Author Topic: my experience  (Read 2371 times)

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Offline Anonymous

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my experience
« on: May 01, 2005, 12:10:00 AM »
Well, I graduated about a year ago. I thought there were some staff that were excellent- Gary and Doug especially. I do agree with the people who thought that John could be overbearing, and though I am not sure I would call it abusive, he sure as hell could make people cry and get in their faces. I thought there were definitely some fucked up things about the school. The meal plan itself gives people eating disorders, even if they didn't start out with them. And you are expected to label yourself and addict no matter what. They told me I was a food addict and codependent or whatever- I have no problem with either. They also told me I was an alcoholic, when I barely drank at all before I left home. John kept telling me that if I drank in college, I would relapse and fail out, which is funny because I have definitely drank and I am just fine. THey pressure you to label yourself certain things and there is so much lying that goes on you don't know what is true and what isn't. In general, I found it to be helpful because I now I get along much better with my parents and I have learned how to handle a lot of stuff, but I still really feel like there needs to be some changes. I was shocked that MMS is not monitored at all, I was always under the impression that it was. And I find it appalling that John does group and he is not even a licensed therapist. Or he used to do group. My last year there I hardly ever saw him. He and Colleen disappeared. And they made us all feel so bad because people were talking about when John got his expensive car and how much money they were making off us- Colleen was telling us that that they didn't have enough money to buy a crib for the new baby- yeah fucking right! They must have millons of dollars now. I know it's less expensive than other schools, but still. I can't help but feel like they are charging way too much- they charge more than 4 times my liberal art college. I have a ton of respect for Gary and Doug and Colleen and John, but I think there need to be some changes. Some review would be good.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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my experience
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2005, 12:54:00 AM »
I think it's great that people are sharing their experiences. I've heard that John Mercer is not there all that much, nothing like he was before. But there was word that he was going to start going there more often again. Not sure about that.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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my experience
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2005, 03:38:00 AM »
Something else that I remembered was really fucked up was the way John and Colleen would make us clean their house, shovel their horses' shit and mow their lawns. I can understand taking care of our campus, but having to paint their house or whatever  just didn't sit right, and still doesn't. We weren't there to clean their house. I still think it's really messed up.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline aileen

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my experience
« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2005, 08:32:00 PM »
you mean the porsche? i never understood that... but it freaked the hell outta me when colleen bitched us out.

and the eating plan sucked. I think I had such a problem with food because I was already bulimic (binging/fasting) and since I couldn't have drugs or act out on anything else, I used food even more. There was soooo  much energy focused on food! That made it such a big issue and ridiculous! I don't know where it came from, the girls, the staff, the therapists...?? Or maybe because it was the only thing we could count on because even if we got sent on intervention, we had to have three meals a day? I don't know...
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Offline aileen

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my experience
« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2005, 08:35:00 PM »
oh and i agree with the cleaning their property part... it was weird, but it wasn't horrible, just weird. i think people thought it was a privilege because usually only the chosen girls got to hang out around john and he would give them treats like watch a movie instead of group or something.

oh who are you? do i know you?
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Offline Anonymous

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my experience
« Reply #5 on: May 05, 2005, 01:50:00 AM »
I agree about the food issue but at the same time I'm not sure how it could have been done differently. I hadn't had food issues prior to MMS but I developed one there and became bulimic and hid it my whole stay, I think only one person knew. Luckily I was able to get past that soon after I left. It had just never occured to me before and with so much focus on food it made me think about it more. I don't blame the food plan or Deb, but it was unfortunate.

Melissa Gower.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »