Author Topic: Katies Story  (Read 13298 times)

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Offline TheWho

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Katies Story
« on: April 07, 2009, 04:40:45 PM »
ok people, i have read the things you have written. this is katie. i am an 18 year old who struggles alot. thinking about it i am in an undeniable way afraid to do things after the program. for the first few months i was afraid to even look at or talk with boys. At the "program" we were seperated and told that it was bad for us to interact. i am still afraid of many things, such as the fact that in july i turn 19 and i will have to get an aprtment. i am scared so much. sometimes i wonder if there is an actual place for me in the world. i have made mistakes. throughout the program i learned things, i saw things, and yes I was physically restrained. i still remeber the staff joking about the isolation room as "happy land". i was in that room 6 times. The first few months were very difficult and were hard on me. i still hold alot of guilt over my head becuase of "wasting my parents money". Not only do my parents feel as if it was a waste of time and money, but they feel as if it could be better spent on our family or my older's brothers/ stepsisters college.

Right now, seeing my own words on the blog scares me. What if my parent see them? will there be al hell to pay? I am not afraid of saying what i feel... but i am afraid of what Diane will do. (OH! I have not caled her a bitch or any rude names in months by the way, i am trying to stay out of the line of fire...)  In all honesty i do love her. She is the only mother i have ever known and, she has really taken a risk to be in my life. i have not been the best step daughter... but i do love her. Even now, when i tell her this she ignores me and it breaks my heart... For my daddy, he is the best dad anyone could ask for... he has fought for me all if my life... he saved me from my biological mother, but he has led me into the relationship with Diane.

I will be posting comments of my opinions and story daily starting with this. If you wish i will do an autobiography fro those of you who want to watch out for the warnign signs. But please know this: I love my family. Even though it hurts me to say this i feel as if things would be better for them if i were not around ( In which i am reminded of quite often) for those of you who want to comment feel free to do so, but know that i will not tollerate abuse of any kind. I want people to know my thoughts or feelings, so tomorrow our journey thorugh my life will begin.

Thanks for reading.Please any comments or questions email me @ [email protected]
(dont take advantage of this though.) Katie's thoughts
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Ursus

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Re: Katies Story
« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2009, 05:24:51 PM »
Hi Katie! I replied to your post on the other thread, but if you want to keep your story separate from that thread, that's cool too...
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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Offline psy

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Re: Katies Story
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2009, 09:31:31 PM »
I'll respond more in the mean time, but for now, please stop feeling guilty over your *parent's choice* to waste their money on cross creek.  I know they must give you the standard "we've spent so much money on you and you are such a disappointment" line, but please try not to take it to heart.  Regardless of what issues you may or may not have had, there are at-home options, and it was your parents' choice to send you away.  You did not "make" them send you away and as such you should feel no guilt over their bad choices.  I would argue it's them that should feel guilty to sending you into a program with such a horrendous track record.

I would very much like to hear your story, so i'll stop here and let you tell it.

Also, minor note...  I don't think you'll get much abuse at all on this forum, but it is unmoderated here, so if you feel like it's getting too harsh, you might want to post in the CAN forum, which is moderated. link here:
viewforum.php?f=59
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
Benchmark Young Adult School - bad place [archive.org link]
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: Katies Story
« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2009, 11:04:06 PM »
Hello.
               As promised I am at the beginning of my journey with you. For starters I want to begin by saying I am apprehensive of what I will have to remember and think about. I need your support not only to keep me moving forward, but to help me see myself  as a person whose story is worth being told.

   I am not going to start at the very beginning of my life, but rather later on when my problems fist started. You see, I don’t remember much, due to mental blockage. My mind has blocked out all of the times I spent with my mother, and even now I shiver with fear thinking of how my life was when she was in my life. My parents began the divorce when I was seven years old. I was forced into therapy to evaluate if there would be any emotional scarring. I remember the woman. She was like the fist grade teacher you never forget, you know the one… she made you feel like you were the poster child for cuteness. She had me draw pictures for her, while she talked to me. One day, she asked me who I wanted to live with. As a seven year old what do you expect? I told her “My daddy, because mommy can take care of herself.”
   
   My older brother and I went to live with my Dad. My younger brothers went with my mom to live in New Mexico.  And that is the starting line in which we begin. For  4 years I blamed myself for the divorce thinking it was my fault for the family to be split up… if only I was a better child, if only if only, if only. My dad constantly told me that it wasn’t my fault and that canned line “We both love you, but we don’t love each other anymore”. If they both loved me so much, why did my mom leave me? After a few years of holiday visitations my father fought for us in court. He was given full custody of my brothers and I, and for a while we were together. We missed our mother terribly, but our dad made up for it. He gave us everything he could. He was the mother, the father… he was our best friend.
   
As people grow older they get lonely. My father met Diane on a chat room for people who want to fix their marriages. Soon after the divorce my dad began dating her. I remember Miss Diane. Sweet, kind, funny… then one summer we went to visit our mother in New Mexico. During that summer my Dad married Diane. (My brothers and I were not involved in the ceremony which is kind of messed up if you ask me) For that year things were not much different, Diane would visit from Minnesota for a week, every month or so, then we got a new house and she moved in.
   
   The first year went smoothly enough. There were adjustments to be made, but when families combine that is expected. Diane even took me on a girl’s weekend to Chicago, and I had the greatest time. All the while the relationship between my mother and me was growing cryptic. She would tell me horrible things about my father, how he had an affair, how I wasn’t worth the trouble of raising… etc. I believed her, she was my mother after all. I began to resent Diane, to hold a grudges. I was 12 years old. I didn’t know any better. My mother would say one thing, my dad and Diane would say another. I was lost in a loop of truth and deceit.


My dad’s time was divided between his wife and his kids. Immediately, I noticed the change in things. She became strict and different as if she was a warden coming into a new prison to find all the convicts allowed to leaving the facility for months at a time. I began to wonder if the sweet kind and funny person was an act. But my dad was in love with her, so I decided to let him be happy. (In my 11 year old mind I thought I was obligated to this still thinking I caused the divorce.)
   I began to rebel against her, thinking that I would lose my dad. We both treated each other poorly. Soon it was a war zone in our house. I began to rebel in different ways I made friends with a girl who introduced me into cigarettes alcohol and cutting. That’s when it all went wrong.

   Well. I don’t want to tell it all in one night would I??  :hug: LOL Thank you for reading my own meandering experience. I will write more tomorrow. Again any questions or comments you know where to go.

[email protected]
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Re: Katies Story
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2009, 11:58:00 PM »
Hi Katie, welcome. I am going to write you later when i have more time. But quickly, I want to tell you what a kind person you seem like and how great your life is going to be, with a little luck.

 Some things very briefly. After getting out of program a lot of kids are confused about their past.

Some think things that aren't true at all, like that they were/are drug addicts, or, that they were sick, bad people...They also think certain things about their parents that aren't true. WWASP, CEDU, ASPEN, and other programs have their version of your life that they force you to accept as true. its very confusing and it takes some time to figure out what's real, and what's WWASP's spin on your life
it usually takes moving away from your parents, time, education, and friends to tell you about their adolescences to put it in perspective.

Just realize, what was done to you was not your fault; it was your parents fault. Their bankruptcy is their comeuppance, in one tiny way. Don't feel bad about it.

Think about joining this lawsuit.


http://74.125.93.104/search?q=cache:IfK ... clnk&gl=us

Contact  isac. They’ll put you in touch with the right people
http://www.isaccorp.org/

or contact this woman, who released that press announcement:
Isabelle Zehnder
Founder and President
Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse (CAICA)
360-903-3951
[email protected]


You are out so soon…write down everything you can remember about what was done to you, not necessarily publicly, just so you can remember it in the future. It will be good to have everything down to use if you want to press criminal charges or join that lawsuit. For holding you prisoner, alone, the leaders of WWASP deserves to pay with their lives
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Oscar

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Re: Katies Story
« Reply #5 on: April 08, 2009, 01:02:11 AM »
So far so good.

1) If you want to mess your kids up, then use them as weapons after a divorce. Let them be the rocket you deliver your verbal bomb load with. How is the rocket doing when it arrrives at its target? Oh. It explodes!

2) If you want to destroy a household, then invite a new partner in your home and let this person become the disciplinarian. The birthparent has to set the rules or change them if the step-parents want changes. The birthparent does also have to enforce them. The child has not chosen the step-parent. The step-parent has chosen to engage in a relationship where there are children. A male lion kills the kittens not produced by himself once he takes over a lion family. That option is fortunately not one a human can choose but then they have the option of WWASP. Somehow the step-parent shows that the difference from being an animal to being a human which involves a whole lot of empati is deselected.

3) If you want to increase the risk of your kids being involved with alcohol or drugs, create the basis for the child to find a group of peers which seems to care outside the family. The cutting is not a problem it is a symptom that the child need a dumping place for all the thoughts any human gathers during time. Once a person starts to cut this person feel releaved for the problems and are ready to take on new challenges. In a divorce the children often picks up small pieces of guilt due to the shattered relationship between the parents and put them in their emontional backpack. That backpack becomes heavy to carry and then the cutting starts. If I found my child cutting I will know that she needs another adult to speak about her problems with before she starts talking to the dealer. You have to remember that the dealer is a businessman. Of course he will listen to his customers and let them cry out by his shoulder if he cares for his business.

You are making a good start.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline FemanonFatal2.0

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Re: Katies Story
« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2009, 01:38:28 AM »
Thank you for sharing that, and I want you to know that I can really relate. I had a super strict step mom as well who was deathly afraid I would turn out like her loser drug addict brother. I know you didn't mention too much about the tension in the home, but I remember it well and understand how hard on you that must have been.

I hope you know that your story most definitely is worth telling, and I know that its hard to go back and access all these buried feelings but I hope you know that you are not only helping yourself heal, but you could very well help others to do the same. I hope you know that you were not a bad kid, and you didn't deserve to get sent away. It seems like you struggle with depression and you shouldn't carry any blame for that, you were born with it. As sad as it is, some of us just get dealt a shittier hand then the rest of the players in this game, and all you can do is work with what you've got. Your parents had the responsibility to help you through the hard times and give you the love you needed to grow up feeling worthy. The fact that your step mom felt it appropriate to judge, chastise and punish you all the time for normal teenage behavior is clearly an issue of bad parenting skills, and considering she isn't your parent makes it that much more inappropriate. I read some of the things she said about you, she wasn't worried about you as much as she resented you and judged every little thing you did. Do you know how happy most parents would be if their kid was just smoking cigarettes as a teen? I can understand parental concern, but I don't think she handled it correctly and in my opinion made your depression (not to mention the family relationship) much worse with all the confrontation and blame games. Do you feel as if she may have turned your family against you?... because that's what it seems like to me, and I also think her mind games have effected your self esteem.

At some point I would recommend mentally separating your feelings from anything she ever said or did to you. I personally do this by reminding myself that the problems with my step mother stemmed from her issues, not mine. Not that I didn't have any problems, but I believe those are better handled with someone who loves me unconditionally. Basically, if she doesn't truly want to help me or she tends to go crazy then my problems are none of her business. My relationship with my dad and step-mom now is fine, as rocky as it was when I was a teen we have put all that behind us because they choose not to get involved in my problems. That doesn't mean I lie to them or don't ask for help if I need it, it means they simply realize their days of being "the punisher" are over and I am the one who builds my own moral compass. Oddly enough, I think I have done a much better job then they ever could, maybe they realize that, and someday your parents will too.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
[size=150]When Injustice Becomes Law
...Rebellion Becomes Duty...[/size]




[size=150]WHEN THE RAPTURE COMES
CAN I HAVE YOUR FLAT SCREEN?[/size]

Offline Che Gookin

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Re: Katies Story
« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2009, 04:43:06 AM »
Actually if you get anywhere near Izzabelle can you do me a favor? Tell her Che Gook says, "Izzy you are still a fat tub of lard who still needs to get herself a pair of concrete boots."

That's all..

Best of luck for you and relax as fear is normal in any transition. Just chill out and think about the upside of have your own crib. All those boys you have missed out on can come over without your parents prying and interfering.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Re: Katies Story
« Reply #8 on: April 08, 2009, 09:10:54 PM »
Katie is a sweet , beautiful, talented girl.
Just sayin' :karma:
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Offline katiesthoughts

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Re: Katies Story
« Reply #9 on: April 08, 2009, 10:22:22 PM »
Let’s see.

 :waaaa: I left off, the summer I met Christy. Looking wherever I could for friends, I found some. I began hanging out with people who were different. People like me. At the beginning we were innocent teenagers, watching movies, laughing making stupid jokes, and then we began to grow up. After a while Christy and I both were having issues with our lives, so like everyone in this world we held onto something that was not changing. Each other.
   I found Christy cutting herself with a razor blade one day after letting myself into her house. I began to cry to see her hurting like that. She explained it was the only way to get rid of her pain. Looking for any escape I could, I tried it. The first cut was the hardest. I couldn’t believe the relief as I saw the droplets of my own blood forming on my arm. I felt so relieved. Over and over again, I cut until I didn’t feel the jabbing pain inside of my chest from my broken heart.
   After that first day, I went home I sat at the dining room table trying to hide my arms. I didn’t want anyone to know. I was reading a book tucking my arms under my sleeves. Unfortunately it was a white shirt and they still bled. Walking up behind me Diane saw the blood. She didn’t say anything to me but she went and whispered to my dad. I didn’t suspect that they knew. As I got up my dad did also. He grabbed my arms, not only pulling up the sleeves of my shirt but opening the temporary scabs. He looked at me as if I were Satan. “If you EVER do this again we are going to have you committed to an insane asylum” he said. I began to cry. Diane looked at me, and said “Do you understand how serious this is? Are you trying to make this family more stressed because of you?” every word dripped with disdain. I rant to my room. I wanted to hide forever.
   I cried myself to sleep for the few moments I was cutting I was not hurting, and they didn’t understand. The next day, I went over to Christy’s and told her about what had happened. She was the only one who understood my pain. Our routine began. We hung out, and then if we needed it cut. We did everything together. This continued for a few months. After a while the cuts became more frequent and deeper, and I no longer was with Christy when I cut myself. I did it on my legs, thighs upper arms stomach.
   After a while Christy began getting into drugs. Weed, coke, shrooms. I was so scared to even touch the stuff. However I found myself content with cigarettes, and alcohol. I was with Christy almost every spare minute I had. Sneaking out to go to parties, walking around neighbourhoods all night. We were the rebellious teenagers, more so her than me. I got contact high quite a few times, but as I said before I was scared shitless to really use.
   The excitement of it all was wearing off. Cutting wasn’t working anymore, and people began to notice all I wore was baggy sweaters to hide the cuts and scars. I was bored and I wanted to join in with my friends. I began huffing Lysol and paint. The first few times it was nice. Then one day Christy passed out. I couldn’t wake her up, so I did what anyone would do. I called 911. the hospital was a nightmare. Not only was I scared but my parents were called. At that point my dad came and got me. He made me tell him everything about what I had been doing. I was terrified. I was forbidden to see Christy.
   The situation worsened I lied more and more to se her. I stole money for her. I wanted her friendship so bad I let her take advantage of me, and soon it turned ugly. It was a Tuesday afternoon, and after being made fun of at school I didn’t want to take it anymore. I went up to my room and wrote notes to all of my friends. I wanted to die. I went down to the living room and sat on the couch. I began to cut myself, daring myself to do it. I wanted it so bad, and the cuts were only the shallow ones. It wasn’t working. My dad walked into the house just as I got up to try another way. I grabbed my med box and almost had the pills down when my dad forcibly got them out of my mouth. He called the ambulance.
Since I hadn’t ingested any of the pills, I was taking to a psychiatric ward called KHYS. An outpatient program for kids who had tried to commit suicide. I was there for 2 ½ weeks. It was scary. White walls, limited visits. I was given different heavier medication to help with the depression. My family visited me every night bringing McDonalds and games, trying to make everything better. I thought it was a genuine attempt at fixing our family. But unfortunately it didn’t last. My dad was there the entire time. I felt a new respect for him, and I began to heal superficially. The meds made me a zombie once I took them and knocked me out at night. I was more calm and less expressive. I was discharged. I went home. I did well for a few weeks, until the things went back to the way before. The second time around things got much much worse. :waaaa:  ::OMG::


Again i thank you to everyone who will read this and i will write more tomorrow. this was hard for me to write so need support if you can give it.
Please any comments or questions you know how to reach me

[email protected]

i'll be back tomorrow
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »


Offline FemanonFatal2.0

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Re: Katies Story
« Reply #10 on: April 09, 2009, 02:38:20 AM »
I'm honestly to the point of tears reading that. I'm surprised that your parents would react in such a way, if you were my child and i saw that, I would break down in tears and hold you and tell you how much I love you. what did they think this was just acting out? of course its serious, its a serious expression that you are miserable! I just can't believe that your parents would even consider a behavior modification program considering what a fragile state you much have been in. The more I hear about your life the more I resent your parents for giving you exactly opposite of what you truly needed at that point. I can understand the fact that something like this would be troubling to a parent but I don't understand what kind of person would respond in this way. I know I surely wouldn't.

ill let you go on before I decide to get too worked up. I just hope you realize that NONE of this was your fault, depression is a mental and medical disorder and needs to be treated with care, love and professional help. Considering that people with severe depression are mentally fragile, using judgmental comments and punishment to try to stop them from hurting themselves really makes no sense to me. You deserved better treatment, and if they were unable to give it to you they should have found much better help, namely professional help instead of a program that was designed for and promised (in their marketing materials) to change your behavior to serve them, instead of really help you with your condition.

Im sorry you had to go through this, I think that its about time you realize that you didn't deserve it, and that you needed something much different then what your parents were willing to give you.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
[size=150]When Injustice Becomes Law
...Rebellion Becomes Duty...[/size]




[size=150]WHEN THE RAPTURE COMES
CAN I HAVE YOUR FLAT SCREEN?[/size]

Offline maruska

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Re: Katies Story
« Reply #11 on: April 09, 2009, 07:44:26 AM »
Katie, I am so sorry. I am full of emotion right now.
Just want to let you know, that my daughter reads this also - we talk about your experience very much. It helps me as a parent to learn about teenagers´s point of view - its really very helpfull.Thank you so much. I can only imagine how hard this must have been for you.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Oscar

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Re: Katies Story
« Reply #12 on: April 09, 2009, 07:45:24 AM »
Reflection on part 2

I understand how parents can be scared when they discover a bloody arm. I am a parent myself.

However I am a product of the cold war. I live in a country which would have been one of the first the Russian would have taken if they wanted to conquer Western Europe.

When I read of youth, who during therapy has been forced to plan their own funeral, it is déjà-vu. Having been trained to stand in the way of the red army we are asked to prepare everything for those we leave behind, so we can fight for our cause without having to worry about anything, we missed saying. I worry for death and having to drive through the local warzone called Noerrebro every single day to reach my work, it is a real risk I take. But I take it well knowing that I have done my best to prepare my children and wife for the situation of me ending up dead.

However another lesson I learned in school, which is related to part 2, is that we all go through life picking up small pieces of pain, frustration. We have to contain anger and sorrow. There is no time to react on them in daily life. So we put them in our emotional backpack where they remain until we have time to process them. What happens if we don’t get this time and the backpack becomes too heavy to carry? My background as a Dane makes me able to choose a different option if/when my children choose to cut in order to unload their problems.

Katie: What you did at that time, when you started cutting, was healthy. You had insight to know that you needed to unload your backpack. It certainly wasn’t the smartest way of unloading your baggage, but you were not educated to know better. What’s worse your father and step-mom wasn’t either. That’s the real tragedy in this story.

As for the drinking and its part towards drugs - which in your culture is related because the alcohol drinking by teens opposite the situation in Denmark is not accepted – it follows as a consequence of the lack of motivation from your family to engage the problem rather than condemning it. I hope that the program has taught them the reason for cutting so they can take a wiser approach towards your siblings. Else their money is truly totally wasted.

When I meet social workers they are always on the look for places where teens drink, so they can out there and listen. Whenever the police spot such a place they are quick to start communicating and this summer they grilled sausages for the teens so they didn’t drink on an empty stomach. A lot of the problems can be stopped before they grow into disasters when someone will listen.

It is a sad story to read because there wasn’t really a problem which needed professional help until the adults stopped listening and started to condemn.
I wonder where Christy is today. You were not the only one and I will bet 100 dollars that in the local community there ware at least 10 more in the same situation. That’s why I support community programs. There are not reasons for every parent to pay 50-100,000 dollars on treatment if it can be done locally for 1/10 of the price.

Taking a person to the hospital, stabilizing them and then releasing them are no cure. It is a huge, huge red flag no to understand that once a person leaves the hospital the treatment starts. As some know the founder of Spft has some experience in this matter with family. With his permission I can reveal that 20 weeks on intense therapy 3 times per week combined with additional treatment for anxiety did work, but did not restore the individual to a level where a full time job is a possibility. There are – 2 years later – a long way to go.

It was a big mistake by your father not to remain in the situation and personally drive you to therapy - outpatient therapy – but intense therapy I have to point out.

Your parents are not educated in medicine. That’s why they should have been advised by the hospital that it could have cost you your life, if you did not remain in an out-patient program - a program, which could have addressed the problems. The cutting, alcohol and drugs are not the issues, they are only a symptom. I am so sorry that this chance was wasted.

The first two chapters don’t create basis for a mandatory stay in a program.

What is there to say? Did the program teach you how to handle problems or did they just as any cult point out a single answer to life? Based on what I have seen so far, I will recommend you to read some novels by the Danish author Soeren Aabye Kierkegaard. As he writes life hurts. There is no single answer to a problem. Life is supposed to be complicated.

Once again I have to state that you should not feel bad about yourself smoking and cutting today. Smoking is a skip action method. You shouldn’t feel guilt over it, but if you want to quit find some other activity to do so you can take some time off during the day to do instead. Is cycling possible in your area? I personally find that this activity to both gives me time to reflect and remove some of my aggressiveness at the same time.

As for the cutting my best advice would be to find a person you can trust. How is your extended family? Another Cross Creek survivor (from around 1990) found an aunt which helped her to go on in life and she has made it. I feel that you are a strong person who just now is looking for resources inside. You found the strength to take the exit plan because you knew that you were finished with the program. There was nothing left the program could give you and the insight to realize it and take the consequences based on that insight testifies about a strong personality, who just needs a place to dump the worries in order to succeed in life.

Find this person. Dump your weekly load of worries by this individual.

Yet another good piece; you are a good writer.

As sad as this story is, I cannot wait to read the next installment.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Che Gookin

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Re: Katies Story
« Reply #13 on: April 09, 2009, 10:17:34 AM »
You sound like you are a lot tougher and stronger than most people are willing to give you credit for. Perhaps more than you are willing to give yourself. Take heart in this and be glad. Being mentally strong is a rare trait these days as people tend to associate mental toughness with loudmouth idiocy rather than anything deeper and more genuine.

As for Oscar:

Damn when I was young the fuzz made us pour our beer out and they laughed at us after threatening to call our parents if they caught us again. No one grilled wieners for us!
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline TheWho

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Re: Katies Story
« Reply #14 on: April 09, 2009, 11:58:47 AM »
Femanon (and everyone), I would caution against trying to create good guys and bad guys here.  The fathers anger at seeing his daughter harmed was a natural response and he felt powerless to fix it because the person hurting his daughter was his daughter.  There are also many layers that need to be considered inwhich we don’t know about.  Adults don’t always just fall in love with someone elses children and then decide to marry the parent hoping someday they will love them too and be loved the same in return.  Most of the time it works the other way around, the adults fall in love with each other first and then hopfully learn to love the others children.  A preteen or teen having their biological mother out of the picture is hard enough but when you add a replacement it takes on a whole new set of dynamics and problems.  As you read thru the fathers blog you can see that he loves his daughter very much and would never want to see her hurt.  This is a family that has been harmed not just one individual.  If we have learned anything from reading here on fornits expending your energy on anger, spewing venom and blaming parents, staff and programs in general does not lead to recovery or healing.

The best we can hope for is that Katie can learn to understand what happened to her and her family so that she can define it, make it tangible, hold it in her hand and begin to make sense of it all and not until then can she be able to set it down and move forward.

I think we should encourage Katie to stay open minded and write her story without a predefined antagonist set upon her.
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