatment needs to be reviewed by a forensic psychiatrist. It's possible the psychiatrist will determine PV deviated from the standards of practice and did harm through negligent or abusive treatment.
No promises, but if a psychiatrist says "yes, PV's treatment was detrimental" the date he makes this decision is when the statute is tolled - a new statute of limitations starts, if you consider the psychiatrist's finding of fault with PV as "date of discovery" Ask for an extraordinary appeal - it's wrong to give a program survivor 1-2 years to file against an abusive program. How long does it take to decompress after the experience? Plus, survivors are young when they leave - re-integrating takes time, resuming education is an issue - when does a survivor have the time or desire to address what he/she went through and enter a legal fight? Some survivors have told me it takes two or three years to quit denying what happened to them in a program, the strong emotions flood in when the frozen memories thaw. Conveniently for the industry, the malpractice laws in most states are geared toward simple medical malpractice, not mental health. It's time to set some precedents, folks, we need to start making extraordinary appeals using date of discovery and consideration for the young ages of survivors upon release from programs.
The records from PV are expensive - it's an attempt to discourage you from getting them. If the money is an issue, contact me and I'll try to help. It is VERY important to get your records, and if you haven't been out of PV for a long time, don't read them when they arrive - I'm serious, the level of over-documentation and possibly damaging revelations in the records could do you harm. If you do have to read them, please do it slowly and carefully and back off if you start getting depressed. It's like going back to PV, your daily actions while there are detailed by four different groups - treatment team leaders (psychologist and his sidekick), the staff psychiatrist, the family therapist, and almost hourly notes by the counselors on your unit. You've already been in PV, you don't want to go back to the place, even in your mind.