Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Troubled Teen Industry
Desisto School
Anonymous:
There were no students at desisto, there were captives and captives turned into brainwashed enforcers.
If we, the "students," tried to leave, the other "students" who acted as guards in return for being abused to a lesser extent and the promise of future freedom, would restrain us (beat us).
This would be followed by some other torture, and an extension of the worst abuses which were lifted in tandem with the degree we convinced our peers, peer/staff, and staff, that we believed Desisto helped us and that we "needed" desisto. You'd have to believe you were addicted to drugs or were a sex addict, whatever they wanted you to believe about yourself, regardless if it was actually true. You had to denounce yourself, and give the appearance you relished being abused and relished abusing others
Did you not see the abuse when you were there? How did you get involved with the coercive thought reform gulag?
Anonymous:
I love when people say they have mixed feelings about this place.
I wish my feelings were mixed. Rights were violated for years, kids abused and humiliated, sexually and emotionally. Including my own. Nope, no mixed feelings here. Just still listening to people saying why they stayed on for so many years and who they miss and how it changed and he changed, etc. etc. But no one did anything.
roomed, ghosted, suited, stand-ed, cornered, hand-held, double hand-held, shifted, otr, friended, put on hours, farmed, popped, super cleaning, go to the farm
...its almost too ridiculous to remember, no?
There's a comment far back--a question thatI'll try to answer. Someone had asked about a lawsuit from a student dying in Florida. I may be way off base but there was a lawsuit (early to mid 90's) when a student ran away from the school, was considered OTR. Desisto instructed the family to refuse his phone calls and pleas for help and tell him to return to school--what they always tell parents to say. Anyway, allegedly he hitchhiked down FL and was murdered on the way home. That's one lawsuit regarding FL and probably what you were talking about. I only remember because during hours outside one day,we found a bag with the kid's shirt stashed in the woods.
Anonymous:
I went to Desisto from 1983 to 1984. Against my will, of course. I was 16 and 17. I hated it so much. Though it sounds like it got far worse in years after I was there. Lots of verbal abuse. Lots of bizarre things. I remember lots of "sitting" whenever something was missing. We'd have to sit for hours until someone confessed. Often no one did and we sat all that time for no purpose.
I ran away from the place one time. But being on the road with no money and no place to go seemed worse than the awful life at Desisto I ran away from. I returned and was put on "hours" for running away. The schooling was a joke there too. When I returned to my public school after a year at Desisto I had to repeat the junior high school year I supposedly got at Desisto.
Michael himself was truly bizarre. The other high ups were likewise odd and mostly uncaring. Although there was one very nice man to me. The dorm "parents" were also mostly sarcastic and difficult, but there was one very nice woman. And also one man who though difficult and bizarre at times, took a liking to me and we had a certain connection. So I was grateful that there was a few good ones among the craziness there.
The other students could often be mean and abusive. But many had real problems and the Desisto system hardly was adequately and appropriately addressing their needs. And there were a few nice ones among them too, thankfully.
At least they permitted boyfriend-girlfriend relationships there, including openly kissing. And no sex was allowed, which is also obviously a wise policy. Problem is, I never had a girlfriend there. I imagine the students who had someone special like that were really helped a great deal in coping with the rest of the nonsense.
I am thankful I never suffered anything like others have described. But the mental pain the whole experience caused me has continued even to this day, 24 years later, in the form of bad dreams about this place. Ever since I left Desisto, I have at times dreamed I was back there again. What an awful feeling it is to think I am stuck back there, having to wait months for the next week homecoming visit. Then upon awaking and realizing it was just a dream comes relief again. Such dreams were far more frequent at first. Now they are very rare. Yet, once in a while I still have such a nightmare. That is a testament to just how much that place affected me.
I hope my fellow students who were still there after I left were also able to get out soon (by their parents withdrawing them from the school, NOT by running away) and have not been too scarred from the experience there. I hope they were able to get the real help they needed for their particular problems and have been living happy and healthy lives all the years since.
Anonymous:
--- Quote from: "Moe" ---I went to Desisto from 1983 to 1984. Against my will, of course. I was 16 and 17. I hated it so much. Though it sounds like it got far worse in years after I was there. Lots of verbal abuse. Lots of bizarre things. I remember lots of "sitting" whenever something was missing. We'd have to sit for hours until someone confessed. Often no one did and we sat all that time for no purpose.
I ran away from the place one time. But being on the road with no money and no place to go seemed worse than the awful life at Desisto I ran away from. I returned and was put on "hours" for running away. The schooling was a joke there too. When I returned to my public school after a year at Desisto I had to repeat the junior high school year I supposedly got at Desisto.
Michael himself was truly bizarre. The other high ups were likewise odd and mostly uncaring. Although there was one very nice man to me. The dorm "parents" were also mostly sarcastic and difficult, but there was one very nice woman. And also one man who though difficult and bizarre at times, took a liking to me and we had a certain connection. So I was grateful that there was a few good ones among the craziness there.
The other students could often be mean and abusive. But many had real problems and the Desisto system hardly was adequately and appropriately addressing their needs. And there were a few nice ones among them too, thankfully.
At least they permitted boyfriend-girlfriend relationships there, including openly kissing. And no sex was allowed, which is also obviously a wise policy. Problem is, I never had a girlfriend there. I imagine the students who had someone special like that were really helped a great deal in coping with the rest of the nonsense.
I am thankful I never suffered anything like others have described. But the mental pain the whole experience caused me has continued even to this day, 24 years later, in the form of bad dreams about this place. Ever since I left Desisto, I have at times dreamed I was back there again. What an awful feeling it is to think I am stuck back there, having to wait months for the next week homecoming visit. Then upon awaking and realizing it was just a dream comes relief again. Such dreams were far more frequent at first. Now they are very rare. Yet, once in a while I still have such a nightmare. That is a testament to just how much that place affected me.
I hope my fellow students who were still there after I left were also able to get out soon (by their parents withdrawing them from the school, NOT by running away) and have not been too scarred from the experience there. I hope they were able to get the real help they needed for their particular problems and have been living happy and healthy lives all the years since.
--- End quote ---
Thank you for posting moe. I was tortured and brainwashed at the desisto “school.” My brain was permanently damaged by it. Hopefully the monsters who did the torturing will be held to account for their criminality in some way, some day.
Anonymous:
http://desistostudents.multiply.com/ - There's been a group of us for about 7-8 years. Check it out.
Basically Desisto Survivors and some former Faculty.
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