Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Teen Challenge
I personally escaped this Cult
cmack:
TC_Saved_Me, as I've said in earlier posts; I fully accept that TC was the vehicle through which you found Christ and were able to turn your life around. As you've learned here on fornits, many others have had bad experiences at various programs. I don't know anyone personally who has been through TC, but there are published accounts of people who aren't thrilled with their time there.
Without invalidating your own personal experience I urge you to continue your education regarding this industry and exercise restraint when referring others to TC or other programs.
Here are some links you might want to explore.
Thanks to reddit for this: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/4/ ... 954/504505
Behind the Walls: The Teen Challenge You Won't See
http://www.teenchallengeexposed.com/index.html
TC_Saved_Me:
--- Quote from: "cmack" ---Without invalidating your own personal experience I urge you to continue your education regarding this industry and exercise restraint when referring others to TC or other programs.
--- End quote ---
I wouldn't refer anyone to the TC program for minors after the things that I've read. I think that needs to be investigated, and those centers should be held to a higher standard. These are kids we're talking about.
Certainly though, anyone could benefit from the center that I went through (San Diego Induction - Riverside Training Center, Southern California). Since I have first hand experience of how beneficial that center is, I would not hesitate to refer someone there. I referred some of the TC people I know to this website to read around, and get there opinion about what's being said in these Discussion Boards, and their all convinced that these negative opinions are from people who either got kicked out of the program or left early on their own accord. There's alot of people who can't stand the rules, and are not ready to admit that they have not made wise choices with their lives. So they'll either keep getting high, and get kicked out of the program - or they'll leave the program for "greener pastures" (jail, other rehabs, back on the streets) - and they'll be bitter towards the program.
I know at least ten people who have left the program, and gone on to graduate from Bible College (or secular college in my case soon), to be leaders in the Youth Groups of their churches, husbands, fathers, etc.
Here's what one of the TC graduates said about these Discussion Boards: "People who aren't willing to surrender fully and need a scapegoat... Nobody takes credit for their part of failure anymore" - His words, not mine.
TC_Saved_Me:
Oh, and here's what my wife had to say,
"I've seen sites like that before. I don't care what anyone says, God used Teen Challenge to save my life." - her words, not mine.
I'm one of those Teen Challenge homers who married a chick that graduated the program! :-)
She's a graduate of the Pennsylvania Teen Challenge (Philadelphia Induction Center - Rehrersburg Training Center, Pennsylvania).
TC_Saved_Me:
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQRcXtKeuMU&feature=relmfu
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH6lvqDv1DA&feature=youtu.be
Samara:
I didn't attend TC, but the quote from your friend asserting that people who reject the program are essentially losers is irrational, illogical, and moronic. What he is essentially positing is that the ONLY valid perspective is a positive one. It proves the point that dissent or critical thinking is undervalued.
I did not go to a program for drug use or delinquency. Many of my peers also did not. And yet, there we were. Whether someone split, left, or graduated is inconsequential to the fact that the program practiced systemic, trenchant, and pervasive verbal and psychological abuse. If a kid were a drug addict, bipolar, or simply rebellious would not convince me that their stay at the program was therapeutic. In fact, the opposite. I don't feel this way because of rules or work details. That sh*t is petty and frankly, inconsequential to the fact that the program practiced systemic, trenchant, and pervasive verbal and psychological abuse.
It is very tiresome to continue to explain to Program People that dissenters are not rule whiners. Do you think we would be talking about this over decades later if we simply hated a few rules? No. In fact, I could give a rip what happened to me a long ass time ago. I don't want today's kids to be placed in programs that practice, yes, again, systemic, trenchant, and pervasive verbal and psychological abuse.
I don't know much about Teen Challenge pro or con. However, it is true --based on my experience, research, and professional and academic expertise-- that I lean toward skepticism. Nice brochures and "Jesus Saves" slogans are not effective arbiters of therapeutic ethics.
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