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Messages - Whooter

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61
News Items / Re: Common Sense In Judging E.S.T. Programs
« on: May 17, 2013, 08:12:46 PM »
Quote from: "STEPHEN D. MIGDEN"

For example, almost any behavioral health or special education treatment is - in fact, must be - applied in the context of a human relationship. Whether client-therapist or student-teacher, the positive relationship between the helping professional and the troubled youth is the all important environment in which any treatment, empirically supported or not, must come to life (Wampold & Bhati, 2004). Without this positive relationship, even the best-supported treatment will come to nothing. A student is much more likely to benefit from a treatment applied by a caring adult with whom he has a positive working relationship than from a cold-fish technician, even if the technician knows and applies the technical details of the treatment proficiently.

Great point, The "human relationship" piece is huge.  It is so important for the child to make contact with someone who they can relate to and talk to and develop a positive relationship with.  If the child can relate to someone at the school they have a much better chance of developing a better self awareness, social awareness and healthy social skills.



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62
Open Free for All / Re: Feeling guilty?
« on: May 17, 2013, 07:54:20 PM »
I have a slightly different perspective from Academy at Swift River.  Many of the staff working there with the kids were pursuing some sort of secondary degree.  As I remember a few were working on their masters in psychology at Smith College.  A couple of the staff wanted to be social workers and a few others teachers.   What they all had in common was they enjoyed working with kids and helping them to succeed.
 
The turnover was a little high and you would typically find an imbalance of those who were new and those who were there a long time.  Those who stayed witnessed the benefits of the school and watched the child transition into one who was at peace with themselves and focused on their academics and college careers.



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63
Aspen Education Group / Re: Prescription pills
« on: May 16, 2013, 03:00:24 PM »
Quote from: "psy"

Of course that all depends on the education level of the third party.  How often do you think it is that a psychologist, for instance, is even aware that educational consultants often take commissions from programs?  How many Psychologists are even aware of the industry's troubled past?  Not many, i'd wager.  A small minority, perhaps, but no more than that.  A third party is still a risk and no guarantee of safety.

I think it would be a start, though.  A doctor may state that the son or daughter is not a suitable candidate for wilderness because of weight issues or drug use confided to the doctor via the child, or be able to suggest an outpatient program which is local.  I dont think may people are aware of therapeutic boarding schools, I never heard of them until the need arrived and someone suggested that I look into it.



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64
Aspen Education Group / Re: Prescription pills
« on: May 16, 2013, 12:00:47 PM »
Quote
When Francine Haight looks back on the last months of Ryan's life, she realizes that there were small clues: He was more quiet than usual, slept more, and started hanging out with friends she didn't like.


There are many parents with deep pockets who would consult an edcon from the first sign of drug use.  An edcon, driven by commission, would steer the parent towards an inhouse placement.  I think this has been a problem all along, that is why I think a 3rd party signoff would be helpful in eliminating unnecessary placements.  I have always maintained that a parent should find local services for their child as an initial step and be aware of the warning signs.  After rereading the article based on your comments I feel it does tilt towards placement a little too aggressively and scares a parent into too much action.

As far as prescription drug abuse, I think it carries an extra danger in that it has been okayed by a doctor and therefore carries a false sense of security.  In my day when we took mescaline or various forms of acid we were aware of the risks, ie we didnt know what it was cut with, how pure it was, did it contain strychnine, how many times it was stepped on etc.  So we took caution and didnt over use it.  But pills like Black Beauties were considered safe because they were prescription and the thought was you could take as many as you want as often as you wanted because they were considered safe.  This mentality got kids into trouble in my day and ended up heading down a bad path.
 
So I feel kids today, taking prescription drugs, may be less aware of the dangers (based on my past experience) and therefore to be more prone to abusing it then if it were a “street drug”.  



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65
Open Free for All / Re: Whooter---Eat a bag o' dicks.
« on: January 21, 2011, 03:00:26 PM »
Quote from: "Anne Bonney"
Quote from: "Whooter"
I will accept that as an apology.

How did I miss this one??


I don't give a shit WHAT you think you "accept" that as.  It was in no way, shape or form an apology, you dickless wonder.  You had the unmitigated gall to insinuate that my rape was simply me "having unprotected sex".  How typical of the mindset of the program people.

Look Anne you can still blame the whole world if you like but the bottom line is that you were not going to school, you were hanging around with a bad group, having unprotected sex (nothing to do with your rape) etc.  The fact that you and your dad are still distant proves that you have not accepted accountability for anything you did.  You went from an angry kid to a foul mouthed angry adult. lol

A little advice as I leave, Anne(after you calm down a bit):
 If you want a relationship with your dad you are going to have to do some work and try to come to terms with what you put him through.   Try not to view the whole world through your own tainted glasses.  There are many valid points of view besides your own.  Stay safe.



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66
The Troubled Teen Industry / Re: The Whooter Show - Cancelled
« on: January 21, 2011, 01:26:37 PM »
I don’t  agree with the banning as you probably would guess.  But I will not appeal the decision.

Thank you everyone for what I have learned here.  When I first placed my daughter in ASR I thought that all programs were safe and fornits opened my eyes to the fact that the industry is mostly unregulated and I was lucky that I chose ASR versus a program which may have done harm to her.

If I were to do things over again I would have done them a little differently and researched more.  I realize now how much more local services there are available to parents with kids at risk.
I have more knowledge today to take with me on my travels due to the people of fornits.

Take Care everyone.



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67
The Troubled Teen Industry / Re: LGATs - Large Group Awareness Training
« on: January 20, 2011, 10:08:09 PM »
My wife went to an LGAT and I know several people who have gone to AA meetings.  These meetings are not abusive at all.  I think everyone is making way too big a deal out of going to meetings.  I am sure someone was verbally assaulted in an AA meeting at some point or LGAT and that is why everyone here is up in arms about them, but believe me they are mostly very tame.

The drill here on fornits sometimes is if one person had a bad experience than they assume every AA meeting is abusive.


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68
The Troubled Teen Industry / Re: Academics in programs have excelled over last decade
« on: January 20, 2011, 10:02:25 PM »
Updated

Academy at Swift River:

Here is a program teacher staff list:

These are the teachers that ASR have on staff.

Ballou-Baldwin, Martha    Administrative Assistant .... Licensed Practical Nurse

Gutermuth, Brittany    Teacher......BA in Environmental Studies, Masters in Education

Jasinski, Chris    Teacher.......  BA in Linguistics and Minor in French

LaForest, Jennifer    Teacher .........Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry & Philosophy

Lyons, Judith    Learning Specialist .......Masters in Education from Fitchburg State.

Misener, Melinda    Teacher    .......degree in Comparative Literature.

Tripler, Charles    Teacher ......no info

Wallender, John    Teacher ......  bachelor’s from State University of New York,

Wilcox, Dennis    Academic Registrar/Scheduler   .......majored in Mathematics

Williams, Greg    Teacher  ....BA in Biology from the Univ of Penn.

Winston, Jeff    Teacher .....  Temple University with a degree in Communications.

Accreditation

CITA (Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation)

Approved as a private school by the Mohawk Trail Regional School Committee in compliance with Massachusetts Chapter 71 Section 1

SEVIS-approved and qualified to accept international students


Link



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69
Aspen Education Group / Re: Why does Aspen hire people with no education?
« on: January 20, 2011, 09:22:27 PM »
Quote from: "9403390"
I worked in wilderness for aspen not the main school but nevertheless whether it is wilderness or a school my point is the same. If anything wilderness is even more stressful for all concerned so just employing some army guy or someone with a commerce degree to work with the kids often without any qualified supervision is worse. It concerned me that all the guys on your list taught but none had education degrees or diplomas. If I had a regular kid at a normal school i would want all the teachers to have the right qualifications. With the added issues that kids with various mental health issues have it seems to me twice as important that they are at least getting qualified teachers.

9403390, I didnt include their complete bios.  Some had previous experience teaching and/ or teaching degrees I went through their bios quickly and posted their degrees to show that these programs hire people with an education (contrary to what the thread topic says).  I believe a few had masters degrees on top of the BAs that I posted.

But you also need to keep in mind that many of these kids dropped out of school and to get them into the classroom with dedicated teachers and open their books , get them back on track academically and study is a huge step.  They have a huge success rate of kids moving onto the college of their choice after graduation.  So academically they have been very successful.



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70
Aspen Education Group / Re: Why does Aspen hire people with no education?
« on: January 20, 2011, 08:20:09 PM »
Quote from: "9403390"
Ive come to this pretty late. Whooter having a general degree is not enough for working directly with kids who can have complex problems. I got hired and I had a commerce degree with a marketing minor. But I was expected to help run group therapy sessions that were sometimes really emotionally intense. I had not even worked in my field yet. It is not like working at summer camp. You have to deal with situations that require real knowledge and a sophisticated level of expert skill. Lots of these kids are still young and if their issues are dealt with in expertly it can lead to making the problem a lot worse. I really did not know what to do when kids would tell the group that they had been sexually abused.
i should add that the guy who i had to work most closely with did not have any degree. He was straight from the army. The way he acted toward the kids did not calm them it actually sometimes provoked a more angry reaction. One time he used what they called a pain compliance technique that basically involved giving the kid chinese burns. I don't even remember what the kid was being difficult about.
 it was meant to make the kid quickly compliant but it lasted for like 20 minutes. This kid got more angry and ended up being asked to leave because he eventually took a swing at the guy. He was in for taking drugs like dope and had no prior history of violence. He had always been pretty mellow for most staff. He wasn't even a smart ass.

9403390, When my daughter attended they had a masters level licensed counselor who was assigned to each peer group (as they were called then) and she also saw a independent therapist who was not paid by the school.  Do they still do this?  They had a guy from the army but he was in the wilderness piece and was pretty tough on the kids and was expected to get them in shape for main campus.



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71
Web forum hosting / Re: Moderator Helping Cover Up Abuses
« on: January 20, 2011, 07:40:59 PM »
One of DJ's favorites.  He use to post pornography under this name:

Revenge Fantasy Girlz



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72
Web forum hosting / Re: Moderator Helping Cover Up Abuses
« on: January 20, 2011, 07:38:05 PM »
Quote from: "Dethgurl"
Quote
Fred Thompson

John McCain

Sarah Palin

Mitt Romney

Al Gore

Dick Cheney

 :roflmao:

lol, that is funny!



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73
The Ridge Creek School / Hidden Lake Academy / Re: Ridge Creek - Official Shill Thread
« on: January 20, 2011, 07:36:29 PM »
“Our grandson is such a different young man than the one we left in your care in the beginning. My husband and I did not know if we were doing the right thing for him or not. As he said in his graduation speech, he thought we had given up on him and were abandoning him. We felt the same way. What a change! RCS gave him the confidence to participate in sports, to know that he could excel academically and to make friends and be accepted. Our tears at graduation were far different from the ones we shed when we first left him. Thank you for returning our boy to us!”


http://www.ridgecreekschool.com/testimonials.htm



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74
The Troubled Teen Industry / Re: Public School and Program Abuse
« on: January 20, 2011, 07:35:43 PM »
Irving Elementary Teacher Michael DSpain Allegedly Had Sex with Student
Wednesday, 19 Jan 2011


A North Texas teacher allegedly had a sexual relationship with a former student.

Dallas police on Tuesday arrested 36-year-old Michael DSpain at Farine Elementary School in the 600 block of Metker Street in Irving.

According to investigators, the relationship took place last year when DSpain was a teacher at Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas. They said it likely began in about February and ended in May.

The student later told family members, police said.

DSpain is charged with improper relationship between an educator and student, a second-degree felony. He was being held on a $100,000 bond.

Investigators did not release the name of the student.

Link



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75
Aspen Education Group / Re: What Type of Kids "Succeeded" in Behrens Study?
« on: January 20, 2011, 07:25:45 PM »
Back on topic:


Along with the 60-80% success rate:


Most adolescents improve during residential treatment. Though reported outcomes vary widely,
ranging from about 25 % to 80%, reviews suggest that 60%-80% of adolescents improve during
residential treatment.



Link to the above quote



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