Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Aspen Education Group
My son at Aspen Ranch
TheWho:
Psy, thats a terrible thing to say about those families. Why would you try to dirty their posts because they dont fit with your agenda?
Nigel, I mentioned that you would need to read between the negative propaganda. Your son is going to be fine. Listen to your sons therapist who is trained and licensed and has seen the successes that these other posters were talking about. He is a professional. The people on this forum have unknown back grounds and are mostly ex- employees and kids who never finished the program..... with an axe to grind.
I am a parent who had a child complete the program. It was hard on all of us, but in the end you will emerge on a very healthy path and happy that you hung in there.
Speak to families who have been thru the process, like psy mentioned above (one of the few things we agree on). I would ask for a list of families who had kids that graduated and speak with them about your concerns because they had been thru it. Aspen Ranch should be able to give you a list of families you can speak with.
Think of his future and try to relate it to the struggle he went thru prior to being placed at Aspen and the healthy path he will be placed on after he graduates.
TheWho:
Hello Nigel and welcome. You sound like me several years ago, You have been through a tough time as a family and now that your son is getting the help he needs you should take some of this time and heal some of the wounds your family has. Your wife is distressed by the decision which normal. You need to step it up and take all the energy that you were spending on your son over the past several months and put it towards yourself and your wife and try to support the decision you made to get help for your son by healing yourselves and other family members if any. Take a deep breath and let the professionals do what they do best.
The best you can do now is to prepare for his return and help lay the ground work for a stable environment and create a solid plan for keeping him on a healthy path once he gets home ie school, college, friends, activities, new rules etc.
Change isn’t easy for your son or for yourselves, just breath and move forward slowly and get some good advice when you feel unsure. Don’t forget about your own needs and those of your wife.
Good luck
psy:
--- Quote from: "Guest" ---Psy, thats a terrible thing to say about those families. Why would you try to dirty their posts because they dont fit with your agenda?
--- End quote ---
What agenda? All I care about is truth and those posts don't sound truthful at all if you examine them closely and objectively. I'm not definitively stating it's astroturfing. I'm just stating a likely possibility which is my honest opinion.
--- Quote ---Nigel, I mentioned that you would need to read between the negative propaganda.
--- End quote ---
So anything good, regardless of how implausible, is truth, and anything negative is propaganda? Is that what you're saying. Who has the greater motive to lie here. People who make millions a year on kids, the longer "treatment" the more money, or people who get paid absolutely nothing and are simply trying to educate and warn parents to very real danger. If the danger, fraud, and misrepresentation did not exist, the GAO would not have done those reports and made the findings they did.
--- Quote ---Your son is going to be fine. Listen to your sons therapist who is trained and licensed
--- End quote ---
And I recommend parents ask for license numbers and check them with the appropriate agencies. Often programs claim staff are qualified when they really aren't.
--- Quote ---and has seen the successes that these other posters were talking about. He is a professional.
--- End quote ---
So was the judge who got caught selling kids into programs for cash, and so are educational consultants who do the same thing every day legally and without consequence.
--- Quote ---The people on this forum have unknown back grounds and are mostly ex- employees and kids who never finished the program..... with an axe to grind.
--- End quote ---
The people of this forum are varied. Many are open about their identities and stories. If they have axes to grind, the reasons are usually legitimate. Listen to their stories and you might see why.
--- Quote ---I am a parent who had a child complete the program. It was hard on all of us, but in the end you will emerge on a very healthy path and happy that you hung in there.
--- End quote ---
What program was that? Was it Aspen Ranch?
--- Quote ---Speak to families who have been thru the process, like psy mentioned above (one of the few things we agree on). I would ask for a list of families who had kids that graduated and speak with them about your concerns because they had been thru it. Aspen Ranch should be able to give you a list of families you can speak with.
--- End quote ---
No. That's a dumb thing to do. Programs will only refer you to parents/families that have had good experiences. It's just good business. If you want a true survey you have to seek the people out on their own. Like Oscar suggested above. Try contacting kids who have been in the program through the Facebook and Myspace groups.
--- Quote ---Think of his future and try to relate it to the struggle he went thru prior to being placed at Aspen and the healthy path he will be placed on after he graduates.
--- End quote ---
Right. Think happy thoughts... Nothing bad ever happens at a program and there have never been substantiated case of abuse or death at a program.
You want my prediction? Based on what I've seen, on average the kid comes home, acts fine for a while, and eventually blows up violently when the thought reform wears off. No long lasting changes in people are ever brought about by force or coercion.
Anonymous:
And here Psy is, responding to this "new to the board" parent who somehow has an instant fuckton of replies in a matter of hours. Mmm-hmm. No shenanigans here. Nope, nope.
Looks like Aspen's getting desperate, which can only mean good things :)
TheWho:
Let me put in my two cents worth:
"AR has saved our daughter's life, and is doing great work for many others. There's no brainwashing, no religious indoctrination at all (in fact, periodically our daughter's therapist offers to take her "team" to church...but only if they WANT to go, and to a fairly casual non-Mormon church.
They have patients/students that range from "troubled teens" with arrest records, kids with drug problems, girls who have become "cutters", kids who have suffered mental breakdowns due to trauma - I have not met one parent (and we go to "parent week" activities quarterly and make other, sometimes unnanounced, visits at other times) who just wanted to lock-up their child - and in most cases the parent/child relationship improves dramatically after the child has been there a few months.
Yes, there are rules; yes, there is security (a kid can't just run off); yes, there can be "level drops", but only for serious rulebreaking.
We also know a couple program "graduates" who we keep in contact with, and the parents have had nothing but praise for AR. There ARE things we think could be improved - in school, science labs are not available except through specialized mail-order kits, or through the local college (40-some miles away). It's worked out OK, but it would be better if they had something set up on-site. The food is pretty "institutional", but it's healthy stuff and they are bringing in more variety. And periodically the team therapist or another staff member will take a group of upper-level kids out to a restaurant as a treat.
You also all completely miss one of the key things about AR - the use of equine assisted psychotherapy. EAP has a well-established background and it is truly amazing how some of these "asphalt and sidewalk" kids develop wonderful relationships with the horses, which parallels well with human relationships. It's fascinating to see how the kids generally pick a horse as "theirs" (they all seem to gravitate to one primary horse) that has the same personality as themselves, and they quickly learn how it is to deal with themselves. The equine staff are our favorite people on the ranch, and a couple I'm sure will be lifelong friends.
The kids who really "get into" the horsemanship aspect are provided with weekend seminars in Salt Lake City or St. George in horse training, specialized care, etc...all at no fee to the parents. Our daughter has a certification now in training, which has already gotten her a 2-week job locally for her summer visit home, and may result in a permanent position while she goes to college.
Yeah, it's a load of brainwashing and mistreatment.
You naysayers are simply fools who have NO idea what you're talking about. A bunch of lemmings, just following the group.
FWIW we also know many local therapists who think highly of AR and also laugh at the negative notions. Several have visited the place as well.
But it's always entertaining discussing these things with people who have no clue. However, if ONE person wakes up and realizes the negative crap is a load of...well, crap...maybe another child can be helped."
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