Author Topic: I am an exsafe counselor  (Read 56344 times)

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Offline jnloar

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« Reply #150 on: November 25, 2003, 04:34:00 AM »
I have found this discussion so interesting.  These are simply my ideas and thoughts as I have no proof.
1)this man was an exec and were any kind of charges or suits to ever stick I truly believe it would be the execs who would be held more accountable as they allowed the abuse to happen.  They were privy to all of it and have a need to cover their butts.  I was a Jr.II paraprofession and now see "staff" as an extension of the brainwashing.  I would and have spoken about what I saw and how much of it I know today was not only abusive but illegal.
2)most people employ the coping mechanism of denial when reality hits hard.  I have experienced waves of shame and sadness reading kids accounts of staff and I was a phasor for 18 months!  I cannot imagine what happens when you read this and don't have the ability to atleast know that you played along in a system that victimized you first and you were simply following what you were told would basically be the only thing that would keep you from dying and would accept you since you were such a flawed druggie piece of trash.  Defense of ourselves is such a natural reaction and boy would I ever want to defend myself if I could not claim to be a paraprofessional who feel to the bs of the model.  I think he is an intelligent man who is trying to convince himself that there really was no abuse during his time there.
Now something I do know as fact:
1)when a client made a claim of abuse, at least in Texas, they were allowed to file and there was always follow-up.  A case-worker would come, meet with exec satff and a paraprofessional and we would explain that this was just an unhappy kid, we did not restrain, isolate unless absolutely neccesary (bullshit!) and that we would welcome them to sit in on a rap, Om ,et al. The client would come in once we had brainwashed the case worker who had no objectivity by this point.  They would listen to the client, explain that they would sit in on a rap and really thought maybe the client was just unhappy that they were not getting their way.  it was made certain they came in for maybe rules rap, exercise or if they did come in for a rap it was always made to be light by staff INSTRUCTED by exec staff to do this.  Then the case worker would meet with the client again after rap and basically say you are lying and once they left the poor kid was mincemeat back in group.
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Offline exsafecounselor

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« Reply #151 on: November 25, 2003, 10:20:00 AM »
The only thing I can say is that the program I worked for and the one you worked or and attended are very different programs.  In the 2 1/2 years I worked at SAFE, there was never a founded case of abuse.  Even when HRS/Child Protective Services was gunning for Loretta and the program, there was nothing.  Not only was there nothing, they had to lift their ban on allowing us to accept new clients.  These really are facts that can be documented by a third party (HRS) that is anti-SAFE.
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here is not a truth existing which I fear or would wish unknown to the whole world.

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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #152 on: November 25, 2003, 11:32:00 AM »
So ex, what's the well used looking foam pad for? Why does the office staff play "musical locked doors"? Surely an executive like you claim to be should know the answers to those questions. Why not share them with us here?  

                      :???:
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Offline exsafecounselor

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« Reply #153 on: November 25, 2003, 11:35:00 AM »
I stopped working there nearly 9 years ago.  I am guessing that things might be different now than they were when I worked there.  I have no idea what you are talking about,
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here is not a truth existing which I fear or would wish unknown to the whole world.

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Offline Antigen

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« Reply #154 on: November 25, 2003, 11:42:00 AM »
Thanks for giving your take on things. It really does help a LOT.

You're right, staff was just another set of phases. Remember that damned near all of us took an active part in the Program; some w/ more or less relish. But all but the active misbehavers took part, not just staff.

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Offline exsafecounselor

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« Reply #155 on: November 25, 2003, 12:16:00 PM »
Because I simply do not know the answer to the question means nothing, other than I do not know the answer to the question.  It neither confirms, nor denies what is being alleged.  Antigen did make a comment that I can assure you is incorrect however.  During the time that I worked at SAFE, clients did not restrain clients.

However, I do know from group staff members that went through Straight in Orlando and St. Pete, that clients did restrain clients.  And yes, I agree that that was wrong and should have never happened.
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here is not a truth existing which I fear or would wish unknown to the whole world.

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Offline Antigen

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« Reply #156 on: November 25, 2003, 12:33:00 PM »
What would a phaser on the door do when a newcomer tried to walk out?

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
-- John F. Kennedy (1917-63), U.S. Democratic politician, president. Speech, 13 March 1962, the White House.

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Offline exsafecounselor

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« Reply #157 on: November 25, 2003, 12:37:00 PM »
Phasers at the door are told, instructed to do nothing but alert staff.  There is a rule that clients can not touch other clients, unless it is mutual (like a hug, handshake, etc.).
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Offline Antigen

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« Reply #158 on: November 25, 2003, 01:00:00 PM »
And this was effective? Damn! You must have had about a 3:1 staff:client ratio!

More accurately, we phasers were instructed to discard the first and most impotent rule and say that the client being beat down had thrown the first punch.

There are not enough jails, not enough policemen, not enough courts to enforce a law not supported by the people.
-- HUBERT H. HUMPHREY, speech (1965)

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Offline exsafecounselor

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« Reply #159 on: November 25, 2003, 01:54:00 PM »
No 3:1 ratio, but we were just good!
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Offline Antigen

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« Reply #160 on: November 25, 2003, 02:09:00 PM »
So then you're telling me that all these kids who called HRS and tried to get out never tried just walking out? Or that the staff were kept pretty busy restraining them? I'm having a hard time envisioning a scenerio where all that you say could be true.

I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard was not what I meant.



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Offline jnloar

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« Reply #161 on: November 25, 2003, 03:10:00 PM »
now I am laughing...of course only staff restrained...at least that is what the paperwork for the state said.  We easily justified using clients if there were multiple restaints as no-one could leave.  Our misbehaviors would plan joint runs and damn near every phasor and staff was active in a restraint.  Obviousily SAFE was such a welcoming, warm place that only a select few wanted out enough to run.  I took a stand for you ex, as I believe we each see our reality differently but your refusal to even acknowledge that maybe you are a little off is offensive.  If you worked there nine years ago I find your claims that much more unbelievable as that was just as they were transferring from the Straight name and I KNOW how those programs worked.  It would certainly be easier for those of us who suffered the brainwashing that is Straight/SAFE/PFC, etc...if you expressed some possibility that maybe you just are using some defense mechanisms we have all employed over the years.  It would be lovely if you had some staff members to back your perception as there are clients who so disagree with you about that time frame in SAFE.
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Offline exsafecounselor

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« Reply #162 on: November 25, 2003, 06:05:00 PM »
It goes without saying that if your assumption is that I am lying, than this forum has little to offer an even slightly intelligent person.  I am sure what you are saying is true regarding your experience when you were in Straight.  However, I defy you and anyone else to contradict any statements I have made on this web forum during the time period I worked there.  Admitting the truth is not denial.  

Just because you were wronged does not mean that everyone was wronged.  By way, contradicting me does not mean simply disagreeing with me.  I would love to chat with someone who will say that during the time period I worked there, kids were instructed to restrain other kids.  

You did mention something else worth noting.  SAFE was a kindler, gentler version of what you experienced.  There was confronation, but not spitting or abuse or deprivation.  There is nothing wrong with the model, when it is applied correctly.
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here is not a truth existing which I fear or would wish unknown to the whole world.

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Offline Anonymous

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« Reply #163 on: November 25, 2003, 06:17:00 PM »
OK, Ex, how many front doors were at the location you worked? Were they kept locked at all times? Just seems odd that the new safe building has 4 glass doors up front, all locked and the ladies that work in the office have to go out one, walk down the sidewalk to either of the others and unlock them, then, come out that door, walk to another one with paper covering it, unlock it, and so on and so on and so on. Does this not strike you as being rather BIZZARE behavior for a business that respects kids' rights to move in and out of the building freely? Please do not say that the safe you worked at kept all the doors unlocked, I would hardly believe you. And that foam pad, well, it too could very easily be 9+ years old.
Since you have NO IDEA what I am talking about, how about describing what it was like when you were there. There may be some striking similarities.
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Offline jnloar

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« Reply #164 on: November 25, 2003, 06:36:00 PM »
Ex,
I will let go of the restraining disagreement since I was not there to witness what happened.  My doubts spring from the fact that SAFE is a Straight created program and I find it hard to believe it changed that quickly and even more hard to understand why they would have quit while you were there only to resume once you left.  I find a difference between a blatant lie and what people believe to be the truth.  It is scientically proven that humans will repress things that are painful to see and acknowledge.  I was saying I thought that could be a possibility but am happy to take your word that you do not fall into that category.  I do now have a problem with your idea that the model works when applied right???  do you really mean that?  The model is, essentially to strip a kid of every right, DIGNITY and sembelance of humanness, to surrender to the group mentality.  If a kid is non-compliant, they are ridiculed, forced to withstand extreme mental confrontations and at times, physical restraint and even abuse.  The model is taken from prison camps for god's sake.  It is a modern day form of mental and psychological torture and abuse.  Once the child has completely lost any sense of soul, dignity, respect and right and wrong, he is then welcomed by the group with open arms as they are the only ones who could ever possibly "redeem" him.  It is a sick, twisted way of making group, staff and yes, the execs god-like figures.  They progress on believing that they truly are worthless pieces of sh*t who are nothing without their 'gods' approval.  Then they are cut loose into the world and find out that everything they had been taught is screwed and then really flip out and probably start using the drugs they heard about in treatment.  Even though SAFE is a kinder version of Straight as far as spitting, unending standing, severe consequences, whatever, it is based on the same model and I find it repugnant that anyone can really defend its methodology.  My interpretation is not just from my years at Straight but from SAFE material that describes its treatment model and the testimony of the survivors stories I have read here.  It is worth reading some of the parents stories here who share the pain they feel for subjecting their kids to SAFE and the prices they have each paid due to the brainwashing they bought for a time. As I said in the start of this, I was not there so I cannot hold a true arguement about the restraint policies but I can about the treatment model as I got to experience it firsthand and can read the SAFE material to know it is the same one countless others in SAFE, Straight and many other programs have been subjected to.
Jennifer
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