Found these interesting pieces during a search.
Deborah
http://www.redflagsweekly.com/elliot/2002_june03.htmlJune 3, 2002
VOODOO DRUG ADDICTION RECOVERY
By Mark Elliot
Imagine being addicted to a drug like heroin and trying to find an effective remedy that works fast and keeps you from going back again.
How about Spit- therapy? That?s one where other addicts in treatment spit on you as a punishment for wrong-thinking. Never heard of it?
Well, how about Desert Therapy? As one organization explains it: "providers who are committed to the utilization of outdoor modalities to assist young people and their families to make positive change."
Never mind that it?s for 21 days where nothing is done to address the issues of addiction, except to place the addict somewhere not listed in the Zip Code Directory?Sound good?
I should warn you: The use of a Therapeutic Wilderness Camp has some drawbacks. Providers have to grapple with little things like safety and treatment methods. The fact is, people have died from Wilderness Therapy. But just look at the qualifications required by one employer:
Trail Walkers work with youth 12-17 years old who are struggling with substance abuse and emotional and behavioral concerns. Applications should be submitted up to 3 months in advance of your availability to work.
Qualifications:
Applicants must be 21 years of age or older, have first aid/CPR training and three letters of recommendation. High School Diploma/Transcripts and/or Certificate of Degree must accompany application. Missionary experience helpful. Must be willing to work for at least 3 months.
Responsibilities:
As a Trail Walker your primary responsibility is to live an exemplary life, teach skills, and maintain a safe and caring environment. Work schedule is 8 days on and 6 days off in remote backcountry areas.
Benefits:
The starting pay for Trail Walkers is $65/day. Head Trail Walkers can earn up to $100 per day. After 90 days, trail staff can earn bonuses and educational scholarships.
Can you imagine the happiness and joy of working with drug addicts in the wilderness?
Fourteen year-old Tony Haynes died apparently after being made to stand for hours in scorching 111 degree heat in an American treatment program. At an Oregon wilderness program, a 15 year-old boy died while being restrained for exhibiting "defiant behavior."
Think about the joy of actually being a drug addict uprooted from your home and plunked down in some unexplored part of Idaho, Utah, or Arizona, as happened in the case of one man I worked with.
My friend was sent into the desert in Arizona for treatment. He was delivered to a camp 50 miles from the nearest town where the first order of business was to take everything he owned away from him. His head was shaved and he was forced to endure taunts and the ridicule of others.
One day, after three months of hardship, he decided to make a break for it. "I was starting to walk away from the camp when I noticed about 5 or 6 in a squad, moving in my direction at about the same speed." "So," he said, "I started to jog a bit faster, then noticed they were jogging too?So I made a run for it! But they ran after me and eventually caught me."
He said that he was taken back to the camp and locked up in a guarded building for a week. "These people were hardcore" he says now. "They were big time criminal types and had no problem with being brutal to make you do what they said."
He lasted another eight months before he had an opportunity to escape again, but this time he was bitten by a scorpion and sent to a Phoenix hospital for treatment.
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http://www.aizan.net/families/teen_behavior.htmWith a link to this warning by a San Diego Psychologist, Roderick S. Hall, Ph.D.
http://www.aizan.net/families/teens_dan ... atment.htmRoderick S. Hall, Ph.D., a clinical child psychologist in the San Diego, CA, area has recently discovered that sending your troubled teen to some "tough love" or "boot camp" type treatment facilities can be dangerous. In an email alert to the psychologists in his area, he writes,
"I have become aware of a program in Ensenada, Mexico called Casa by the Sea that is connected with an organization called Teen Help. Teen Help also runs programs in Jamaica and Western Somoa. Their programs in the Czech Republic and near Cancun, Mexico were closed down for allegations of child abuse. Everything I have read about this program scares me. From the articles, It appears that their treatment program is to isolate the children and berate them until their will is broken and they become stepford children. From the articles, it appears that residents earn privileges by berating new arrivals until they get with the program and in turn berate later arrivals into submission. It seems to be a private detention center for teenagers. It presents itself as a treatment program, boarding school, tough love program or boot camp. I have found several articles that indicate that it's treatment methods are similar to brainwashing. Please look at the articles published at this website. [Link goes to Desperate Measures] There are a number of links at this website. In addition, there is a warning about the problems with these Behavior Modification Programs that are located in Foreign Countries at the U.S. State Department Website.
The children at these facilities come from the U.S. The organization uses the Internet and magazines like Sunset to find parents in the U.S. who are desperate for a solution to their child's problems and are willing to pay to send them overseas to receive treatments that would not be permitted in the U.S."
Dr. Hall practices in the San Diego, California area:
Roderick S. Hall, Ph.D.
Clinical Child Psychologist
1224 Tenth Street, Suite 208
Coronado, CA 92118
Voice 619-437-0440 Fax 619-435-6040
Email:
[email protected]