What about "Carlbrook School"?

[RMA Survivor]

Yes.  He arrived to be the cook about six to eight months after I got there.  Went from cook to counselor in no time.  I remember he tried to explain physics to some students one day while I was standing there.  Guy was a complete imbecile.  I was asked by several students who wanted to actually graduate with real credits they might use to get in to or to help them in college if I would teach Physics, Trig and Calculus to them since RMA at the time had Algebra as the top class.  I doubt Rookie would have qualified to be in any of those classes.  

All he really did was manage the kitchen staff.  It was the women who came up with the recipes.  He just ordered the food and bossed everyone around.  Spent most of his time outside smoking behind the kitchen.  I worked in the kitchen in New Horizons and Summit, even Challenge I think, I have no memories of actually watching him cook anything.  He tried to show off his chopping skills with a knife one day and cut himself.  Needless to say, I wasn't impressed.  So you could add inept to imbecile as descriptive words for this fool.  And fool too.  To think he now runs his own program is a frightening thought.  But it goes hand in hand with this industry that people with no credentials, no education, no background outside of programs, get hired to be cooks, or help with manual labor like showing kids how to chop wood, go on to be counselors, staff, escort/bounty hunters, and even starting their own programs.

[Anonymous]

cooltherapy wrote
That's just ridiculous. He's a wonderful guy and a good friend. He cares, unlike the majority of the staff at the school.

I know that he made me uncomfortable but I was willing to look past it and think of it as him not understanding boundaries rather than something nasty. I didn't think that he had bad intentions, I just thought he really didn't know where the line was and put way too much of his shit on me and made me his lifeline which was inappropriate given the power dynamic but also detrimental to me because I was supposed to be there to work on my own issues. Still, we all have problems and handle things badly. I forgave Doom and moved on.

However, I'm not okay with the stuff he did to girls after me. I had known that a girl from Delta '07 accused him of hitting on her but he told me that she was just pissed about a bad grade. I believed him since he was my friend. Then, one of my best friends felt uncomfortable around him and like he was inappropriate with her. Still, I wrote her off as overreacting and misinterpreting. After I graduated and came back to visit, many of my little sisters told me how uncomfortable they felt around him. I know one of them even got put on 10-foot P-bans with him. I don't know what his deal is. I don't think he's a pedo or anything like that, I think he's just lonely and doesn't know where the line should be drawn. I considered him my "friend" but the truth is, when there's that kind of power dynamic, a full friendship isn't really possible at that time. Someone who is in that kind of skewed power dynamic shouldn't, for example, tell the student about their sex life or that kind of thing, which Doom did. I don't think he had bad intentions but I also don't think he handled himself well or -- from what I've heard from kids who are still there -- has figured out yet how to have appropriate relationships with students there.

I'm glad he was a good friend to you but I can't say the same.

cooltherapy wrote:
and nice use of the carlbrook lingo "cbk student"
unsafe? really? can we not detach ourselves from this bullshit? if you're going to sit around and bitch about the bs carlbrook put us through, why don't you woman up and start using "grown-up" words?

Okay, seriously? Don't tell other people what words they're allowed to use. I know that Carlbrook was a confusing time for me. I don't just sit around and bash it and I don't think anyone else on this board does. I think we're all here to try to figure out what happened and what parts of it we want to hold onto and what parts we want to let go. Yeah, sometimes I do criticize Carlbrook but I celebrate other parts of it. It was our experience, who the fuck are you to tell people what they can and can't take from it?

I've been trying to level with you and explain my perspective but I'm pissed beyond belief at you right now. You seem to scan people's posts and target the tiniest thing you don't agree with instead of finding the real meaning.

Everyone is on this board for a reason and I'm fairly sure it's not to get your approval for what words they use.

[chemdog420]

this is chase pantea btw... and this is hilarious how fucking dumb some people are...  whoevers talkin all this shit online is fucken ridiculous  thats some pussy shit... ur brainwashed outta ur fucking mind, will u stop being a little bitch and just say who u are it would probly make things way funnier

[cooltherapy]

this is chase pantea btw... and this is hilarious how fucking dumb some people are...  whoevers talkin all this shit online is fucken ridiculous  thats some pussy shit... ur brainwashed outta ur fucking mind, will u stop being a little bitch and just say who u are it would probly make things way funnier

lk - look, we obviously disagree about how to move away from Carlbrook. The first thing I did was to cut was the lingo from my vocabulary. I'm sorry it offended you but the claims that she made were pretty harsh. In some situations, harsh is definitely appropriate. But, when it comes to Doom, there is no reason for this sort of slander. You're right that my response wasn't necessarily appropriate, but I can't begin to explain how pissed it makes me to see the one person who I truly believe cares slandered on this message board. It makes me fucking furious. Also, quit trying to dictate exactly what has caused Doom to do the things he does. Until you discuss with him what he did, it isn't fair to make the claims that he does this because he is "lonely."

Now, chemdog... as I stated earlier, how about we, as Carlbrook grads, at least stand by our intelligence. Your buffoonish response is embarrassing and makes us all look just as ignorant and unintelligent as you are. Thanks.

[foolio]

sorry

[cooltherapy]

But in essence, no one really respected you while you were there, because you acted like arrogant assholes. Sure, maye you idnt do drugs or shit like us, but it was obvious that you werent happy, but, yall were too scared to step outside of yourselves.

Love, Me.

Really? What makes you so much better? If you have to know, I graduated on nearly every committee, honor council, and with a fairly high GPA. I had lots of friends at the school and am still in touch with many of them.

The problem is not what happened to me 5 years ago, it is that kids are sitting on that campus as we speak, enduring the bullshit that people, like Mr. Paperclip, are talking about. It is a bold and blanketing statement that we are all unhappy and couldn't "step outside of ourselves," *whatever that means anyway.* I was very happy with Carlbrook while I was there. Sure, I was scared of the punishments that I complain about now - but I never had to endure them. I followed all guidelines and standards expected of me and graduated with honor. I spent 2 years struggling with myself, trying to persuade myself into thinking that I was not "brainwashed" (hell of a word). When I entered my junior year in college, things started to clear up for me.

Now, it could definitely be argued that this is a phase, that I will enter into a Carlbrook support message board. If I do that, feel free to bash me then. Until then, however, please stop making excuses for why you believe we have issues with the place. Try taking a step back and questioning your experience. Yes, maybe it was mostly good, but I imagine even you could think of a few exercises that may have hurt more than helped.

We, as Carlbrook grads, are intelligent and feisty young adults. We have a lot to contribute. If there are a number of us who believe there is something wrong with the school we went to, who's to say there isn't?

What worries me for grads like you, "Me," is that you seem to be fighting for the school with such blind passion. Could it be that you are simply reasoning with yourself? Are you upset by the things you endured and need some sort of positive reinforcement, some sort of reminder, that it was all for a cause? Did you fight your ass off for 18 months for nothing? This is what I was initially scared to see. It's why I am still having trouble letting some of the anger go. I spent so long, so much energy, on something that didn't give me much more than deepening a few emotional wounds. (I know, bold statement, this is excluding the amazing friends I met along the way).

Do you still feel like you owe the school something? Advisers, founders, fellow students? Being honest with yourself and your experience is the best you can do. No need to keep lying to yourself.

Now, all this said, maybe Carlbrook was perfect for you. Maybe you had JUST enough sensitivity and JUST enough toughness to have the perfect Carlbrook experience. If this is true, you should use your "tools" to try and understand where your fellow grads are coming from. You have to practice what you preach.

[cooltherapy]

So that's "Mr. Paperclip"....

Also - didn't realize this before my last post. That is TOTALLY inappropriate to expose someone who doesn't want to be. If Mr. Paperclip wanted to have his facebook profile linked, he'd have done it himself. Heartless, really.

[lk0]

A) I'm not just randomly slandering Doom. I don't think he's a bad guy, I don't think he had any bad intentions, but I do think the way he went about certain things made people uncomfortable. He was aware of it. We had many conversations about it. I didn't make up the "lonely" bit. He was a real friend to me at one point and I'll always be grateful for that but I think things unraveled at the end and it wasn't healthy.

B) That really sucked that you'd expose Shep/Paperclip like that. (Am I crazy or did Mr. Paperclip say that he went to Carlbrook a few years ago? Because Shep got there after I did...or am I getting confused?)

C) I love you, Gianni.

D) Can this board be less about arguing and more about figuring out how where to go from here? This board is supposed to be a resource, not a place to hold pissing contests.

[Brand[On]]

sorry i was a part of this

[cooltherapy]

Well done, Brandon. You managed to insult just about everyone here. I only come to this page from time to time (notice my posts are in spurts) but the new grads have managed to turn it into a big group session. This is not what it used to be about. Go to earlier pages and you'll see why I came.

Thanks for at least trying not to sound like a complete idiot. I'm sorry that we don't see eye to eye on this, but I personally don't like to be grouped in with folks who can hardly get their messages across because of a lack of grammatical sense. Sorry that you think it's such a joke - I, however, don't find it so funny.

Now that you've insulted just about all posters, why don't you go ahead and join the Carlbrook Alumni Association so that you have more appropriate people to talk to?

[Brand[On]]

:whip:

[psy]

"]... making fun of the workshop tools, and referring to the fact that it was a scam by thie CEDU bullshit that ppl can NOT seem to even want to drop

Well.  What were these tools you learned, specifically.  I always hear people mention tools but the people who can define them are few and far between.  I ask then, what did you learn specifically and how?  Which parts of the workshops taught you what?

[blombrowski]

Since I like reading threads where there are intelligent posts by alumni of programs who are for, against, and ambivalent, allow me to add my 0.02.

To the alumni who are either on the fence or are troubled by Carlbrook's practices, bitching about it might give you some relief, but frankly if you have a problem with the program and have the emotional capacity to do so, you need to take some action.

It can be collaborative, by explaining to program staff how certain parts of the program negatively impacted you, and suggest ways of how they can make the program better.  There are programs that flat out do not accept any constructive criticism and will not return your call/message, there are programs that pay lip service, and say they'll make the necessary changes but do nothing, and then there are programs that take to heart what their critical alumni have to say and make at least incremental changes.  In my opinion, the suggestions of critics should be taken more seriously than those that suggest the status quo.

If collaboration is ineffective or doesn't meet your end goals, then there are a number of steps you can take which I outlined in a previous post.  I'm of the opinion that Carlbrook may be in violation of Virginia licensing laws, but I just don't know.

To Brandon, thank you for taking this issue seriously enough to read everything.  The victimization thing is tricky.  "Acting like a victim", (i.e. blaming others for all of your problems) is quite different than appropriately recognizing that you are a victim and choosing to do something about it.

[psy]

"]full of people who just want to hurt their children.

I think you misunderstand the message.  At least in my mind most staff and even some program directors at a wide variety of schools have the best intentions in their minds.  Best intentions, however, do not necessarily mean good results.  Programs such as Carlbrook, like it or not, are derived from CEDU which was derived from Synanon.  Whether you like to admit it or not, the workshops you praise *were* constructed primarly from two cults: est and LifeSpring.  This is fact, a matter of record, and not opinion.  Cults are designed to make people feel good, make people loyal, make people have a sort of cathartic conversion experience without actually teaching anything of substance.  When I mean substance I do not mean to deride the philosophy taught.  I mean to state that the underlying philosophy does not exist at all in any coherent form (generally masses of contradictions).  It's gobbledygook and stitched together concepts that sound profound but really mean nothing when you actually examine what is being taught...  Which is why I asked you:

"]... making fun of the workshop tools, and referring to the fact that it was a scam by thie CEDU bullshit that ppl can NOT seem to even want to drop

Well.  What were these tools you learned, specifically.  I always hear people mention tools but the people who can define them are few and far between.  I ask then, what did you learn specifically and how?  Which parts of the workshops taught you what?

[The Alpha]

How can this one little forum be a threat to Carlbrook? I have searched all over the internet for similar websites and I have not found any. Everything else is dedicated to the prestigous status of Carlbrook School. No one bashes it, no one questions it. And now you're asking these people to stop voicing their opinions because its a threat? If anyone should be threatened, its the people that never get to see this site and then make a bad decision because of their biased knowledge...

Sigma December 2009

Oh and to the dumbshit who also said he just graduated from Sigma, it looks like your belief that everyone you knew supported you was wrong.

Brandon, Gianni, and the other people posting on here. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves. I felt like you guys were nice people. You're nothing more than everything these people claim you to be. You're brainwashed and you won't admit it. At least I can admit that bad stuff!

Enjoy trying to expose me! I'll still talk to you guys, write on your fbook walls, but I won't tell you who I am. Everything will seem the same...Good thing you can trust anyone that graduates from Carlbrook! NOT!!! (you guys are retarded and brainwashed. Just admit it!)   :beat: