Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Aspen Education Group
The Only Instance of Abuse "Admittance" by Staff of MBA
enola:
--- Quote from: "RMA Survivor" ---I think the original post was perfect. It shows admittance by a former staff that the program was abusive in the past. And the investigators in Oregon are now finding that the abuses by Aspen continued up to the present day when they shut down Mount Bachelor Academy recently
[....]
I am sorry the survivor who opened this thread had to suffer, but glad she found out the truth, painful as it was.
--- End quote ---
Thank you for your kind words.
The staff from whom I took the quote worked there right up until they closed.
I suppose I should have dealt with all of this back when I left MBA (in 1992), but I was young--I was 12 when I arrived there. I consider myself a very open person; sometimes I need to remember to basically shut up. But the experience of MBA was so...painful, for lack of a better word, that I just pushed it down. I also thought if I told anyone, they would think me a liar, because, after all, that's who MBA said I was, among other things.
I have actually had the same therapist since I got out, like I said, in '92. I've told her every possible detail about my life (though I harshly tested her at first). Yet, I have never told her about MBA. She said recently that she would ask me about it, and I would just change the subject. When I became aware of the investigation, and the closing, as well as the incredible lies and lame comments coming out of Sharon Bitz's mouth (who, I think, is basically her husband, Alex Bitz's sock puppet), all these horrible memories came flooding back. I began to tell my therapist about the Lifesteps, my self study, the groups...she said, had I told her this years ago, she would have immediately called CPS here, as well as CPS in Oregon. She said there is no question that what they did was abuse, and had she known, she would have fought to close it down.
I feel a bit guilty for not telling her sooner. But I was still in "survivor mode", as in, 'I'll do whatever I need to do to survive and get the hell out of here.' Now, almost 20 years later, I'm paying for it. Which sucks, because I know I did nothing wrong. At 12, I did not deserve to be called a "slut, worthless, whore, liar, etc." I remember Alex getting in my face, telling me, (I'm adopted), "Your birth mom was a whore. Her mom was a whore (my b-mom was adopted as well), and you are so worthless, not even a whore wanted you! Now, your second set of parents don't want you either. Being a whore is in your blood, and that's all you'll be." I can picture that, right down to the spit flying out of his mouth onto my chin. It was in 1 of the Lifesteps. And that was the typical stuff that was said, daily, not just to me. I was 12. Let me repeat that. I was 12.
I've also talked to a couple female students who had many inappropriate encounters with Alex Bitz. He allegedly gave 1 girl sleeping pills, had another come to his house 3 times, to do homework or writing assignments, laying on her stomach in front of him, as he just watched. If anyone needs to be in jail, it's him.
Just some examples of Facebook board posts by Alex:
Alexandru Bitz
It's late, I am tired and somehow I am uncomfortable numb right now ... you know, a lot is going on...
Can anybody or yourself email/call/visit me and Sharon and tell us WHEN AND HOW WE ABUSED YOU?
If it was another staff who did harm to you, please let us/me know. I will personally make it public and help you ...
Be good, ... See More
Alex
November 6 at 6:37pm
*I wrote him several letters before, that went unanswered, but I decided to write another one with the details of my first 6 months there, and title the letter, "Abuse, Part 1". I knew others wrote him as well, yet nothing else was posted on the board by him, so I posted this:
Hey, where did Mr. Bitz go? He offered answers/help, yet there have been no answers/help. Is this another empty "promise"?
......I don't see any answers from any staff yet....tick tock tick tock.
November 15 at 8:26pm
Got a response the next day, on the public board:
Alexandru Bitz
Well Ms. [my last name], a little busy here saying good bye to kids, parents and preparing to be jobless. Yesterday 48 mentors and teachers were let go after years of real meaningful work. And none of them ABUSED anyone. In a month the rest of us , more than 30 mentors and teachers will join the the unemployment line. But in that line we all will be Moreproud of the work that we did . Clear conscience for sure and many people to confirm that.
What about you spending the day today to rejoice that MBA is gone.
I am going to campus to get some pictures and FY clouds and be sad.
Have a nice day.
November 16 at 7:52am
It's all about him, as my therapist said. Nothing about the students, past or present, no kind words to any of us--in fact, snide, sarcastic comments to me. And yet, "it was all for the children...".
I'll post Bill's stuff later...
Troll Control:
--- Quote from: "Whooter" ---
--- Quote ---"MBA employs two licensed mental health professionals, but neither provides individual therapy to students, except in certain rare circumstances, and only W28 is licensed in Oregon.......
--- End quote ---
Thanks for your post, guest, this seems to be consistent with many of the other programs where individual therapy is provided through a private therapist who isn’t directly working for the program. This way a parent can determine if they want their child to see a therapist one on one during their stay there. Its good to see that they had a couple professionals on staff to oversee the program. The way it reads to me is that they had a process in place which was mostly run by the “mentors” and overseen by licensed therapists.
--- End quote ---
But you're not very bright, so it will read differently to you because you don't understand the subject matter and also because you have financial ties to Aspen. To normals, it reads "We offered you therapy for your child, but we didn't give any except in rare circumstances and only by unlicensed people."
You have to keep in mind when reading Whooters posts that he takes Juvenile Justice funds and kids from jail and puts them into Aspen programs through STICC. So now you have no therapy, plus convicted JJ criminals mingling freely with your kids at Aspen programs, which were already proven both ineffective and abusive, ala MBA.
Whooter:
--- Quote ---John Reuben may keep using the "just a few bad apples" defense, but that's so old and shows a lack of adaptation. And John Reuben can claim that some of the programs have a licensed psychologist on staff, but on the one hand, that shows the rest of the staff aren't licensed, and as the State of Oregon determined, that one psychologist wasn't doing the counseling, it was the untrained staff that were doing it all. Which is why, whenever any state investigators show up at these places, they are going to find the same thing and come to the same conclusions. No amount of untrained staff are capable of providing legitimate treatment, counseling or therapy. They might be able to babysit teens, but past that....? Nothing. Just a facade. A very expensive and well marketed facade that is quickly being revealed, just like The Wizard of Oz was, as being just a money driven sham.
--- End quote ---
I didn’t see John Reubens post so I cannot speak directly to it. But in response to the above I couldn’t imagine any organization wanting to have all their staff licensed even if it were affordable. How many licensed engineers actually put together you car, heating system, dishwashers, stoves, ambulances etc. Although they are highly complex and require a great deal of skill and knowledge to create, we as a society develop detailed processes and plans so that a paid licensed professional is not required throughout every phase of development. So I think the argument here is not whether or not every employee is licensed but whether the licensed staff that they did have was adequate or not. I haven’t seen any laws tossed up here which define the requirements so none of us are able to determine what the minimum level of professionalism is acceptable by law.
Hospitals have this very well defined, if you go in for an operation you will see the doctor for the length of the operation (45 mins) and then he goes home and then you are overseen by a treatment plan which requires very little one on one time with a licensed professional.
So the struggle here is to determine how much the licensed professional should be involved in the day to day process of the program. Should they have a licensed profession sit in on all groups when they break out for discussions 2 or 3 times a day? Should a professional see each child every day? Should the professional outline treatment plans and allow non professionals to carry them out? Should a process be developed which is overseen by professionals but run by non professionals? I think these are some of the questions I would like to see answered by comparing them to established laws and standard protocol.
Anonymous:
--- Quote from: "Whooter" ---
--- Quote ---"MBA employs two licensed mental health professionals, but neither provides individual therapy to students, except in certain rare circumstances, and only W28 is licensed in Oregon.......
--- End quote ---
Thanks for your post, guest, this seems to be consistent with many of the other programs where individual therapy is provided through a private therapist who isn’t directly working for the program. This way a parent can determine if they want their child to see a therapist one on one during their stay there. Its good to see that they had a couple professionals on staff to oversee the program. The way it reads to me is that they had a process in place which was mostly run by the “mentors” and overseen by licensed therapists.
--- End quote ---
...mostly run by the mentors and overseen by licensed therapists? That is incorrect. The mentors oversee everything, including the therapist. At best the therapists only offer their proffesional opinion to the 'mentors' for them to filter out and isolate information that is useful to them within the context of the program. This is actually more dangerous than having no therapists at all. People without training should not be playing therapist to anyone, especially those who are not yet adults.
enola:
--- Quote ---So the struggle here is to determine how much the licensed professional should be involved in the day to day process of the program. Should they have a licensed profession sit in on all groups when they break out for discussions 2 or 3 times a day? Should a professional see each child every day? Should the professional outline treatment plans and allow non professionals to carry them out? Should a process be developed which is overseen by professionals but run by non professionals? I think these are some of the questions I would like to see answered by comparing them to established laws and standard protocol.
--- End quote ---
This may answer part of your question, though I cannot fathom that you have not understood the point yet.
According to the State of Oregon:
OAR 407-045-0820: Maltreatment of child, which includes but is not limited to failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care that is likely to endanger the child’s health or welfare. Maltreatment also includes but is not limited to the willful infliction of pain or injury, hitting, kicking, scratching, pinching, choking, spanking, pushing, slapping, twisting of head, arms, or legs, tripping, exposure to domestic violence, the use of unnecessary or excessive physical force, or other physical contact with a child inconsistent with prescribed treatment or care, the use of derogatory names, phrases or profanity, ridicule, harassment, coercion, or intimidation, that is likely to endanger the child’s health or welfare.
OAR 407-045-0820: Threatened harm to a child, which means subjecting a child to a substantial risk of harm to the child’s health or welfare.
OAR 407-045-0820- Negligent treatment of a child, which includes but is not limited to failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter or medical care that is likely to endanger the child's health or welfare. Negligent treatment also includes, but is not limited to failure to supervise a child, or failure to intervene when a child needs assistance or care, that is likely to endanger the child's health or welfare.
Perhaps, had there been a licensed psychologist actively participating in the program, that individual would have more knowledge of the laws, and therefore prevented some of the abuse from happening. Do you think it was an oversight or accident that the licensed party never attended lifesteps or groups?
Here is a description of abuse again, in layman's terms:
Posted by lawsprotect on 04/11/09 at 9:12PM
It seems that perhaps some of the staff, students and parents, past and present, might not understand what constitutes "abuse."
A staff member continually yelling at a student, yelling profanities at the student, yelling humiliating and degrading remarks at the student, name-calling, in Group or out, is ABUSE and against the law. It doesn't matter that you don't think it is abuse. It doesn't matter that there may be some 'good intention' and hope for a good result on the part of the staff member. It is still ABUSE and against the law.
There are other ways to bring about good results.
ABUSE is not one of them.
If you are denied sleep in a two or three or four day Life Step, except for an hour or two, this is neglect, and neglect is ABUSE and against the law. It doesn't matter if you didn't mind it, it is still ABUSE. And you have all suffered sleep deprivation, if you made any of the Life Steps.
If you were not fed meals, but perhaps little snacks on a three or four day Life Step or intervention or work study or self study . . . that is neglect, and neglect is ABUSE. It doesn't matter if you weren't hungry and it was okay with you, it is still ABUSE.
If you were forced to do physical labor for extended periods of time, such as eight hours a day or longer, hauling rocks, digging ditches, digging holes and then filling them back up, shoveling snow, etc., that is ABUSE. Most of you are, or were, minors. It is abusive to force you into physical labor for long days, and days and days on end.
If you were forced to spend weeks, and months for some, in isolation, not allowed to smile, not allowed to talk to anyone, forced to sit and be humiliated at a table by yourself, treated as if you were not even a human being and as if you didn't exist . . . that is psychological, emotional ABUSE. It doesn't matter if you were okay with it, or if you understood the 'bigger picture.' It is still ABUSE and it is against the law.
If you were forced to be abusive to others, as you were in Group, yelling at the top of your lungs at them, thinking up horrible, often untrue things to yell at them, that is ABUSE.
You were not only abused yourselves, but you were forced to abuse other students. This is against the law, even if you didn't think it was so bad. The law is the law. And the laws are there to protect you.
If you were on prescription medication and that medication was denied to you at any time, during Life Steps, when you were leaving campus, etc., that is harmful to your medical health and it is ABUSE.
If you were a minor and forced to do things of a sexual nature that you were not comfortable with, that is ABUSE.
Maybe you get the picture . . .
If you were a victim of any of the above mentioned things, you have been ABUSED.
Just because some well-meaning people think they can bring about a good result for you, they still do not have the right to ABUSE you in order to try to bring it about. ABUSE is against the law.
Again, just because you don't perceive it to be abuse, doesn't change the fact that it IS abuse.
I understand that while you are a student at MBA, you have no recourse to report the abuse. You can't make phone calls, you are not allowed to report anything like that to your parents, you have no access to a hot line . . . the only people you can report the abuse to are the abusers themselves. The fact that you are in that situation with no possibility of reporting is again, abusive to you.
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