Straight Staff - silent too long

[DannyB II]

Ok Joel I am here, I was Staff from 3/77 - 1/78 then I became a Ass. Director 1/78 - 11/78. Resigned/Fired all at the same time.
Did I participate in abuse of course I did first as a resident examples I fought for the house, I screamed at other residents, I restrained other residents with other residents and without, laughed at people shot down, talked shit about other residents with other residents. My biggest sin I feel guilty about as a resident is I ran away from everyone (through driving for the house) did not share the horror or try to help folks who were really being outrageously victimized. I remember M.D. (I will not share her real name) coming to me to talk about her humiliating experience in a group where she was made fun of because of her sexual issues. Now I was in a Mental Diagnostic Center with her and she was very annoying with her sexual issues. I will not go into that. But my point is she tried to talk with me and I blew her off. I did that a lot. M.D. is no longer with us she committed suicide and I know at least some of it stemmed from her incarceration at Elan.
As staff and Ass. Director the abuse continued with screaming at people, using screaming as a intimidation, making people scrubs floors for hours on end, putting folks into the corner for days on end. I could not put people into the ring or allow residents to spank people but I witnessed other Directors do it and I was there supporting it.
I remember one time I was Ass. Director at E-7 and Marty called and said ," Get ready were going to E-6 because the house is going "TIGHT" and get ready to get physical. Now my first impulse was I got all fired up. I drove with Joe and the finance manager (don't ask me why he was going) well we got there and shit everybody was there. Marty Kruglick, Peter McCann, Rick Rosenhaus, Larry Smaller, Alan Frey, Joe Ricci, Vincent Smith, George Washington and myself. Just before we went in Joe and Marty got us together and said were going into this house to kick ass be ready. If anyone gives you any shit knock'em out. This is the gods honest truth and if anybody has witnessed a "COWBOY ASSWHIPING" at Elan you know what I mean. We weren't in there 2 seconds and this one dude saw us coming and he threw a plate at Vincent Smith, now if anybody knew Vincent why in the hell you would want to throw it at him I don't know. Well Vincent literally knocked him out. Well that got everyones attention because the guy was laying there unconscious. Within 3 seconds are little horse and pony show was over and this guy was being brought around with smelling salts. Joe the chicken shit left shortly after. Anyway this is what I involved myself in. I personally never restrained anyone as Staff/Director I had residents do it on more then a dozen or so times. Actually Joe in most regards was against staff putting their hands on residents for obvious reasons to protect his ass.
I was a active drunk and in the end maybe last 2 months drug user while I was working there. Not very responsible leader.
As my memory comes back I will post more.
Danny

[DannyB II]

Edited, what I posted here had nothing to do with the topic here and I found it annoying.

[Anne Bonney]

Your Kimmy, just like I'm Bennison your "Kimmy".....were a team. "Your disjointed inconsistent rambling", (sounds like lyrics to a country song) well I will just have to give you more "substantive contributions". How was my post Kimmy did you read it.
Danny

 :eek:  :ftard:
What??  What the hell are you trying to say?  Seriously, it is really, really difficult to read your posts.

[DannyB II]

Edited, same as above.

[Anti-Troll]

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 :shamrock:  :shamrock:  :shamrock: Time to fumigate.
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[Antigen]

Joel. Your post just disappeared.  I don’t think you will get many people arguing with you and taking the position that restraints are never needed.  The danger of utilizing restraints is the lack of training not the restraints themselves.



...

Well, that may be part of it. Other factors include pretending that the client is mentally ill when really, in most cases, they're normal kids who have idiots for parents. Then there's the issue of systematically provoking violent reactions from these kids and then pretending that their perfectly normal responses are grounds for physical restraint.

[Joel]

Edited: Wednesday, October 06, 2010

[wdtony]

Well, that may be part of it. Other factors include pretending that the client is mentally ill when really, in most cases, they're normal kids who have idiots for parents. Then there's the issue of systematically provoking violent reactions from these kids and then pretending that their perfectly normal responses are grounds for physical restraint.

I saw cases where wilderness staff kept confronting a child over a small problem.  They did not take into account the child was getting angrier.  The child was usually restrained over a petty problem.  This is common with new wilderness staff including wilderness staff who are exhausted,  mentally and physically, from lack of support.  I think, in some cases, this can be prevented by additional support/training from supervisors.

Of course my first thought is what happened at KHK to us and not the bigger picture of restraint as Joel has mentioned. I tend to focus on the misuse of restraint rather than the proper use of it such as when someone is a real danger to themselves or others. I am sure there are times when a restraint is necessary in places where kids are placed and this should be done properly by qualified, trained employees and only when absolutely necessary.

I have talked to a friend recently who places children in state homes when they have been abused by family members and she informed me that restraint is extremely rare because the kids aren't subjected to provocation and the staff are careful not to do so. These kids have already been abused and are easily pushed over the edge. Another important bit of information is that these kids are never taken out of public school and are given ample opportunity to communicate with family and the outside world at all times.

In KHK restraint was used for any number of reasons. But it was mainly a means to scare the hell out of us and keep us from leaving the program. The entire environment was abusive (especially on first phase) so it was only a natural response to try and escape or to freak out and get very upset. We were basically restrained at KHK after being provoked (psychologically antagonized and physically depleted) as Antigen has mentioned.

I had spent a short time in the juvenile system in KY and I also spent some time in adult jails in KY when I was younger. I never saw anyone restrained in Juvenile detention or in jail. The guards were assholes but they didn't provoke us and had no reason to restrain us. If there was a fight, the cell was opened and inmates obeyed the jailers but there was no restraint. In KHK people were restrained daily. These were my observations.

[Rusty Goat]

At Springfield straightinc in 1983-4, usually 1 or maybe 3 of the same people were getting physically restrained one or two days out of a week. Sometimes the restrained phasers would go a few days or even a couple weeks before being restrained again. Very few were restrained for longer periods as cult staffer Mel Riddile preferred that they be taken out of group where the rest of the phasers couldn't witness their fate. Again, this was not happening every damn day. Throughout my 19 month stint, I never became desensitized to the restraint process.  Physical restraint, however, was infrequent compared to how much spit was flingin all over the place, EVERYONE's knees were tearing, backs were cracking, skin was paling, blood becoming anemic, um... the list goes on and on...

I think folks should spend some time talking about the aspects of psychological restraint and the constant low-level physical torture being endured on a daily basis.

[Joel]

Edited: Wednesday, October 06, 2010

[wdtony]

I think folks should spend some time talking about the aspects of psychological restraint and the constant low-level physical torture being endured on a daily basis.

I have not witnessed a psychological restraint while working at Eckerd and could not imagine how people feel about them.  There are staff in wilderness camps, from my work experience, who do not exhaust every option before restraining a child.  This affects the whole group.  They loose faith in their primary staff member creating more problems.  There are ways to  prevent restraints which is something I hope we can discuss civilly.  I am not discounting how people feel about restraints but I think restraint prevention is important to discuss.  

The very first thought in my mind after reading this would be to suggest eliminating an environment where the kids are prisoners and are antagonized. This would probably curb the need for restraint. If anything is going to help kids it must start with not being forced into treatment. Taking anyone away from their own life entirely can be traumatic, especially for kids who might be in the process of forming their identity.

I honestly think there is no good reason for restraint in any program and that if the situation escalates to that level, the police should be called and the kid should be taken out of that environment by the police. My brother was a teacher and he never had to restrain anyone and I am pretty sure he never had training in proper/improper restraint techniques.

Why have restraint as an option at all.... couldn't program staff just call the police? It seems like most of these programs generate the notion that restraint is an acceptable practice as long as it is carried out properly. If KHK was still in operation, a proper restraint would be just as tragic as an improperly performed restraint because the end result would be to keep the kid in a torturous, psychologically tormenting environment, which would eventually lead to more friction and probably more restraint.

[Joel]

Edited: Wednesday, October 06, 2010

[wdtony]

I honestly think there is no good reason for restraint in any program and that if the situation escalates to that level, the police should be called and the kid should be taken out of that environment by the police. My brother was a teacher and he never had to restrain anyone and I am pretty sure he never had training in proper/improper restraint techniques.

Personally, I wish I did not  have to restrain any child while employed at Eckerd.  There will always be cases where restraints are necessary.  This depends on the program among other factors.  I  was in the middle of a riot escalated by children throwing gang signs.  There were 4 children from an Eckerd RI  group whose intent was to physically harm children from an Eckerd TN camp.  The riot was so bad that we had to move almost every child into the camp dining hall.  Children from the Eckerd TN camp were throwing big rocks at the dining hall with the intent to cause serious bodily harm.  I restrained 4 children during the riot and every restraint was justified.  During this riot I witnessed another child pulling a female staff's hair.  This is another example where a restraint would have been justified.

Backing up and looking at the bigger picture, you were already in an environment that had been constructed where you apparently couldn't get away from restraining in some situations. From what you have mentioned, I can understand having to use restraint and I am sure I would have done the best I could in the situation, probably using some form of restraint. Let me be clear that I am not faulting you for using restraint in such an environment. And I appreciate your talking about it.

How would you envision a better program for kids? I know this is a very general question so any thoughts are welcome.

My point earlier was that those who facilitate these environments, such as program owners/directors don't seem to know or care what they are creating and can develop into a situation as you have described where a riot breaks out. You had mentioned poor management being a problem earlier and I completely agree. We had situations in KHK where it seemed like half the kids in group was restraining the other half of the group, but that was what we had to do in that environment. It wasn't the kids fault (myself included) that this was the way we had to conduct ourselves.

I have heard of minor restraints being used in children's homes (in KY) where the kids are becoming violent against other kids due to personal annoyances (e.g. fighting over a hair brush, bullying etc.). In these cases, the restraints, by staff only, were short in duration and the situation was resolved rather quickly. Then (and this is in KY) there was a slew of paperwork as well as a meeting about the restraint the next day. Also there was documentation describing the incident and the social worker and parents were contacted immediately. Keep in mind that in these homes, the kids were allowed to leave the premises and attend public school 5 days a week. I feel far more comfortable with this type of environment than a more isolated one. And communiation was allowed at most times such as phone calls or scheduled personal visits where privacy was permitted. To me these are good signs of transparency.

I guess when you are in an environment where restraint is an option or even a necessity, the choices are limited: leave the environment or use best judgement on when and how restraint is to be used. And as you have stated earlier, and perhaps more importantly, ways to prevent or diminish restraint altogether.

[Joel]

Edited: Wednesday, October 06, 2010

[Whooter]

Looking at it from a broader perspective restraints will always be necessary to keep social order.  The vast majority of us are able to utilized "self restraint".  But in those cases where people have not been taught or refuse to utilize "self restraint" then other types need to be used like chemical or physical.  We are all restrained every day of our lives.

The use of restraints should not be viewed as a form of punishment.  I am sure it feels like it to the person being restrained , though.  If someone flips you off on the way to work you can speed up and cut the guy off into a ditch or use self restraint.  Self restraint doesn’t make you feel any better and it may feel like it is not fair because this guy is able to flip you off and just get away with it, but that is life in society.  If you cannot restrain yourself then someone else will have to.

If someone were wailing on another person with a stick should we sit back and watch or try to restrain the aggressor?  Would you view this restraint as punishment or as helpful?

If restraints prove to be ineffective I could see calling the police, but typically overpowering the child with weapons and handcuffs and putting him in jail isn’t the greatest experience for a child and should be avoided and used as a final option.



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