Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Benchmark Young Adult School / Benchmark Transitions
Please Respond
T.O.:
--- Quote from: "Xelebes" ---I wonder if they have any documentation on the medication they dispense to patients/students.
--- End quote ---
I would love if anyone had any advice for how to get it out of them? :-)
cmack:
--- Quote from: "T.O." ---Glad you have access! I'd repeat the comment that you should be careful. Your situation seems similar to mine--I was at benchmark a number of years ago. I actually graduated high school at Redlands Adult School and transferred to a 4-year university. I have since graduated (with honors), lived overseas, completed a Masters degree and am working on my PhD. It is possible, and it sounds like you are going in a really positive direction. Recently I accidentally ran into a girl I was at Benchmark with in Canada, where she was working on her M.A. and it is wonderful to see her happy.
Benchmark is awful. It is so destructive--if it is a 'benchmark' of anything, it may be a benchmark of how bad things can be. But I have been amazed at how we managed to survive, and survive well.
Please let me know if there is anything we can help you with, at least while you have access. If you are taking college classes there, is it at Redlands or San Bernadino?
Btw, a bit of practical advice? Before you leave Benchmark, make sure that you get copies of your medical and psychiatric records. This has proved very difficult for me: on request from a respected therapist, they only provided the documents that *I* filled out upon admission--nothing concerning medication.
--- End quote ---
Welcome to fornits and thanks for posting.
Would you mind explaining a little about how you ended up at Benchmark? I assume you were an adult when you went there so technically it was your decision, but were you pressured by parents or someone else. Was the program fairly described to you beforehand or did they misrepresent themselves? I've read psy's account of his experience there and understand how they can drive a wedge between parents and child after they are in the program. Were there any warning signs beforehand that the program wasn't what it made itself out to be?
And congratulations on your educational attainment. What's your PhD in?
cmack:
--- Quote from: "T.O." ---
--- Quote from: "Xelebes" ---I wonder if they have any documentation on the medication they dispense to patients/students.
--- End quote ---
I would love if anyone had any advice for how to get it out of them? :-)
--- End quote ---
psy might have some suggestions. If he doesn't post here soon you might try sending him a private message or email.
Mikehoncho:
--- Quote ---I wonder if they have any documentation on the medication they dispense to patients/students.
--- End quote ---
Yes they do. They have a sheet we have to sign before they dispense our meds with a full list of all the medications dispensed.
I'm sure obtaining a copy with my personal meds on it wouldn't be hard to obtain.
I do have to be very careful when I post on here. Maintaining my anonymity on here is of utmost importance. Im not overly worried though.
I've gone through my rebellious phase already. I attempted to start a student union and set up a food bank for AWOL students and was almost kicked out myself along with 12 other kids. Since then I have stayed under the radar and expect to graduate in may.
T.O.:
--- Quote from: "cmack" ---
--- Quote from: "T.O." ---Glad you have access! I'd repeat the comment that you should be careful. Your situation seems similar to mine--I was at benchmark a number of years ago. I actually graduated high school at Redlands Adult School and transferred to a 4-year university. I have since graduated (with honors), lived overseas, completed a Masters degree and am working on my PhD. It is possible, and it sounds like you are going in a really positive direction. Recently I accidentally ran into a girl I was at Benchmark with in Canada, where she was working on her M.A. and it is wonderful to see her happy.
Benchmark is awful. It is so destructive--if it is a 'benchmark' of anything, it may be a benchmark of how bad things can be. But I have been amazed at how we managed to survive, and survive well.
Please let me know if there is anything we can help you with, at least while you have access. If you are taking college classes there, is it at Redlands or San Bernadino?
Btw, a bit of practical advice? Before you leave Benchmark, make sure that you get copies of your medical and psychiatric records. This has proved very difficult for me: on request from a respected therapist, they only provided the documents that *I* filled out upon admission--nothing concerning medication.
--- End quote ---
Welcome to fornits and thanks for posting.
Would you mind explaining a little about how you ended up at Benchmark? I assume you were an adult when you went there so technically it was your decision, but were you pressured by parents or someone else. Was the program fairly described to you beforehand or did they misrepresent themselves? I've read psy's account of his experience there and understand how they can drive a wedge between parents and child after they are in the program. Were there any warning signs beforehand that the program wasn't what it made itself out to be?
And congratulations on your educational attainment. What's your PhD in?
--- End quote ---
Oy. I think I was in maybe a week or two before my 18th (they used to allow that, I don't know if they do now) but I was also straight out of SUWS--if you are familiar with that one, I was in the high mountains in Idaho from mid-January until mid-February-- and I had been 51/50d before that. I was already pretty discombobulated and disoriented from those experiences, and I was already being over-medicated. All I knew was that I wanted the chance to keep going to school (I was not allowed back to my old high school), and Benchmark was supposed to be place were I could do that. I basically said ok because a) I was out in California with a suitcase and nothing else, and I'm from Boston, and b) I could finish school and start college courses. There weren't really any warning signs--I was incredibly lucky that my mother refused, in front of me, to sign the contract saying she would have no contact, but then she flew back to Boston and we had no money (for example, for her to get me home)...my Dad payed for the program (an epically hostile divorce story there), and he was all on board. Basically, me and my mom had no resources, and as far as my Dad was concerned it was this or nothing if I wanted to finish high school. It has alienated us for years, and I have only begun to be able to broach with him the depths of the horrible things that happened there and the degree to which I am still dealing with damage caused by Benchmark. I think when parents really love you, it is VERY hard for them to admit that they may have made a VERY BAD decision.
Interestingly enough, I forced myself to start talking to him about it when he started bringing up the 'troubled teen' daughter of a neighbor, mostly because I was TERRIFIED that he would recommend to the parents that they send her to Benchmark--I had to break my silence, because I knew I couldn't bear that responsibility.
I like to think that someday, when I am at UCLA or UC Berkeley delivering a paper, that I will be able go back and confront that place calmly, quietly, and with strength, but I can't do that yet--the very thought of the arrogance with which the majority of the staff went about damaging incredibly vulnerable young people still has the power to make me boil over.
And thank you! I am working on a PhD (Religious Studies) in the relationship between law and imagination in medieval and modern Jewish and Islamic philosophy and religious thought.
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