Fornits

Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora
An open discussion about the troubled parent industry

I knew Taylor.

He was pretty much par for the course, as HLA detainees went. He was pretty much par for the course as OVERALL American high school boys in 1999 went.
He wanted to be liked and admired.. he wanted girls to want to have sex with him.. he was constantly trying balance his own personality with that of his peers, and although he was often callous as a part of this face management strategy, I wouldn't say he was without compassion or empathy.


There was a back and forth here over Taylor's crime and whether it was related to HLA, so, to wit:


1.) First, let me point out that a person's high school experience often informs their self-concept well into adulthood. The average male brain isn't fully developed until age 24.
Taylor was 15 when I met him.

These are formative years, critical for identity development and acquisition of personal morals, and I think we may all do well to pause and consider what effect it may have to spend formative years in an institution such as Hidden Lake Academy, where trust is impossible with peers, the idealized role-models (counselors) abuse power and display dispassion towards their wards, and other examples of adult behavior (restriction staff for example) are people who consistently model sadism.

(Social Learning Theory, anyone??)



2.) A second assertion: Children WERE traumatized at Hidden Lake Academy .

I know of many students with PTSD diagnoses, made by licensed professionals in full accordance with DSM-IV, and explicitly linked to his or her experiences at HLA (myself included).

I won't bother with the defense of this assertion here, as it is well documented under other topics for anyone with opposable thumbs to find.



3.) I would now ask you to consider what you know about PTSD and violence.

Perhaps you recall hearing news coverage of cases wherein soldiers returned home from deployment, only to "snap?"
That is PTSD in action.

Numerous cases exist of these men suddenly murdering their family members. (P.T.S.D.)

If you can't use a search engine, this link is a start:
http://http://ptsdcombat.blogspot.com/2006/12/ptsd-timeline-latest-incidents.html

 

4.) Taylor Hurst is being tried for his fiancee's murder, and will likely be found quilty. (We all agree on that much, right?)

Right.

...
...

* * * * * * * * * * *

So, to reverse engineer a summation:

* Taylor Hurst murdered his fiancee and unborn son.

* There are numerous cases of uxoricide and filicide being committed by individuals with Post-Traumatic Stress.

* Professionals have determined cases of Post-Traumatic Stress to have a causative relationship with internment at Hidden Lake Academy.
 
* Taylor Hurst was interred at Hidden Lake Academy for at least two of his formative teenage years.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Correlation is not the same as causation, and so I am not stating that Taylor committed murder as a result of his time at HLA.

I would, HOWEVER, love to see HLA participate in study examining PTSD and the prevalence of violent behavior among its former detainees.

If you are an advocate of Hidden Lake Academy, and keen to challenge any of these assertions, I would first challenge you to lobby for just such research to be conducted (lest you come across as either a pawn of HLA or, worse, a person who would put more effort into protecting an ethically and legally questionable institution than into protecting the children who have been kept there... and those they may grow up to slaughter...).

I noticed recently that youtube had some HLA-related videos up at one point, but that they've all been taken down.

Does anyone know why?
Does anyone even know what the content was?

Other TBS videos are still up on youtube, so I'm really curious why there aren't any about HLA.
HLA doesn't even have an informational video available, which also seems really strange.
 
It seems like HLA doesn't want any videos of the campus be available...
Thoughts?

Lacey,

I just have to let you know how endlessly sorry I am that you had to go through all of that... I have only a small insight as to how that must have impacted you.

I was in one of those rooms. I was one of those strangers that a peergroup member was coerced into recounting such trauma to.

I often wish I knew then what I know now... I wish I'd been more aggressive in questioning the counselors' methods and intentions... and I wonder if I could have helped the girls not let those reals sessions steal their right to anger, privacy, respect, and compassion.  

I have tremendous respect for your courage and candidness here. You are putting yourself out there to advocate for the girls who were in those rooms today and for the girls that, if anyone hears you, hopefully may never enter them.

Keep fighting the good fight, babe.
You're a rockstar.

So let me get this straight. You think that if I were to get pulled into a back alleyway tomorrow walking home from work, and were raped, that the "harrassment" (YOUR WORDS) I endured at Hidden Lake would better prepare me to "deal with it".

If by your own admission HLA "harrasses" rape victims, then what tools could I have possibly learned from these well equipped "professionals" to handle such an ordeal?

What qualifications do you hold in the treatment of rape victims to make these kinds of statements? What personal experience do you have with the effect of rape on a young person to say that anything I ENDURED (not benefited from) at Hidden Lake Academy would prepare me for my hypotectical future rape?

You're absolutely right. The biggest consistency I see in the forum is the misrepresentation of FACT. However this is not from people like me, or Bruce, or DJ, or any of the other people that you have attempted to rip apart in a desperate and delusional attempt to discredit them and every word they utter. Its from you, and those with the same motives.

The simple fact of the matter is that nothing NEGATIVE has come from the things that we have said here on fornits. What has resulted has been accountability, HLA being lisenced, and an overall airing out of HLA's dirty laundry. You spewing your self proclaimed "truths" do nothing but attempt to obscure and distract from the REAL issues at Hidden Lake.  

Who. I know, to the very core of everything I am, what happened at Hidden Lake. I do not need 3000 pages of reports to remind me. You can claim to be a "defender of truth", but I KNOW the truth. I lived it and breathed it for 23 months. And nothing of what you defend is anything that I would ever, EVER align myself with. I feel very sorry for you, Who. Because there are only two options here. Either your blissfully and wholeheartedly ignorant to anything real that has happend at Hidden Lake, and are due a very, very rude awakening. Or... You already know the truth, and are so devoid of any humanity that you would go on protecting these sick, sick individuals. If the latter is indeed the case... Then there truly is nothing left to say.

Amen, babe...

what if I buy the property, and turn it into a wildlife conservation center or turn it into a residential subdivision or maybe mountain retreat? or maybe i'll buy part of the land and turn that area into a hedonist's retreat - strip club, bar, spa w/asian massage...etc. i wonder how HLA would be able to function with that sort of thing being operated on lower left field...or where the SAC used to be.

bucci is going to be surprised when he sees me at the auction..... especially surprised that one of the lowly potheads his institution tried to brainwash now has the power and capital to squash his entire enterprise with a single bid, without even scratching the surface of his [potheads] budget. For me, buying that land is like exxon buying a new drill bit, or cisco buying a new server.

Wow.

That is the most romantic thing I ever read.  :rose:  

I hope you're serious.

In fact, if you buy HLA, I will MARRY you.

I will drive down there, marry you, and be the Creative Director of that Hedonism Retreat.

She referred me to HLA in 1999

Hujambo mimi rafikis,

If you are a student, parent, or former staff from HLA, I need your help! Just a few sentences will do. I'm not asking for a thesis(!), but I KNOW you have SOMETHING to say!

I recently started a topic "To All Parents: This Concerns You," to help parents looking at HLA get an idea of what it is actually like there, without having to parse through any of either the belligerent anti-HLA rantings or the pro-HLA propaganda.

To do this I need (YOUR) first hand testimony of(YOUR) experience there!

Many of you are ex parents, students, and staff, and many of you don't want another kid to go through what you went through or saw happen.

WHY ARE YOU ON THIS SITE IF YOU CAN"T BE BOTHERED TO HELP A KID WHO IS FACING THE VERY THINGS YOU ARE DENOUNCING HERE?  

PLEASE, go to the "To All Parents.." topic and contribute a few words pertaining to your personal experience with HLA. Just do this one good thing and I, on behalf of the universe, will relinquish you from any philanthropic obligations for the week!!!!! (Maybe it will be cathartic?)

I'm not ordering you to post this minute, but just to think about what you wish someone had explained to you or your parents before the decision to send you to HLA was made... and then post THAT!

Final clarification: Do NOT post your responses HERE (on this thread), but on the topic entitled, "TO ALL PARENTS: THIS CONCERNS YOU" in the HLA forum.

Please feel welcome to contact me for any reason(!).

Thank you to everyone who has already contributed and to everyone who will!

~Mary

A parent's advice to other parents:

Current Parents of Students at HLA:

Like most of us who put their kids at HLA, you were probably in a desperate situation where you felt you had to put your child somewhere for his or her own safety. It's a stressful time in which the only thing on your mind was saving your kid from self-destructing. HLA, by all appearances, seems to be the place that can do that in your time of desperation.Hopefully the dust has settle and you will start asking some tough questiions.

Ask your child's Peer Group counselors about their professional experience in dealing with teenagers - years of experience, where they've worked, etc, are they professionally licensed? On paper they look good, but reality is quite another thing. Your child is obviously there for therapeutic reasons otherwise you wouldn't be spending almost $6,000 per month on tuition.

Ask about your child's teachers - are they certified to teach in GA? What are they certified to teach? Ask to see a copy of their GA state certificates.

Ask HLA to see a copy of their report from SACS and SAIS.

Ask for a tour of HLA's science labs - your paying money for your child to be there, you have a right to see these things.

Ask HLA if they've ever had any lawsuits against them. Settled any lawsuits out of court?

Ask about the strip search policy. Did you know your child is strip searched each time they return to campus? Did you consent to this?

Ask about the qualifications and certifications of the individuals running the Addicitions and Substance Abuse counseling. Are those individuals qualified as Addicitions Counselors? Are they certified in the state of GA as licensed Addictions Counselors?

Ask about the counselors who are providing services to kids that engage in self-injurious behaviors such as cutting - what experience do they have to provide counseling? are they certified or have they specialized in this area? Are they licensed to provide this type of counseling?

Ask about the "interventions".

Ask about the Nightstaff - do they know CPR and other life-saving procedures? Ask to see proof.

Ask why HLA isn't licensed as a Therapeutic Boarding School by the state of GA. (They're not; they're a corporation whose purpose is "Education with Special Purpose".)

Ask HLA whether or not they are licensed through the Department of Human Resources and the Office of Regulatory Services. (They're not so they don't have to follow GA state laws to protect children.)

Ask HLA why they opposed being licensed by DHR and ORS. DHR and ORS ensures the safety of your child - why would any legitimate organization oppose being licensed? (Don't let them tell you they didn't.)

Ask the tough questions. It's your child and it's your money.