I am not familiar with your school so I cant reply to your question regarding abuse and mind control. In my case I was in the Seed in Ft. Lauderdale in 74,75 and experienced mind control and brainwashing. Brainwashing is nothing more than repetitive idea's repeated over and over and over until they become a part of our thinking cycle. Mind control was the staffs ability to "direct our behavior and thoughts towards their beliefs and standards(developed by Art Barker)(stolen from A.A.). The rap sessions, the homes we stayed, our rides to the seed, all centered around anti-drug phenomenom and the straight seedling was thought of as totally honest and neared perfection.
There was some mind-fucking that went on at the seed because you had to say the right (acceptable) words to fit in and be liked, (everybody wants to be liked)To the best of my knowledge there was never any physical or sexual abuse.
Again, in my case the seed was very helpful because prior to my appearance there I was suicidal and my attitude was patheticly poor, I was flunking out of school and doing any drugs (not a lot) I could get my hands on. The seed gave me hope about living life, My grades in school jumped to A's and B's. I made good friends and my outlook on life improved tremendously. I owe many staff members, Libby, Suzy Conners, Suzy Barker, Patty, Ann, Robert Chun, Cliff, John Underwood, Pam, Hope, Terri, Rick Pertain, John, Billy the dwarf, Darlene, and many more a sincere thank you for putting up with me until my attitude developed into what was acceptable
So take a look at your own experience and your heart will tell you if you suffered any abuse. You may have experienced mind control but please realize that we experince that every time we sit in front of our T.V. and watch advertisements, or punch our time clocks at work
Good Luck to you
Jimmy