Author Topic: Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert  (Read 2212 times)

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Offline Kathy

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Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert
« on: December 18, 2008, 04:02:43 PM »
:guesswho: In case anyone feels the need to weigh in on this article....

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward ... 09862.html

12/14/08 -  PARENTING
Weston mother helps other parents
Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert on dealing with troubled teens.

By JULIE LEVIN
Special to The Miami Herald

When Sue Scheff was at the end of her rope trying to deal with her own out-of-control teenager, she admits she never could have imagined a time when she would become a leading voice in the field of parent advocacy.

Yet the Weston author is rapidly becoming a familiar face in the national spotlight speaking about just that.

''I never went into this to become a national voice or figure, but that is what I have become,'' said Scheff, author of Wit's End: Advice and Resources for Saving Your Out of Control Teen.

Scheff appeared last month on the Lifetime Network's daily television series The Balancing Act during an episode entitled ``Plain Talk and Straight Answers for Parents with Troubled Teens.''

A taping with the Oprah Winfrey show also is planned.

Wit's End, a 168-page book released earlier this year, is a tool for parents navigating the choices and methods available to help struggling teens.

Scheff, now a full-time parent advocate, said she wrote the book not as an expert or therapist but as a parent who endured a long and painful experience trying to help her daughter, Ashlyn.

Almost a decade ago, she watched her child go from promising athlete to troubled teen, repeatedly running away, being verbally abusive and having serious problems at home and school.

With no experience or help to fall back on, she enrolled Ashlyn in a residential treatment facility that wouldn't allow her contact with her daughter for six months.

She would later learn her daughter endured months of beatings, sexual abuse, starvation and neglect.

''It nearly destroyed her,'' Scheff said. ``It took us two years to deprogram her after what they had done.''

The experience led Scheff to her new purpose. She founded a group called PURE, or Parents Universal Resource Experts, which she said has served thousands as a parent advocacy group.

Through Wit's End, she provides parents with resources to help them sort out and evaluate treatment options, including therapeutic boarding schools and treatment centers.

''You step into an arena of teen help and you are bombarded with a barrage of information,'' she said. ``This is one way to help sort it out.''

In her newfound role as advocate, Scheff also has appeared nationally on the ABC news magazine program 20/20, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet and Rachael Ray, among others.

Ashlyn, now 23, has seemingly rebounded and gone on to coaching gymnastics and becoming a mother herself.

Scheff said she would like their story to provide a light for other families.

''I think any parent out there struggling with a teen right now, you don't see the hope and you don't think you will ever come out of it. I didn't think I would,'' she said. ```But now I look back and see all those dark times have actually helped others.''

For information, visit http://www.suescheff.net.

The only comment there right now is:  Comment:  1      Showing:

    * [@Nyx.AdditionalAuthorInfo@]
      debdavie wrote on 12/14/2008 09:28:50 PM:

      wow! finally some good info! thanks!. i have read this book and love it. i would love to meet this woman. we need more people like her. she has provided that light for not only me but the friends i have who are dealing with alot of the same stuff. I hope to see more articles on these issues and these kind of people who are doing something.. for sure the corruption of this country will be when good people do nothing. thanks so much Deb
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
Kathy
"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."    ~Plato

Offline Anonymous

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Re: Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert
« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2008, 04:58:01 PM »
I left a comment with another link for info on Scheff.  Heh.  Let the truth prevail.  Right, Sue?
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Offline Kathy

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Re: Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert
« Reply #2 on: December 18, 2008, 07:28:33 PM »
Good job on responding... i just reread the article and noticed they wrote an appearance on Oprah is planned.  This will lend legitimacy to her... this is horrible news. Oprah needs to be alerted from all over the globe. Geez! I can not stand sociopaths.... :soapbox: Having Sue Scheff be an advocated for parents of troubled teens is like appointing Hitler as an advocate for the jews!  ok, i'm done.  :bs:
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
Kathy
"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."    ~Plato

Offline Kathy

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Re: Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert
« Reply #3 on: December 18, 2008, 07:42:15 PM »
I would comment on the site, but they don't seem to want to let me register to do so. This is frustrating.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
Kathy
"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."    ~Plato

Offline psy

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Re: Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert
« Reply #4 on: December 18, 2008, 09:31:33 PM »
Quote from: "Kathy"
I would comment on the site, but they don't seem to want to let me register to do so. This is frustrating.
it takes a while to get the confirmation email.  then once you log in the first time you have to log out and log back in before you can comment.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
Benchmark Young Adult School - bad place [archive.org link]
Sue Scheff Truth - Blog on Sue Scheff
"Our services are free; we do not make a profit. Parents of troubled teens ourselves, PURE strives to create a safe haven of truth and reality." - Sue Scheff - August 13th, 2007 (fukkin surreal)

Offline Anonymous

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Re: Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2008, 10:34:58 PM »
This article says she is going to be on Dr. Phil.  She is well on her way to being as big as WWASP.  It is only a matter of time.

http://helpmewithmybook.com/blog/2008/1 ... wondering/
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert
« Reply #6 on: December 18, 2008, 10:41:11 PM »
Can Dr. Phil sell books? I’m at my Wit’s End wondering…
October 21, 2008 at 8:37 am
Can Dr. Phil sell books? I mean, books other than his own? Or his son’s or his wife’s?

We can only hope.

Over the past weekend I received an email from a very excited Sue Scheff, author of the book in question, Wit’s End: Advice and Resources for Saving Your Out-of-Control Teen. (Out of control teen? Isn’t that redundant?) She was invited to hop on a plane and fly west to Los Angeles to Paramount Studios where Dr. Phil does his (very loud) magic.

Everyone is thrilled. We even went to the expense of fedexing 300 copies of Wit’s End to L.A. for every member of the studio audience. Pay attention. There’s wisdom in these fiscal decisions when an additional mention of the book is nigh. Get it every which way you can. These huge, national exposures come about as often as comets.

I was pleased to hear from the lips of producer, Annette, that they would “absolutely promote the book.” The topic was “so important” and she’d rarely seen show subjects behaving so “desperately.” All the signs read positive for Wit’s End’s twenty minutes.  (If only)



In all seriousness, Sue Scheff has an important message to share:

Sue Scheff had a troubled teen named Ashlyn. She made some decisions that later backfired. Things, luckily, would turn around, in a big way. From the press  materials:

“Ashlyn embraced disturbing beliefs and behavior, made friends with a strange and maladjusted group at school, and refused to abide by rules. At times, Scheff believed her daughter would harm herself or others, if she didn’t seek professional help for her daughter. In desperation, Scheff turned to a residential treatment facility to instill discipline into her daughter while providing her with therapy and structure. The exact opposite turned out to be the case. After spending thousands of dollars and seeing troubling behavior in her child, she heard chilling stories of Ashlyn and classmates being kept in inhumane conditions, as well as of beatings, sexual abuse, forced starvation, neglect, and suicide. The daughter she had turned over to be helped by the residential treatment facility returned broken, depressed, and suicidal.

As Scheff struggled to find justice while fighting off lawsuits from the very institution that damaged Ashlyn, she found the strength and determination to found P.U.R.E. (Parent’s Universal Resource Experts, Inc.), an advocacy group that draws parents together and helps them find ways to protect their children from destructive influences, educating them about the issues their particular child and family faces and creating a safe environment to revive familial bonds. Using the same criteria P.U.R.E. uses to research residential treatment centers around the world, Wit’s End, provides positive, prescriptive help for families who want only to put their children on the road to a safe, healthy, happy, and independent adulthood.”

So there. It’s not all about publicity for publicity’s sake. For the sale of a book. At HCI, I’ve learned that, a book’s message can save a life. I learned it from representing numerous titles. The substance and service these books provide make my job more than just a job.

I do worry that Dr. Phil will deflect the limelight onto himself, but maybe, just maybe I’ll be wrong. I hope so.

Maybe he’ll send a message that’ll reverberate with his gigantic tv audience and there’ll be a bestseller in the making. And, a lot of better informed, better equipped parents.

Just picture Dr. Phil saying, “you need to go out and buy a copy (or two) of Wit’s End”. Really loud.

p.s. Sue Scheff tapes the show today (10/21). If we’re lucky, it’ll air during sweeps month, November. Check your local listings.

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Offline psy

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Re: Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2008, 10:54:37 PM »
Thanks for that article.  Commented on.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
Benchmark Young Adult School - bad place [archive.org link]
Sue Scheff Truth - Blog on Sue Scheff
"Our services are free; we do not make a profit. Parents of troubled teens ourselves, PURE strives to create a safe haven of truth and reality." - Sue Scheff - August 13th, 2007 (fukkin surreal)

Offline Anonymous

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Re: Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert
« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2008, 04:03:37 AM »
how can this happen? is there something that people are not doing?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Re: Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert
« Reply #9 on: December 20, 2008, 09:35:26 AM »
http://helpmewithmybook.com/blog/2008/1 ... wondering/


Psy it doesn't look like they let your comment post.  It shows "0" comments.
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert
« Reply #10 on: December 20, 2008, 12:20:32 PM »
As usual, they "hid" our comments about this story, but not the "positive" comments.... real good usage of the "freedom of press"
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert
« Reply #11 on: December 20, 2008, 12:31:15 PM »
Write the editor and CC the reporter. Point out the gross lack of background research. The paper should be ashamed of this serious lack of professionalism.
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Offline psy

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Re: Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert
« Reply #12 on: December 20, 2008, 01:09:19 PM »
Quote from: "suggestion"
Write the editor and CC the reporter. Point out the gross lack of background research. The paper should be ashamed of this serious lack of professionalism.
http://www.miamiherald.com/contact-us/
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
Benchmark Young Adult School - bad place [archive.org link]
Sue Scheff Truth - Blog on Sue Scheff
"Our services are free; we do not make a profit. Parents of troubled teens ourselves, PURE strives to create a safe haven of truth and reality." - Sue Scheff - August 13th, 2007 (fukkin surreal)

Offline psy

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Re: Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert
« Reply #13 on: December 21, 2008, 01:22:54 AM »
commented again.  I encourage others to also:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward ... 09862.html
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
Benchmark Young Adult School - bad place [archive.org link]
Sue Scheff Truth - Blog on Sue Scheff
"Our services are free; we do not make a profit. Parents of troubled teens ourselves, PURE strives to create a safe haven of truth and reality." - Sue Scheff - August 13th, 2007 (fukkin surreal)

Offline Anonymous

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Re: Local writer Sue Scheff has rapidly gained fame as an expert
« Reply #14 on: December 21, 2008, 12:57:04 PM »
Your comments (and Tony's) are now hidden pending review. Odd b/c earlier this AM they were readable. This is a clear case of bias and censorship by the Miami Herald. Neither of your comments were abusive or profane or in any way objectionable. They simply added light to the situation. Wonder why the Miami Herald wants to keep people in the dark so badly?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »