Not many people want to talk about treatment programs, AA , sobriety and our issues when we were teens.
70% of the kids in program with me, including myself, were not there for drug related issues. Most were there for ADHD, aspergers, depression, lack of social skills, eating disorders, to finish high school, because their parents were getting divorced and so forth. I remember their names. I remember what they were there for. I remember how many graduated (3%). Now you can claim i'm lying but that's what their website advertises to so it's reasonable to assume they do that for a reason and gain such clientele. Most programs I know of are like this.
Maybe you were some wunderkid fuckup, but I highly doubt it. Most teens who use drugs, even to extreme, do not grow up to become addicts. Furthermore:
Inpatient treatment programs are rarely justified for children's healthy development.10 They can even harm children by giving them identities as alcoholics or substance abusers, and setting them up for relapse.11
What you just quoted is an explanation why I find this topic interesting enough for me to put the time in to posting on fornits. I'm not sure what that has to do with what the people you were in program with were there for. What percentage of people in Benchmark were "kids", as compared to legal adults? Isn't Benchmark for 17-28 year olds or something like that?
I'd say a good portion came there at 17. Probably around half. The rest were in fact over 18. I woulnd' say they were consenting adults, however. True consent requires it to be informed. They deceived people into enrolling. They made it look like a nice place on the tour, set up rigged interviews, flat out lied about elements of the program, and more. I consented to go to a boarding school where I would finish high school. I didn't consent to, and made it quite clear to both my parents and the program that I was not interested in changing. I was told change was optional and that they would not force me. They lied. Do you know what it's called when you sell one thing and deliver another? It's called fraud. It's called misrepresentation. I didn't consent to thought reform. I didn't consent to have my property, identification, and and any means of establishing myself on my own confiscated and held from me illegally. When adults want to leave Benchmark their property is held from them. They are told (eventually) to get jobs but are forced to sign their paychecks over to the program if they want to remain in good graces or ever have a relationship with their parents again.
I have no problem with consensual anything, but if you're thinking for one second I signed up for what I got, you're out of your mind. I was an extrovert back then. I could talk to a crowd of people without flinching, feeling nervous, or having this feeling of being surrounded. Watch the video I recorded at NYRA. That is not what I was. They did that to me. They did not help me. I thought they were saving my life when I was there but the truth is that all they did was demolish my sense of self and leave me hollow. I did nothing to deserve what was done, not that anybody did. It was an accident, and even my parents would admit that. They were deceived too. Maybe yours were evil. Maybe your did knew everything and did nothing. Maybe you're this way because you need your parents love and that's the approval you seek. Know what? It's not worth it to give up who you are just because your parents disapprove.
I'm not saying go do drugs. I never said that. I felt sorry for you when you would describe what state you were in... about Tijuana. What i'm saying is that you shouldn't do even the right things if it's for the wrong reasons. You should quit drugs for yourself, not because of conditional parental love, and you shouldn't praise the program just because you can't accept the fact that your parents abused you by proxy and had full knowledge of what went on. Your father knew how long you were in the Hobbit. Don't deny it was abuse. Accept it and if you can find it in your heart, forgive him.
Perhaps since it was more of a voluntary treatment environment, people went there for different issues. I can't really comment on it, I don't know enough about it. I am only commenting on my own experience, I can't speak for other people. I was stealing and lying to get high in middle school, and I grew up to become an addict. I wish I was the people in that study that grew out of it but I didn't. I remember the names of people from treatment programs I was in too.
You were traumatized when you left the program. You only knew one way to cope with the pain. I don't blame you for turning to drugs, but I think here you're reversing cause and effect.
