Spring Creek Lodge Isolation Rooms

[Anonymous]

I have seen photos of the Hobbit, but are there any photos of the old isolation rooms from the mid/late 90?s. Do any of you guys who were there around that time remember one of the rooms that was probably about a 7? by 7? box. They glued foam mats to the walls and had weird carpet, but all the kids would pick little pieces of foam off the wall and rip up the carpet. Eventually the room was filled with a lot of dry foam dust and no carpet. Honestly that room was the foulest room I have every seen and had  just about every nasty stain and smell imaginable. There were urine and feces stains all over along with blood and food stains. It really is unfortunate that we live in a country that will put you in jail for holding your animal in such conditions, but if you do this to a troubled teen in the secluded hills of Montana its ok. What an absolute nightmare for these kids. It?s a horrifying experience knowing you cant get a hold of your parents, yell loud enough for outsiders to hear you, or even call the police or authorities. This isn?t help, this is long term trauma.

[cherish wisdom]

It's not Okay to do use isolation rooms like this for children. It's considered child abuse. It should not be allowed. Punishment cells like this should be out-lawed.  It's truly inhumane and should be considered torture.  

The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles.
--John Adams, U.S. President

[Anonymous]

The hobbit is not a fun place.  No AC during the summer and If you are lucky, they will turn on the heat during the winter.  Solitary confinement for kids.  I dont think it is supposed to help.  Caging a child like an animal is not the way to get through to them.  It did not work for me.  The food you get in the hobbit is far from nutritional, and sure as hell doesnt taste very good.  They damn near starve you in there.  Staff kick the crap out of you with no ramifications. If you tell some one that you are getting abused by the staff they just turn their head and let it continue.  WWASP is a horrible program, and should be shut down.  THis is a great web site that is fighting for the rights of the children in these horrible programs  http://www.isaccorp.org/

[nite owl]

It is truly horrific that this type of abuse continues in our society.  Animals are treated better and so are prisoners. If children were treated like this is juvenile hall it would be exposed.  Somehow these place escape the law. If a parent did this to a child they would be locked up.  

I cannot see how a man of any large degree of humorous perception can ever be religious -- unless he purposely shut the eyes of his mind and keep them shut by force.
--Samuel Clemens "Mark Twain", American author and humorist

[Anonymous]

you guys are so funny.....i graduated from spring creek lodge in december 2001.  if i never went to scl, i wouldnt be here today.  i am so fortunate that my family loved me enough to get me the help i needed.  i was there for 2 years.  no they dont beat you there.  im not sure what happened at tranquility bay. but its shut down now, its done over there.  if you have never actually experienced program life, then your opinions are irrelivent.

[Anonymous]

On 2005-05-19 23:02:00, Anonymous wrote:

"you guys are so funny.....i graduated from spring creek lodge in december 2001.  if i never went to scl, i wouldnt be here today.  i am so fortunate that my family loved me enough to get me the help i needed.  i was there for 2 years.  no they dont beat you there.  im not sure what happened at tranquility bay. but its shut down now, its done over there.  if you have never actually experienced program life, then your opinions are irrelivent."

Tranquility Bay is not shut down, unfortunately. And I would say that considering the fact that you are still under WWASP's spell, your opinions are more irrelevant than ours, due to the fact that you can't think objectively about what happened there, and what still happens there to all these poor children.

[Anonymous]

I am a reporter looking to talk to former "students" of Spring Creek Lodge or any other similar program in Western Montana. If you would be willing to share your experiences, on or off the record, please contact me ASAP at [email protected].

[Anonymous]

Mission Mountain School founders were a part of Spring Creek Lodge. Those founders from Mission Mountain School are John Mercer, Gary Kent, Mike Finn, Deborah Finn and Coleen Harrington.  Only Gary has qualifications to deal with teens, but was pretty much a pushover and lets John run the show and therapy.  John has a degree in ecology, nothing more. They branched out from Spring Creek complained about not liking the level system, and that it was too easy for kids to manipulate their way out, but frankly, if you read anything about the school on the other site, the head master, John Mercer is pretty much a sick guy that gets his jollies intimidating young girls and uses the 'manipulation' card to keep parents at bay and keep the big money rolling in while pretending to provide therapy that is really about coersion and intimidation.  You have no choice but to change, but it's not real growth, it's just doing what you can for the sake of not getting sent out to do work crew- hard labor- mostly for the schools benefit- months at a time.

[Anonymous]

your brainwashed

[harrigal]

i was in the isolation room many times. not good

[Anonymous]

My friend has been sent to SCL and no one has heard anything about him since. All of the literature we read is disgusting but I'm not sure what is made up and what is true, however, I have been in contact with a journalist who actually toured the facilities so I tend to believe what he says.

And for those of you who claim to have been there, and either are grateful or hated it, I think that you need to provide somesort of proof of your enrollment before you spread ideas to people who casually read