Fornits

Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: ZenAgent on February 12, 2007, 10:24:59 AM

Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: ZenAgent on February 12, 2007, 10:24:59 AM
I've read and posted this young lady's story before, it was the first thing my wife read about PV.  L.C.'s original account was much shakier and more emotional, and it caused my wife to become sick to her stomach with the dawning knowledge her little girl was in a hellhole.  She couldn't finish reading it and asked me to look over it.  I thought she was exaggerating, but when I finished reading it I was practically catatonic from shock.  I read this new version last night and felt burning rage and an urge to drive out to PV to...talk with the clinicians.  With a baseball bat from Andy Klepper.

This is the same story my step daughter told us.  This is the same story the young lady in NJ told who was restrained in excess of 75 times and given life-threatening doses of Klonopine and Thorazine.  All three of these girls were there for PSTD, sexual molestation, and in my little girl's case, the heinous crime of being a teenager who broke up with her first boyfriend.

I've never been so fucking pissed off, this is pure evil being allowed to operate and profit off torture, degradation, and unbelievable cruelty.  How do the sadistic shitheads sleep at night?  Not well, I guess, considering the turnover rate of staff at PV.    I want these bastards in the worst way.  L.C.'s account is the most concise and horrifying I've read so far.  Like my daughter and the girl in NJ, she knows how fortunate she is to be out, but there's the horrible feeling they all share about the girls like them who are being sent there constantly.

L.C., my wife and I are the people who posted the info about the bondage queen counselor, so I guess you've been coming here.  Please, get in touch with me at [email protected] or PM me here.  Your account and willingness to go public would be crucial in shutting this shithole down.  My step daughter would love to talk to you, she's been out of PV for about two months and it's difficult for her to really relate what happened to  people who don't have a clue about the warped, sadistic and criminal methods Peninsula Village uses.  

We can take PV down, and if we do it right we can start a domino effect and take all these kid-torture mills out.  The Republicans who protected these assholes have lost their grip.  Sen. George Miller has fought these programs for twenty years, now his party is back on top and he's ready to do what he's been prevented from doing for so long:  Shut down the programs that are beyond fucked up.  Sen. Miller's arch nemesis John Ashcroft has been put out to pasture, or sent to the glue factory, hopefully.   I agree with you, I want the clinicians who set the standards brought up on criminal charges.  We've got a ton of damning evidence (pictures of a PV pile-up restraint) and other bombs I can't mention about credentials of the very high up setters of abusive policy.

L.C., I'm going to re-post your account here for the Fornits crew, it's such a well-written account of what I've heard from other former patients I've talked to, including my girl. I hate these bastards, they torture kids who've already suffered for a profit.  You've done some good homework, I'd like to know more about the alcoholic program director.  I'll tell you what I know about another "director". If you're serious about going to court, your testimony would nail the lid down on PV's coffin, I don't care how much money Covenant Health has.  If no one sends their kids to PV, it will dry up and blow away like shit dust.

Here's L.C.'s story.  I want to destroy PV in a very public and expensive way, I want to see that damned doctor crying like a bitch  like the guard in the Shawshank Redemption when the cops come for him


Survivor's Report:  Peninsula Village

By L.C.


 

Everything in my statement is true. I give HEAL permission to use my statement.  I swear everything I wrote here is to the best of my knowledge completely true and I will be held accountable for anything written here.

I have personally witnessed the repeated abuse of minors at the Peninsula Village facility and would be more than happy to testify or present evidence to this fact. These behavior modification teen wilderness camps are a controversial excuse for therapy at best, they are also exorbitantly expensive. PV costs 500 dollars a night, more if they are "forced" to restrain you, or if you are in STU, the lock down unit. PV costs over a 150,000.00 a year, the kids in PV either have very good insurance or the state, tax dollars, pay for them to be abused. Children?s parents can sign them over to behavioral modification facilities with no court order for ?crimes? that no court would convict. The children are isolated in the facilities and have no recourse whatsoever. Many of the parents are abusive.

When I started to research PV I was amazed to discover how completely unqualified many of the daily staff is. The job requirements to be a live in counselor are a high school education or a GED, associate degrees from community colleges are common. Out of the staff that PV shows on it's website, I don't believe I saw one member of the daily staff that actually lives with the kids. Therefore, it is obvious that Peninsula Village turns an excellent yearly profit. I will include the job requirements for PV I found on the Covenant Health website under job search. The purpose of this letter is to officially report and describe the abuses that I both witnessed and was subjected to, in the hopes that it will help the children still suffering under that nightmare.

I was in Peninsula Village from 96 to 98, both my parents and I feel that we were extremely misled as to what my treatment there would be like. I was in the lock down unit for six months on arrival to the Village although I was cowed, completely subservient and did everything that they told me to. I was physically restrained on the first day in a hospital gown by at least 8 large adults for nothing more than pulling my arm away, it was an impulse reaction, when the large orderly woman dugs her nails purposefully into my arm. I know that this was purposeful. I was sitting on the floor in the isolation room looking up at the staff member when I pulled away but only instantaneously as a sort off knee jerk reaction and not violently, she had hurt me. She then stepped back looked at me again and pressed the buzzer staff wears around their neck to signal a restraint. There was absolutely no need to restrain me other than to prove a point, we can hurt you if we want to, which I don?t believe they are allowed to use restraining for. I was already in the isolation room all she had to do was walk out and close the door, I also wasn?t at all violent or had even thought to be, I regarded her as a teacher or some other adult authority figure, you certainly do not react violently to a teacher. I was not in PV for any form of violence. I wasn?t even defiant, mostly I was scared, crying and sitting on the floor of the isolation room in a ball. This was after the intrusive body search and being woken up at 5:30 in the morning by three burly adults who escorted me to Tennessee, it was more like being kidnapped.

While being restrained the Peninsula Village staff applied excessive pressure, I couldn't breathe and kept repeating that I was choking, but they let no pressure off, I was bruised and sore the next day, the restraint went on for hours. I saw one girl with a nasty black eye which they said came from pressing her face into the floor, like that made it better. I saw other cases with bruised arms, wrists legs and faces. There is no doubt in my mind that they could have restrained my totally non-resistant sobbing 95 pound borderline anorexic teenage self between all 1400 pounds of the 8 of them without hurting me. I was not fighting at all, even at first, I was far too shocked. Each held a body part so it was not a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, the individual staff member meant to hurt us. They also kept restraining you long after any fight was gone and even if none was there in the first place. I remember girls being restrained for what seemed like all night, although it was really only about three hours. There was an isolation room in the lockdown unit, nice cold hard linoleum with cement underneath but they would restrain you anywhere, gravel, garden manure, wherever.

They also used a straight jacket called a burrito. I can remember seeing a state kid stuck in that thing for a day or more, they were leading her around. Other girls were strapped to a cot wrapped up in it, given what must have been a lot of thorazine and other drugs, and left to drool. There were about two or three restraints a week often more. I was once restrained because I couldn't stop crying , I really couldn't I would have stopped of course to avoided being restrained, I was about as resistant as a wet noodle and they still held me down choking for hours. They would restrain girls for nothing, for saying in group therapy, I don?t agree with that politely enough , or for sitting down on work detail saying that they felt sick and needed to rest.

We were not allowed to look at or talk to the other girls and we had to ask for permission to do anything, move even, of course go to the bathroom and we had to tell them what it is we had to do, they stood outside the door and timed us. There was no reading, and no free time, Group therapy was more like a denouncement session and began as soon as you were crying, that is later on the first day, after they had restrained you for a few hours and you were a broken puddle ready to confess to anything. I don't believe that many of the staff that actually lives with the girls on a daily basis is especially educated, perhaps some BA's and associate degrees, These are the one?s who actually deal with the children and run group therapy and restrain them, I don?t believe there is one daily staff member pictured on the internet and they are the ones who actually live with the girls. .

The lights in the lockdown unit, STU, where I spent the first six months, were left on all the time, we slept in cubicles and were often woken by the staff patrolling , they were always standing over us. We were punished constantly, abuse was constant every second for those two years. The cubicles had no fronts and the room was small. We were not allowed outside, until we were ready to move out to the cabins. This was horrible, after sitting on a bed for six months we were suddenly made to do back breaking physical work all day.

We had level systems, I never got beyond the first level although I was completely compliant. I don't think I was as willing to rip into my fellow prisoners as much they would have liked. Group therapy was a cult denouncement experience, it was pure hell, and I am not exaggerating. They would find out your deepest darkest secrets and then browbeat you with them like you were disgusting dirt, we could say nothing to defend ourselves or we would face being PCId/ restrained. They liked sexual revelations and would ask you everything about them, specific details and more details, it was not appropriate, odd and used to induce shame. You would confess to things you didn't do and then they would tell your family. Many of the girls were in there for something that had happened to them, the website, says the Village is an expert at helping abused girls. It was terrible to watch them torture some poor teenager who was in there because she had been raped or molested. Many of the girls had been raped or molested, myself included, and to be held up to shame, ridicule and denouncement in relation to sex at a place that was supposed to help you with your experience was a pure nightmare.

They encourage the girls to pick on each other, to rip into each other during group therapy so bullying is greatly encouraged, in fact the level system is based strongly on it. There was desperation mentality, as we all struggled so hard to avoid being punished and they punished all of us together, I realize now that the punishments were arbitrary, no matter how hard we tried to avoid them they were still going to rain down on our heads. We would pretend to give feedback, their word for harassment and abuse, but how can you tear someone apart after listening to them scream all night while staff held their face into the floor. There were also frequent outbreaks of head lice while I was in STU. Many of us wanted to work with the Village, I personally wanted sane educated adults to help me. It was extremely confusing and terrifying.

It seemed very odd that some of the girls were in a behavior modification facility at all and it was hard to tell how all this abuse was going to help any of them. The treatment did not seem at all relevant to the problems the girls were having? One of the girls was there for telling her parents that she was gay and that was really it. There were a lot of anorexics. Worst of all some had done nothing other than get molested by a close relative, to the horror of their families. The PV website says that PV is an expert at helping girls deal with issues like rape and molestation. I want to know whether or not the relative being accused was being investigated? It most cases I saw it was being somewhat brushed under the rug or almost completely brushed under the rug. There was very limited contact with the outside world, especially for girls who's families had signed them over. It did not seem reasonable that these girls were treated as if they were being punished or were in jail for more serious offenses. I thought too, that a lot of the girls who were in for more serious things were acting out more serious problems in their lives, like the kids who had unfit parents and were in foster care. It is a very hard world out there for a teenage runaway with drug addict, alcoholic, abusive parents. It really is, I lived with them for a long time, the stories were pretty typical. Perhaps better educated staff would have been more aware.

The counselors run all the group therapy sessions and group therapy is the only kind of therapy we had at the Village. We had brief individual therapy once every two months maybe less and group therapy two or three time a day. Some girls were good students, there were also a certain amount of custody battles. The Village likes to add as much social stigma as possible to the teenagers there because it keeps them in business. Some were pretty ordinary teenagers, who were dealing with issues like boys, sex, pressure to drink and smoke pot or being tormented by kids at their schools. I'll include the criteria for admissions to PV at the bottom of the page it is so broad as to be funny if it wasn't horrible.

After the lock down unit with its cramped quarters and barred mesh covered windows for months, we had the cabins and work detail. Work detail was exercise digging up stumps, cross sawing logs, mauling logs, building endless things under the constant abuse of the staff in the hot sun. I believe I was also suffering from sleep deprivation because we were often woken up at two in the morning to go out to the log shed to be shown how much wood still needed to be chop or for some other arbitrary reason, we also always woke up before dawn and didn't get to bed till late because we always had endless chores or punishments to finish. I used to fall asleep standing up, literally on a daily basis. We marched around in lines, or holding on to a rope, and there was still no talking or looking at the other girls, it was very lonely. We had to haul around the Gott, a water jug that weighed so much your arms would feel like they were going to fall off and you'd want to vomit but if you dropped it you knew you were in worse trouble, we carried around many heavy things. The Gott was our water for the cabin.

The cabins have no running water or bathrooms only porta johns. They exercise you past the breaking point and then over a little, and then much more. It was torture, I can't emphasize that enough torture, we did this all day most days, unless we were in school or on shutdown. We had no free time, we weren't allowed to read or anything, everything was tightly scheduled and we would always miss our schedule and be punished although we tried in pure desperation to make them happy so they would stop. Our showers were timed, everything was timed. Hygiene wasn?t that great and there was no makeup or jewelry or of course shaving your legs, only ugly work cloths. I only mention this because it is very dehumanizing for a young girl. We had no free time whatsoever, I did not speak to another girl the entire time I was there, without staff permission, which was rare. We weren't allowed to read, that was the worst for me because I love to read. No books, how are you suppose to learn without being able to read.

School was ok when you got to go, but it wasn't very organized and there was a lot of other stuff going on, we also only went half of the school week, so we could do more important things like dig stumps out of the ground, I guess. Most left with a GED, I think they really focused on GED training, which makes it hard to get into colleges, especially if when they ask for high school credits you list a behavior modification facility. Often if something came up, like we went on shutdown or were sent to STU, the lockdown unit, we would miss school all together. Once they had us sit in a circle with our backs to each other and stare at the wall for five months only to turn around for group therapy and to be escorted to the bathroom. We had no school for those five months and five months is a long time to sit in a circle starring at a wall only to turn around for a denouncement session.

From all the restraining you are probably thinking that the girls were always acting up. I can not stress how completely not true this is. For the most part they were more like zombies than wild teenagers. I?ve done some research on prison camps and abuse and I don't believe there is a teenager girl out there that isn?t going to turn into a limp half dead dish rag in the face of no escape, constant abuse; mental, physical, emotional and sexual although not physically so, denouncement sessions, sleep deprivation, sadistic people four times her size watching her constantly and being drugged. The opposition I saw was closer to nervous breakdowns than violent defiance. There was some defiance but it was only verbal protests of the abuse, that I saw. The girls crossed the staff at the Village in really sad to watch ways, like protesting the denouncement sessions, no being molested wasn?t my fault, or saying I can?t work anymore I feel sick or I can?t stop sobbing I?m trying but I can?t stop, I?m just going to sit here and not move. Saying, ?this is wrong? was enough to get you restrained, or showing any annoyance at the abuse. I don?t think I saw anyone physically fight back or even threaten too except by pulling away or as they were already being restrained and this was usually accompanied by a very believable, remember I saw many bruises, you are hurting me I can?t breath. The only time I saw anyone fight, or squirm from underneath eight gigantic adults, is when they were already being restrained. These were usually the girls who had suffered long term serious abuse and it is not surprising they would become upset when being abused again. They staff was far too eager to restrain people and unbelievably cruel and abusive in their daily treatment on the girls. I never saw anything that posed as a danger to staff or the other girls but I sure as saw them restrain people a lot, at least two or three times a week. I also thought it odd that if the girls are so dangerous that they would have them marching around with hammers, cross saws, mauls, axes and other pretty dangerous things.

I believe there is an abusive criteria for staff at the Village that they are told to follow, they show no sympathy and harass the girls constantly. I believe the idea is to keep the level of stress extremely high. There was a good deal of talk about breaking us down to be built back up although I saw no building back up, and I was there for about eighteen months. Also, I believe behavior modification involves rewarding good behavior. The punishments at the Village were completely arbitrary and rewards involved things like being allowed to use salt and pepper on your food. Staff would do things like walk around and mess up your bed and then yell at you while you tried to remake it while being timed, this is a slight example but it would happen, or something like it, twenty times a day sometimes at two in the morning, and was extremely nerve wracking. It was completely odd arbitrary stuff that basically allowed for you to be abused no matter what, and it taught you that no matter what abuse is constant. It was much like living in an extremely abusive family I believe. Not very helpful to victims of molestation, or abuse?

One of the counselors, extremely undereducated, she had a associates degree from a community college, was found on My Space to belong to a community that photographs women in bondage. There were many pictures of young women in bondage on her website. In another instance, a director of the girls side, was arrested for driving extremely drunk, I believe she tried to back down a highway entrance ramp and hit another car. It turned out she was an alcoholic.

Peninsula Village of course, won't let you talk to your parents except after I think it was six months for me, even then just by phone with a family therapist on conference call so if you break out of the party line and say ?please get me out it?s a nightmare? large orderlies can appear and march you back for more abusive indoctrination. They also read your mail. They laugh at you when you say you want a lawyer. Your parents have of course been told you are a lying manipulator and not to believe you and that you just want to come home so you can go out with boys and smoke pot. Kids wet the bed because they were too scared to ask to go to the bathroom at night, either that or all the abuse was manifesting in weird ways. I wouldn't believe it except I lived it and I swear on my life everything I said is 150% true.

I have lasting scars from this experience, I have nightmares almost every night, not always about the village just in general, that the world is a horrible place and all the scary fascist people are going to eat me and everything I care about and I'm going to be completely at there mercy. Besides the nightmares sometimes I shake uncontrollably if I am frightened or nervous, it is very embarrassing and is not helpful at work or in school. I have finally gotten over my overwhelming social anxiety enough that I am well on my way too having a college degree and have a life of my own. The Village taught me nothing other than how to be cowed and subservient and to think it was ok when someone abuses me, I still am completely incapable of making eye contact with other human beings. The Village teaches you to give in to peer pressure and let your self be influenced by those around you even if they are going against what you think is ethical. I can?t emphasize enough how bad Peninsula Village is. I was amazed that we had no rights while in there. I asked to speak to a lawyer or someone from the outside, I heard girls ask to have the police called repeatedly, and they laughed at us.  Therapy at PV is a horrible lie. They take abused girls and tell them that they deserve abuse. It's the daily mantra there, how everything is your fault, your rape, your parents problems, your anorexia, your life in foster care. I never got to talk to another girl the entire time I was there, other than with asked permission and staff listening, even then it was just about mandatory things, like, put the piece of wood down here. I can understand how people are taken in by Peninsula Village, from the outside it looks ok, my parents trusted and had no idea that such things even exist in America, they believed as I did that it was a safe and caring program that would help their daughter like most school and health programs. People don't believe that something this insane, this Gulag like, would exist in America. No-one sees it from the inside except the daily staff and the girls really and us they do so much to discredit and keep down that we do not believe anyone will believe us or care. I feel as if I have just recently woken up from Peninsula Village?s nightmare and it has been seven + years. It is an evil, horrible place that should be shut down and they should have any licensing stripped from them and be brought up on child abuse charges.

I am sorry it has taken me so long to report PV but I was still very young when I was freed from there. I was also embarrassed, traumatized and I had no support in reporting the Village. I am still afraid of the social stigma and of the Village itself. It is hard for me not to believe that people can?t show up at my door, proclaim that I have some sort of disorder, and carry me off to a room with heavy doors and no contact with the outside world, never to be heard from again. Your organization is against such things and protects people from them. What can be done to fix this horror? Why is this legal, how can they isolate and torture minors? I know girls are still suffering there! I reported PV to the Tennessee Child Protection Agency and they said that they had heard PV had cleaned up their act. This is blatantly untrue. There are a variety of websites and even a book, very recently written or posted, by parents of PV survivors or the girls themselves that prove PV has changed none of it?s abusive practices, their website itself proves they are up to their same old game. I also reported PV to the local Tennessee police and they completely ignored me. Someone needs to investigate PV and they would see what I am saying is true. Again I officially swear that everything I have said here is completely true to the best of my knowledge and I would be more than happy to swear this in court. I would not be afraid of any form of liable issues because I know what I saw and experienced to be true, I am only afraid of social stigma in relation to my work and school and of PV itself.

Here are the requirements to be a PV counselor I took off the Covenant Health website job search:

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PROGRAM COUNSELOR

Job Code: 17673

Location: PENINSULA VILLAGE

Department: Girl's Outdoor Program

Description: Full Time Position: Four days/ three nights.

Requirements: Social services degree preferred, but H.S. diploma with experience will be considered.

Duties: Work in the outdoor setting with patients in a residential facility. Provide safety, supervision and therapy to adolescents in our care. Need extreme flexibility with scheduling and extensive availability.

Covenant Health is committed to a safe and healthy work environment. Therefore, employment is subject to a successful background check and drug screen. Also, a credit check may be performed on applicable positions that deal with handling money. EOE

Education: High School Diploma/GED
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: ZenAgent on February 12, 2007, 10:57:53 AM
Quote from: ""TS Waygookin""
Unfucking real.

Anything you ever need from me just ask.


Thanks, TSW.  Some hard, pipe-hittin' bruthas ready to go to work  with a blowtorch and a pair of pliers on the mollyfluggers would be a good place to start.  Fuck justice, I want revenge.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: MightyAardvark on February 12, 2007, 12:02:21 PM
As ever Zen I am at your disposal.
Title: The Troubled Teen Industry
Post by: Anonymous on February 12, 2007, 09:48:37 PM
Zen... I am glad that your daughter is home safe and sound and I sincerely hope that everything will heal with time. As a former patient from PV from 2005-2006 I cannot express my concern that PV is getting away with murder... and while I myself am unwilling to come forward on a personal note as I feel that some of my wounds are still healing and i'm still putting my life together I would like to clear up a few things.
L.C.'s story is unimaginable and horrible. I have heard many things about PV in it's former manner (such as what L.C. described) but things are not as bad as they were in her letter. Yes PV still sucks and I still am not convinced that any teenager should be sent to such a childprison... but from L.C.'s account and my experience things have changed. I was at P.V. for approximately 16 1/2 months and I encountered maybe 3 staff who actually cared. One of them was actually mentioned in L.C.'s account. While I believe that this staff should have never linked her personal life to her professional life - as it is a quality I would have preferred to have never known - she came to her shift everyday and was one of the kindest caring staff members I ran across at my stay there.
We still had to carry the gott b/c there's no running water and yes the porta johns are still there for that very same reason which is completely degrading. However, we were allowed to shave once in the cabins and we could earn priviledges to wear make-up and jewelry, etc. Although this is completely irrelevant as jewelry and make-up don't = treatment... it is important for young girls to establish some sort of identity and PV prevents this by making everyone the "same." Same issues - same treatment. I guess the only real truth I can say is that I didn't witness the "brutal" abuse which is described. I overheard staff members speaking of the boys side of campus and how horrible it was and while on the admissions unit I saw some restraints and one "mechanical" restraint which was where one of my peers was strapped to a bed and placed behind a curtain. This specific peer had tried to attack one of the other peers and in group therapy she cried that she had been abused - the staff member sitting in group told her that she was the abuser not the abused. Other than that... the restraints usually seemed self-explanatory minus every person on campus crowding into that tiny hell hole.

I understand the terror that L.C. describes. However my experience was much different. While I don't think that I needed PV - I know that I am a stronger young woman for it and that very few people will ever take advantage of me simply because I was placed in that volatile environment where I was forced into mental isolation and had to think about my problems.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: Anonymous on February 12, 2007, 10:12:46 PM
Quote
While I believe that this staff should have never linked her personal life to her professional life - as it is a quality I would have preferred to have never known - she came to her shift everyday and was one of the kindest caring staff members I ran across at my stay there.


I'm strongly reminded of the "students" posting on the HLA board, attacking the facility but praising one particular staff member...

Squeak! The ship is sinking! Squeak!
Title: Re: The Troubled Teen Industry
Post by: ZenAgent on February 13, 2007, 12:39:51 AM
Quote from: ""Guest1""

I understand the terror that L.C. describes. However my experience was much different. While I don't think that I needed PV - I know that I am a stronger young woman for it and that very few people will ever take advantage of me simply because I was placed in that volatile environment where I was forced into mental isolation and made to think about my problems.


I was waiting for the damage control to begin.  The fact that you made it out to the cabins makes me extremely leery of you.  Read L.C.'s account again, try and pick up on what kind of people "thrive" at PV.  I was told by a former student that PV tries to break a girl down into a docile cow or create an uber-bitch, and I am aware of one such alumnus who reached that latter goal. The word "bitch" follows her like her shadow.  If you're like her, and you seem to be, no one will ever take advantage of you.  You'll sure as fuck take advantage of them, though, with the high-end bullshitting skills you got out of PV.  I'll bet you were hell on the other girls during group. I'm aware of patients who loved impressing the counselors by screaming that more introverted peers weren't being "real" about their issues in group, without any knowledge of the peer at all.  That's boot-licking toadyism at it's best, taking ass kissing to gold medal status. The sheep become coyotes and bears at PV, right?   My daughter explained the perks obtained by narking and calling group on a weaker peer for real or imagined offenses.  If you think I'm impressed that you slimed through the ranks of PV, you're pissing up a rope. I'm aware of the program, not like some misguided parent looking for an expensive place to stow a kid who might damage my standing in the community.  You're like the alumni at the PV parents' meetings, spitting out the same speech:  "We had to be dragged in here kicking and screaming, but after a while we didn't want to leave"

I'm proud of my step daughter for openly questioning the competence of the staff, the unnecessarily brutal treatment they meted out, and the lack of any real or useful treatment being provided.  It kept her from "graduating" to the cabins and the overflowing, E. Coli-laden shithouses, but she doesn't have to recite cliched self-help mantras like "I know that I am a stronger young woman for it".  You've already said you don't think you needed PV.  A strong young woman would have stuck to that until it became very apparent to the thickest of  PV clinicians.  It doesn't make you strong, it means you gave up and played along with the sham PV created.  You would have found out how concerned PV was about your "treatment" if a monthly payment had been missed.  Here, fill in the blanks, you'll know who these wonderful PV clinicians are.  This is a good example of the strength of character the everchanging leadership of PV possesses. This is from another PV program parent's Livespace blog:

Holiday Bombshell
I drove a round trip to Knoxville to pick up Dxx for his Holiday furlough. That went really well. I rented a 5 liter mustang, and I made the 600 miles from my doorstep, back to my doorstep in 10 hours and 30 minutes. That included picking up Dxx, 2 gas stops, and a lunch stop. Dxx and I had some good conversations, and overall it was as pleasant as a 600 mile trip could be.

When I got home, I immediately began to inject the turkeys with seasoning. While I was doing that, I booted up to check my email and got a very disturbing email from Stxxe Pxxxy, the administrator of Peninsula Village.

Here is what it read:

"Kxx and Jxx, I hope you are both doing well and preparing for a nice holiday weekend. It just occurred to me yesterday that I did not receive a response from you to my October 30 e-mail below, where I made the clarification of my intent during our conversation on Family Day. So I am writing to ask if that clarification was clear to you and if you are planning to pay Dxxxxx's November and December payments on December 1 as I believe we agreed to. Please let me know.  It is absolutely the last thing that I wish to talk with you about, but if  you are not able to make those two months current, then we need to begin  preparing Dxxxxx for a discharge around December 5. As you know, our clinical staff does not believe that Dxxxxx is ready to come home and we certainly hope that this is not necessary. But if it has to be, then we want to be fair to Dxxxxx and begin preparing him immediately. I look forward to hearing back from you today if at all possible."

He didn't even sign off the email with his name.

Here was my response to Lxxxa, the Family Therapist, who was cc'd on the mail.  

"Lxxxa,

I just walked in 40 minutes ago from a round trip to Knoxville to get this email and the one from Stxxx.  I am really trying to keep my cool and not pick up the phone, because my  response would most likely be too harsh to deliver to anyone on the eve of a holiday. However, I will tell you that this is the most grotesquely unprofessional business communication I have ever experienced. EVER, and I have been around the block several times.   If Sxxxx Pxxxy had even the smallest indication of possessing a backbone, or even more appropriate, the equipment that should be at the bottom of  where the backbone should be, he would have met me at the YC this morning at 9am when I picked up Dxx. Even that would have been mildly inappropriate, but never the less, at least it would have indicated the absence of cowardice.  I can't begin to explain how upset I am, and at so many levels. The use of  the venue of email, the timing, the content and first and foremost, the misguided attempt to be personal and empathic because of the holiday makes me nauseated.

My first reaction is to not even bother to bring Dxx back to Knoxville. This email doesn't even express my discontent. I am trying so hard right now not to pick up the phone, and to take a deep breath and let my anger subside. But I felt compelled to let somebody at PV know how I am feeling, and quite frankly, you are the only one I trust.  You can forward this to whomever you feel appropriate to receive it. I hope this does not spoil your holiday, because I know you worry about Dxx.

Kxx"

I have to go to dinner now, but I will log in later and fill in the rest
of the details.


This man's son returned eventually and dad summarized the entire PV experience as very costly and very ineffective.  Unlike you, this boy did need some help and PV couldn't provide.

You're still worked up about the bondage and discipline fetish photographer?  Why direct a rebuke at me?  I didn't ask anyone to make her change a thing on her blog.  It was the spineless PV clinicians who "addressed" the matter, according to a now unemployed family therapist.  The headboy at PV thought giving her job title and naming the wilderness shit-camp she worked for was unprofessional and unethical.  There would have been no issue if that info hadn't been listed next to a picture of a fat girl wrapped in rubber with her hands cuffed behind her and a rubber ball shoved in her mouth.  PV decided it was bad advertising and might scare off sensitive types, like parents looking for an over-priced kid kennel.  Also, keep in mind the last time my wife saw her daughter at PV for almost six months, she was face down on the ground struggling for breath, with a bunch of fat bitches squatting on her.  According to a witness, the B+D queen was laughing about the situation until my wife produced a camera.  She shut the fuck up in a snap.  In spite of all that, I don't harbor ill will toward the photographer - I still read her MySpace, it's interesting.  She's young and displayed poor judgement, nothing else.  She could post pictures of inter-species erotica if that were her fetish, just don't link  it to a job counseling troubled youth.  Don't link it to any fucking job, actually.  I did wonder if she drew inspiration from her work, having access to straitjackets and the ability to restrain anyone who might be an interesting subject.  She posted that her "art" didn't get mixed in with her counseling gig. What happened after work with the fat goth girls, stayed with the fat goth girls.

Thanks for chiming in again, guest1.  I've never encountered a satisfied PV alumnus who wasn't being paid to promote the place.    I know PV keeps a couple of show horses around to con clueless parents.  How do you think my step daughter ended up in that shithole?  Seriously, if you were oblivious to the abuse and misery going on at PV, you must be fuckin' Helen Keller.  One young guy I spoke with was only at PV for a week before his parents pulled him out, and he still has nightmares of sirens wailing a warning of a restraint in progress, always in the girls' area.  L.C. was at PV seven years ago, my step daughter was there until two months ago, and they both give mirror descriptions of truly evil shit happening to them and their peers.

By the way, don't mention the "mental isolation" business - PV claims seclusion is used infrequently, since making a kid sit on a bed-box for six hours in STU would be wrong.  You never saw that happen either, did you?
Title: The Troubled Teen Industry
Post by: Anonymous on February 13, 2007, 08:19:29 AM
I never said how I left the program and in fact I do consider myself a stronger young woman.... not because some Nazi program told me to. Just so you know a little about me before you start criticizing my words.... I wasn't the "model patient" at PV and I didn't rat on my peers. In fact we weren't allowed to speak hardly at all minus the occasional birthday party when we were hearded into the school to watch a movie and eat chips and drink coke even then the staff were less than 2 feet away from us. I left PV as a "premouse" - the lowest you can be in their whacked level system out in the cabins. I never moved up.... never earned those priviledges. I know all about them as most of the staff continually would ask me... "don't you want anything more for yourself?" or my personal favorite "you're really lucky your parents sent you here. They must really love you because next stop is jail." hmmm..... yea it sure does sound like I was the perfect PV patient. I never said I loved being there and I would never say such a thing. I was dragged in there kicking and screaming and I almost thought that moving back in with my parents was going to heaven after leaving there minue the occasional beating from my stepdad. The stronger young woman comment - PV taught me that if I could deal with that then I sure as hell had the strength to leave my fucking house which in reality wasn't that much better than being at PV in the first place. I left - and i'm on my own working two jobs at 19 years old with no high school diploma because yes the school at PV is lacking - there is no argument there. But mostly because I was placed on shutdown for my last 4 months of stay and was discharged because I was refusing to do any work and the lame excuse given to my parents was "Maybe you should try a more intensive program."


I only posted what I did yesterday because I know that STU is hell. I lived it also. I truly feel for your daughter. If your not the patient that they want you to be... you do sit on your bed all day... there is no looking at your peers or you get turned around to face the wall or possibly something worse. If the staff suspect you of "interacting" you get hauled off to "time out" or the isolation room as L.C. puts it. I agree it is hell and I never said that it wasn't. Most of the abuse that I saw on STU was exactly what I said... mental isolation. The food doesn't help much either considering you never really know what you're getting. It's pure torture and I watched some of the more almost anorexic peers simply starve themselves with threats of being restrained and forcefed.


I was simply speaking about my experience in the cabins. I'm not sure and i've spoken to a couple former staff who left and just from being on shutdown and watching things all day because that's all I got to do... I know that things changed. No it's still not a great place to be and would I ever dream of sending one of my own children there - HELL NO. I just wanted to post my experience because i was there almost 10 years after L.C. and things were different. You can be leery of me that's fine, whatever. I just think you should know that no matter who you talk to or what it is about  - while all accounts have the same running theme, things will always be different. Just because my experience was different doesn't mean I was a rat or a manipulator. I didn't attack any of my peers and if I could point out anyone who should be attacked for the way they talk to people (and since you know the names) it would be "Dr." MXX and his little friend for the way they demean people in groups and turn peers against each other. It was never so much the staff or my peers. It was when we had "special groups" with the clinicians that everyone would get worried.

Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: stoodoodog on February 13, 2007, 09:29:47 AM
I can appreciate that Guest1 came out to Fornits to tell her story. I realize this board can get confrontational (hmmm where have I heard that word so many times before) and sometimes that leads to the crowd slinging unnecessary accusations or insults.
 In the case of PV (and other facilities) where so few people have come out to tell their stories I think it is important to listen first and reserve judgement for later. There is quite a bit of valuable information out there, but people are not going to share it if they know they will be "called out" on it or confronted straight away.
Thanks to Guest1for having the courage to post.
Title: Re: The Troubled Teen Industry
Post by: ZenAgent on February 13, 2007, 09:57:43 AM
Quote from: ""Guest1""
I didn't attack any of my peers and if I could point out anyone who should be attacked for the way they talk to people (and since you know the names) it would be "Dr." MXX and his little friend for the way they demean people in groups and turn peers against each other. It was never so much the staff or my peers. It was when we had "special groups" with the clinicians that everyone would get worried.


You have my sincere apology.  I was lumping you in with alumni who have gigs at PV hustling up more business for the program.  Also, I couldn't be sure you weren't the "Dr" (who bears an amazing resemblance to the fat guy in NSYNC) or one of his minions trying to see what level of ass covering they needed.

By the way, I'd be interested to know what they consider a more "intensive" program than PV.  Electro-shock camp?
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: ZenAgent on February 13, 2007, 11:11:10 AM
Quote from: ""stoodoodog""
I can appreciate that Guest1 came out to Fornits to tell her story. I realize this board can get confrontational (hmmm where have I heard that word so many times before) and sometimes that leads to the crowd slinging unnecessary accusations or insults.
 In the case of PV (and other facilities) where so few people have come out to tell their stories I think it is important to listen first and reserve judgement for later. There is quite a bit of valuable information out there, but people are not going to share it if they know they will be "called out" on it or confronted straight away.
Thanks to Guest1for having the courage to post.



There are whole threads on Fornits dedicated to calling out and confronting people who are agitators and liars.  I'm sorry, I don't think my contact with PV had a positive effect on my ability to trust - the staff openly lie and will do anything to divert attention or blame.  Paranoia is a defense mechanism that serves me well.  A little confrontation can cut through bullshit quicker than reading and wondering who you can trust .  Anyone who'll call out PV's "Amos and Andy" clinician team and knows the evil tactics of that dickhead duo gets instant respect from me.  

Guest1, you managed to put a shitty experience behind you and move forward, so you are a strong young woman for withstanding the PV grist mill.  You're right, the staff aren't evil, that's why they leave so quickly.  Dr. NSYNC and his lackey not only abuse the kids, they piss off the staff.  What you went through there should be illegal, though.  PV is going through "program drift", which means the program is going to hell because the focus on the financial end means corners are cut, and it's more convenient to keep a kid in seclusion than expend time and money trying to help them.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: Anonymous on February 13, 2007, 11:28:17 AM
Quote from: ""TS Waygookin""
Glad you all could find some common ground.

When I read both accounts I had to lay down on my bed for awhile. I was overcome with such a strong sense of anger I felt physically ill. There is a time for love and a time for war. It is clear what time is at hand now.


Anger at whom, or what?
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: Anonymous on February 13, 2007, 11:48:56 AM
I was just curious is all. If you are angry at the girl for posting her view that it wasn't as bad as the other girl's story. Of mad at the program for tweaking a person's belief's in such a way. Or mad at her parents for sending her. Or mad at the staff for perpetuating the violence. Or mad at the program owners for not shutting it down. Or mad at the state for not shutting it down. Or mad at the feds for not shutting it down. Or mad at god for not shutting it down. Just curious...
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: ZenAgent on February 13, 2007, 05:05:22 PM
Guest1 had a different method of dealing with her experience at PV, she seems to be getting past it by not dwelling on the negative aspects to the point of distraction.  She is fortunate she wasn't restrained on a regular basis (I'm guessing she wasn't).  One former patient I spoke with was restrained over 75 times, and she recently felt centered enough to seek legal action against PV.  She called PV for her files, looked for attorneys, started getting a good case together.  I got a call from her one day, she told me she was going to have to back off because depression was weighing heavily on her.  She was back at PV in her mind.  I told her she would be wise to let it go until an attorney called who wanted the case.  I guess God Almighty wants to smite PV, because the girl got a call from a "heroic" lawyer that day.

These kids who were restrained constantly seem shattered.  Nervous, twitching, unable to focus.  The bodies heal, but their minds are set on constant high alert.  It doesn't seem to get better, either.  Layne Brown never got his mind free from Tranquility Bay.  

There are so many damn good reasons to be angry.
Title: Re: The Troubled Teen Industry
Post by: Anonymous on February 16, 2007, 03:20:41 PM
Quote from: ""ZenAgent""
In spite of all that, I don't harbor ill will toward the photographer - I still read her MySpace, it's interesting.


How sad that you have nothing better to do.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: Anonymous on February 16, 2007, 06:21:18 PM
how sad you engage in nonsensical ad hominom(sp) attacks.
Title: Re: The Troubled Teen Industry
Post by: ZenAgent on February 16, 2007, 08:53:51 PM
Quote from: ""guest22""
Quote from: ""ZenAgent""
In spite of all that, I don't harbor ill will toward the photographer - I still read her MySpace, it's interesting.

How sad that you have nothing better to do.


She still discusses her job and what goes on at PV.  It's valuable info to use against her employers. That's part of preparing a case.  How sad, huh?  Now piss off.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: Anonymous on February 17, 2007, 02:02:51 AM
Interesting bit of information.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: Anonymous on February 17, 2007, 02:15:18 AM
i said "how sad you engage in adhominan attacks" to the looser who attacked you for reading that blog which under the circumstances- or any is clearly very interesting
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: ZenAgent on February 17, 2007, 10:54:07 AM
Quote from: ""Guest""
i said "how sad you engage in adhominan attacks" to the looser who attacked you for reading that blog which under the circumstances- or any is clearly very interesting


A lot of counselors from PV have MySpace accounts, not surprising since most of them are 20-25 in age.  There was a reckoning of some sort at PV, and a lot of counselors were forced to set their accounts to private.  The photographer did change accounts, but she apparently suffers from ODD and brazenly criticized the clinical staff for it, as well as the "creepy people" who questioned her fetish being linked to children.

That being said, the counselor is pretty cool, and recently had a blessed event.  I enjoyed reading the progress, she was very excited and happy. Best wishes to her and her family.

If you want to see if any staff have MySpace accounts, just do a search on the program name.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: stoodoodog on February 21, 2007, 07:10:13 PM
Just typing the words PV into my search engine last summer brought up several counselor myspaces. The top three results included the one that has received so much attention on this board over time.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: ZenAgent on February 25, 2007, 05:53:48 PM
I finally got in touch with L.C.  Here's another young woman's story, posted with her permission.  It's pretty gut-churning.  This young lady and my step daughter have talked a bit, like Nam vets recounting the horrors.

Peninsula Village = HeLL       
My name I want to remain anonymous for now. I was sent to Peninsula Village back in Sept. 2004  Many things were horrible... just to name a few for now, because I do not want them to know who I am if they read this because I am working on trying to form a large lawsuit against them so yea but here are a few things I experienced there for about 6 months:
Being Physically restrained about twice daily on average where there was no reason for it whatsoever. An alarm kind of like a car alarm except much louder would be turned on and about 20 staff would come running into the unit and all basically jump me, throw me to the ground and sit on me to hold me down.... a few times they really hurt me.. I remember one instance in which they performed Xrays on my jaw and wrist from my restraint.
I would also be mechanically restrained when I "struggled" meaning when I was trying to escape my restraint because they were hurting me. I would be tied down to a bed and sometimes they would leave me there for hours or just about the whole day. If I had to go to the bathroom they would put a bedpan underneath me. disgusting. Also if I fell asleep they would come kick my bed and tell me to wake up. they said that being tied down was a punishment and not a treat of naptime. But it was a no wonder I was so tired. They had me way over medicated. I was put on Abilify for my agitation..Everytime they would restrain me, they would increase my dose.  I was up to 120 Mg daily. But thats not all... when I was restrained they would give me large dose shots in my ass of Klonopin, Haldol, Thorazine, etc. They would make me so tired I could have slept for days.
`we had to eat on our beds, we didnt even get to sit at a table.
`bathroom times were on their terms... if we had to go when it was not bathroom break, we had to wait, and if it was a real emergency they would allow it but then you would get consequenced for it later on in consequence grooup. wHO ever thought of being consequenced for having to use the bathroom?
`we were not allowed to talk except in group therapy or if we raised our hand and were actually called on.
`You had to sit on your bed with your back up against the wall. If you got off your bed, you woukd be restrained.
`there were level systems which always made me feel bad about myself.
 `when you were restrained they would strip you of your clothing and make you wear hospital gowns until you contracted to move  up to wearing scrubs then contracting to wear your clothes.
` the first day i goit there I was restrained and in my restraint I vomitted and they made me lay in it. my face was covered in it for about 2 hours.
` In my stay there i must have been restrained over 60 times and they were all completely unnecessary.
`we were forced to participate in their AA or NA groups. i never had an addiction problem but they said I did. they said I liked tranqs.   they were wrong, i never had one of them in me until I came to PV.
`i was forced to participate in Medicine wheel groups in which we had to learn and were tested on some kind of Native American Stuff.
`The director of my unit at the time was not licensed he was actually denied by the board of health so he was misrepresenting himself. He told me once, "if you think you are smart enough to get kicked out of here and escape it here you are wrong"
`I would not see my dad for weeks sometimes over a month.
`my family thrapy sessions would get taken away from me in which I could not talk to my dad much less see him
` if when i was talking to my dad and i tried to tell him how bad it was there they would end the family therapy session right there. they also told him I was incompetent and did not know what I was talking about when he heard me tell him about my bruises
` I was covered in bruises from the head down.
` that is all i am going to say for now.
the reason i was sent to PV was for PTSD from my mother passing away when i was 14. if i would cry about it, they told me I was attention seeking.
My PTSD worsened alot from being at PV. to this day I still have nghtmares and flashbacks from that place.
Please if you are thinking of sending your child there, take it from me, I have been there, there are much better places to go.
The one I got sent to from PV when i was kicked out in feb 05 was meridell in texas. now that is a wonderful place. i have nothing but good things to say about that place. But PV is the total opposite.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: Anonymous on April 08, 2007, 10:31:39 PM
Quote from: ""stoodoodog""
Just typing the words PV into my search engine last summer brought up several counselor myspaces. The top three results included the one that has received so much attention on this board over time.


I've been following your posts for awhile.  The only counselor you've ever focused on is this one.  What did the other counselors seem like?  You said that they all can't be evil because they leave.  Help me understand what you're up against: good and bad, please.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: ZenAgent on April 09, 2007, 12:34:36 AM
Quote from: ""1Guest""
Quote from: ""stoodoodog""
Just typing the words PV into my search engine last summer brought up several counselor myspaces. The top three results included the one that has received so much attention on this board over time.

I've been following your posts for awhile.  The only counselor you've ever focused on is this one.  What did the other counselors seem like?  You said that they all can't be evil because they leave.  Help me understand what you're up against: good and bad, please.


The one we (stoodoo and I) focused on caused the most alarm for parents.  She was nearly dismissed for listing her job title and place of employment on a blog that featured her fetish/restraint photos of nude young women.  She also went into detail about patients' parents and their inability to "get" the program.  She claimed to know the family's kid better than they did, because she is a "pro".  An associate degree does not make her a mental health professional.  This same staffer went into great detail about the financial problems of PV, even naming a psychologist who was upset about the money woes.  I have the pages saved, they went to JCAHO, and as a result most counselors switched their MySpace accounts to private.  

The turnover rate is high, and a few staffers who left before the MySpace trouble do not hesitate to malign the program and the clinicians.  They do admit to missing the kids, but the clinical staff and the moneychangers ran them off.  The other counselors seemed dissatisfied and at one point it appeared an exodus out of PV was planned.  

To answer your question, my wife and I found the staffers to be well-meaning but corrupted by the clinical staff, who promote the "Break them down and build them up" fallacy.  The staff could certainly humiliate and tear kids apart, but were they qualified to "re-build" them?  A quick check of the counselors curriculum vitae revealed a lot of them didn't have any degrees, some only had GED's, and these people were in charge of conducting group therapy.

I could cite the good staff and the bad, but that would require naming them.  My step daughter found most of them to be sadistic, but a few counselors treated her with clandestine kindness. I wish I could give you more.  PM stoodoo or me if you like, we'll try to answer your questions.  We're not at liberty to go into great detail on the boards.

I should add that I've interviewed a good number of former PV patients, and the ones who had the fetish photographer liked her or eventually grew to like her.  She showed a lack of judgement on her MySpace by not separating her job counseling kids from her photography work.  MySpace is public, and I guess she never thought desperate, "creepy" parents would find it and be horrified, especially given the number of questionable restraints at PV.  The girls I spoke with remembered her as tough at first, but a counselor they respected.  That's saying a lot for the photographer, considering the torrents of obscenities directed at other staffers and especially "that (insert expletive of choice) doctor".  One young lady did say she "could have gone forever without seeing those disgusting pictures,"  The photos were second-rate, watered-down Richard Kern style B+D, nothing very creative.  One particularly tasteless shot, considering her counselor job, was a picture of a chubby goth-girl laying on a bed naked with her wrists slashed, a glamorized suicide shot, with the counselor's name as a watermark.  That made the rounds of advocate groups, JCAHO, and prompted the Tennessee Mental Health Department to drop in.  Certainly not illegal, all the models were of age, but unethical, unprofessional, and a lousy thing for parents to see when they're already questioning the restrictive nature of PV.  At least no one has to worry about Kern having a teen restrained at any time.  We found the MySpace page by Googling "peninsula village", it was the third item to come up.  Bad advertising...

The family therapist at PV told me the bondage pictures/confidential information/MySpace issue had "been addressed".  It's obvious it occurred at the end of August 2006 from the revamped postings:

"I had to clean up my myspace page because of a work related issue,"

"I'm slowly trying to rebuild my friends list for networking as I had to delete my profile back in August,"

August 23, 2006 - Wednesday
     

I had to delete my other profiles...
Current mood: irate
Category: Blogging

...because of a work related issue (which I'll discuss later).

I'm adding back my best friends. There will only be a small amount of you; no ridiculousness...at least not for a while!!!

This is Bxxx Lxx Txxxxx, BTW...incase you didn't already pick up on who I am. I will add to my profile later. Right now I'm too steamed to do anything.

I need to go out.
[/b]

I can't ask that particular therapist for more details, she "left" PV shortly before my step daughter was released.  The therapist was at PV about a month longer than our girl - 8 months, I guess.  PV's turnover should be addressed - they go through personnel, even administrators, at an alarming rate.  I've tried to add up the number of administrators in the last seven years, and I come up with five, maybe six.  No one seems to leave on good terms, either.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: stoodoodog on April 09, 2007, 10:17:05 PM
Quote from: ""1Guest""
Quote from: ""stoodoodog""
Just typing the words PV into my search engine last summer brought up several counselor myspaces. The top three results included the one that has received so much attention on this board over time.

I've been following your posts for awhile.  The only counselor you've ever focused on is this one.  What did the other counselors seem like?  You said that they all can't be evil because they leave.  Help me understand what you're up against: good and bad, please.


When I asked two of the family therapists about the staff at PV I was told that they were "qualified". I asked for CV on the staff that would be spending most of the time with my child. After an uncomfortable silence I was told that  NO ONE had EVER asked for THAT before
(ironic...that was in the same workout session that I inquired about Bad Girl with a similar response)
I was told that they thought a criminal history check was done on the counselors but they were not sure... and that they are "not trained to be warm and fuzzy."
I was quickly ushered out and told NEVER to show up at PV unless I had an appointment, and that would need to be scheduled several "at least three" weeks in advance.

At that point I took measures to find out more about the nameless, faceless people who would be in charge of my child most of the time. Isn't that what most parents would do?

Now that my child is home, I know the names of the good counselors and the not so good ones, but it doesn't mean sh*t to me.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: ZenAgent on April 11, 2007, 03:18:00 PM
In relation to the discussion about staff background and the refusal of Peninsula Village to disclose the curriculum vitae of the line staff, I'll post this "red flag" from Maia Szalavitz's "10 Good Questions" , http://www.helpatanycost.com/questions.php (http://www.helpatanycost.com/questions.php) (Peninsula Village flunked 9 out of 10!  Maybe all 10, I'm not too sure about #10)
 
#2  What are the qualifications of the line staff who work directly with the teens?
There should be someone of at least a master's level working with the kids most of the time; staff should have been subjected to criminal background checks, and the more educated the line staff, the better. Any kind of group should be led by a therapist of at least master's level--less than that (especially no degree required, trained only by the program itself) is a red flag.

I don't care about staff copping the attitude "I ain't got book learning, but I got horse sense,"  That's horse shit, because they let them run therapy groups.  Since PV won't provide information on staff, concerned parents go looking for it, and they will look everywhere if they''re good parents.  You want to know who's watching your kids.  What we discovered was PV has a damn good reason for not providing backgrounds:  they'd lose business.  Here's a good example of how thorough the hiring process of Covenant Health and Peninsula Behavioral Health is:

The Knoxville News-Sentinel

December 20, 2000

Peninsula counselor faces 4-year sentence
Author: Kristi L. Nelson, News-Sentinel health writer


A Peninsula Behavioral Health program counselor who was hired after he pleaded no contest to two counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of an illegal weapon will be sentenced Jan. 26 in Sullivan County. The sentence hearing had been scheduled for Friday but was delayed.

In the plea agreement, James A. "Jim" Young would receive two three-year concurrent sentences and one year consecutive for a total of four years.

Young was arrested Jan. 25, 2000, after chasing his estranged wife and stepson through a Kingsport parking lot and holding them at gunpoint while the woman called 911 from a pay phone, according to Kingsport police reports. His now ex-wife, Cathy Young, had filed for an order of protection against Young, but police had been unable to find him. After she and her 29-year-old son, Matthew Forbes, located Young at a Kingsport motel, she went to a pay phone to call police, but Young blocked hervehicle and pul! led a handgun on the two.

After a brief chase, Kingsport police apprehended Young. They then recovered from his vehicle five rifles, two shotguns, a compound box, two 4-foot swords and a dozen boxes of ammunition.

Young pleaded no contest to all three charges in June. With a no contest plea, a defendant does not admit guilt. For sentencing purposes it is the same as a guilty plea or conviction.

In September, Young, who has a counseling background, was hired as program counselor in the adult unit at Peninsula Hospital.

A statement from Peninsula said Young is "on administrative leave pending review of this matter." Peninsula declined to say when that administrative leave began, but Jeff Benson, program director of adult services for Peninsula Hospital, had written a letter of reference for the court less than a month after Young's hiring. In the Oct. 17 letter, Benson called Young "a valuable and vital member of our staff team" and "a role! model for other staff."

Peninsula would not provide Young's job description but confirmed that he has direct contact with patients. A classified ad for "program counselor" at Peninsula cites supervising and confronting residents and monitoring their behavior among other job duties.

Peninsula did not give a policy statement for hiring counselors with criminal records, although a general job application for its parent company, Covenant Health, asks whether the applicant has been convicted of a crime and gives space to list dates, followed by this note: "A conviction record will not necessarily disqualify you from employment. Such factors as age and time of offense, seriousness and nature of the violation will be taken into account."

Mary Crawford, spokesperson for the Helen Ross McNabb Center, a mental and behavioral health facility not affiliated with Peninsula, said that company has a similar policy for applicants with criminal records, evaluating them on a case-by-case basis.

"We would probably look at the! person and see what the crime was, how long ago it had been and what they had done with their life since then," Crawford said.

However, she said, someone who had committed a "crime against people" probably wouldn't be hired as counselor.

Young could not be reached for comment.


"Two four foot swords"?  What is he, a D+D freak gone over the edge?
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: Kreflo on April 12, 2007, 05:04:46 PM
Quote from: ""ZenAgent""
In relation to the discussion about staff background and the refusal of Peninsula Village to disclose the curriculum vitae of the line staff, I'll post this "red flag" from Maia Szalavitz's "10 Good Questions" , http://www.helpatanycost.com/questions.php (http://www.helpatanycost.com/questions.php) (Peninsula Village flunked 9 out of 10!  Maybe all 10, I'm not too sure about #10)

 
I am. Add 10, PV easily fails on that one.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: ZenAgent on April 12, 2007, 05:30:38 PM
Quote from: ""Kreflo""
Quote from: ""ZenAgent""
In relation to the discussion about staff background and the refusal of Peninsula Village to disclose the curriculum vitae of the line staff, I'll post this "red flag" from Maia Szalavitz's "10 Good Questions" , http://www.helpatanycost.com/questions.php (http://www.helpatanycost.com/questions.php) (Peninsula Village flunked 9 out of 10!  Maybe all 10, I'm not too sure about #10)

I am. Add 10, PV easily fails on that one.


(Putting hand to ear)  No...No, I don't hear a denial from the PV camp.  
10 out of 10...on the day of judgement, we'll be waving away the thick, greasy smoke coming off their abusive asses as they burn in hell.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: Anonymous on April 13, 2007, 03:54:07 AM
Check out the other PV thread on this page. A fine example of the damage PV does to kids.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: Anonymous on April 16, 2007, 01:47:55 PM
Quote from: ""Guest""
Check out the other PV thread on this page. A fine example of the damage PV does to kids.


Damage seems like a kind word here.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: ZenAgent on April 28, 2007, 09:39:20 PM
I'd like to bring this back up again - read L.C.'s story, examine the style, the use of question marks.  Maybe WANF was unaware of this thread, I don't know.  I got in touch with WANF through another board, not Fornits.  

Her story was very important to Stoodoo and I - we were unaware of PV, and this is the first thing Stoodoo read.  It was up on Infoshop, and  in that version, "Mokara" tied PV closely to fascism.

WANF is not a plant, she's another survivor and a bit unfamiliar with forums.  She writes quickly, and is passionate about her concerns and unfortunately didn't realize how (normally) focused we try to be on the topics of the threads.  To her, it's all inter-related, with PV being another symptom of a sick society.

I could not be sure she was the same person who contacted me by email.  I tried, she dodged.  Eventually I became suspicious, and thought she might be tied to a PV counselor who has recently posted a  very personal attack on me, mostly, but also discusses my step daughter's case,  disclosing details a little too individually identifiable, resulting in my family filing a HIPAA complaint.  Like I've said before, the staffers at PV aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer.  Professional ethics isn't something a GED covers, or four years in a community college.

The thought it was the same young lady still nagged at me, and I emailed her again and received no response.   I posted a bit of confidential information I thought she'd recognize, she missed it or was afraid to address it.  Then people started jumping her case, she started shooting back.  I got mad, and had a go at her, and sure enough, she DID see the confidential info, and asked how I knew (blank).  It was all I needed for proof.  I made a bit of amends, told her we were all on the same team, and we should start over.  I haven't communicated with her on Fornits since, only encouraged her to use P.M. after registering, and I would answer her questions.   She had realized I was the person she had contacted, and I guess she hadn't checked her email account recently - I had told her in an email I went by Zen Agent on Fornits.

WANF and I were both victims of post-PV paranoia.  She wants to help.

The person posting in all caps who wanted to chew on Niles prostrate - not WANF.  Please, folks, she means no harm.  She has a lot of issues she considers important, and if some words offend her, I guess we shouldn't mock her.  I know I made some nasty remarks, because censorship is one of the things I despise.

Again, she means no harm, and she knows a lot about the abuses at PV.  I hope she'll fill out TSW's questionnaire, she could shed a lot of light on what things were like around 1998, and what changes have occurred.  Although the statute of limitations is up for her to file a lawsuit against PV for the gut-churning abuses she's described, there's still a chance she and any of the girls she attended PV with can file a lawsuit.  There is an exception to the statute of limitations, the "date of discovery".  I have a "discovery" she would only be aware of after I email her the info, then she has a new case with a fresh start on the statute of limitations.
Title: Message to L.C. - We can take out Peninsula Village
Post by: Anonymous on April 29, 2007, 05:16:11 AM
bump