Need Advice-Aspen ranch, Three springs

[hawaiistacey]

You are aware of the fact that once he is 18 he can up and leave right? most emotional growth programs wont take kids about to turn 18, it complicates things for everybody. If what your saying is true that he really does want to get help then i would reccomend a residential treatment center although it may be hard to find one for a kid who only smokes pot. I attended a emotional growth boarding school for 9 months called mount bachelor academy Im a fifteen year old girl and I got sent there when i was only 14 so you can probably imagine how much trouble i was getting into at home.i just recently came home last june when i was actually supposed to be there until this coming March I was literally on the brink of suicide after going through nine months of emotional growth hell. All I can say is these programs are brutal, it didnt help me , neither did my wilderness program, SUWS. And i definelty dont suggest three springs in Alabama that is a severe lockdown for kids with way bigger problems then the ones your son has. I know three boys who have gone there and they will never be the same again, it is probably one of the worst lockdowns there is, I would not recommned it, or Aspen ranch either. I suggest you try heavy duty therapy at home instead of a hard core program, dont blow 55,000 like my parents did.

[Boarding School Truth]

Worriedmom -



I have a hard time understanding program parents like you. Do you think we enjoy running around each week posting on these boards and researching these schools? We are doing this because we care about current and future program kids. We are doing this because this is a multibillion dollar industry that many profit from (programs, educational consultants, referrals etc.). With this kind of money to be made off this booming industry do you really think that there will never be fraud and mistreatment? Programs are trading teens like they are stock. Worriedmom, you need to remember that you are nothing more than a consumer, and you are still the consumer. Has your son returned home? From what I understand he has not, therefore you truly do not know what you have paid for. Of course your son sounds different on the phone and letters, he's locked up, most likely with a staff reading his outgoing mail and monitoring his phone calls. You sound like a regular at struggling teens, have you not read all the stories about teens coming home and basically ending up worse than when they left? What parent would want to admit to themselves that they have made a terribly mistake regarding their child's well-being, but its something that needs to be done. Its not your choices of using money as a way to help your teen that concerns me the most, it is your lack of desire to do your homework. Family life, not an institutional life.. Thanks,



Boarding School Truth

http://www26.brinkster.com/bs4



You shouldn't trust a car salesmen, so why trust an educational consultant.



WWASP - Teen Help

A vacation for parents.

A traumatizing hell for teens.



Boot camps under fire - PANAMA CITY, Florida (CNN) -- Boot camp is often the last chance for troubled teen-agers on the verge of hard prison time. But a series of high profile incidents have put camps across the country under intense scrutiny. Boot camps for juveniles started in the mid-1980s. Because of their get-tough image, the camps became very popular and popped up all over the country. But in recent years, bad publicity and questions of effectiveness have forced some states, such as Maryland and Georgia, to shut down their boot camps.



Source: http://www.cnn.com/2001/fyi/teachers.ed ... index.html





[ This Message was edited by: Boarding School Truth on 2002-12-05 00:01 ]

[Anonymous]

You all are fucking crazy.....I just left Aspen Ranch and it was absolutely amazing! No they didn't TEACh me to say these things or brain wash me either. I spent a fair time in R&R and I got in plenty of trouble. but AR saved my fucking life! Please don't bash on things you have no first hand experience with!!!!!! :exclaim:  :exclaim:  :exclaim:

I've never seen a more ignorant bunch than those of you on this site. Most kids there came from AAA (the wilderness program) and over 90% LOVED it and would go back if they could! Suck it up...just because you don't agree with it....people who have been there KNOW THE TRUTH!!!!!!! :exclaim:  :exclaim:


 :flame:

[Covergaard]

You all are fucking crazy.....I just left Aspen Ranch and it was absolutely amazing! No they didn't TEACh me to say these things or brain wash me either. I spent a fair time in R&R and I got in plenty of trouble. but AR saved my fucking life! Please don't bash on things you have no first hand experience with!!!!!! :exclaim:  :exclaim:  :exclaim:

I've never seen a more ignorant bunch than those of you on this site. Most kids there came from AAA (the wilderness program) and over 90% LOVED it and would go back if they could! Suck it up...just because you don't agree with it....people who have been there KNOW THE TRUTH!!!!!!! :exclaim:  :exclaim:
 :flame:

It is fine to hear that they have been able to control a problem you have been dealing with.

But it was a battle won, not an entire war. The war is about to start, when you leave a structured environment, where you were isolated from whatever threat, you were up against.

It is now, that you have to face your problem head on. They have given you a time-out, perhaps even a well-needed rest. They have NOT saved your life.

It is only you that can save your own life by the decisions you make. Not me, not your parents, no the guys on this message board, not Aspen Ranch - but YOU!

You could have been spared from the stay at the Ranch, if your entire family had joined forced and cornered you by an intervention followed by a home based program. It would have prevented you from experience the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder; you would feel the effects from in some years.

But they did not choose to deal with the problem, but bought a package deal instead like they would buy a car. And it is somehow understandable, because dealing with problems of this kind is demanding if communication is not an issue in a home. Because nobody should be committed beyond their abilities, you should never blame them.

But as I have state above, nobody but YOU can save your life. So hang in there.

[Troll Control]

You all are fucking crazy.....I just left Aspen Ranch and it was absolutely amazing! No they didn't TEACh me to say these things or brain wash me either. I spent a fair time in R&R and I got in plenty of trouble. but AR saved my fucking life! Please don't bash on things you have no first hand experience with!!!!!! :exclaim:  :exclaim:  :exclaim:

I've never seen a more ignorant bunch than those of you on this site. Most kids there came from AAA (the wilderness program) and over 90% LOVED it and would go back if they could! Suck it up...just because you don't agree with it....people who have been there KNOW THE TRUTH!!!!!!! :exclaim:  :exclaim:


 :flame:

i smell...employee...

[Anonymous]

Yeah, the Eau de Open Sewer cologne gives it away. Oh yeah, and...

[Anonymous]

You all are fucking crazy.....I just left Aspen Ranch and it was absolutely amazing! No they didn't TEACh me to say these things or brain wash me either. I spent a fair time in R&R and I got in plenty of trouble. but AR saved my fucking life! Please don't bash on things you have no first hand experience with!!!!!! :exclaim:  :exclaim:  :exclaim:

I've never seen a more ignorant bunch than those of you on this site. Most kids there came from AAA (the wilderness program) and over 90% LOVED it and would go back if they could! Suck it up...just because you don't agree with it....people who have been there KNOW THE TRUTH!!!!!!! :exclaim:  :exclaim:
 :flame:

It is fine to hear that they have been able to control a problem you have been dealing with.

But it was a battle won, not an entire war. The war is about to start, when you leave a structured environment, where you were isolated from whatever threat, you were up against.

It is now, that you have to face your problem head on. They have given you a time-out, perhaps even a well-needed rest. They have NOT saved your life.

It is only you that can save your own life by the decisions you make. Not me, not your parents, no the guys on this message board, not Aspen Ranch - but YOU!

You could have been spared from the stay at the Ranch, if your entire family had joined forced and cornered you by an intervention followed by a home based program. It would have prevented you from experience the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder; you would feel the effects from in some years.

But they did not choose to deal with the problem, but bought a package deal instead like they would buy a car. And it is somehow understandable, because dealing with problems of this kind is demanding if communication is not an issue in a home. Because nobody should be committed beyond their abilities, you should never blame them.

But as I have state above, nobody but YOU can save your life. So hang in there.

excuse me but I was court ordered to attend there for doing a bomb threat at my school. This was a chance for me to get off drugs (thecourt found out and they chose this place) and a place for me to go to school as I was give a 2 year expulsion from any school in the sate of illinois.....

I was on the verge of suicide and my drug use was also practically killing me (pot, cocaine, heroin, meth, etc....all used regularly), so realy I wasn't going to live another 6 months without being taken out of the environment. I was already essentially on house arrest, not allowed to see any friends all while actively dealing coke out of my house.

As for me having to deal with the real problem now, I'm doing great, I haven't used since I've been home. I'm told my employees there that how I'm doingis one of the first to be talked about in meetings. The whole experience also got my parents off drugs and alcohol, which was a big problem too. There was no way I was going to be clean in my house with easy access to drugs...

and to whoever thought I may be employee...nice try, I'm just a 17 year old kid who left  AR almost 4 months ago and I live in Illinois. Althought I would like to go back and visit!

[Covergaard]

When you mentioned your parents doing drugs and alcohol, it is also clear than your case differ from most the cases, parents ask advise about in this forum as well as the others.

Normally I would not recommend that a child in problems should be removed from it parents because the child need support and trust from the persons which is the most connected to the child.

But in your case as well as in others were the parents either have a problem of their own or they just don't have the ability, the intellect  to connect to their child or just not care for their child (The child could be the result of a rape) - it could be a sollution to send the child away.

If I had been the judge in your case, I properly would have send the entire familiy to Utah. I don't know whether you have siblings, but as I see it, they would have been in danger too.

I don't know how the court addressed your parents problem. You are of responsible for your own actions, but they also had their share of blame in it. I hope that the court ordered some kind action taken against them.

As for you. I am still saying that you have won a battle - not a war. Dependence is a life-long sickness as well for you as for your parents.

And you case is not mainstream for the poor children destroyed in the industry. I don't understand the court. If they don't own the place or they don't visit the place in person once a month, why did they choose it?

And a last remark: Most parents are not in denial of alcohol or drug use in this forum. They are in denial of their lack of parental responsibility.