Copper Canyon Academy

[MomInCrisis]

Hello,

I hope you don't mind if a mom posts here. I'm thinking of sending my daughter to Copper Canyon Academy. I've read the threads about other schools, but does anyone here have direct, personal experience at Copper Canyon? If you'd be willing to tell me about it, I'd like to hear.

Thank you.

MiC

[Che Gookin]

http://www.heal-online.org/coppercanyon.htm

[MomInCrisis]

Thank you very much, Che. I will read all of that very carefully and and will keep it in mind as I have my next conversation with the Admissions Director. But I'd really like to hear from girls/young women who have been there and who can - if they are willing - to tell a mom who is frantic with worry, what the place was like for them. I don't want my daughter to be abused (I already put her father's but in prison for that) but I do want her to get the help she needs.

MiC

[Oscar]

I have not been there, but Mount Bachelor Academy in Oregon was shut down because they used the Lifestep mass-therapy system. They still use it at Copper Canyon Academy and transport students down from Aspen Ranch in Utah for these workshops.

If the authorities in Oregon did find something wrong with the use of Lifesteps, why is Arizona allowing them?

A place like Swift River owned by the same firm has discontued the use of Lifestep due to the risk of mass-hysteria (Lifestep of Mis-step - press release). Are the individual schools inside the firm not talking and learning from each other?

[MomInCrisis]

When I spoke to the Admissions Director, he said that my daughter would have individual therapy once a week and special issue groups twice a week. He said there is dance and basketball, which she like before everything started changing. He said the girls usually realize they need to be there and are happy. He said they are trained for phsyical restraint but use it only once or twice a year, but more usually a staff member will just sit next to a defiant girl (even for hours) until she starts to realize she needs to be there and get help.

Does anyone know anything about this? I know it's an insitution and very regulated, but that girl will end up in prison if she doesnt' change her ways - and that is even less pleasant. I'm not mean, vindictive mom. I just want my little girl to be happy and functioning like she used to be.

MiC

[Joel]

Edited: Wednesday, October 06, 2010

[Joel]

Edited: Wednesday, October 06, 2010

[MomInCrisis]

Sometimes she is not safe for herself, she cuts on herself, and does all sorts of dangerous behavior - I'm sure I don't need to spell it out for you folks. If she's cutting, what are they supposed to do. I guess they need some way to give her a time out.

Does this place usual isolation? Physical punishment? Name calling and public humiliation?

This is the most confusing decision I've ever had to make on my own and I don't want an edcuational "consultant" because as far as I can see they are either directly employed by a group of schools or get kick backs.

I'm not going into this naively, but I cannot see any more alternatives.


I just saw your post, Joel. No he did not. Do you know anything about it?

[MomInCrisis]

I need to log off now, but I'll be back tomorrow.

Please, if you have any personal experience to share, please let me know.

If you know what questions I should be asking, please let me know.

Thank you so much - you are the experts here.

[Oscar]

One of our volunteers wrote with a girl who had been at a wilderness program (AAA) and lived at Copper Canyon School for a period until she ran away. I will PM the link to her blog. Her mother let her live with relatives (The father of the family where she got to was in the news just last weeks. They had sixplets and she helped out with the babies just after running away from CCA.)

If you search the police records in their county you will find reports of runaways and the police being called out there because one of the girls had armed herself with a knife.

---
Cutting:

When youth cut themselves it is self-medicating. They don't want to kill themselves. What they want to achieve it the symptom of relief. Basically it is the same effect as if you apply leeches to a patient. Doctors used leeches a lot and the patient got better. Today we know that the reason was that the blood loss made the patients lightheaded. Leeches are still used but more targeted. Your daughter feels better when she cuts but she is fooled like the professionals were in the past.

She needs to her emotional backpack emptied. For reasons unknown to us posters she is carrying stuff around she has picked up and now the blood loss makes her feel that she is dumping some of it through her blood.

What can you do? Get her to some professional who can listen to her. Here comes the hard part: She can talk to maybe 100 professionals and it won't help because she cannot connect with the individuals. She needs to find the one, she can trust in her head.

Sending her away can result in her picking up war stories because a lot of the residential options are built on level system where they have to give something to earn something. If her issues are really hard for her to deal with it will be the war stories from the other residents the therapists will hear and treat on. It would not solve her problems.

[MomInCrisis]

Thanks to both of you, Joel and Oscar, for the additional information and the PMs.

Please, if anyone out there knows this place, please let me know. I find it encouraging, actually, that it there is not already a thread about it, but I am going to read carefully the sources I was pointed to by PM.

Thanks.
MiC

PS How do I subscribe to this thread?

[Che Gookin]

Cutting does not equal suicidal behavior. Cutting is a very loud cry for attention and help. I apologize for the lateness of this post, I don't closely follow these forums as much as I used to.

Key points to concern yourself with your daughter's cutting:

1) She's not trying to kill herself.

- She's using it as a coping mechanism.

2) Are you sending her to a program to protect herself?

or to give yourself some sort of peace of mind?

The sort of treatment needed for cutting isn't going to be found in a place like Copper Canyon. T


3) Have you really educated yourself on cutting behaviors and the best methods of treatment for these behaviors?

- You'd be surprised what you can learn.

In my personal experience with cutters I found my reaction to their behavior was often stronger than their actual cutting. You can't freak out about it. You can't let it scare you. You definitely can't treat your daughter any differently than she was before.

If you alienate her by flipping your shit, if you treat her like a suicidal little cutter, and if you start slinging treatment loaded jargon at her you've just changed the dynamic from mother daughter to something she really isn't going to need.

As to where to send her?

Hell if I know, I don't do referrals for a good reason. No one can give you a promise of 100 percent safety from any of these places. Hence why I refuse to give a referral.

[Ursus]

Copper Canyon Academy is among the schools belonging to the Friends of Families with Children in Crisis Foundation, which was originally founded in 1998 as The Friends of CEDU Foundation. Most of the participating schools are CEDU spin-offs or have strong CEDU ties:

• Academy at Sisters (OR)
• Oakley School (UT)
• Boulder Creek Academy (ID)
• King George School (VT)
• New Leaf Academy of North Carolina (NC)
• New Leaf Academy of Oregon (OR)
• Copper Canyon Academy (AZ)
• Bromley Brook School (VT)
• Monarch School (MT)

As I understand it, this foundation can offer financial support to families who already have kids attending member schools, but who have subsequently run into financial difficulties.

Some might see this association as a generous benefactor; some might see it as yet another cruel means of drawing families deeper into the cult. I personally see it as a big red WARNING flag.

More on Friends of Families with Children in Crisis Foundation (and links) in this post.

[Ursus]

I have not been there, but Mount Bachelor Academy in Oregon was shut down because they used the Lifestep mass-therapy system.

In 1998, these are the schools which were using the "emotional growth" curriculum called "Lifesteps", plus two more which were considering it at the time (a few of these programs no longer exist):

Cascade School, Whitmore, CA
Mount Bachelor Academy, Prineville, OR
Academy at Swift River, Cummington, MA
Hidden Lake Academy, Dahlonega, GA
Crater Lake School, Sprague River, OR
CEDU Schools, CA and ID
Spring Ridge Academy, Spring Valley, AZ
Cross Creek Manor, LaVerkin, UT
Paradise Cove, Apia, W. Samoa
Tranquility Bay, Mandeville, Jamaica
Spring Creek Lodge, Thompson Falls, MT
Copper Canyon Academy, Camp Verde, AZ[/list]
For over 18:

Northstar, Bend, OR
Benchmark, Redding, CA[/list]
Considering it:

Aspen Ranch, Loa, Utah
Montana Academy, Marion, Montana[/list][/list]

[Nick08f1]

As having an older brother who attended Tranquility Bay, I would search for other solutions that these programs. For one, they are NOT highly regulated at all. Secondly, even though TB was a level 6 program (much harsher) I've heard nothing but horror stories from kids and parents alike, as well as the financial responsibility for these programs. I would look for other options, most importantly seeking out a psychologist. That is no easy task in itself. Many times people have to go through quite a few therapy sessions with different counselors before they can find someone who they can relate to and feel comfortable being honest with themselves and their feelings.