Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => Straight, Inc. and Derivatives => Topic started by: FaceKhan on January 03, 2002, 01:28:00 AM
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http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/n ... 93,00.html (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nation/article/0,1299,DRMN_16_917693,00.html)
Colorado girl pulled from Teen Help compound
Conditions deplorable at Mexico camp tied to Utah group, authorities say
By Lou Kilzer, News Staff Writer
Mexican officials have removed a 14-year-old Colorado girl and seven other teens from a compound connected to Utah-based Teen Help, the latest in a series of crackdowns on the organization.
Child welfare workers found the conditions deplorable at the High Impact locked compound near Tecate in Baja California, Mexico, according to authorities at the United States Consulate in Tijuana.
"They were all extremely dirty," consulate spokesman Clint Wright said of the teens living there. "Some of the kids had calluses and blisters on their feet from being made to do a lot of laps around the place without wearing proper shoes."
He said the teens were forced to lie on their stomachs, with their chins on the ground, for hours at a time.
Mexican authorities said they found that tents had blown down and children had been forced to sleep in bathrooms, according to U.S. diplomats.
The Colorado girl complained of blisters and a sunburn, officials said. They would release no details about the girl, who was one of the last to leave High Impact.
The Teen Help organization offers services to parents of troubled children. The parents often attend rigorous psychological encounter sessions, while their children are sent to behavior modification camps in the United States and overseas.
Some mental health professionals have described some of the techniques in the adult seminars and at the compounds as "coercive persuasion."
Parents often pay more than $3,000 a month for tuition. A typical stay can last 18 months or longer.
Parents said High Impact is an integral part of the Teen Help empire -- a place to send kids who are "not working the program."
Officials first inspected the High Impact facility Dec. 5. The World Wide Association of Specialty Schools -- an umbrella group for many Teen Help-related programs -- immediately began withdrawing its clients from High Impact. When the compound was revisited on Dec. 8, eight remained. WWASP said one of the eight had come from its program.
The teens were taken into protective custody, according to the consulate. Allegations of unsanitary conditions at High Impact are untrue, said Ken Kay, head of the WWASP. "I mean, it was the cleanest place I ever saw," he said.
But Chris Goodwin of San Francisco said his son was forced to stay outside in his underpants for three nights, lying on his stomach with his chin on the ground. If he moved to try to brush off fire ants that roamed over him, he was threatened with a cattle prod, said Goodwin. The punishment left scars on his son's chin, he said.
The Utah organization tried last week to distance itself from High Impact. Kay said the only association WWASP had with High Impact was that it occasionally sent children there. "I know you probably think I'm playing dumb," said Kay. "And that's good, because I probably am dumb."
Records suggest that WWASP has a closer relation to High Impact. High Impact's Web page is on a Web service called parentresources.net. That site advertises Teen Help and WWASP programs, and its phone number connects to Teen Help in Utah. The person who manages the Web site has managed Teen Help.
High Impact's billing is controlled by R&B Billing, a company owned by Robert Lichfield in Utah, according to records obtained by the News. Lichfield created the Teen Help programs.
Payments to WWASP and High Impact have the same St. George, Utah, mailing address. And parent identification codes remain the same when a child goes from a WWASP program to High Impact, and vice versa, according to internal records.
Though the facilities are owned by various individuals, the money first passes through Lichfield's concerns in southern Utah, where most of it remains, Kay told the News.
But Dace Goulding, who runs Casa by the Sea, a WWASP program in Ensanada, Mexico, said he doesn't know of any relationship between High Impact and WWASP. He also said he had no knowledge of teens from Casa by the Sea going to High Impact.
That was news to Goodwin. He said that after his son was having troubles at Casa, Goulding called and told him to send his son to High Impact. He said Goulding sold it to him as a camping experience.
What his son found, instead, was "torture," according to Goodwin. After his son and another boy got into a fight, the staff beat both and then put them in the High Impact position, he said.
"They were flat on their stomachs, hands behind their back as if they're handcuffed, chin out straight, resting on the ground. My kid said he stayed like that in a pool of blood all night long on the first night. They were freezing their butts off."
Goodwin said his son spent three nights in the High Impact position.
Goulding said he didn't know Chris Goodwin or his son.
Stephanie Hecker of Kansas City said her son experienced the same treatment.
High Impact isn't the first Teen Help-related program to run into trouble with authorities.
A compound near Cancun, Mexico, was closed after a newspaper reported child abuse allegations.
Police in the Czech Republic closed WWASP's Morava Academy, again citing abuse allegations. Police alleged kids were sometimes isolated, denied food and handcuffed.
A Teen Help psychiatric hospital in St. George was shut following an investigation into an abuse complaint.
A WWASP program in Western Samoa closed after American diplomats received what they called "credible" allegations of abuse.
And last Monday, child welfare officials made an unannounced visit to Casa by the Sea, removing five children for private interviews.
Goulding, the director of the program, said he was unaware of the event. But Kay was.
"I just can't believe that they came in . . . with armed federales, removed five of the kids without the parents' permission or anything, and took them off to question them, and then brought them back," said Kay. "The mayor of Ensanada is highly incensed."
Of the Rocky Mountain News, which has raised questions about the program in recent years, Goulding said: "Because of the work that you do, Casa by the Sea is thriving. I was going to send you a thank-you letter for that."
He hung up the phone after telling a reporter: "Please don't call me. I'll call you."
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Ever wish you could go back in time and kill Hitler? Hey its a just a thought.
Just wait Lichfield is gonna publish a little red book "The Thought of Chairman Lichfield" with songs about the several evils, and parents are going to recite it while they murder their own children, oh wait a minute, they are already doing that, no little red book required.
Is it too much too hope for that the Federales will shoot the bastards? I got some Dollars, I can bribe them to do it.
Q: What is WWASP's relationship with High Impact?
A "Oh we have nothing to do with 'that' program...honest."
Q Then why are your phone number, billing address, client records, ownership records, and corporate offices the same as that of High Impact and other programs that have been shut down, which you also claim to have nothing to do with?
A Lichfield can do no wrong, he saved our children, he saved us all...amen. Load...cock...click...bang...splat...good riddance.
Maybe in the fervor of trying to find something that American Taliban guy is guilty of, they might pass a law that makes brainwashing a terrorist act, punishable by vivisection or something appropriate like that. There are certainly worse things that are being done with our tax dollars.
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Here's mine.
Dear Mr. Kilzer,
I want to thank you for checking the facts on this story.
"Records suggest that WWASP has a closer relation to High Impact. "
These TOUGHLOVE hategroups generally operate with such a haughty disregard for law and the public's intelligence that reporting on them ought to be like shooting fish in a barrel. But for some damned reason, it's a rare and wonderful thing for any reporter to actually go and _check_ their statements to see if they hold up. Go get `em!
I and a few friends have got reams and volumes of similar quality information on another very powerful TOUGHLOVE hategroup that goes by the name of Drug Free America Foundation. But we lack the bully pulpit that you have; only so much traffic to our websites and forums. I wonder if I could influence you to take a look at http://thestraights.com/ (http://thestraights.com/) I think you might find some material of interest to you there. I think DFAF ties directly to WWASP by way of a common interest in the new Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives funding; created by one of Bush's first executive orders. I don't know exactly where to look or how to confirm my suspicion in that regard.
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Hi, i'm is tommyfromhyde and i'm anonymous.
Good find Face! The Denver Rocky Mountain News has been on to this WWASP/Teen Help outfit for at least a year or so. However they don't archive back very far so also good work mirroring that one. there's an article that I think they did that gave me an idea about suing abusive programs that I just can't find on their site anymore.
Peace,
Tommy
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Hi Tom! {hugs}
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Hey Tommy. Actually I had some interesting news hit me the other day. Another friend of mine who was sent to a wildnerness program last summer, and had a considerably worse experience than Alex, told me that he was about a hairs thickness away from being sent to Hyde afterwards. He had to get a D in some stupid summerschool class in order to avoid it and he managed to do it by stealing the exam. His mother is a psycho, and his father is weak-willed. I spoke with him for several hours about it all, and he seemed very angry about it in general.
In a disturbing development, his program is apparently owned by Outward Bound which has generally stuck to voluntary wildnerness adventures before, but has a small number of 'thereaputic programs'. He described Outward Bound's Ascent program as being staffed by the same kind of ill trained, brainwashed creeps that work in a lot of the less reputable companies.
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On 2002-01-03 23:08:00, FaceKhan wrote:
In a disturbing development, his program is apparently owned by Outward Bound which has generally stuck to voluntary wildnerness adventures before, but has a small number of 'thereaputic programs'. He described Outward Bound's Ascent program as being staffed by the same kind of ill trained, brainwashed creeps that work in a lot of the less reputable companies.
Hey, I'm pretty sure Ascent is run by the Mormon Church, isn't it?
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I don't know who owns it but I sure hope it ain't Outward Bound ! I would also like to know if it was this allegedly OB owned wilderness that referred this kid's folks to Hyde. I thought that Outward Bound had learned their lesson about Hyde in the seventies! You see OB ran the wilderness component of Hyde's early summer challenge program for a while. According to the story that I remember OB severed their relationship with Hyde a couple of years before I landed there in 1976 because they thought Hyde's people were nuts.
peace
Tommy
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Hi Tommy ,
Hey was Hyde in Bath Maine ?
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hey Matt
It still is in Bath, ME. Also they've
expanded to a second campus in Woodstock,
Conn. The good news I guess is that Hyde's
a lo-calorie version of the programs under
discussion here. The bad is that their vision
is not to be a rehab or even a 'special
school' but a model for all schools. To this
end thev've opened up two 'charter schools',
one in New Haven,Conn. and one in Wash,DC
(These are day schools I think).
Peace,
Tommy
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I said the same thing, until I did a search of Outward Bound Programs and found this http://public.obusa.net/obpub/crsfndr/o ... ode=VAS199 (http://public.obusa.net/obpub/crsfndr/obncrsdet.asp?code=VAS199)
Voyaguer Ascent is one of their "special" programs. I don't know whether or not it was OB that was recomending Hyde, but that is where his parents were looking to send him. They were already thinking about it before he was sent to the wildnerness program so it could be just a coincidence that they had picked Hyde.
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hey Face,
Was Hyde ever a possibility for Alex too?
If so you may have a Hyde parent running
around your community selling Hyde to all
his friends Amway style.
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No Hyde was never a possibility, mainly because Alex was turning 18 in 4 months from the time he was sent to Alldredge and it was supposed to be a 3 month program. However from some of the posts I have seen from Alldredge parents, it is definitely a stop-off point for kids destined for TBS in the US and in Samoa.
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Grab the bag, Face. Heeere's Lonnie!
http://www.strugglingteens.com/parents/findersfees.html (http://www.strugglingteens.com/parents/findersfees.html)
A kind of finders' fee Lonnie didn't mention
though is the kind where program parents are
offered forgivness of fees of some kind for
bringing in new clients. Every kid in town
must look like a junkie to such a parent.
I don't think Hyde pulled that when I was
there but it's been 25 years.
Didn't you say STRAIGHT(r) did that Antigen?
peace
Tommy
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I can't say for sure that it was a stated quid pro quo in our familie's case. My mother never discussed business with us at all. But other parents have said that it was in their case.
Our family was involved with The Seed and then Straight for over 10 years. In that time, my mother tried to recruite just about everyone we knew. I don't know what she was getting more out of that than just a handy means to isolate her victims or not. You ever watch Six Feet Under? Know that character who's the obsessive control freak; chased the gay brother around and showed up at strangers' funerals for kicks? My mother is very like that.
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I think the whole world has just shook. Mr. Woodbury has written an opinion that I actually agree with. If we could only get him to think so critically on the usefullness and safety of most of these programs as he has on finders fees and referral bonuses. He does not touch on the issue of parent finder fees though which is actually a bigger concern in many ways because it contributes to the cult structure of many teen help organizations.
And remember "the feeling of safety" at many of the programs that Woodbury reviews "is tangible", unless of course you happen to be one of the victims of the 121 counts of fraud and sexual abuse perpetrated by the operator of the program that was described in exactly that way by Mr. Woodbury.
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I really love that quote at the end there FaceKhan Love it. :smile:
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Tommy from Hyde .I got out of Elan in july of 76.
I ended up going to a really cool school for my senior year. That school was Waynefleet School (off of spring street in Portland ) I graduated in june of 77 .Have you heard of this school?,I believe that Waynefleet use to play Hyde in sports. Did Hyde have a soccer field that had many holes in it ?
There were 13 people in my senior class 2 former Elan residents and a fellow from Hyde who was from Bath named Todd Prower (probably rusty on the spelling and my yearbook is not close at hand).Is this name familar to you ?
Todd and I talked about Hyde a little bit. I am lucky to have graduated from this highschool,(considering how poor the quasi education that was hastily put together for the younger residents by Elan).I should say the lack of education at the time proffered by Elan in my opinion was down right stunting. (since Elan was starting to take in minors with the adults ,Elan had to provide school for us to comply with state laws )
Elan's version of school did not begin until much later in 74 afterall it was a behavior modifacation center based on negative (in my opinion) reinforcement not a school by any stretch of the imagination.
[ This Message was edited by: Matt C. Hoffman on 2002-01-16 19:01 ]
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Hi Matt c. Hoffman I'm tommyfromhyde.
I was at Hyde starting in fall '76 so I
think your friend probably left before i
got there. Do you remember if he said how or
why he left?
There were many holes at Hyde. They were
exactly 6 feet deep and were constantly dug
and filled back in again by people with
"bad attitudes":roll:
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Tommy I think Todd related that his father was not happy with Hyde.
It seems kinda ironic .I was leaving a really twisted place and going to a really nice school,in 76, and you were entering Hyde.
My friend did not really like to talk about Hyde ,though you could tell that when he did that it seemed like a dark cloud would pass over him.
I also believe that Waynefleet's class of 76 was the last time that Waynefleet played Hyde . There for you might not know of Waynefleet School.
Anyway take care .
Matthiam
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Lon Woodbury has closed the WWASP/Teen Help forum on the Struggling Teen discussion board. His notice states this is because of pending litigation. This forum had heated up in the past few months after the balance of power shifted and "anti" WWASP posters started to outnumber the "pro" WWASP ones.
Lon Woodbury has claimed he receives no money from WWASP/Teen Help and is completely unbiased. I don't know Lon personally, but have always questioned his ethics and honesty. There is documented proof that Lon has received numerous payments from WWASP for something???
WWASP has filed a lawsuit against at least three of the most vocal "anti-WWASP" advocates known - Barbe Stamps of Teen Help USA, Sue Scheff of P.U.R.E., and Donna Headrick of the Intrepid Net Reporter. These three women are just part of a group of people who have been working to expose WWASP/Teen Help and its abusive programs.
They have dedicated a great deal of time, effort and their own money to this cause. Not for personal gain or notoriety of any kind. Just a selfless desire to help children who are being victimized for profit.
Ken Kay and his family are trying to do the same thing with this lawsuit, that they do to the kids in their programs. Intimidate, manipulate and threaten in order to discredit and quiet any detractors.
I have a great deal of respect and admiration for these women and others who have the integrity and compassion to speak out about an injustice, regardless of the consequences. Sadly, these people are greatly outnumbered by those who just don't seem to give a shit.
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Lon, despite his claims that he does not take referral fees, does in fact take referral fees by allowing programs to advertise on his website. Do you think he does that for free?
The reasoning behind closing the forum is just an excuse to do what he wanted to the whole time. It is no big secret that Lon does not want a genuine debate on TeenHelp or the entire industry. His discussion boards are for parents who want to lament about how rotten their kids are so they can support one another after they are sent off to death camps.