Rebecca,
QUOTE: The bottom line is: no matter how much we might have swayed from our paths of success, a whole bunch of us have managed to get our lives back together again. MMS never claimed to be a "cure" for addictions. The founders had emotional investment in the lives of their students because they were in recovery themselves.
So, they were addicts themselves, John & Colleen? If not them, who?
Seriously, chill out and realize that people are not attacking MMS for the sake of attacking MMS. They are finally, maybe for the first time since they left there, feeling that they can say what they feel and share their experiences. Give them that.
Tell us more about your good experiences and be honest about the bad ones too. Did you ever have to divuldge your deepest, darkest secrets in front of 30 girls? Were you ever coerced into making things up about yourself just so that someone would stop harrassing you? These things are the important things.
If those things did not happen to you then you should consider yourself lucky and maybe that is why it is so much easier for you to move on. But think about it, please. What about those girls who really did have to go through these horrible experiences? For them they have not died - those experiences - because those took something away from them that they have had to work for years to regain and sometimes one never is able to really regain them.
It's important to know that Ginger has been on this forum for a very long time and she is going to be straightforward with you. She is a personal victim of a program and she was very negatively affected. She knows far too well about the abuses that go on in these places.
I hope that people do not start attacking one another. If you are strong and you have moved on in your life, if MMS was not a problem for you and was positive, if you can honestly say you took more good than bad, then I believe no one is going to fault you for that and in fact, they will probably all be very happy for you. You are one of the extremely lucky ones. You escaped something they did not.
For them, please, please give them the respect they deserve. Remember, Kat shot at words, not at you. She was a victim. She has moved on and done wonderful things with her life. I have a lot of respect for her because she is one who had to really work to get to where she is now and she did not give up.
For her it took longer than others because not only did she have to deal with the issues she had pre-MMS, but she was faced with dealing with a host of new issues she had from her experience at MMS. Yes, she must be angry. Yes, she wants to speak her mind. Yes, she has every right to. And yes, we should all listen with every respect. Her life was negatively affected. She lost years trying to repair the damage.
Something else to consider. You really don't HAVE to read what others are saying here. If you feel distured by it then you can just shut it down and forget about it. Keep your good experience and let others tell theirs without making them feel they have to defend themselves. That's just not fair, at all!! Give them the space here that they have earned!!