Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Troubled Teen Industry
MONARCH ACADEMY, MONTANA
try another castle:
--- Quote --- The parents who post on strugglingteens.com do NOT get money for giving feedback on programs.
--- End quote ---
That's not what I said, I said Lon did. (I could be wrong.) And another poster brought up a good point, parents DO get tuition breaks by referring other people to programs, whether they post about it on strugglingteens or not. Again, read Maia's book. It talks all about that.
Regardless, in my eyes, the issue is more about Monarch right now than strugglingteens, although I seriously caution against taking any recommendations from there, because there is a serious conflict of interest regarding people who suggest programs from that site.
I've been reading some things at the Monarch website. Mainlly regarding qualifications for staff. On the faculty page, there is no information as to the certification or qualifications of any of the staff members. You have to ask yourself, what makes them qualified to help your children? Are they lisenced therapists? Do they have a degree in therapy, social work, psychology or psychiatry? What IS their educational background, anyway?
I also read the statement from the school's founder Patrick McKenna:
http://monarchschool.com/founder_message.html
He writes:
"I was a teen in trouble. My parents and I suffered through our family struggles until my parents happened to discover a new kind of boarding school that eventually changed my life. [my note: what boarding school was this, by any chance?? Probably a good question to ask him, before you send your kids to be under his care.] Were it not for my parent [sic] persistence and courage, I am not sure where my self- destructive path might have led me. During my stay at school, I realized that my life had changed forever because of the gifts I was being given. I began to dream of a school and plan for the day when I could establish one of my own.
Many years later, after varied life experiences, including marriage and children, I arrived in a place personally to begin planning how I might accomplish this dream."
You mean that's it? That is what makes him eligible and qualified to run a residential center for troubled teens? Because he was a troubled youth himself, and he has had "varied life experiences"? I cannot find any place where he lists his qualifications. What is his educational background? What certifications and degrees does he have? Is he even a therapist?
I also looked at the employment link. There is currently a position open for a lead counselor.
"Job Overview: The Lead Counselor acts as a member of a team of professional staff delivering the emotional growth program and modeling the values of the school. Work includes direct service time with the students, administrative duties, and evening floor time. The Lead Counselor participates in or leads many of the core activities of the school, including the facilitation of group meetings and discussion, development of student action plans, boundary setting, physical education, and multi-day trips. The Lead Counselor should also demonstrate the ability to give constructive feedback, present clear information, and use inclusive language and behavior.
Qualifications: The position requires the ability to understand and work with today?s youth and families, highly developed interpersonal and social communication skills, and leadership skills. In addition, the Lead Counselor should be adept in computer and word processing skills, writing reports and plans, and should possess a BA or BS degree in related field with significant experience (minimum 2 years)- Masters degree preferred. "
That's IT??? A bachelor's degree in a related field????? Masters preferred??? And this is a position for a lead counselor! First of all, faculty who work as counselors in residential programs that cater to at-risk youth should have a masters at the very least, and it should NOT simply be an optional qualification. Even then, that is no guarantee that they are qualified. (For instance, what school did they get their masters from, and what was their masters in??) There were staff at my school who had a masters, for instance, and I still wouldn't trust having any kids of mine within a 50 mile radius of those guys.
In addition, you may have noticed that I put the term "emotional growth" in bold. That is a buzzword in the behavior mod industry. I strongly caution against schools that use this term to describe their program. An excerpt from Maia's book describes this:
"As the wilderness deaths accumulated and tough love in the woods moved from its "miracle" period to its "controversial" one, tough love for teens once again took on a new form. This was the "specialty school," sometimes called a "behavior modification" or "emotional growth" boarding school. Such organizations had existed since the late '60s and took their cues from Synanon. The CEDU chain (which includes Boulder Creek Academy, Rocky Mountain Academy and the ASCENT Theraputic Adventure program) [my note: this is where Monarch faculty Steve Rookey and Tim Earle used to work, which I mentioned in my previous post] for example, was founded by Mel Wasserman, who'd been involved with Synanon himself, and some former Synanon members in 1967. Their programs include lengthy, confrontational large-group sessions called "Propheets" similar to Synanon's "the game". They also involved excerises like those in est and similar encounter seminars."
The CEDU influence has been scattered over many schools, as facutly up and moved shop, either forming their own emotional growth chains, or getting a job at one. The Academy at Swift river is run by former CEDU faculty. Cascades is also a school that had CEDU ex-staff there, before it closed down. The dean of students at Carlbrook in Vermont, Tim Brace, was head of Rocky Mountain Academy when I was there, and Steve Rookey and Tim Earle work at the school you are interested in.
The problem is that this industry is unregulated. There are no checks and balances there to ensure that the students are being treated properly, and that the information given to parents beforehand is accurate and truthful. You may go to a school, visit a campus, speak with administrators, and talk with alumni and parents who give glowing reviews, and it all might check out fine. The school may have all of their bases covered, and that is still no guarantee the teens are being treated well.
When my parents toured the RMA campus, it looked like a dream school. Summer camp for troubled kids. The students were happy and smiling (I think my folks may have overlooked the fact that their facial expressions were similar to the ones you see on people who have just been through est, lifespring, or have been in a cult), the campus was beautiful, and in a georgeous part of the country, the staff seemed nice and competent. What they didn't see or hear were the screams coming from the rooms during afternoon "raps", (a form of confrontational group "therapy"), or the tactics used for kids who were being punished, (which got much worse after I had left) or the sleep deprivation and traumatic and exhausting exercises that were used during propheets, (a name for overnight or multi-day workshops.) Neither were they informed about the inadequate medical care, the dismisiveness towards conditions such as bipolar disorder, depression, ADHD, and drug addiction, (which later changed into misdiagnoses and overmedication once they stated that they started "treating" those conditions) or the lack of a proper academic education. (A lot of the kids graduated without a high school diploma.) Neither did they mention the lack of credentialed staff, some of which got their positions because they were simply alumni of the CEDU system. THAT constituted their "experience".
The problem is that since the industry is unregulated, the schools can outright LIE to you and give even the most savvy parents who know how to do their fact checking the right story about how qualified they are as an institution. They will also charge an outrageous sum of money for tuition, (up to several thousand dollars per month) much of it not even going to the care of the children or adequate pay for the staff.
Another thing I caution against is listening too much to anecdotal testimony. Especially if the parents or kids state things like "I would have been dead or in jail had I not gone to this school." What proof do they have of this? The fact of the matter is, there is currently no clinical, impartial study that asserts that residential care at these kinds of schools is any better than outpatient treatment at home. There is no control group. All there is is testimony from parents and kids (the student or alumni testimony is also normally from kids who are either still in the program, under its influence, or recently graduated. I can say that in my case, it took me years to deprogram myself from CEDU's influence.)
Again, I cannot strongly enough emphasize the importance of reading Maia Szalavitz's book (which I recommended in my previous post.) It's a fairly light read, in the sense that it took me about two days to finish. She is an investigative journalist who has thoroughly researched the industry. And like I said before, she has some very important things to say regarding what to look for in a program, and alternate options to residential treatment.
It is the least a parent can do before they decide to place their child in residential care.
Anyway, concerned parent, it is good that you are asking questions. I'm not here to tell you what to do with your kids or whether or not they need residential care. I am not an expert in child psychology or education. However, most of the people who run these schools aren't, either.
Oh and also:
--- Quote ---It is NOT a smooth ride and happy times to have your child in one of these programs. There are lots of ups and downs and tears.
--- End quote ---
What information do you have that verifies that this is evidence of progress, or that this is an appropriate way to deal with at-risk youth? How much do you know about these so called "ups and downs and tears"? Testimony from staff, your kids? I told my parents that the school was great while I was there. I had no idea the amount of depression and emotional fallout I would later encounter as a result of my so-called education.
One thing that Maia talks about, it is sometimes better to do nothing than to send your child to a school that has no regulation or oversight.
_________________
"Learn from your mistakes so that one day you can repeat them precisely."
-Trevor Goodchild
--- End quote ---
[ This Message was edited by: sorry... try another castle on 2006-03-04 20:36 ]
Nihilanthic:
--- Quote ---On 2006-03-04 16:21:00, Anonymous wrote:
"There are VERY few programs which give referral fees or tuition reductions. The better programs do a lot of screening before even allowing a kid to enroll in the program.
Parents with kids in the program can give you plenty of information. It is NOT a smooth ride and happy times to have your child in one of these programs. There are lots of ups and downs and tears. The parents on strugglingteens.com will share ALL of this with you- the good and the bad. "
--- End quote ---
Im sure they will, but they're also going to spin it pro program and give the benefit of the doubt to program incarceration, to program censorship, to program communication shutdowns (kids cant even get a lawyer or legal represntation...)
As Julie said in the ASR thread, theyd try to find the good in a concentration camp and side with it. Programs are selling 'all the answers' to parents and giving the parents what THEY want, and after theyve given their child to them for months or years and tens of thousand of dollars why the hell could most people admit they were wrong?
But, I digress... part of program dogma is recommending it to everyone and having a regime of suspicion upon your children, almost like a pyramid scheme.
Plus, they could just be fuckin LYING about program referrals. ISACCORP.org has tons of examples of it being very much true.
And, this has... done nothing to address my first three questions:
[*]First, why do you WANT a program?
[*]Second, do your children NEED treatment at all?
[*]Third, why not use treatment thats proven to work, isntead of 'treatment' that simply reverses the burden of proof when challenged and tries to stymie any sort of criticism or review, IF and ONLY if you actually need treatment for your children?
[/list]
Anonymous:
Didn't I read somewhere that some of the programs require these 'thank you letters' or testimonials as part of one of the steps or seminars or levels?
katfish:
--- Quote ---On 2006-03-04 15:05:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I think information coming from parents who currently have kids in these programs or have kids who recently came out of a program is more valuable
--- End quote ---
I would say it takes a full couple of years to fully be able to digest what goes on at many of these facilities. So trying to determine its efficacy based on recent testimonials and especially from parents, in my opinion, is almost useless and
yields generally overwhelming positive rhetoric in favor of program-- any dissent comes later when the child recognizes that some or all of the dehumanizing methods employed by a specific facility or they start to understand and become angry to the extent their rights were taken away.
As far as parents, it appears many parents are frequently left in the dark about the traumatic experiences of their child. Frequently the relationship is already so strained that the child does not feel comfortable or feel parents are receptive to criticism of a 30k + expenditure. I have yet to see a relationship with family improve b/c there isn't much by way of family counseling given child is hundreds or thousands miles away. Child comes home 'obedient' for a while, stuggles b/c of social set backs, possible PTSD- but I guess parents attribute this to the transition between the 'healthy' school into real world of challenges, rather than attribute these issues to the questionable efficacy of these programs unproven methods and the proven lack of efficacy of RTC's in general...
See: Fact Sheet: Children in RTC's From the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and Policy
http://cafety.org/index.php?option=com_ ... &Itemid=35
try another castle:
--- Quote ---
--- Quote ---On 2006-03-04 15:05:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I think information coming from parents who currently have kids in these programs or have kids who recently came out of a program is more valuable
--- End quote ---
I would say it takes a full couple of years to fully be able to digest what goes on at many of these facilities. So trying to determine its efficacy based on recent testimonials and especially from parents, in my opinion, is almost useless and
yields generally overwhelming positive rhetoric in favor of program-- any dissent comes later when the child recognizes that some or all of the dehumanizing methods employed by a specific facility or they start to understand and become angry to the extent their rights were taken away.
--- End quote ---
Agreed. Anecdotal testimony is NOT evidence of a good school. Like Katfish said, it is downright useless. I would even go further and state that no matter how many years removed, positive statements which claim that the kid's life was saved by such a school is still useless, because there is NO evidence that can back this up. No independent study, no control group whatsoever. Because of this, there is no possible way of knowing how the kid would have fared had they not been placed in residential treatment. The burden of proof is on the industry to prove its effecacy, as opposed to the burden of proof being on the detractors to prove it's not.
We already know, without fail, through firsthand accounts, deaths, medical records, trials, video, and investigative exposes like Szalavitz's, that people are traumatized by these experiences. However, what we don't know is if the people who claim they were "saved" by such institutions would have been any better off had they not been sent there.
I don't know if there are abuses occurring at Monarch. (But I think I could make a safe bet that there are.) What I do know unequivocably is that, based on their website, their staff are totally uncredentialed and unqualified, and the school has faculty who were at one time on payroll at abusive facilities. I certainly wouldn't send any kid of mine there, to be sure. There are far too many red flags.
No amount of positive, glowing (and questionable) testimony by parents and students is going to counteract the hard evidence put forth by their own website. They should not be taking care of children, period.
_________________
"Learn from your mistakes so that one day you can repeat them precisely."
-Trevor Goodchild
--- End quote ---
[ This Message was edited by: sorry... try another castle on 2006-03-04 21:35 ]
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