The Academy in Oregon and Fiji - what is known about them?

[Oscar]

The academy - homepage

Do we have any info about this program?

[Anonymous]

i called the 100 # and got put through to tricia who lives in fiji. I claimed that I was calling from great britian. The "Kid" was fifteen, male, and binge drinking. No proof of drugs (The kid is likely to be doing them) No drop in grades (I was assured that they will)

Was advised that they do not run the Oregon school anymore ( I think it is a brightway style holding pen for american kids) Has the same levels as wwasp but interestingly not the parent seminars. Was told it took a month to get to level 2 when the kid can call home. Kid could write as much as poss to mum and dad but all other letters go through the family because "kids can lie & manipulate"

Claimed that they had been running for 9 years & got regular visits from the American and Australian (sounds like bullshit to me) embassy where the staff have lunch with the kids & the occasional game of football etc. Claimed embassy staff were on a first name basis with the kids.
Says the kids are mainly American expats but that they also have kids from Australia (I said I was british) The UK and Asian places like Hong Kong.
Says they are opposed to corporal punishment and only restrain when kids are a danger. In fact the exact words were "Boys will be boys if they jostle we pull them apart"
When asked about food they said they don't over feed kids because "It might be different where you are but a lot of American kids are fat" then backpeddalled a million miles & said their staff are large figian men who find the food more than adequate. Said kids are made to eat 70% of what is on their plate.
Uses the same language and level system as wwasp but is a little more warm and fuzzy but then could have just been responding to the dynamics of the conversation. Claimed nobody loved the kids more except for the parents.
Claimed the school offered Rugby, soccer and snorkelling as well as when they got to snr levels horseriding and deep sea diving.
So i called the australian hig commission in figi & they have never heard of this place or visited it. I called the us embassy but they were closed for the day there. The only place the aussies had heard of was
http://www.international.school.fj
As you can see it is an ordinary day school for the kids of expats living there.

[Anonymous]

Us embassy girl advised she was not sure who she would need to speak to ( i get the feeling i was speaking to someone pretty Junior) but that there is no school in figi that they do regular visits to American or otherwise. Obviously the person from this school is lying but I dont know for sure if they are associated with wwasp or if they just copied their ideas

[Oscar]

From the photos taken by a parent who visited his son on Fiji in 2007 we have been able to locate the location of the academy.

The political system in this country is unstable as far as we can find out. I don't know how many they can detain at this facility, but the embassy should take a look into what is going at this place.

[BuzzKill]

I googled the phone number with Patricia Thomas, and got struggling teen help - in Saint George Utah. Yep - I recon it is WWASP but the campuses are new - Oregon and Fiji are not old schools they've re-opened under new names.
 
 
StrugglingTeenHelp.com
1933 Observation Circle
Saint George, UT
84780
help@strugglingteenhelp.com
435.229.5045


I guess the Fiji place is the new Tranquility Bay / Paradise Cove.

[BuzzKill]

Open in 2007 you say  - how long has it been there  - do you know?

[Oscar]

We are not sure that is a WWASP program, but they can have borrowed some from WWASP like a lot of programs. Paulu researched further and found out that they used to operate under the name "Coral Island Academy". They were founded in 2001 and a NATSAP member. They were down to 7 students in February 2008.

Alice has written a survivor from the Myspace group to learn more. Here is our datasheet of findings:

The Academy earlier known as Coral Island Academy is a behavior modification program marketed as a therapeutic boarding school. It is claimed to have a campus south of Myrtle Creek in Oregon and another campus on Fiji in the Pacific ocean south of the village of Korokula [1].

However it is unclear whether the campus in Oregon is in operation [2]

The political situation in Fiji is unstable [3], so parents should consider this beside the normal warning from the U.S authorities about oversea schools [4]

They are no longer registered at NATSAP, but their old record stated that they could detain 42 teenagers aged between 12 and 18 of both genders and their program lasted 3 to 18 months. It is claimed to be founded in 2001.

Program structure
Misc.

The program is on the investigation by HEAL-online [5].

The program is mentioned in a investigation report about WWASP produced by International Survivor Action Committee [6]

February 8, 2008 they had seven students from the U.S and Canada on their Fiji campus [7]

I forgot - the victim list could include a certain Austin Long unless we are talking of an accident. We have not much to go on.

[Anonymous]

The US consulate confirmed that it does do welfare checks on the students at The academy at six monthly intervals. So the good news is that it is harder to expose the pupils to the kind of squalor and degradation that was tranquility bay or paradise cove. While the school is on the main Island of Fiji it is in a remote part far from Suva (the capital)
This in all honesty is a mixed blessing. As someone mentioned Fiji is a place with much political unrest. The students are less likely to be in any immediate danger from the regular military coups that occur. On the other hand because it is remote obviously it is hard to scrutinize. Watch this space for more information.

[Taylor Anthony]

I attended The Academy's Oregon and Fiji campus. six months at each and left when i turned 18 in april of 2005.

I was in Fiji there for about 5 or 6 months. while i was there, we did have someone from the embassy come by and we were instructed to be "on our BEST behavior" by the director, Victor Kissun (i think thats the right spelling)
dont speak unless spoken to. dont discuss anything you are not directly asked about. tell them how well we take care of you and how happy you are here.
it was effectively, a gag order and instruction to not make the school look bad in any way.

At the very least, i would say that this facility does condone the abuse of children when they see fit.
I saw a student be restrained and beaten by a staff member and another student. When i tried to stop this, i was held down, had my hands and legs tied together behind my back and the other end of the rope tied to a beam in the ceiling so that i was unable to move or roll around anywhere. I was left like this for several hours. was forced to urinate on my self because they would not untie me. after this, i was held in isolation for about three weeks and had to sleep on the concrete floor.
After being released from isolation, things became alot better because i was able to trade american clothing, shampoo/conditioner and other items we had for Marijuana and Tobacco leaf and rolling papers. I once smoke Marijuana, with one of the staff members, on the front porch of the directors house while he was off campus. The students in my dorm were almost always chewing Tobacco and some times even smoked Marijuana in the dorm room.
I smoked Marijuana with about 4 or 5 staff members in the 6 months i was there. I never could have gotten away with that at the Oregon campus.

I am still in contact with others who attended these campus' at the same time as my self. We would be happy to help out with any requests for information on this 'school'.

If anyone had any questions about the school, the owners, the staff or my attendance at this facility, feel free to E-Mail me at 24kanthony@gmail.com

[for.the.sound]

My name is Grace and i lived at the Academy for 22 months. i barely survived the mental and physical torture of the Bridge campus and the Brainwashing life "seminars"i lived with a girl who was molested in Fiji, I was there when a boy with tourettes was made to dig a hole in bridge. i was there when male staff sexually harrassed female students in bridge.I saw patricia Thomass compleat lack of compassion. As a student i can tell you that no one there had any right helping people change there lives. A person who staffed my training and worked at the school and LIVED on the bridge campus commited suicide from a drug overdose. He was supposed to be teaching me how to live?
My two years there i spoke to Patricia once and all she did was push me to tell my parents to go to the Life Training Seminars ( 3 grand a session) that they forced on me.

i will give ANY information to make sure Patricia and Ryan Thomas NEVER run another program.

 DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD HERE
DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD HERE!
PLEASE

[Oscar]

for.the.sound : Please look into Scotts Valley School. We suspect that it is the same Dr. Thomas running the show there. We have asked HEAL-online - a NGO - to investigate as we have no volunteers in that area.

[hannahem]

Grace, i think i know you, did you come to Bridge a little before i left to Fiji? . My name is hannah. email. hannahmichaelis13@hotmail.com ANd yes dont send your kids there