This was taken from the petition to shut down Provo Canyon School. This person was there 17 years ago and still has nightmares. Ironincally not much has changed....
17 years after being released from Provo Canyon School, I still occasionally wake up with night sweats and panic attacks that I began suffering after my experiences at the school. From 9 DAYS WITH 2 SHOWERS IN ISOLATION FOR A FAULTY URINE SAMPLE (My parents were told that I admitted to purchasing pot on a ski lift while on a visit, even though I was CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING with my father in full view!) to Dr. Gwilliam verbally attacking me when my brother and father arrived for a visit to the point my brother said "I am not going to sit hear and listen to you bash my sister." I had no warning that "Dr." Gwilliam would turn on me.
Both my brother and father were concerned that I was on so many medications that my hands shook and my speech was slurred. Dr. Gwilliam indicated that I needed to be highly medicated to keep me from being violent - even though I had no history at the school of violence, only depression which I was punished for (not adjusting well on the reports – so no privileges). When I had complained to the medical doctor, he only upped my dosage. I was forced to take extremely large doses of medication but was punished for wanting to know what I was taking and wanting off. Considering the issues the FDA is now reporting in such medications as Xanax and other MOI’s and SSR’s, I consider it gross negligence that my concerns were brushed aside as being trivial.
After working steadily for the hotel and school cleaning, to receive a check for only $70 after one year was an outrage. I was told that money had been taken out for outings and personal items, however my mother was paying bills for those same things. She was also being charged quite a bit of money for items that she herself had bought me. No one goes through 2 boxes of tampons a month if there is not a serious medical problem.
And in the end was anything accomplished other than my mother being bilked out of her money? No - because they never addressed any of the issues that had resulted in the total breakdown of my relationship with my parents. No family counseling. I carried the anger with me for another 12 years after leaving before making any changes on my own. I even called to have my medical and psychological records sent to another counselor. After 1 year, all Dr. Gwilliam had wrote fit onto less than 7 sheets. Nice intensive counseling. And after Dr. Gwilliam’s turning on me I did not trust him to tell him anything – just continued to keep it buried as I had before everything came crashing down. No therapeutic, rape trauma, eating disorder or drug abuse counseling provided. No program to help me develop positive and healthy ways to deal with problems. Just intimidated into proper behavior and told that I was the problem over and over and over. Let it be known that after my experience at Provo Canyon School, not only did I immediately revert to my prior self-destructive behavior with a vengeance, but I also began to suffer severe and debilitating panic / anxiety attacks not experienced prior to my admission.
Oh yes - and their "education" was so great that many of the classes taken at PCS had to be retaken at my next high school even though I had passed the classes. I had to retake Algebra II with Trig (same book) because PCS lumped it under "Algebra".
Note from poster: the hotel is where the upper level kids get to participate in involuntary servitude for the Marriott Hotels in the Provo area. Perhaps Marriott pays PCS and they keep the money. I'm not sure if this is still done. But I do know that my child's therapist asked me if she was good at housecleaning. I found this an odd question - but now I know why it was asked. These kids are used to make more money for the school by working as maids in the "hotel."
Freedom has a thousand charms to show, That slaves, howe'er contented, never know.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1840300051/circlofmiamithem' target='_new'> William Cowper, a British Christian poet & hymn writer (18th century)
