Cedu survivor from 82-85 wants feedback from all

[iknowcedulies]

[ This Message was edited by: iknowcedulies on 2005-12-26 16:59 ]

[Anonymous]

I didn't go to CEDU, but I went to Cascade (founded in 1984 by Allgood, Meltzer, Barb and Craig Cass, Gail and Art Tiles, and other staff who left CEDU to start Cascade), which recently closed. Actually I went there twice, :scared: .
     I have to disagree with you about Eric. Although he had retired by the time I got sent back to Cascade, he was like a father to me when I was there the first time around. He seemed to have realized that the school was really starting to screw up, especially in hiring a new headmaster, and so he left.
     As for Allgood, he singlehandedly destroyed the school. He hired a new headmaster, Jack in April 2000 (who didn't last too long), because Allgood was pretty much to lazy to come up to campus more than once a month. And when he did come up he would walk through the house/logde one time to make an "appearance" and then he would vanish for a few more weeks, sometimes for months.
     After that the school essentiaslly went to hell. Allgood never cared about that school, he was just in it for the money. If he had cared about it maybe he would have made an effort to learn some of the students' names, or at least their first names. Maybe Allgood isn't that bad, because if it was not for him Cascade would still be there, destroying peoples' lives.

[Anonymous]

they started cascade because the feds were after them they surround themselves with people who will lie for them  the loyalty crap they claim is just to hold you for their own agenda  where are melzer and allgood now.  i heard cascade shut down in whitmore california  and rudy benz is in georgia  cloning all the old crap  his new "scam" sorry school is called  hidden lake academy in dahlonega,ga.  how did melzer retire   i  bet allgood and him conned someone  they were always lying to all.

[ceduvictim]

2005-04-15 15:37 ][ This Message was edited by: ceduvictim on 2005-12-26 17:07 ]

[Anonymous]

I was at CEDU from 1978-1980 (total of 1.5 years). I liked Meltzer, he was one of the few who was actually nice to me although he was running Summit so maybe his role changed with you guys. I thought Allgood was a primadonna who had a god complex (like most of the staff i guess). Everyone kept saying Allgood was so brilliant but I never really witnessed this. I think when push comes to shove with these people they are just fairweather friends. As long as someone is paying the tab they love you and all but otherwise they'll leave you in the gutter.

All the talk of the suicides, when I was first at CEDU there was a staff member named Kim Quigley. He left and took a shotgun put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger. Sometimes I envy those who had the guts to do that.

[Anonymous]

i said the same things when i was there and the "students" did not care that allgood was liar. they came with excuses like "we don't want to leave our friends". it was unbelievable how they bought all the crap they were fed. Allgood would use the excuse that  the truth does not matter if you are a liar that is okay as long as you have friends. The followers picked out who they liked and that was all that mattered. there was this poor guy who exposed this and no one cared they let allgood con them that this guy was disloyal. when they let this kid leave, they kept blaming him because other kids left. The truth is that they needed a scapegoat and they made one out of him. it was so vicious how they manipulated the kids into hating this kid and it was so sick how they  believed what allgood said. allgood was mad that this kid got away so he brainwashed the others into thinking the kid was disloyal to a staff member who has "befriended" him. the staff member was just a blustering idiot who made a big scene because he thought he had been "betrayed". the truth is that this kid was being bullied and abused by the same staff member and the staff member tried to claim that the kid had betrayed him and sold him out and allgood took that and ran with it. the staff member tried to claim that he was this kid's friend which was a bunch of bullshit and something the staff member said to get allgood and his followeres on his side.

[Anonymous]

i'll say one thing for allgood. when i was there he took over and mellowed it out some. he got rid of full-time think tank and in those days if you were on it you spoke to noone, worked round the clock, wore one of those garage suits. allgood seemed kinda weird to me but he was way better than wasserman.

[Anonymous]

he says he has principles and he turns people vs. kids who left  this  is standard cult practice  ruin the escapee with the "friends" who are still in the gulag.  what year were you there  i was there more than 10 years ago. what do you think or know of cascade which was the cult he started in northern california

[Anonymous]

they always said how much they cared about the kids and how loyal they were too each other and like every great sociopath they believed their own lies. they would use every brutal treatment they could to get anyone to do what they wanted. they would try to guilt trip kids who split by telling the parents that poor mel wasserman would lose his home if the kid did not return. they would say or do anything to get people to stay and come back usually peer pressure or death threats and they would say that spliters usually want to come back. the truth was they would manipulate these kids so they could not function without allgood or padgett running their life. the lying conman wassserman would try to blame his "lack of money" on the kid who split. all he cared about was himself and his selfish family, he did not give a shit about anyone else and the lemmings that he followed him believed everything he said. he ripped off all for his own fucking greed, he was so selfish he would manipulate everyone with his pleas for money  he did not care about the kids  he cared about his own family and how they could not live without there fucking house. this asshole apparently sold his illegaly gotten gains for many millions to the brown schools  i heard he sold it in 02 but it could have been earlier  i heard they closed running springs or sold it to somebody with the cedu name in 88. anybody know

[Anonymous]

I didn't know that Cascade was a way to minipulate CEDU books - a fake splinter group, but, now, it all makes sense how thay could do everything exactly the same, even the profeets.

Very interesting.

[Anonymous]

it was the same cult run by allgood and wasserman they just moved farther away from law enforcement because they got tired of having to lie to the sheriff because he knew they were lying. it was also so staff would not run away. if you would not lie you were labeled disloyal and they would turn other staff vs. you.

[Deborah]

I've been posting on the Teen Help forum for a couple of years. I occasionally visit this forum and have suspected that my son was subjected to CEDU techniques, but on some level haven't wanted to deal with the possibility.
Before I'm attacked for being a 'program parent' let me say that I didn't place my son and lost everything I had unsuccessfully fighting to have him removed.

Also, I have seen Hidden Lake loosely associated with CEDU, but never found confirmation of a connection. This is the first time I've seen them mentioned on this forum. I did find websites that listed HLA, along with RMA, BCA, and others as CEDU facilities. I posted those links on the TH forum. Just this week I checked the links and the information linking them to CEDU has been removed from those sites.

Rudy Bentz of course, was the first headmaster there, but had moved on to start another east coast facility before my son arrived. That facility, Academy at Swift River, was soon in trouble with the local authorities for not possessing a license and for allegations of abuse filed by a former employee. I would like to hear why Bentz left HLA if anyone has inside knowledge of that.

HLA appears to be an independent facility, with no stated associations to any particular organization, but as of 2001, they still used some CEDU terms and methods. They had peer groups, raps, reals, fall-outs, bans, restriction. Those are a few of the terms my son used that I can recall. I can't remember him ever mentioning profeets, and I'm not sure what that is. Perhaps they changed the name of that particular practice.

He will be moving near me this fall to attend college. We haven't talked alot about the experience, he'd rather forget it at this point, but I hope to get to ask him to relate more details of his experience. After reading some of the recent posts here, I'm particularly interested to know if his counselors required him to divulge his sexual activity (if there was any) publicly. I know they badgered him into admitting that he had drug problem. And numerous times he was put on restriction without any form of proof, for allegations people made about him in reals. Once he remained on restriction after the girl admitted that she had lied. I can only imagine this was done in case her confession was a lie.

I tend to think that perhaps Bentz was fired after he got the place up and running, but they kept some of the CEDU techniques he'd originated. The owner appears to be more cautious and conservative than some. Anyone have an opinion or knowledge of this?

[Anonymous]

Right now I'm out of energy to write the full deal on CEDU but with propheets they were 24 hour to 3-5 day workshops/raps they were intense, coercive, sessions that really broke you down.

I don't know where bentz is anymore. He was definitely as CEDU-fied as you can get. i did a search and came up with santa fe, nm. don't knowif its accurate.

As far as sexual activity, you would not believe the stuff people had to disclose. Normal (but humilaiting activities) were disclosed (by enormous pressure) in group settings and then you were totally ridiculed by the staff and the bully students.  You also had to listen to some pretty far out disclosures about bestiality and other unique activities.  If  you had a traumatic experience, you were made to feel dirty.  If you tried something in the realm of normal teenage activities you were humiliated and called names.  If you had ONE boyfriend, you "spread your legs to the world" and some people, I've learned were coerced to confess to activities that didn't happen.  (Life was hell if they had the script and you didn't follow it.) One guy had to go to the doc for maleproblem (not an STD) and the family head humiliated him publicly over and over again in the rap. I was appalled. If you go back and work your past the old stuff you will find many descriptions of the CEDU experience from students and staff.  Read them.  Some posts are abusive and and hate-filled so just disregard those, because there is a lot of value here.

I could be wrong, but Bentz might be in Santa Fe doing God knows what. If your son needs to vent about or close the experience he can come here and do it. He may find a good person to IM stuff.  I started at this site 15 years later because I had never previously discussed it--I mean who would understand?

In any event, enjoy your time with him and let him know you are always available for him.  Don't blame yourself--the ed con or counselor does  good sales spin. If you look at the brochure, it looked good.  YOur thinking discipline, structure in a beautiful setting  KUMBAYA MY LORD KUMBAYA
But the insulation, the cut off from reality, the breaking down of spirit to never be brought up...the monitored phone calls to mom and dad and their manipultive posts back.  School was vocab list and standing around a campfire rubbing sticks. And then, from top down it appears the level of education is not up to snuff, so no real issue was resolved.  No, staff got internet degree and were nonaccredited apparently. THeir plan was to teach CEDUOLOGY. Nothing truly therapeutic which is why you see grads standing on the platform with a smile and crashing soonafter, doing worse than they ever done.  Its why people who are successful, caring people post about the PTSD and nightmares they suffer from the place. there are mnay people like me who take the CEDU line because its been so conditioned and then watch it unravel.  You had to clone to survive being least harassed.  It wasn't easy. When was he around?

[Deborah]

Thanks for the reply.
He was there between Nov 2000 and May 2002. Blaming myself is not a problem, as turning one of my children over to strangers would never cross my mind. He knows I fought for him. We were both disappointed that my efforts weren't successful.
Even though he understood what they were doing (manipulation, coercion, brainwashing) and resisted, there is no way someone could live in that 24/7 for 20 months and not be affected. My own opinion is that those who completely 'buy it' are the ones who it appears to work for. Those who continue to resist will have a great deal of confusion to sort out and suppressed anger to vent- because they have to appear to buy it, all the time knowing it's utter bullshit.
As far as him venting. They did a bang-up job on silencing him. He keeps his thoughts and feelings to himself now- a result of the conditioning. He will open up to me when we have been together long enough. It's as if they conditioned him to believe that no one wants to hear what he has to say or what he's feeling. When the time is right I'll introduce him to this site. Perhaps if sees others publicly discussing their experiences, it will encourage him to do the same.
I can imagine that relating one's experience could feel humiliating if the listener has no frame of reference. Who wants to share their most vulverable pain and have it minimized?

I can relate to, "who would understand". People just glass-over when I talk about it. I imagine that they think I'm exaggerating, and that perhaps my son really needed some 'tough love'. You really can't grasp it all unless you've been through it. I appreciate Ginger for providing this venue.

Links to some of my experience:
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 68&forum=9
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 22&forum=9
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 9&start=20

Re Bentz- he was replaced at ASR in Sept 2003:
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 26&forum=9
He started at HLA in 1994:
http://www.strugglingteens.com/archives ... /np03.html
I can't find anything on him currently.

The links I provided in this thread:
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 49&forum=9
draw a connection between HLA and CEDU. If you follow the link now, you will see that the information that I posted has been removed from the sites.

This article seems to support the notion that HLA was not patterned after CEDU, without of course mentioning the name specifically:
http://www.strugglingteens.com/archives ... sit01.html
Educational consultants love to compare and categorize schools, and in conversations I have been involved in, Hidden Lake has often been pointed to as an East coast version of some well known West coast schools. (CEDU?) Some even take that further and conclude that Hidden Lake evolved out of the staff and experience of those older schools. (Bentz certainly came from CEDU)Leonard Buccellato is emphatic that Hidden Lake is it's own creation and did not evolve out of another system.

There are, however, some understandable similarities. For example, Hidden Lake and other schools do work with similar types of students. Dr. Buccellato points out that research and experience have shown that any successful school that works with similar students will have to have some similar elements. For example, for kids with these behavior;/emotional problems, two groups a week is not enough and four or five groups a week would be too much. Consequently, to be effective, any school would settle on three groups a week. In addition, culminating workshops are most effective about every three to four months to have maximum impact. So, he concludes, any similarities are surface only, and when you look deeper under the surface at Hidden Lake, you will find significant differences from any other schools.
(So, he changed the frequency of groups and workshops, but what about the content and techniques? That is the question.)

One of the major differences is in program length, which at eighteen months is shorter in duration than some other schools. Dr. Buccellato explained this was planned in order to avoid the program dependency some students have developed in other programs.
(While the length of the program may be shorter than CEDU, their 'guarentee' requires that the teen be placed in a traditional boarding school upon graduation- who they apparently have an agreement with. If the teen reverts to old behaviors they are returned to HLA.)

Therapeutically, the cognitive needs of the child are addressed as well as the emotional growth and development. Another unique feature of Hidden Lake Academy is its emphasis on staff credentials. Counselors hold a minimum of master's degrees in various therapeutic disciplines and/or come to the Academy with solid experience in the field. Teachers hold baccalaureate or graduate degrees and are certified, some in the area of special education. Teachers and counselors work together in teams to implement the insight-oriented curriculum which helps students achieve the highest level of success possible, both academically and emotionally.

After Len and Rudy taking me through the founding and philosophy of the school, I tend to agree: Hidden Lake Academy is unique and it's own creation. It is not a new configuration of another older system. I had a chance to visit with the two students I had referred to the school, and I was pleased with their progress. Good things are happening there. It is a good place for struggling teens.



[ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2005-03-26 12:53 ]

[Anonymous]

bentz came from cedu running springs he is cedu all the way. he is a brainwashed control freak who thinks that because it is good for him it is good for your kid. he was non materialistic but being a puppet of mel wasserman and allgood turned him into a bloodsucker. all those cedu staff have there own cults and they lie when they say they came up with it. they are all scamming together and the "credentials" are so the state will not shut them down and because they have been sued many times for extortion and racketering. mark wasserman is in palm springs with millions mel stole from his friends like michael landon and overprotective parents who let there kids be brainwashed under the guise of making friends. they kids think that because the program works for them it will work for you  the staff are all liars who have to lie to keep there jobs and they do what rudy says or they are labeled a disgruntled employee. they are all in denial especially the ones like allgood who ran cascade which shut down when the students figured out the truth. it is practice for allgood to cut and run whenever students leave so he can cover his ass make off with the money.