Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: cherish wisdom on April 25, 2004, 01:33:00 AM
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More than 200 former students, their loved ones and human rights activists have signed a petition to close Provo Canyon School. The petition asks the authorities to shut down this facility that has a "history of torturing America's youth." Many have made comments about there abuse which includes, forced drugging, denial of necessary medical care, punishment with isolation and seclusion, sleep deprivation and other physical, emotional and psychological abuses. If you'd like to view the petition it can be found at:
http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm (http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm)
The signatures can be viewed at:
http://www.heal-online.org/sign.htm (http://www.heal-online.org/sign.htm)
This is the MOTHER OF ALL ABUSIVE PROGRAMS. If you think WWASPS is bad - this is where the founder of WWASPS - Robert Lichfield - learned the ropes of abusive behavior modification. He dropped out of college to be the Residential Director of Provo Canyon School. Of course he is now a mega-millionair as a result of his savy in the torture teen industry. He's so wealthy that he gives nearly $300,000 to the GOP - and circumvents campaign limits by naming his children as donors as well. Please take a moment to sign this petition.
Check out the illegal campain activity of the Lichfield clan of Utah at: http://www.opensecrets.org (http://www.opensecrets.org)
:nworthy: :nworthy: "If you lack wisdom ask of God and it shall be given to you."
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You mention WWASPS. Has the WWASPS organization, any of their schools, been found guilty of abuse? It's well documented that a few have closed, but there was never a case of abused documented, only alleged. It is also well documented that the PURE organization and ISAC have put allegations out on the internet, and WWASPS is suing PURE, and possibly individuals for defamation.
Provo Canyon is a separate program. Similar yes, but not the same.
I think you've discounted the thousand plus families that have turned their lives around and instead, focused on the few that didn't get what they expected, and that's going to happen in any human service. Not everyone agrees with their model, but don't discount the positives stated by so many more than a handful of people.
In contrast, Provo have been found guilty of what is alleged. WWASPS never has. This so-called Class Action suit has been threatened for over a year or such and the PURE organization is milking it to bring in their own business. I've read the court documents and their purpose is very apparent.
I don't believe what is written on forums unless there is actual proof to back it up.
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And I wouldn't take a chance with my kids, no matter how desperate I was.
Where there's smoke, there's fire.
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So, you'd rather take a wait and see approach? I'd be more concerned about not doing anything. I don't watch Dr. Phil much, but I did watch the show where the drug addicted young man was tearing his family apart. If those parents continued to fear help from the same type of program, they'd still be in a living hell wondering if their son would live to see another day. The program Dr. Phil recommended is the same type of place that you are condeming.
Do you think these places hire abusers? Unfortunately there will be human error, but the track record of WWASPs FAR outweighs any "smoke screens" the critics are putting out there. Never a death at the hands of an employee, never a proven case of abuse.
I fear for the parents that are reading the rantings of twisted minds way more than I fear saving a child from whatever bad choices either he or the parents made.
Making a responsible choices means human contact. Looking into the eyes of current students, former students and their parents and listening to what they say.
The only smoke is the smoke from competing referral sources whose business has picked up from instigating negative news articles and the threatened lawsuit.
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On 2004-04-25 09:23:00, Anonymous wrote:
I don't believe what is written on forums unless there is actual proof to back it up.
One common effect of brainwashing is that you tend to lose your sense of irony.
I don't believe you just because you're posting on the net. I don't believe anyone just because they post on the net. As to there being absolutely no evidence, :exclaim: There are just too many wittnesses to ignore. And their stories jive. Yours don't. Where are these " thousands plus families that have turned their lives around"? How come they so rarely have anything to say outside of those venues where pro-program people get to control the dialog?
Get lost, WWASPie. This thread is not about WWASP present or the hoped for class action or direct action(s). This is about Provo Canyon, where, apparently, Robert Lichfield got his training.
Here, on page nine of U of Washington's student newspaper (Oct, 2003) is a story about PC
http://students.washington.edu/~ruckus/ ... 20_web.pdf (http://students.washington.edu/~ruckus/vol-7/Issue2_Oct20_web.pdf)
The students' stories sound just about word for word exactly like what other former students of WWASP facilities are saying about those programs. So WWASP PR people routinely call them all liars, outlawyer anyone who tries to sue (not a great feat when you're charging tens of thousands per month w/ little overhead for trained staff, decent food, housing or clothes, medical care, etc.).
I hope the PC action is successful and helps to establish a foundation for eliminating similar forced thought reform programs in future. WWASP is not the only organization using these inhumane tactics. I hope they all go down like dominoes.
Now, all that said, I actually don't doubt that the intentions of the people who promote these programs are "pure". (double entandre very much intentional) You see, I've been watching this train wreck for the past 30 years. The Seed was supposed to be a kinder, gentler Synanon. At first, it did sort of have a hippy, "Peace, Love and Happiness" feel to it. But it turned sinister as the people in charge became ever more drunk and addicted to the power. So then came Straight; the kinder, gentler Seed. Same shit, different corporate logo and somewhat more sophisticated corporate structure. Then came LIFE. Ditto.
Now you describe WWASP as an attempt at a kinder, gentler Provo Canyon? Or are you actually bragging that WWASP is better at getting away with it? Regardless, now we have PURE attempting to be a kinder, gentler WWASP and WWASP suing PURE for trademark infringement?????
Well, you know what they say about good intentions. Might I add that I sincerely hope you reach your destination sooner rather than later and sans the company of your intended young beneficieries.
There never was a good war or a bad peace.
--Benjamin Franklin, (1773)
_________________
Ginger Warbis ~ Antigen
Seed sibling `71 - `80
Straight South (Sarasota, FL)
10/80 - 10/82
Anonymity Anonymous
It is wrong to leave a stumbling block in the road once it has tripped you.
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On 2004-04-25 10:24:00, Anonymous wrote:
"So, you'd rather take a wait and see approach? I'd be more concerned about not doing anything. I don't watch Dr. Phil much, but I did watch the show where the drug addicted young man was tearing his family apart. If those parents continued to fear help from the same type of program, they'd still be in a living hell wondering if their son would live to see another day. The program Dr. Phil recommended is the same type of place that you are condeming.
Do you think these places hire abusers? Unfortunately there will be human error, but the track record of WWASPs FAR outweighs any "smoke screens" the critics are putting out there. Never a death at the hands of an employee, never a proven case of abuse.
I fear for the parents that are reading the rantings of twisted minds way more than I fear saving a child from whatever bad choices either he or the parents made.
Making a responsible choices means human contact. Looking into the eyes of current students, former students and their parents and listening to what they say.
The only smoke is the smoke from competing referral sources whose business has picked up from instigating negative news articles and the threatened lawsuit. "
I'd rather supervise my kid and not get an addiction issue in the first place.
However, my biggest issue with these places is my concern that they induce Stockholm Syndrome and mind control techniques (possibly without even realizing they're doing it) as a substitute for long-term clinically effective treatment.
I would be satisfied with certain reforms.
One reform that is essential and I wouldn't be satisfied without it is that the inmates have unrestricted US mail contact with the outside world, and 3 first class stamps, envelopes, paper and a pen a week (minimum), and that they don't read outgoing mail, and can only stop it to specific recipients if the recipient has written the place complaining of harrassment or threats.
There should be a US Mail post box on campus where the kids regularly go on their way to and from class, they should be freely able to stick their letters in it (except for kids caught harrassing or threatening recipients other than their parents), and the box should only be opened by the postal workers who come to retrieve the mail daily.
Incoming mail should only be read if the inmate is suicidal or had been having a sexual relationship with a person more than five years older or younger and the mail is from that person. Packages should be allowed to be checked for contraband. Letters should be delivered sealed and unopened if they appear to be a single sheet of trifolded paper in an envelope, unless the kid gets caught shipping in acid on blotter or something---an acid trip is hardly something you can conceal from staff.
The reason for this non-negotiable insistence on outside free US mail contact with anybody, not just the parents or some approved list, and with no "disapproved" list from the institution or the parents, is that isolation is essential for the induction of Stockholm Syndrome.
With no isolation, you can't induce SS. Which means you can't use it as a shortcut substitute for *real* therapy.
And, of course, sunshine is the best disinfectant.
I want other safeguards, but just that one alone would lead to the implementation of the other necessary reforms by removing the silence these teens are "disappeared" into.
I find it very telling that apparently *none* of these places allow kids to write letters, freely, back and forth with their friends and extended family.
When I bring it up, the WWASPies say the kids can write to their parents---but react with horror at the thought the kids would have to be allowed to send and recieve mail from friends and extended family.
That one reform, I think, is the key to cleaning up the whole scam. Kids that can freely ask friends and extended family on the outside to sue for custody or hire lawyers on their behalf, and can say why, are in much less danger of abuse than kids who disappear into the unknown.No matter how great your triumphs or how tragic your defeats---approximately one billion Chinese couldn't care less.
--Lazlo's Chinese Relativity Axiom:
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Oh, one more thing---if the kid's friends or extended family sends more money for stamps and envelopes and such (or the materials themselves), the kid should get all the postal supplies sent in addition to the 3-of-everything per week the school must supply.
Put that in place at all your facilities, and you'll hear a whole lot less griping from me---although any kids in places who are genuinely being abused or neglected may raise a heck of a ruckus once they're no longer being silenced.
And if they *aren't* being abused or neglected, then there's nothing to fear from letting them send and receive mail to anyone and everyone.
When you don't allow them that free mail access, you come across as having a hell of a lot to hide.
I suspect it's because you *do* have a hell of a lot to hide.
But go ahead and prove me wrong---change your policies to open up these kids' mail access with the outside world.
*Prove* you're doing therapy above and beyond mere Stockholm Syndrome plus mind control techniques.
Prove it by giving up one of the three essentials for inducing Stockholm Syndrome---the isolation.
Prove me wrong---if you can.
May your days be joyfully challenging and your words artfully true
-- Ginger Warbis SMA, `00
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What about the kids that write to friends or extended family and say they're being abused when they're not? Most of them are writing these kinds of letters to the parents and sending it to friends and others who may believe it would only cause problems for the parents.
I know that parents at a WWASPS program can send letters from friends and others. Those contacts cannot send them without the parents approval. I get the reason, and don't agree it causes SS that the kids are in some jeopardy of SS. Their friends are part of the problem and have plenty of time to work that out.
You're looking at this as the friends are their only connection to home. NOT.
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Antigen wrote: Get lost, WWASPie. This thread is not about WWASP present or the hoped for class action or direct action(s). This is about Provo Canyon, where, apparently, Robert Lichfield got his training.
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The original poster did make this about WWASP in pointing out the long ago connection.
Are you saying that only negative posters regarding programs can post here without being attacked in some way?
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On 2004-04-25 10:24:00, Anonymous wrote:
The only smoke is the smoke from competing referral sources whose business has picked up from instigating negative news articles and the threatened lawsuit.
Ryan Fredenberg
http://coldwaterthemovie.com/ (http://coldwaterthemovie.com/)
Not PURE
The New York State Attorney General's Office http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595054966,00.html (http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595054966,00.html)
also NOT PURE
Jonathan Tyler Mitchell, Aaron Kravig, Lindsey Wise , Nick Violante and the CIRCUIT COURT OF TAZEWELL COUNTY, VIRGINIA
http://fornits.com/anonanon/docs/wwasp/mvm/ (http://fornits.com/anonanon/docs/wwasp/mvm/)
also NOT PURE, Inc.! Imagine that!
It has been my suspicion all along that WWASP chose PURE as a target for lawsuit in order to draw attention away from, shall we say, less easily challenged critics. Thanks for helping to develop my hypothosis.
It will be generally found that those who sneer habitually at human nature and affect to despise it, are among its worst and least pleasant examples
--Charles Dickens
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The original poster did make this about WWASP in pointing out the long ago connection.
I don't know who Cherish Wisdom is, but I note that there are no medical professionals affiliated with PURE. Ergo, also not PURE, Inc.
Just another of how many thousands of individuals who knows something less than pleasant about a program that is somehow affiliated w/ WWASP.
Can you see where this is likely to be a losing battle for you? I mean, has anyone sat you down and explained how the little Duch Boy wound up in traction?
for it is a truth, which the experience of all ages has attested, that the people are commonly most in danger when the means of insuring their rights are in the possession of those of whom they entertain the least suspicion.
--Alexander Hamilton
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On 2004-04-25 13:39:00, Anonymous wrote:
"What about the kids that write to friends or extended family and say they're being abused when they're not?
So, what if they do? I've read it over and over again from Program proponants that all (yes folks, that's right, all) of these kids, bar none, are manipulative liars. But it has been my experience in life that the best way to deal w/ a liar is to just not believe them. I never worry about what liars might say about me because, if I can figure out that they're liars, then everybody else can too.
If these kids were all manipulative liars as you folks say, then don't you think other people who know them FAR better than you did (having actually met face to face and all) before you condemned them as liars might know about this little flaw in their character?
BTW, how do you rule out the truth tellers in your intake process?
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
--Bruce Lee
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Timoclea, I love your proposal. And I think you're correct in that, just being able to write to people on the outside w/o interferance would create a lot of dyke busting little leaks.
However, I see a flaw in it. How do we ensure that the kids actually get to put their letters in the mail w/o somebody reading them? Or that anything at all gets passed on to them from the outside? And there have to be those exceptions, so all staff has to do is say that one of those exceptions exists or generate it.
But still, it'll never happen. Keeping secrets wittnessed by that many people must be nerve wracking. Tends to cause paranoia.To say the drug war is a failure is like saying the Hindenburg was short a few fire extinguishers.
Carl Hiassen
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On 2004-04-25 10:24:00, Anonymous wrote:
The only smoke is the smoke from competing referral sources whose business has picked up from instigating negative news articles and the threatened lawsuit.
Ryan Fredenberg
http://coldwaterthemovie.com/ (http://coldwaterthemovie.com/)
Not PURE
The New York State Attorney General's Office http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595054966,00.html (http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595054966,00.html)
also NOT PURE
Jonathan Tyler Mitchell, Aaron Kravig, Lindsey Wise , Nick Violante and the CIRCUIT COURT OF TAZEWELL COUNTY, VIRGINIA
http://fornits.com/anonanon/docs/wwasp/mvm/ (http://fornits.com/anonanon/docs/wwasp/mvm/)
also NOT PURE, Inc.! Imagine that!
It has been my suspicion all along that WWASP chose PURE as a target for lawsuit in order to draw attention away from, shall we say, less easily challenged critics. Thanks for helping to develop my hypothosis.
Ginger, PURE was involved in all of the above. ________________
Ginger Warbis ~ Antigen
Seed sibling
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How was PURE involved in any of the above and why do you believe it?
Scoundrels are predictable, but you're a man of honor and that frightens me.
Robert Heinlein, Glory Road.
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On 2004-04-25 13:39:00, Anonymous wrote:
"What about the kids that write to friends or extended family and say they're being abused when they're not? Most of them are writing these kinds of letters to the parents and sending it to friends and others who may believe it would only cause problems for the parents.
I know that parents at a WWASPS program can send letters from friends and others. Those contacts cannot send them without the parents approval. I get the reason, and don't agree it causes SS that the kids are in some jeopardy of SS. Their friends are part of the problem and have plenty of time to work that out.
You're looking at this as the friends are their only connection to home. NOT. "
Let me give you an example of how your reasoning is flawed. Kids in WWASPS facilities are not simply dis-allowed from written communication with teen friends (the Bad Influences). WWASPS limits communication with EVERYONE!! This includes limits (and/or the total blockage) of written communication with PARENTS...as well as friends, extended family, government officials who represent them as citizens, reporters, old school teachers. This is Isolation Tactic 101, the basic, first-mentioned technique in first-CIA-chief Allen Dulles' letter to J. Edgar Hoover in 1952, explaining what brainwashing was. It was not called Stockholm Syndrome then, because the Stockholm incident occurred later in the early '60's, but the forced complete reliance on One Single Authority ("there's nobody else on this planet who cares about you, Dude, so you better learn to like us") isn't new. So many survivors repeat the same mantra (so I believe it) that the first "therapy" sessions are a heavy load of "Your parents sent you away because they're fed up with you", and the parents are encouraged by the case managers to write their children, telling them about the wonderful vacation the parents are now enjoying without their lying, manipulating, ungrateful kids. These hateful letters from parents are likely to "get through", whereas parental letters full of angst about whether The Program is really the best thing for the kid will hit the trash as soon as the case manager reads it. I know this from personal experience.
Kids at one WWASPS facility (with which I am terribly familiar) are marched to the computer lab every Monday, and required to produce an email to parents. E-mails are easily tampered with by staff, and the evidence is non-existent, except for an oddly-jumbled, thoughts-not-running-consistently sort of syntax you WWASPie parents may recognize. My grandchild dutifully wrote her weekly email, but her mother (and I, who also received her carefully-worded letters after the staff had censored them) only received 2 letters during the first 6 weeks of incarceration. Now, one year later, it appears I received about 30% of her letters, and she received about 75% of mine (which were progressively more "cautious" in my wording, as I realized she was not seeing a lot of my previous weekly written chats). Most [or all] of my letters (which had to be sent in a large manilla evelope to her mother, and forwarded in turn to the facility) made it through the parents, but were squashed by the facility. About 3 months into her incarceration, I received her letter, apologizing for "being a black hole that sucks the goodness out of our family". This letter from her obviously fit right in with what WWASPS was trying to convince her of. I fired off an answer, in carefully-worded Righteous Indignation, about her precious value to our family, her inate goodness, her special place in our world. For some reason, this mail got through to her...maybe somebody on staff who read it didn't really understand English all that well. I know this because she told me (unsolicited) a year later about how important my letter was to her.
I wrote back and forth to her mother, heaping reams of negative information I was finding...from the Internet, from personal conversations with parents and kids from WWASPS, from inquiries to government and media investigators. When I forwarded the front-page New York Times article about her facility in mid-May 2003, I was abruptly terminated from communicating with this grandaughter who had lived a good percentage of her life with us. I was "not positive and supportive of the Program...", and would be allowed no further communication with her. Oddly, we did receive an email out of the blue on July 8, 2003. It was chatty, and disorganized (and the spelling and grammar had degenerated so far after 8 months in "self-taught" school that it was difficult to follow). She "brought us up to date", so somehow knew that we had not been receiving her *weekly* letters in the last 3 months, as she knew she had not received my frequent letters filled with pictures from home. The last paragraph (the meat of the letter, and obviously why this particular letter was forwarded to us) was her suggestion that I "back off", and forget my political activism against WWASPS. Seems Casa didn't like the heat. As usual, the letter was ended with a whole line of XOXOXO's. A year later, she told us she was directed to write this by the staff at the facility.
She has been living with us now for 5 months, attending high school, and doing quite well. She is at a volleyball tournament this weekend. She awakens sometimes, crying in the night, but simply says "It was a Casa dream". She spent her Spring Break week back in her old home-town, staying with an old friend (one of the Evil Friends whom I really like...and whose family bent over backward to accomodate, their most powerful effort to make up for what they believe happened to her in WWASPS). This long-time friend was not allowed to write her either...nor were her aunts and uncles, her cousins, anybody who was "anti-Proram"...which was the whole world who knew where she was. To more-casual friends, she had simply "disappeared", and she was not able to write to them to tell them where she was. She was not allowed to write to her mother to tell her she was in solitary confinement for more than 2 months straight. She was not allowed to write us (grandparents) to tell us how terrified and desperate she felt without any support system of family in place. She was not allowed to write government officials about seeing friends come back with bleeding sores on their knees from hours kneeling in R&R. She could not write to her mother about girls in her group who had permanent scars on their chins from being hogtied on a cement floor over and over. She could not write to the media about girls finally pushed out the stockade gates at 18, miles from town, alongside a Mexican freeway, with little money and no protection.
You say, "You're looking at this as the friends are their only connection to home. NOT". You are incredibly naive, stupid, or just downright mean to think that isolation is simply to keep these awful kids away from the evil friends from "before". This is terrible short-sightedness (or real idiocy and dismal parental skills) if you think bad friends made all your problems. I can see why you would think throwing money at this scam would solve your problem. If you really can't find the answer, pay somebody to do it for you.
Oh, FWIW, she did have a nice lunch at a restaurant with her mother over spring break. Their relationship is strained and limited. The rest of our large extended family has disowned the mother, who lives her life with the step-father, sadly devoid of friends, one of her two daughters, and the large circle that was her world, previous to WWASPS.
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[/QUOTE]How was PURE involved in any of the above and why do you believe it[/QUOTE]
It is the same small group of people who support PURE. All three of your examples have been influenced, manipulated, contaminated, etc. by PURE.
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Spots is very much on the inside of the PURE commando. Anyone that has ANY experience of a WWASP program will only laugh at her story. I don't believe the family disowned the mother, I believe the mother is getting as far away from her mother (SPOTS) as possible. How dare you post this garbage. You are evil as evidenced by a previous thread.
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... forum=9&15 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=4852&forum=9&15)
I'm not sure why this turned into a wwasp thread, even when it's directed at other programs. Please start another wwasp bashing thread. I'd like to learn more about Provo Canyon from those that have been there.
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On 2004-04-25 13:39:00, Anonymous wrote:
"What about the kids that write to friends or extended family and say they're being abused when they're not? Most of them are writing these kinds of letters to the parents and sending it to friends and others who may believe it would only cause problems for the parents.
I know that parents at a WWASPS program can send letters from friends and others. Those contacts cannot send them without the parents approval. I get the reason, and don't agree it causes SS that the kids are in some jeopardy of SS. Their friends are part of the problem and have plenty of time to work that out.
You're looking at this as the friends are their only connection to home. NOT. "
I don't give a crap whether you agree or not.
You want people off your back, and I told you which reform would be a solid start towards that and which is absolutely non-negotiable.
Do you understand what "non negotiable" means?
It means I will vocally and vehemently oppose your programs and any programs that don't allow open mail contact to and from the outside world and not just the parents.
Being a published author, I may have more opportunity to reach people as time goes on than some others have. And I have been a persuasive part of other efforts on other issues---efforts that started small and were ultimately successful at getting the legislation we sought passed into law.
I don't intend to wait around for your agreement.
This--free, open, and uncensored mail contact with the outside world--is one of the minimum reforms necessary to clean up the "teen help" industry.
I intend to vocally and actively seek that reform regardless of what the Programs or their advocates think of it.
Frankly, if a facility can't treat a kid successfully *without* isolating that kid from frequent, uncensored mail contact with friends and extended family, then their "treatment" isn't worth a plug nickel.
Sunshine is the best disinfectant.
You want people off your Program's back? Then you'd better clean house and let sunshine into your dark corners---because if you don't, society *will*. Your time to do it on your own is running out, fast.
The last struggles of a great superstition are very frequently the worst.
--Andrew Dickson White (1832-1918)
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On 2004-04-25 16:41:00, Antigen wrote:
"How was PURE involved in any of the above and why do you believe it?
It is the same small group of people who support PURE. All three of your examples have been influenced, manipulated, contaminated, etc. by PURE."
Repeating your allegation does not answer Ginger's question.
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This is about Provo Canyon School. There was one poster who wanted to know who I was. I'm a parent of a child who was abused and injured at Provo Canyon School. I AM a MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL with over 20 years of clinical experience. I have done extensive research since my daughter's experience and I know about the WWASP organization. They're methods are NOT based on sound principles - Lichfield has no degree in psychology or any other scientific field. There are hundreds of testimonials detailing the abuse at WWASP facilities that include: sexual abuse, hog tying, isolation for up to 18 months in an observation room, rape, molestation, verbal and emotional abuse, beatings, forced drugging, and other torture. What they are doing to children is considered torture under the UN treaty - this is a violation of INTERNATIONAL LAW. All of these horrid dens of pain, torture, humiliation and human degredation must be closed and reformed under stringent guidelines to protect the vulnerable and disenfranchised children who are powerless to escape these inhumane conditions.
The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people equally in war and peace. And covers with the shield of it's protection all classes of men at all times and under all circumstances.
--US Supreme Court, Ex Parte Milligan
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On 2004-04-25 17:42:00, Anonymous wrote:
I'm not sure why this turned into a wwasp thread, even when it's directed at other programs.
Because you insisted that the mere mention of Lichfield having been associated w/ Provo Canyon made this a WWASP thread, wise ass!
Jeeze! I don't go lookin' for trouble. I just keep a little in a box should someone come by who is.
--Bill Warbis
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Hi Cherish Wisdom,
I'm sorry about your daughter, and indeed, all children who are the victims of maltreatment while in the care and custody of these places. I'm curious as to what led you to choose this particular program over any other. Given your professional background, it would seem you'd have a distinct advantage over other parents to steer clear of the more controversial programs.
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On 2004-04-26 21:30:00, Anonymous wrote:
it would seem you'd have a distinct advantage over other parents to steer clear of the more controversial programs.
"
Listen, they all suck, and they all use similar techniques.
Crap, its like beating a dead horse. When will some people open their eyes and see the elephant in the room?
You cannot put a kid thru "behavior modification" which entails breaking them down emotionally and destroying their ego then rebuilding them in the group image without causing some damage.
I don't care what you wrap this shit in, christianity, love of children, discipline, drug rehab or wilderness therapy, you still have shit at the core...
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that was me, forgot to log in...
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In answer to the question of why we chose PCS:
First of all, even medical professionals are not aware of the GULAG schools for teens. If you look at the PCS website there is nothing at all to indicate that it is an abusive behavior modification center. We went on a tour with our child and asked questions for two hours. All seemed favorable. PCS has a four star rating on one web-site. Also we had family nearby. The facility looks great. We were told that she would go to school and saw all of the classes offered. We were told she would go to church - therapy five times per week, dances, movies, outings, snowmobiling, cross country skiing. None of that happened. Instead she was punished almost immidiately for an entire month. We were not allowed to talk to her as was promised. We were lied to. She only went outside once in a month - into a caged in tennis court for 15 minutes. For most of the time she sat and stared at a wall. She was punished with isolation and seclusion for speaking out about her maltreatment in a group therapy session - then she wasn't allowed to do anything - even look at another student or smile.
Provo Canyon School is where many of the administrators and owners of other abusive programs got their start. PCS is where Robert Lichfield and Karr Farnsworth met and learned the ropes of the abusive problem teen industry. Most of the programs in Utah are modeled after PCS. It is notorious. This is why it must be closed. Please take a moment to sign the petition and look at the comments that have been made. The petition and the comments can be found at the following web-sites:
http://students.washington.edu/heal#teen (http://students.washington.edu/heal#teen)
http://beyondbusiness.net/index2.htm (http://beyondbusiness.net/index2.htm)
Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
--Anonymous
[ This Message was edited by: cherish wisdom on 2004-04-27 07:22 ]
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Anon #1, of the 232 signers so far, how many do you imagine are helpless puppets of Sue Scheff?
No matter how great your triumphs or how tragic your defeats---approximately one billion Chinese couldn't care less.
--Lazlo's Chinese Relativity Axiom:
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the above case is a good place to start if you want to know about provo.
a/k/a "the hair dance" case.
WP
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So Ginger, do you not see that Cherish Wisdom has gone one a WWASP tangent on this board? This posting is more directed at WWASP than it is at Provo Canyon School. Check out the new threads this person has started. PURE doesn't refer to either place because they aren't allowed to. Get it??
I'm not saying PCS isn't involved in some sort of lawsuit. Could be the same smoke screen that PURE has instigated against WWASP. Anybody out there want to spill the beans on what they know?
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After reading probably at one-hundred testimonials from abused former inmates at WWASP programs and the program at Provo Canyon School -I saw too many similarities. The abuses and the punishments are the same. Isolation for days at a time - sitting and staring at a wall - a torturous isolation room specificaally constructed for human suffering - beatings, forced druggings, dangerous and damaging human take downs, sadistic staff who laugh while inflicting punishment. Once I had read all of these testimonials from children age 12 to adults in their 40's I realized that these stories must be true.
Through more research I discovered a link between PCS and WWASP - the FOUNDER of WWASP got his start at Provo Canyon School. While he was there - directing staff - the school was shut down temporarily for cruelty to children and abuse. After learning the ropes from the first notorious and abusive behavior modification program he went out and started his own empire of abuse and sadistic torture. I choose to believe the SURVIVORS of these programs. I saw the bruices on my child's body, I've seen the Xrays of her injuries. I know how dangerous large dose of chemical restaint are. I don't know who all these annonymous people are - they could be some of the numerous relatives of the wealthy Lichfield/Kay/Farnsworth clan for all we know.
I saw the Passion of Christ. While he was being flogged the guards laughed and were obviously enjoying his suffering and pain. This is how some of the staff are. It's common knowledge in the industry - sadists and child abusers and pedeophiles are attracted to these programs. When staff were humanly restraining and drugging my child while she screamed in terror, agony and protest they were laughing and smiling. Those FUCKERS were enjoying themselves!(Sorry if this offends - but I can't think of a more civilized word to describe them)
Institutionalized child abuse must end in our society. All WWASP programs must also end including Provo Canyon School. They are all abusive. The government of Utah should be ashamed for allowing this racket to continue. Everything that people say to you is personal. Whether it is constructive criticism or not will determine whether it cam from and asshole or not.
----Bill Warbis
[ This Message was edited by: cherish wisdom on 2004-04-27 21:28 ]
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Please provide a link or where to get the over 100 testimonials from the abused WWASP and PCS students.
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I don't normally respond to those who are annons - because they may work for or otherwise support an abusive mind control cult program. I can't believe you are serious! Do you know how to search on your computer? There are thousands of web sites, survivor sites and articles. Here are a few for those who are interested in the Gulags that torture America's children:
http://www.teenliberty.org/Torture.htm (http://www.teenliberty.org/Torture.htm)
http://www.beyondbusiness.net/childtortureusa.htm (http://www.beyondbusiness.net/childtortureusa.htm)
http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/shalala.html (http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/shalala.html)
http://www.nospank.net/msgulag.htm (http://www.nospank.net/msgulag.htm)
http://brutalitybay.blogspot.com (http://brutalitybay.blogspot.com)
http://www.isaccorp.com (http://www.isaccorp.com)
http://papmugz.tripod.com (http://papmugz.tripod.com)
"In extreme situations when human lives and dignity are at stake, neutrality is a sin. It helps the killers,not the victims."
Best wishes to all :smile: Those who control the past, control the future; and those who control the present, control the past.
--George Orwell
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On 2004-04-27 21:32:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Please provide a link or where to get the over 100 testimonials from the abused WWASP and PCS students. "
Yes, please do Cherish Wisdom. Not withstanding your other allegations, this alone suggests you are pivvy to information not readily available to the public.
What gives??
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http://www.teenliberty.org/Torture.htm (http://www.teenliberty.org/Torture.htm)
http://www.beyondbusiness.net/childtortureusa.htm (http://www.beyondbusiness.net/childtortureusa.htm)
http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/shalala.html (http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/shalala.html)
http://www.nospank.net/msgulag.htm (http://www.nospank.net/msgulag.htm)
http://brutalitybay.blogspot.com (http://brutalitybay.blogspot.com)
http://www.isaccorp.com (http://www.isaccorp.com)
http://papmugz.tripod.com (http://papmugz.tripod.com)
"In extreme situations when human lives and dignity are at stake, neutrality is a sin. It helps the killers,not the victims."
there are some excelent links at
http://students.washington.edu/heal#teen (http://students.washington.edu/heal#teen)
http://teenliberty.org (http://teenliberty.org)
http://students.washington.edu/heal/sign.htm (http://students.washington.edu/heal/sign.htm)
http://beyondbusiness.net/index2.htm (http://beyondbusiness.net/index2.htm)
(see message boards and guestbooks)
Also there is a link to another message board on the "Desparate Measures" Rocky Mountain News site - found at the students.wash... website.
If you seek you will find. The last struggles of a great superstition are very frequently the worst.
--Andrew Dickson
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On 2004-04-27 22:38:00, cherish wisdom wrote:
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http://www.teenliberty.org/Torture.htm (http://www.teenliberty.org/Torture.htm)
http://www.beyondbusiness.net/childtortureusa.htm (http://www.beyondbusiness.net/childtortureusa.htm)
http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/shalala.html (http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/shalala.html)
http://www.nospank.net/msgulag.htm (http://www.nospank.net/msgulag.htm)
http://brutalitybay.blogspot.com (http://brutalitybay.blogspot.com)
http://www.isaccorp.com (http://www.isaccorp.com)
http://papmugz.tripod.com (http://papmugz.tripod.com)
"In extreme situations when human lives and dignity are at stake, neutrality is a sin. It helps the killers,not the victims."
there are some excelent links at
http://students.washington.edu/heal#teen (http://students.washington.edu/heal#teen)
http://teenliberty.org (http://teenliberty.org)
http://students.washington.edu/heal/sign.htm (http://students.washington.edu/heal/sign.htm)
http://beyondbusiness.net/index2.htm (http://beyondbusiness.net/index2.htm)
(see message boards and guestbooks)
Also there is a link to another message board on the "Desparate Measures" Rocky Mountain News site - found at the students.wash... website.
If you seek you will find. The last struggles of a great superstition are very frequently the worst.
--Andrew Dickson
"
Are these sworn testimonies?
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So, Cherish Wisdom, you haven't actually spoken to these people? You've read these links? You aren't as smart or enlightened as you think you are. Try again.
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Sworn testimonies, if any of them are, won't wash either. I'd be more interested in convictions in a court of law. Anyone can say anything in a sworn testimony. Hell, "sworn" testimonies from certain individuals have changed to fit the allegations many times. Show me where WWASP has EVER been found guilty? What the hell is your purpose for posting here all of a sudden. AND all of a sudden you are an expert?
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And many people who are guilty are never charged with their crimes. I imagine W and others could go a very long time without actually being charged with anything because the abuse is so covert. Many aspect of the industry are abusive but condoned by many.
A parent would be wise to read everything and ask in-depth questions. Very specific questions and hold the programs feet to the fire. Without a doubt, they lie to and manipulate parents, to avoid attrition. It is their livlihood. There is a definite conflict of interest.
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// I'd be more interested in convictions in a court of law. //
Me too Pal. And I do believe we'll see the day when we have much to take interest in.
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Anon, I don't know about all that. I do know that I've been reading and hearing a lot of the same complaints about WWASP since like 1998 or so; long before Scheff ever even sent her kid to a WWASP program.
But you still haven't answered my question. It's not one that can possibly get you into legal trouble or anything. I'm just interested in your opinion.
Of the 232 signers so far, how many do you think are just helpless puppets of Sue Scheff?
What about me? Do you think I'm just duped by Sue Scheff and that's why I have concerns about WWASP? That would be funny cause I've read over and over again how I'm duped by a clever ploy by WWASP and that's why I'm critical of PURE.
All our liberties are due to men who, when their conscience has compelled them, have broken the laws of the land.
--William Kingdon Clifford
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On 2004-04-27 22:55:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Sworn testimonies, if any of them are, won't wash either. I'd be more interested in convictions in a court of law. Anyone can say anything in a sworn testimony. Hell, "sworn" testimonies from certain individuals have changed to fit the allegations many times. Show me where WWASP has EVER been found guilty? What the hell is your purpose for posting here all of a sudden. AND all of a sudden you are an expert? "
It was nothing to do with a Program, but I was raped, a long time ago.
I never reported it because the abusive sick f*ck was someone I was in a long-term relationship with, and I was afraid for my life to leave that relationship. There isn't a lot of help out there for abused teenagers when the abuser is smart enough not to leave marks, and the parents of the abusee are so in lala land that they wouldn't understand the very real threat to the teen's life.
Also, I was mentally ill and insufficiently medicated. Look at what Kobe Bryant's accuser has suffered---people cite her being mentally ill as a reason she *must* not be telling the truth (there are other problems with that case, okay, but still)--it's as if in our society, if you have a mental illness, hey, it's okay to rape you.
Anyway, I never reported it, much less doing a sworn deposition or getting the guy convicted in a court of law.
But he's *still* a rapist because he raped me.
Most other women I know who were raped never reported it, either. They knew the rapist had done a good enough job of planning the crime that there wouldn't be enough proof to get a conviction.
Most child abuse is never reported, either.
I have *no* difficulty believing that when these places abuse kids, they're adept enough at covering their crime to avoid conviction, and in almost all cases to avoid there being even enough proof to lay charges.
They control the crime scene. And all their victims are discredited in advance, merely by being in their hands in the first place.
You sound like someone who has a personal stake in defending these programs.
I'm not buying it. And the more smoke there is, the less people in the outside world buy you guys' story that there's no fire.
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On 2004-04-27 22:31:00, cherish wisdom wrote:
Excerpt: http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/shalala.html (http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/shalala.html)
As you may know, I have had a longstanding interest in this issue, particularly regarding the misuse of funds under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act. I was the primary House author of P.L. 96-272 which established the federal government's current foster care payment and monitoring standards in 1980. I also led an investigation of the treatment of California children in out of state placements in the mid-1980s in which the DHHS Region IX determined in 1986 that California was improperly seeking reimbursements for children placed at a detention facility, Rite of Passage, located in the state of Nevada. Payment for such a placement in a detention facility is clearly unlawful under P.L. 96-272.
As a result of my inquiry and the GAO review, DHHS disallowed the state of California $451,325 which had been claimed for inappropriate placements in a detention facility, a decision that was upheld by DHHS's Grant Appeals Board on June 2, 1988.
I don't think Sue is any older than I am, maybe even younger. That would make her around 16 when she started working her diabolical scheme on Rep Miller here. Maybe I'm not giving her enough credit, huh?
:roll:
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The people who ran straight had the best of intentions. I hope they reached their destination.
James Lloyd
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Ginger, the truth about Rep. Miller is he has been after the teenhurt industry for years, most recently seeking to amend legislation following the boot camp torture death of Anthony Haynes. Somewhere on his website is a press release about that incident and his proposed amendment which I believe was passed. Miller is the Congressional Rep for Northern California and most likely was contacted by one of his constituents with an interest in or connection to the WWASPS/PURE saga.
:roll:
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Of course, my comments were tongue in cheek.
I think the anon poster probably believes what they're saying. I know my dad believed w/ conviction what Straight told him to believe. It wasn't until years later that we were able to talk about it and conclude that it had been a grand scam. The reason why we couldn't talk about it was that he would get just outrageously angry; the kind of rage born of guilt that some men tend to exhibit; every time a conversation wandered anywhere near the issue of what was so messed up about the Program.
He really believed that I was just trying to manipulate him. It was an article of faith. He'd learned well that every time you feel that particular variety of cognative dissonance that surrounds any threat to the ideal of the Program as Good, it owed back to the kid is bad and treacherous and angling for something.
Never mind that I was grown, supporting myself, starting a family and didn't ever ask him for anything. It was a conditioned response.
Now, anybody who's taken just a little time or a lot of time to look into what's what w/ the troubled parent industry might be incredulous over the suggestion that all criticism of WWASP goes back to one person who never even got involved in the industry till a couple of years ago. But I think this Anon might actually believe that to be the case.
Mind you, I'm not trying to convince the Anon poster. Just pointing out to the uninitiated a clear example of the depth of self delusion that often occures under these circumstances.
Is uniformity [of opinion] attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites.
Thomas Jefferson
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The WWASPS debate began back in the late '90's, long before Scheff arrived on the scene. To confirm this, one has only to dig through the archives on the Bridge to Understanding forum and Alexia Parks (Teen Liberty) website. Lon Woodbury's archives also date back to this time period. Don't know what happened to the folks who were involved back then before Pure picked up the gauntlet. Perhaps Jeff Berryman can enlighen us all?
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On 2004-04-28 08:38:00, Anonymous wrote:
"The WWASPS debate began back in the late '90's, long before Scheff arrived on the scene. To confirm this, one has only to dig through the archives on the Bridge to Understanding forum and Alexia Parks (Teen Liberty) website. Lon Woodbury's archives also date back to this time period. Don't know what happened to the folks who were involved back then before Pure picked up the gauntlet. Perhaps Jeff Berryman can enlighen us all? "
Here is a good starting point for anyone interested in the good ole' days ... try cut and pasting this URL into your browser if the link below malfunctions. Enjoy!
http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ ... point=1550 (http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=1;hardset=1000;start_point=1550)
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On 2004-04-28 08:45:00, Anonymous wrote:
"
On 2004-04-28 08:38:00, Anonymous wrote:
"The WWASPS debate began back in the late '90's, long before Scheff arrived on the scene. To confirm this, one has only to dig through the archives on the Bridge to Understanding forum and Alexia Parks (Teen Liberty) website. Lon Woodbury's archives also date back to this time period. Don't know what happened to the folks who were involved back then before Pure picked up the gauntlet. Perhaps Jeff Berryman can enlighen us all? "
Here is a good starting point for anyone interested in the good ole' days ... try cut and pasting this URL into your browser if the link below malfunctions. Enjoy!
http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ ... point=1550 (http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=1;hardset=1000;start_point=1550)"
http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ ... 1;t=001471 (http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001471)
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Have you ever been in that place NO i think not you are probably just another stupid parent brainwashed by the WWASPS programs listen i was in tranquility bay in jamaica for 2 years. I was beaten and molested so i dont want to hear some fucking bullshit that you say "allegations" they are not i lived in there i had to live with the fear of getting beaten every day or molested that is not a very good life and why because my mom got a new husband and decided i was important enough anymore? the WWASPS programs are for parents that dont want to have to deal with kids anymore well you shouldnt have had them then if you didnt want to have to deal with them later in there life the WWASPS programs do not solve problems they mask them or create new ones. the WWASPS programs are inhuman and the only way they keep running is because of all their donations to this and that. anybody who has been to any of the programs can tell you whether they are a graduate of one or stayed on level one the whole time. SO I DONT WANT TO HEAR YOUR SHIT ABOUT "ALIGATIONS" BECAUSE YOU ARE JUST FUCKING IGNORANT WHEN YOU SAY THAT. go to one of the programs for a year or two and you will understand after you have been beaten and after a guy has physically touched you then you come back to me and tell me what you think about your aligations then!
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On 2004-04-28 09:16:00, Anonymous wrote:
"
On 2004-04-28 08:45:00, Anonymous wrote:
"
On 2004-04-28 08:38:00, Anonymous wrote:
"The WWASPS debate began back in the late '90's, long before Scheff arrived on the scene. To confirm this, one has only to dig through the archives on the Bridge to Understanding forum and Alexia Parks (Teen Liberty) website. Lon Woodbury's archives also date back to this time period. Don't know what happened to the folks who were involved back then before Pure picked up the gauntlet. Perhaps Jeff Berryman can enlighen us all? "
Here is a good starting point for anyone interested in the good ole' days ... try cut and pasting this URL into your browser if the link below malfunctions. Enjoy!
http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ ... point=1550 (http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=1;hardset=1000;start_point=1550)"
http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ ... 1;t=001471 (http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001471)"
Is this a joke? Aren't these the screen names that PURE used and are involved in the lawsuit over? Thought Woodbury would have deleted it! OOops!
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http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ ... 1;t=001471 (http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001471)
The previous post may not have included the click on link someone posted regarding the good ole days. Note the names of the posters.
Excerpt from http://www.purerebuttal.com (http://www.purerebuttal.com) - a cut and paste...
" Defendants have assumed false identities, including Mark D.W., Lara, Deb C., Tracy Brittany Reese, Sue, Zeta M., Stewart, Mercy, Heidi R., Hilda, and TeenAdvocatesUSA and have conspired to create an impression among parents visiting these websites that World Wide and its affiliated programs have committed criminal acts against teen age enrollees, have physically and sexually abused teen age enrollees, and have failed to operate programs lawfully. Defendants Jeff Berryman, Barbe Stamp and Donna Hedrick have falsely and deceptively declared themselves ?experts in the behavior modification industry in order to attack World Wide."
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But this is only a complaint. The case is still pending. From what I hear, it'll never go to trial and so we'll never have a difinitive answer from a court or jury.
Straight, Inc. used to do the same damned thing. Whenever someone tried to sue for damages, they'd just get any leagle eagles in the parents group along w/ lawyers hired w/ the money they'd bilked out of the families and just file so many motions and demands that the plaintif couldn't possibly keep up and would have to default in the end.
More's the evil when you realize that, in most cases, they're using the plaintiff's own money against them.
We are a one party country. Half of them call themselves Democrats and the other half call themselves Republicans. All the good ideas come from the Libertarians.
--Hugh Downs
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On 2004-04-29 09:56:00, Antigen wrote:
"But this is only a complaint. The case is still pending. From what I hear, it'll never go to trial and so we'll never have a difinitive answer from a court or jury.
Straight, Inc. used to do the same damned thing. Whenever someone tried to sue for damages, they'd just get any leagle eagles in the parents group along w/ lawyers hired w/ the money they'd bilked out of the families and just file so many motions and demands that the plaintif couldn't possibly keep up and would have to default in the end.
More's the evil when you realize that, in most cases, they're using the plaintiff's own money against them.
We are a one party country. Half of them call themselves Democrats and the other half call themselves Republicans. All the good ideas come from the Libertarians.
--Hugh Downs
"
What is the status of this case? Can we get an update on the court docket from November 2003 to the present? Also, what about that lawsuit against the UPI reporter? What's going on with that one?
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Honestly, I don't have enough interest to even pay the fees and gain access to those docs. I just don't think it's that important in the greater scheme of things.
What's important, in my view, is that the public continue to gain more and better information about the Troubled Parent Industry in order to better inform a much needed and long delayed dialog about it. As far as the lawsuits, it's enough to know that these are some exceptionally litigious people. Legalistic, some might say (lol!)
Other types of information, imo, are far more relavent. For example, what do program graduates have to say about their experience five years down the road? What is the therapeutic benefit to social isolation, emotional badgering and other aspects of forced behavior modification? In other words, let's talk about all of those aspects of Program life that are legal to discuss (not breaching any legitimate confidentiality concerns) and which Program proponants seem to work very hard at keeping secret.
That's the whole thing, my entire agenda, right out there in front of God and everybody. If the industry can stand that kind of exposure, more power to ya'. But I really don't think that it can.
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base.
-- Dave Barry
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Hey, I don't know who you are, but all I gotta say is one thing. I'm living proof. I was there for over 2 years, and I am living proof and none no matter what they say shall ever discount that.
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I am not a buisness, I am a person, standing alone, fighting the bad to help change what must come. I do what is right and stand for the good in life.
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i told my mother of my abuse every chance i got before my therapist would hang up the phone on me and tell my mother that i was lying and being manipulative with her to get out of provo, now my mother knows that she has been dooped a year after i have been ou, she finally realized that they screwed her over and abused me every day of my life there. so watch out before you say something that is unwarranted. will ya? the oly way i had contact to tell my abuse was friends, they listened and and no one read my letters cause i kept them well hidden. even when writting letters to my mother about it, she never believed me, but everyone else who had a brain and wasn't washed were listening, they just couldn't do anything.
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The Prague Post, December 11, 1998
Morava Academy heads arrested before
By Ladka Bauerova
The American couple Glenda and Steven Roach, arrested last month in the Czech Republic on charges of illegal imprisonment and torture of the 57 teenagers found at Morava Academy, have a past marred by similar offenses. The couple has managed other illicit prison-like facilities for troubled American teens and been arrested in other foreign countries.
According to U.S. social worker Donna Headrick and her research team, the couple was arrested May 1996 while running a girls' facility called Sunrise Beach on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. After three teenage girls escaped from the institution and made complaints about sexual abuse, an immigration inspector visited the facility and found that the girls did not have the proper paperwork to be in the country. The inspectors also found poor sanitation standards and signs of abuse.
Shortly thereafter, the staff with 41 girls were intercepted at the local airport trying to leave the country. Mexican federal police arrested the staff, including Steven and Glenda Roach, and charged them with depriving juveniles of their liberty and with running an unlicensed and unsanitary facility. As at Morava Academy, Sunrise Beach was shut down by police officials, and the couple eventually managed to leave Mexico.
The Roaches are longtime employees of an organization called Teen Help. Based in Utah, Teen Help operates a network of institutions that promises to set problematic kids straight. While many parents and children have defended the program and claim it has changed their lives, others report horror stories and speak of the staff's brutal practices, including starvation, chemical burns, handcuffing and psychological abuse.
"Kids are not treated well in these facilities. I saw horrible things," said Donna Burke, 48, from Houston, Texas. Her ex-husband sent their two sons to Tranquillity Bay, another of Teen Help's facilities in Jamaica. She told The Prague Post that in August 1997 an "escort service" -- two men hired by her ex-husband -- kidnapped her then-14-year-old son, Scott. "They handcuffed him and carried him out of the school screaming," she said.
Three months later, the escort service came for her elder son David, now 17. "I was trying to get them back, but my ex-husband ran up my legal fees so high I finally had to give up."
She went on describing the poor hygienic conditions and maltreatment of the children in the facility. "They take a shower with a hose, using only cold water," she said. During a surprise visit, she discovered that all the kids had ringworm.
The staff attempted to treat the fungus, but with horrible results. "My younger son had scars from chemical burns," Burke said.
Complaining to state authorities didn't help, she said: "The State Department people say, 'They're out of the country, there is nothing we can do.' One guy at the State Department told me straight to my face: 'We don't like to mess with rich people's kids.' " And rich they are, she added, since one year's tuition at Tranquillity Bay costs $38,000 (1.14 million Kc).
After 13 months, Burke's older son David returned home, but his mother is distressed by his state of mental and physical health. "He's been brainwashed," she said. "We get in a fight every time we talk about the school, and he yells at me for fighting against it. And this is a boy who was begging, crying and pleading for me to take him home when I first visited him," Burke said.
Cases where one parent places the child in a behavior-modification facility against the will of the other parent are not uncommon, according to social worker Headrick. "They have their children legally kidnapped," she said. "The people usually come in the middle of the night, wake the kid up, handcuff him and take him away."
The Teen Help organization is part of a complicated network of companies and nonprofit organizations run mostly from La Verkin, a small community near St. George, Utah. They have at least eight behavior modification schools located in Mexico, Jamaica, Western Samoa, and the United States, Teen Help also operates several hospitals and other "service oriented" companies. One of them is Youth Transport Services (YTS) which, according to Headrick, does the kidnapping. Another organization, "Resources Realizations," runs seminars for parents who have placed their children in one of the Teen Help schools. Before taking part in the seminars, participants must sign a confidentiality clause.
About a year ago, Teen Help established a nonprofit organization called World Wide Association of Specialty Programs (WWASP). Its Web page provides little information and its president, Karr Farnsworth, who visited the Czech Republic during the Morava Academy crisis last month, refused to reveal details other than saying it is the umbrella organization of the Teen Help facilities. In an interview for a Utah newspaper, he compared the Czech police to the Soviet KGB, adding that Czech police don't like Americans.
One WWASP partner, attorney J. Ralph Atkin, is also registered as a majority owner of Morava Academy and an owner of EuroSky Airlines, which provides special flights to selected European cities including Vienna -- only two hours away by car from Morava Academy.
[satire]
After infiltrating law enforcement in the Czech Republic for the sole purpose of fucking w/ WWASP, Sue went on to place her kid in a WWASP facility as a ploy to get insider info. The kid's probably not even a kid, just one of those eplastic aonemea (sp?) patients. She's really 40! Damn ISAC and PURE and their diabolical plans, eh?
[/satire]
:rofl:
The hypothalamus is one of the most important parts of the brain, involved in many kinds of motivation, among other functions. The hypothalamus controls the "Four F's": 1. fighting; 2. fleeing; 3.feeding; and 4. mating.
-- Psychology professor in neuropsychology intro course
_________________
Ginger Warbis ~ Antigen
Seed sibling `71 - `80
Straight South (Sarasota, FL)
10/80 - 10/82
Anonymity Anonymous
It is wrong to leave a stumbling block in the road once it has tripped you.
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Hey, check this out
http://www.cafeshops.com/bigmooch.10556 ... m=yes#zoom (http://www.cafeshops.com/bigmooch.10556215?zoom=yes#zoom)
From
http://pub38.bravenet.com/forum/3260195035/ (http://pub38.bravenet.com/forum/3260195035/)Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
Thomas Jefferson, 1787
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Why don't you go and look for it yourself and do some research, it is really not that hard to do, and maybe you shall learn much more than you intended to do while looking for these truths.
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Holly craptacular, get a life. Stop trying to make everything sound so false. Believe what you wnat. I am a survivor and there are many many more out there, and it is people like you that try to supress us and it is people like you that enrage us and make us stand and push against authority for equality of life!
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She's talked to me and it's all tue, stop being so doubtful and if you are so interested in this subject look for the TRUTH, that is where everyting lies in peace and reality, that is where everything shall began to change things for the better.
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Hope, who/what are you responding to? Quote a little, please, so we'll know who you're flaming.
Were the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now. Thus in France the emetic was once forbidden as a medicine, and the potato as an article of food. Government is just as infallible,[sic] too, when it fixes systems in physics. Galileo was sent to the Inquisition for affirming that the earth was a sphere.... It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia
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So... Anonymous troller, you never did answer my question. Now they're up to 235 signers on the pettition. Of those, how many do you think are Sue Scheff's henchmen?
May your days be joyfully challenging and your words artfully true
-- Ginger Warbis SMA, `00
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sorry bout that, the whole quote thing and i don't get along to well, he he, i just click reply to something that someone has said that i find completely stupid under they're post, sorry, i shall go back and find them and post them tonight.
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This was taken from the petition to close provo canyon school. Name with held.
My daughter stayed there in the 80's when she was a child. A family friend (doctor) told us it was a private school with lots of fun things to do. My daughter is severe epileptic and it was the medication that had caused her outbursts. The doctors there put her in cages with only her bra and underpants on a mat on the floor and a sheep to keep warm. Also the doctors there were supposed to be very careful about her medicine as they were to consult her neurologist before giving her any medicine. They never contacted him and shw was given medications that caused her to have more seizures that she didn't have at the time. The only way she got out was a friend of mine who worked there told me how they abused her and begged me to get her out. I had the lawyers for disabled people come there as an IEP and then told them we were taking her out. The school didn't have time to get a court order to stop it. I was not even allowed to help her pack and a counselor followed her and heckled her all the time she was packing because they wanted her to react and keep her there. The abuses were numerous and I myself saw many children there crying by what they were suffering when I visited my daughter.
The petition can be accessed at http://www.beyondbusiness.net/index2.htm (http://www.beyondbusiness.net/index2.htm)
view sigs at
http://students.washington.edu/heal/sign.htm (http://students.washington.edu/heal/sign.htm)You should be allowed to do whatever you want with your own person and property, as long as you don't physically harm the person or property of a nonconsenting other.
Peter McWilliams - Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do
[ This Message was edited by: cherish wisdom on 2004-04-30 21:11 ][ This Message was edited by: cherish wisdom on 2004-04-30 21:13 ]
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On 2004-04-30 11:41:00, Antigen wrote:
"So... Anonymous troller, you never did answer my question. Now they're up to 235 signers on the pettition. Of those, how many do you think are Sue Scheff's henchmen?
May your days be joyfully challenging and your words artfully true
-- Ginger Warbis SMA, `00
"
Has anybody answered this question yet?
:???:
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Just a little confused and new to all of this. Who is Sue Scheff? I've never heard of her.....The Close Provo Canyon School Petition was started by a former student of Provo Canyon School who also hosts a survivor website.
When I started as a federal narcotics agent, the budget that we were working with, it was less than $5 million a year, and there was only 125 agents for the entire world to work the narcotic trade that we were fighting in those days. Times have changed. The gluttony has grown.
--Nick Navarro, former Broward, FL Sherrif
[ This Message was edited by: cherish wisdom on 2004-05-01 15:17 ]
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Cherish, earlier in this thread, an anon poster insisted that 1) this is a WWASP thread because someone mentioned that one of the Lichfields (forget which one) got his start at PC. Then he insisted that all criticizm of WWASP can be traced back to PURE. http://helpyourteen.com/ (http://helpyourteen.com/)
PURE is a defendant in a suit filed by WWASP for trademark infringement. It is my belief that at least one of the reasons why WWASP decided to target PURE instead of any number of other ppl who have been critical of their programs for years now is that PURE and the people directly involved w/ PURE are pretty easily impeached. I think they want to associate all criticism of WWASP w/ PURE and Sue Scheff, the founder so that the rest of their critics will have to live down that stigma before anyone will listen to them.
That particular anon poster has been rather quiet lately.
In all history, there is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. Only one who knows the disastrous effects of a long war can realize the supreme importance of rapidity in bringing it to a close. It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war who can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.
--Sun Tzu (author of The Art of War
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Man, what's up with these Anon. posters? Why don't they just go get a name? Why don't they just say who they are and what not. Why do they hide behind some mask under a paper bag? Is that how you walk around in your day to day life? Speaking the crap that you talk, acting like you all tough when your just some anon. person with no gut, acting like you know something when you know nothing about what we been talking about, looking for a fight a debate, trying to prove folks wrong. Yea, well, guess what, the tables always get flipped on you and you proved wrong. :flame:
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Calling yourself Dark Hunter Hope is no different than posting Anon, if that's not your real name, now is it?
Sheesh, what's up with these psuedo-anons thinking they're so special b/c they have a nickname and hide behind a mask that doesn't look like a paper bag. BFD!
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No, there is a difference. You can look at what darkhunterhope says in the context of whatever else they've said under that name. W/ anons, it gets confusing because you never know who said what in a conversation, far less in a number of different conversations.
From my pov and from a legal pov, it doesn't make a bit of difference. You contract w/ your isp to use a particular IP address; a number that identifies your machine on the net. That's how any server on the net knows where to send the data you request, whether it be an email, a web page, chat data or anything else.
If you're worried about liability, posting anon doesn't help you at all.
However, we do get some good info from ppl who either don't understand the technology well enough to know the difference or who wouldn't bother posting at all if they had to go to the trouble of registering and remembering yet another username and password.
The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are constitutional rights secure.
-- Albert Einstein
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Ahhh ... but your forget Ginger that people who post with an acronym (or their real name) also have been known to post anonymously. Personally, I don't really care who says what ... what matters to me is the message. If someone is worried about liability, they should not post information that is libelous unless they (A) Have the finances to support expensive litigation or (B) are judgement proof (meaning have no assets that a plaintiff could claim in the event they are sued and lose by default (no defense) or by judge or jury verdict.
Anons have various reasons for remaining anonymous, this is a very litigious industry where abuse of power (money) is the status quo.
Anyway, just my 2 cents. Killing the messenger only kills the message. Is that what people want???
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On 2004-05-01 21:39:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Calling yourself Dark Hunter Hope is no different than posting Anon, if that's not your real name, now is it?
Sheesh, what's up with these psuedo-anons thinking they're so special b/c they have a nickname and hide behind a mask that doesn't look like a paper bag. BFD!"
Man, shut the fuck up. You so lucky you ain't in front of my face, cause I wouldn't deal with your shit, so consider yourself punched. Fuck you. My name is Hope, I live in southern california, my friends call me Hunter, cause I am determined and let no one get in the way of my goals in life and I always find what I am looking for no matter how long it takes, and everyone has a dark side just like the moon, secrets that they keep, things they don't tell, that's what helps to make us who we are our character. I know who I am, I ain't wearing a goddamn paper bag over my head. So fuck you asshole. So yea, I am darkhunterhope.
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Hope, many know and appreciate what you are trying to do. Don't let people who don't understand get in your way or distract you - it's not worth your time or energy. There are bigger fish to fry. Few have been through the torture that you and others at Provo Canyon School experienced. Perhaps only a prisoner of war would be able to know what it was like to spend 26 months living in HELL and TERROR. Keep your chin up - and continue to speak out against this type of abuse. Realize that there are some that want to change the subject and divert a readers attention away from that subject. The subject here is the abuse at Provo Canyon School and why it needs to be seriously reformed.
The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the Prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this.
--Albert Einstein, My First Impression of the U.S.A., 1921
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It looks like 800 people have viewed this so far. It would be nice if some of them would sign this petition and express their views on this program.
Information about PCS and the link to the petition can be found at
http://beyondbusiness.net/index2.htm (http://beyondbusiness.net/index2.htm) :smile: The legislature is to society as a physician is to the patient. If a physician ignored side effects of medications like today's legislators ignore the side effects of their legislation, the physician would be accused of malpractice. I accuse today's legislators (with rare exception) of legislative malpractice. Many of the ills that are so obvious in our society are a direct result of previous legislation. Their solution? More laws!
-- John A. Bennett, DO
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O, no worries hon. I just sit here and read bullshit that people say listening to Joe Nichols and I just love to bitch back at them, gives me something to do and a place to channel my anger that I have towards Provo, anyone who wants to pick a fight with me, they can, but I ain't just gonna sit there. I have been thrown on a concrete floor with a knee in my back crushing my lungs and someones knee of my kneck, someone sitting on my arms and then another sitting with they're knees on my legs, just to make sure I wouldn't move when given a shot of Haldol, all because I just yelled out loud in my frustrations in the ob's room trying to get my anger out, I've been told by a staff that they know I'm claustophobic and then was shoved by him into the ob's room and had the door shut on me. I have been publicly humilated by staff in the cafiteria yelling aloud that I was anorexic and bulemic, when I wasn't and am not, kid decided to tell a lie about me when I was new to get some trust for themselves to get off of level one. I've been shoved by staff and slammed into a wall for no reason, been bullied by them and threateded. Shit that people say here is nothing compared to all the shit that I and others have been through, so I am actually quite happy to have a excuse to slam someone. But I understand what you are saying. PCS is a child abusing facility that hides in the dark in a Mormon populated state, so people think that nothing can go wrong there, cause all Mormons are good people, right? Not the abusive Mormon staff that I had, although I have met some really cool Mormons before. :grin:
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Here is the actual wording of the on-line petition:
SIGN PETITION TO CLOSE america?S MOST NOTORIOUS INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD ABUSE FACILITY: Provo canyon school in provo, utah!
To: Joint Commission of Health Care Organizations, Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges, Utah Department of Human Services
Provo Canyon School located at 1350 E 750 N, Orem, UT 84097 has a history of torturing America's youth. The lawsuits against them in which they were found guilty of cruel and inhumane treatment and abuse of children include the cases of Mundy v. Charter Medical Corporation dba Provo Canyon School and Milonas and Rice v. Provo Canyon School during the 1980's and 1990's. However, they still proudly claim to be in operation a full 29 years and claim to use the same treatment that has worked so well for their organization over that span of time. We, the American People, do not approve of Provo Canyon School and demand that their accreditation and licensing be removed at once. They have an ongoing reputation for abuse and cruelty and a proven history of culpability in this regard. The Department of Human Services of Utah, the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges, and the Joint Commission of Healthcare Organizations must cancel Provo Canyon School's licensing for good and remove all accreditation of Provo Canyon School.
The petition can be accessed at:
http://students.washington.edu/heal/sign.htm (http://students.washington.edu/heal/sign.htm)We are a one party country. Half of them call themselves Democrats and the other half call themselves Republicans. All the good ideas come from the Libertarians.
--Hugh Downs
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Here is the actual wording of the on-line petition:
SIGN PETITION TO CLOSE america?S MOST NOTORIOUS INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD ABUSE FACILITY: Provo canyon school in provo, utah!
To: Joint Commission of Health Care Organizations, Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges, Utah Department of Human Services
Provo Canyon School located at 1350 E 750 N, Orem, UT 84097 has a history of torturing America's youth. The lawsuits against them in which they were found guilty of cruel and inhumane treatment and abuse of children include the cases of Mundy v. Charter Medical Corporation dba Provo Canyon School and Milonas and Rice v. Provo Canyon School during the 1980's and 1990's. However, they still proudly claim to be in operation a full 29 years and claim to use the same treatment that has worked so well for their organization over that span of time. We, the American People, do not approve of Provo Canyon School and demand that their accreditation and licensing be removed at once. They have an ongoing reputation for abuse and cruelty and a proven history of culpability in this regard. The Department of Human Services of Utah, the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges, and the Joint Commission of Healthcare Organizations must cancel Provo Canyon School's licensing for good and remove all accreditation of Provo Canyon School.
The petition can be accessed at:
http://students.washington.edu/heal/sign.htm (http://students.washington.edu/heal/sign.htm)A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question
about it.
--GW Büsh, Business Week, July 30, 2001
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Provo Canyon School has been in business for nearly 30 years and during that time thousands of children have either experienced abuse or witnessed it. This is one of the largest programs in the state of Utah - two facilities with over 300 children. It is also one of the most expensive $12,500 per month. There have been numerous reports of abuse and still this school continues to thrive. It is time to shut it down. :nworthy: :nworthy:
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A friend of mine went to Provo Canyon School in 1982 - he was seriously abused and has never been the same. He described beatings, drugging, restraints and other unimaginable abuse. From what I've read they are still doing the same. This place should be shut down. No one should be subjected to the torture of Provo Canyon School. The people who do this are truly demented. Do they really believe that they are helping people? They are permanently ruining some people's lives.
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It's hard for one to immagine the abuse that takes place at Provo Canyon School. I was there for a short time. My parents finally found out what was going on there and came to rescue me. It doesn't matter what your diagnosis is - everyone is abused in the same manner. We were told that we had to take our medication or we would be forced to take it. We were punished if we moved out of line for any reason. When I went to the bathroom without permission six staff members came in and looked at me and told me to never go to the restroom without permission.
I was punished severely for getting out a chair without permission. I was put in isolation for hours for telling a staff member that they could not read my mail. I was drugged and left for dead. No one treated me with any degree of love or human compassion. My therapist was evil and ordered me into isolation and seclusion which was the worst experience in my life. I can now say that I know what it's like to be a prisoner of war. No one living in a free country should have to be exposed to this type of treatment. Please sign the petition. I don't think the authorities will close it down - but they may get the message that hundreds of people aren't happy that it's open and still abusing kids.
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Provo Canyon School has been abusing kids for a long time. At one time they used a polygraph machine to interogate kids to determine if they were ready to move up a level. They frequently drug kids with Haldol and allow them to suffer the horrid side effects. They also do not send children out for medical care - that is all taken care of by the administator - phychiatrist Robert Crist - who has been there since 1974.
Please take the time to sign the petition.
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I am trying to learn more about the group behind the petition to shut down Provo Canyon School. Does anyone know the organization?
By the way I am a writer doing research on this topic :wave:
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I am trying to learn more about the group behind the petition to shut down Provo Canyon School. Does anyone know the organization?
By the way I am a writer doing research on this topic :wave:
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The petition was created by a former student of Provo Canyon School - she is now a law student at the University of Washington and an activist in the effort to warn the public about the abuses that occur at specialty programs for teens.
Important Note: Please sign the *NEW* Close Provo Canyon School Now Petition at: http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm (http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm)
*** A Hacker has infiltrated and destroyed the first two online petitions. Please sign the new petition linked above!
I wrote the following in a state of outrage that continues to inspire me to this day. While the words may be inflamed, the sentiment is real and reflects the way that survivors of programs like Provo Canyon School and associated with the http://www.mytroubledteen.com/ (http://www.mytroubledteen.com/) and http://www.teenprogram.info/ (http://www.teenprogram.info/) sites feel. I am no longer a child. I am 30 years old and suffer from Post Traumatic Stress caused by the torture that Provo Canyon School staff put me through while I was in their care in 1989. I ask that if you are a parent, you think long and hard about your responsibility and your child. Your child needs you and your support. If you ship them away to a WWASPS program or similar program as found at http://www.mytroubledteen.com/ (http://www.mytroubledteen.com/) and http://www.teenprogram.info (http://www.teenprogram.info) you?d be better off shooting them in the head, it is certain that it would be far more loving of a gesture than sending them to a WWASPS program or similar program as found at http://www.mytroubledteen.com/ (http://www.mytroubledteen.com/) and http://www.teenprogram.info/ (http://www.teenprogram.info/). Please check out this news article from the Washington Times at http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/2 ... -4985r.htm (http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20040109-104725-4985r.htm). Congressman George Miller of CA demanded an investigation into the allegations from parents and survivors who are living proof of the torture received at the WWASPS programs. Anyone who tells you that these programs are beneficial is trying to make money off of you. I am not, I am only trying to help and protect the children from a lifetime of nightmares. The following is a direct and impassioned statement regarding my experience as well as the feelings and thoughts said experience inspired. Please read with the understanding that sending your child to a WWASPS program or similar program as found at http://www.mytroubledteen.com (http://www.mytroubledteen.com) and http://www.teenprogram.info (http://www.teenprogram.info) is like sending them into a burning building and my plea is that you get them out if already in or stop yourself and see the flames yourself before you have your child forever lost to nightmares and debilitating injury.
Parents seem to have forgotten the wildness of their youth and are unable to deal responsibly with their children when the behavior exhibited is not what they find to be desirable. Please understand that children are people. Teenagers are people. They are individuals who have developed into who they are because of the upbringing they received. If the parents don't know how to deal with the inconvenience of parenthood then they ship their children off to militant nazi camps to be maimed, killed, or brainwashed into submission. This is not acceptable!
If your teenager is out of control take the responsibility on yourself! If your teenager is staying out all night, partying, doing drugs, being sexually active, and skipping school, then there is a problem. The problem is that you didn't do a good job raising them. You didn't have time to spend with them so you spent money on them. Now, when they are old enough to cause some real financial damage or social embarrassment you want to make rules. Rules that were never in place as they were growing up. Rules that make absolutely no sense to a young person who has never been shown the ropes. When these rules are not obeyed you throw up your hands and send them to HELL! You say, "Maybe the devil can do something with you, I can't." But, what you are truly thinking is that you don't have the time to be a parent. You have a life, and you will be damned if some snot-nosed teenager is going to infringe on your adulthood. You had enough people infringing on your life when you were a kid. So, now this kid of yours is on his/her own. If you don't want to parent, don't become one! Once you take on the responsibility of parenting, you cannot dump it off on someone else when things get a little more inconvenient than you would prefer.
Get group counseling with a qualified family therapist. Talk to your kids and find out what the problem is and how it can be resolved. Speak to them and work out an agreement that works for everyone involved. Don't assume that because your name is Mom or Dad that this person is going to swing whichever way your particular wind is blowing. You didn't raise them with rules. You let them get away with everything. As a teenager, the same rules should apply. If you want to change the name of the game, you need to explain. This takes time, people! You can't say you don't have time and send away your little problems to hellish boot camps and reform programs. If you do, you are screaming to your child that you don't care. You are telling them that they don't matter. And, you are sending them to a place so rigid and strict that it will drive them insane. You can't send a person from a completely free environment to an extremely oppressive environment just because you don't like the inconvenience. It isn't right.
I spent three months in a reform school called Provo Canyon School located in Provo, UT. I had spent the previous three months in a psychiatric hospital for depression. I heard about this great private school from a fellow patient and it sounded wonderful. The school was supposedly college preparatory and the focus was education. I was abused by my stepfather and I didn't want to return home. This school sounded like a dream come true. It was a co-ed campus with a merit system. The focus was supposed to be school. But, that is not what went on. I talked my mom into letting me go to this school. She was hesitant, but didn't want to say no because she wasn't sure what the living situation would be if I returned home while she was still married to him. She agreed to let me go.
While I was there I witnessed abuse in the extreme. Staff members were physically abusing students and demanding that students attack each other at their request. One girl was put in a coma. When she was seen around campus again she had a broken nose, broken ribs, and a broken arm. Prior to my leaving a boy tried to escape. He returned in a body cast. I asked them why they didn't tell their parents what was going on. They said their parents didn't care. I couldn't believe it. But, now I know it's true. It makes me sick. Teenage girls were locked in rooms, beaten, starved, and drugged. I don't know if the boys suffered the same or worse. I, being a female, was only allowed access to the girls area of the compound during non-school hours. People were punished for not making their beds up to PCS standards. However, PCS standards were never known. We were just told what wasn't good enough.
My mom rescued me. I wrote her and my grandmother and even my absentee father until I was saved. I was so grateful. But, I was also very resentful. I was resentful that I had to spend three months in that hellhole.
Years later a friend of mine who I had known at the hospital and Provo contacted me. We renewed our friendship for a short time. I found out he had resorted back to his life of crime and we decided it would be best if we ended our friendship. I asked him what the hell Provo was about and what the real deal was there. He had spent two years there and I wanted to know what the real rules were. He explained a sick hierarchy, which included the staff. As students moved up the hierarchy they were given more freedom and more tasks. The tasks included weakening those on the lower tiers by beating them and breaking their spirit. I was so disgusted.
You may be wondering why we didn't sue them. We threatened to. I was fifteen years old and so glad to be out of that school. We went to a lawyer because Provo was threatening to sue us for the remainder of the tuition and fees. The lawyer wrote them and said we would be filing our own suit against them for the horrors they exposed me to and that we would expose them for the monsters they are. They never contacted us again. I wanted to forget. Unfortunately, I never have.
I remember the sounds of the wounded moaning in pain. I remember seeing my friend who tried to escape in a full body cast. I remember the girl who was in the coma. I remember the friends I left behind. It's a war. This school is still operating. This school is still tormenting our youth. They are not alone.
I beg of you, do not send your child to a program or school that is too far for you to visit weekly or daily if need be. Pick a program, hospital, or school that is in your state and near your home. If there isn't any available, find a different way to solve your family problems. The movie Sleepers was not fictional. This stuff does go on. People are being tortured and killed and the people in power hide it and the people of the public don't want to know. We cannot hide ourselves. If we do, we kill our children and create a new breed of hate and monsters for the future. If my mom had lived near Provo, she would have visited on receipt of the first letter. She would have seen the condition I was in and I would not have been forced to stay as long as I did. Because, I was out of sight, I was out of mind.
I worked for a national bank for a while on the e-mail team a few years back. We received an e-mail from a woman who had sent her child to a program located thousands of miles from her in a U.S. province but not a state. It wasn't Puerto Rico. She had applied for a loan from the bank, which had been approved. That money was used to pay the child's fees in this program. She hadn't heard from her child in months. She was very worried. She tried contacting the program heads and they gave her the run around. She had no money to fight. She was worried and scared. She knew of two children that were dead and others presumed missing from the program. She had a lawyer but she needed some real money in order to battle for the right to retrieve her child. She was told she had signed a waiver and that it was best if she didn't concern herself with her child. Now, she was running out of funds and still no word of her child. She thought threatening the bank would get some action. We couldn't help her. She signed away her rights. There was nothing anyone could do. She said she just wanted her son back. She didn't care anymore about anything but that. She was now devoting her life to his return.
Don't let this happen to you. Do not send your children to a place that looks good on paper. Don't send your children to a program far away from your home that you cannot monitor in person. Do not sign away your rights to contact your child. Believe that they need you and you need them. Believe that you are an integral part of their rehabilitation. Do not allow these groups and programs to tell you that you are not needed and that they know what's best for your child. They don't. They just want your money and to pursue their own sick fantasies with your children. Don't let them. For additional information from personal accounts of the tragedies at Provo Canyon School (and other behavior modification institutions) visit these sites http://www.teenliberty.org (http://www.teenliberty.org), http://papamugz.tripod.com/ (http://papamugz.tripod.com/), http://www.RyanFraidenburgh.com (http://www.RyanFraidenburgh.com), http://students.washington.edu/heal (http://students.washington.edu/heal), for more on my story click here, for everything I remember about my stay at PCS and my official statement click here.
I am compiling a list, along with other volunteers, of abusive treatment programs through out the country. The list in progress can be found at http://www.beyondbusiness.net/childtortureusa.htm (http://www.beyondbusiness.net/childtortureusa.htm). If you would like to take on specific programs or programs in specific states to research and get back to me on, that would be of great help. You can volunteer to do this by contacting me through the message board or via e-mail. If you are a brainwashed parent or one of the abusers, do not e-mail me unless you want your message to be filed in the file for the growing list of individuals to be sued for harassment.
I welcome feedback of all kinds. Most of the people who visit this site are other survivors who wish to contact someone who understands their suffering. Some people visit it to see what is said about PCS because they are looking for a place for their own children. Some visit because they are employees of PCS and wish to see what people are saying about their institution. Please take a moment to sign the new petition at http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm (http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm).
If you are a fellow survivor, please take a moment to inform the United Nations Council on Human Rights about your experience with Provo Canyon School, WWASPS, Resource Realizations, or similar programs as can be found at http://www.mytroubledteen.com/ (http://www.mytroubledteen.com/) and http://www.teenprogram.info/ (http://www.teenprogram.info/). The link is: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/hchr/contact.htm (http://www.unhchr.ch/html/hchr/contact.htm). Thank you.
Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.
--Rep. Robert L. Henry, TX December 22, 1914 (quoting Lincoln)
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On 2004-05-22 14:28:00, Wildpony wrote:
"
I am trying to learn more about the group behind the petition to shut down Provo Canyon School. Does anyone know the organization?
By the way I am a writer doing research on this topic :wave: "
What's your name writer, who's to say you are for real? Is this Shane Johnson from the salt lake city weekly newspaper?
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No - this is not Shane. I am not affiliated with that weekly. I found this site through an internet search some months ago. Who is to say anyone is real on this posting?
I prefer not to disclose my identity at this point because of how suit-happy WWASPS can be - ie the defamation claim filed against the UPI reporter.
I am not mining this board looking for crap against the organization because I have no ax to grind. I do, however, feel that since this is a Utah based organization, Utah media would do well to stay informed on what's going on out there regarding the program or its affiliates.
The petition, therefore, struck my interest because it appears recent....
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The petition is relatively new. The previous petitions were destroyed by hackers. So far this third petition is working.
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On 2004-05-24 10:09:00, Wildpony wrote:
"No - this is not Shane. I am not affiliated with that weekly. I found this site through an internet search some months ago. Who is to say anyone is real on this posting?
I prefer not to disclose my identity at this point because of how suit-happy WWASPS can be - ie the defamation claim filed against the UPI reporter.
I am not mining this board looking for crap against the organization because I have no ax to grind. I do, however, feel that since this is a Utah based organization, Utah media would do well to stay informed on what's going on out there regarding the program or its affiliates.
The petition, therefore, struck my interest because it appears recent...."
wow, didn't know WWASAPS was doing that, dumbass'. I wouldn't say who I was either then. I understand how its hard to say who's real or not though, but I'm real, I guess you just kinda gotta hope that people don't have to lie who they are just ot voice they're opinion, I mean we are suppose to have freedom of speech, yes? You can go to this link and scroll down the page and then you should find some colored word that reads E-MAIL. That e-mail addy belongs to the young woman who started the petition, she can give you more info.
http://www.beyondbusiness.net/index2.htm (http://www.beyondbusiness.net/index2.htm)
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WILDPONY - you can e-mail the author of the petition at: [email protected]
She knows all about it. If you want information - go to the source. You'd better identify yourself though - she doesn't give information to everyone.
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A reporter from Salt Lake city Weekly is doing a story on Provo Canyon School and other abusive programs. His name is Shane Johnson.
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Thanks for the understanding, darkhope. Who I am will readily be revealed through publication of stories in the next month or so - or sooner. Again, I don't have an agenda, but I have found this site to be useful in terms of providing information that can later be confirmed through researching court cases, etc., or active complaints. Has anyone heard if DCFS has been responsive at all to any of the people who may have called with complaints - at the urging of some on this board?
WWASPS has a case against a UPI reporter, which is strange because UPI is simply a shell of a news wire service at this point.
Of course, there is the ongoing fight between them and PURE and plenty of rebuttal information about the stories Tim with the New York Times wrote. All of it is intended to have a chilling effect on the media - an effort to disuade investigation into alleged complaints of abuse, etc. I have to admit I don't know much about Provo Canyon School - other than it is just one of many of these treatment programs thriving in this state.
The fact that WWASPS is Utah-based and has been the genesis of so much controversy merits an examination, hopefully something a bit more exhaustive than has been done thus far by any Utah media outlet.
Feel free to email me anytime at [email protected] :wave:
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thanks anonymous. I emailed her yesterday and identified myself. Hopefully I will hear from her soon. I essentially just need to know the timeline on this, the goal of how many signatures and at what point it will be presented to officials.
:wave:
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The WWASPS v. PURE lawsuit has to do with the Lanham Act. Not sure exactly what that is, but believe it has to do with trade infringement.
The writer may also want to know that PURE (Sue Scheff) has apparently filed a civil lawsuit of her own (see FORNITS archives).
The controversy surrounding the teen help industry has indeed led to lawsuits aimed at silencing public opinion on several different levels.
Abridging free-speech in this country is no minor matter and journalists would be wise not to be led down the wrong path by people with self-serving agendas who have become quite adept at spinning the truth.
Beware of SMOKE and MIRRORS obfuscating what's really going on in the sub-cottage industry of educational consultants and independent referral services. It's all there in black and white if you know what to look for.
:smokin:
:smokin:
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On 2004-05-25 10:49:00, Anonymous wrote:
"The WWASPS v. PURE lawsuit has to do with the Lanham Act. Not sure exactly what that is, but believe it has to do with trade infringement.
The writer may also want to know that PURE (Sue Scheff) has apparently filed a civil lawsuit of her own (see FORNITS archives).
The controversy surrounding the teen help industry has indeed led to lawsuits aimed at silencing public opinion on several different levels.
Abridging free-speech in this country is no minor matter and journalists would be wise not to be led down the wrong path by people with self-serving agendas who have become quite adept at spinning the truth.
Beware of SMOKE and MIRRORS obfuscating what's really going on in the sub-cottage industry of educational consultants and independent referral services. It's all there in black and white if you know what to look for.
:smokin: "
Here is the link to discussion thread about the PURE lawsuit.
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... orum=1&114 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=4041&forum=1&114)
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On 2004-05-25 08:36:00, Anonymous wrote:
"A reporter from Salt Lake city Weekly is doing a story on Provo Canyon School and other abusive programs. His name is Shane Johnson. "
yea, here I have his number and everything.
Shane Johnson
Slat Lake ity weekly
801-575-7003 ext.32
cell 801-671-3446
I have already called and spoken withhim for an hour and I know many others who have also called him including a x-staff that ain't so fond of the place, as in, some of the corruptive staff.
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So Anonymous - What IS going on the sub cottage industry of educational consultants?
And it won't fall into anyone's agenda by doing h an examination of litigation involving these programs or do you think it would?
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Wild Pony: I find it odd that you are not identifying yourself if you are indeed a reporter for one of the newspapers. I myself would be happy to discuss things with you if you were a reporter and if I knew which magazine or newpapers you were reporting for. I've seen posts from other journalists and authors and all have identified themselves. For all we know you are an informant for Provo Canyon School.
There have been many who have reported their abuse and the abuse they witnessed to the authorities. I can say from experience that they treat these reports with disdain, contempt and ridicule. The authorities routinely ignor reports of abuse at Provo Canyon School and other programs. Provo happens to be one of the largest and most expensive. The rate for private incarceration is $12,500 if you have insurance and $8,000 if you do not. Of course they negotiate depending on their capacity.
The state also pays Provo for keeping juvenile offenders who are court-ordered there. One of the reasons the agencies and licensing boards ignor and minimize these reports is because the state itself could be held liable for sending children there. It would also become a political issue if the media reported this to the public. Here is an abusive program - where children have no access to the outside - and the taxpayers of Utah are essentially funding this. Now even in Utah, some feathers would be ruffled if they knew about this.
Provo is also listed as a hospital on the Utah.gov site. I discovered this one day when I searched - Utah Valley Hospital Provo Canyon School. Authorities had told me that it was a "residential facility" and that state and federal mental health codes did not apply. When I went back and actually showed them that PCS was listed on their own government's web-site with a copy write to the state of Utah - there was SILENCE. No one has replied. No one has answered this simple question: Provo Canyon School is listed on the Utah.Gov site as a hospital - Is it a hospital or is it a residential facility?
This is an important issue - because if it is a hospital then they are in violation of many more codes, laws and statutes. If it is a residential facility they must abide by Utah "core rules" these are rules that set limits for isolation and other punishments. One of the rules states that they must treat the patients with dignity. If they are put in isolation it can not be for more than four hours. If they are put in isolation it can't interfere with bedtime. The list goes on - but there are far fewer laws that they must abide by. They must notify parents if isolation is used on their child within 24 hours.
These rules are routinely broken. They get away with it by telling the authorities that the children are liars, fakers and manipulators. They also routinely deprive children of necessary medical care. They get away with all of this because Ken Stettler is at the helm and he promotes these facilities. They are a bread and butter industry in Utah.
Wildpony - just look at the core rules they can be found on the utah.gov site under residential programs core rules.
I have documents showing that Provo is in violation of most of these. I have given these docs to the authorities who have refused to do anything about it. They obviously let these programs violate rules constantly. Unfortunately for Anson Arnett, Ian August, Aaron Bacon, Michelle Sutton and many others - this policy has proven deadly.
Utah allows programs to continue to operate even thought they flagrantly and consistantly violate rules, laws and statutes.
It is my opinion that the State of Utah is as much to blame for all of this toruture, death and child abuse as the actual facilities.
Provo Canyon School has been abusing children for a long time. It is where the founder of the WWASP programs learned the ropes of abusive behavior modification. WWASP programs implement the same types of punishments and punitive measures. The facilities in other countries are even more abusive.
something should be done - it is an outrage - the authorities in Utah are obviously doing absolutely nothing when they receive reports of abuse. It doesn't matter if the report comes from a parent or a child.
If Wild pony wants to expose this and is truly a reporter like he claims - then he would be doing the public a great service. I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants.
-- A. Whitney Brown
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Just got off the phone with Shane Johnson from the salt lake city weekley, the article with provo has been put on the back burner, his lead man comitted suicide, seems to be a popular thing these days, anyways, Mr. Johnson said he will pick it back up and then he will give me a call back on it, just so you all know. He said that the article was just going ot feature Provo as a aside thing, but with all the info. he got when he picks it back up he is going to make it the Feature Picture per say. So just so ya all know, he said that he will pick it back up again though.
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Provo Canyon School should be shut down. Most would have a difficult time believing all of this - those who have had this experience know that all of these stories are true. This school has been protected by the authorities long enough. All of the children in this program must be evaluated for abuse and violation of basic rights. It's amazing that our government allows this to go on.
This is truly corrupt.
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:eek:
So all of you are a bunch of paranoids because I refuse to identify myself. You bitch and bitch and bitch to each other on this website, questioning motives, while undermining your own.
Well here you are. Question mine. Check out the name Amy Joi Bryson on the Deseret News Website and see what I have done so far...some of it is on these threads.
And Cherish, I am a SHE not A HE, and merely was trying to keep a low profile while I collect information for a series of stories I plan to do this summer on the teen help industry, particularly how it relates to Utah, since it is so rampant here.
And you can bash Ken Stettler all you want, but the ONLY reason I got onto this issue was while covering the legislature this past session and a simple little bill dealing with human services licensing failed to pass. When I called Ken about it, he said extreme lobbying killed it because it would have roped Majestic Ranch under state scrutiny. I wondered why that would have been a bad thing and went from there with internet research. Do the archives research on our website.
Like I said, I do not have an ax to grind, but I find it intriguing that a state such as ours that professes to love family and children is so ripe with an industry that so many others are accusing of being abusive.
I do not discredit what Shane and the City Weekly may do, but check out who has been on this story the last four months and found the New York connection with Teen Escort and the alleged assault.
And yes, we've already received one threatening letter from an attorney, but I am not deterred in exploring the differing views associated with this industry and the controversy that exists.
I found this forum by accident, found that it is helpful in what I am trying to learn (as well as many others) but I do not like my credibility called into question because I am trying to be cautious.
I entered a log-in on this site simply to communicate because I felt there may have been some sincere postings. Since doing the first story on WWASPS and the related industry, I was bombarded with emailers who claimed abuse, wanted to know where to turn to help, phone calls, etc.
It could have been easy to turn them into stories and run with it all without verification.
It's not - unless you want to invite wrath and lawsuits and be someone's pawn.
Everyone has a motive.
I don't - other than to figure out someone else's and be as fair and accurate as possible. Like I said before, I don't have an agenda - unlike many of you who, by the way, don't reveal their identity as well.
Now you know mine.
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Great Amy, I've read your news reports and think you have a good handle on the key issues, except for the sub-cottage industry part which is understandable considering how long these for-profit ed consultants and independent referral agents have been flying below the radar screen. Suffice to say, this sub-cottage industry is an unregulated highly lucrative business, and as such, has attracted it's fair share of unscrupulous entreprenuers.
Regarding Utah: Fact is the state does have a history of being reactive instead of proactive. I believe Stettler even admitted as much in a statement given to one of the Utah newspapers following the death of a teen not so long ago.
The upcoming trial in Cedar City of the two teens accused of killing Anson Arnett has the potential to blow the lid off the private for-profit teen help industry. The program was operating while in violation of DHS licensing rules, not the least of which is the one mandating that 2 staff members be ON DUTY AT ALL TIMES.
Why isn't the program owner, Mr. AhQhin being investigated for his role in this tragedy? And just as importantly, why is DHS even considering letting him start another group home? My feeling is they have no choice. Perhaps if they raised the licensing fee from just $300.00 a year to an amount more in line with the enormous revenue these programs generate, the field would be a lot less crowded and programs would be a whole lot safer because DHS would be able to monitor them properly.
:wave:
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Who said DHS in Utah was considering granting another license?
Media reported the owners wanted to apply for another license, and Cedar City officials were opposed, as were the family of the victim.
Sen. Tom Hatch, R-Panguitch, who was a staunch opponent of the licensing bill this last session is now calling for more oversight in light of the counselor's death.
It may be posturing, but it is an ironic switch to a previous position.
The truth is, licensed facilities with oversight from Utah - nursing homes to youth homes - probably frequently violate the rules because of inadequate staffing for onsite visits to make sure there is compliance. Point of fact: more than 10 years ago an assisted living center in Ogden for supposed ambulatory patients was putting wheelchair bound elderly on the second floor. Bad decision in the event of a fire.
That does not equate to a conspiracy on the part of the state, but simply spells of a system underfunded without proper oversight that officials have to trust is running well.
Perhaps that is what they do with Provo Canyon and every other facility here in Utah that locks up kids and does not ensure their safety.
Utah is a haven for these programs for kids - hell, research the type of legislation active parental rights advocates wanted passed this last session to ensure adults were treated with deference in the system
You tease me with a comment about educational consultants but don't go onto explain it. I am trying to be as educated as I can on this topic, but I need people who have obviously been immersed in it for years to be a bit more forthcoming about its faults amd attributes.
Just last year, I was following Leavitt and bonding and the state's struggle with the red ink in the budget.
The teen help industry reared up and slapped me in the face only last March with an obscure licensing bill. And yes, I have a 13 year-old who drives me nuts. Have I done my own research for personal reasons? You bet.
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As a postscript - Because I have CONSIDERED at least checking out these programs, and because they have come up through the course of my job, my interest is intense.
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Amy, spend a little time reading posts written by program parents over at Struggling Teens if you want to get an idea about how some parens make decisions on where, when and how to place their kids in residential treatment. It's a real eye-opener.
http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ ... 2;t=000794 (http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=000794)
:wave:
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Amy,
Negative involvement with the industry breeds not paranoia, but skepticism and caution. If you hang around long you'll get used to it. Expect to show your card at the door.
It is my opinion that the role of Educational Consultants (EC) is unnecessary and appears to be a superfluous expense for parents, but often required by programs within the Teen Warehouse Industry. They market programs (broker placements) while perpetuating the illusion that they are objective third-parties, advocating for parents and children by ensuring an appropriate placement. Based on my experience, they do very little for the outrageous fees they demand, have little to no established guidelines or regulations and answer to no one. Many have come to consulting from inside the Industry, having previously been employed by the programs they promote. They do not investigate programs or provide important and accurate information in order that parent's might make informed decisions that will affect the well-being and safety of their young people.
My personal story: My ex enrolled our son in a Therapeutic Boarding School (TBS) that required a referral from an Educational Consultant (EC). The family therapist provided him with a name. He placed a call to the EC on Friday, flew our son to the facility on Saturday and officially enrolled him on Monday. She never even saw my son. I was notified of the placement by a phone call from my ex and the Head of Counseling at the TBS, who arrogantly and disrespectfully layed out the Orwellian nightmare that my son and I would endure for the next 22 months.
Under very suspicious circumstances my son was denied his first visit home and referred to the TBS's newly opened Wilderness Program (WP). Angry and concerned, this was just one of many unorthodox events that had occurred, I began to research the facility and discovered that neither facility possessed a license from the Office of Regulatory Services. In fact they had registered as a Private Boarding School to avoid protective regulations, but advertised to the public as a therapeutic facility and had operated as such for seven years. I filed a report and an investigation ensued. This did nothing to aid in my son's removal from the unlicensed WP, he remained the full 28 days.
ORS's hands were tied. They were required to follow a lengthy process in order to gain access to the facility, which was a private corporation outside their jurisdiction. This was very distressing as my research had also revealed that several dozen teens had died in similar facilities, and some of them were actually licensed.
I placed a call to the EC at that time. She was an Independent Consultant and officed from her home. She admitted that she had never met my son and was not aware of any psychiatric evaluation having been conducted prior to his placement to determine if this extreme and austere placement was in his best interest. She had simply provided a referral for my ex. She was not aware of the TBS's status with ORS or that my son had been denied his home visit and referred to their unlicensed WP. Her referrals to the facility were based on the "owner's reputation." I was appalled. I do not know her fee, but the Industry standard is $2- 3,000. I failed to see what she had done to earn a fee at all. She knew NOTHING about the facility and its policies and even less about my son. She didn't require an interview with him, an evaluation, or even a report card. She referred to a facility that was not licensed. She obviously had not followed up with the facility because she was not aware of my son's referral to the WP. She was not aware of the unorthodox "Restriction Diet" which consisted of limited calories for punishment or that we'd been allowed very little contact since he was enrolled. She ended our conversation by saying that she hoped it would be a good placement for my son!!! After all I had divulged, I was speechless. With all the dignity she could muster, she managed to stutter that her goal was to find appropriate placements so the child could get on with their education. That was the clincher for me. Had she known anything at all about my son, she would have know that he had no academic problems. He was an A/B student and was well liked by his peers and teachers. He was a thorn in his step-mother's side, that had to be removed.
Confused and disoriented by the blackhole I had been drawn into, I pressed on by investigating the requirements for ECs. Texas law requires individuals or organizations who place children across state lines to be licensed and follow the requirements of the Federal Interstate Compact on Placement of Children (ICPC) in out-of-state facilities. A call to the Dept of Protective and Regulatory Services revealed that the EC was not licensed to make out-of-state placements. The state official was confused as to who was technically responsible for my son's placement, as the EC did not physically deliver him to the facility. It was obvious that they had not dealt with this situation in the past and ultimately proved to be of no assistance. At this writing I do not know how the state's investigation of the EC concluded or how they ultimately classified her. They apparently didn't feel obligated to inform me of the results of their investigation, although I sent a formal request to be informed.
During the first parent workshop held by the TBS, the Headmaster strongly encouraged parents to employ an EC if they hadn't already done so and enthusiastically offered to provide a referral if needed. He informed parents that while it was unethical and inappropriate for his facility to provide kickbacks to ECs, the facility could reimburse all parents $250 if they provided a receipt from their EC. Parents could "do with it as they wished." His tone and expression clearly conveyed what he couldn't directly say. My thought- she hadn't earned the base fee, she certainly didn't deserve a $250 bonus? I later discovered that the TBS makes donations to the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) in Virginia. A tightly woven web.
Parents should not assume that an EC will be an involved and trustworthy advocate for their teen, one who has thoroughly investigated the facilities s/he makes referrals to. This is a business. As with all referral businesses, conflicts of interest do exist, kickbacks occur, overtly or covertly. Unfortunately, there are many discrepancies within the Teen Warehouse Industry that may require legal action or legislation to remedy.
Given that ECs are not required to ensure that the facilities they refer to are operating above board, they are high paid recruiters. In two days time I knew more about the TBS than the EC.
My hope is that in the very near future all ECs will be required to be licensed and to comply with the ICPC. They should be required to ask for divorce decrees and speak with both parents as many parents have made placements to interfer with the other parents rights. They should also be responsible for confirming and documenting that every facility they refer to is properly licensed and consequently, held accountable and sanctioned for referring to unlicensed facilities. They should function as an advocate and maintain regular contact with the teen after placement. They should be required to inform parents of the inherent dangers associated with Wilderness programs. And educate them on the potentially damaging effects of the misuse of Behavior Modification techniques employed by all programs. They should provide parents with objective statistics regarding the success rate of Industry, compiled and analyzed by an independent organization. Further, they should divulge the number of accidents, suicides, and deaths that have occurred Industry-wide. And lastly, they should be able to tell parents if any given facility has ever been written up or received sanctions for violations of regulations, and as a protective measure, place programs with current violations on a blacklist until a follow-up inspection shows the program to be in compliance.
Now, that is a closed loop system that would assist parents in making a truly "informed" decision and provide a minimum of safety for teens. Then they would actually be doing something to "earn" their fee, rather than masquerading as objective third-parties for the Industry. Ultimately I say, do away with ECs or define their responsibilities, create regulations and consequences for violations. It's time for their free ride to end. Our young people deserve better !!
I am adamently opposed to the industry, but given that it's not going to go away, the realities need to be exposed and laws need to be enforced.
As for the fines for violations of regulations. They aren't nearly enough to deter violators. The facility I have experience with operated without an appropriate license for 7 years. Had the ORS fined them the $500 a day that they were within their rights to do, there would be less of this flying below the radar- identifying as a private boarding school yet advertising to the public as a therapeutic facility/hospital/etc.
They can't have their cake and eat it too. They must be forced off the fence. And state regulatory agencies need to do their jobs as well. I was sicken by the lack of interest and integrity I experience while interacting with every state agency in two states.
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On 2004-05-26 00:12:00, Wildpony wrote:
"As a postscript - Because I have CONSIDERED at least checking out these programs, and because they have come up through the course of my job, my interest is intense. "
Amy--my name is Julie Cochrane, and I post to this forum as "Timoclea."
My connection with this issue is that I'm a science fiction fan and author, fandom is a small world, and a teenage female fan who was friends with a lot of my friends got shipped off to one of these places last summer for trivial reasons, we were all worried about her, and I set myself to finding out as much as I could about what's going on. Since I couldn't get a lot of information about her school, and since the people in this industry tend to have worked at multiple schools, I've tried to find out as much about the industry as I could.
My other connection is that I have bipolar (II) disorder (treated, extremely high functioning) and an undergraduate psych degree from Georgia Tech. This gives me some background for knowing what good treatment is supposed to look like, and what the likely results of any particular behavior modification scheme would be. (Georgia Tech was trying to train researchers, not clinicians, so we covered Skinner and behaviorism in a lot more depth than most undergrad. psych. programs would.)
I've never been in a program or put a kid in a program, but I've got a fairly good "big picture" overview of the industry and the issues, and I'm online a lot since I work at my laptop.
I have an axe to grind, but I've just told you what it is, and it's limited. My concern with the industry in general is that I think people should only be committed involuntarily if they've got a condition that needs residential treatment, and that the treatment they get should be *good* residential treatment.
What I want is considered regulation, licensing, and oversight to reduce the risks of abuse and make sure kids have the access to report alleged abuses to the state authorities.
So if you need quick and dirty background on anything, as opposed to an actual "source," send me a private message and I'll try to help.
(I'm also putting together an article---not for print publication, but for my website, because I think I might be able to reach a different audience and think the industry needs a closer look.)
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On "education consultants" or "ed. cons."---the industry's story is that whichever consultants refer to *their* group of schools are caring professionals trying to do good work to help troubled youth. PURE at least heavily implies that WWASPS schools are abusive and "the problem" in the industry. WWASPS says that schools PURE refers to pay kickbacks to PURE's ed. cons. and that that's unethical and "the problem" in the industry. The unhappy program alums ("survivors") say that both PURE and WWASPS schools are too prone to taking kids into residential treatment based solely on the parents ability to pay, that the schools are rife with abuse and fraud, spend as little of the tuition on care of the kids as possible, and are primarily big cash cows for the owners preying on gullible, worried parents. The "survivors" also allege that many programs (including WWASPS) turn program parents into recruiters for the programs by giving breaks like a free month's tuition for getting other parents to place their kid with that program---which would be a roughly $5k kickback per kid since that's the typical ballpark cost of monthly tuition.
PURE is Sue Scheff's organization, allegedly formed as a backlash against WWASPS.
WWASPS is the World Wide Association of Specialty Schools, owned by the Litchfield (spelling?) clan, headed by Narvin, in about the same kind of pattern of interlocking, confusing, changing web of ownership of bits of this and that as the infamous Kingston clan's holdings.
I'm *NOT* alleging the Litchfield clan does the same polygamous forced-child-marriage inbreeding stuff the Kingston clan is infamous for--that's not the point of the comparison. The point of the comparison is the huge web of clan centrally-controlled assets with the shell game of who nominally owns what being quite similar.
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Timoclea/Julie
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Oh, my bias showing through--sorry.
WWASPS critics allege that Narvin Litchfield controls the whole WWASPS empire, and that other ownership is strictly nominal--that he's pulling the strings. They point to Narvin's alleged ownership of the grounds underneath all the facilities.
WWASPS side of that would be that it looks like a lot of people related to the Litchfields own different things in WWASPS because they actually, well, own different things. Their side would likely be that all the family connections are because they're a close family, but it's largely coincidental.
WWASPS critics allege that Narvin can circumvent campaign donation limits by putting them nominally in the names of other family members, and is effectively allegedly "buying off" the elected officials that would otherwise be responsible for exercising oversight over the industry.
The Litchfields would allege that that's a coincidence and that a number of them just happen to have similar political opinions and are individually exercising their rights to participate in the political process. They would also certainly deny any quid pro quo.
If the personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution inhibit the
government's ability to govern the people, we should look to limit those guarantees.
--President Bill Clinton
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Be sure and read the DISCLAIMER on some of these so-called independent program referral agents websites. Not all have one, but many do.
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AMY:
There is a civil lawsuit filed by the parents of a boy who was referred to a program called The Ayne Institute (aka Alldredge Academy) in West Virginia. The educational consultant is named in the lawsuit.
See Legal Watch
http://www.teenadvocatesusa.homestead.c ... erapy.html (http://www.teenadvocatesusa.homestead.com/wildernesstherapy.html)
What about ed consultants who refer a child to a program that tragically, ended up costing the child their very life?
This has most certainly happened.
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On 2004-05-25 23:13:00, Wildpony wrote:
" :eek:
So all of you are a bunch of paranoids because I refuse to identify myself. You bitch and bitch and bitch to each other on this website, questioning motives, while undermining your own.
Well here you are. Question mine. Check out the name Amy Joi Bryson on the Deseret News Website and see what I have done so far...some of it is on these threads.
And Cherish, I am a SHE not A HE, and merely was trying to keep a low profile while I collect information for a series of stories I plan to do this summer on the teen help industry, particularly how it relates to Utah, since it is so rampant here.
And you can bash Ken Stettler all you want, but the ONLY reason I got onto this issue was while covering the legislature this past session and a simple little bill dealing with human services licensing failed to pass. When I called Ken about it, he said extreme lobbying killed it because it would have roped Majestic Ranch under state scrutiny. I wondered why that would have been a bad thing and went from there with internet research. Do the archives research on our website.
Like I said, I do not have an ax to grind, but I find it intriguing that a state such as ours that professes to love family and children is so ripe with an industry that so many others are accusing of being abusive.
I do not discredit what Shane and the City Weekly may do, but check out who has been on this story the last four months and found the New York connection with Teen Escort and the alleged assault.
And yes, we've already received one threatening letter from an attorney, but I am not deterred in exploring the differing views associated with this industry and the controversy that exists.
I found this forum by accident, found that it is helpful in what I am trying to learn (as well as many others) but I do not like my credibility called into question because I am trying to be cautious.
I entered a log-in on this site simply to communicate because I felt there may have been some sincere postings. Since doing the first story on WWASPS and the related industry, I was bombarded with emailers who claimed abuse, wanted to know where to turn to help, phone calls, etc.
It could have been easy to turn them into stories and run with it all without verification.
It's not - unless you want to invite wrath and lawsuits and be someone's pawn.
Everyone has a motive.
I don't - other than to figure out someone else's and be as fair and accurate as possible. Like I said before, I don't have an agenda - unlike many of you who, by the way, don't reveal their identity as well.
Now you know mine.
"
Fair is fair. I was not and am not paranoid about you. Just wondered who you were really, what paper, but I do respect the fact that you did not want to give out your identity, these people with such programs as Provo Canyon School can really be quite vicious to many people, including myself because I pose a hazard to them since I know so much info. on them and how everything runs, you get close to some staff in there and they just tell you EVERYTHING, o it's so much fun! Anyways, here, I'll yell ya who I am cause no one can do shit to me anyways, my name is Rachel Roberts, most just call me Hope or Hunter though. I am a Provo Canyon School survivor. I was imprisioned between October 11, 2000 thorugh December 20, 2002. So there ya have it, if you need anything, post here, I will find it and get you all you want.
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On 2004-05-22 03:31:00, Anonymous wrote:
that is all taken care of by the administator - phychiatrist Robert Crist - who has been there since 1974.
Any idea if this guy is kin to Florida Attorney General, Charlie Crist? http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/0/1 ... enDocument (http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/0/1515ce372e59d1e885256cc60071b1c4?OpenDocument)
Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself
--Jimmy Carter
_________________
Ginger Warbis ~ Antigen
Seed sibling `71 - `80
Straight South (Sarasota, FL)
10/80 - 10/82
Anonymity Anonymous
It is wrong to leave a stumbling block in the road once it has tripped you.
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Here's the link to the court memorandum regarding the Giannone lawsuit against Ayne Institute. The factual background of the case describes how they worked with an educational consultant and what allegedly happened to their child during the short time he was in the wilderness program.
http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/ ... D0542P.pdf (http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/03D0542P.pdf)
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Deborah, wasn't Ian August (the boy killed in a wilderness program in Utah) referred by an educational consultant?
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Yes, Ian's mom was refered by an Ed Con.
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/jul/07132003/utah/utah.asp (http://www.sltrib.com/2003/jul/07132003/utah/utah.asp)
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These ed cons who prescribe (and that is what they are doing) wilderness therapy programs as the cure for what's ailing unmotivated teens make me sick! No child should have to face what this boy faced in the last hours of his life. The state of Utah should have thrown the book at the people responsible for Ian August's death and immediately jacked up the licensing fees to $50,000.00 per program instead of passing them out like candy for a couple of hundred bucks a pop.
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Problems plaguing program for youths
By Amy Joi Bryson
Deseret Morning News
Allegations of sexual abuse and assault, which have sparked recent criminal probes here and in two other states, continue to plague a Utah-based program for troubled children.
The trouble linked to programs or services associated with the Worldwide Association of Speciality Programs and Schools (WWASPS) also has a California congressman demanding a federal investigation by the Department of Justice.
Meanwhile, Utah licensing officials say there is little they can do about complaints that come in for programs like WWASPS, which remain unlicensed because they are "boarding schools."
"Unless they are licensed, we do not have the right to go in unannounced, talk to anyone or interview the kids to see what is happening," said Ken Stettler, director of the state Department of Human Services Office of Licensing.
Criminal investigations into abuse and assault have taken place in: :nworthy: :nworthy: :tup:
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According to the article, Ian was taking several drugs to combat behavioral disorders while his Mom pursued her new-age interests and cult-like lifestyle seemingly trying EVERYTHING she could think of to help Ian *transcend* his difficulties. But what about these drugs he was taking? Could they have been part of the problem in a physical, mental and emotional sense?
:???:
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Ken Stettler knows very well what is going on. He promotes these programs. He told me that Provo Canyon School was a residential program and the children were not protected by state or federal rules and codes as a result of this.
I started to search and found that Provo Canyon School was listed as a hospital on several official government web-sites. When I told him about this he never responded. No one has respondend. All the authorities want to do is silence people. They are as much to blame as the actual programs. The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.
Tacitus, Roman senator and historian (A.D. c.56- c.115)
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FYI - Brooke Adams is another journalist from the Salt Lake Tribune that has written very well researched articles on the teen help industry. Though not widely known, The Deseret News is owned by the LDS church.
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More on The Deseret News:
http://www.slweekly.com/editorial/2002/ ... -09-05.cfm (http://www.slweekly.com/editorial/2002/city_2_2002-09-05.cfm)
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Cherish Wisdom - Are you a Utah or California resident?
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From Amy's article:
Meanwhile, Utah licensing officials say there is little they can do about complaints that come in for programs like WWASPS, which remain unlicensed because they are "boarding schools."
and
"Our concern is that there is currently very little, if any oversight," Stettler said.
While licensed facilities have to meet minimum requirements for health and safety purposes, programs termed as "boarding schools" such as Majestic Ranch are outside the state's purview.
This is total BS and a frustrating issue industry wide, as they all want to claim to be traditional boarding schools but operate as pseudo mental hospitals heavy on the BM. Stettler's been around the block and absolutely knows what's going on in WWASP and other facilities- knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that they aren't "boarding schools".
The burning question is WHY aren't licensing officials requiring the facilities to define their scope of services and then making their OWN determination as to what classification the facilty falls under.
Licensing is charged with monitoring residential facilities. It should be incumbent on every facility that hangs out a shingle to contact the state and file paperwork defining the full scope of services in detail. If licensing suspects a facility is not what they profess to be, it should be incumbent on them to go in and access what the actual classification should be.
Stettler and other officials like to spin the illusion that their hands are tied because the facility is claiming to be a boarding school. So, tell the public what you need to hear in order to initiate an investigation. In my case, a complaint stating that the facility was other than what they claimed. (well documented) It is beyond me that licensing doesn't have the authority to walk into any facility and inquire about their operation. A major oversight in the laws governing such a powerful state entity. Corporations have too much power and licensing does not want to risk lawsuits, etc.
If the folks at licensing can't distinguish the difference between a traditional boarding school and a residential treatment facilty or therapeutic boarding school, I suggest they adopt the definition of boarding school, "primarily educational institution" used by ICPC:
http://icpc.aphsa.org/documents/Regulations.htm (http://icpc.aphsa.org/documents/Regulations.htm)
ICPC Regulation 4-1-(a): "Primarily educational institution" means an institution which operates one or more programs that can be offered in satisfaction of compulsory school attendance laws, in which the primary purpose of accepting children is to meet their educational needs; and which DOES NOT DO ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING: 1) accept responsibility for children during the entire year; (2) provide or hold itself out as providing child care constituting nurture sufficient to substitute for parental supervision and control or foster care; (3) provide any other services to children, except for those customarily regarded as extracurricular or cocurricular school activities, pupil support services, and those services necessary to make it possible for the
children to be maintained on a residential basis in the aforementioned school program or programs.
ICPC Regulation 4-5 : The type of license, if any, held by an institution is evidence of its character, but does not determine the need for compliance with ICPC. Whether an institution is either generally exempt from the need to comply with the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children or exempt in a particular instance is to be determined by the SERVICES IT ACTUALLY PROVIDES or offers to provide. In making any such determinations, the criteria set forth in this regulation shall be applied.
http://www.hhs.gov/progorg/oei/reports/a318.pdf (http://www.hhs.gov/progorg/oei/reports/a318.pdf)
The Office of Evaluation reported to the Office of Inspector General that (excerpted)
the Compact has jurisdiction over the following types of interstate placements: placement into foster care; child care institutions, and residential treatment facilities. The Compact does not have jurisdiction over the following placements:
placements into schools, made by a child?s parent, stepparent, grandparent, adult sister or brother, adult aunt or uncle, or non-agency guardian with any such relative or non-agency guardian. (Non agency- any person or entity
which has court appointed parental rights)
http://www.hhs.gov/oig/oei/reports/a453.pdf (http://www.hhs.gov/oig/oei/reports/a453.pdf)
The Office of Evaluation in a May 2000 report for the Office of Inspector General, states:
For the purpose of this study, we define residential care as 24-hour group care of children provided by paid staff unrelated to the children. Children who are placed in residential care often need services that other settings do not provide, such as specialized counseling.
********
And fine hell out of facilities that are found to be in violation. I would bet money that there's not one program owner/director perpetrating this fraud that doesn't know what they are doing. There maybe some ignorant licensing directors out there who are clueless. Stettler's not one of them.
Come on Stettler, what boarding school restricts contact with parents, provides care ("treatment") 24/7/365, doesn't allow access to public phones, monitors phone calls and mail, doesn't allow students off campus, denies home visits and contact with parents for "therapeutic" reasons... just to name a few. And one more, how many calls does licensing receive regarding abuse at bonafide boarding schools? This ought to send up red flags. All one has to do is take a look at the facility's website and/or Google their name. If you don't have the time, I'll offer that service free of charge if you'll go after the bastards and insure they are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
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***But what about these drugs he was taking? Could they have been part of the problem in a physical, mental and emotional sense?***
In my opinion, they were very much a part of the "problem".
What possess a parent to send an overweight child on heat inducing meds- who rarely left the confines of an air-conditioned condo- to the desert to participate in forced marches?
I suppose she felt the woo-woo "connection" between Ian and Wardle to be a "sign" that it was the right thing to do.
And Hale, I wonder where she is now. The state should have revoked her EMT license for ignoring her medical training and defering to Skyline's method of "flushing out fakers". I wonder how she sleeps at night.
I also wonder how the teens are fairing who were allowed to harrass and humiliate him for holding up the group right up until he died. I would love to hear their accounts of the events that day. Eye witnesses who we may never hear from. I have a long list of questions.
I had almost recovered from my unsuccessful battle to have my son removed from an unlicensed wilderness program when I received an email stating that Ian had died while hiking in Utah. My entire body flushed and my heart race as I considered the possibility that he was at a program. I shot off a inquiry, hoping that he was on vaction with family, anything but a program. The response confirmed that he was indeed at Skyline. I raged and cried for an hour. And felt very grateful that my son had survived his 28 days in the woods with ex-military bubbas from the backwoods of Ga.
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Amy, you're just scratching the surface. If you really want to get the real life pain and breakdown of families and their decision to place their child in a school/program like WWASPS, register and go to their personal development seminars, which, by the way are open to anyone, not just parents and family of a child in one of their schools. I won't tell you my story, because it really isn't news that would sell. You'll have an opportunity to experience what many on this board would say is brainwashing. It's like we are stupid and would allow someone to make us into Stepford parents. It's a scapegoat and when people base their stories on fear, it works.
Anyone can go into any organization and find unhappy employees that love to share their views. That kind of story sells.
Quit dancing around the issues and dig below the surface. You could probably even find one of the WWASPS support groups in your area so you can talk with parents about your own challenges with your child. If it's anything like the one we have where I live, no one is going to tell you to put your child in the school. It's a personal decision ,and all we would do is be ourselves, giving support to each other during a hard and emotional time.
You have a lot of power in your writing. It's your call how you research your story, and I don't think being on this forum is the healthiest way to find the truth. It's easy to get sucked into the negative posts and question if what's being said about specific programs is real or fantasy.
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***You have a lot of power in your writing. It's your call how you research your story, and I don't think being on this forum is the healthiest way to find the truth. It's easy to get sucked into the negative posts and question if what's being said about specific programs is real or fantasy.***
A card totin' program parent here. "This forum is not the healthiest way to find the truth"? What truth would that be anon? There is no one truth (your opinion) that fits all. We only have our experiences and what we perceive to be the truth. Some of us had negative experiences and I resent the implication that the stories maybe fantasy, not real. Perhaps you could share your story without trying to discredit others, or this forum? If not, then you might find a seminar real quick that helps one deal with control issues.
Here's a good but lengthy thread to read on WWASP in which the participants were given every opportunity to explain, debate, discuss, many aspects of the program in detail and declined.
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 65&forum=9 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=3865&forum=9)
I believe it reveals everything one would need to know about your program of choice.
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When I made reports of abuse and violations of law the authorities seemed to care less. Ken Stettler and the others were more concerned about the viabilitiy of the "business" than the welfare of the children. Case in point, I reported the abuse of several other children - this abuse was witnessed and detailed by my child - names were given. One 14 year old child (rape victim) had her nose broken in a violent human take down and had been overdosed with a forced injection of Haldol even though she was on several other psychotropic drugs. Another 16 year old girl with mental illness was being isolated in the tiny, cold, concrete observation room all day long. She wasn't allowed to go to school or socialize with anyone.
As for the rules - there are many - State and Federal Mental Health Codes and State laws. There are also violations of Constitutional Freedoms that are guaranteed to all who live in America.
According to the weakest of laws governing residential programs - Utah "core rules" children are not to be isoated for more than four hours. This one rule is constantly ignored as children are isolated for weeks. They are also not to keep children in solitary during the sleeping hours. My own child was kept in the cold, concrete, observation room until 1 am. I gave the authorities the document that showed this - the actual "observation room record" transcribed by a staff member. It also showed that she had been in there for 6 hours. Just on this one record alone there were two violations of the weak "core rules." Of course this was also a violation of State and Federal law as well. The document showed that the staff had not used any less restrictive method before resulting to isolation. (There is a box where they can check if they tried other things such as talking to the child) The list goes on an on. When I brought up all of the violations of Federal and State law - the licensing supervisor almost laughed and said, "Residential Facilities do not have to go by State and Federal mental health codes." HA HA HA. Then I brough up US CODE - Title 42 - and told him that they had to abide by this law - that the definition of "facility" was quite broad and would include their residential facilities. To this the "supervisor" of licensing of all of the youth programs and wilderness programs in the state of Utah, said, "I don't know anything about Title 42." So if someone knows the law and comes back at them - they claim ignorance. WELL they should NOT be ignorant of the laws that the United States Congress enacted in an effort to protect the mentally ill from abuse in their gawd-awful youth programs.
These programs are consistantly in violation of not only the weak core rules but every law from every body of law - State, Federal, Constitutional -
Provo Canyon School had an injunction placed on them for reading the mail of students. They were told in the Milonas case that even children do not give up their Constitutional rights when they are in the care of an institution or school. Regardless, they continue to violate the Constitutional rights of students. They also violate Title 42 daily as they impose strict and cruel punishments on children who are suffering from depression and other mental illnesses. Anyone with half a brain would conclude that it would be cruel and untherapeutic to isolate a child with severe depression for an entire week for venting about the abuse they had experienced in a group therapy session. This is done routinely. When children complain - the therapist tells the parent that they are lying. The therpists and administrators are lying and they are constantly violating child abuse reporting laws - which should be strictly enforced but are not. Instead of reporting the abuse my child experienced her therapist ordered isolation for a week. It's all documented.
The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MUST STEP IN AND SHUT DOWN EVERY SINGLE YOUTH FACILITY IN THE ENTIRE STATE OF UTAH. All of the children should be questioned about what is really going on in those dens of horror and abuse. [ This Message was edited by: cherish wisdom on 2004-05-27 12:08 ]
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Cherish, it's terrible what you and your child have been through. Have you thought of organizing a protest at the state Capitol in Salt Lake City comprised of PCS parents and former students? Also, I am confused as to whether you are a California or Utah resident and what, if anything, is the LDS church's position on this issue?
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Cherish, one other thing. Have you thought about getting in touch with the Youth Law Center to see if they would be interested in studying the complaints you are raising about PCS? If this facility is accepting state/federal money, it meets the standard for being under "color of state law" and a federal lawsuit can be brought alleging civil rights violations, among other allegations. The YLC in San Francisco, Ca. is the group who represented the plaintiffs in the Milonas case, if I am not mistaken. Wouldn't hurt to contact them for advice, either, as they are quite aware of what's going on in the privatized teen help industry.
Good Luck!
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I am a member of the LDS church - they have no position or interest in these youth programs. Some members of the church do own and opperate some of them. The church is officially opposed to child and spousal abuse.
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Federal violations get enforced by federal law enforcement. Call the FBI to report those.
You'd also need to look at the enforcement provisions in the law---but generally, unless a particular category of violation is specifically delegated---ie, DEA, Forest Service, BATF---the FBI has jurisdiction.
If they say they don't have jurisdiction, ask them who does.
TimocleaWar is God?s way of teaching Americans geography.
--Ambrose Bierce (died 1914)
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:wave:
Wow, thanks everybody. I appreciate all the responses - especially the insight into educational consultants and their role as well as pathways to follow with a variety of lawsuits.
I have limited time to respond to everyone at this point, but I appreciate the interest.
While I agree I have just scratched the surface as someone pointed out, at least it was a scratch. Again, my interest is that because so many of these programs are Utah-based and generating controversy, perhaps they merit some ink in terms of what people are saying and what is happening generally in the teen help industry.
Someone expressed concern using this forum to get at the truth because so many of the posts are negative. The forum, I believe, is simply a good way to gather information that can be verified and substantiated later on.
I am no more anxious to put my neck in legal noose than my editors are.
And the church connection, alas, comes up frequently by critics who claim Hinckley AKA the prophet gets a fax daily on controversial stories and exercises prior restraint. Not so.
Most of the staff on city desk - where I am assigned - don't even belong to the church.
But I won't argue that battle here.
Again, thanks everyone. I'm going to be away from the computer for a few days but I'll check in again Monday.
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I don't think it's that much of a mystery "why" so many emotional growth, behavior modification or residential treatment programs are in Utah. The State gives parents the "right" to be parents. Utah residents are family values oriented, though they don't define what those values are for each person. Too many States give children the right to dictate, control and abuse their parents. THey know if they say don't want to get help, they don't have to stop the behavior or the drugs. They can just say NO and continue to control.
Is it a Mormon thing why Utah is open to parents making decisions for their child?
Amy, look outside Utah as well and to what kinds of help are available. There's not much in the way of anything outside of a quick fix or mandated insurance guidelines.
In one of the threads I read about these programs being a multi-million a year industry. It's a much healthier way to help families, for the mostpart, than the multi-million dollar a year drug companies living fat from feeding our kids prescribed medication. The commercials show a warm and fuzzy result from telling us it's okay to give your kids new and improved ADD meds as an answer to defiant behavior. That's what I call wrong.
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To the Anon Program Apologist:
Making children a prisoner of their minds by locking them up in a "program" that controls their every thought and action, is child abuse.
Shoving drugs down the throats of children as the answer to unwanted behavior (or to enhance performance) in the home or classroom is another form of child abuse.
Children may not have many rights in this country, but one right they do have is the right not to be abused by their own parents.
This multi-million dollar industry could not make a dime without gullible parents writing checks every month to support their program-of-choice, all the while believing (as you do) they are to be commended for their efforts, instead of condemned for abusing their children by proxy.
:flame:
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Have you ever realized that some of the parents who send their kids to these places are abusive parents? The parents don't seem to care that their children are being roughed up. There's an attitude that all parents have. They almost like it that their undisciplined tyke is finally getting the kind of discipline that they would get arrested for inflicting upon them.
Honestly - if we could construct the same types of locked, cold, isolation rooms like Provo Canyon School - we would have no problem controling our children - we'd have problems with Child Protective Services - and be arrested for child abuse.
For some reason these youth programs can inflict inhumane abuse in the name of treatment and the authorities think nothing of it. :flame:
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If you'd like to view the petition it can be found at:
http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm (http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm)
The signatures can be viewse at:
http://students.washington.edu/heal/sign.htm (http://students.washington.edu/heal/sign.htm)
There are some interesting comments that can be viewed. :rofl:
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The signatures can now be viewed at
http://www.heal-online.org/sign.htm (http://www.heal-online.org/sign.htm)
There are some interesting comments about the program. [ This Message was edited by: cherish wisdom on 2004-05-30 19:42 ]
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On 2004-05-29 15:41:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Have you ever realized that some of the parents who send their kids to these places are abusive parents? The parents don't seem to care that their children are being roughed up. There's an attitude that all parents have. They almost like it that their undisciplined tyke is finally getting the kind of discipline that they would get arrested for inflicting upon them.
Honestly - if we could construct the same types of locked, cold, isolation rooms like Provo Canyon School - we would have no problem controling our children - we'd have problems with Child Protective Services - and be arrested for child abuse.
For some reason these youth programs can inflict inhumane abuse in the name of treatment and the authorities think nothing of it. :flame: "
Yep, there does not seem to be any shortage of parents who can afford to abuse their kids by proxy which is the main reason why the authorities think nothing of it. Why should they considering the fact that these places are PARENT-FUNDED, not state-funded.
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Where's the petition to STOP PARENT-FUNDED CHILD ABUSE?
:flame:
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On 2004-05-27 19:45:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I don't think it's that much of a mystery "why" so many emotional growth, behavior modification or residential treatment programs are in Utah. The State gives parents the "right" to be parents. Utah residents are family values oriented, though they don't define what those values are for each person. Too many States give children the right to dictate, control and abuse their parents. THey know if they say don't want to get help, they don't have to stop the behavior or the drugs. They can just say NO and continue to control.
Is it a Mormon thing why Utah is open to parents making decisions for their child?
Amy, look outside Utah as well and to what kinds of help are available. There's not much in the way of anything outside of a quick fix or mandated insurance guidelines.
In one of the threads I read about these programs being a multi-million a year industry. It's a much healthier way to help families, for the mostpart, than the multi-million dollar a year drug companies living fat from feeding our kids prescribed medication. The commercials show a warm and fuzzy result from telling us it's okay to give your kids new and improved ADD meds as an answer to defiant behavior. That's what I call wrong.
"
Yeah, you're the kind of nutbar that the rest of us in mainstream society want to reign in so that twenty years down the road we're not having to deal with *your* kids (or the kids of people who think like you) as perpetrators of crime and abuse as they become predators to cope with the psychological fear and pain from having been childhood victims of abuse.
See, not all of the victims of these abused children grown up to become perpetrators are *their own* kids----sometimes they go out and abuse *other* people's kids. Like, for example, the kids of those of us in mainstream society.
We in the mainstream cannot afford to allow you fringe idiots to raise up a future generation of fringe idiots and monsters---your problems and the legacy of your bad behavior are too likely to spill over onto us and our own children.
I want federal laws and federal standards for *any* boarding school that accepts out of state students.
I'd prefer that *no* children be abused, but I'd settle for having all the nutbars like you move to Utah where your future generations won't endanger *my* kids and grandkids and great-grandkids and so on.
Why do I think you're probably abusive? Because if you think the very basic protections kids in the mainstream US have from abuse and neglect amount to "dictating" and "control" over their parents, then you have *lousy* boundaries.
I hate to use psychobabble, but I really don't know of a better plain-English term for someone like yourself who doesn't know where one person ends and another begins to the point that you would describe the right not to be abused or neglected by parents as "control over" the parents.
It's not the kid controlling the parents, it's society controlling the parents by imposing the same standards of care on adult society members if they want to raise a child that most good parents would impose on a child who wants to raise a puppy.
Just like parents do for the little kid that doesn't want to take responsibility for caring for the puppy, society allows for parents who don't want to take responsibility for caring for their children to sign that care over to another consenting adult, or in some cases directly to the foster care system.
Even in states that don't provide for parents to sign their kids over to foster care just because they don't want the responsibility, it's fairly easy (if you just don't want the responsibility of not abusing or neglecting your kid) to convince Child Protective Services that you're an unfit parent and they need to remove the kids.
That you blame the kids for this control instead of seeing, rightly, that it's the rest of us in society who are controlling those parents----that tendency to blame the kids for the control we your fellow voters are exercising over you makes me concerned that you would take out your frustration with us, your fellow voters, on the kids---which is what leads me to form the opinion that you're probably a bad parent, if you're a parent at all.
My husband and I abide by society's rules on abuse and neglect, and we certainly have control over our child and not the other way around.
We have control over her because we all love each other and our approval is important to her, and we control the pocket money, and we control the TV, and she knows we will spank if necessary, and we control opportunities to do fun things she wants to do----we have the will and ability to do nice things for her, and she can rely on us for *good* advice on when she's cruising for life to spank her. She understands that parents sometimes spank because life spanks harder. She's a good kid.
If your child is out of your control, either it's a temporary illusion of adolescence, or your child is out of his/her own control (for example, mentally ill), or you're incompetent.
The tools mainstream society allows---rewards of all sorts, mild physical punishment when necessary, and that endless fount of parental control: The Good Talking-To, all applied consistently---are adequate to control any child that is not mentally ill or mentally disabled. If a child *is* mentally ill or mentally disabled, society allows, and supports, the use of doctor-prescribed medications and therapies to bring the child back under his own control--and thus under his parents'. Again, entirely adequate.
If you think those tools are *not* adequate and that you have to add the right to torture a kid or break his will (which breaks the kid--in the sense that it leaves him "broken"=permanently damaged) to get compliance, then you either aren't a parent, or shouldn't be one.
If you think a child's will needs to be broken to raise him properly, you shouldn't be entrusted with a puppy or a kitten, let alone a human child.
Get into therapy and work on your "boundary issues" and take some parenting classes. Then raise a dog before you try having a kid.
Or stick to houseplants.
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That was me.
TimocleaWe must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
-- Ben Franklin At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.
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This was taken from the comments section of the petition:
This inhumane place needs to be shut down!!!! It?s absolutely disgusting that this abusive and neglecting center is still open. Why does America stand for this kind of abuse to its children?? SHUT IT DOWN! How can anyone justify shooting a child up with Thorazine, or sexually abusing a child, or denying a child medical attention. I've seen all these happen in my 11-month stay there in 1990-1991. God help those that are in there now, and those of us that are left to deal with the "demons" since we have left.
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I don't know if this petition will work, but I do know that Provo Canyon School is quite abusive. It was once known as the program of last resort. Of course they have tried to change this immage - but they haven't lightened up on the punishment. All are treated the same and those who buck the system will suffer greatly.
If it can be closed down - it should be. Many of the programs in Utah are extremely punitive and abusive because Provo Canyon School was one of the first major programs and those who branched off learned Provo's methods and incorportated those methods into their programs.
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My boyfriend was sent to Provo Canyon School many years ago. The horrors changed him for the rest of his life. It did not help him in any way. It sounds like things are still the same. This place needs to be shut down.
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This inhumane place needs to be shut down!!!! It?s absolutely disgusting that this abusive and neglecting center is still open. Why does America stand for this kind of abuse to its children?? SHUT IT DOWN! How can anyone justify shooting a child up with Thorazine, or sexually abusing a child, or denying a child medical attention. I've seen all these happen in my 11-month stay there in 1990-1991. God help those that are in there now, and those of us that are left to deal with the "demons" since we have left.
:flame:
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This was a comment from the petition - by J.S. a survivor of PCS:
ATTENTION PARENTS - ATTENTION PARENTS ---- If you truly love your child you will not be deceived by PCS. Their tactics and lies are evil in more ways than one. I was locked up at PCS in 1988/1989.
FALSE ADVERTISING
PCS mislead my parents in the 80's and I am sure they are doing the same now. PCS has pamphlets that show the numerous activities that the child will take part in once at the school. This simply does not happen. Neither does the therapy sessions that are meant to help the child. PCS is not truly a "school." Although the teachers could be just as vindictive as the counselors who were hopped up on steroids, employees of PCS saw school as a privilege for the child. The counselors would often not allow children to attend classes so that they would always have some kids to punish during the day. I was at PCS for fourteen months and probably attended class about six of those months.
ABUSE - PHYSICAL AND MENTAL
For minor misbehavior or no bad behavior at all, the child would be made to stare at a wall anywhere from three to ten hours a day. For many children including myself, this would result in dizzy spells. This was mainly because of the room that this was taking place. It was in a unit of the school that had locked doors and no windows. During my stay there was a time when I stared at a wall ten hours a day for six months straight. There were other eight foot by eight foot rooms that were used for solitary confinement. I was locked in solitary for over 24 hours once, and I have seen friends locked in for over three days for what counselors would regard as a "poor attitude." PHYSICAL ABUSE would often occur as well. Almost daily you would see a small child slammed to the floor by a 250+ pound BYU football player. Of course these goons had absolutely no credentials to work these positions. Most of them were not bright and resort to violence when they were frustrated with a child.
INSURANCE FRAUD
This may be an area that does not receive as much focus as the other complaints by former students. However, this is something that is very disturbing and very real. According to the staff members at PCS, your child is so fucked up and such a mess until the time when your insurance begins to run out. You will be told that your child is (magically) transformed into a well-adjusted person only when your insurance is gone and you are no longer of any value to them. Another disturbing fact is the financial compensation that Psychiatrists across the United States would receive for referring parents to PCS.
I have dozens of disturbing stories regarding my stay at PCS but it is probably best that I do not get into all of the specifics in this forum.
EVERYTHING WE SPEAK OF IS TRUE
As someone who endured fourteen horrible months in such an evil place, I see it as my duty to educate parents about what PCS is truly all about.
Though I feel that sites like this are a positive thing for former students, friends, and family, I am also very aware of the amount of power and wealth held by PCS (PCS was owned by The Charter Corporation when I was there). I have knowledge of payoffs that PCS has made to former students in order to stay out of court. The class action lawsuit (twenty+ students) that I was a part of in the late 90's was only thrown out by the judge due to the statute of limitations law. Previous to that ruling PCS had tried to settle with all of us for about $5,000 which was an incredible insult. We are talking about an evil facility that is absolutely petrified of receiving bad press and going through a huge trial. They know that if they ever go to court and the truth comes out they will be forced to pay up big time.
I have always been consistent in saying that as much as it would be nice for me to receive financial compensation for what PCS put me and my family through, I would rather not receive a dime if it meant that PCS would be shut down.
By the way, there are hundreds more former students out there that don't even know that this forum and ones like it exist.
THERE ARE OTHER OPTIONS--
GOOD LUCK AND GOD BLESS--
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I've read at least one hundred different accounts of abuse at Provo Canyon School. After my own child was abused there I have done all that I can to notify authorities in an effort to protect other children. So far the authorities have done nothing. I don't know if a petition will move them to action - but it will show them that there are hundreds of people out there who know about it.
Save our planet; it's the only one with chocolate!
--Andi, domestic goddess
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CW - do you live in Utah or another state?
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On 2004-06-14 10:31:00, Anonymous wrote:
"CW - do you live in Utah or another state? "
Also, didn't I read somewhere that you are Mormon?
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On 2004-06-14 11:40:00, Anonymous wrote:
"
On 2004-06-14 10:31:00, Anonymous wrote:
"CW - do you live in Utah or another state? "
Also, didn't I read somewhere that you are Mormon?"
Why does it matter if one is Mormon???
Yes, it is true that Utah has a very large Mormon population, however there are other religional beliefs in Utah. And one being Mormon means nothing. Yes, most staff in Provo, teachers at schools, clerks at stores and just about anywhere else are Mormon. Again though, that is because Utah has a very large population of Mormons. Utah was settled by Mormons, hence the BYU college and the Seagulls for the state bird, etc.. Religion does not matter when it comes to the abuse of children. It is the person, what they are doing, and putting a end to the abuse that they are issuing to so many that deserve respect and kindness. I know many Mormons, and they are really nice people, kinda scary actually, cause there are not that many people around like that anymore. And no, I am not Mormon, in fact I believe in no God at all. Only myself and the power that I hold as a indivual along life's paths to make changes. So, now that that is all cleared up. Let me ask you a question.
Are you Mormon? :lol:
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Mormons have a history of looking the other way when fellow Saints screw up. If CW is Mormon, she should be spending her time and energy enlightening the Mormon leaders about the way children are being maltreated in MORMON owned and run facilities. Mormons are fine people, very family oriented and nothing in their religion condones nor sanctions child abuse in the name of therapy or God. Yet, the state is a haven for abusive treatment facilities!!! If change is to happen, it must come from the LDS leaders. That's how things get done in Utah -- not filing reports with DHS or asking the AG to intervene.
:wave:
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On 2004-06-14 16:48:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Mormons have a history of looking the other way when fellow Saints screw up. If CW is Mormon, she should be spending her time and energy enlightening the Mormon leaders about the way children are being maltreated in MORMON owned and run facilities. Mormons are fine people, very family oriented and nothing in their religion condones nor sanctions child abuse in the name of therapy or God. Yet, the state is a haven for abusive treatment facilities!!! If change is to happen, it must come from the LDS leaders. That's how things get done in Utah -- not filing reports with DHS or asking the AG to intervene.
:wave:
"
So another words, Mormonism is a type of political thing for Utah. Considering that most of California is made up of Republicans and then varying religions but Utah is made up of a large amount pf Mormons and they're beliefs run into they're jobs and they blend to make the law fit around they're belief system. Which to me sounds like a lot of politics. Fine, okay, that makes sense. You want something done you gotta convince the Mormon priest etc... before anyting gets done. However, the reason why Utah has so many of these damn treatment places, if you would look at a map, Utah's geography is mainly vast mountains, valleys and deserts, the only way out is to cross the deserts for the most part, so it makes it a ideal state for these places because it makes it harder for anyone to run, that and because the nights are always so damn cold, with only the clothes on your back and being surrounded by a mountainis, valley, desert region, makes it hard for anyone to run and survive without being caught, if they have no clue where they are going, what they are doing, and how to live off of the land without injury or death. And that is that, C.W. has nothing to prove with her church and it's members, she's no reason to bring up trouble with them and make it hard on herself. It is not only utah and the majority of those in it who turn a blind eye to this, it is the world, people dont like to see things like this or admit it, whether it is happening in another country or what not. But when it is happening in your own backyard to the children of your country, hell you think it's hard to look at stuff like that before, try realizing that it is on your own turf. THAT, a lot of people really do not want to see and or admit, and it is hard to get them to turn they're blind eye to what is going on and make them see it, it is up to them, not us, we cannot make them look. We can only make the information avaliable for them and fight for what we believe in.
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Regarding Mormons: First of all - there are facilities in Utah that are owned by Mormons because that faith is prevalent in Utah. Just because someone is a particular faith means nothing. I've heard of children being abused in Catholic and Christian schools. The Mormon Church does not affiliate itself with any youth program or hospital. They were once affiliated with Primary Children's hospital and LDS hospital (both in SLC) but are no longer owners of those facilities. They do not promote sending children off to residential programs - so there is no connection. None of these programs in Utah claim to be affiliated with the Mormon church.
You know, if Mama Cass Elliot would have shared that damn sandwich
with Karen Carpenter, they would both still be alive today!!!!!!!
--chongo
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***I know many Mormons, and they are really nice people, kinda scary actually, cause there are not that many people around like that anymore.
Just as there are christians who do not take the saying, "spare the rod and spoil the child" literally. BUT, Mormons do have a history of abusing women and children, as do other religions, and it would be wise to know if you are dealing with one who believes that 'abuse' is no more than godly discipline. That's the bottom line, whether it's Mormon, Catholic, Baptist, etc. etc. etc.
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You may be thinking of the polygamists who are not part of the main stream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. True they do abuse women and children in these polygamist cults but they are not part of the mainstream "mormon church." Those who abuse women and children are subject to disfellowship and excommunication in the LDS church. Spousal and child abuse is considered an abomination by the LDS church. The doctrine in no way condones abuse of women or children.
"Narcotics have been systematically scapegoated and demonized. The idea that anyone can use drugs and escape a horrible fate is an anathema to these idiots. I predict that in the near future right-wingers will use drug hysteria as a pretext to set up an international police apparatus."
--William S. Burroughs
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CW,
You seem to be fairly knowledgable on the topic of Mormons.
Have you read this thread:
http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 25&forum=9 (http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=2825&forum=9)
I'd be interested in your comments on the stats, etc offered there.
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This really has nothing to do with the LDS church - that church has nothing to do with Provo Canyon School. Some of the staff are affiliated with the church like 50% of the people in Utah.
Deborah - I read your posts and it appears you have a prejudice against "mormons" as you call them. The church is not officially called the Mormon Church - it is The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. No church should be dragged into this discussion. I'm sure the Baptists don't support child abuse even though many of the Christian programs - like Bethel - have been extremely abusive. None of the programs in Utah claim any affilitation with the LDS church.
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Anon, pay attention: No one is saying these programs are endorsed by the Church of Latter Day Saints.
They are however owned and run mostly by people who are members of the Church of Latter Day Saints.
Nowhere else in the United States, are there nearly *200* programs operating in a single state which are all owned and run by Mormons, or by people of any other *religious* denomination, for that matter.
Utah is the capital of the for-profit teen help industry NOT because they are experts in the field of adolescent behavioral healthcare but because land is cheap, state oversight lax, and for a mere $300.00 or so, anybody can get a business license and call themselves a specialty school or program for troubled teens.
Digging deeper, it is no accident that in spite of a number of fatalities in wilderness therapy programs in Utah, not one Mormon has ever been held criminally accountable. Programs have been shut down for violations resulting in death (Skyline Journey, Red Rock Ranch Academy, Summit Quest, Northstar Expeditions) but closing a program is not justice, it is damage control.
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No anon, I do not have prejudice toward Mormons in general. There are Mormons in my extended family. And, btw, that is how they refer to themselves. They do not say they are members of the CLS, they say they are Mormon. Guess it varies. Further, I have never stated that the CLS condones programs or abuse in programs.
I do have concerns about any person who uses their interpretation of their religion to condone abuse, passing it off as discipline. No matter which religion.
Based on the articles I posted in that thread, there appears to an overall acceptance for abusing women and children among Mormons. I didn't say that, the journalist did. Of course, it would depend on one's definition of abuse. And that seems to be a real problem in general within the industry.
One of these distant relatives was recently married. Get this. She must wear a body suit at all times unless she is showering or having sex with her husband. Pardon me if my opinion sounds prejudice, but that's just too damn weird and fits into my catagory of abuse. Definitely a double standard- hubby's not required to 'chaste' (or whatever it's called) himself.
An example of old traditions/laws, that possibly made sense hundreds of years ago, that are still intact among many religious people. Why would any woman agree to that? And what would the benefit to her be? Or to her husband? I don't know about their other customs and traditions, that's just one I happen to know about.
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On 2004-06-15 15:39:00, cherish wisdom wrote:
"Regarding Mormons: First of all - there are facilities in Utah that are owned by Mormons because that faith is prevalent in Utah. Just because someone is a particular faith means nothing. I've heard of children being abused in Catholic and Christian schools. The Mormon Church does not affiliate itself with any youth program or hospital. They were once affiliated with Primary Children's hospital and LDS hospital (both in SLC) but are no longer owners of those facilities. They do not promote sending children off to residential programs - so there is no connection. None of these programs in Utah claim to be affiliated with the Mormon church.
You know, if Mama Cass Elliot would have shared that damn sandwich
with Karen Carpenter, they would both still be alive today!!!!!!!
--chongo
"
THNAK YOU C.W. :exclaim: :exclaim: :exclaim:
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Ponit being, it does not matter ones religion or what not, it is the simple, basic and bottom line, that these children are being abused by adults that know better than to do this, parents will not believe the'yre children and more suffer for it, and a vast majority of America turns a blind eye to what is going on in they're own backyard across the states.
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***Just because someone is a particular faith means nothing. I've heard of children being abused in Catholic and Christian schools.
I agree completely with your last comment. I have to disagree with the first. I am not aware of any religion that doesn't have some teaching about how to raise children. It really boils down to how the individual interprets the teaching. I personally wouldn't turn my child over to ANY religious fanatic.
Many Southern Baptist interpret their teaching to mean it's okey dokey to beat a child, not just spank, but literally 'beat the devil out them'. I think 'Bro Roloff' was fond of slapping kids- one of the most humiliating things that can happen to a kid. Even more so if done in public.
Lichfield has stated that he does god's work in his programs. I, for one, would definitely want to know how he interprets his religious teachings and where he draws the line between 'discipline' and 'abuse' AND how he trains his staff.
Many who own programs are Mormon.
The folks who license the programs are Mormon.
Some of the most powerful political officials are Mormon. That they allow this to continue is questionable, wouldn't you say? Perhaps it has nothing to do with their religion. I don't know for sure, but remain skeptical until proven otherwise. I'm afraid that these particular Mormons are some of those who condone abuse.
That's all. Don't make more out of this than it is. I'm not singling out Mormons, just happens to be the topic of this thread. I'd be saying the same if it were about Baptist or Catholics. If you think that there aren't abusive fanatics in every religion, you are mistaken.
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Well said, Deborah.
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It is naive to think Mormonism is not a "way of life" in Utah. It most definitly is.
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On 2004-06-16 10:31:00, Deborah wrote:
Many who own programs are Mormon.
The folks who license the programs are Mormon.
Some of the most powerful political officials are Mormon.
A; we should all know that politics is made up of lying and corrupt individuals.
B; Of course many who own prgrams in Utah are Mormon, Utah has the largest community of Mormons! Duh! Common sense, please, I mean you could say that most programs in california are owned by Christians, but California has such a wide culture of different religions and such that this would not be true. To where Utah is almost all Mormons. So with anything to do with Utha, of course a whole lot of the people are going to be Mormon. Just use common sense. Just because someone is Mormon does not make them bad people or make them make the wrong decision. Everyone has to make every decision in life for themselves. I don't care what religion or whatever, everyone makes they're own choices.
END :exclaim: :exclaim: :exclaim:
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Back to the petition. How is an online petition submitted? Has anyone ever seen anything happen as a result?
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On 2004-06-16 12:27:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Back to the petition. How is an online petition submitted? Has anyone ever seen anything happen as a result?"
They got the "Angel" tevelision show back on the tube for the final 5 episodes after an online petition, so yea, anything can happen, just depends on who you get it to and whether they take you seriously or not. Good question.
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THIS WAS ON THE PETITION TO CLOSE PROVO CANYON SCHOOL. MAYBE SOMEONE CAN HELP THIS MAN
My Grand Daughter was sent to a place called Casa by the sea in Mexico by her parents. I'm currently trying to get her home. This boot camp is run by World Wide Association of Specialty Programs. I need help! I would appreciate anything or any information that could help get this ugly organization put out of business. Contact: [email protected]
JOHNNIE WILLIAMS
HE WANTS HELP Y-ALL
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Call child protective services to report abuse in the Provo area (there are about 10 facilities)
801- 374-7005
Please call Provo Child Protective Services and report your abuse and the abuse you witnessed. Give the names of those who have been injured, kicked, beaten, sexually assaulted, punished with isolation and seclusion for more than four hours, forced druggings and denial of proper medical care. These are all violations of law. Torture is not therapy - and they do not have a right to abuse you. You may not become aware of this until later because of what they tell you. Don't let them brainwash you. I know they have a great song and dance for the parents and many are totally sucked in to the PROGRAM - which in reality is a REPROGRAMING of your mind and values using extremely abusive methods of conditioning and warped behavior modification to meet that end.
If you are a parent - realize that they are very good at getting parents to accept all the wonderful things they are doing. As long as you have money they will continue to tell you that your child is not ready - they only want your money. How much are they charging? $8,000 per month - $10,000 per month - This school makes about 2 million dollars per month off of all of you. You are paying them to punish your child in most outrageous ways. It's desparate parent like you all who keep this abusive industry alive and thriving. At least revoke your consent for chemical and physical restraints and isolation - because these tools of the trade can KILL YOUR CHILD.
Students and Former Students - please report the abuse you experienced and witnessed to the authorities. Your parents have been programed not to believe you. They are warned in letters and at parent support groups that many of you will say and do anything to get released. Others will believe yoy. The abuses of staff must be exposed. As your attorney, it is my duty to inform you that it is not important that you understand what I'm doing or why you're paying me so much money. What's important is that you continue to do so.
--Hunter S. Thompson's Samoan Attorney
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If you'd like to view the petition it can be found at:
http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm (http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm)
The signatures can be viewed at:
http://www.heal-online.org/sign.htm (http://www.heal-online.org/sign.htm)
There are close to 300. You can collect signatures, comments and e-mail addresses and post them on the on-line petition. The comments are quiet interesting.The trouble with practical jokes is that very often they get elected.
Will Rogers, American humorist, political commentator and cowboy philosopher
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My sister was sent to Provo last year and was injured and traumatized. It's an abusive program with lots of punishments instead of treatment. They shouldn't take kids with depression because they only make it worse. It should be shut down for torture.
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I had some trouble signing the petition. Is something wrong?
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It's reported that Mary Kate Olsen from the Olsen twins is at facility that is located directly across the street from Provo Canyon School's Orem campus. These reporters need to look across the street for a real story - a story that involves abuse and torture of children as young as 12 years old - all in the name of treatment. Hopefully the techniques used at Cirque Lodge are different than those employed across the street.
A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what's left of your unit.
-- In the August 1993 issue, page 9, of PS magazine, the Army's magazine of preventive maintenance
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I witnessed abuse in the extreme while at Provo Canyon School. It was truly a terrible experience. It should be shut down. I have signed this petition and hope that it will work.
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This was taken from the petition to close Provo Canyon School....
There was emotional and mental abuse. Using isolation and seclusion and staring at a wall is mental abuse. I also experienced physcial abuse when staff violently restrained me while forcing a mind altering drug into my body against my will. They then left me in a comatose state without getting me any medical attention or monitoring me. This was also abuse. Did anyone else see any of this? I also saw a girl, who had a broken nose after a human take down - as staff pushed her face into the floor. For some reason she now thinks PCS helped her. I guess I didn't stay long enough or drink enough Kool Aid to feel that they helped me in any way whatsoever. It was the most abusive experience I've had in my entire life. Did anyone else see any of this?
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You are not alone, there have been hundreds of reports of abuse there. It has a notorious reputation as a "last resort" type of program. All are treated the same regardless of whether they are a rape victim or a drug dealer.
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How many signatures will it take before this is presented to the authorities? I looked at the petition and there are almost 300 signatures. When will this be given to the authorities?
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i lived through the hell. i still have nightmares about it, 6 years later... no child should ever be enslaved in that.
This was taken from the petition to close Provo Canyon School....Nearly 300 signatures so far
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provo had a deal with cascade head michael allgood where he would send them kids and they would torture them so they would want to go back to cascade he sits on the board of these emotional growth newsletters with lon woodbury. there is a big network where they are all cover up for each other. they just say that the kid is lying and they deal with it all the time.
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It's truly amazing how this industry gets away with everything short of murder. I guess one could say that they get away with murder.
I can honestly say that all of the authorities turn a deaf ear to reports of abuse at PCS - I believe it is because the State uses tax payer funds to send juvenile offenders there. This information needs to get out to the public. When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.
--
Anonymous . . . for obvious reasons
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I now suffer from post traumatic stress disorder as well as social phobia...it has been many yrs since I left pcs and I still am haunted and left with the damage and disorders pcs left me with... I hope and pray justice will be done.
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These types of programs should all be shut down. Provo Canyon School has a notorious reputation in the psychological community. It is known as a facility of last resort for the truly difficult teens. These reports of abuse that have been described by survivors of this program must be taken serioulsly by the authorities who allow programs like this to not only profit but proliferate. Provo Canyon School is obvioulsly in violation of many rules, codes and laws. Particularly those laws that have been established to protect the mentally ill. It should be closed as a result of cruelty to those who suffer from diagnosed mental illnesses such as depression and bipolar disease.
The weavers of linen and hempen cloth, ... may exercise their trades without paying any fine.
-- Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (chapter X, part II) notes:
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I agree with shutting down Provo Canyon School and I believe that there should be petitions for shutting down another school just like it called Logan River Academy, which was started by people who used to work at Provo. Thanks for your time and good luck!
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I went to a similar place next to PCS called Island View. These programs use crazy methods of reform and ALL NEED TO BE SHUT DOWN!!!!!
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This was recently posted on this petition to close:
I picked up my son on Saturday, July 17th in Utah, I pulled him out of the program, I was more and more frustrated the more I read on PCS. He came home with a swollen eye, cuts all over his hands and right finger swollen and bruised, knee cut up and swollen and bruised. It was just as I had read in all the emails/internet. He was threatened and spoken to in such a manner that made my stomach turn. His life was threatened as well. My son did get into a physical fight with another student, and stopped immediately, but it did not stop the staff from throwing him down twisting his neck and throwing him into the "Observation Room", which by the way he spent the entire night, cold and smells of urine and who knows what else, just smells really bad and very cold. Just so you know I never mentioned anything to my son about what I had read, I simply asked him to describe what he went through, now remember he was there for only 13 days, and witnessed 12 year old boys being punched in the nose and made fun of on a daily basis, how therapeutic is that? There a person there by the name of Levi who told my son on many occasions, that "his _ss was his, it is his way or the freeway, and don't be surprised he if he was to get shot", like killed, and calls the boys in the unit all really really bad names. This place is incredible and can't believe that children are suffering. My son said that there are a lot of court ordered boys in there so they don't even have a chance. Also, that all calls are monitored and they are told before they talk to their parents that they better not manipulate us by saying they want to go home or anything negative about PCS. Please let me know how and what to do to help take this place out of business.
If once [the people] become inattentive to the public affairs,
you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors,
shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general
nature, in spite of individual exceptions.
Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787
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PCS is very inhumane and unsanitary. While I was there I was treated with no respect and zero tolerance for everything I did. I do hereby swear that I want PCS shut down, FOR GOOD! They neglected me of medical attention and therapy sessions, other patients as well. The staff gossip about the girls at night while they are asleep and no action is taken when this is grievanced. They brainwash the children and people are starting to expect that the food is being medicated. Also on a number of accounts there has been bugs, human hairs, and mold found on, around, and inside the food served at PCS. I indeed agree with all the statements made above and my family is planning on suing PCS for negligence and for accepting me illegally.
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I have read reams of documents both specifically concerning Provo Canyon's record of abuse prior to and since they were purchased by their new owner and generally, regarding the "troubled teen industry" practices. As a former Marriage and Family Therapist and now a Child Welfare Advocate I am enraged at the failure of so many institutions at the federal, state and local levels that so many vulnerable families, particularly children can be imprisoned in "schools" such as Provo Canyon who are not only committing horrendous child abuse in the name of "treatment" but are charging immense amounts of money to perform this abuse paid out of pocket by families, who, for the most part, do not have it to spend
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There are now more than three hundred signatures on the petition to close Provo Canyon School. One can manually circulate the petition and the names can then be entered onto the on-line petition....
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This program is well known as the place of last resort - yet they don't advertise this to parents, nor do they tell them this. They have been abusing children for over 30 years now. They continue to isolate children for long periods of time regardless of permanent injunctions which forbid this treatment. They violate State and Federal law. They violate the Constitutional rights of children. Most parents are kept in the dark. Phone and mail are all monitored. This program should be shut down and every child should be examined and interviewed to determine the magnitude of the abuse.
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Schools such as this were brought to my attention three years ago...Before then, I was not aware of the plights of the thousands of teenagers that are subjected to these types of facilities.
I find that the really sad part of these stories is that the American mainstream would never believe that they were true. We can't get Americans to believe that such conditions exist in foreign countries, much less within our own borders.
The catalyst that will bring about change is getting the word out...Letting America know that these children are suffering.
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This was from the petition to close Provo Canyon School - August 2004
We are going to get my brother from provo canyon today he has been there about 90 days.. We read the website and it was horrific. I wont know the extent of the damage done to my brother until he gets home back to California tomorrow but I will find out and any and all action will be taken.
Lynda
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I am the webmaster of http://www.mountainparksurvivors.com (http://www.mountainparksurvivors.com) and a Survivor of Mountain Park Baptist Boarding Academy in Patterson, MO and also of New Bethany Home for Girls in Arcadia, LA.
I have made it my goal in life to see all such "behavior modification lock-up schools" outlawed and to make it illegal for parents to send their kids to similar schools operating outside the country.
I pray that we see victory in this soon!!!
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My cousin is there right now, I am very afraid for her, so I signed this in hopes of her being helped the right way.
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If I were you, I'd get a lawyer, talk to her parents PRONTO and push for communication with her and get her parents to open their eyes and READ this forum and READ what goes on and THINK "Gee, why haven't we spoken to our kid" ?
Just don't give up, keep fighting for it, and focus on the light at the end of the tunnel.
http://www.askquestions.org/articles/teens/ (http://www.askquestions.org/articles/teens/) this is a good place to start if you want to educate yourself about this issue. Go to ISAC http://www.isaccorp.com/index.html (http://www.isaccorp.com/index.html) and try to get some help.
Good luck, and god bless.
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I am a survivor of Cross Creek Manor in Southern Utah - I was locked up for 18 months (1997 - 1999). It's been 5 years since I was released from Cross Creek and I'm still fighting an uphill battle with depression, anxiety & crippling self-doubt. I will do anything and everything to help shut these places down.
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I was staff at Turn-About Ranch in Escalante and filed a pretty heavy sexual abuse report with the case closed by the Sheriff's Office, Child Protective Services, and the State Licensor within a week. Actually CPS investigated all of one day.
The Turn-About Director is related to the CPS lady, the sexual offender is a police informant, and the State Licensor's husband works at a different Aspen Education facility.
Oh, the tangled webs we weave.
All of these facilities are just about BIG BUCKS. Some of the staff may care for the kids, but the corporate offices do not. It's time to close them all down.
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On 2004-09-06 11:58:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I am a survivor of Cross Creek Manor in Southern Utah - I was locked up for 18 months (1997 - 1999). It's been 5 years since I was released from Cross Creek and I'm still fighting an uphill battle with depression, anxiety & crippling self-doubt. I will do anything and everything to help shut these places down.
"
I hope you do well with your mental illness. I've been living with mine since I was 5, diagnosed and treated since I was 25. With a strong course of therapy to start and maintenance medication ongoing, I live a basically normal life. Not perfectly normal, but as normal as the life of a treated diabetic or epileptic. (I'm bipolar II.)
I'm happy and have a good life.
I hope for the same for you.
I've found one of the Yahoo support groups very helpful. They have a bunch that are dx specific. It's free. Some groups are restricted to people who have that diagnosis, and have rules that make the group a safe, confidential place you can trust.
The people in my group really help when things come up that are hard to cope with.
I hope this information helps.
Timoclea
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was in pcs in the early 80?s, very controlled environment, ruthless, and they are the ones lying and manipulating, you cannot change a person by controlling them and putting them in isolation, and standing ips for goodness sake, I am now in my 30?s and have lower back pain, and trust issues, how can you trust when people take advantage and lie to you, and leave you alone for so long, it was insane the confusion and feelings of hate and anger they aroused ,they didn?t help, they harmed , and it should be stopped. I have never been able to talk about this to my parents, and I still remember walking down that hall and not knowing that was happening, as they surely manipulated my mom as she sat there staring at me as I left, I cannot remember when I saw her, but the phone calls were monitored and all that I have read is true , although I did not witness severe physical abuse, but harsh treatment , the steroid men throwing you down on the floor, like we can hurt them anyway, and the isolation and the cries, I cried for a year, what my mom was told is it is manipulation,it was all terrible, and it has got to stop!!!!
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I was placed in PCS in April, 1974 through December, 1975. I was there when Litchfield, Ron Garrett and Karr Farnsworth were counselors, or general staff there. I was one of the eight in the original class action suit after Milano vs. Rice. The original owner,Jack Williams, or, "Turtle", as we used to call him, was my freakin' therapist! Hell, he didn't have the credentials for that. He was a high school dropout! I was also the first student to be busted back to "orientation" by the polygraph. I was given 500 hours by a MACHINE, fer chrissakes! I had to stay awake at night telling myself that what they were doing was right and I was wrong until I convinced myself enough to pass the polygraph. I had to go once a week for my polygraph test even after I terminated. I witnessed so many atrocities while I was there that I might as well have served my time at a Nazi concentration camp. And yes, I know friends that died and offed themselves, rather than subject themselves to re-interrment. To all of you skeptics... everything these survivors are saying is TRUE. if you want documentation, it is in the Utah court archives, and you can get the case # on several of the links in posts above. It has been 30 years for me, and I still have no closure. I long to talk to my buddies I met and became friends with during my stay.I am so sorry to all of you interred after me for not pushing our case to it's rightful end; that being BANKRUPTING THOSE BASTARDS! It sickens me to think this MAD DOG has spawned its own SICK & FILTHY offspring, and that the likes of Litchfield and Farnsworth still profit from pain, torture, and manipulation. I am glad to see that despite all of the efforts of PCS and the rest to keep us apart and un-noticed, that there are forums such as these where we can band together and become one LOUD voice!
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I just read your story about the atrocities in 1975. Unfortunately many of the same people are still there and the WWASP programs are the offspring of Provo Canyon (it's where Lichfield and Farnsworth learned the ropes and went off to seek their own fortune in the teen-torture industry. Best wishes to you and thanks for speaking out.
The sadist cannot stand the separation of the public and the private; nor can he grant to others the mystery of their personality, the validity of their inner self...in order for him to feel his maximum power, he wants the world to be peopled with concrete manipulatable objects...
-- ERNEST BECKER, The Structure of Evil, 1968.
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:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: My long time love and good friend went to Provo. It fucked him up beyond any reasonable point. He had severe social problems after being released not to mention his lasting mental trauma. Nightmares, random panic and paranoia all regarding the school lasting up until even now (its been over 4 years). CLOSE THAT CHILD ABUSIVE NAZI CAMP DOWN NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I had a friend warn me that I was going to be set away. I had no idea what he ment at first but he was dead serious! my mother had talked to his mother about sending me to a therapeutic boarding school. I still had no idea what he was talking about but what he said sure scared me. He said that he was sent to PROVo where he wa thrown in a dark room with no clothes for days! That was all that I needed to hear and I was scared! There was more, but all of you probably heard it all already. I give my support in shutting down provo & ALL therapeutic boarding schools like CEDU too!
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There are about 350 signatures so far. Keep signing the petition and get your friends and family to sign. Provo Canyon School is one of the largest and oldest programs. The methods used at Provo Canyon are used in WWASP and other abusive programs.
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My friend Bixby attended Provo Canyon School in the early 1980s. The horror stories he told me about how he was treated at the school stunned me, as I had grown up LDS and many of the staff there were also LDS (although Bixby is not). I was embarrassed and humiliated to find out what was going there, under the auspices of "therapy" and "education".
Connell
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If you want to know what is going on at Provo show up their without telling them you are coming and wire yourself with a hidden video camera and an audio recording device and have some law enforcement there and demand to speak to the kids in solitary not just the puppets they trot out. Have the parents contacted while you are there watching them make the call and have them pick up the kids. Provo is just a scam so they can have lavish lifestyles at the expense of taken advantage of youth sent there by ignorant parents and paid off placement people. Parents who want to help their kids should put them in low cost group therapy with social workers not shrinks or emotional growth boarding schools especially not one that has former cedu staff like allgood and wasserman and michael cruciano and rudy benz who clone the abusive programs so they can cash in like the CULT LEADERS, that is right all them cedu clones are cults, who taught them that their lifestyles come before your kids's mental health. Allgood and his associates PROJECT all over the place. if they say your kid is lying it means that they are lying to you.
provo had a deal with cascade head michael allgood where he would send them kids and they would torture them so they would want to go back to cascade he sits on the board of these emotional growth newsletters with lon woodbury. there is a big network where they are all cover up for each other. they just say that the kid is lying and they deal with it all the time. Allgood came out of Cedu where he did the same thing. A real abusive psychopath mel wasserman and his sadistic son mark also ran cedu. wassermans were such good liars that could get many people to cover up for them by saying that the place helped them. usually with the making friends part. He conned michael landon so well and blew so much smoke up his ass that his dear little leslie landon matthews is a devoted wasserman believer and her book my father completely fails to tell the truth about what cedu really did to kids but hey mel is quite the conman and sociopath who believes that by abusing kids he is helping them If allgood and wasserman think they can control your kid they will hit you up for cash so they can live it up. they will tell you your kid is acting up and tell you they can send him to provo. they will tell your kid this too to scare him into doing what they want.
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The authorities in Utah are jacked up. Do you honestly think that the police would escort someone to Provo. They love PCS - and like that fact that kids are locked up there. There are many children at PCS who are there at tax-payer expence. What's incredible is that kids have less rights at PCS than they do in juvenile detention. In Utah - JD allows visitors three times per week and unmonitored phone calls daily. This just doesn't happen at PCS.
What needs to be done is this. People need to do undercover work there. They need to get a job as an aide and then have a wireless video camera on their shirt (there are cameras that are as small as a button). They then need to present all of this evidence to the media. Or someone needs to make a documentary about it. The truth is - most people don't know what's going on - so there isn't enough public outrage to get change or legislation for that matter.
More must be done before the authorities in this country will close places like Provo Canyon School. The most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of
knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised, for the preservation of freedom and happiness.
--Thomas Jefferson
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According to Provo Canyon School, the proper receiving protocol for a 15-year-old girl who is suffering from a crystal meth addiction would be to first take off all of her clothes. If she happens to be menstruating, it is important to remove her tampon. Is she refuses to do it; then you should knock her to the floor... NAKED... and have the nurse take it out. Because God knows! That girl is such a "Sick, scummy, inhumane little whimpering dog." Much to their surprise; there was no meth launched above the bloody tampon. I guess I couldn't fit a lighter and a pipe up my vagina to smoke it with before i left Hawaii; and therefore my drug smuggling was pointless.
What kind of bullshit is that????
Oh!!! Don't forget!!! Depressed people LOVE being addressed by their last names as if in the military. And all teenage girls can learn a lot for bitchy college students who snort cocaine while working the night shift.
I graduated the program after two years. Fair and square. And within days of returning home I smokes an 8-ball and ended up in the hospital from a seizure and OD. Effective treatment,
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I never cease to be amazed... I really do wonder why people think this is good treatment to hurt people. I guess "breaking down" to "build them up" is just drilled into their heads.
Necessity is the excuse for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of the tyrant and the creed of the slave.
-- William Pitt, 1763
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I went to Provo Canyon to be treated for depression. I was also stripped and searched. They said, "did your mom ever tell you how fat you are?" They made me try on all of my clothes, touch my feet - bend over. Most of my things were sent home and I was left with only two pants and about three tops. It didn't matter that much - within three days I was in "investment" to work off points for refusing to let them read my mail. They stripped me naked there too - by forse and gave me some bright orange sweats to wear - so that all would know I was a "trouble maker." My make up was also taken away. I was abused, taken down, drugged, isolated. They refused to let me write grievances.
It was truly a nightmare and no one should be "treated" for depression there. I will always remember how horrible I was treated.
Please sign the petition to close this place. If any place should be closed it is Provo Canyon School..... :eek: :eek:
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On 2004-10-27 11:00:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I went to Provo Canyon to be treated for depression. I was also stripped and searched. They said, "did your mom ever tell you how fat you are?" They made me try on all of my clothes, touch my feet - bend over. Most of my things were sent home and I was left with only two pants and about three tops. It didn't matter that much - within three days I was in "investment" to work off points for refusing to let them read my mail. They stripped me naked there too - by forse and gave me some bright orange sweats to wear - so that all would know I was a "trouble maker." My make up was also taken away. I was abused, taken down, drugged, isolated. They refused to let me write grievances.
It was truly a nightmare and no one should be "treated" for depression there. I will always remember how horrible I was treated.
Please sign the petition to close this place. If any place should be closed it is Provo Canyon School..... :eek: :eek: "
My sympathies. I'm bipolar, tending heavily towards the depressive side, so I know the pain of clinical depression. Nobody suffering from mental illness should ever be subjected to that kind of emotional abuse. Hell, nobody *well* should have to deal with it, either.
I hope you're able to recover and get beyond the additional trauma of what those bastards did to you.
Timoclea
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I've said it before and I'll say it again.
Friends, family, hugs, and a brownie could do more for depression than this treatment or prozac ever will. Go take the kid out to have fun, make them feel good about themself, focus on their strengths and build self esteem without locking them up!Totalitarianism is like a specter which drinks the blood of the living and so achieves reality, while the victims go on existing as a mass of living corpses.
Karl Jaspers, The Fight Against Totalitarianism (1963)
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The authorities look the other way when complaints are made against Provo Canyon School. They continue to get away with gross violations of laws because the authorities do nothing. Something is seriously wrong in Utah.......
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I just heard that Provo Canyon's lawyers are trying very hard to shut down web-sites that are "libelous" to Provo Canyon School. They indicated that the web-sites are causing economic damages to the school. [ This Message was edited by: nite owl on 2004-11-05 14:24 ]
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They indicated that the web-sites are causing economic damages to the school.
Good. It looks like that's the best way to shut these places down-- make sure they suffer economic damage and are unable to operate.
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Here is another testimonial from DH a former patient:
I spent 1979-80 there at Provo Canyon. I personally was beaten at the hands of Chris Weenig under the full Knowledge of Jack Williams. There was widespread mental and physical abuse of most of the "students" there. 23 years later I still have nightmares about my time there. The facility kidnapped me from my home in Portland and flew me by private plane to Utah in handcuffs. I'm not sure what has been happening there recently but during my time it was horrible.
More testimonials can be found by viewing the petition signatures the site is at the beginning of this post.....The Christian faith from the beginning, is sacrifice: the sacrifice of all freedom, all pride, all self-confidence of spirit; it is at the same time subjection, a self-derision, and self-mutilation.
--Freidrich Nietzsche, German philosopher
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This is a highly abusive program and one of the most expensive and largest in Utah. I'd like to encourage all of you to get signatures, email address and statements from friends at work. I was able to obtain 20 signatures for the petition at work. You can down-load the petition to help with this effort. Please do so. There are close to 400 signatures now......
If quitting drugs means joining the war on terrorism, does this portend the fire bombing of Amsterdamn ?
--Felton Manifestation
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My girlfriend came out three times as screwed up as when she went in. She's told me stories; but I always thought she was exaggerating until she showed me this website. Please close this school down because it's turning all the good ones into lesbians
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Dr. Phil is sending a child to Provo Canyon today.
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On 2004-11-24 13:18:00, Anonymous wrote:
Dr. Phil is sending a child to Provo Canyon today.
This is very bad. I just posted the following to the appropriate message board on Dr. Phil's web site (http://boards.drphil.com/WebX?14@@.f068cb3 (http://boards.drphil.com/WebX?14@@.f068cb3)); hopefully it will make it past their moderator. Thanks to the posters to this thread who provided me with many of my references.
I feel for Terri and David, but I cannot believe that Dr. Phil suggested that their troubled teenage daughter be sent AWAY when the root cause of her problems is an ATTACHMENT disorder (Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD)) -- and to Provo Canyon School, no less! Provo Canyon has a documented history of child abuse and is currently being petitioned to cease operations. (There is a very good article on page nine of the PDF document located at http://students.washington.edu/~ruckus/ ... 0_web.pdf; (http://students.washington.edu/~ruckus/vol-7/Issue2_Oct20_web.pdf;) the petition can be found at http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm (http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm). Testimonials from some Provo Canyon alumni can be viewed by clicking on the link "The Undersigned" on the petition page.)
While Terri and David's daughter is probably too old, and possibly too dangerous, for many of the at-home treatment strategies suggested on the RAD website at http://www.radkid.org/getting_help.html (http://www.radkid.org/getting_help.html) (strong sitting, snuggle time, etc.), I believe that she is a good candidate for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy (EMDR). I strongly suggest that individual and family counseling, EMDR, craniosacral therapy (CST), and all other outpatient treatment strategies be attempted before committing such a child to any inpatient institution, boot camp, specialty school, or the like... And Provo Canyon should be avoided at all costs!
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I totally agree. As a former parent of a child who was abused at Provo Canyon School, I can say that the progrma is extremely brutal and punitive. Children with serious problems are forced to endur days on end of total isolation - sitting in a cold concrete room. Staff frequently give forced druggings of Haldol to children who are disobedient in any way. Punishment for minor infractions - like rolling ones eye - can last for days.
The authorities do nothing when reports of abuse surface. They ignor it.
Little has changed in 30 years. PCS has a most notorious reputation as a place of last resort. The website states differently - indicating that they treat children with mild to moderate behavior or academic problems.
They don't disclose their abusive and punitive behavior modification program the the percentage of children who are isolated and drugged against their will. This horrible place must be closed. :eek:
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I used to work for PCS and would like to vouch for the stories about thought control, cruelty, excessive violence, drug injection, and so forth. I never saw anyone seriously injured there though. I would like to tell another side to this tragic story--the corruption of the employees. The system corrupts the most wide-eyed idealist. Believe me, I was one before I worked there. I am starting to excorcise the demons, but I am not the same man I used to be. You are taught, modeled, trained, conditioned, and challenged to be unreasonably punitive. The whole objective of the organization is to cripple courage, individuality, and security in the self of the child.
I started there trying to be kind to the boys I worked with, but they had been conditioned to see that as weakness and would walk all over me and take advantage of me. After that, I began the horrifying metamorphisis from a soft-hearted, compassionate sort into a Cheney-like punitive sort.
It broke my heart again and again to see these tender aged young men treated like they were the scum of the earth. And there is a constant flow of foulness in everything from language to attitudes.
One day when one of the young men was being particularly belligerent towards me, I got the Senior-On in there and we forced this boy to the ground. Because the boy had hurt my feelings, I felt pleasure in seeing him taken to the ground. That was the first time that I had felt full-on sadism in my thought process. It was then that I decided I couldn't work there any longer. The place is despicable, dehumanizing to student and staff, and it needs to be closed! There has go to be a better way to help struggling kids.
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So with YOU gone from there, it should be a much better place. First time you felt sadistic...bull. You have quite an imagination. :lol:
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You did the right thing by refusing to continue working for PCS. Your story and experience are very important to this struggle. Children are not often believed when they tell their experiences, because they are just "manipulative troubled teens". Good luck, and God bless. May there be more ex-workers of this industry who would follow your example and share their stories.
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All I want to say is I am a resident at provo canyon school as of right now on a home visit. The place is hell. Lets shut it down and have all the kids there go home. I have been there for 7 months and it must die!!!
:grin:
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I'd just like to thank the former employee of PCS for disclosing what really happens behind the closed doors of that institution. If more people like you came forward perhaps something could be done to prevent this type of institutionalized abuse. Unfortunately the children who are subjected to this are routinely called manipulators. Most staff members seem to have a code of silence that is part of the problem.
Thank you so much for giving some validity to the horror stories of hundreds of former patients at Provo Canyon School.
Best wishes to you and hopefully you can join our effort of reform and exposure of this teen industry.
:nworthy: :nworthy: :nworthy: Everything that people say to you is personal. Whether it is constructive criticism or not will determine whether it cam from and asshole or not.
----Bill Warbis
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I understand that Dr Phil suggested that parents send their child to Provo Canyon School for treatment.
I sent my child to Provo Canyon School in Orem Utah upon the advise of three therapists in California. It was the worst decison I ever made. She was diagnosed with severe depression and post traumatic stress syndrome. What happend to her at Provo Canyon School defies beleif and was in no way therapeutic for a patient suffering from severe depression.
She was severely punished with isolation and seclusion for a week for describing her maltreatment in a group therapy session. She was drugged with an injection of five millgrams of Haldol by force while six people held her down. During this episode she told staff that she could not breathe and nearly died from asphyxiation. After the ordeal she became unconscious and blacked out. The staff left her in this small, cold, concrete room. No one monitored her. In the morning she was lethargic and staff kicked her until she woke up. She was the faced with the horrifying side effects of a Haldol overdose - facial contortions, drooling, inability to swallow, blindness and severe back pain. Emergency care was not given, instead she was forced to do chores and was punished for fighting against the forced injections. She also witnessed the abuse of other girls and could hear the boys ages 12 -13 screaming day and night. There were many other abuses she experienced and witnsessed. The maltreatment she received only made her worse and caused her to derail psychologically.
There is another side to this lucrative teen industry that lacks regulation and governmental oversight. The children in these facilities are truly vulnerable to abuse of every kind because they are shut-off from the world.
I made reports of this abuse to the authorities - CPS the Attorney General of Utah, Health and Human Services. All we receieved were carefully worded letters indicating that nothing would be done.
Please look at the other side of the coin. These programs may do more harm than good to mentally ill teens - especially those suffering from trauma or depression.
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I support all human rights and children's rights and feel everyone should be respected equally as individuals. CCM (Cross Creek Manor-WWASPS) is my personal experience, though I am aware of other Programs which treat people in inhuman, unlawful, and cruel manners and I support the shut down of them whole heartedly.
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This place abused me emotionally, physically, and mentally! Please, someone needs to do something about this place immediately!
SH
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This was taken from the petition to close PCS. I had a similar experience in 2003 - with therpists from Vista Del Mar - in Ventura - recommending residential treatment for my child.......
My daughter was a resident of this facility in 1990 - 91 and during her stay there and after she complained about the treatment. I , at the time, did not consider her statements as "rational" after all she was there for behavior problems that were out of control..suicidal in nature and had been recommended by the Psychiatric facility in our city of Ventura, Clif. namely Vista Del Mar, so this place had to be a good one. Not to mention the cost that was paid for by her father's insurance. The staff always seemed to be compassionate, understanding and concerned. My daughter is now 30..(today 12/20) and still has nightmares about the months she spent in PCS. She has forgiven me for sending her there, but I can't completely forgive myself since coming to terms with what she told me was actually true and I did not believe her. I believe that there are children who do need help...but not this kind. If what I have said here stops or prevents another child from going through what my daughter did, then I have righted a wrong and can look at myself better.
If it is believed that... elementary schools will be better managed by the governor and council, the commissioners of the literary fund or any other general authority of the government than by the parents within each ward, it is a belief against all experience.
Thomas Jefferson
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I am a former student of pcs and i left last week. My father committed suicide in july 2004 and my mom put me at pcs because I started smoking pot. Pcs is Not a thereputic enviornment, and they are extremely verbaly and physically abusive. they pushed their mormon reliogion on me and the staff are all young mormons just out of colllege who wanted an easy job. pcs is bull**** please if you love your child dont send them there no one no matter how many struggles they have been through should have to go through the neglect pain and abuse they put every child who attends through
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Go to http://www.isacorp.org (http://www.isacorp.org)
Go to the media.
Email, call, snail mail, ANYTHING, to Dr. Phil.
Dr. Phil on live TV sent a girl to PCS on his show!Ardent advocates of prohibition were obsessed by a zeal that bordered on fanaticism. They supported politicians who voted to outlaw liquor, no matter how much of it they privately consumed, and spurned politicians who voted against prohibition, no matter how sober they were personally.
Sen. Sam Ervin, Preserving The Constitution
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They are still up to their own tricks - they should be shut down. What they are doing in the name of therapy is beyond belief. Isolation, forced drugging, strippings, sensory depravation, take downs - all of these thing do nothing to improve the mental state of the patients there.
Parents should not be paying $12,000 per month for others to abuse their children.
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At the hands of these monsters my psyche was practically destroyed and my self esteem annihilated. I still suffer from nightmares. My way of life has been forever disturbed, and it sickens me. I will do whatever I need to do to bring justice to myself and those like me.
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Close PCS! I spent eleven months pretending to be the way they wanted me to be so I could go home to my family and friends. I was insulted and mocked repeatedly by my therapist, not only to my face but behind my back to other students. Most of the staff were under-qualified college students whose main priority was to chat on the phone with their boyfriends or power hungry middle aged women who had nothing better to do than make you feel diminished and worthless. Please shut this injust school down.
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Here is another story from the petition to close Provo Canyon School.....Please sign it if you haven't done so.....There are so many stories like this - of lives lost, pain and suffering.
I was only thirteen years old when admitted to PCS. They said I was just touring it. Then as soon as I was behind closed doors they put me in a room with a woman whom I have never met before. She told me I was staying there and couldn't say goodbye to my mom. I was pretty scared. At the time I was a rebellious teen girl, with an attitude. By the time I left there I was an adult. They diagnosed me with an illness I am sure doesn't even exist. They called it oppositional defiant disorder. They forced me to speak of things painful to the thought let alone the tongue. My therapist had me admitting to things I had never done. He had a way with words. I was punished because of a physical ailment. I was unable to bend at the knee so I couldn't bend over to clean the bottom of my shower. I sat on the investment unit for a long time just because I was impaired. I saw things I never should have seen at thirteen. Suicide attempts, unexplainable psych illnesses. Feces rubbed on the floor and walls ,constant screams and cries in the night.(I heard dial nine in my sleep for years after leaving there) I am from Las Vegas and almost 8 years ago I was sent to PCS as a guinea pig for an insurance company thinking of covering the program on their rehabilitation policy. I smoked pot. And at 13 not very often. I was not crazy. My mother was misinformed about my treatment. In fact it seemed there were always secrets. I left there in February of 1997. I was too scared to leave my house until November that same year. Nine months I sheltered myself from the world. Trying to hide from the world I viewed in there. I saw things at that young age that most people living full lives never see. In the end being around the older girls only educated me of the drugs I had yet to conquer. After my nine month hibernation I emerged only to hide the pain I felt, the shame I felt. Everyone treated me like I was crazy I figured why not act the part. Besides that, from the day I was admitted to PCS and to this day now, I am different. I!
think differently. I was an outsider to my peers, with memories that made me somewhat queer. I was quiet and withdrawn. I didn't think anyone would even begin to understand. I kept quiet. It ate at my soul. I let my self-esteem run my life for the next 5 years. I battled a massive addiction to methanphetamines. Hell, I fought with addiction to everything. I was finally incarcerated into a state facility. I didn't need it, but I deserved it. I did not deserve PCS. I am and have always been a strong willed leader of a person. I have a kind soul and a genuine heart. No one will ever be able to take that away from me again. No one will ever coerce me to believe otherwise. Today I am a mother of a 2 year old little girl. I don't have the perfect life but I try everyday. I still think of those screams I still remember the girl who pulled out her hair whenever she got mad. I bet they have forgotten me. (the staff and counselors). I believe they admitted me there for money and knew I was an average brat of a girl.
Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake when you make it again.
Mark Twain
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I hope they close this monstrosity as quickly as they can. I was there in the early 90's and it seems things have not changed. The lies, the abuse, the harassment, its all still alive and well going unchecked by a city turning a blind. Parents should be well aware of the reality of this place and the lengths to which PCS will go to keep the truth (it should be eye opening that hundreds of former "students", not just a couple disgruntled rebels, tell the same stories or experiences). The only way to get out if you have wealthy parents is to graduate (PCS will make up anything they can to keep draining your family of money). PCS went as far as to accuse me of being a drug addict and saying I tested positive after home visits etc, when in actuality I had NEVER in my life touched drugs.)
It took my parents a couple years of research after I graduated to learn the real truth and they've been apologizing ever since. So not only has this hurt my adolescence, but it hurt my family to know that they were the ones who fell for such a destructive place when all they wanted was for me to spend more time on my studies and not hang out with friends they didn't approve of.
I'm well over the horrible treatment I endured, but hope that one day they will be forced to close their doors. To this day I still have problems with my knees from spending hours upon hours, hands folded and twisted, knees locked in a standing position, over and over again all day for 20 or so minutes at a time with 5-10minute breaks to work off "points" for having a sock turned the wrong way in my drawer or "hospital corners" that were not perfect.
Is this really how you want your children treated?
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Many more signatures and stories on the petition - over 400 now -
These can be viewed at
http://www.heal-online.org/sign.htm (http://www.heal-online.org/sign.htm)
Here's one....
I am appalled by the methods employed at this institution. The "behavior modification" techniques reported by the students to be utilized at the school are archaic and unethical. The use physical punishment, forced confinement, and other punishment is inappropriate unacceptable. Testing attitude and future intentions by the use of a lie detector is offensive and inhumane.As a human rights advocate and a parent, I demand that this institution be shut down immediately. The individuals who have run this institution and supported these practices should be punished and barred from ever having a role that can impact young people again.We must send a message that prisons treating adolescents inhumanely will not be tolerated or condoned.
The bible teaches that woman brought sin and death into the world, that she precipitated the fall of the race, that she was arraigned before the judgment seat of Heaven, tried, condemned and sentenced. Marriage for her was to be a condition of bondage, maternity a period of suffering and anguish, and in silence and subjection, she was to play the role of a dependent on man's bounty for all her material wants, and for all the information she might desire...Here is the Bible position of woman briefly summed up.
--Elizabeth Cady-Stanton
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I was at Provo Canyon School in the 90's. We were made to stand, facing staight ahead, and not move for very very long periods of time, as punishment. There was one girl there, who stood for so long, she passed out, fell face-first, and broke her jaw (which had to be wired shut). The staff blamed her, saying she lost consciousness because she "locked her knees". :flame:
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Better do Something else to stop me.
meta http-equiv="refresh" content="3;url=http://www.google.com"
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Oh please honey. You think something as immature and stupid as this is going to stop US???
Somebody feeling a little threatened???? :rofl: :rofl: sunday school: A prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.
--H. L. Mencken, American publisher
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The petition is a way to show the authorities that there are people who want this abusive teen program closed - due to years of unwaranted abuse and maltreatment of troubled and mentally ill children.
Will it work? Only time will tell.....
A petition is a way to get authorities to take notice and realize that the people they are supposedly serving are aware of what's going on there and are petitioning them to do something about it...That's what a petition is for - it's to get those who can do something to take notice and pay better attention to the issue and investigate it. Faith means not wanting to know what is true.
--Freidrich Nietzsche, German philosopher
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I spent about 5 months at PCS in 1993. PCS is a profit driven institution that employs unqualified, unsuitable staff. Humiliation and total suppression of individuality were inherent to the program, and the official punishments ranged from uselessly standing in complete silence for hours to violent restraint and seclusion in cold cement cells. Most of the students were medicated, often recklessly. All of these practices were protected by the students' total isolation and the facility's systematic censorship of mail and phone calls.
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I was there from late 1981 thru 1982. i was at one time or another, at every level in the school, including senior level 4. i suffered beatings, and witnessed some of the other "students" get beatings. some included broken bones, dislodged teeth, sprains and contusions. i was involved in an accident there and sustained a serious head injury. i was taken to the hospital via ambulance, but was removed from the hospital prematurely. the reason for this was that since i grew up in orem utah i was considered a big escape risk. once back at pcs i was put in my rack, and be it not for some friends sneaking me food, i would have most likely died there. my parents finally checked in on me, i was released to their care for several weeks after they threatened a lawsuit. once back in the hospital i was told that i had suffered a life threatening contusion of the frontal lobe. i would imagine that utah valley hospital would still have these records. from what i remember it was called provo canyon boys school at the time, and the owner's last name was williams? there were no girls there at that time, and the school consisted of "intake" "investment" units 1-6 made up the "outs?.
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I am not associated with PCS in anyway, neither am I a human rights advocate, but I learned of Angela Smith's story in an article featured in the "ENQUIRER". Wanting to know more I read up on Provo Canyon School and other similar facilities for children with behavioral and depression problems. I was shocked to find that there were schools doing such inhuman things to children and teens around today and that they are not being closed down! What they are doing is obviously illegal and justice should be made. I just hope that parents will stop sending their children to these living hells just because they cannot and most probably did not parent a child in the proper way and can't cope with having a child in the first place. Also, that these schools would stop spreading false propaganda about themselves and masking their "therapeutic programs" and making it look like they are doing good.
Louise
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Keep signing that petition - there are nearly 500 signers so far. :wave:
If you'd like to view the petition it can be found at:
http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm (http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm)
The signatures can be viewed at:
http://www.heal-online.org/sign.htm (http://www.heal-online.org/sign.htm)
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I will carry my memories of Provo with me forever. They are always close at hand. Even today; almost 17 years later... There are better ways out there to help our children. It is all of our responsibilities to discover what they are. Please.
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after reading an article of this school i was very shocked i never thought that this was possible in the us. especially to young children!!! THEY MUST SHUT ALL SCHOOLS SIMILAR TO THIS ONE DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:flame: :flame: :flame:
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Thats thuh prollem with these progrumz. They jus' don't know how to do it RIGHT! Send yer kids t' ME, The Turd of Wisdumb, and I GARANTEE yuh that I'll get 'em staitened out fer yuh and the only injurees that dey will git are RED ASSES from me whippin' 'em! Dey will eat well and won't git beaten up like that. But I WILL whip thuh LIVIN' HELL out of 'em! :flame:
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YOU ARE A JERK TERDMAN...... :flame:
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Well if gittin' kidz STRATE makes me a JERK, then I guess I'm one HELL of a JERK!! :flame:
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No one can make someone get strait. I went to an AA meeting with my daughter once while in Utah. This man with 7 years of sobriety got up and said something that I'll never forget. He said, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is that there is a cure for alcoholism. The bad news is that YOU are the cure."
The old saying, "You can lead a horse to water - but you can't make him drink" applies to all reform and rehabilitation. A person must have the desire to change their lives for the better. All the isolation and torture can't change one person. I think the parable of the Wind and the Sun applies. The Wind challenged the Sun - saying I can get that man to take off his coat quicker than you. The wind blew hard and the man grabbed his coat. The harder the wind blew the tighter and stronger his grasp. The wind finally gave up. The gentle sun shined on the man and continued to warm him. Within minutes the man took off his coat.
Sometimes gentle persuasion works better than force. A person will not change until they want to change. :smile: Sacred cows make the best hamburger.
Mark Twain
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provo canyon school was a never-ending game played within the gates of hell. I spent 2 years of my life getting abused physically and mentally by staff that worked there. many simple rights were taken there like being able to use the restroom when you need to. i underwent severe punishment in a constant mind-trap. i recall one night at about 1:00 in the morning i was forced to sit indian style and stare directly at a wall in the snow while it was snowing in my boxers for 2 and a half hours. another time i laughed once when everybody had just gotten into bed and i was grabbed from behind from a staff by the neck and arm where my face was smashed into the wall and then dragged 15 feet to a confinement cell. my friend tried to stop them but they "P.I." him which stands for a physical intervention. they dragged me into the back holding cell and through me into the wall. i sat in that sell from 10:00 that night until 9:30 the next morning in my boxers with the confinement door shut with the cold air-conditioning turned up all the way. i sat on the cold cement floor until 9:30 in the morning until i was given a small paper cup with water to take a muscle control pill that doesn?t allow you to move your body, and if you do move your body you got really bad cramps and spasms. Around 4:00 that day i was finally given food but it was hard to eat because i had extreme rib cramps from being slammed into the wall. the nurse came to inspect my ribs and said that there was nothing wrong and i was just complaining to get attention. my ribs were bruised pretty bad because the next day my ribs had a big bruise mark going across them. i asked to see the nurse but they refused to look at my ribs so i asked the "senior-on" which is pretty much the person that is in control of the entire facility that day. the nurse told him not to worry about my complaint because i was just trying to get attention. i went through hundreds of mental trapping mind games that fled my mind with constant depression. it got so bad at !
points that a level of insanity was closely reached. one of my friends got pushed to the limit and one day they found him, they kicked down the bathroom door where they found him in a large thick puddle of blood. he had locked himself in the bathroom, broke the mirror and slit his wrists going with the vain. he then stuck the piece of glass up into his neck in two places. i guess evidently he was trying to slit his own throat. they found him spasing and shaking because he had lost so much blood. he had spent nearly 3 and a half years in this place before he decided that he couldn't take it anymore and he needed to escape. stuff like this happens everyday in this place where it is just ignored as if nothing has happened. some cases are even worse then what i have mentioned today. a girl about 6 years before i went there was found in the shower where she hung herself. she died and no justice was done nothing was even looked into they just told her parents that she was severely mentally unstable and nothing was ever done about it to this day. this place doesn't help you it just creates so many problems and instabilities once you get out that you are set up for instant failure. i have ran into several people on the streets that i knew when i was in there and they where just there for talking back to their parents, minor school absences, and occasionally smoking pot they turned into crackheads and severally emotionally disturbed. the question is how long is a place like this going to go on for until something is done about it?.... where is this society taking us?....do we really want are children and loved ones heading in this direction?....u choose which direction you want your child to go in...but this is just the spoken words of truth from someone that has gone through this experience and wants to let you know what really goes on behind those never-ending locked doors....
Jason
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I'm just horrified by what I've read so far about this place. I truly hope that it is closed.
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Jason's post above is just the kind of thing that could go on the book reviews I suggested earlier:
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... &forum=9&3 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=8557&forum=9&3)
I got a few positive comments for my suggestion but no one seems to be actually doing it. I'd write one myself but I never went to PCS (thank God!). It really needs to be first hand.
Wonderful though these fora are, I suspect a lot more people consider buying Dr Phil's books than hang out here.
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More books need to be written about this type of thing because most people are not aware of what's going on behind those locked doors...
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Many of the individual histories I have read on this site are reminiscent of the patient abuse (and fraud) that took place in psychiatric facilities owned by the Psychiatric Institutes of America (PIA), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the now-defunct National Medical Enterprises (Now re0oragnized as Tenet Healthcare), Charter, and HCA in the early 1990s are revealed in a 110-story, 15-month investigative series - "Profitable Addictions" - published in the Houston Chronicle. As a result of the Chronicle's investigative series, the then-Director of the FBI, William Sessions, created a healthcare fraud section within the FBI. As a result of the FBI investigation into patient abuse and fraud, PIA settled for fraudulent billings to federal healthcare insurance programs for $325 million and with private insurance companies for an estimated $200 million more.
I think it would be truly beneficial to obtain whatever individual medical records are available, as well as health insurance payment information (through either state and/or federal healthcare insurance programs, or payments made by private insurance carriers) and present them to the local office of the Health Care Fraud Unit (HCFU) of the FBI in your area.
If, in fact, there have been these reported abuses, these are things that the FBI's HCFU should be made aware of, and provided with whatever supporting documentation may available to allow them to gear up an investigation into Provo Canyon School for potential federal violations.
I am an independent investigative journalist who worked on the Chronicle's "Profitable Addictions" series, and would like to hear from any survivors or families of survivors from 1990 to date.
I can be contacted at [email protected].
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I might start a petition to end this petition. Propaganda, propaganda, all it is is propaganda.
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Hey why don't you just go and sit in your garage for a week - coming out for only five minutes at a time to eat and pee. This is what many of the survivors of this program had to endur.
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Looks like there's almost 500 signatures - keep getting people you know to sign this...... :wave:
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Maybe it's time to make a press release and deliver it to those who could do something. Almost 100 survivors signed it and another 400 parents, friends and human rights activists. That's a decent number for a petition. She should make a press release about it indicating that 100 survivors who are now adults have signed the petition as well as their friends and family and activists.
Will it make a difference? :question: I tried for years to live according to everyone else's morality.
I tried to live like everyone else, to be like everyone else.
I said the right things even when I felt and thought quite differently.
And the result is a catastrophe.
---Albert Camus
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It would indeed be great if this place closed.
A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trust either of them
P.J. O'Rourke
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My Grandaughter is there now and I want to get her out - does anyone have any ideas? What can I do? G. L.
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It's been done, but it's a lot of effort and potentially tons of money to win custody.
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... rt=0#13840 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=2375&forum=9&start=0#13840)
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... =140#52932 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=5038&forum=9&start=140#52932)
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I wish my grandparents had wanted to get me out of there... I even have fantasies that my grandparents realize what is going on, and show up at PCS, demanding I be released to them, and threaten (with my therapist listening) to cut my mother out of their will if she does not comply. Then they take one look at those ignorant, sadistic hillbilly staff members and pluck me out of the line and say they will not have me stay here and be influenced by these uneducated mountain people and they are taking me back to New York to go to a nice private day school.
Even if you are unsuccessful at obtaining her release, please write her letters- ask her to write to you, frequently, documenting everything she experiences and witnesses there. If her therapist there knows that there is a family member around who is wise to the abuse that is Provo Canyon School, then chances are she will get treated a lot better than the others. PCS does not read outgoing mail, she should feel free to write to you whatever she wants, so long as she knows that you will not reports what she writes back to her therapist.
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I, too worked at a school like this. I don't know if you will read this but if you do I just want to thank you for helping me put words to two things: that these types of schools harden hearts and change the people that work there for the worse and also that the word sadism is descriptive of what is occuring. This all really is a spiritual battle! ::nod::
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I hope you sign the petition. Your signature among the others, given your personal experiences, would be a powerful testimony to the seriousness of the problem.
TimocleaBusy, curious, thirsty fly, Drink with me, and drink as I.
-- William Oldys (1696-1761): On a Fly drinking out of a Cup of Ale.
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I was tricked into going to Provo when I was 15 I didn't get to graduate from middle school and i think it was 1992. I did suffer from depression and my family I think was the reason why my dad never had a kind positive thing to say about me and my mom and dad were always not happy and my parents didn?t really know how to take care of teenagers and showed no interest in my life. I am a parent of a great young boy and now I see that they really didn?t involve themselves at all in my life and really didn?t supervise me at all.
Well my dad tricked me into going to Utah to visit my sister who was in B Y U at the time and when we got there I was put in Provo. I couldn?t believe my parents did this to me they still don?t even ask about what happened in there for fear that they have to bring up the guilt they put on themselves. My brother moved out of the house and lived in his car because he was so upset at my parents and my sister called them every day to remind them what a mistake it was to send me there.
When I got there they took all my stuff away from me took all my clothes off and put me in pink sweats. I was very upset but did not see my therapist for three days. I?ve looked at the online brochure for Provo and there were no outside facilities on the girls campus when i was there just a patch of grass in the backyard that i went in once. I remember we weren?t allowed to look out the window or they would consider it run plans.
I remember some girls were in there because parents didn?t want to deal with there kids any more. One of the problems I had was we all needed counseling and barley ever got it and my parents were the ones that needed the counseling and they were 2 states away just hoping to fix me and send me back home.
My brother used to write me but i only got 4 of the 15 letters he wrote. I took all the classes for the 9th grade year but had to take them all over again when I got home and everyone at that high school already heard all these rumors about where I went and why so my chance of survival in an already socially harsh high school environment was diminished to nothing.
When I was there i got homesick for my brother and they wouldn?t let him visit or let me have his letters and one day I got sad and started crying and was really sad and I hadn?t been outside in 3 months and because I was crying they didn?t talk to me they didn?t get my therapist they stuck me in a small empty room with tile floors and painted white brick walls and told me they would let me out when I wasn?t sad anymore. Now at 27 I see how there methods would never work.
Having to stand military style for 1 or two hours without moving and one time I passed out and did not receive medical attention I was told to get up and start my time all over again. At dinner we would like jail have a certain time and a certain way to eat and afterwords go strait into exercise I remember it making a lot of us sick but we wouldn?t say anything or we would have more punishment. All of the punishment would be from not folding our clothes right or washing the bathroom. One of my friends had asthma bad and she had an attack at night and just left her in the hallway and it got worse and worse and all she needed was her meds and nobody got it i don?t remember why but she almost died and ended up going to the hospital.
There is so much more but I have moved on but will never forget and think somebody needs to do something that place makes life lots worse than better for every one.
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Almost 500 - keep signing......
The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs.
-- E. Grebenik
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On 2005-04-01 12:20:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I, too worked at a school like this. I don't know if you will read this but if you do I just want to thank you for helping me put words to two things: that these types of schools harden hearts and change the people that work there for the worse and also that the word sadism is descriptive of what is occuring. This all really is a spiritual battle! ::nod:: "
In desperation I sent my child to a similar school to "save his life" as there was no help & support for him in the community. I was suckered by the slick promos and other parents into believing I was hocking our futures for integrated, whole child, developmentally appropriate education and treatment in a prestine environment that would allow child to pull back from self destruction and HEAL-- like the old "moral treatment" era before the advent of the big state institutions . I would have NEVER considered a "boot camp"-- a program that tears down to supposedly rebuild. I thought I was getting a program that built on positives and accentuated the gifts & strengths of the child. What a nightmare the reality turned out to be!!!! FOOLISH, FOOLISH ME!!! I "pulled" child. Hey, in jail or a mental lock-down you still have civil rights and due process. AND, the big parent hook, DEATH & SUICIDE? It became clear that these were issues in the prestine wilderness, too. At least the time-out, so to speak, was beneficial & gave me a chance to search out some alternatives in the community. Our communities need help and programs to support keeping a child home who is in danger of needing a restricted treatment environment!!!!!!!! There are lots of exposes of youth detention facilities (jail) and of other treatment facilities, too....Everything is so fragmented in the community!!!!!! Well, I agree with everything you have said here and my experiences left me wondering if all emotional growth boarding schools are fancied up boot camps.Thanks for sharing your truth. Maybe somebody's desperate parent will think twice. I don't know what else I could have done at the time, but EG boarding school was like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
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As a student attending Provo in the mid-eighties I witnessed many acts by the staff that were in violation of ones human and civil rights. I should have filed suit myself but did not have the support from family and friends at that age. I have since moved on. It took me many years to get over the miserable experience of attending Provo. AT the time Provo was an all boys school and the mistreatment of children was widespread!!!
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How can the authorities continue to allow this treatment facility to continue operating when they blatantly violate State and Federal Law. Provo Canyon School is in violation of Title 42 because staff abuse children with mental illness. There have been reports of kicking, beating, fractured bones and dislocations of bones from excessive force during human restraints, chemical restraints given against consent, denial of an opportunity to file grievances - the list goes on and on. How many violations of FEDERAL law does it take for the State of Utah to close this so-called school down and investigate?
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While I was at Provo Canyon School, one girl was standing (this was part of their penal system- for even the smallest infractions, such as having a wrinkle in your bedsheet, the child is made to stand for hours at a time, staring straight ahead, and starting over if caught moving their eyes around).
This girl stood for so long, she passed out, fell on her face, and broke her jaw, which had to be wired shut. I think she was a ward of the state of California.
We all continue to stand after that, with warnings "You better not lock your knees". They blamed this girl for her injury, saying she had locked her knees "on purpose".
I think the only way to have this place further investigated and maybe shut down is to KEEP TALKING. Continue contacting the authorities and lawmakers. Continue reaching out to survivors, friends & parnents, and the public.
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I spent four months at another residential treatment facility in Utah called Red Rock Canyon School. I was lucky enough to get out early. I'm also lucky my treatment was not as bad as what people have experienced at Provo Canyon School, but after my experience with Red Rock I am disgusted with these facilities. They falsely advertise themselves to the public. You think you're being sent to a place that will help you, but it ends up being the worst experience of your life. I hope to see every last one of them closed down for good. It sickens me to know that human beings are treated this way. What did the kids do to deserve it? Because they had problems? Any parent who sends their child to any of these programs should be ashamed. I'm in awe of the evils that exist in this world. It's unbelievable.
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I've decided that in the future I shall refer to ProvoCanyon as ProvoCation:
1 a archaic : to arouse to a feeling or action b : to incite to anger
2 a : to call forth (as a feeling or action) : EVOKE b : to stir up purposely c : to provide the needed stimulus for
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CLOSE THE SCHOOL DOWN!!! MY SON CURRENTLY THERE.HE IS LATINO AND IS SUFFERING RACIAL ABUSE BY STAFF AND PEERS.
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It is necessary to do all that you can to protect your children from abuse. Even if you need to hire an attorney to get your child free from this abusive behavior modification program.
Any priest or shaman must be presumed guilty until proven innocent.
--Robert A. Heinlen, American science-ficiton author
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On 2005-04-24 16:41:00, Anonymous wrote:
"CLOSE THE SCHOOL DOWN!!! MY SON CURRENTLY THERE.HE IS LATINO AND IS SUFFERING RACIAL ABUSE BY STAFF AND PEERS.
"
THEN GO FUCKING GET HIM!!!!!!
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When I was at PCS, no one was allowed to speak Spanish, because it was considered "gang-related". Speaking French, however, was OK.
Megan Flynn
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So it was OK to speak French but not Spanish. How did they determine that Spanish was "gang related?" There are many types of gangs.
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Sounds a bit racist to me.
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Maybe Mormons dont like Catholic Hispanics? :roll:
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Most Mormons are now Hispanic - nearly five million......
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:eek: theres a surprise... every hispanic I've met is quite catholic.
Forgive, O Lord, my little joke on Thee and I'll forgive Thy great big one on me.
--Robert Frost, American poet
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Do you have a link to that data?
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There was one girl at PCS with me, an African-American girl with lotsa crazy psych and social issues as well, from a ghetto in Philadelphia.
They just did not know what to do with her. She reufsed to comply with their program. Perhaps she was not able to comply with their program. who knows. She was constantly on the investment unit, working off infractions. they realy had no idea why she wasn't responding to their form of therapy. So, she stayed there for 2 or 3 years. She would have better responded to a different mileau- perhap with a more diverse group of counselors, who would have insight into different socio-economic and regional groups of people.
I'm saying, these Utah Mormons did not know what the hell to do with this girl. The program was not effective for her; it never would be... So instead of trying to find treatment better suite for this girl, they just KEPT HER AT pcs FOR MANY YEARS. THIS WAS A POOR CLINICAL DECISION, (ON THE PARTS OF THE THERAPISTS) TO KEEP HERE THERE.
Also, there were girls there that didn't quite have all their marbles to begin with, know what I mean? But PCS just kept them as long as possible, and tried to force them to asimilate into their program, which never really worked.
Yes, that placed was messed up in sooooooooo many ways.
write me anytime if you have any questions or require further information.
Megan Flynn
[email protected]
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PCS is messed up in many ways. They are just in this industry for the money - like so many others. It's just good business to keep kids as long as there is money coming in - from their parents, insurance, the state. Once the money is gone - they will discharge faster than you can blink an eye. They'd care less.
Information about the Hispanic Population of the Mormon Church can be found at
http://www.lds.org (http://www.lds.org) - I think.....We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
--Plato
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On 2005-04-26 18:19:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Most Mormons are now Hispanic - nearly five million......"
If I remember correctly, there are now more Mormons in Venezuela than there are in Utah.
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Church Growing in More than 160 Countries
?News of the Church,? Ensign, Jan. 2005, 76
In 2004, worldwide Church membership reached 12 million, the Church was ranked among the fastest-growing churches in the United States, and Mexico became the first nation outside of the U.S. to top one million members. Brazil is projected to surpass one million members during 2007.
Growth outside of the United States continues to surpass growth within the U.S. More than half of all Church members live outside the United States. Members of the Church are found in more than 160 countries and territories, speaking more than 178 languages.
The accompanying map shows membership distribution around the world.
Click to View Larger Format
Countries with Highest Church Membership
1. United States
5,503,192
2. Mexico*
980,053
3. Brazil
866,988
4. Chile
530,739
5. Philippines
526,178
6. Peru
384,663
7. Argentina
330,349
8. Guatemala
192,207
9. Canada
166,442
10. Ecuador
161,396
Based on 2003 year-end totals.
* Mexico surpassed the one million mark after these figures were compiled.
Countries with Highest Percentages of Church Membership*
1. Tonga
46.0
(1 out of 2)
2. Samoa
34.0
(1 out of 3)
3. American Samoa
19.1
(1 out of 5)
4. Kiribati
10.0
(1 out of 10)
5. French Polynesia
7.8
(1 out of 13)
6. Chile
3.4
(1 out of 30)
7. Uruguay
2.4
(1 out of 42)
8. New Zealand
2.3
(1 out of 43)
9. Honduras
1.6
(1 out of 62)
10. Bolivia
1.5
(1 out of 64)
Based on 2003 year-end totals.
* Minimum 10,000 members. Four countries have higher percentages but fewer than 10,000 members: Niue (13.0), Marshall Islands (6.:cool:, Cook Islands (6.5), and Micronesia (3.2).
Languages Most Frequently Spoken by Church Members
1. English
5,828,000
2. Spanish
3,681,000
3. Portuguese
907,000
4. Tagalog (Philippines)
165,000
5. Cebuano (Philippines)
126,000
6. Japanese
117,000
7. Ilokano (Philippines)
109,000
8. Samoan
102,000
9. Tongan
76,000
10. Korean
75,000
Estimates based on 2003 year-end data
From this - it doesn't look like one should judge that all Mormons are racist.
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I'm hardly happy that mormonism, or any religion, is spreading, period.
The last struggles of a great superstition are very frequently the worst.
--Andrew Dickson White (1832-1918)
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I guess about 5% of Americans feel the same way. So statistically in America there are more people who feel the way that you do than there are Mormons. So more people in America are Agnostic than Mormon.
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:rofl: :rofl: :lol:
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Good. These days, organized religion has proved to be very, very dangerous. It breeds intolerance, spreads lies, threatens science and medicine. Oh, it seems to incite threats against judges too.
Megan
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Yeah, I much prefer disorganized religion.
:rofl: :rofl: :lol:
Really.
T.
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Any cult or religion is so much of a politically-correct fairy tale to make you feel better about yourself and your life. People want a meaning and purpose and a higher power to feel comfortable with.
Personally, I'm glad life (or anything for that matter) has NO INTRINSIC meaning. If it HAD a intrinsic meaning, we'd have to follow it. A robot has a purpose. A human does not - therefore we can pick what our purpose is. We have freedom in the meainginglessness of everything, because that in and of itself gives us the freedom to give things meaning.
Afterall, nothing would matter unless humans or some intelligent being was around to ruminate upon it, would it? No. Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.
--Isaac Asimov, Russian-born American author
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Interesting concept Nihilanthic I hadn't quite heard it put that way before. Freedom of purpose, from no purpose at all. ::read::
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17 years after being released from Provo Canyon School, I still occasionally wake up with night sweats and panic attacks that I began suffering after my experiences at the school. From 9 DAYS WITH 2 SHOWERS IN ISOLATION FOR A FAULTY URINE SAMPLE (My parents were told that I admitted to purchasing pot on a ski lift while on a visit, even though I was CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING with my father in full view!) to Dr. Gwilliam verbally attacking me when my brother and father arrived for a visit to the point my brother said "I am not going to sit hear and listen to you bash my sister." I had no warning that "Dr." Gwilliam would turn on me.
Both my brother and father were concerned that I was on so many medications that my hands shook and my speech was slurred. Dr. Gwilliam indicated that I needed to be highly medicated to keep me from being violent - even though I had no history at the school of violence, only depression which I was punished for (not adjusting well on the reports – so no privileges). When I had complained to the medical doctor, he only upped my dosage. I was forced to take extremely large doses of medication but was punished for wanting to know what I was taking and wanting off. Considering the issues the FDA is now reporting in such medications as Xanax and other MOI’s and SSR’s, I consider it gross negligence that my concerns were brushed aside as being trivial.
After working steadily for the hotel and school cleaning, to receive a check for only $70 after one year was an outrage. I was told that money had been taken out for outings and personal items, however my mother was paying bills for those same things. She was also being charged quite a bit of money for items that she herself had bought me. No one goes through 2 boxes of tampons a month if there is not a serious medical problem.
And in the end was anything accomplished other than my mother being bilked out of her money? No - because they never addressed any of the issues that had resulted in the total breakdown of my relationship with my parents. No family counseling. I carried the anger with me for another 12 years after leaving before making any changes on my own. I even called to have my medical and psychological records sent to another counselor. After 1 year, all Dr. Gwilliam had wrote fit onto less than 7 sheets. Nice intensive counseling. And after Dr. Gwilliam’s turning on me I did not trust him to tell him anything – just continued to keep it buried as I had before everything came crashing down. No therapeutic, rape trauma, eating disorder or drug abuse counseling provided. No program to help me develop positive and healthy ways to deal with problems. Just intimidated into proper behavior and told that I was the problem over and over and over. Let it be known that after my experience at Provo Canyon School, not only did I immediately revert to my prior self-destructive behavior with a vengeance, but I also began to suffer severe and debilitating panic / anxiety attacks not experienced prior to my admission.
Oh yes - and their "education" was so great that many of the classes taken at PCS had to be retaken at my next high school even though I had passed the classes. I had to retake Algebra II with Trig (same book) because PCS lumped it under "Algebra".
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I've heard other horror stories about this same therapist. I wonder if this therapist is still there. Some have been around for a long time.
If we had been born in Constantinople, then most of us would have said: "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet." If our parents had lived on the banks of the Ganges, we would have been worshipers of Siva, longing for the heaven of Nirvana.
--
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I was there from late 1981 thru 1982. i was at one time or another, at every level in the school, including senior level 4. i suffered beatings, and witnessed some of the other "students" get beatings. some included broken bones, dislodged teeth, sprains and contusions. i was involved in an accident there and sustained a serious head injury. i was taken to the hospital via ambulance, but was removed from the hospital prematurely. the reason for this was that since i grew up in orem utah i was considered a big escape risk. once back at pcs i was put in my rack, and be it not for some friends sneaking me food, i would have most likely died there. my parents finally checked in on me, i was released to their care for several weeks after they threatened a lawsuit. once back in the hospital i was told that i had suffered a life threatening contusion of the frontal lobe. i would imagine that utah valley hospital would still have these records. from what i remember it was called provo canyon boys school at the time, and the owner's last name was williams? there were no girls there at that time, and the school consisted of "intake" "investment" units 1-6 made up the "outs?. Is this the same place? (yes)
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The emotional, mental and physical torture I experienced there has haunted me since the day my father finally came to the campus, saw the truth for himself and took me out immediately. That was 4 years ago and still to this day I have nightmares of screaming girls being drug into the cold concrete rooms they called "observations". They would be drugged against their will with a shot in the butt and put to sleep. I remember being told to "get on a chair" where I sat for about 2 hours straight before any staff acknowledged me. Finally, one of the staff came over to speak to me. The first words out of her mouth were
"You are a disease and anyone you speak to...anyone you look at...anyone that gets near you is bound to catch your disease."
After that she put me on a "no talk" standing order where I was unable to speak whatsoever for 2 months straight.
Today I am 19 years old and have been out of Provo Canyon School for 4 years. I live 10 minutes outside of Hollywood and am working with a Miramax producer who is very much interested in my story. Right now we are almost finished writing the screenplay and will be working on a film within the next year or two. If that doesn't open up the eyes of parents across America I don't know what will.
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I am appalled by the methods employed at this institution. The "behavior modification" techniques reported by the students to be utilized at the school are archaic and unethical. The use physical punishment, forced confinement, and other punishment is inappropriate unacceptable. Testing attitude and future intentions by the use of a lie detector is offensive and inhumane.As a human rights advocate and a parent, I demand that this institution be shut down immediately. The individuals who have run this institution and supported these practices should be punished and barred from ever having a role that can impact young people again.We must send a message that prisons treating adolescents inhumanely will not be tolerated or condoned.
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I was sent to Provo in 1999. It's 2005 and I am still haunted by that place. I had just turned 13 years old. I felt as though i was being held prisoner. What had I done to deserve this? Everything I did there was considered to be "wrong". Nothing was ever good enough. The floor was never clean enough. The sheets were never tight enough. The toilet was never shiny enough. There was still dust on the window sill after having cleaned it 3+ times. I remember one time a peer (who has also signed this petition) and I cleaned the isolation rooms, both on our knees scrubbing the hard concrete floor. I was not allowed to talk to my parents and the 10 minute phone calls that I did have every other week were monitored. The staff and therapists made me carry around a coin and with every statement that I said I was made to flip the coin; the side of the coin determined whether I was lying or not. I had to do this for at least a week. What they had done is a very high level form of cult abuse. Their whole program is inhumane. I'm sorry, but being stripped down of your clothes, tranquilized, and strapped to a bed then told by one of the staff members that you are "ruining her night because she was supposed to meet up with her friends to go somewhere" is not what I think of as humane. We were punished for everything. I kept quiet for a very long time. There is so much more shit that went on that i struggle to talk about today. I was looking through this petition and found at least 4 names of girls that were at Provo Canyon School with me. That, in itself is helping me to realize that everything that I remember is true and did happen and that Provo Canyon School should be shut down. I am in shock that it is still running today. I do not understand how the United States of America can overlook such a place and just let it stand as though it is doing no harm. Provo Canyon School should be done away with.
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pcs survivor-
i too am a former inmate of pcs. i was there from june of 1998 thru october of 2000. i am 22 years old now and still think about the horrible things i witnessed and was subject to, even after being there for just 20 minutes. i'm in the army now. i just wanted to let you know that if your script gets produced, i would love to see the outcome. i've always wanted to do something like that to let parents out there know the truth about these places. good luck...
anonymous 187
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look, you're obviously a replier that has never been to pcs. maybe those families turned their lives around because the kid was so scared that he didn't know what else to do. i've heard and read about more negative results than positive from pcs. i'm not saying all placement centers are like pcs. i know that pcs is not a place that anyone should be sent to. they do things there that are illegal to do in prisons.
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i am in total support of having pcs shutdown. i was a "guest" there from june 1998 thru oct 2000 and witnessed and was subject to all types of abuse, physical, mental, verbal and spiritual. the first 20 minutes there i witnessed a measly 120 pound kid get his face smashed repeatedly into the bench in investment resulting in 37 stitches to his chin and continuous beatings even after he had passed out. i was denied medical attention after having surgery and denied my meds. SHUT THIS PLACE DOWN!!!! i am a soldier and it astonishes me that everyday i risk my life for a country that supports these types of places. it hurts me.
sincerely, stewart s. pegues, PFC u.s army
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The time I spent in this facility changed me in ways that I am still struggling with, fourteen years later.
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This was the worst 8 months of my life, i was doped up, beaten, and abused physically, and mentally. when i hear "dial 9" i freak and still have issues about asking to do everything that drives my wife nuts. worst experience ever and will do whatever i can to close the atrocity
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Yeah, for sure the worst experience of my whole life. Totally embarrassing, too. I have to sort of make some things up, to fill in the blanks, when asked about my schooling.
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Oh yeah, just want to add (as usual), PCS is run by the most unqualified, uneducated, unworldy, ignorant, and sadistic group of people- indeed, I have never met such a number of said people.
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I spent four months at another residential treatment facility in Utah called Red Rock Canyon School. I was lucky enough to get out early. I'm also lucky my treatment was not as bad as what people have experienced at Provo Canyon School, but after my experience with Red Rock I am disgusted with these facilities. They falsely advertise themselves to the public. You think you're being sent to a place that will help you, but it ends up being the worst experience of your life. I hope to see every last one of them closed down for good. It sickens me to know that human beings are treated this way. What did the kids do to deserve it? Because they had problems? Any parent who sends their child to any of these programs should be ashamed. I'm in awe of the evils that exist in this world. It's unbelievable
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There was a program called Red Rock Ranch Academy in Utah but it closed down after a girl died there. Were these two programs related?
Who referred you to Red Rock Canyon and who was the admissions director (if you remember)?
Thanks! Great post! These programs are nothing but a cash cow for the owners, operators and the people who REFER TO THEM! Disgusting and very EVIL.
moo
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I am the girlfriend of a PCS survivor and at first I never really took to heart any sarcastic comments from my boyfriend about his experience at this "institution". When he called this place a prison I brushed it off thinking he was being over zealous and dramatic. After reading some of these stories I now know why he is the way he is. He is constantly on guard, paranoid of someone coming to take him away from his family, or hurt/attack him for no reason. He has problems socially interacting with others and with looking people in the eyes. I now know why his confidence and self-esteem is so incredibly low when in fact he is truly a beautiful, amazingly compassionate person with so much potential to give to the world. I can only pray that facilities like this, that demean individuals and completely strip them of theeir human rights are not only shut down, but for those individuals who run them pay the price for what they have done to their victims.
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Here's the poop on the Red Rocks:
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... um=9#21084 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=3073&forum=9#21084)
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Provo canyon is NOT a school. My child was not only restricted of his civil rights but fell behind one whole school year in Academics because he was not taught on his school level. My son was in fact drugged and locked in most of the time watching videotapes or climbing rocks all day. Most of the things he did learn was how to curse and how to survive the system.
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My child wasn't allowed to go to school - instead she was given work to do while she sat facing the wall. Their list of classes is quite impressive - but they don't tell parents that their child must earn the right to go to school. They also encourage parents to place their children on several dangerous medications. This isn't on the website.
I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment, to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure.
--Clarence Darrow, American lawyer
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I was over-drugged at their facility. I saw counselors pit individuals against each other and only stop it once blood was shed. I received very little 'therapy' what so ever and was kept in urine filled rooms, underground and did not see the light of day for 6 months of the year I was there.
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I went to three other programs, one of which was very near to PCS. Coming from programs and knowing people who have attended PCS I would like to put a stop to them.
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I agree that Provo Canyon School should be shut down. It's an embarassment to the state of Utah.
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On 2005-06-27 15:10:00, Anonymous wrote:
" It's an embarassment to the state of Utah. "
Damn! That's sayin' something!A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows.
--Samuel Clemens "Mark Twain", American author and humorist
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i hope that provo canyon school, and others like it, close down. being sent to provo canyon school was one of the worst mistakes my parents made. i can truly say that being there, at provo, was the most horrific experience of my life. i hope all that were tortured can live peaceful, positive lives and move on from the negativity that surrounds that place.
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you want proof, here it is.......
On Friday, August 6, 2004, the BBC and other journalists were present in Salt Lake City when a 12-person jury found unanimously against WWASP and in favor of a Florida mother. WWASP brought three civil counts against the mother to silence her reports of fraud, child abuse and neglect at WWASP-run children?s programs. The counts by WWASP included charges of defamation, civil conspiracy, and false advertising. Attorney Richard Henriksen, of Salt Lake City, Utah represented the mother.
Some of the jurors cried as they watched video clips of the ?Box,? where American children were reportedly hog-tied, hand-cuffed, duct-taped, starved, and slugged by staff. The program was closed after the government found ?credible allegations of abuse.? Videos showed children covered with skin infections and flies in the food at WWASP?s Paradise Cove; other clips showed photos of children in dog cages at WWASP?s High Impact in Mexico, and other alleged abuses by WWASP.
Although the St. George businessmen, Robert Lichfield, Karr Farnsworth, and Ken Kay, claim High Impact was not affiliated with WWASP, former employees and parents testified otherwise. Employees said they were told not to reveal the program?s affiliation with WWASP. One former employee testified she had personally traveled to High Impact with current WWASP President, Ken Kay.
One of the victims of WWASP sat in the court, a boy of 19, and sobbed as defense lawyers showed video clips of the children in dog cages. The boy said his ordeal began at age 12, as WWASP trafficked him through five of their children?s programs over 4 ½ years. The child was the subject of the alleged murder plot at WWASP's Paradise Cove, having his head banged against a coral reef and knocked unconscious as the older boys attempt to drown him in an effort to close the program. The boy weighed only 80 pounds during his confinement at Paradise Cove, and he was hidden from television reporters covering the program. His confinement within the WWASP Empire of children?s programs ended 4 ½ years later with his removal from the cages at High Impact.
Robert Lichfield told Dateline that he would not at all be surprised by an alleged plot by adolescents to murder another child at Paradise Cove. Lichfield said, the children ?brought that with them.?
Robert Lichfield was observed smiling in the corner of the Salt Lake federal courtroom, while WWASP lawyers were observed laughing in the presence of the federal jury.
Two emotional fathers testified about their children's ordeals. One child was reported to have been trafficked through Cross Creek in LaVerkin, Casa by the Sea in Mexico, and High Impact, where American children were forced to lie, face down, in on-the-cross positions, and sometimes hog-tied. According to the father, his child?s thumb was broken while in WWASP?s custody, the boy had been beaten by staff and other children, and his child was forced to lie in a pool of blood that formed around the boy?s chin.
The father described witnessing duct-tape over the mouth of a female child at Cross Creek in LaVerkin, Utah on the day the father removed his son. The father, Chris Goodwin, testified that the reality of being fraudulently ?taken? by WWASP came crashing down on him the day he visited Cross Creek, another WWASP program run by Karr Farnsworth.
Jay Kay, a Utah resident, and director of Tranquility Bay Academy in Jamaica, displayed no emotion in the court while a video clip on PrimeTime was shown with Jay Kay admitting: "Do I have pepper-spray? You bet I do. And, I haven't had to use it in five and a half or six months." Earlier, however, a 15-year-old-boy, now in his 20s, said he was sprayed with pepper-spray, almost daily for eight or more months, by Jay Kay and one his former employees. At times, he said his clothing was soaked from the torment. John France testified that his child was kept in a small, cold structure without adequate heat or food at WWASP?s Spring Creek Lodge. The temperature was so cold that the orange his son has stowed away was frozen by morning. His child had to urinate in his drinking cup in the night. Mr. France?s child was forced into the ?Hobbit? at WWASP?s Spring Creek Lodge for almost nine months. His son had scratched the words, ?Let Freedom Ring? on one of the shelves where he slept during his ordeal.
Amberly Knight, the former director of Dundee Ranch Academy, described a former student who was raped and had her skull cracked. She described children being forced into a tiny isolation room and forced to kneel or lie on lumpy concrete up to 14 hours a day. The children were further punished with food deprivation. Ms. Knight reported WWASP?s alleged child abuse to Costa Rican protective services, resulting in the arrest of Narvin Lichfield and closing of Dundee Ranch Academy in May 2003.
WWASP lawyers asked the Utah jury to send a strong ?message? to the Florida mom and to warn other advocates. The jury, however, sent the message to WWASP, finding against them on all counts. Two other cases filed by WWASP to chill First Amendment rights were dismissed earlier this year by federal judges.
Congressman George Miller continues to demand a criminal investigation into WWASP activities. Attorney General John Ashcroft has refused, claiming that private children?s programs, regardless of how abusive, cannot be investigated.
WWASP continues to keep some 2,400 children in its programs. Ken Kay and Robert Lichfield say their numbers are growing with today's social problems. They deny all allegations of fraud, child abuse and neglect. The company has annual revenue in excess of $90,000,000.00.
In the meantime, Congressman George Miller continues to demand a criminal investigation into WWASP activities. Attorney General John Ashcroft has refused, claiming that private children?s programs, regardless of how abusive, cannot be investigated. Congressman Miller disagrees, citing the ongoing criminal investigation by the New York Attorney General in relation to the WWASP program, Ivy Ridge Academy, where a child was reportedly beaten by Utah escorts and a female child was asked to perform oral sex on a male staff member in exchange for cigarettes.
P.U.R.E. (954) 349-7260
Henriksen & Henriksen (801) 521-4145
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WWASP continues to keep some 2,400 children in its programs. Ken Kay and Robert Lichfield say their numbers are growing with today's social problems. They deny all allegations of fraud, child abuse and neglect. The company has annual revenue in excess of $90,000,000.00.
Last I checked, problems of the legal sort have been on the decline since the 90s, while social problems are being CAUSED by a lot of goverment policy.
Pretty fucking sad when he can spew such bullshit and get away with it. Parents, schools, and goverment are whats failing, not 'the kids'. People blame porn, music, the internet, some mix of them, "liberalism", or "secular athiesm" (or whatever...) for any and all of these problems, instead of trying to actually ameliorate anything.
The mix of apathy and blame-gaming that this country is so full of really makes me wonder why I even care anymore. All the apathetic people arent worth their weight in shit and the people who blame everything under the sun thats irrelevant to the actual problems... for the problems, are idiots.
Maybe the NEXT generation could put them all in a nice little 'secure' group home for geriatrics and enjoy whats left of this planet after theyre done wasting it. Hey, a man can dream! If there is a God, he is a malign thug.
--Samuel Clemens "Mark Twain", American author and humorist
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so what is the exact connection between Provo Canyon School and WWASP. That Rob Litchfield got his start in behavior mod working for PCS, when? in the 70's? anything else?
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Bob Lichfield did get his start at Provo Canyon School. He was the director of residential living. He also met one of his associate there. He has no formal training - but used PCS as a model for his programs. They use similar punishments of prolonged isolation, siting in chairs for long periods of time to work off points and a level system. They both discourage parental contact for many weeks and rare calls home are monitored. There are many similarities. Provo Canyon School came into exhistance in the 1970's and WWASP in the 1990's.
The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.
Tacitus, Roman senator and historian (A.D. c.56- c.115)
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which associate did he meet there?
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I think it was Karr Farnsworth - I'll check it out.
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http://www.denver-rmn.com/desperate/sit ... rate.shtml (http://www.denver-rmn.com/desperate/site-desperate/mpg7-desperate.shtml)
Here's a link - read on
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Bob Lichfield formed many alliances at Provo Canyon School. Karr Farnsworth was indeed one of them. Others also. During the time Farnsworth was there PCS was successfully sued for many abuses to children. It is truly where the founders of WWASP learned their behavior modification methods and punishments associated with it.
http://www.crosscreekprogram.com/ccc/employees (http://www.crosscreekprogram.com/ccc/employees).
http://www.isaccorp.org/wwasps.html (http://www.isaccorp.org/wwasps.html)
Here was the successful lawsuit against PCS during the time Lichfield, Farnsworth and friends worked there....
http://familyrightsassociation.com/bin/ ... lliams.htm (http://familyrightsassociation.com/bin/title42sec1983/milonas_v_williams.htm)[ This Message was edited by: cherish wisdom on 2005-07-08 18:06 ]
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I personally have witnessed the horrors of children enduring great amounts of abuse that were unable to inform anybody. Once you enter the program all forms of communication are cut off, so when there is a form of abuse inflicted the patient has no way to be rescued. I was abused there, and I will always advocate for the teens in Provo Canyon School, and other abusive programs. Thank you for listening to a muzzled voice.
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If you want to know about Litchfield or Farnsworth or Jack or Crist contact me....I was there I remember the "Hair Dances" & other "Therapy" practices.... I should; I was there for 2 solid years and had gone from 100% non-conformity to security key-carrying Jr counselor.
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Some of those people are still there. Crist is still one of the administrators. So what do you know about these people who are still involved in "helping teens?" We'd sure like to know.
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On 2005-07-25 16:01:00, Canadian Bacon wrote:
"If you want to know about Litchfield or Farnsworth or Jack or Crist contact me....I was there I remember the "Hair Dances" & other "Therapy" practices.... I should; I was there for 2 solid years and had gone from 100% non-conformity to security key-carrying Jr counselor."
What were the "hair dances"? What did the other "therapy" involve?
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:exclaim:
Men had better be without education than be educated by their rulers.
--Thomas Hodgskin
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It's a lot different since the 70's. I don't think that anyone can reach jr. staff. I never heard of any ward at the boys or girls campus carrying keys! Nowadays, at best, they make advanced senior (the highest level) and move to the Howard Johnson's hotel, where every infraction you get from then on is double, class ones become class IIs, and if you get 3 class II's you "lose your bed" and have to move back to investment and start all over again. And the staff really get a kick out of seeing a high-level kid drop right down again, everybody looking at them, and wondering what happened. Oh yeah, wtf is a hair dance?
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No, there are no student staff, or whatever. But it's still basically a punitive, non-constructive, non-supportive, abusive program implemented by local people (mainly Mormon), who lack a college-education (this is probably the closest thing to a "professional" job they will ever get); and, natually, most of these staff seem to have some repressed issues themselves.
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I'd say that most people who work for the psych industry have repressed issue themselves.
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yeah, the closest thing to student staff is when the upper-level kids make "room leaders" and they have to go around and check off everyone's cleaning jobs in the mornings, and "call back" the kids who left a speck of dust on the counter or an eyelash in the sink, or a little wrinkle in their bed. As a room leader, if you don't call back at least =someone=, then you get in trouble for not being a good room leader. The kid who gets called back gets an IR or "infraction" that they can half by going back and fixing it. They actually started the whole "halfing" thing while I was there. Three IR's equals one Class Two, which gives you twelve infraction points or IP's to serve off on investment, roughly three hours at two points per half-hour. Then you have to write this little contract about self- sufficiency and responsibility and hope it gets accepted, or else you have to go back and do the whole twelve hours again. I used to hear of kids purposely messing up someone's cleaning job, just so they would have a reason to call them back, so they themselves wouldn't lose their "status".
note: infraction points were shortened to IP's, but they also had a thing called "PI" which stood for physical-injection, when they dogpile a kid and shoot him up with hadol. I think that's kinda strange...
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On 2004-04-24 22:33:00, cherish wisdom wrote:
"More than 200 former students, their loved ones and human rights activists have signed a petition to close Provo Canyon School. The petition asks the authorities to shut down this facility that has a "history of torturing America's youth." Many have made comments about there abuse which includes, forced drugging, denial of necessary medical care, punishment with isolation and seclusion, sleep deprivation and other physical, emotional and psychological abuses. If you'd like to view the petition it can be found at:
http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm (http://www.beyondbusiness.net/closepcs.htm)
The signatures can be viewed at:
http://www.heal-online.org/sign.htm (http://www.heal-online.org/sign.htm)
This is the MOTHER OF ALL ABUSIVE PROGRAMS. If you think WWASPS is bad - this is where the founder of WWASPS - Robert Lichfield - learned the ropes of abusive behavior modification. He dropped out of college to be the Residential Director of Provo Canyon School. Of course he is now a mega-millionair as a result of his savy in the torture teen industry. He's so wealthy that he gives nearly $300,000 to the GOP - and circumvents campaign limits by naming his children as donors as well. Please take a moment to sign this petition.
Check out the illegal campain activity of the Lichfield clan of Utah at: http://www.opensecrets.org (http://www.opensecrets.org)
:nworthy: :nworthy:
"If you lack wisdom ask of God and it shall be given to you.""
Nothing is denied to well-directed labor, and nothing is ever to be
attained without it.
--Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)
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anyone who has not yet signed this petition, should do so, especially former students and their families.
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I am a survivor of 3 programs of the same caliber of abuse. Three Springs, SUWS, and Cascade. I have first hand knowledge of such torment and abuse that so-called assistance treatment facilities offer. There true offer are lies, complete and utter lies
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This is one program that should be closed. If only they knew what goes on behind those locked doors!!! :eek:
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On 2005-08-05 10:32:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I am a survivor of 3 programs of the same caliber of abuse. Three Springs, SUWS, and Cascade. I have first hand knowledge of such torment and abuse that so-called assistance treatment facilities offer. There true offer are lies, complete and utter lies
"
You should talk about them in more detail, and get a name.
Especially SUWS, now that Dr. Phil has sent a kid there :roll: *sigh* hes gonna be a hard nut to crack.God is the Asylum of Ignorance.
--Baruch Spinoza, Dutch-Jewish philosopher
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how many RTCs has doc phil refered kids to?
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Two that I KNOW of, Provo Canyon School :scared: for a girl with "reactive attachment disorder", and "SUWS" for some teenage boy.
So, thanks Oprah. Really. Nobody writes curriculum for self-determined spiritual individuals and expects to sell it in the public school market.
John Taylor Gatto
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I had loved ones who were sent to Provo Canyon and helped them recover from the abuse that they endured there. I am a practicing psychologist and believe that this school needs to be shut down.
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What's the difference between the Provo Canyon school and the Provo Utah school? Or are they the same school?
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How can we allow our children to be tortured and at the same time be so up in arms about animals? I don't advocate abuse of either but surely one can see the problem here. I suppose since children don't vote often they are seen as disposable. We the adults have got to do better!
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My friend still suffers from post traumatic stress disorder because of the cruel treatment she received at Provo Canyon School. She is now a grown adult, but still has nightmares about her time spent at Provo Canyon. Provo Canyon should be shut down IMMEDIATELY and their licensing and accreditation revoked. It is astonishing and bewildering to realize that this horrible facility is still in operation.
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My good friend spent 8 months in that dump when she was 17 and still has nightmares about it. She is now 34. Enough said.
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Dude, that place has been black-listed! Why are kids still being send there?
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Tell her to take Ambien- drug of choice for kids who are up at night thinking about their PTSD issues. With Ambien, you will rest again, I swear. Talk to your local doctor or street pharmacist.
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Let me tell YOU a thing or two about Ambien. When I was fourteen some quack pyschiatrist prescribed Ambien for me, and it FUCKED me up like no other. It has already been proven that dreams are a necessity for life. Experiments where test subjects were repeatedly woken soon as they lasped into REM state, and then evenutally began to suffer from ill health and psychosis have proven this. Ambien messes with the brain's natural dream processes, and from my own experience and people I've talked to who have also unfortunately been subjected to this drug, they experience extremes of either complete dreamlessness, or dreams so vivid they cannot be distinguished from reality (something that is obivously going to be very detrimental to someone having nightmares about Provo Canyon School or any lockdown teen prison.) Point is- stay away from Ambien. For insomnia, I would recommend a cup of chamomile tea, or if that doesn't work, try some valerian and maybe exercise before bed, try to get more fresh air during the day. Stick to the natural stuff.
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Often dreams help us work through our fears while asleep.
PTSD doesn't always interfere with sleep. Sometimes it causes sufferers to sleep to long.
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Who prescribed Ambien for a 14 year old? Anyway, it's not meant to be used every night. I work night shift and occassionally take Ambien (to adjust back to regular hours), and I have found it to be safe, effective, and non-habit forming. I'm an adult though, really that stuff was not made for children.
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His name was Dr. Krompier, and not only that, he also had me on daily 300mg doses of Zoloft and 50mg doses of Trazodone, and I was a 100 lb fourteen year old girl! This was about six years ago. Now I see those god awful commercials for Zoloft with the bouncing cartoon smiley face where it says not recommended for people under 18 (or is it 21?) either way, the meds got me to the point where I had no idea wft was going on. You know, when you're fourteen you'd like to think you can trust medical professionals not to use you as a guinea pig. =P
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That's truly outrageous - if you weren't nuts to begin with all of those drugs would push anyone over the limit. How very sad. I remember when a shrink wanted to put my 4 year old child on dopamine - which is used for Parkinson's disease. I refused to get the prescription filled and stopped seeing that shrink. What they are giving children these days is truly awful and unhealthy.
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I want to know .. Why is the * Good Doctor ( not really a Doctor tho ) On T.V sending children to this place ?????? It sickens me every time HE says to a family in need... I will arrange and pay to send your troubled teen to Provo Canyon..... Or any other host of programs he so easily sends children off to endure the abuse so many already have. And these parents just say OK , It must be good Dr.*Fil told us so !!
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Provo Canyon school is a good place. It has helped so many children to become successful adults. Keep it open.
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BULLSHIT! Provo Canyon School uses solitary confinement rooms called "obs", cots with a cuff restraint at each corner and belts across the center to hold the kid down, straight jackets, demobilizing drugs, ambush attacks on the child where five+ large staff tackle one small child (called a dial 9), and that's just the physical abuse! The mental abuse goes on forver, but includes humiliating the child, degrading them, name-calling, false accusations, and there have been many reports of sexual abuse and sexual predators on staff. If any child grows up into a successful adult, it's only because being locked up in that hell hole gave them a glimpse at eternity, and after being through the worst, having everything stripped from them, and left to "work the program" or suffer, they learn not to take life too seriously, how to appease authority without respecting it, and how to get by in the "training program" of life without buying into the bullshit. It also teaches them not to fear death.
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Isn't Provo the program that was sued back in the late 80's? Something about forcing kids to take lie detector tests and submit to a form of coercion known as the "hair dance"?
Way to go Dr. Phil-ter ... referring kids to PCS instead of sending the parents to a shrink for some serious therapy.
:roll:
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Provo Canyon School is probably providing free services in exchange for the publicity on Dr.Phil. It's just like game shows where companies give prices away in exchange for the publicity. Only here we are dealing with human life. PCS isn't cheap - over 12 thousand dollars per month. That's more than an IVY legue education. They are extremely concerned about money...
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Will somebody please tell me, what is a hair dance?????
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On 2005-09-11 15:41:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Provo Canyon School is probably providing free services in exchange for the publicity on Dr.Phil. It's just like game shows where companies give prices away in exchange for the publicity. Only here we are dealing with human life. PCS isn't cheap - over 12 thousand dollars per month. That's more than an IVY legue education. They are extremely concerned about money..."
Jesus, that was more expensive that CEDU.
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It's very expensive - $12,500 was the price two years ago - it's probably more like $13,000 per month. What's more - insurance companies like Value Options are willing to flip the bill.
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I have become a "successful adult" IN SPITE of PCS...certainly not because of it.
Really, I could write a book about how totally WRONG Provo Canyon is. It's absolutely dysfunctional; the things I witnessed and experienced were abusive, unethical, and many, many times were illegal. Not to mention uneffective and unprofessional.
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As a registered nurse you certainly would know that the things done at Provo Canyon School were in no way therapeutic. Now you know....
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I was once at this hellish facility, and can not come to terms with have the horrors I witnessed there, I am thankful that people are working to shut these places down, I have horrible emotional stability and am bordering on suicide, if not for PCS I would not have to face these new far more dangerous emotions.
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On 2005-09-13 19:39:00, Anonymous wrote:
"I was once at this hellish facility, and can not come to terms with have the horrors I witnessed there, I am thankful that people are working to shut these places down, I have horrible emotional stability and am bordering on suicide, if not for PCS I would not have to face these new far more dangerous emotions.
"
Hi ... welcome to Fornits ... where survivors such as yourself can find solace in knowing you are not alone and people really do care.
Hopefully you can connect with other ex-residents who understand and appreciate your thoughts and feelings. We are a friendly bunch and welcome you with open arms!
:wave:
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close to 600 - this needs to be delivered soon. Also a press release must be issued to all of the major newspapers with several contacts.
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Abuse, is abuse, is abuse, no matter how it is sugar coded. 99% of the time abuse is mention, there is abuse happening. Close them down. (Survivor of another school/program)
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I went to a school/home like this, named New Beginnings Girls Academy. I know what this kind of treatment to children and teenagers will do and how it will scar them for life. I'm going through reconciling right now and have only been out of the home for 1 and a half. I want to see all places that treat and abuse children this way get closed and closed for good.
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I had a really hard time here, the worst of the WORST was the staff in the disciplinary unit the way they would instigate the kids in to "acting out." It appeared to me (though I was only 13 or 14 and I am now 28) that they (the staff) were doing this to "restrain" us witch consisted of arm bars leg, locks and choke holds. If you are a 13-17 year old from 75-180 lbs. and you have 2-6 staff most of whom were men and 180+ lbs "restraining" a kid what in gods name would compel you to dislocate a child's arm or tackle a child with such force that his face looks like minced meat from carpet burn, so bad that the child wanted to go in to seclusion/isolation so as to avoid the ridicule from other staff and his own peers. Or even the humiliation of having to work off "points" by standing for hrs upon hrs (for weeks or even months!) Now I'm not claiming that much of this happen to me (I did my share of standing) but I did see some dreadful things that I know go against the Geneva Convention and even some laws and these things were perpetrated by the staff the adults WTF Id like to see where some of my peers ended up or how bad that place bent those minds, kids like Smallwood and my buddy Chip and that kid that always had bowel problems (I wish I could remember his name cause he was a good kid and a good friend) If that place is shut down I want to be there when it gets torn down (Id like to see it burn and explode in a ball of fire)
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Only one more signer to bring the total to 600.
Sign now if you want to be number 600. Thanks. :wave:
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Heard the petition will be turned in when it reaches 1000 signatures. That may take another year at this rate....
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I know for a fact that many things that happen at PCS are against the law.
Indeed, the program is malnevolent and non-theraputic. The staff are uneducated (no college degree required!).
One of the biggest problems is that the program misrepresents itself. My mother told me this, so in order to do some investigating myself, I once called there, posing as a parent, wanting information.
I asked (the PCS rep) questions about the program itself, it's penal system, and the qualifications of the staff, the answers he gave me were manipulative and sketchy. When I asked for clarification, and posed further questions, he became downright evasive and defensive!
Any questions, email me anytime.
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Have I mentioned that I have *never felt so degraded in my life*, as I was at Provo Canyon School? That place is so unhealthy! And remember that sick heirarchy of staff, and higher-level to lower-level kids?
That place can say they have changed, all they want. The fact is they are still using the same program, implemented by the same uneducated staff. I can say, both as a former student, and as a registered nurse, that place is not healthy, positive, or theraputic. In fact, I would bet my profesional license on it.
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i was sent there twice. it didn't help even though the whole time i was there i thought it would. I watched one kid get punched in the back of the head with his face in the snow 6 times just for throwing a snowball at a staff. I know what goes on there i want to expose it. The staff's name was Koli Palu. When my dad called Allen Springer he didn't even know about the incident (or at least to have claimed not to) Fuck that place.
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hey i happen 2 come across ur message on whatever website it was and i kno u posted it like a year ago and not that u care, but i do, i went to provo canyon school, and it was the worst months of my life, it was a joke, they were abusive, hit, thrown 2 the ground, slapped, if u act up at all, u r put in a room where u sit in a desk all day, eat ur food in a tray on the floor, couldnt sit in the desk cuz u didnt earn it, dont talk 2 anyone, only get up to sharpen ur pencil, but since u could only ask one question an hour, it was hard 2 deccide if i wanted 2 sharpen my pencil, get a drink, or go 2 the bathroom. and that is what u did all day sit in a desk, it needs 2 b shut down, there iz no care for n e one, for 13 months that i was there almost everyday death would have been a better choice then 2 wake up one more day in hell.
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from #610 on petition to close pcs
Provo Canyon School needs to be shut down, the staff were abusive, fowl, inapproriate, there is no recovery or care, it was rare to talk to someone who liked PCS, the first words i hered when i got there were "Welcome to hell", said a patient. Shut it down and save time and lives that dont need to be subject to such harsh conditions, and let the kids get the care they need and deserve.
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On 2005-12-03 18:53:00, Anonymous wrote:
"from #610 on petition to close pcs
Provo Canyon School needs to be shut down, the staff were abusive, fowl, inapproriate,
The staff are inappropriate because they are not professionaly trained- they are not even required to have been to college.
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I recently heard that there was a boy at PCS, who raped other boys, on more than one occassion. (I knew of this boy, he was huge, just like a football player. He was at PCS for like 3 years). I heard this from a source who witnessed it firsthand. I may be able to get him to sit down in front of the computer and attest to this.
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I met my best friend of 12 years at PCS. He was on the boys campus and told us of this sexual abuse. This boy was caught, but not removed from PCS.
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Something DEMONIC "created" those Bast*rd* that ran & run that "Pit of Torture & Manipulation" YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE ! I can only wish upon you hell-like "unforgiving" agony, Pain & Suffering. "AN EYE FOR AN EYE" I'd gladly meet any of you that worked there while I was at the "concentration Camp" (PCS), at ANY TIME for a long-awaited "REVENGE-RUN" ! Don't underestimate me, I'm not 16 yrs old anymore & I have a VICIOUS HATRED for all of you! B U R N !!!
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The best revenge is to just get educated, and you will see how pathetic they really are. The more education and the more life experience you get, the more you see just how dysfunctional and inappropriate PCS+ their staff are.
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I once planned an escape from the Provo Canyon
School's 'orientation' unit, for which I was beaten, stripped and locked in the 'prescription room' for 3 days. This was a closet painted bright white with huge sunlamps in a cage in the ceiling. I eventually turned red all over my body and my eyes swelled shut, after which I began suffering agonizing hallucinations which torture me to this day. 4 months after my experience a riot took place in the orientation unit and some boys escaped, the ACLU tried to shut the place down then, but the power of the mormon church kept it alive. During the immediate aftermath of the breakout I was made to shred documents for 8 hours a day for weeks prior to my release. I had no idea until now that this fight continues, but anything I can do to help I certainly will. These people scarred me for life!
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I knew a girl at PCS- she spent the better part of 9 months in an "observation" room. When she came out, she was bloated, and her skin was pasty and jaundice.
To this day, I remember how she looked, and I have never seen anything quite like it. And I work in a hospital.
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That's horrible. Have you ever reported any of this to the authorities in Utah? It seems like Provo Canyon School is a lot like the WWASP programs. At Tranquility Bay the administrator actually boasted that the longest a girl had been in observation "on her face" was 18 months. That's absolutely horrible to loose 9 months of life in such a way. How can they justify doing something like that in the name of therapy?
It (the Bible) is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.
--Samuel Clemens "Mark Twain", American author and humorist
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I have never made a formal report, nor notified the authorities about Provo Canyon School. This is because by the time I woke up and realized what had happened, it had been several years since I had left, and I think the statute of limitations was over.
I have written informal reports on the internet. I make sure that my name and email address are available, and I am willing to testify in court, or wherever I may be needed.
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I recently rescued my daughter from PCS on October 29, 2005. My daughter is having difficulty adjusting to being home. I pray the damage is not permanent.
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Can you please tell us what your story?
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I was in PCS from 1986-1988. I went there when I had just turned 14 years old. I stayed there for 2 years, by the time I left I had become so accustomed to being abused, pinned dowm, drugged up and locked up in the time-out room in my bra and underwear that I actually became institutionalized. The abuse that occurred there was on a daily basis. They make the school seem as if it will be fun for the children once they are there after a few weeks. However, there was no fun involved. After I left Utah I was much worse than when I went there. I also never lived at home again with my parents. I survived a terrible childhood and am amazed I am even alive today. PCS caused great emotional scars for me. I also developed claustrophobia and panic attacks after I was there from so frequently being locked in the time-out room, standing all day or being mistreated by the staff members there. If we (the kids there) looked at them wrong, walked wrong, or talked wrong they dialed a code 911 which was real fun to have huge men come in your unit and tackle you often times causing extreme physical harm to your body. It has been 18 years since I was there and I still have bad nightmares to this day. I now have children of my own and I now understand that my parents sent me there in desperation trying to protect/help me, they were truly afraid that I would otherwise die. However, in retrospect PCS damaged me more than ever and destroyed our family for years since I was sent there. Each day my heart breaks at the thought that PCS is still open and for every person that is there. It should be shut down. The school lies, manipulates and convinces parents that their children will "say" all these bad things about PCS to get out of there and that it is not true but it is. Parents please believe that it is a living hell for each child there. I was so drugged up on Thorazine and many other drugs by the time I left I was incoherent daily and locked in the time out room for 3 weeks straight when my parent's finally came and pulled me out of PCS. The school decided to highly medicate me instead of deal with any emotional outbursts, feelings, or thoughts of my own. PLEASE SHUT IT DOWN!
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I want to thank all of you for sharing your stories here and other places on the inet and the work you are doing to stop this kind of abuse.
I am terribly shocked, horrified, feel sick to my stomach and sorry that anyone had to suffer in these ways. Because you shared, my husband and I were able to cancel plans to have our daughter admitted to Provo. We were just hours away from her transport and called off everything just this morning.
I couldn't sleep lastnight after reading these stories. I don't understand yet all the cult stuff (seed or synon, pure??) but feel we have been pretty lucky to have not made this horrible irreversable mistake.
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You made the right decision - Provo Canyon School may look good and sound good - but it's not. It has a long history of patient abuse in the guise of treatment and rehabilitation. What they are most interested in is $$$$$. They will take anyone with excellent insurance or whoever can pay $13,000 per month. :tup:
Ministers say that they teach charity. That is natural. They live on hand-outs. All beggars teach that others should give.
--Robert G. Ingersoll, American politician and lecturer
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It is so important that these places be SHUT DOWN. They ARE NOT therapy. They are places of torture where after kids "get out," they suffer years of physical and psychological trauma: depression, PTSD to name a few. I cannot understand why ANY government that espouses a democratic philosophy and ANY good parent that wants the "best," for their child would send their child there. Healthy individuals are shaped by positive and healthy experiences, PCS and programs like it ARE NEITHER. They aren't healthy or positive. They are an affront to all that is good because they strip the human being of their dignity. NO HUMAN BEING SHOULD EVER BE TREATED THE WAY THEY TREAT HUMAN BEINGS AT PCS. Assaulting kids, injecting them with mind-numbing drugs, locking them in a room for days to urinate on themselves, forced labor...IS NOT THERAPY IT'S TORTURE! SHUT PCS AND ALL PROGRAMS LIKE IT DOWN!
K.S. Provo Canyon School Survivor
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I WAS SENT TO PCS FROM SAN DIEGO, CA. I WAS 12 I AM 28 NOW AND I STILL WAKE UP FROM NIGHTMARES WHERE I'M TRAPPED THERE AND CAN'T GET OUT. THEY BROKE A BOY'S ARM WHILE I WAS THERE DURING A "TAKEDOWN". I WAS PERSONALLY RESTRAINED FORCED FACE DOWN ON A COUCH ON THE "DOWN UNIT" I COULDN'T BREATH WHILE 3 MEN SAT ON ME AND THEN I WAS DRAGGED TO SECLUSION. SOMEBODY HAS GOT TO STOP THESE PEOPLE. I NEEDED HELP AND SUPPORT NOT FORCE AND DEGRADATION. BY THE WAY MY THERAPIST WAS LARRY WINN, DOES THAT SOUND FAMILIAR ANYONE? PLEASE DON'T LET THEM TORMENT ANY MORE LIVES OR ANYMORE DREAMS.
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Provo Canyon School has done more harm than good. Parents, former patients and staff members have all made reports to the authorities who have done nothing to protect the current 350 children from abusive treatment and modalities. It should be shut down for the years of institutionalized abuse of children and youth.
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Shut ?em down! This ?institution? does nothing in the way of helping students. I saw things go on there that would boggle the mind. It?s a shame that too many youths (such as myself at one time) that needn?t be exposed to the conditions of PCS were sent to this poor excuse for a ?school.? PCS survivor
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Keep signing the petition
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So many sad stories here. Keep signing that petition...
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I wonder when this petition is going to be sent out? Does anyone know?
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I was sent to PCS when I was sixteen. I soon realized that the only way to get through the program was to 'fake it til you make it' I was so scared of doing anything wrong because of the punishments. My therapist told my parents confidential things that we had talked about. He also told another patient what i thought about her He would try to make me mad to see my reactions... wouldn't allow me to go on "outings" I was there for three months and never got to go anywhere... funny how the website and video shows kids outside and rockclimbing. The staff are a bunch of 20-30 year old women who are uneducated and abuse their power. They would ridicule us and make fun of us and you had to sit there and take it or else you'd get into trouble. They try to brainwash you as well as your family by telling everyone that there is something wrong with you. They forced me to take "vitamins" everyday but wouldn't tell me why i needed them or let me look at the bottle. This place needs to be shut down. It only made things worse for me and when I got home I felt alienated and alone. No one could understand what i went through. Parents please do not send your kids here!! and please get this place shut down!