Fornits

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

You guys have no place to judge me. I know some if not all these adults went/go thru.  I have been there too... Psy... Were you calling me a b****

No.  I am referring to a specific name of a specific person you and your cohorts dropped on the streets.  You know exactly who I am talking about.  Don't play stupid.

And no you don't know what most or all of the adults went through.  Judged on the Keywords you use to advertise your site to the search
engines for example:

meta name="keywords" content="mambo, Mambo, Benchmark Young Adult School, help for troubled teen, adolescent behavior problem, young adult behavior problem, depression in adolescents, adolescent depression, shy and withdrawn teens, teens at risk, young adults at risk, aspergers syndrome, substance abuse in teens, substance abuse in young adults, drug abuse in teens, drug abuse in young adults, problem teens, teen behavior problem, at risk adolescents, at risk young adults, at risk youth, youthful offenders, teen learning disabilities, young adults learning disabilities, tough love, emotional growth, emotional growth schools, oppositional-defiant, borderline behavior, behavior disorder, behavior modification, schools for at risk teens, difficult teens, at risk youth program, intervention program risk youth, troubled teen private school" meta name="Generator" content="Mambo - Copyright 2000 - 2005 Miro International Pty Ltd.  All rights reserved."

(emphasis added, html symbols removed)

What qualificiationsdoes an ex pothead have (yes i'm talking to you Rich.) to make those claims:

You guys have no place to judge me. I know some if not all these adults went/go thru.  I have been there too... Psy... Were you calling me a b****

And no everything can NOT be cured through AA.  Not even they claim that, although your staff do (witnesses, Rich.  lots of em).

Read the above quotations Oz.  It should answer your question.  If not, gimme a call and i can be a lot more explicit.[/quote]

Well it's about beddie bye time for me but I'll be back tomorrow.  Nite nite mister troll.  Thanks for the FAQ questions.  

Oh.  Before I go I have a few links fellow ex-students of Benchmark Young Adult School might be interested in.

To those who went through Friendship Workshop:

http://http://www.isaccorp.org/lifespring/selfmag.pdf
Also see the CEDU section of this forum.  Search for "profeets". or "workshops"

Take your time.  There's a lot of information and it's a head trip to read.  Yes there is a connection.  But more about that tomorrow.

::troll::

ignore the troll and post the info you have on Benchmark. most of us around here know how these programs work. and how many 18 year olds know their rights and/or can't be convinced that they've signed them away, 20-30 year olds for that matter. it's not like teens are taught their legal right in school. where are they supposed to acquire this information?
most states have laws that allow a teen to refuse psychiatric and drug abuse treatment at a certain age (14-16). hospitals and rehabs are required to inform the patient of their rights. how many do?
and we can guess the number of programs that do.

LOL.  I know.  The asshole is just giving me some good suggestions for topics.  So for once a programmie is useful.  I think I know who he is anyway.  He's unwittingly helping me compile a FAQ as we speak.  Idiot troll.

Exactly.  Add this lack of education to a portion of the student population which were dumped into Benchmark directly out of programs like CEDU schools.  Most of them had very little will to resist left (although some were almost invulnerable to the brainwashing, being so familiar with it).

As far as we knew, we had no rights and they took full advantage of this.  If students misbehaved enough, they were sent to motels which provided Benchmark with extra student capacity.  At any given time i would estimate 40-50% of students were motel-bound.  Motel students (known as sink or swim students) were forbidden from talking to normal students in an effort to restrict outside contact.

Now combine these three aspects:

no refunds after 5 days in program

$55000 / year (cheaper than when i was there)

60 dollars a week expenses on a motel room.

What does that equal.  That's right kids.  A fucking boatload of money.  

To be fair they did pay for 3 cup 'o' noodle soup cups a day, and a granola bar.  That's nutricious enough right?  Why kids on this diet for months lost tons of weight collectively.  This was known as the "Benchmark Diet" (not shitting you, staff actually named it this).

Oh but they let you get a job in motel though.  You just had to put down Benchmark Young Adult School as your place of residence though, and the staff would (allegedly) take your phone calls.  After all.  They had to approve of the employer.

Ok.  New question:  If you're a business owner, flipping through a stack of job applications, where do you think he/she is going to file the one applicant from that school for fuck-ups down the street?

Well what do they expect, a limo to come pick them up? If you can't decide whether a night or two, or a week on the streets is better than the program you are in then maybe it's just better to stay.

What's your solution to the problem as you perceive it? Should adults now be protected from themselves by a third party, maybe the state can appoint nannies to each of us until we turn 30? ( I keed, I keed.. kinda)

First off, Minors were there in program as well.  See their Enrollment Contract for information on this as well as a covenant not to sue, which was not there when i enrolled.

Also.  Adults are protected from misrepresentation and fraud (which i am not necessarily alleging here, Rich).  What your arguing here is along the lines of "Buyer beware" which would be a valid argument were the advertised claims of Benchmark actually factual and the customer was not being misrepresented.

Well in this case, I allege, the product was misrepresented to the buyer. Although Benchmark has only one staff member who teaches high school part time, Benchmark claimed on it's California Private School Affidavit (excel format) (required to operate a school, but not an accreditaion or approval) that it has 10 full time teachers.  According to their website they only have four (and none of them teach full time).  They also claim to grant High School diplomas while this is not true.  They bus students to Redlands Adult School so they can finish their high school education if necessary.

How many high school graduates have ever graduated Benchmark Young Adult School?  0

Read this california Law snippet on Private School Affidavits:

"Filing pursuant to this section shall not be interpreted to mean,
and it shall be unlawful for any school to expressly or impliedly
represent by any means whatsoever, that the State of California, the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education,
the State Department of Education, or any division or bureau of the
department, or any accrediting agency has made any evaluation,
recognition, approval, or endorsement of the school or course unless
this is an actual fact."

Their NATSAP page is interesting in this respect.

Accreditation, Licensure, Approval:   California Private School Affidavit

Yes i see the technicality here (it's natsap doing the representing).  Nevertheless, their only qualification they publicly claim is highly suspect IMO.

Here's another snippet of California's regulations on practice of psychology which I include for no particular reason:

2903.  No person may engage in the practice of psychology, or
represent himself or herself to be a psychologist, without a license
granted under this chapter, except as otherwise provided in this
chapter.  The practice of psychology is defined as rendering or
offering to render for a fee to individuals, groups, organizations or
the public any psychological service involving the application of
psychological principles, methods, and procedures of understanding,
predicting, and influencing behavior, such as the principles
pertaining to learning, perception, motivation, emotions, and
interpersonal relationships; and the methods and procedures of
interviewing, counseling, psychotherapy, behavior modification, and
hypnosis; and of constructing, administering, and interpreting tests
of mental abilities, aptitudes, interests, attitudes, personality
characteristics, emotions, and motivations.
   The application of these principles and methods includes, but is
not restricted to:  diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and
amelioration of psychological problems and emotional and mental
disorders of individuals and groups.
   Psychotherapy within the meaning of this chapter means the use of
psychological methods in a professional relationship to assist a
person or persons to acquire greater human effectiveness or to modify
feelings, conditions, attitudes and behavior which are emotionally,
intellectually, or socially ineffectual or maladjustive.
   As used in this chapter, "fee" means any charge, monetary or
otherwise, whether paid directly or paid on a prepaid or capitation
basis by a third party, or a charge assessed by a facility, for
services rendered.

EDIT: Note.  Their keywords in teh page source (for search engines) include a multitude of these keywords listed above.  At least it used to.  But i have the page archived.  I think i posted the keywords later on in this thread.

I could go into more detail but this is just one example of what is advertised, compared to what is actually offered.

If you're a program staffer or an ed-con.  Please keep asking me questions.  I'll be here until my face hits the keyboard (don't you wish).

Redlands? I'll have to look that up. Don't know where that is?

Redlands California.  San Bernadino (aka Burn-a-ghetto) area.  Just a few miles from Running Springs.

Warning milk!!.  The following quote comes from strugglingteens.com

BENCHMARK YOUNG ADULT SCHOOL
Redlands, California
CKC Consultant Tour Services Schedules Tour
Of Benchmark Young Adult School In December
Contact:
CKC Consultant Tour Services
www.ckctours.com
Or-Richard Brimhall
800-474-4848
www.ckctours.com or contact Richard Brimhall at [email protected] or 800-474-4848.

To which I will respond publicly:

Hey Rich,

I understand Benchmark is a full member of NATSAP.  Since NATSAP has offered public tours for anybody to visit any of their programs, I would like to tour Benchmark.  I understand a tour is already planned for December 4th.  I would suppose this time to be convenient (since tour arrangements are already made) for me to visit.  It's always nice to take vacations with company anyway.

If this time is somehow not convenient, I would still desire to see how far benchmark has come at a time you might find more convenient. I look forward to seeing how Benchmark has transformed itself.  I truly hope it has changed for the better since my stay there.

A few questions first:

Will I be able to pick a student / several to interview privately on record?

The reason I ask is so as to avoid cynical people thinking the students interviewed were cherry picked and/or implicitly threatened with consequences.  We all know there are a lot of people out there who will buy all kind of fanciful conspracy theories about programs if things are not kept completely transparant.

Will i be able to ask questions of the staff on record?

Before you respond, you should know I am posting this letter online (on wwf.fornits.com) as an open response to your tour invitation on Lon's site (strugglingteens.com).  Any response will also be posted online.

Thank you in advance,
Michael Crawford

Don't joke about that stuff.
It ain't funny.

I disagree.  I have a sick sense of humor and i find what milk said very funny.  It runs in the family actually.  We'll all be sitting in a movie theater, watching some serious drama, and some old lady will fall down the stairs an die.  We'll all burst out laughing (while the entire audience turns to look at us with a look i can't quite describe).  Eeh.  I lived in Ireland for too long.  Most comedies there end with everybody dying.

@ Covergaard:  Props to you for your efforts.  Even if you're overseas, it still helps to know there's another person out there shining light in dark corners.

My precious 14 year-old son has been viewing content that is not suitable for his age range. He loves pornographic websites. I spoke to the school psycologist who said he thinks my son views such content because he is covering up a deeper issue or deeper issues. He told me to lok into sending him to a Wilderness Program. He personally reccemended Second Nature. Any thoughts on this program or my situation with my son?

Um.  I suspect you are a troll.  But just in case you are actually serious, and since i have some free time here, i might as well respond.

Your kid is NORMAL.  When people are that age and certain things about their bodies start to change, and the hormones start to do wacky things, they get interested in members of (usually) the opposite sex.  Hmm.  These things are normally taught in sex-ed classes.

Jeez when i was that age 95 - 97% of people (not just boys) looked at porn.  Only a few of them get caught, however.  I don't know why a school counselor would recommend something like that and have a hard time believing it.  If i've fed a troll.  oh well.

Listen.  I don't have the time to explain why not here, just to a quick search on fornits about the program in question, look at the isaccorp.org website at the warning signs, visit cafety, and do a little research.  I don't think you want to send your kid there.  I won't even bother telling you why, go find out on your own.

Do NOT go to strugglingteens.com or natsap's website for advice.  They are run by former program owners with a definite agenda.  Do not trust any educational consulting firm at all.  If you really feel like your kid has a problem, let a PSYCHOLOGIST make the decision as to whether or not it is an issue.  A school councelor is not qualified to make such recommendations, and i would question the ethical standards of anybody who would.

Let your child speak to a psychologist about this.  Don't talk to the psychologist for him, he may not feel comfortable telling you everything.  During that time of development, many children feel uncomfortable or somehow ashaimed of their bodies and changes.  Sending him to a wilderness program would solve nothing and i guarantee you would regret it.

Listen.  If you're really serious about wanting to send your kid to a Program.  E-mail or PM me and we can exchange phone numbers after which i can explain in detail (based on my own experiences and those i know personally) exactly why you do not want to send your kid to a program.  Don't take my word for it, there are others here who can give you advice as well.  There are many alternatives to programs.