Fornits

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

I agree the notion that some people were abused while others weren't.  It isn't an absolute thing that happens to everyone who goes there, but it does/did happen to some.  Also, the term "abuse" can be subjective, and it's important to remember that.

I was at CCM a long time ago now, as a 16 year old in 1994.  I didn't suffer any significant personal physical abuse, but I did witness it.  By my definition of physical abuse, some of the things that happened in my room and/or group would surely be considered abuse, and even crimes in the outside world.  

As for emotional abuse, that happened too.  But again, what's "therapy," and what's "abusive" can be very subjective and I don't dare presume that what I consider to be mentally or emotionally abusive would necessarily be viewed in exactly the same light by all other people.

So that's just my two cents.

Thanks for the links!
And yes, Litchfield = WWASP, so although PCS isn't listed on their site as one of their "schools", it looks as if they have their hands in everything.  Karr Farnsworth has been heavily associated with WWASP almost since their beginning.  He has held about a million different positions.  They seem to move people around all the time, but the names are always the same.

Janet,

Wow, how did your ex-friend manage to secure her daughter at CCM until she was 19? Or was the daughter just so warped by then that she believed she needed to stay on and finish The Program?  That is really, really sad.  I can't imagine anything worse than getting out and then having to stay in southern Utah, or thinking that you are so screwed up that you needed to.  

When I went to CCM there were certainly no parties or dances with boys -- there was no nearby boys facility back then, but now I doubt they have any contact with them at all.  There was nothing that resembled normal social functions of any kind while I was at CCM.

A lot of times girls did arrive late in the day.  I was driven there from Brightway in St. George at night.  I can remember the car ride there and thinking that I wished I could disappear into the darkness and knowing it was the last time I would see the outside world for awhile, save for those Dr.'s visits in Hurricane.  Sometimes girls would be dragged in when we were still at the rec center -- I recall one time when a girl who has apparently been at CCM before was brought in, she was drunk or on something and resisting.  We were all sitting around in groups in the large room/gym/whatever the hell it was.  I was coloring in a kids colorbook (what I did to keep from going insane there) and all of a sudden the door opens and this girl is literally dragged down the stairway in restraints.  Yes, she was resisting, but I remember thinking -- why did they have to treat her that way -- VERY roughly, saying degrading things, and bringing her in and humiliating her in front of everyone?  It was one of those things that was supposed to scare us and make us see what would happenif we messed up when we got out, etc.  It was a horrible thing to have to see and it's just one of the many things I'd blocked out, but obviously not forgotten about until you asked about girls coming in at night.  I think maybe people usually arrive late so you don't really know where you are, but that could be speculation.  Girls were came at all different times, but I do remember many late ariivals where there would be a new girl in the hall way for roll call at night.

Interesting what you said about Oregon -- right before my southern Utah experience my folks sent me to Pioneer Trails Adolescent Facility in Gresham, OR. right outside of Portland.  We are from Seattle, so it was close.  It was a lock up.  I hated it, and begged to come home and they let me out very quickly.  But, when I looked for it online it seems to no longer exist.  I assumed you could have lock ups there because of that, but it's good to know that I may have been wrong.

I was probably a lot like your friend's daughter -- I was quiet, sometimes timid and shy.  I had a few behaviour problems and ran away once when I turned 16.  I had never done drugs and didn't smoke or drink like so many of the girls.  My folks and I mainly disagreed on my choices of friends and the use of my time.  The running away was what pushed them to this because they were scared.  I, unlike the girl you mentioned, was able to get out of CCM in a relatively short period of time in comparison.  My time there was damaging and I cannpt imagine what two years would have done.

That place seems to tear down, reprogram, and strip girls of their identity.  It makes girls feel weaker and more damaged then they really are.  Like if you don't work the program there is no help for you.  It is really a sick thing.  I can see how extreme behaviour modification is necessary in some cases, but not that kind of modification.  The main thing is that these places are majorly misrepresented to parents.  They aren't boarding schools with mixers and dances -- they are prison/institutions that aren't appropriate for the average "troubled teen."

Michelle.

Steve and Glen were at Cross Creek while I was there.  I'd be very interested to hear what the truth is about what happened in Mexico and in the Czech Republic (if anyone was there) from first hand sources that were actually there.

as I think I mentioned I was 16 when I was at cross creek.  I didn't  have a drug,alcohol, or abuse problem like a lot of people there.  I had run away from home because of some differences between my folks and I.  They sent me there because they felt I needed to be in a secure place.

Here's some of what I can recall:

At first I went to Brightway.  It was demoralizing, to say the least.  I felt like I was in jail and knew that I wouldn't move up and out until I "came to terms with my issues."  Once I did and said I knew I needed to make changes they sent me to CCM.  It was the scariest place I had ever been.  I moved right on into the basement and was determined not to make waves.  I was the quiet kid who didn't cause trouble or do anything wrong.  Girls walked around like zombies.  My roomates warned me about specifc girls to avoid.  My second night there a fight broke out in the hallway and I saw one of the girls I had been warned about getting restrained for the first time.  I was terrified.  I started noticing that almost everyone used the same kind of speach (ie:"my experience of you is______," etc.)  It seemed like everyone was programmed.  Some of the girls were nice, I made a few friends, and thought I was learning how to navigate my way through.  Then one night -- in the middle of the night -- staff came into my room with a flashlight, woke my up by sticking it in my face, roughly pulled me off of the top bunk, put my wrists in a lock (which was not necesary since I never resisted or would have had they just asked me to get up).  I was horrified and confused being woken up this way.  I kept asking what was happening and no one would answer me except to make snide remarks like, "you know damn well," et al.  I was taken down the hall to the isolation rooms.  I was left in there all night with no blankets -- just the mattress on the floor and the lights on.  The next day I was moved down to the rec center and put in a room alone all day.  Finally I was told what was happening . . .
some girls had told staff that I had "run plans," which was ridiculous, because I was smat enough to know there was no way out and knew that if I cooperated my parents would let me come home.I was told to write a minimum of 5,000 words on why I would not run.  I did it all in one sitting.  Staff belived that I didn't have plans to run and after another two nights in isolation I was let out.
Girls would often "nark off" other girls in order to curry favor with staff, even making things up to look better.  It was frightening because you never knew what might happen.
Later I was back in the good graces of the staff and was going to be moved upstairs.  I returned home from the rec center that night to be dragged into iso. again.  This time I had no idea why.  It turns out that Glenn Roach went into my room to take my stuff upstairs and found gym shoes in my bag of unused clothing.  Her husband Steve yelled at me, called me a cheat and a liar, etc.  I had no idea the shoes were there -- when I came in from Brightway they missed them when they went through my stuff and now I was again being acused of having shoes because I planned to run.  Finally I was able to get out of iso., explain myself, my parents were called, etc.  Then I was moved upstairs.
Things were better there -- but memories include being pushed and poked in the chest on three ocassions by staff.
Mainly I remember witnessing bad things happening to other girls left and right.  The mentality that you had to adopt and verbiage that you were required to speak in bordered on cult-like.  Guilt was prevalent and interwoven throughout therapy, group time, and daily activity in general.
School was a joke -- you sat there all afternoon doing modules out of work books with the radio on some easy listening St.George radio station.  There was nothing that was simillar to a real classroom setting.  
Over all my personal experineces there weren't as awful as some and there were some nice girls and staff, but it isn't what they present to parents, kids are abused physically and verbally, their rights are taken away, and you're made to feel very badly.  
I could go on in more detail, but this post is already pretty long for now.

Thanks for reading.  Let me know if you have any questions or would like to know more.

Also, keep in mind this was back in 1994 and I have not been there since then.

Best,

Michelle.