Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: Anonymous on May 16, 2005, 11:50:00 AM
-
Did any one go to peninsula village? I did and I am interested to hear what you thought of the place.
-
Peninsula Village info from HEAL:
"Peninsula Village in Tennessee is confirmedly an abusive behavior modification facility. They are part of the Peninsula Behavioral Health family of services and we have firsthand accounts of abuse at Peninsula facilities. Please click here for a report on the abuse at Peninsula. They describe a 6-8 week orientation period or initial ?level or phase? of brutal peer pressure used to effect change in your child. Taken from their website, linked to the opening title of this description as of 2/17/04, reads: Treatment begins in the locked Admissions Unit. This initial period of treatment typically lasts six to eight weeks and is an extremely intense therapeutic experience. The Admissions Unit is unlike most other locked unit programs and is specially designed to address resistance and introduce patients to our group-oriented treatment approach, which uses peer pressure to create positive change.? Welcome to trauma-based behavior modification 101. Don?t send your child to this program. If you were abused at Peninsula Village or had your rights violated in any way, please contact us and we will post your personal testimonial here as a warning to others."
The report HEAL links to:
"SURVIVOR?S REPORT
I entered Peninsula Behavioral Health at the age of 14. I entered the adolescents unit, which is apparently an offshoot of a non-compulsory adult drug-rehabilitation facility, sometime in April ?03 and was dismissed a week later. While I did not witness any blatant torture, it is by no means a treatment program, just a way to make money, as my mom was later billed hundreds of dollars owed to Peninsula. It is incarceration under the guise of rehabilitation. The MD who convinced my parents of consenting my admittance to Peninsula told what I know now to be blatant lies or at least factual inaccuracies to gain their consent. I was made to give blood and urine, the blood was drawn by a nurse who admitted her own incompetence and thus required several separate attempts to get the needle in the right area. I was threatened that my stay there would be prolonged if I didn?t give blood, although I was not admitted there under the suspicion of drug abuse in the first place, but anorexia (and despite me allegedly having such a horrible disease, they did not attempt to treat me for any kind of eating disorder whatsoever). I was denied access to my parents on the first level, be it telephone or otherwise. My parents were told when they were allowed to visit to be wary of my words for I would try to manipulate them to get out. I was preached religion by an apparent MD who gave me a physical. I was made to remove all but my underwear during admittance. I was not allowed any reading materials, which meant besides the periodical "group sessions" and "inspirational movies", I was left to stare at the wall in depressive monotony for hours at a time. I was not allowed to leave my desk except to use the restroom and it was required that you gain permission from a nurse to be able to sit or lay on your bed, which were searched, along with our folders, daily, and we were made to re-make the beds after they were messed up by counselors. Despite all this the facility operated under a very clean and professional environment, excellent "manipulation" if I may say so myself. Make no mistake, I can't see how this could be beneficial to anyone no matter what their problem, except to instill fear of a second stay, which could be helpful to some parents nonetheless but not any individual clients. I overheard counselors attempting to convince a boy into entering Peninsula Village, which is also on your list. Everything I have said is true to the best of my knowledge and experience.
Anthony (send messages for Anthony to HEAL at www.isaccorp.com (http://www.isaccorp.com)). You may view the list of warning signs by visiting http://www.heal-online.org/warn.htm (http://www.heal-online.org/warn.htm). We remind you that the warning signs are red flags and if a program you have submitted your child to has any of the warning signs, we highly recommend you do not send your child there. Below is Anthony?s list of matching Peninsula program actions to the list of warning signs.
I will list the violations according to your list:
1. Peninsula Behavioral Health operates with some sort of "levels" system, where over the course of a week you
gain levels which gains you certain privileges. During the first few days I was not allowed to call or speak to my parents, during the first meeting with my parents it was monitored with a "counselor" in the room, the second time days later, It was not monitored. However I was asked if I had a message for my parents which they could deliver, I said to deliver the message that this was "Not a hospital, but a prison", I was laughed at and told that that message would not be delivered.
2. I believe so that my parents had to sign something of the sort, yes.
5. The foreign (Indian) doctor who each of the "patients" had one to two meetings with (the headmaster it seems), was very unhappy about me telling my parents that for most of the day I stared at the wall although this was true. He said I was trying to manipulate them and all the "counselors" warned my parents before our first meeting about "manipulation", that I would say anything to try to get out and to take what I say with caution.
6. Level 3 "patients" only are allowed telephone privileges, I never reached that level.
10. It resembled a low security prison.
12. They were not allowed to see me during this process I believe.
13. We were made to exercise lightly, I don't know if it was compulsory though.
14. Yes, no books were allowed at all.
17. I didn?t ask to see any credentials but the Indian doctor who was not entirely fluent in English seemed a bit suspicious to me, nothing concrete here though.
22. Because I was allegedly anorexic and they were suspicious I would vomit my food, I was asked at times to leave the bathroom door cracked while I pissed.
24. I was asked to strip, refused, and was then asked to remove all but my underwear.
25. No reading materials were allowed although I didn?t ask for any religious materials, but I was preached Christianity by a MD, or apparent MD. There was nothing that pointed to this MD's preaching as anything other than vigilante, although their official site makes references to "God."
28. I was not examined by or had any meaningful discussion with the person that prescribed me the medication, this person did not outwardly look to be an MD.
33. On the first level you are denied a 30-minute, fenced outside time.
36. There was a strict policy against looking or speaking to clients of the opposite sex, which would occasionally pass through the hall in lines. I was mistakenly accused of looking, (yes, looking), at a girl when I was merely talking to another client who happened to be in the field of vision of the door, which apparently some girls had just passed through. I was spotted by a counselor and made to write an entry in the rulebook over 50 times. I digressed this with a different counselor who seemed to believe me but insisted I write it anyway.
If you were abused or had your rights violated by Peninsula Behavioral Health, please e-mail us your experience and we will post it here as a warning to other."
Source: http://www.heal-online.org/childtortureusa.htm#tn42 (http://www.heal-online.org/childtortureusa.htm#tn42)
-
: I was in Peninsula Village for two years from 96 to 98. It is a horrible place and should be shut down immediately. I was in the lock down unit for six months on arrival although I was cowed, completely subservient and did everything 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 gently, it was an impulse reaction, when the large orderly fascist woman dug her nails purposefully into my arm. I had bruises, couldn't breathe and was choking. They applied excessive pressure, I really couldn't breathe. There is no doubt in my mind that they could have restrained my totally non-resistant 95 pound borderline anorexic teenage self between all 1000 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, they meant to hurt us. They also keep restraining you long after any fight was gone and even if none was there in the first place. We had the isolation room in STU, of course, nice cold hard linoleum with cement underneath, and they used a straight jacket called a burrito. I can remember seeing one tough little state kid stuck in that damn thing for a day or more, they were walking her around in it. Other girls were strapped to a cot wrapped up in it, looking like one miserable burrito, stuck full of thorzine and left to drool. There were at least two restraints a week. 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. 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 tell them what it is we had to do. The denouncement sessions 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 the staff was especially educated, other than the family therapists and some people we rarely saw perhaps, some BA's and associate degrees. The lights were left on all the time, we slept in cubicles and were watched by patrolling fascists every second. We were punished constantly, abuse was constant every second for those two years. 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 communist denouncement POW experience, it was pure hell. They would find out your deepest darkest secrets and then browbeat you with them like we were disgusting dirt, we could say nothing to defend ourselves or we would face being PCId/ restrained. They liked sexual revelations of course. You would confess to things you didn't do and then they would tell your family. Many of the girls were in there for not much or for something that had happened to them, somewhere, I think the website says the Village is an expert at helping abused girls. It was terrible to watch them torture some poor kid who was in there because she had been raped or molested. Many of the girls had been raped or molested, myself included, 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, but most couldn't, almost all, hell none of us did!!! We would pretend but how can you tear someone apart after listening to them scream all might while these pigs held their face into the floor. That happened all the time in STU the lockdown unit. I don't know why they kept me in there for six months I wasn't defiant or oppositional, hah hah. There was some desperation mentality, though, 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. One or two girls were in for telling their parents they were gay, like they were going to beat it out of them, lots of anorexics and then the usual run of the mill teenage stories with some poor foster kid?s wards of the state thrown in. God it was hell, after the lock down unit with its cramped quarters and barred windows for six months, well actually mesh covered windows, we had the cabins and work detail. Work detail is exercise digging up stumps, cross sawing logs, mauling logs, building endless things under constant abuse in the hot Tennessee sun drugged to the gills by some Nazi nut who gave lobotomies to rape victims in a past life. If sleep deprivation doesn't get you, they were fond of waking you up at two in the morning to drag you out to the log shed to show you how much wood you still needed to chop. I used to fall asleep standing up. Marching around in lines, or holding on to a rope, still no talking or looking at the other girls. Hauling around the Gott, a water jug that weighed so fricken 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, or farm tools or God knows what. They exercised you past the breaking point and then over a little, and then a little more. It was torture, I can't emphasize that enough torture. 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. School was nice when you got to go, it wasn't very organized though and most left with a GED, which makes it real easy 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. The Village is ridiculously expensive costing about 500 to 700 dollars a night, they charge more when they are "forced" to restrain you, as this requires more work or something. Everyone in there had really good insurance or was a ward of the state, so thank you tax dollars, people this is the best they could come up with for these kids. 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 fascist monsters are going to eat me and all the people I care about and I'm going to be completely at there mercy. I forgot to add they, of course, won't let you talk to your parents except after I think it was six months, even then just by phone with a family therapist on conference call. 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. It is life in the fricken neo-conservative fascist twig light zone totally. Kids wetting the bed because they are 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. Also living under people like that is a farce as far as therapy goes I never wanted to smoke pot so bad in my whole life, or drink, date rebels and I was never wanted to die before the Village but I sure as hell would have chosen a synide pill over that place, two years seemed like an eternity, one day was like an eternity. One girl jumped out of her parents moving car on a return trip, not at a stop light but on the expressway, she knew she wasn't running anywhere, talk about a cry for help. A month or two later saw her sitting in STU in three casts I think, all sorts of skin gone. Stupid parents. I'm still a mess, besides the nightmares I shake uncontrollably, these little fits happen any time I am nervous, about once a day, this is very helpful when trying to convince people at work or school that I'm not on drugs. My family doctor, says that I have a good case of post traumatic stress disorder. He doesn't know the half of it, I never told him about the Village only about my four year relationship with an alcoholic fiancé with a good job and a college degree who used to get up in my face and scream at least once a week. How about some Stockholm syndrome for you. I have finally gotten over, somewhat, my overwhelming social anxiety at least enough that I don't care who sees me shake if it means I get 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. And what it's like to live under fascist rule for two years, all I'm saying is tat we should all be damn careful because it is pure hell and please do something about this somebody before it hurts more people, these places have to close down!!! God bless all my sisters out there please don't die, don't let the bastards get you down, your not alone and I'm sure we all love you I know I do and I pray for you to a God of good things that are not fascist!!!
-
PV fails on almost all of the warning signs to look for when selecting a RTC. Don't base any decisions on the website...what a farce!
It makes me want to throw up thinking about it.
-
Why? You could have tried to tear it apart from the inside out and ended up an even more vocal anti-programmie than you are now.
This is just God damn sick. Why the hell haven't they been sued out of existence yet?
-
What is it about these places and forcing girls to expose their deepest darkest sexual secrets in public? Isn't is strange that it is normally men who do the prodding... parents who use these places are so fucking retrarded.
-
Academy at Swift River's latest (6 in 7 years) Exec Director was previously at PV- Don K. Vardell, Jr
http://wwf.avigation.net/viewtopic.php?t=16338 (http://wwf.avigation.net/viewtopic.php?t=16338)
ASR chose not to mention this in their announcement at ST
http://www.strugglingteens.com/archives ... 05snh.html (http://www.strugglingteens.com/archives/2005/1/jan05snh.html)
-
:question:
-
Probably, but the topic's been done to death on this board, mostly because no one is ever actually willing to do that.
Ideally anyone with a twinge of conscience would report this sort of bullshit or start taking matters into their own hands, but if most people had courage of that caliber there wouldn't be any programs in the first place and there wouldn't be a Fornits to post on.
So unless you personally know someone who will really do such a thing, in which case you definitely shouldn't announce it in public, it's a dead horse.
-
On the surface it presents itself as candy coated popcorn peanuts and a prize...but the ratio of goonsquad to the pretty faces on the website is about 10:1.
-
The place is evil, and Stoodoo dog is right, it's presented like candy. It's more like a sugar-coated turd, in reality. Thye had an outbreak of E Coli there in the late 90's that sickened a lot of kids, nearly killing one girl. The details of the legal settlement are not public, since Covenant Health wanted it buried. I don't know if everyone is aware of what conditions have to be like to get an E Coli outbreak, but they're disgusting. Somehow feces gets introduced...nevermind.
The staff are underqualified. The conditions are brutal. They practice the same techniques as the Seed. This is a quote from Senator Sam Ervin, taken from "Help At Any Cost":
"Individuals are required to participate in group therapy discussions where intensive pressure is often placed on the individuals to accept the attitudes of the group. More intensive forms of encounter groups begin first by subjecting the individual to isolation and humiliation in a conscious effort to break down his psychological defenses. Once the individual is submissive, his personality can begin to be reformed around attitudes determined by the program director to be acceptable. It is similar to the highly refined brainwashing techniques employed by the North Koreans in the early 1950's.
A place to be avoided, and shut down as soon as possible.
-
:exclaim:
-
ISAC has added PV to its watchlist. Some pretty disgusting stuff...
http://www.isaccorp.org/documentsnz.asp#peninsula (http://www.isaccorp.org/documentsnz.asp#peninsula)
-
Hmm...Now I know why they don't like to discuss curriculum vitae at PV...
PROGRAM COUNSELOR
Job Code: 16258
Location: PENINSULA VILLAGE
Department: Girl's Outdoor Program
Description: Full Time: 3 days/4 nights.
Requirements: Social services degree preferred, but H.S. diploma with experience will be considered.
Duties: Work in the outdoor setting with paitents in a residential facility. Provide safety, supervision and therapy to adolescents in our care. Need extreme flexibility with scheduling and extensive availabililty.
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
So, I guess if you've got the GED, you've got the G-O-B and can administer your own wacky kind of therapy.[/i]
-
http://wwf.avigation.net/viewtopic.php?t=17042 (http://wwf.avigation.net/viewtopic.php?t=17042)
-
That is not the only whacky therapy administered at PV.
Don't ask don't tell, don't tell don't ask... since 1986
I have been told that more than a few former administrators would prefer thier stint at PV not be mentioned on the CV.
Come to think of it, why should there be more than a few for an operation only in existence since 1986?
-
More on PV
http://wwf.avigation.net/viewtopic.php?t=17108 (http://wwf.avigation.net/viewtopic.php?t=17108)
-
Another bizarre book by a program inmate, this time it's about PV. The book just got a negative review today, exposing this trash as an advertisement for a horribly abusive place.
How much you wanna bet Amazon doesn't allow that review to stay up there very long?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/custom ... e&n=283155 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/1590710517/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/102-8754970-7052947?ie=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=283155)
-
Let's make sure everyone sees it:
An advertisement for an abusive facility that breaks kids and then puts them back together as brainwashed robots... as told by one of their so-called 'successes'. Shocking only in the way that the author seems to truly believe that being isolated from human contact, allowed no friends and no conversation, and spending most of the day sitting on her bed (not being allowed to talk or even look at things), truly helped her 'recover'.
They wouldn't allow my stepdaughter to have any books unless they were of a "spiritual" nature, so my wife sent her the Tao Te Ching. Her daughter wasn't allowed to have it, of course, because it wasn't "Christian" spiritual. Grrrrr....
This Abigail Vona...can't write, she had the book ghost-written and got it published by...um.... whoredom, I guess. Read about it here, straight from her former boyfriend, Doug Dechert. He was 46, had publishing connections, she was 18, had...um...whoredom, I guess. Doug Dechert's an egomaniacal simpleton as well, he thinks Abby was genuinely attracted to a wizened, dried-up scuz like himself.
http://www.scandalmonger.net/creation.htm (http://www.scandalmonger.net/creation.htm)
http://www.scandalmonger.net/bad_girl.htm (http://www.scandalmonger.net/bad_girl.htm)
From Doug Dechert, ex-boyfriend of Abby Vona: Abby's theory boiled down to, "Since I'm having sex with you, you should be my agent for free." I refrained from pointing out to her the moral implications of that line of thought.
Again from Dechert:
Dechert calls his ex-girlfriend - who dumped him last month - "barely literate." He adds that she has "the heart of a mercenary and the soul of a hustler."
Sounds like the girl is a LYING MANIPULATOR, and damn, I thought Peninsula Village "modified" that kind of behavior. Yet another PV failure.
-
More likely PV created that type of behavior.
-
To be fair to Vona it's not hard to argue that her less than angelic behaviour is a simple result of following the examples of the adults surrounding her.
Everyone in that debacle come sout looking pretty Shabby, at least you can put Vona's behaviour down to being a messed up kid.
I'll put off judgement until I've read her book.
-
Abigal has a MySpace...
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... ID=7893279 (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=7893279)
I heard she is studying for her Professional Engineering License, so props to her! But I still want to know why her story gets shelved into True Crime at the bookstores...
-
Probably because what happened to her at PV was genuinely criminal.
-
What a PV success story! Here's an excerpt from her next book, as posted on her myspace. I can see why she needs a ghost writer to polish up her grammar & spelling:
When I got home their they were, all three of them were at my house smoking pot with my brother. My brother Will had a big grin on his face while he watched me enter the drive way. He wasn't smiling because he was proud that I stole weed but because he now had something on me. Albonya, who miss interpreted his smile, yelled enthusiastically "I told your bother about how you stole the weed, it was amazing!" I new she wasn't trying to get me in trouble and was supporting me in a really dumb way but I still wanted to kill her. It was bad enough that I was left like I was, but this! My brother didn't have to threaten me I knew that this was the opportunity he was waiting for. It was the perfect situation for him to prove to him self and to my dad that I was still fucked up.
"Wait until dad hears" he said knowing that he had me, that I would do almost anything he wanted. There was two things to do. One would be to tell my dad and possible get sent back and the other was to shut up my brother. So I bribed him with the weed I stole.
-
Well I just want to put in my two cents because I've been to PV as a patient and I've worked there.
First off Abigail Vona is a joke and you should totally get that from reading her book. I did not work with her for the record.
The staff you are attacking are the ones who really love the kids. But I will agree that the program is not what it used to be. Alot of stuff has changed there and it isn't for the better. The program used to work. But it's not the staff. It is the clinical staff. Program counselors don't have to have degrees. But they are supposed to get guidance from the clinicians. It shouldn't really matter what the staff do on their own time. You can love bondage and still teach someone how to be a better person.
Since everyone is so busy checking out the staff on myspace check out some of the kids who are doing good. I will say that number has dropped but that's due to clinical guidance. Don't blame the staff. Most of them are great people who deal with ALOT in dealing with these kind of kids. Especially without clinical direction.
I won't try to convice you to keep your kid there or send your kid there - there is a reason I don't work there anymore.
But I will say - the two staff specifically you picked - are wonderful staff.
-
The staff you are attacking are the ones who really love the kids. But I will agree that the program is not what it used to be. Alot of stuff has changed there and it isn't for the better. The program used to work. But it's not the staff. It is the clinical staff. Program counselors don't have to have degrees. But they are supposed to get guidance from the clinicians. It shouldn't really matter what the staff do on their own time. You can love bondage and still teach someone how to be a better person.
I don't give a damn what anyone does in their bedroom, or whatever fetishes they enjoy. That's their private business, but to post B+D pix on a public site and identify yourself as a counselor at a teen RTC is NOT SMART. To discuss financial concerns of the facility is NOT SMART, and obviously somebody else considered it wrong. I've talked to former patients about the photographer, they liked her a lot. No one's saying she's a bad person. I think she shows questionable judgement, and as three psychiatrists have told me, the pictures aren't the issue, it's the fact she identified herself as a counseler at PV. The psychiatrists agreed it was unethical and unprofessional. I imagine any "good Christian" sorts would have second thoughts about placing their kids in PV if they were aware of blog sites like the ones so recently removed.
-
I understand what you are saying. I can say from experience that you don't think the parents of these children are gonna come looking for me on myspace.
But yeah it's too bad she's the one being given a hard time. I worked with her for years and she's wonderful with the kids.
-
Yeah, I know, but given the nature of these facilities, and the fact my stepdaughter is at PV and going through some horrible stuff, we went the extra mile looking for information on PV's staff, especially curriculum vitae. We had to search for it because Peninsula Village will not give out any information on the staff involved with the kids day-to-day, so the facility can be blamed for making people dig deep. I wasn't worried about the smiling faces of the administrative staff, although searching turned up some alarming details about the certifications and licenses of some VERY high-up types. My stepdaughter was restrained by five counselors at PV, all of them sitting on her, right in front of my wife. How do you think she felt seeing her daughter being brutally assaulted? (I've read up on the Cornell TCI, and that is NOT what was used on the girl) She took pictures to document abuse she knew was terribly wrong, criminally wrong, and for doing that she hasn't been allowed to see her daughter at all. Both of them are traumatized. I'm not picking out individuals to lay blame on, it's the ORGANIZATION that's evil, abusive, and criminal. PV's slogan is 'Mending young lives and restoring families,". What a farce. Now I'm going back to working on getting custody of my stepdaughter and getting her OUT OF PV.
-
I completely understand that. I know what it looks like. I do think it's great that you are doing so much research about where your step daughter is. I'm not coming on here trying to argue with anyone. I just wanted to put my two cents in cause that's what I always do.(gets me in trouble sometimes).
-
I understand the concerns that "zenagent" has, but I as well feel I need to put my 2 cents in...
I was a senior program couselor at PV for 2 years. While I do have a psychology degree, I gained my most valuable counseling techniques from other program counselors, mainly those who do not have mental health or social health degrees. One of the best counselors that PV had was one that you specifically criticized as having only a GED, and I think that many former patients would attest to that.
As far as treatment of the patients is concerned, the majority of the counselors that I worked with, and myself, were always primarily concerned with patients' safety and well-being. We as counselors, put ourselves through rigorous work everyday, that drained us both physically and emotionally, took a large toll on our personal lives outside of the Village, and all for reimbursement that was close to nothing. The ONLY reason that I stayed at a job for so long that put me in constant physical danger, and was so emotionally taxing, was because I cared such a great deal about the kids that I worked with. Those kids deserved something so much greater than what they were doing to themselves prior to admission, whether it was drug use, eating disorders, cutting, burning, or suicide attempts.
That said, I believe that the staff at PV who work with the kids on a day-to-day basis care a great deal for these kids, or else they would not be working there. There are hundreds of other jobs that we could take, and make considerably more money. Whatever feelings or opinions that you have about the specific treatment of patients should be addressed to the clinical staff, not taken out on the staff who devote their lives to helping these kids. Whatever a person does in his or her own time, is their business. I mean... who said a job has to be everything that a person is?
-
Sorry to sound selfish, but if a counselor has hurt feelings or is resentful about losing their MySpace blog, I DON'T CARE! We're at cross purposes here: you're going on about the counselors who are there by choice, free to make their own decisions about being at PV, go home, and complain about their jobs on MySpace. I'm talking about the mental and physical abuse that someone I love is suffering out there. If the damn MySpace blog has no bearing at all on W.'s ability to do her job, TELL HER TO PUT IT BACK UP! I DON'T CARE! I'm tired of hearing the whining: you made your choice, you left. I'm worried about someone who has no choice. You don't know how truly screwed up this situation is. If you left recently, and things were going downhill, why didn't you DO something? Report whatever you know is wrong, or be considered negligent. Forget your two cents, get fifty cents and call somebody who'll address what's wrong. You're right, those kids deserve MUCH better. They deserve to be treated like humans.
-
???? Found this searching...
The facility is known to show bias based on the ?difficulty? level of certain parents, often resulting in the termination of the difficult parent?s participation in their child?s treatment. Peninsula Village?s criteria for identifying vexatious parents includes, but is not limited to: making excessive requests for the curriculum vitae of the staff, expressing concerns about sanitation and the nutritional value of meals prepared in the facility?s cafeteria, asking about the certifications of counselors performing physical restraints. Peninsula Village?s practices often run counter to the facility?s stated objectives, ?Mending young lives and restoring families,?
1.Unimpeded telephone conversations with the children at least twice each week at reasonable times and for a reasonable duration. Peninsula Village will not allow private telephone conversations until a certain level of behavior modification is achieved and the patient is not as susceptible to hope.
2. Send mail to the children which the facility will not open and will not censor. Mail coming from known parents in opposition of Peninsula Village?s method of behavioral modification is opened, inspected for anything of value, read, then disposed of by PV staff. Any references to litigation against the facility are delivered to Peninsula Village's legal counsel for consideration. Many parents try to slip messages to their children about changes in custody that could result in a patient?s release from Peninsula Village before the financial commitment period is completed. Parents are inclined to offer too much hope to patients, and hope is detrimental to the service Peninsula Village provides by destroying everything a patient was, then molding the remains into something that?s in accordance with the dominant/paying parent?s specifications. All mail is subject to scrutiny. Continuous violation of the ever-changing parental guidelines will result in an offender losing all communication privileges with their child. Total restriction of contact eliminates potential parental encouragement of patients to believe they don?t belong in Peninsula Village and they might possibly be able to leave before the behavior modification process has been finished, resulting in consumer discontent and possibly a public relations crisis.
3. Receiving notice and relevant information as soon as practical (but not more than 24 hours) in the event of hospitalization, major illness, or death of the children. This policy is generally ignored since Peninsula Village is exempt from unwanted police ?child welfare checks?, required when abuse is reported to the Blount County Sheriff?s office. The Sheriff?s department will not take a report or investigate the matter unless an incident is reported by the facility itself.
-
Smiling faces....sometimes they don't tell the truth. Uh HUH!
Gather round gullible cash cows...shameful skeleton in your closet? Straight from PV's new and improved website and further from reality than EVER BEFORE!!!!!
In the words of old JB....don't you go anutha futha!
"Assessment Process
Peninsula Village carefully screens patients and reviews records from previous treatments. A team of psychiatrists, psychologists, primary care physicians, licensed clinical social workers, master's level therapists, recreation therapists, certified addiction specialists, teachers and other professionals evaluate each patient upon admission. These evaluations, combined with family interviews and observations of the patient by the staff, help create a comprehensive picture of the patient's condition."
The miniscule bit of reality in that quote is the ASS in assesment...
-
Deleted by Zen Agent at the request of his shyster. Wasn't it Big Bill Shakespeare who wrote "First, we'll kill all the lawyers,"?
But I understand the barrister's logic and don't question.
-
The admissions criteria at Peninsula Village has changed on the re-made, re-modeled web site http://www.peninsulavillage.org/pv-home.cfm (http://www.peninsulavillage.org/pv-home.cfm) According to this, at 40 yrs old, I'm still a troubled teen, and I'm proud of my "oppositional behavior". We used to call it "questioning authority". Why does anyone think behavior modification lasts once a child leaves the facility that enforces it? Back to the land of cell phones and temptation, and all that falls by the wayside. "Re-education" like these facilities practice was used by Mao Tse Tung, and it worked because you never had a chance to revert to the old ways. Anyway, here's the new criteria, and why every kid could end up in an abusive hellhole for the crime of being a thoughtful, questioning teenager:
Depression, Anxiety, and other Mood Disorders
Alcohol and/or drug abuse/dependency
Disordered conduct and oppositional behavior
ADD/ADHD
Effects of traumatic experience
Disrespect of adult authority
Inability to tolerate frustration or boredom
Unhealthy self-centeredness
Unwillingness to adhere to conventional values/standards
Inability to behave independently and autonomously
Self-mutilation and/or other self-harming behaviors
Pattern of excessive passivity and clinging dependency in relationships
Eating disorders that are medically stable
-
According to this, at 40 yrs old, I'm still a troubled teen...Anyway, here's the new criteria, and why every kid could end up in an abusive hellhole for the crime of being a thoughtful, questioning teenager:
Depression, Anxiety, and other Mood Disorders
Alcohol and/or drug abuse/dependency
Disordered conduct and oppositional behavior
ADD/ADHD
Effects of traumatic experience
Disrespect of adult authority
Inability to tolerate frustration or boredom
Unhealthy self-centeredness
Unwillingness to adhere to conventional values/standards
Inability to behave independently and autonomously
Self-mutilation and/or other self-harming behaviors
Pattern of excessive passivity and clinging dependency in relationships
Eating disorders that are medically stable
Man, I'm older than you and I am certain that the right therapist could justify diagnosing me with every one of the "issues" on this list, with the exception of the self-mutilation and eating disorder.
Guess I should quit my high-paying job, sell the house and check myself into a program so I can get "fixed."
-
Hmmm...seems the Behavior Modification Squad of PV had an unannounced visit from inspectors on the State level. I hope they had the buckles on the straitjackets shined and new syringes laid out for the Thorazine cocktails. I'll keep you posted.
yeah. good to hear this maybe we got another one shut down. be very interested to get an update
-
According to this, at 40 yrs old, I'm still a troubled teen...Anyway, here's the new criteria, and why every kid could end up in an abusive hellhole for the crime of being a thoughtful, questioning teenager:
Depression, Anxiety, and other Mood Disorders
Alcohol and/or drug abuse/dependency
Disordered conduct and oppositional behavior
ADD/ADHD
Effects of traumatic experience
Disrespect of adult authority
Inability to tolerate frustration or boredom
Unhealthy self-centeredness
Unwillingness to adhere to conventional values/standards
Inability to behave independently and autonomously
Self-mutilation and/or other self-harming behaviors
Pattern of excessive passivity and clinging dependency in relationships
Eating disorders that are medically stable
Man, I'm older than you and I am certain that the right therapist could justify diagnosing me with every one of the "issues" on this list, with the exception of the self-mutilation and eating disorder.
Guess I should quit my high-paying job, sell the house and check myself into a program so I can get "fixed."
checking yourself in and being forced are two completly different things
-
It does seem ironic that a couple of the problems listed in the criteria for admissions are problems survivors of abusive programs suffer from: Effects of traumatic experience, Depression, Anxiety, and other Mood Disorders, Inability to behave independently and autonomously...plain shell -shocked by an experience that goes beyond cruelty. Parents are so worried about their "integrity" and what the neighbors think, it's more pallatable to say "my child's in a treatment facility" than to deal with Junior in family counseling sessions, where the parents' darkness might be exposed.
-
Hmm...Now I know why they don't like to discuss curriculum vitae at PV...
PROGRAM COUNSELOR
Job Code: 16258
Location: PENINSULA VILLAGE
Department: Girl's Outdoor Program
Description: Full Time: 3 days/4 nights.
Requirements: Social services degree preferred, but H.S. diploma with experience will be considered.
Duties: Work in the outdoor setting with paitents in a residential facility. Provide safety, supervision and therapy to adolescents in our care. Need extreme flexibility with scheduling and extensive availabililty.
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
So, I guess if you've got the GED, you've got the G-O-B and can administer your own wacky kind of therapy.[/i]
Yanno, they got a bondage freak working there...
I should apply and state in my resumé that I enjoy discipline and authority :lol:
-
http://health.yahoo.com/experts/depress ... ts?cin=109 (http://health.yahoo.com/experts/depression/3292/goths-self-harm-and-suicide-attempts?cin=109)
Read the whole posting on the link above, but here's the real kicker reply, without all the scanning:
I had one friend, an anorexic bulimic, who was kidnapped in the middle of the night and sent to a behavioral modification therapeutic wilderness camp facility in the mountains of Tennessee. She came back eighteen months later and described it at as a red guard denouncement session crossed with a sadistic work camp for teenagers where they threw people to the ground and held them there for hours choking. She was in a lock down unit, a room with metal doors and bared windows, for nine months and not allowed to move off of her bed, read, look at or talk to the other girls or even go to the bathroom without asking permission. They left the lights on all the time and browbeat the hell out of them. Very helpful in dealing with an insecure nervous person. She now shakes uncontrolably and can't make eye contact, her doctor says she has post traumatic stress. She said they charged her parents insurance company $500.00 a night well over a hundred thousand dollars a year, she said she asked to have the police called and they laughed at her, she never got to speak to anyone other than the staff, they were only allowed to speak to their parents by phone at first and only after being there for three months. Again look it up online type in abuse at behavioral modification facilities, there is a whole lot of information on it. She was in a place called Peninsula Village in Knoxville Tennessee. Type in troubled teen too. It's really funny you will gat all these places peddling their wares telling you the reasons you should have your child kidnapped by them. My friend now again weighs eighty pounds and is working on her Masters Degree like hell is chasing her.
-
Requirements: Social services degree preferred, but H.S. diploma with experience will be considered.
Duties: Work in the outdoor setting with paitents in a residential facility. Provide safety, supervision and therapy to adolescents in our care. Need extreme flexibility with scheduling and extensive availabililty.
I did not notice that part of it before. I would be a lot less concerned with what counselors do in their spare time and more concerned about someone with a GED running a therapy session.
-
I understand the concerns that "zenagent" has, but I as well feel I need to put my 2 cents in...
I was a senior program couselor at PV for 2 years. While I do have a psychology degree, I gained my most valuable counseling techniques from other program counselors, mainly those who do not have mental health or social health degrees. One of the best counselors that PV had was one that you specifically criticized as having only a GED, and I think that many former patients would attest to that.
I have psychology degree.
I'm not qualified to perform therapy in an inpatient setting and, unless you have at minimum a master's degree in clinical psychology or an MSW, you aren't either.
You are legally allowed to do so in many, if not most, states, but just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Maybe I'm guessing wrong, but I suspect if you had a masters or a PhD you would have said so, instead of just saying you have a "degree."
I use my psychology knowledge to help friends and family members who could use a little advice. I don't take money for it, and I don't claim to be a therapist or counselor---I also always refer friends and family to qualified professionals if they have problems that require treatment rather than a shoulder to cry on and minor advice.
I give good advice, but I know my limitations. If I wanted to be a clinician, I'd go back to school.
Someone with less than a masters---with that masters focusing on clinical work---has no goddam business treating patients.
Julie
-
BTW--if you do have a masters in an appropriate field, you'd be qualified to do therapy, but still have appalling taste in employers.
I just can't see why, if you had a masters or higher, you wouldn't just say so.
Julie
(BS Applied Psych, Georgia Tech, 1990)
-
In our opinion then, is this person qualified for the job?
Education:
Master of Science, Child and Family Studies,
Bachelor of Arts, Psychology,
Other:
XXXXXX is a Family Therapist who also serves as a family's liaison to other departments involved in their child's treatment. XXXXX meets with patients and families for weekly family therapy sessions in addition to maintaining phone contact as needed depending on current issues in an adolescent's treatment. X also is one of the clinicians who lead the group psychotherapy sessions with the Girls Admission and Assessment Unit and Girls Outdoor Program.
-
Curtis Mayfield made reference to "educated fools" in If There's A Hell Below, We're All Gonna Go. We're there.
I have to be cool here...There's this place, see, called Penicillin Villain, maybe you know the one I'm talking about. Their staff is...um....questionable, that's a nice way to put it, when it comes to being qualified. I'm not a lawyer, thank God, but let me point out something to PV: "Slander" is verbal, requiring two witnesses. "Libelous" means you've been slandered in print. The real kicker for you, you facility folk, is you have to prove what was said (or written) to be false and unjustified by presenting clear and convincing evidence to refute the slander or libel. Have fun with THAT.
-
In our opinion then, is this person qualified for the job?
Education:
Master of Science, Child and Family Studies,
Bachelor of Arts, Psychology,
Other:
XXXXXX is a Family Therapist who also serves as a family's liaison to other departments involved in their child's treatment. XXXXX meets with patients and families for weekly family therapy sessions in addition to maintaining phone contact as needed depending on current issues in an adolescent's treatment. X also is one of the clinicians who lead the group psychotherapy sessions with the Girls Admission and Assessment Unit and Girls Outdoor Program.
You never hire someone sight unseen based solely on their resume, but yes, if I worked in human resources for a facility that was hiring a therapist, this resume would pass my prescreening and be forwarded to the interviewer.
Whether the actual applicant came across to the interviewer as competent, qualified, and a good hire would be a matter for the interview.
Also, of course, if I worked in HR for such a facility, a background check would be routine.
Julie
-
In our opinion then, is this person qualified for the job?
Education:
Master of Science, Child and Family Studies,
Bachelor of Arts, Psychology,
Other:
XXXXXX is a Family Therapist who also serves as a family's liaison to other departments involved in their child's treatment. XXXXX meets with patients and families for weekly family therapy sessions in addition to maintaining phone contact as needed depending on current issues in an adolescent's treatment. X also is one of the clinicians who lead the group psychotherapy sessions with the Girls Admission and Assessment Unit and Girls Outdoor Program.
You never hire someone sight unseen based solely on their resume, but yes, if I worked in human resources for a facility that was hiring a therapist, this resume would pass my prescreening and be forwarded to the interviewer.
Whether the actual applicant came across to the interviewer as competent, qualified, and a good hire would be a matter for the interview.
Also, of course, if I worked in HR for such a facility, a background check would be routine.
Julie
BTW---the masters is the key. Usually job descriptions read MSW or Masters in Psychology or related field.
If I was interviewing this person, if I myself was a qualified therapist, I'd ask a lot of carefully targetted questions to make sure that the candidate's degree, background, experience, and personal vibe met the organization's requirements.
Julie
-
I tend to avoid these discussions about staff qualifications. I've been in the world too long to be impressed by degrees, titles, or even years of experience. I have met both buffoons and brilliant people at all levels. am sure you can find MSWs and even PHDs in psychology that would endorse tough love programs. You will find many who are against them as well.
One should also look at turnover. How long do qualified people stay in these places once they get a taste of what they are all about?
When enough money is involved, you will people willing to sell their professional qualifications to the highest bidder. Look at paid expert witnesses, for example.
-
Depends what the person that person is being hired for.
-
So what exactly qualifies this person to be a psychotherapist again?
Good point. So you get your bachelor's, then you stick around for awhile longer and take 10 more classes (30 credit hours), plus 6 credits worth of writing your thesis. By now you're feeling pretty book-smart.
But the person who went to work in the field right after their bachelor's -- who now has 2 years of experience in counseling or social services -- is considered less qualified than the person who just got a master's and may have never actually worked with real people in need.
The piece of paper just means you know how to be successful in school. I have met many PhD's who couldn't find their own ass with both hands.
-
In response to the question of employee turnover, PV changes counselors more than I change socks. Counselors with MySpace accounts made it very clear. One was leaving because of the facility policies, even though she was unhappy about leaving the kids. One of her friends commented leaving PV would also mean not getting punched in the face. I guess violence begets violence, sometimes.
Yeah, the turnover rate at PV is caused by a conflict between wanting to actually help kids and having to bend to the will of the clinicians-turned-money-minders. For a "non-profit" facility they certainly have their eye on the bottom line.
Jesus, they know who I am and they're probably going to sue me. Looks like I'm gonna be the poster boy for posting.
-
Good for the birdies. I'm probably too paranoid about the legal threat, especially since PV has to disprove.
I'm surprised there are little birdies around. Mostly I've encountered huge birds of prey at the Vill.
-
Hope it is not the avian flu.
-
(http://http://www.peninsulavillage.org/images/VillagePoolphoto-881.jpg)
Notice the absence of children making merriment in the water. Never saw anyone in that pool, ever.
-
Anyone got a half kilo of elemental sodium?
-
the sign does say no jumping or diving in pool.
-
There's a sign on the other side that says "No holding counselors under water for more than a minute. You will be penalized levels for water-logging staff,"
-
Which sign? The sign about drowning the counselors was a joke, I was goofing on a place that is totally humorless. I've seen no evidence of "funny" at PV, unless you mean the smell that drifts over from the porta toilets by the girl's cabins. Poor sanitation = E. Coli. Right, PV?
-
Why do they need porta toilets? Don't they have running water in their cabins?
How about STANDARD ISSUE SHOVEL? There is not any electricity or running water in the cabins at PV. Truss me.
-
The kids chop their own wood for heat at PV Chop wood, carry water. This makes Johnny a good boy.
-
So they live in cabins with no running water, nor any electricity?
How are they heated in the winter?
I know at Three Springs we didn't have either water or power, but the program was billed as a wilderness facility. I never understood PV to advertise itself as such.
TSW-Have you heard the term Fraud before?
-
More CIA than you think.
http://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/cia/ (http://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/cia/)
-
I mean if u check it out u will find out that it is not the same as it advertises.
-
One of the kids I worked with at PV died recently, but most of you all probably already knew that. We hope we'll make a difference.
-
memorial service Tuesday if you can stand to go back there.
-
Why don't you just fuck the body and call it good?
-
These last few postings concern me. It is okay to be a concerned parent isn't it?
-
Of course it's okay to be a concerned parent. And up until this recent post about "fucking the body and calling it good." I thought that most had some valid points. It is definately understandable that parents are concerned about where their children are and if they deem it as something that could possibly do more harm than good then they should do something about it. However, this comment clearly disturbs me. My child was a patient at p.v. when this young girl who passed away recently was. As P.V. was a lifesaver for my child who would probably be dead right now if I had not decided to send her there, I understand that it cannot help everyone and is not for everyone. Yes some teenagers are just being that, teenagers. And some teenagers need strict guidance that their parents are not providing them with. My daughter was doing both of those along with a significant amount of substance abuse and quite a bit of suicidal threats. However, with P.V. she is alive and well today.... and this young lady who has passed away was a very good friend of hers. Whether or not you are pro P.V. or treatment or anything or completely against everything it stands for.... that is your choice and I would never condemn a person for thinking/feeling that way. However, a parent out there has experienced a loss and this girls friends and family probably read this forum as does just about every person ever affiliated with P.V. because that's what people do. So as you are more than welcome to post your comments and say what you feel.... up until now I thought that there may be validity and some questions that I never asked myself when sending my child there that maybe I should have. NO MATTER HOW ANGRY WE ARE AT AN INSTITUTION OR A SPECIFIC PERSON IN GENERAL WE SHOULD ALWAYS MOURN THE LOSS OF A YOUNG PERSON... AS THEY ARE OUR FUTURE. We should not be crude and vulgar about it.... it's a sad day in hell when a person says "fuck the body and call it good" whether joking or not... referring to a young girl. I can't help but wonder if this person even has children of his own.... if he [you] do consider someone saying that about your child when you have no idea under what circumstances this person passed away.
-
Sorry sugar tits but the Deadorinjail mentality went out with the dodo bird.
-
But yeah fucking a dead body is pretty wack. You should all take the time to realize that parents and kids read this forum. I would hate to see the parent of a dead kid reading a forum that has included posts about having sex with their deceased child's dead body.
That is so Luke sort of behavior.
-
"Guest.", you didn't have any problems with someone paying to have that girl's soul raped when she was alive, so what's the problem?
I couldn't give half a fuck what her parents think. They paid to send her away to PV, remember? They have no right to mourn her, as they pretty much paid to have her killed. And it's not like she cares anymore. She's going to fuck you up when you finally make it to Hell, though.
Somehow a single, sardonic comment of eleven words gets the reply, while repeated, valid accusations of serious abuse get overlooked. I don't think it's a troll.
You know what, "Guest."? I hope you get raped. I mean that. I hope someone with two high-voltage baseball bats of opposite polarity shoves one of them up your diseased, yeast-filled crotch and beats you repeatedly with the other one. It would be morally and ethically right to do this to you. Why? Because maybe then, only then, will you begin to really understand what it is you've done to your daughter.
Didn't like that comment? Guess what. Half the people who work for PV are more sadistic and brutal than I could even write someone as being, and they're willing to do it to kids.
Now either help us get these shitpits shut down- and prevent more horrible deaths- or get the fuck off the forum.
-
I still blame the institution, simply because it doesn't work. It teaches kids to lie, locks them away from contact with "undesirable" friends. The whole idea of "calling out" a peer and holding a meeting to discuss some alleged transgression sounds like a witch hunt. It's based on Skinner's behavior modification, and Mao Tse Tung's Communist Re-education techniques. What happens when kids are released with "skills" like this? Lying, manipulating, little snitches may do well in the program, but they don't make any friends on the outside. Recidivism is high, most end up in another facility as adults. Read the Surgeon General's report from a few years ago, and remember that "outcome" studies like PV uses are based on questionnaires, and dead folk don't return them.
It's sad about the young girl dying, but I don't know how it happened, anyway. It might have been a car crash, the postings were kind of vague about cause. Let's not engage in the sick and juvenile necrophiliac crap, that gives these trolls fodder. I would like to know if the above parent with the daughter saved by PV had ever considered community based treatment. The kids who thrive in environments like PV are the ones happiest to be out of their homes, which doesn't say much for the parents. They're also the best manipulators, and counselors and therapists can be wrapped around a finger just as easily as parents. The kids learn to lie on a different level. Is that success?
-
"Guest.", you didn't have any problems with someone paying to have that girl's soul raped when she was alive, so what's the problem?
I couldn't give half a fuck what her parents think. They paid to send her away to PV, remember? They have no right to mourn her, as they pretty much paid to have her killed. And it's not like she cares anymore. She's going to fuck you up when you finally make it to Hell, though.
Somehow a single, sardonic comment of eleven words gets the reply, while repeated, valid accusations of serious abuse get overlooked. I don't think it's a troll.
You know what, "Guest."? I hope you get raped. I mean that. I hope someone with two high-voltage baseball bats of opposite polarity shoves one of them up your diseased, yeast-filled crotch and beats you repeatedly with the other one. It would be morally and ethically right to do this to you. Why? Because maybe then, only then, will you begin to really understand what it is you've done to your daughter.
Didn't like that comment? Guess what. Half the people who work for PV are more sadistic and brutal than I could even write someone as being, and they're willing to do it to kids.
Now either help us get these shitpits shut down- and prevent more horrible deaths- or get the fuck off the forum.
See what I mean?
Classic Luke for you.
Perhaps he can apologize to Cathy Sutton one day for trash talking her daughter who died in a program. Pbbbttt... I doubt it.
For real yall. People like Lukie here make you all look like rejects. Lose the loser and you all might be taken more serious. Right now the facts get lost in a flurry of "I hope you get raped" statements.
-
Maybe.... maybe I do deserve that. just maybe. Or maybe those are the words of a cynical individual who doesn't understand that for some people all other measures have been tried. I personally don't know of "sadistic" staff and abuse.... not to say it doesn't happen. Just that my daughter says that she never endured it. She often speaks of staff members who she felt connected with and who she thought actually understood the things that I didn't when talking about her substance abuse. And maybe I do deserve those things for not taking preventative measures leading up to the reasons that she ended up in treatment in the first place. Maybe. Don't you sit there and think for one minute that I don't trace back every decision i've ever made and wondered where should I have stepped in.... when was it not just being a teenager anymore??
You sit there and criticize me for what I did to/for my daughter, and you brutalize this young woman even after her death for something you say her parents "did" to her. Yet you do not know the cause of her death either. And yes we could speculate that possibly the treatment made her worse, possible she relapsed, possible she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. We do not know, however what we do know is that an individual has passed away and there are people who care about her and love her outside of her family. People who want to remember what good she has done and maybe how good of a friend she was to someone. Someone like my daughter. And reading that post, even at eleven words, has not made me consider any less about whether or not there is actually abuse going on at p.v. It just makes me sad that a person can overlook the important aspect of respecting someone... especially when they state that they are fighting to get this place shut down to prevent the very thing that they are inflicting.
You say get off the forum if you don't want to help shut the place down.... yet in your posting you disrespect and verbally plan a torturous death for myself and your "eleven words" state the very thing that you are trying to end with shutting down this place. Therefore, that makes you no better of a person than they are.
-
Case results
One of two 13-year-old boys charged with conspiracy was listed among Hawranke?s friends, but the court papers do not show any online communications between them. Hawranke, Newsom and the 13-year-old eighth-graders at Jack Jouett Middle School were convicted in juvenile court of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to use an explosive device to blow up a school.
One of the middle-schoolers, now 14 and a freshman at Albemarle, was acquitted on appeal.
Newsom entered an Alford plea to the original, lesser charge of communicating a threat and Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. agreed to defer disposition in his case, meaning that if he remains on good behavior, the charges could be dropped.
An Alford plea allows a defendant to acknowledge that there is enough evidence for a conviction without admitting guilt.
Hawranke also entered an Alford plea on the charges of conspiring to commit murder and conspiracy to use an explosive device to destroy a schoolhouse.
After serving seven months in juvenile detention, Hawranke is now being treated just outside of Knoxville, Tenn., at Peninsula Village, a home for troubled youth.
http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Sa ... path=!news (http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP%2FMGArticle%2FCDP_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149190716458&path=!news)
-
He's gonna be lethal when he gets out of there.
-
From Peninsula Village's New and Improved Home Page
Exclusionary Criteria
Peninsula Village is unable to help every adolescent. Some problems that we cannot treat are:
Intelligence below the average range (Full Scale IQ below 90)
History of fire setting and pyromania
Sexual Offenders / Sexual Disorders
History of chronic/severe physical aggression including use of weapons
Physical or medical condition that would hinder participation in vigorous, outdoor activities (diabetes, epilepsy)
Homicidal intent at time of admission
Psychotic Disorders
Pregnancy (females)
Impairment resulting from traumatic brain injury / Neuro-psychiatric issues
Eating disorders that are not medically stable
PV takes liberties with the admission policy. Thanks, Deborah. You've reminded me of two other stories needed here.
-
Yeah, I should probably talk about the dead girl again.
I'm not going to waste another reply on the dipshit parent, only to say that we do know that PV directly or indirectly killed her, because it wouldn't make sense for the (ex-?) staffer to "make a difference" otherwise.
I will, however, give a message to everyone else on this forum: It's impossible to disrespect the girl. She's dead. No matter what I type on this forum, she's not going to read it. No matter what happens on Earth, she's not going to be around to experience it. Her soul, should it persist, is in the hands of things we do not understand. That's what being dead means. Grab a dictionary.
I'll also leave a message for her parents and everyone else involved in her 'stay' at PV:
Isn't it so much better having a dead girl than a living one?
I mean, a living girl might give you shit. She might tell you things you don't want to hear. She might have hormonal episodes, say strange things, 'act out' regularly. And now she's not going to do any of those things, ever again. Isn't that, in the end, what you really wanted? You didn't have to bother sending her to PV, you know. You could have just, oh, poisoned her yourselves. Much quicker, and far less expensive.
And, at the same time, you all get to say things like "we did all we could for her" and "we tried, oh we tried", and never run the risk of her contradicting you. And you still get to do the deadorinjail schtick, even though she's dead anyway, and she probably wouldn't have been if you hadn't incarcerated her. Great, isn't it?
You think I care if you call me names? I'm the Milk Gargling Death Penalty. Even my fictional characters are nasty. I'm a monster, and I don't give a good happy fuck. I'm too busy going after assclowns like you who want dead children and can't bring themselves to admit it.
In my opinion, this whole business of using your daughter's corpse for your, and the "counselors"', personal enjoyment can be accomplished in a more direct, visceral way.
So, again, I ask:
Why not just fuck the body and call it good?
-
You know, MGDP, many of your other posts have been very thought-provoking and helpful. I appreciate and respect that you use a lot of your time and energy trying to shut down abusive programs and/or help otherwise clueless parents to make better decisions about their kids. But the disrespect you've shown here for a young woman that has died, and your lack of empathy for her loved ones is really disappointing. I don't expect you to care one bit what I think, and maybe her parents do or don't deserve any empathy, I don't know. But the girl...this girl whose life was cut short at such a young age? I just don't think it's right to diss her this way.
There is a lot of valuable info and diverse opinions and experiences shared on Fornits, and lots of parents come here to get that point of view. It is threads like this that make some of them say the kinds of things they do about Fornits on ST. Driving those parents away from Fornits with really disgusting imagery is not helping their kids in the least.
-
Did you intentionally miss my point? She can't be disrespected anymore. No matter what shit flows her way now, she's not there to receive it. It's that whole "being dead" thing.
Not like all the other girls, just like her except they happen to still be breathing, getting injected with Thorazine and being forced to say things about each other and being jumped on by five large staffers at a time and then straitjacketed by someone with a fetishistic interest in the subject, and a whole slew of other inhumanities, in Peninsula Village and similar abuses in programs around the world, over and over and over again. And there's lots of sarcastic comments about that on this board.
Her "loved ones" (and if she had any, they're the people she mistakenly loved, as they sure as shit didn't care too much about her) sent her there, thus they deserve no respect at all. This all reminds me of the classic definition of Chutzpah, only in reverse.
You wanna know why I have the name I do? Little Angelika Arndt, seven years old, was jumped on, put into a "restraint hold" for an hour and thus brutally murdered, for the crime of- yes, it's real- gargling milk. She didn't have any real parents; her foster parents were the ones who sent her to die. Other than the usual, canned outrage, nobody really cared. What's another dead kid? We've got plenty, and the programs make more and more on a regular basis. Maybe they can lower prices by selling some Soylent Green on eBay.
As for all the other program parents reading this, they can eat shit. You want me and my characters to stop making sardonic one-liners when children die?
THEN STOP MURDERING CHILDREN.
-
Don't expect them to be consistent, Zen. If you've read the passworded Tranquility Bay documents, you'll see similar bullshit in their "Zero Tolerance Policy".
-
The Board would not be pleased if revenue growth targets were missed due to minor nuisances like psychotic disorders, homicidal intent or past history of aggression or use of weapons. Management's jobs -- or at least their annual bonuses -- could be at stake if the Board was not pleased with revenue growth or margin on sales. This is, after all, a for-profit business -- not some do-gooder charity organization!
-
Why do they advertise as a not for profit?
-
If all the e-coli stuff is true than this may be the case.
-
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE
EASTERN SECTION AT KNOXVILLE
SHEILA FAYE SMITH, ) KNOX CHANCERY
)
Plaintiff/Appellant ) NO. 03A01-9510-CH-00372
)
and ))
DIANE KINSEY, ))
Plaintiff/Appellant )
v. )
)
PENINSULA HOSPITAL, INC., )
THE LIGHTHOUSE TREATMENT )
CENTER, THE KESTNER GROUP, )
INC., and JAMES E. KESTNER, )
Individually ))
AFFIRMED
Defendants/Appellees )
(I'll cut to the chase)
The plaintiff Kinsey alleges she was ?retaliated against for making claims of
sex discrimination in violation of the Tennessee Human Rights Act,? and for
complaining about overloading the adolescent psychiatric program which she alleged
was in violation of the regulations promulgated by the Joint Commission on
Accreditation of Health Care Organizations and the State Department of Mental
Health.
The latter allegation prompted the filing of an affidavit of the defendant
Kestner, President of the defendant Kestner Groups, Inc. He deposed that (1) the
Lighthouse Treatment Center is not an entity, but merely a trade name, (2) it is
exempt from the requirement to obtain a Certificate of Need, (3) it is accredited by
the JCAHO, even though such accreditation was not required.
No justice there. This was three years before the E. Coli outbreak . Somebody tried to send up a warning that all was not well...
-
And that was considered the "good ole days" Yes?
-
I guess, in the days before Covenant Health took over. Jesus, I'm amazed at the number of administrators PV goes through. The average admin. stays about two years.
Should kids with eating disorders be grouped together with wannabe Columbine kids? It's been suggested kids in facilities like PV learn new and horrible behaviors from their peers in the program. This kid was persuasive enough to get others to follow him. Is a counselor with a GED capable of conducting therapy groups with this individual present? I don't think his stay in JD was enough to curb his homicidal intent, and PV may be sorry they were greedy enough to take him in. Parents with kids there should get them OUT, if they have the ability.
-
Hella lot easier said than DONE
-
Case results
One of two 13-year-old boys charged with conspiracy was listed among Hawranke?s friends, but the court papers do not show any online communications between them. Hawranke, Newsom and the 13-year-old eighth-graders at Jack Jouett Middle School were convicted in juvenile court of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to use an explosive device to blow up a school.
One of the middle-schoolers, now 14 and a freshman at Albemarle, was acquitted on appeal.
Newsom entered an Alford plea to the original, lesser charge of communicating a threat and Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. agreed to defer disposition in his case, meaning that if he remains on good behavior, the charges could be dropped.
An Alford plea allows a defendant to acknowledge that there is enough evidence for a conviction without admitting guilt.
Hawranke also entered an Alford plea on the charges of conspiring to commit murder and conspiracy to use an explosive device to destroy a schoolhouse.
After serving seven months in juvenile detention, Hawranke is now being treated just outside of Knoxville, Tenn., at Peninsula Village, a home for troubled youth.
http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Sa ... path=!news (http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP%2FMGArticle%2FCDP_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149190716458&path=!news)
Interesting connections here. Follow the dotted line when questioning involvement in this conspiracy case. Perhaps the so called "missionary trips" to Uganda were to consult with the talking head of the Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea?
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kop ... 080929.asp (http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel200401080929.asp)
-
Alan Newsom's deep civic understanding has already made him a responsible and contributing member of society, winning a major case which will help protect the rights of students for many generations to come.
WIN SOME. LOSE SOME. Alan almost wiped out a number of his fellow students. I guess he did pick up some tricks from Idi Amin Dada. The guy who wrote that article should be eating crow and humble pie. Nice detective work, DrNogatco. Choke on it, Charlie Heston, one of your poster boys is a couple fries short of a Happy Meal.
-
Peninsula's use of religious text in treatment concerns parent
A local residential treatment program for troubled youth has at least one Blount County parent incensed.
By Ladawna Parham
of The Daily Times Staff
Peninsula Village in Blount County offers residential treatment for hard-to-reach 13- to 18-year-olds who haven't responded to past "more conventional treatment approaches," according to the center's Web site.
Jamie Abernathy received a workbook used in the treatment programs at the village from a friend she said used to work there, and became extremely alarmed after reading its contents.
According to Abernathy, the "Medicine Wheel Workbook" written by founding director Dr. Patte Buice Mitchell, is an effort to "force this North American (Indian) religion on kids who have to be there.
"We're talking about a locked-down environment, they have no choice but to be there and they're being forced to learn this," Abernathy said.
Religious concerns
Throughout the workbook, stories of Native American people and the spirits that help guide them are followed with questions asking children to relate to the story and find meaning within their own lives.
"All of Creation is a Medicine Wheel, every group is a Medicine Wheel, and you are a Medicine Wheel," the workbook states.
It discusses the Great Spirit or The Creator, animal spirits and characteristics represented by directions and seasons, etc.
At the end of the workbook, which is a 12-step type of program to recovery of their problems, it states "If you practice the principals of all you have learned, you will become a source of healing for others, a Shaman."
Abernathy said the program, which receives state funds, specifically through TennCare recipients, imposes a particular religion related to Shamanism or other similar religions on children who have no choice but to listen to it.
"That's like sending a kid into a public school classroom and saying 'you can't come out of this room unless you become a Jew,'" she said, likening the village to public schools because it receives state-funding.
"It's illegal. You can't have an institution receiving state funds promoting a specific religion," Abernathy said.
"What kind of religion it is has nothing to do with it; it is a specific religion."
The next step
"As you grow in your capacity to pray and meditate, as you become more willing to turn your will over to a Higher Power, you will grow in enlightenment and illumination. These are the Virtues of the East, the place of the Eagle."
That's one type of statement made in the workbook that has concerned attorney Jim Wright, of Butler Vines and Babb, whom Abernathy contacted regarding the village.
"At this point I can just say we're investigating it," Wright said.
"There's a lot that really concerns me," Wright said. "But I wouldn't have contacted the press at this point.
"Generally, we want to contact Peninsula (Village) first and let them explain what they're doing, why they're doing what they're doing, before taking the next step."
Wright said he has drafted a letter to submit to Peninsula outlining some concerns and seeking answers.
Just a metaphor
Dr. Larry Brown, clinical director of Peninsula Village, said he didn't see any real issue.
Brown said most of the adolescents who end up at the village are "treatment-resistant" and have previously failed in other more conventional or traditional programs.
Much of what is done at the village is done to develop a sense of cohesion among youths isolated from mainstream society, such as having them live in cabins and chop their own wood for heat.
Brown said the 12-step program Abernathy objects to is "just one aspect" of the overall treatment program, which often is as long-term as 10-12 months or as short as two to three months.
He said everything in the workbook is "just a metaphor," and that taking it out of that context would be a "gross misunderstanding of what we're really doing here."
He said the Medicine Wheel concept was created as a metaphor for how participants can think of their treatment, that is out of the conventional, traditional plan that they have already failed in before.
"We are a non-denominational facility," Brown said. "We are not shoving this stuff down anyone's throat."
He said adolescents from different races, religions and cultures have come to the center and that the village must be careful not to promote any one religion.
If anyone says they don't feel comfortable participating, he said they work together to create something beneficial to the individual outside of what the others are doing.
"I don't see us as promoting or insisting upon a particular religious or theological point of view," Brown said.
He agrees that there is encouragement for the adolescents to recognize some higher power, whatever they feel that higher power is, and to recognize that they are "linked to powers beyond themselves."
"But that's not any one religion," he said. "We're not trying to fill in the blank for them."
A general sense that some higher power exists is all that's being encouraged, he said.
"By no stretch of the imagination are we turning out shamans from the village," Brown said. "We use the term 'Shaman,' or the idea of them being a 'wounded healer,' figuratively."
Last modified: March 05. 2000 12:00AM
Larry Brown's gone, of course, but they still have the 12-step medicine wheel hoodoo shuffle going on. Native Americans are the ones who should be upset about this.
-
Looks like the fish stringer prevails out there these days.
-
I heard he caught crabs from some hooker on the island.... Figures.
-
You mean Jesus-fish? There's a lot of counselor's cars with Jesus-fish at PV. PV's owned by Covenant, who owns Methodist Hospital...Yeah, I can see the Jeezafish link...
-
From Peninsula Village's New and Improved Home Page
Exclusionary Criteria
Peninsula Village is unable to help every adolescent. Some problems that we cannot treat are:
Intelligence below the average range (Full Scale IQ below 90)
History of fire setting and pyromania
Sexual Offenders / Sexual Disorders
History of chronic/severe physical aggression including use of weapons
Physical or medical condition that would hinder participation in vigorous, outdoor activities (diabetes, epilepsy)
Homicidal intent at time of admission
Psychotic Disorders
Pregnancy (females)
Impairment resulting from traumatic brain injury / Neuro-psychiatric issues
Eating disorders that are not medically stable
PV takes liberties with the admission policy. Thanks, Deborah. You've reminded me of two other stories needed here.
Here we go, from the Daily Times, serving Blount County TN:
Other reports
* A 26-year-old Knoxville woman working at Peninsula Village, Jones Bend Road, Louisville, reported at 3:08 p.m. Dec. 9 a 17-year-old female patient there punched her in the head and pulled her hair. Two other employees reported they were either bitten or hit by the girl. Legal options were explained.
Well, it sounds like they're not too worried about the stability of the patients. PV supposedly screens out the violent kids...or perhaps they create them?
* Phillip W. Cooper, Knoxville, reported at 7:11 a.m. May 30 that, while he was doing counseling work at Peninsula Village, Jones Bend Road, Louisville, he was grabbed by one of the male juveniles in the group and his car keys fell from his pocket during the struggle. He said another of the youths picked up the keys, then the two boys left through a window. He said he later saw his car leave the property but did not know who was in the vehicle. Runaway reports were filed on the youths, a 17-year-old from Kingsport and a 16-year-old from Ohio, who are both in state custody.
Daily Times again. What do you mean, he didn't know who was in the vehicle? Phil may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer. Notice how the altercation is downplayed, it sounds like his keys "happened" to fall out, and the kids "happened" to grab them and "by chance" jumped out a window and coincidentally found Phil's car, which they just happened to have the keys to...If these kids weren't violent at admission, what made them that way at PV?
There are questions to be answered, Peninsula. I'll be asking these and more.
-
These are not recent stories. This happened several years ago during DKV's reign of terror at PV.
-
You think things have tightened up out there at PV? Not at all. The same staffers in the middle positions are there. PV has tightened up since the "renovation" only by maintaining near invisibility in the media.
-
Do they screen out the Fat and the Ugly?
-
the place sounds like a nightmare.
-
:(
Wireless enthusiast intercepts government secret radio band and
uncovers secrets and scandals of deceitful type proportions.
-
Any Peninsula staffers want to explain why their facility chooses to ignore the position of the Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing regarding the detention of minor children in residential treatment facilities? I'd like to hear their justification for disregarding these two items:
§ACAPN affirms the right of children to talk and write to persons outside the detainment facility at any time during their detainment without having such communication censored or monitored unless such monitoring is clinically justifiable (and justified) for the safety of the child or others. This right includes the right to contact an attorney.
§ ACAPN opposes any prohibition on barriers to communication imposed by any facility including rigid and restrictive visiting policies, policies that restrict parents from visiting their children, limited access to telephones, and barriers to mail service.
I would consider opening and reading the mail of patients to be a Federal crime, not just a barrier.
-
an educational consultant suggest sending our boy to peninsula. i read these other posters, and my husband found this yesterday. i'll paste it here. this comes from the daily times in knoxville, i think.
E. coli infection spurs lawsuit
Lance Coleman
A Chattanooga resident filed a lawsuit against the owners of Peninsula Village Monday claiming she contracted E. coli while at the Louisville facility.
In Blount County Circuit Court, Catherine Russe sued Covenant Health, doing business as Peninsula Village.
According to the suit:
In June, 1999, Russe was a resident at Peninsula Village, a facility that houses about 70 teens, ages 13 to 18 years old.
Later that month, the infection control nurse at the facility reported a number of cases of diarrhea. On June 24, Russe began experiencing diarrhea, required medical care, and a culture was taken and returned positive for E. coli.
The Centers for Disease Control opened an investigation and learned Russe and a male resident shared a pattern "indicating a single source of the E. coli outbreak."
"The CDC, after a thorough investigation, concluded that the most likely source of the E. coli infections were meals served in the kitchen at `Peninsula Village,"' the suit said.
After onset of diarrhea, Russe's condition quickly deteriorated, she was hospitalized at Fort Sanders Hospital and then transferred to East Tennessee Children's Hospital for acute diarrheal illness.
Russe's condition didn't improve and while at Children's Hospital, her kidneys began to fail and she was transferred to University of Tennessee Medical Center. At UT, Russe was diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening condition for which there is no known treatment, the suit said.
Russe remained at UT for 17 days, was discharged on July 17, 1999, and has continued to suffer complications from her E.coli infection.
"As a result of the E. coli infection, Catherine is at significantly increased risk for future health problems, medical expenses, lost earning capacity and loss of enjoyment of life," the suit said.
According to the suit, personnel at Peninsula Village failed to comply with "statutory and regulatory provisions," resulting in the personnel serving contaminated food that was unreasonably dangerous and/or in a defective condition.
Russe's attorneys, John A. Day and Todd C. McKee of the Nashville firm Branham and Day, did not list in the suit a dollar amount for damages.
Last modified: April 02. 2003 12:00AM
-
Don't send your boy to PV or any other so called TBS, or RTC.
-
Send them to The Ginger Warbis School on the island of Tonga.
-
What happened to the girl who wrote the book about peninsula?
-
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... ID=7893279 (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=7893279)
-
i posted last week under topic RUNAWAY SON and the last report i gave was i had my son safely sent to wilderness program (Ridge Creek)... well in less than one week he has continually misbehaved , not taken redirection, not responded to peers cues for inappropriate actions, tried to get out of helping peers by buddying up with leaders, grabbed spotlite on himself and then became extremely volatile over small instructions and totally defiant to point of getting in two ex-army rangers faces and threatening to fight them and can they show him some mental toughness, etc... they said he goes from 1-100 in terms of anger in a few seconds...bottom line they said i have 2-3 days to find new program... well they recommended peninsula village, three springs and island view... two of those are extremely expensive and the other is close to our home and with his last run away episode not sure if good idea ..i talked to sue at PURE foundation and she recommended red rock canyon school or SUWS for short term intervention... my son has not connected with any staff or peers ... they said he has no desire to work on his issues and he said when are my folks gonna get it that i'm gonna do what i want and no one can stop me... i am discouraged, exhausted, we spent tons of $$$ last week just locating and transporting him and now having to start completely over.. i need some words of wisdom asap...
~~~
thanks for all the helpful insights you all provided... they were very encouraging and enlightening... we have spent hours on internet, phone talking to parents and facilities... cathy, the wilderness program did suggest neuro-psych tests... said his quick escalating was like someone with a brain injury almost... island view is full... i was not pleased with peninsula village-they live in a cubicle on a bed for6-8 weeks allowed off for meals, short exercise and therapy and every other hour bathroom breaks!!! i also did not feel 3 springs was a good fit so we are leaning toward red rock canyon... they can do the testing and meds if necessary... am open to other suggestions we need to make decision this weekend! thanks again ya'll are the best!!!
http://www.strugglingteens.org/cgi-bin/ ... p=1#000000 (http://www.strugglingteens.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=001750;p=1#000000)
-
Do you mind not reposting anything from ST without some sort of warning? I just ate!
-
Yeah, that's PV. Also, the kids are given two minutes in the bathroom to do business. A counselor there has informed me the place is losing control from the top down, due to financial woes and their inability to keep counselors. PV is constantly looking for new staffers. PV is becoming volatile due to untrained staff coming in who are incapable of maintaining order.
-
The counselors are making grim noises about their jobs again on MySpace...
-
I never understood why my visits to peninsula village had to be done on a schedule, and i was not allowed to just show up, even if it was just to talk to the therapist. i lived in harriman TN at the time, so it was easy to drive there. i pulled my son out before they were done with him, and later met a former peninsula employee who told me the reason for scheduled visits. there are sirens that go off when a patient is being restrained, very loud, and all the kids have to scramble into cubicles and stay there, almost like the atomic bomb drills in the 50's. All the staff respond to it. the employee also said it was used to terrify the other patients. on days when parents were going to be on the property, an order is given not to use the sirens until an all clear sign was given. i can't tell you how much this disturbs me. my son verified the sirens, he said he heard them most often in the girls' area. he says sirens still make him edgy.
-
Zen.... does your wife remember these sirens? I remember a while back you posted on your wife having witnessed her daughter being restrained. I was curious as to whether or not those sirens and alarms were still being used at PV. I had heard no such thing of sirens while checking out the place although I knew of staff carrying airhorns "in the event of an elopement" according to one staff member.
-
Some people aren't allowed to post as freely as they once did, but I can confirm that all hell breaks loose during a restraint, airhorns from the counselor nearest, then the sirens wail. "Elopement" would set off the sirens, too. Love that euphemism for escape. Yeah, I guess that's why parents are restricted from visiting PV without scheduling an appointment days in advance. Interesting news, but it makes sense. I thought it was so you wouldn't see your kid hauling logs up steep slopes.
-
SO what happens to those kids who are getting restrained while parents are visiting?
-
I don't see the point of the sirens in the first place. Do they think they are on the verge of a full blown rebellion or something?
Terror.
Julie
-
And... remember the part about the kids being required to go to their cubicles and stay when the sirens went off?
Most programs don't allow the other participants to "witness" restraints. They tell them to move out of the area. This certainly is a strange twist to the procedure.
-
And... remember the part about the kids being required to go to their cubicles and stay when the sirens went off?
Most programs don't allow the other participants to "witness" restraints. They tell them to move out of the area. This certainly is a strange twist to the procedure.
And if you don't see 'em, you'll defenitely hear a few, can't miss those ones.
-
Sounds like living in a war zone. PV's practicing Pavlovian techniques: Patient hears siren = patient shits, ducks, and covers, hopes the next siren isn't his/her ass about to be squatted on by a bunch of bovine staffers. How does the PV staff sleep at night? Probably a lot easier than their "patients"
-
Recently there was a posting up about a former Peninsula Village patient who died mysteriously. Now we know it was an overdose.
Here's a link, with postings from friends: http://crimeblog.us/?p=111 (http://crimeblog.us/?p=111)
#
# ssj3g0tenks Sep 19 2006 / 5pm
Look YOU GUYS, here is the TRUTH on AVNITA GHUMAN that I guess nobody knows about.
Avnita since i believe was 17 or so, got involved in a cult popularly known as Alchoholics Anonymous. She became highly active in the ?young peoples? subgroup at a place known as ALPHARETTTA EXECUTIVE CENTER off of Old Milton Parkway in Alpharetta, a north fulton suburb of atlanta. But i?m getting too ahead of myself. i?ll come back to this soon.
Ok first of all, Avnita was taken to a ?treatment center? called Peninsula Village in Louisville, TN. This is a treatment center that is becoming increasingly notorious for the brutal mistreatment of adolescents. A few years ago, they had a law put on them by the state (citation needed) that prohibits them from enforcing harsh physical punishment (known as consequences there) upon patients. Sadly, this was after Avnita was admitted there. She was at this hellhole for around an entire year. Well, as most patients who come out of this place, it didn?t take long for Avnita to go right back to drugs. But she did however get involved in this AA program. She started to go to this place , especially on thursday nights at 8:00 PM (where the ultimate trendy people hang out - crap getting ahead of myself again). Let me take this opportunity though to inform you all, that this place, which is intended to make people healthier, really sets people up to be even more insecure. The best way to describe the people there is like high school - where cliques, who?s the most attractive, who?s the coolest, and who?s the snobbiest, will yield many social connections you have in this program. You probably now see where i?m getting at. Avnita poured so much time into these egregiously conceited individuals that she failed to realize that she wasn?t making healthy friendships. Avnita was a member of AA for 4-5 years and it?s really sad because she was so friendly. But personally from what I saw , Avnita was a girl that had the potential to have a great future. Most of those people in AA are people that whether or not they will go back to drugs are people that will leach off their parents for the rest of their lives while being either unemployed or at best a job at starbucks. Having said this, from everything I saw, as much as Avnita wanted it, she COULD NOT GET feelings of social satisfaction from her AA peers. I remember talking to her on multiple accounts, hearing her tell me how upset and hurt she felt towards these people. But as much as I want to say that it was because of jealousy that they didnt like her, i am not 100% sure on that. But it makes a lot of sense to me that the reason she struggled so much with substance abuse is because she got so desparate to impress the people of AA that she so very badly wanted to befriend but never seemed to get what she deserved. The crime itself, just a little on that, my personal belief is that she overdosed and the people she received methamphetamine from didn?t want to get in trouble when they found out she died so they hid her far away so they wouldn?t get a manslaughter charge.
Let me conclude by saying that although Avnita was the most unfortunate example of being the victim of AA abuse, she is certainly not the only example. Over the past year or two, Alpharetta Executive Center, along with a couple other places in the metro atlanta area known for hosting young people?s AA meetings, have been critisized for these problems. Imagine when you were in high school and there were tons of kids who were immature , cruel etc. but have gotten older over the past several years. The greater majority of them are now mature, humbled college students, while a small group of them still act that way. This small group of people perfectly describes that AE group.
-
Yes, AG, I think we already talked about her..
-
Yes, we know how the girl died.
-
Remember Dominic Hawranke, the kid sent to PV after being convicted of conspiracy to commit murder? PV's policy on untreatable problems:
Exclusionary Criteria
Peninsula Village is unable to help every adolescent. Some problems that we cannot treat are:
Intelligence below the average range (Full Scale IQ below 90)
History of fire setting and pyromania
Sexual Offenders / Sexual Disorders
History of chronic/severe physical aggression including use of weapons[/color]
Physical or medical condition that would hinder participation in vigorous, outdoor activities (diabetes, epilepsy)
Homicidal intent at time of admission[/color]
Psychotic Disorders[/color]
Pregnancy (females)
Impairment resulting from traumatic brain injury / Neuro-psychiatric issues
Eating disorders that are not medically stable
The Detrimental Effects of Group Placements/Services for
Youth with Behavioral Health Problems
In a recent report entitled Deviant Peer Influences in Intervention and Public Policy for Youth1,
the Society for Research in Child Development (SFRCD) posits that rather than helping children,
current policies regarding intervention may actually have an adverse effect. Indeed, the study
concluded that at-risk adolescents? propensity to become further unruly or delinquent is
exacerbated through association with other antisocial individuals and peer groups. Group
residential programs, not only reduce intended benefits of interventions but actually encourage
deviant behavior as youth seek out others who are ?like them,? a phenomenon called homophily.
According to the report, ?placement of deviant teens into groups with other deviant youth is the
most common and most costly of all public policy responses to deviant behavior by a child.?2
Despite prevailing evidence of this problem, segregation of youth with problem behavior from
the mainstream peer group and ?quarantined? placement with other juvenile youth continues to
be a widespread occurrence in the mental health, education, and juvenile justice systems. The
authors conclude that ?the children whom we are attempting to help may in fact be made worse
by our efforts.?3
Finding that most interventions are less effective when administered in a group rather than
individually, researchers note: ?Rarely is placement with deviant peers associated with no or an
incremental positive impact; more frequently, the marginal effect is negative.?12 The effects of
labeling, being part of a cohort group with non-normative behavior, reinforcement of deviant
behavior, and deviance training are all factors contributing to adverse outcomes.
o Labeling and the self-fulfilling prophecy. Labeling individuals leads to self-fulfilling
prophecies for both the child and his peers. There is a link between being ?booked? in
juvenile court and future offending, suggesting the negative influence of labeling
someone as a member of a deviant group.13
o Placement with other deviant youth fosters peer influence. Undesirable behavior
escalates when youth with deviant behavior are grouped together. Research suggests
that these youth are more likely to influence each other in negative rather than positive
ways, frequently providing motives and opportunities to use drugs, obtain weapons and
instigate gang rivalries and hostility to authority. Aspiring to be successful with their
peers, these youngsters perceive that the behavior norms of the group are the bad
behaviors which brought the group together in the first place. This dynamic
perpetuates patterns of bad behavior that are positively reinforced by the peer group.14
In RTCs, for example, research suggests that peers are more likely to respond to a
youth?s behavior than staff, giving peers greater power to shape behavior.15 A study
involving girls in a RTC found that over two thirds of peers? responses to poor behavior
were reinforcing while staff failed to consistently punish or reinforce any behavior.16
o Peer Influence. Juvenile delinquents influence their peers.17 This phenomenon occurs
when one youth demonstrates rebellious behavior and the group elevates him to high
status. Other adolescents in the group begin to emulate this behavior, further
strengthening the deviancy of the group. The ?training? has been observed regardless of
adult presence or supervision.18
Peninsula's focus on the financial bottom line puts every child placed there at risk of harm or leaving the facility with far worse behaviors than they had before. Dominic Hawranke has the ability to organize others into violent plots. I would be uncomfortable even if I were a counselor at Peninsula Village.
-
Dominic Hawranke has the ability to organize others into violent plots.
Go Dominic go!
-
Wait until they put ol' Dom outside with an axe to split firewood for the cabin heat...he may want a little payback for a restraint, or a wrongful confrontation...payback's a bitch.
-
Yes, AG, I think we already talked about her..
So what? It's not worth talking about more than once?
-
I live in metro Atlanta and a lot of areas of north metro Atlanta are rich and can be extremely snotty about it.
I would not be at all surprised to learn a young girl had a problem with being socially battered by a group that was supposed to offer her support.
A lot of times adults aren't trained very well about how to prevent social cruelty in children or teens. Usually, both the victim and the perpetrators lack social skills and judgment to deal with some nitpicky problem where the victim is doing something that really pisses the perpetrators off.
Or, sometimes, you have one or two very charismatic mean kids that are either good at making their meanness funny or have the other kids too scared the next target will be them. The only thing you can do with that is not let them charm you and come down on them like a ton and a half of bricks---frequently by separating them from their social power base. You know--the just like the knuckle-dragging psychopathic thug inside, only prettier.
I'd bet anything that the adults in the situation just left the kids to it and, like things tend to do when you don't stay on top of things with kids or teens, it turned into a Lord of the Flies scenario.
Julie
-
All right, I'm just fucking confused.
What the hell actually goes on in there?
Is it thorazine-and-straitjackets? Is it some sort of pseudo-wilderness bullshit? Is it madhouse, a BM hellhole, or a sick combination of both?
I hate asking for the details because I don't want to read them, but I think I'm not the only one who's puzzled right now.
-
All of the above, and a well-hidden secret. One of the most abusive programs I'm aware of on U.S. soil, and protected by a major medical concern called Covenant Health. Lawsuits against PV are handled by settlements with gag orders placed on the details, so no negative publicity leaks out. It is a BM facility AND a wilderness program, complete with cabins without electricity and porta-toilets that breed all manner of disease. The initial level of placement is called STU (special treatment unit) and it's where a lot of kids stay until their parents run out of money. Straitjackets and a mechanical restraint called a "bed net" are used. The bed net literally immobilizes a kid on their bed and they're not allowed to sleep, a counselor watches them and if they drift off, they're kicked awake. Thorazine, Halperidol and Klonopine are used as chemical restraints.
Patients in STU are required to initiate three "confrontaions" a day. A confrontation consists of accusing a peer of some infraction of the rules. The group politics Julie refers to above are the undesired side-effect of such an unfair practice.
It costs $9,000 a month to keep a child at PV. If there is no clinical reason to admit a child, they use the old stand-bys, O.D.D. and "treatment resisitant". They group mildly troubled kids, maybe with ADD, in with homicidal ones, creating cross-contamination. The counselors are only required to have a H.S. diploma or a G.E.D., and they're in charge of group therapy. I imagine some of the kids outshine their keepers intellectually.
PV reads all incoming mail, using the details against parents and patients if they find it "negative". Parents are allowed no private conversations with their children, and are instructed to believe their kids are lying when they report being abused or neglected.
What the fuck are we doing to our kids by allowing places like Peninsula Village to abuse them in ways we would send others to prison for? Why are we throwing kids with eating disorders into groups with homicidal teens? This is a cash cow for Peninsula Village, despite their claim of being non-profit. If any abused former patients of PV are reading this, PM me and we'll organize...
-
I am not supposed to be here, and you will see that mostly I haven't been or not for some time at least. After reading some of today's postings though, I just wanted to say...
Careful with that axe Eugene...er Dominic!
-
PV does not read letters. They only check to see that the sender and address on the envelope match the letter on the inside. There is no such "3 confronts a day" rule. Maybe you should check your facts. I have read so many things on here that are absolutely wrong. I'd love to know where you are getting your information?
-
Of course PV reads letters. They also do a whole lot of other things that you DON'T know about. I'm here to do spin control after this site was mentioned in the major news media. I have read so many things on here that are absolutely right, and I'd love to know how the hell you found out.
-
I've read a bit of a new book being written about PV. I've interviewed former PV patients, and parents have told me about therapists mentioning negative comments in their mail to kids. I also know what a "shutdown" is...You want me to keep going, PV person? The very idea of a "confront" as you put it in programese is vile. Spin that on your Medicine Wheel, Tonto.
-
How is a confront vile? Being held accountable and taking responsibility for your actions are things I thought this society valued...maybe I'm wrong. No therapist even sees letters unless the kid specifically takes it to them to show them....
-
I'm very interested in where you get your information...former patients say the confronts are necessary to move up levels. If you maintain that the children lie and manipulate(as parents are instructed to believe in the PV literature), how can you trust them to tell the truth about their peers? Society doesn't value a lying snitch.
PV opens the mail? That alone is tampering, and a felony. What happens to the mail after the kids in STU hand over their mail to be held until they move to the cabins? Yeah, it doesn't get read...Parents have confirmed therapists have quoted from letters to attack them.
Facts are facts, get your facts straight...seems I've heard this banter recently from a truly clueless individual. Parents need to be accountable and responsible, and not so quick to subject their kids to the rat-training tactics of behavior modification. Confront yourself.
-
Deleted
-
At the moment, I'm watching the legal end of it unfold and doing what counsel says. Otherwise, I've not much to do except consult with mental health folk on the real side of the issue and have a plan together. Also, baiting a few trolls gives me some ventilation, especially if they come on as arrogant as this one. Jump through the hoops, troll. Defend your WTF (wilderness treatment facility).
-
That was me, incognito. On the down-low from The Man...
-
I question some of the sources. As a former patient of PV, some of what i've read on here sounds very close to the truth while other stuff sounds skewed. The angrier a former patient is about their stay at PV the farther they will stretch the story as I myself am guilty of such a thing. I know from my experience that no one ever opened my mail - but me and if the staff were reading it they were some SUPER READERS cause it appeared that they just glanced over it. I know that some stuff I wrote in my letters to home that probably should have been brought up - never was. I also know that it stated in my patient rights that my mail would not be censored and that i had the right to send and receive mail without censorship. I can recall a few things that I wrote that were brought up in Fam. Therapy but it was all stuff I had told my group or expressed myself about.
While I am not a fan of PV, and do hope that you get your daughter out because that place is the shitpit of the world.... I think that maybe you have been told half truths about some of the stuff that goes on around there.
Also, about the confront thing..... I very rarely received a ton of confronts and I can't remember being coerced into confronting anyone for any specific reason.... I recall usually being given the opportunity to take responsibility for whatever rule I broke no matter how stupid it was and if I didn't then I got confronted. Maybe things have changed around there I don't really know.
Hope this helps..... good luck with your daughter.
-
Thanks for posting. Yeah, I think things have changed radically in the last couple of years. There's nothing regarding handling of mail in the "housekeeping" section of the PV guidelines. When kids are in shutdown STU, their mail is kept from them, which is tampering with the mail, again. I just read three reports by parents of former PV patients who painted a sick picture, all involving weight gain, over-meds, exposure to even more severe behavior, no benefit, and the kids' instant dismissal, healthy or not, when insurance or cash ran out. Treatment lasts as long as payments are made.
-
I think I can clear this up.
One thing Fornits members keep assuming, myself included, is that these people are internally consistent. This is wrong. Programmies don't even have this bare minimum of ethics. The policies can be changed at any time, and even applied differently to whatever kids they want to apply them to, whenever they want to. Who's going to call them on this? When they're abusing kids left and right, who's going to point out that they're abusing one kid more than another?
Of course, this discrepancy means that when the kids get out and start telling the truth about what happened, they seem to be telling subtly different stories. They aren't lying. The programmies just didn't treat them the same.
-
It's like their admissions policy: PV listens, picks out what you want to hear, and magically shapes the perfect program for Junior. That "individual plan" flies out the window when they hit STU, and they're all up to their necks in the same sort of shit. I think the staff's perceived relationship with the parents of patients plays too much of a role in how the kids are treated.
-
I think the staff's perceived relationship with the parents of patients plays too much of a role in how the kids are treated.
Uh yah....Parent with the most money wins. Yay!!!!
Bonus points for being trim and good looking. Two marks! Straightway.
Marks deducted for being smarter than most staff and also for flab, Brylcream, compost breath and spots on the face.
Points added for no socks, Vitalis, and Jimmy Buffet blasting from the rental car.
-
The kids aren't allowed to confront one and other without asking staff first. It's not that staff trusts the "lying and manipulative" kids, as you put it, but that staff was aware of it in the first place. And as for the mail, once again, staff doesn't open or read the mail. The kids open it up and staff checks the address and name. Then the kids read their mail and put it in their file and staff never sees it again. Just wanted to make that clear.
-
Deleted
-
The kids aren't allowed to confront one and other without asking staff first. It's not that staff trusts the "lying and manipulative" kids, as you put it, but that staff was aware of it in the first place. And as for the mail, once again, staff doesn't open or read the mail. The kids open it up and staff checks the address and name. Then the kids read their mail and put it in their file and staff never sees it again. Just wanted to make that clear.
So, you're saying they in no way interrupt mail service, like when a patient is in shutdown? Careful how you answer that one, 'cos I'll call you. Who looks at the mail first? I don't believe you and question your motives. Get your facts straight. Kids in PV suffer "peer pressure", and if you think the staffers are qualified enough to sort the "lying and manipulating" kids out, you don't know shit about the WTF you're defending. Just wanted to make that clear. I've got a rapidly growing list of former patients who think PV is a shitpit in need of draining. Is that clear? Damn, I hate these myopic program WONKs who only want to rent space to stash a kid they ignored and abused, then suddenly run into their lives and lock them down. You separate them from everything they know, and everyone they love, and expect some fucking BM program is going to make them love and respect you. Let's make it clear, they will loathe you, and the program will cost a lot and do nothing but harm. You reprobate WONK'er. A boot camp-rehab unit might do some of these PV parents some good.
-
Look, I'm not here to argue with you, and I'm not going to. You obviously don't want to know the truth because it's easier for you to believe what you believe, and ignore anything that contradicts that. I'm just letting you know that you have a very twisted view of what's really going on. You say you have all these "sources" who are telling you the truth. I'm telling you that they are not. It's up to you what you do with it.
-
"It's up to you what you do with it." That's the only thing you're right about, dickhead. We'll throw you in a mechanical restraint and watch you foam at the mouth. It's your program, punk. I wish you luck with a capital F.
-
It can get quite dicey around here at times....
-
I'm waiting for FYIdiot to to give up how he/she has the truth. If you're a former employee, I'm not moved. Counselors move through that shithole like wind. If you're a former patient, like within the last five years, you'd know more about PV's program. If you're a current employee or the parent of a kid in there now, well, well, the real woodpeckers are amongst us. So, unless you tell me how your truth is the un-twisted one, fuck yourself. Just an FYI, guy.
-
Confront yourself.
:rofl: Classic
-
Amphetamines and coffee
Paul K.
Hey man what is that yr thinkin
Maybe you can get away
There must be lots of pressure
& lots of bills to pay
Amphetamines & coffee
It almost makes you gag
Too many big decisions
No more time to play
Slip into something classic
Turn on the television
Ignoring all your children
Accepting their derision
Routine is acknowledged with pinnacle precision
The statistician stares at a family in division
-
Dude are you an Afghan Whigs Fan?
-
Greg Dulli is THE motherfucker. Ya' Hurd?
-
Here's a list of STU assignments given to a PV patient. I hope I'm not offending them by posting it.
1. I will talk honestly about the night I was raped, and explain why I lied to everyone about the details.
2. I will confront at least three people a day, to show I am becoming more aware of others around me and not being totally absorbed in myself.
3. I will express myself twice a day, to open up more to others in the group and to show that I am not staying in my own head.
4. I will volunteer to do more group involved chores, such as passing out dinner utensils and ware.
Since I don't know this FYI person, and they won't explain their "knowledge" of the PV program, I'll believe this former patient.
-
I am appaulled by the things written here, and the general lack of concern for privacy. I can't beleive that you would list a current patients name in this site. A child is attemptimg to get help and is put in a program and ya'll are divulging his person information. How dare you? And to Zin- how is it that you don't have custody of your step-daughter? In general the mother is the first to get custody, unless she is proven unfit. Maybe if your step-daughter would of had appropriate role models and someone to set clear limits and care about her becoming a productive member of society then she would not need Peninsula Village.
-
First off, it's Zen. Second, that posting of the rules the former patient followed? If you took the time, you'd find them on myspace in public view. Interesting to see your knee-jerk reaction. Who's name is mentioned? As to custody, none of your business, spud. No one has been proven unfit. You're the same git who was appalled at the assumptions that were made, Sir. I recognize your poor spelling and ponce-like style. Back to ST with you, troll. Y'all stay gone, y'all hear? Anything else, Alphonse? Or can I be rid of you?
The stench of these trolls...enough to make a buzzard puke...Screamin' Jay Christ on the Cross...hillbillies to boot.
-
It's pretty easy to see why Zen (a man, by the way) lost custody.
Thank God.
-
???? I had no custody to lose. Explain yourself.
-
And I'm a man. Aw, yeah. Hell, yeah. Sho' you right.
-
Ya'll could go on Jerry Springer and fight it out-bobala bang bang. Keep the forums on topic ya heard?
-
If we could go back to Ms Vona. This is cut and paste from BN reviews. I see several key words here. Tough-love, boot camp, hardcore delinquent, witness the near murder of a counselor? I have read on this site and looked at the facility website. Are we talking about the same facility?
Library Journal
This book is both a gripping diary by an out-of-control teenager who spent a year in a tough-love wilderness boot camp and a cumbersome, disconnected autobiography. Sent to "the Village" by her father, Vona goes through different degrees of rehabilitation, some in group, some solitary, most grueling. Her peers are hardcore delinquents with backgrounds in drugs, prostitution, truancy, and abuse. Further complicating the story is the friction among Vona's father, stepmother, and mother, with whom she is allowed limited phone conversations. The diary is pretty graphic and pretty awful, with Vona witnessing the near murder of a counselor. The Village is neither praised nor condemned; some girls, like Vona, make it, and some don't. Only in the author's note at the end do readers learn that Vona is so dyslexic that she dictated most of the diary to her teacher after she left the Village a fact that should have been made clearer from the start. Perhaps a more thoughtful approach would have kept readers in the story. For larger memoir collections, though there may be demand given endorsements by novelists Jay McInerney and Bret Easton Ellis. Linda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, PA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
-
I haven't seen that review before, but Abigail has never described it as being more than a boot camp. In interviews, she claims to be pro-PV. However, as has been pointed out, her book was published through lying to and sexually manipulating a much older man. PV warns parents not to believe kids who claim to be abused there, they are lying and manipulating. I sincerely believe the kids who move through that program and make it are the very best liars and manipulators, so good they fool the "professionals" at Peninsula Village. I've read the galleys of Abigail's new work-in-progress, more teen angst tales in need of a gifted ghost writer. Former patients tell me Abby only saw the tip of the iceberg, given her relatively short stay there. The general consensus of the locals seems to be "bad kids go to PV, and that's the way you treat bad kids" They don't realize that some of the kids are there for ADD, eating disorders, physical abuse, rape, and they're lumped in with kids like Dominic Hawranke, who has homicidal impulses. The kids receive the same treatment, there is no individualized therapy, just a "service" performed for the parents or parent. The service involves breaking the kid, "taking the power back" (add more ST spiel here). Very few kids finish, either the insurance money runs out or the parents pull the plug.
-
it really sucks that you would go and break a kids confidentiality by posting his name on here. That's really not cool. I don't see you putting your kid's name out here for everyone to know about. Doesn't matter what he has done, he still has rights.
-
Jay McInerney and Brett Easton Ellis...now there's a couple of modern lit giants...
-
it really sucks that you would go and break a kids confidentiality by posting his name on here. That's really not cool. I don't see you putting your kid's name out here for everyone to know about. Doesn't matter what he has done, he still has rights.
What the hell are you smoking? Are you talking about Dominic?
His name was released by the mass media, tard.
-
Case results
One of two 13-year-old boys charged with conspiracy was listed among Hawranke?s friends, but the court papers do not show any online communications between them. Hawranke, Newsom and the 13-year-old eighth-graders at Jack Jouett Middle School were convicted in juvenile court of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to use an explosive device to blow up a school.
One of the middle-schoolers, now 14 and a freshman at Albemarle, was acquitted on appeal.
Newsom entered an Alford plea to the original, lesser charge of communicating a threat and Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. agreed to defer disposition in his case, meaning that if he remains on good behavior, the charges could be dropped.
An Alford plea allows a defendant to acknowledge that there is enough evidence for a conviction without admitting guilt.
Hawranke also entered an Alford plea on the charges of conspiring to commit murder and conspiracy to use an explosive device to destroy a schoolhouse.
After serving seven months in juvenile detention, Hawranke is now being treated just outside of Knoxville, Tenn., at Peninsula Village, a home for troubled youth.
http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Sa ... path=!news (http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP%2FMGArticle%2FCDP_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149190716458&path=!news)
-
MGDP, thank you for clearing that up, I had no idea what that fuckstick was babbling about. I asked the simpleton who had been named, no answer. I thought I had accidentally violated someone's anonymity. No, FYI, it sounds like you need more information. Jesus, bitching about mentioning Dominic Hawranke is like bitching about the media identifying Eric Harris by name...shit. Hell no, I wouldn't mention my child by name, but I guess it wouldn't matter if she were all over the mass media after being convicted of conspiracy to commit murder.
Get it together, mollyflugger.
-
The point Zen is that you dont know Dominic's situation and you slander him by your words. I hope you get suid! You have no right to bring his name into your forum. And if you are so unhappy with your step daughters treatment, then remove her from PV. But wait! You don't have custody do you? Wonder why?
-
The point Zen is that you dont know Dominic's situation and you slander him by your words. I hope you get suid! You have no right to bring his name into your forum. And if you are so unhappy with your step daughters treatment, then remove her from PV. But wait! You don't have custody do you? Wonder why?
Are you a fucking retard?!?! The MASS MEDIA released his name. Go back to ST where you belong you sadistic prick.
-
I must agree, I think your chromosome count's funky. I know young Dominic's situation pretty damn well. So do most people who glance through the papers and catch the "nutbag in review" news. Slander? You have to prove what I'm saying isn't true. You're at a deadloss there, my diminished lackling. Besides, what's a little slander compared to plotting mass murder? Get your priorities straight. I might sue you, though, once I track down your ISP addy, homeslice. You're speculating on that which you are clueless about, God knows that must fill your days. But wait! Keep your eye on the posts, weembag, you may have to choke on that custody question soon. Wish us luck, alright? Peace, Corky.
-
The "mass media" should not have stated where he was admitted as a patient. That is breaking his privacy. If your custody case was in the newspaper and they mentioned your step-daughter's name and where she was located, how would you feel? I am not trying to make this argument even more heated or anything, I just thought you should see it from all sides. I really do wish you all the luck with getting custody of your daughter.
-
Who wants to bet that the second-to-last Guest post was made by a sadistic staffer of PV, and the last Guest post was made by his supervisor playing CYA?
-
The "mass media" should not have stated where he was admitted as a patient. That is breaking his privacy. If your custody case was in the newspaper and they mentioned your step-daughter's name and where she was located, how would you feel? I am not trying to make this argument even more heated or anything, I just thought you should see it from all sides. I really do wish you all the luck with getting custody of your daughter.
Thanks for the support, but you're still a mental midget. Shit, I've been wrongly accused of being an unfit parent by one onanistic turd, but fuck me, Allah if I'm going to be crucified for the sins of the media. You're talking apples and hand grenades, Quasimodo. Child custody and attempted murder don't have blurred lines.
-
I think it's pretty incredible that you think you have the right to talk to people the way you are when all they are doing is giving an opinion different from yours. I really do hope that your step daughter isn't exposed to your ignorance and lack of respect for others.
-
"Just FYI", does your boss know you post this shit here?
-
I think it's pretty incredible that you think you have the right to talk to people the way you are when all they are doing is giving an opinion different from yours.
Thanks!
There's different, and there's wrong. We're not discussing the media's abuse of privacy. You seem to only spew your bullshit at me, so I imagine you're a PV pud. Then again, you could be some leathery hillbilly whore pedaling the fuck out of a stationary bike hooked to a generator in front of a double-wide. Pedal hard, you'll get enough juice to post more idiocy with your 28k connection. I wouldn't piss on you if you were ablaze.
I really do hope that your step daughter isn't exposed to your ignorance and lack of respect for others.
Nah, she's only exposed to the ignorant, sadistic, physically abusive, self-destroying nightmarish hell assholes like you keep in business, peckerwood.
::both::
-
MAH
Junior Member
Member # 5041
Our child went on to trouble with school and serious trouble with the law. Peninsula Village is a much more restrictive environment. In the past six months, we have certainly seen a physical change in Will. He looks healthy and strong and his contenence is more outward and erect. That sounds odd to write, but it is significant from the slouching, hooded, mustached, sagging "wigger" we had sent to PV in June.
"outward and erect", no longer a "sagging wigger", huh? And ST says we're vile...
:roll:
-
In the past six months, we have certainly seen a physical change in Will. He looks healthy and strong and his contenence is more outward and erect.
Wanna know why he's building himself up?
He's going to fucking kill you, MAH.
-
I've been reading the MySpace blogs of PV counselors...most of them don't have children, are under-qualified and seem to hate their jobs. Listen: Quit. Get to a phone and drop dime on the shady motherfuckers. You'll feel better.
-
Karen assumes all disgruntled parents have lost custody.
-
Karen assumes all disgruntled parents have lost custody.
Oh! So that was Karen, huh? Just FYI, we got custody back, your "observations" were WRONG, and after all the crap you talked, you can kiss my ass. Now we've got a 17 yr. old girl who's terrified of being alone after PV, and a host of other issues we're finding out she's repressing to avoid. PTSD, plain and simple. Karen, you're an annoying insect, a half-cracked programmie who comes in here shooting from the hip in a way that would probably embarrass you on ST, although it seems you are allowed to drag the non-program infidels through the mud without being banned. If they take a swipe at you, it's Lon to the rescue with an immediate ban, Maybe that's your function there.
My personal opinions, that's all.
-
Karen assumes all disgruntled parents have lost custody.
Oh! So that was Karen, huh? Just FYI, we got custody back, your "observations" were WRONG, and after all the crap you talked, you can kiss my ass. Now we've got a 17 yr. old girl who's terrified of being alone after PV, and a host of other issues we're finding out she's repressing to avoid. PTSD, plain and simple. Karen, you're an annoying insect, a half-cracked programmie who comes in here shooting from the hip in a way that would probably embarrass you on ST, although it seems you are allowed to drag the non-program infidels through the mud without being banned. If they take a swipe at you, it's Lon to the rescue with an immediate ban, Maybe that's your function there.
My personal opinions, that's all.
She had nothing to do with me being banned.
-
Karen assumes all disgruntled parents have lost custody.
Oh! So that was Karen, huh? Just FYI, we got custody back, your "observations" were WRONG, and after all the crap you talked, you can kiss my ass. Now we've got a 17 yr. old girl who's terrified of being alone after PV, and a host of other issues we're finding out she's repressing to avoid. PTSD, plain and simple. Karen, you're an annoying insect, a half-cracked programmie who comes in here shooting from the hip in a way that would probably embarrass you on ST, although it seems you are allowed to drag the non-program infidels through the mud without being banned. If they take a swipe at you, it's Lon to the rescue with an immediate ban, Maybe that's your function there.
My personal opinions, that's all.
She had nothing to do with me being banned.
I wasn't thinking about your deal. you seem to communicate with her alright. She can kiss my ass, though.
-
Nah, she's only exposed to the ignorant, sadistic, physically abusive, self-destroying nightmarish hell assholes like you keep in business, peckerwood.
::both::
:rofl: ::bwahaha::
-
I've been reading the MySpace blogs of PV counselors...most of them don't have children, are under-qualified and seem to hate their jobs. Listen: Quit. Get to a phone and drop dime on the shady motherfuckers. You'll feel better.
Got any numbers?
-
Got any numbers?
666
-
Got any numbers?
666
:rofl: I'll need seven more digits..
-
I've been reading the MySpace blogs of PV counselors...most of them don't have children, are under-qualified and seem to hate their jobs. Listen: Quit. Get to a phone and drop dime on the shady motherfuckers. You'll feel better.
Got any numbers?
Good question. I don't know who to call, but I'm going to find out. Originally I was thinking Blount County sheriff's dep't. would be a place to start. Not a chance. If you saw the Montana PBS profile of Spring Creek and their relationship with the local sheriff, you'll understand when I say there's no difference with PV and the local police. I guess the cops have relatives working there or something, but they won't even respond to a child welfare check at PV, which is illegal.
It's the same thing with the TN Mental Health Dep't. They went to PV, but the inspector told us her ability to really check them out is limited because of PV's nebulous status - therapeutic boarding school or health service provider? PV becomes which ever will keep you out of their files. When the inspector asked about a restraint log, they showed it to her. She wasn't allowed to go through it, just verify one was in place. I'm not sure what agency could go in and demand full access and get it. PV's mothership, Covenant Health, is the second biggest employer in Knoxville. They've got muscle and people involved in health care are afraid to go against them. It could be professionally damaging.
PV is well protected, and the rat bastards act like they are above the law. If PV is exposed and blown out of the water, other programs will shit themselves in abject terror. I think PV is vulnerable because of it's "non-profit" status. Maybe if their books were looked at, they might lose the right to call themselves "non-profit". $9,000 a month for a thinly disguised, no-frills wilderness program has got to leave a considerable sum left over. They certainly aren't spending it on decent food for the kids or on their joke of an "educational program". Thorazine, straitjackets and bed nets are costly, I guess.
-
Thorazine, straitjackets and bed nets are costly, I guess.
Yeah and don't forget all those things come a la carte on PV's menu
-
Thorazine, straitjackets and bed nets are costly, I guess.
Yeah and don't forget all those things come a la carte on PV's menu
Physical restraints cost you $300 extra per incident, since it takes half the staff to hold one kid down.
-
Actually, I think the cost for PV has gone up. My daughter's psychiatrist recommended this place and told us it would cost around 12,000 a month. So either they have gone up or I guess he thought our daughter would need lots of the 8 on1 restraints. Well, I never considered PV as an option nor any other place that abuses kids. I knew of one child who was restrained so forcefully that it caused scars. So, PV, afraid of a law suit, comped the kid's treatment.
-
well thats fucking interesting man
-
interesting and sick
-
Did you find a new psychiatrist?
-
interesting and sick
True sick, very, very sick.Sick of course. I took it for granted that we all agree that it is sick.
Sick, sick, sick, sick, sick and then some.
-
Hmmmm... I have recently heard of another therapist suggestion for a parent to send their kid off to PV-for disrespectful behaviour. I hope LMK is correct and the extra 3k will serve as a deterrent. In this case the recommending therapist is a former PV employee, but I wonder how many recommendations are made without any real knowledge of the place. But then, which is worse?
-
Who are these therapists recommending this place, and why do they still have their licenses?
-
Who are these therapists recommending this place, and why do they still have their licenses?
Ummm did I mention license somewheres ????
-
Don't you have to have a license to be a practicing therapist, or am I missing something here?
-
Did you find a new psychiatrist?
No, actually I thought it would be more effective to copy the good doc some of the testimony on this thread. Unbelievable.
-
Don't you have to have a license to be a practicing therapist, or am I missing something here?
License desirable but NOT Necessary
-
Hey now where is my damn update?
Aside from the nightmares she is remarkably well. Thanks for asking.
-
I like the Adolph vid...I don't know about his endowment, but he did have only one testicle.
-
I like the Adolph vid...I don't know about his endowment, but he did have only one testicle.
PLEASE stay on topic here...
-
I like the Adolph vid...I don't know about his endowment, but he did have only one testicle.
PLEASE stay on topic here...
You sound like a program counselor.
-
Whoops...logged in under my wife's nom de plume to answer her.
-
It appears as though quite a few ex PV kids are coming out to tell their stories on some of the other teen help sites...not as many here yet but as the brisk dialogue of the past few days has implied this isn't really the place for the kinder, gentler reply.
-
Today I made a call to the Blount Count Parks and Rec office regarding Jones Bend.
Turn your speakers up, and check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRR6HTs6Ek8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRR6HTs6Ek8)
p.s. - help bring back the war on PV, don't let this thread die.
-
Never have been able to get a straight answer from anyone in the Blount Co. gov't., from cops to the health dep't. It's sure as hell clear they want to dodge the ownership issue. There's a local forum in Knoxville where a local cartographer studied the park issue and ended up concluding it is currently under PV. How that can be is not an issue Blount or PV wants to address, which makes it all the more worthwhile to dig into it.
Act.da, is there anything you want a first-hand check done on at PV? I haven't been out there in a while to feel the evil vibes.
-
Never have been able to get a straight answer from anyone in the Blount Co. gov't., from cops to the health dep't. It's sure as hell clear they want to dodge the ownership issue. There's a local forum in Knoxville where a local cartographer studied the park issue and ended up concluding it is currently under PV. How that can be is not an issue Blount or PV wants to address, which makes it all the more worthwhile to dig into it.
Act.da, is there anything you want a first-hand check done on at PV? I haven't been out there in a while to feel the evil vibes.
The people I was talking with seemed pretty nervous, it almost made me think they had been told to deny or "no comment" about any knowledge if anyone asked about it.
When you get out to PV, could you try to get some photos of the vehicles they use for patient transpostation? I'd also be interested in seeing if their tactics during cross-campus hikes have changed. Of course, photos of just about anything around PV could potentially be useful, so my advice would be just snap away!
-
Never have been able to get a straight answer from anyone in the Blount Co. gov't., from cops to the health dep't. It's sure as hell clear they want to dodge the ownership issue. There's a local forum in Knoxville where a local cartographer studied the park issue and ended up concluding it is currently under PV. How that can be is not an issue Blount or PV wants to address, which makes it all the more worthwhile to dig into it.
Act.da, is there anything you want a first-hand check done on at PV? I haven't been out there in a while to feel the evil vibes.
The people I was talking with seemed pretty nervous, it almost made me think they had been told to deny or "no comment" about any knowledge if anyone asked about it.
When you get out to PV, could you try to get some photos of the vehicles they use for patient transpostation? I'd also be interested in seeing if their tactics during cross-campus hikes have changed. Of course, photos of just about anything around PV could potentially be useful, so my advice would be just snap away!
We've got some pics of the blue van they use to transport kids around PV. It's got grates inside the windows, like a prison van. I'll find the van pics.
-
This is not at all complete but it still has alot of interesting info.
Make sure you have Google Earth installed, then click the link and choose open (or save if you'd like).
http://www.fornits.com/pv/PVinfo.kml (http://http://www.fornits.com/pv/PVinfo.kml)
Feel free to add or make corrections to it.
-
This is not at all complete but it still has alot of interesting info.
Make sure you have Google Earth installed, then click the link and choose open (or save if you'd like).
http://www.fornits.com/pv/PVinfo.kml (http://http://www.fornits.com/pv/PVinfo.kml)
Feel free to add or make corrections to it.
PV UNhappy about this post
-
This is not at all complete but it still has alot of interesting info.
Make sure you have Google Earth installed, then click the link and choose open (or save if you'd like).
http://www.fornits.com/pv/PVinfo.kml (http://http://www.fornits.com/pv/PVinfo.kml)
Feel free to add or make corrections to it.
PV UNhappy about this post
Based on the amount of attacks against Zen and her daughter, i'd have to agree.
-
This is not at all complete but it still has alot of interesting info.
Make sure you have Google Earth installed, then click the link and choose open (or save if you'd like).
http://www.fornits.com/pv/PVinfo.kml (http://http://www.fornits.com/pv/PVinfo.kml)
Feel free to add or make corrections to it.
PV UNhappy about this post
Based on the amount of attacks against Zen and her daughter, i'd have to agree.
not the first time PV damage control goes on the offensive
-
This is not at all complete but it still has alot of interesting info.
Make sure you have Google Earth installed, then click the link and choose open (or save if you'd like).
http://www.fornits.com/pv/PVinfo.kml (http://http://www.fornits.com/pv/PVinfo.kml)
Feel free to add or make corrections to it.
PV UNhappy about this post
Based on the amount of attacks against Zen and her daughter, i'd have to agree.
not the first time PV damage control goes on the offensive
yes, maybe they will indiscriminately start giving out "therapeutic parent restriction"
-
You guys really ought to do a thread in your CAN forum about the different PV "treatment" terms. A glossary of evil so to say.
-
According to what I was told, I'm supposed to either be dead, or in jail right now.
I feel pretty good about not being in either of those situations.
And not all the vans had bars on them...
-
According to what I was told, I'm supposed to either be dead, or in jail right now.
I feel pretty good about not being in either of those situations.
And not all the vans had bars on them...
Hey, kid. They were ladling out the Koolade to you at PV. You're probably not one of their favorite "unsuccessful treatments". Your prognosis was "poor" according to McLain and Redfield. You left and were an honors graduate, and McLain and Redfield got fired. Ah, the irony...
Which vans didn't have bars, the ones for TA's? They put you in that blue van with the grates on the windows when you got there and I knew PV was...screwed. You can post in the CAN, there's a PV forum that's moderated and you won't have to deal with the crap around here.
-
http://www.podcastshow.com/images/deskt ... on_800.jpg (http://www.podcastshow.com/images/desktops/yuma_prison_wagon_800.jpg)
when you talk about vans with grates on them I'm reminded of this. I think I actually saw that one when I lived in Arizona back in the 80's.
-
White vans are used for off-(concentration)camp trips, like taking kids to AA meetings in herds. The blue van is inter-compound transport. PV hides the van when not in use in the woods behind the admissions building. Act.da can point it out on the map for ya.
-
White vans are used for off-(concentration)camp trips, like taking kids to AA meetings in herds.
Benchmark does the exact same thing... but it you try and follow, they'll SUE!
-
I rode all the way to sandhills youth correctional (N.C. state school for boys ) in a mid 70's version of the same van,thats what it reminds my ass of!!!
Nothing says coersion like bars on a vehicle window. Or at least welcome to confinement.Shit for all practical purposes your kiddies can be deprived of liberty with out even the ever flimsy and nebulous "Due Process"
-
White vans are used for off-(concentration)camp trips, like taking kids to AA meetings in herds. The blue van is inter-compound transport.
ZenAgent, whenever you make it over to PV I'd really like to have some pics of the white off-campus vans and the license plates on them.
According to what I was told, I'm supposed to either be dead, or in jail right now.
I feel pretty good about not being in either of those situations.
Same here.
-
ZenAgent, whenever you make it over to PV I'd really like to have some pics of the white off-campus vans and the license plates on them
They'll SUE you for that! (even if you don't do it)... You're stalking the poor program and causing untold emotional sufferings to the poor poor staff members who will probably write very nasty declarations about you composed of 70% heresay 20% opinion, and 10% pure fiction. Shame on you. Act.da. Have some compassion on the poor poor staff members. They have feewings too!
-
ZenAgent, whenever you make it over to PV I'd really like to have some pics of the white off-campus vans and the license plates on them
They'll SUE you for that! (even if you don't do it)... You're stalking the poor program and causing untold emotional sufferings to the poor poor staff members who will probably write very nasty declarations about you composed of 70% heresay 20% opinion, and 10% pure fiction. Shame on you. Act.da. Have some compassion on the poor poor staff members. They have feewings too!
LOL
-
Psy isn't kidding either. You'll be served with papers that take on a Stephen King genre of morbid fiction that masquerade as court documents. They'd be better off used as creative writing submissions for a 12 year old and below writing contest, but someone has to suffer the hell of actually being forced to read it.
:sue:
Oh yeah.. missed that one. Lol.. Hi sue.
-
This was posted by Jersey Girl over on Cafety on page 10, here is the link to Cafety, it also has a lot of good info
http://cafety.org/index.php?option=com_ ... 11&id=1008 (http://cafety.org/index.php?option=com_joomlaboard&Itemid=&func=view&catid=11&id=1008)
or you can just Google Peninsula Village, the Cafety site is just a few down
I thought this survivors post had some good description of just what goes on in PV
"My admission day to the village, from the beginning i knew i was in for a wild ride.
It started with being escorted to the Village. I arrived in Knoxville and had one of those bad gut instinction feelings.
I knew before I walked in this was not going to be pleasant.
I was taken to the nurses station where I met with a nurse and then was brought up to STU now known as GAAU ((girls admission and assessment unit)). the place in itself is depressing.
You walk through the doorways of hell. I was shoved into a metal chair in front of the staffs desk.
I signed my life away. when i went to ask a question, i was shut down.
then they said that I needed to be strip searched. my immediate reaction was fuck you you pervs.
They led me into the bathroom where I had to strip all of my clothing except my underwear.
Then they told me to pull my underwear to the side, bend over and cough to see if i was hiding anything in a territory that was private.
I was crying and was told to quit being dramatic.
I sat my practically naked ass on the cold floor when they told me to stand up, strip completley and take a shower in which the shower stall had half of a shower curtain.
they told me it was to moniter me. this shocked me.
i had never had anyone monitor my shower time.
with that i guess it infuriated them and two of the staff grabbed me by the arms and led me straight into the time out room.
the room was bare. i had seen this shit in the movies but never actually experienced one.
little did i know that that would become very familiar.
I was told to sit with my back against the wall and not to talk. i needed to think about my actions. i was panic sticken.
my anxiety was going through the roof.
I threw up all over the floor in there which i was later made to clean up.
then they asked me awhile later if i was willing to cooperate.
i shrugged my shoulders and they showed me to my cubicle aka my bed.
I was told once again to sit up straight with my legs crossed and not to look at anyone.
If i could not follow this i would be escorted back to time out.
Well I was exhausted, so i leaned over onto my elbow. Some fat chick who was a patient and apparently one of the "trusted" saw me do this. she asked for permission to confront the new girl for laying down.
I was like uh so what?! she was granted permission and she called a group.
everyone stood. i was shocked i didnt know these robot patients were able to move.
everyone was like a zombie. I didnt stand, for lack of this phenomenon not being explained to me.
i was barked at the stand whenever group is called.
she confronted me and said thats all.
everyone sat back down simultaneously. Drones i tell you.
Later on, i didnt give a shit so i laid down. fuck that fat bitch.
Staff came over and grabbed me by the arms and escorted me to the time out cubicle this time instead of the room because apparently the room was occupied.
I was told to sit there not move and not talk and to stare at the wall of the cubicle.
Well after awhile of sitting there, they gave me my meal which i ate on the floor.
when i finished eating i stood up to go back to my coffin of a bed.
Next thing I knew, I was grabbed, kicked in the back of the knees and fell to the floor.
an extremely loud, obnoxious alarm went off.
I was panic sticken worse than ever. what the hell is happening???
down on the ground I lay, face down with people sitting on me holding me down. one or two holding my legs, one on each arm, one sitting on my lower back, and one holding my head down when i tried to lift it up to breathe.
I thought i was going to die.
Felt my lungs collapsing.
Still in shock, I vommitted once again.
my face shoved back into it. ugh.
What seemed like forever, they then picked me up, about 10 people.
they carried me like some animal back into the forbidden time out room.
i was stripped of my clothes by the staff and then dressed into hospital gowns with old blood stains on them.
this is all while still being held down.
later on, i was released and sent back to my bed. then there was group.
i had to introduce myself and tell why i was in gowns.
i had no idea why i was so i made some shit up.
later on there were showers and then some other sort of groups.
i was told to make my bed just like every one elses.
i didnt know what the standards for intricate bed making were so i made it like i did at home.
i was yelled and criticised for that by some 23 year old counselor.
finally after other bullshit, we went to sleep. if only i had been aware that bed time was the only semi peaceful time i would experience for the next 6 months.
damn
what a day what a day
Jersey Gurl"
For the record, as another PV survivor, everything in PV is timed and monitered, i.e. watched closely
bathroom time, shower time, getting from point A to B
there is no free time at all
the teens have no time to read, or do anything but be abused 24-7,
no free time at all!
everything is scheduled and over scheduled
they use going over time as an excuse to abuse the kids
the times are so short that someone always goes over,
everyone is punished together
it's just another way they keep the level of stress at non stop
you get very little time to use the restroom and you have to tell them what it is you have to do
to quote Jersey Gurl over on Cafety again
"there is no such word in PVs vocabulary such as privacy.
It is completely invaded and is taken away from you.
For instance and I know this is a nasty subject but it seems important, when you had your period, and you used the bathroom, you had to wrap up your used feminine product and then show it out the stall door before you could flush your toilet.
That is just fuckin wrong man.
Our bathroom times were on their terms to and timed.
Before you went into the bathroom you had to hold up either one finger for peeing, two fingers for 2, and some weird hand gesture if you needed to also change your feminie hygiene product.
Jeez I dont know but being timed on your time to piss or whatever you needed to do, thats just flat out ridiculous.
you had 1 minute to pee, 2 minutes for #2 and an extra 30 seconds if you needed to change."
sorry for the grossness but it is important"
Here is another quote from a survivor called Milkblood over on Cafety:
"I was in Peninsula Village for 8 months in 2003-2004.
I was in the lockdown unit for the first 4 months and in the cabins (in the winter) for the remainding 4 months. The lockdown unit is one room with 12 beds in it.
You are not allowed to look up from the floor at anyone entering or leaving the unit.
You are not allowed to look at other patients or talk to them.
You have to sit in the middle of your bed all day, back to the wall, no sleeping, eyes open.
If you are seen by another patient breaking a rule (which i never understood as you aren't supposed to be looking at other patients) you are then confronted by the whole group and are given a consequence.
When I was on STU (the lockdown unit) I was restrained countless times.
The very first time I was restrained on the bed, I had these huge mitts on my hands to keep myself from picking at my fingers. I will not deny that I had been harming myself by picking at my fingers.
The nurse on charge put bandages on all of my fingers.
As I was in my bed with these huge mitts on and bandages, I was touching the ends of my fingers to see if the blood was still flowing to the tips of my fingers as the bandages were way to tight.
A staff saw me doing this and literally jerked me onto the floor as those horrible sirens went off.
They hoisted me up onto the bed after about 5 minutes of holding me down (I wasn't resisting as i was terribly frightened).
As they were strapping my legs and arms into the bed net I remember (and will never forget) the words that the staff said to me.
She said "We are not doing this to hurt you." ALl i could think about at that time was why am i being strapped to this bed.
I will never forget these moments.
In the cabins we live in a small cabin with 12 bunk beds.
We slept in our own sleeping bags as it was winter.
There was no electricity in the cabin.
There was one lightbulb over the staffs desk that was lit by a car battery.
The cabin was heated by one woodstove in the center of the cabin. We were forced to clean every place we visited, (the YC, the bathhouse, the cabin) numerous times.
If there were over 5 specks of dirt found in the location, we were made to clean it all over again.
Repeat process if more dirt was found.
Sometimes we spent the whole day cleaning the YC while the staff sat in the chair and watched.
One patiend that was there was always vomiting her food up.
She thew up in the woodpile and they made her clean it up.
She even resorted to vomiting in the vent in the school bathroom.
After a month it was discovered and they just ended up giving her a grocery bag to carry around and vomit in whenever she wanted.
IF she vomited in the bag she had to carry it around with her until the staff said she could dispose of it.
Is this sanitary??? NO.
Eventually this girl passed out in the toilet and was taken to the hospital, probably from severe dehydration.
Girls were put in straight jackets and walked around all day.
We had to carry around bags of sand as a consequence.
Our consequences as a group got so backed up that we had to wake up at 5am and do over 200 push ups for weeks.
I was pretending to be asleep one night and I overheard the staff making fun of a few patients.
When i told my mom about this in treatment i was brushed off by my therapist as being manipulative and lying to get attention.
there were so many things that happened at PV that i would love to forget, as they still give me nightmares to this day.
I am 20 years old now.I have No doubt that Pv is life changing."
here is one from Socleansara, also from the same Cafety site:
"I went to PV in 2004. It was treatment or a girls home due to some trouble i had gotten into.
My mom told me to play up my drug use to the judge so he would give me the option of choosing.
I went to PV and was on STU for 6 MONTHS!
not because I was a risk or because I refused the program but because I didnt have anything to talk about.
I never had any dark seeded desire to hurt myself or run away. None of that.
I come from an upperclass family in the suburbs of Memphis... Finally after months and months of being on STU they sent me to the cabins because they needed the room on stu for someone else.
I went to the cabins and once again had nothing to talk about.
I was put on "Permanent Silence" and wasnt allowed to talk to ANYONE for months because I didnt have anything "worthwhile" to say.
I was put on question cards which they tortured me with making me use a question card to ask for extra time in the restroom and with only 3 questions a day... I didnt ask for extra time very often.
One day we were making a trail from one cabin to another and all the sudden I wasnt able to breathe.
I started having terrible chest and back pains and couldnt move.
They made me walk from one side of campus all the way to the other just to have nursing say i was fine.
Shortly after I started vomitting and was unable to hold food down for quite some time.
Once again, nursing said I was fine with out doing any tests or bloodwork.
They wrote it off as test anxiety due to my upcomming ACT test.
My teachers tried to explain that I wasnt nervous at all and that something else could be wrong.
NO ONE LISTENED. I turned 18 and DCed AMA.
I came back to memphis and within weeks I was hospitialized on the verge of LIVER FAILURE.
I had gall stones that had come out of my gall bladder and were blocking off the duct that my liver uses to expell waste.
So all that TOXIN couldnt go anywhere.
The doctor that treated me said had I waited a week, my liver could of ruptured and I could have gone into some kind of shock as my body poisened its self.
Why wasnt I given the proper medical attention that I needed? Didnt my parents pay enough money?!
They told me repeatedly that if I signed myself out and left that I would "relapse" and DIE within months.
How encouraging right!?!?! When in fact its the opposite.
Had I stayed any longer I quite possibly could have died.
Obviously Im still very much alive. I just started my 3rd year of college, I hold down a full time job, at a bar I might add, I have my own apartment and my own car and I take care of my own bills.
A far cry from the hopeless drug addict they made me out to be.
My parents probably would have be interested to know all of these things but my family therapist didnt allow me to talk to my family often and when we did speak it was very brief and social.
I wasnt allowed to write my father at all and all of my letters home we read very carefully.
After going through them recently I have found that ALOT of what i was was blacked out with a marker.
Its only obvious that they knew from the get go that PV wasnt for me but the $$$$$ that my parents forked out was well worth the cover up.
My parents sent gifts for both of my birthdays and I never recieved them. Infact the cake she paid for for my 17th on STU was givin to everyone but me.
I was on "black out" again for not having anything "worthwhile" to say so everyone else including staff ate my cake right infront of me and I was never offered a piece. During my 14 months there I was never assisted or restrained. I never posed a threat or threatened to run. I never caused a problem for ANYONE. Why was I there for so long??? $$$$$$$ plain and simple. Im angry at the way I was treated. If there was something I could do about it I would in a heartbeat."
Here is some stuff I wrote, also over on Cafety, again just trying to give everyone an idea of what daily life/hell is like in PV, I'm PV is a money making scam over on Cafety, I also gave my statement to ISAAC, which I wish everyone else would do too.
i was thinking about the hard labor
i'm not sure anyone went into in great depth yet
it was what we did most days once out in the cabins, in STU you don’t go outside at all just sit on your beds,
We had work detail three days out of the week, two days of school with no homework.
and work detail all summer, we didn't go to school in the summer.
It was back breaking
We carried around an enormous Gott water cooler everywhere, it took two girls to carry it, i wonder how much it weighed? i looked up Gotts and the biggest one I could find on Amazon was 10 gallons, which full, i did the math, gallon to weight, would weigh about 85 pounds. That's a lot to carry around all day. I couldn't lift the thing full by myself.
it was our water supply for the cabins, again the cabins have no running water .
We cross sawed logs with an actual old fashion cross saw and were timed and punished.
It?s really hard to cross saw a log with an old fashioned cross saw.
We also mauled wood and dug stumps out of the ground. We did this a whole hell of a lot.
We had to cut enough firewood for the winter because the cabins also have no electricity, only a woodstove.
We had quotas for wood, which were ridiculously high, and we would be punished if we did not meet them
If you stopped working saying you were tired and felt ill you were consequenced then restrained.
We built things as well, and put in a big garden.
This was hard because the garden area was a mile or so away so we had to carry all the gardening tools and wheelbarrows full of manure and such out there. Don't forget the cursed Gott!
We dug up stumps and did all the grounds maintenance.
On weekends, when we weren't doing our normal forced labor schedule
We would clean everything,
Again we had no free time to read or relax or sleep in or any of that normal stuff.
we were made to exercise as consequences all the time, there are a lot of consequences in a day at the Village.
Pushups a lot, over a hundred a day at least, on a good day.
I, a thin small boned girl, had back muscles, pronounced scary back and neck muscles,
there was all this digging stumps out of the ground and turning over garden beds with pick axes, this was not your mothers gardening.
They had my group build a two story big work shed building
and tar and lay shingles in July, nothing like training anorexics and foster kids to be roofers. In July no less! It was a mess and so hot.
On the weekends, instead of work detail, they had us do aerobics.
Really hyper nonstop aerobics for hours until you felt sick as hell.
the aerobic were again on weekends.
They wouldn't let us go to sleep after working like this all day until we finished all our consequence pushup or other exercises,
I can remember standing against a wall with my knees bent till I fell over at like midnight.
I also remember having to do 200 pushups before bed, and I hadn't even done anything. Staff was just picking on me.
I was pretty cowed throughout, because I didn't want to be abused.
The exercise hurt like hell. It was torture and they used it as such.
I was really really really exhausted the entire time there.
I used to fall asleep standing up and as soon as I sat down, and I would get in all sorts of trouble for it.
Cleaning was top to toe carry all the mattresses outside scrub down the entire floor cleaning, the whole campus, every weekend.
Everything is timed of course, getting from point A to B, with a wheelbarrow full of tools and manure or roofing tiles or wood or going to the bathroom or showering or cross sawing and so on, all timed.
It was really hard work and they made it as unpleasant as possible.
It wasn't work therapy it was just work detail and it was horrible and abusive and it hurt like hell.
we were covered in dirt and sweat.
we woke up very early.
I believe 5:30am
we didn't get to bed till late often
so certainly not a full eight hours of sleep.
and they would wake us up sometimes to be drug out to the wood shed to be shown how much wood we still needed to chop or something random.
If you asked the staff to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, the porta potties are a good twenty feet from the cabin, you were sure to have an unpleasant day.
this is additionally cruel as many of the medications have peeing often as a side effect.
they would with hold anything other then basic foods,
no condiments and such,
as punishment for not meeting work quotas.
staff would hype it up and brow beat us with it, it was arbitrary like everything else there really anyway.
I don't think food as a reward is an appropriate way to treat anorexics either, especially tied in with making them work past the point of all sense and abusing them
who comes up with such things?
cold showers were also a consequence and really short showers,
staff stands right out side the shower curtain too when you shower,
they also watch you dress, like they stand right there,
it's supposed to keep the anorexics from vomiting in the shower, but as they let them carry around bags of vomit, it ends up just being another way they totally invade every private aspect of being human,
like being timed and watched in the restroom.
i say the above because staff thinks they have a right to watch you in the shower so they really do, it's not they just stand there, some were worse then others in this respect, some are practically on top of you, others just keep an eye on you. Either way they stand right there.
They also very much encouraged us to become angry and look down on peers that they were picking on too.
They punish the entire group for the actions of each individual and try to breed as much anger towards the individual as possible.
often it would have no reason at all,
jill is not cross sawing fast enough, or something, we all must beat up on Jill?
Poor Jill would be cross sawing pretty damn fast too considering because she didn't want to draw staff attention!
it was just a way to keep the level of trauma high
for some reason PV thinks it needs to keep the level of trauma at non stop
they go on and on about breaking us down and such.
never saw any building back up though.
here is what I wrote about sexual abuse in relations to PV on another site
it needs to be said I think
oh and again
PV staff are Nazi sadistic monsters
and what they do is an insane stupid farce
they know this too,
having foster kids who didn't have much by way of education go to school TWO DAYS out of the week! and not letting them read for years
not to mention all the rest of the sick pointless crap that goes on in PV
it is a scam to make millions of dollars duh, you think
greed makes the evil peoples dreams come true
i can abuse foster children teenagers physically, emotionally and pretty sexually too, and make millions for it!
PV is so into sexual abuse, the emotional sexual abuse is certain, and a lot of the stuff is pretty off,
it seems like they are taking some restrained girls clothes off a lot in survivor accounts and there are real strip searches and people standing out side of showers and bathroom stalls always
Jersey gurl says in her strip search that they told her to bend over naked and cough! How is that not sexual abuse!
this is to some girl who was in PV because of PTS because her mother died!
they stand right outside the stall door, which you have to leave open
every time you go to the bathroom and time you and you get consequenced for going over your time
could that be anymore Nazi abusive degrading and horrific?
the teens have no privacy, any privacy they have is invaded completely rightly away, third or fourth day all the girls have a complete gyn exam, this is after being restrained for a few hours and strip searched and made to shower with staff standing right out side the curtain and treated more abusively then you ever have been before, shower curtains at PV are your typical see through pink plastic ones,
staff saw us all naked everyday,
they stand in the bathroom as you change and do all the other things people have to do without clothes.
Not to mention you sleep on wooden cubicle cots with no fronts in a medium sized open room with staff there breathing on you all the time, it's horrible, and so sexually abusive, not to mention the verbal sexual abuse in group.
It's like if some adult was able to watch you sleep, shower, go to the bathroom and beat all your secrets out of you, keep you completely isolated and locked in a small room with almost total power over you.
and of course brainwash you into thinking you deserve the abuse.
again for the millionth time some one from FOSTER CARE or the police needs to get a court order and go in and interview the girls in STU right now
sorry about how horrific the above is
and it needs to be seen for how bad it is so it can be stoped
who ever came up with the entire scenario, definitely is a very sexually abusive person
there is such a total horrifically abusive invasion of every private aspect of just being human, every aspect
and it has no point, kids who are anorexic or something, that level abuse did not help them, if you take someone who is depressed and torture them they become really depressed
i think most of the girls, were really suicidal after a few months in PV
i was right we did go to school Tuesday and Thursday
not Monday Wednesday and Friday
i thought so but i read another girls post and she confirmed it
what the hell is that, they go to school two days out of the week!!!?
i knew I remembered that we always worked on Mon, Wed, Friday
we worked a lot,
and we didn't go to school in the summer
and we didn't go when we were on shut down, we were on shutdown for four or five months
although they brought us work but not that regularly,
maybe it was just on Tuesdays and Thursdays,
that's not often really
school was certainly not in the foreground at PV
it was sort of a uncommon thing,
Especially when some other trauma was going on
Which, like with all abusive situations and people, there is always trauma
they would pull us out of school too if something happened?
we also had no real take home homework
which really prepares you for college!!
not to mention listing a behavioral mod. facility as your high school
with all the school shooter hype going on right now,
makes it very very hard to get into affordable colleges
trust me I have fought my way through hell with it!!
also Jersey Chick, when I was in we saw a psychiatrist, the real doctor who prescribes medications once every six months right?
for about a minute to discuss medications?
then we saw the therapist in group once every six weeks maybe
sometimes he decided not to show or put it off for a week or two extra?
was this the same when you were in?
i had no private therapy only group therapy
i don't know why, i had good insurance?
the every six week therapist was this creepy guy with bushy hair.
very in your face and they made a big deal about it when he would come by.
I wasn't overly impressed, although levels would be changed oh wow
and then taken away again among more sobbing
there was a hell of a lot of sobbing
the rest of the time it was group therapy two or three times a day with regular daily staff, who you don't see on the website"
Also by me:
PV promoted food issues
most girls were not anorexics or bulimics but if you had thrown us a pint of icecream we would have decended on it they focus on food as a reward every work day
its one of the only rewards we were given
it was again pretty much the only thing talked about during work detail, which is what we did the majority of the days at PV
they made a big big deal over it,
"YAY you guys earned condiments pass out the ketchup salt and pepper, good job group, reward yourself with food."
It was nuts now that i think about it.
"you guys were bad bad horrible teens and didn't earn your food today"
they did this every work day,
it was the main focus
"If you meet your work quota you get cake or sodas, cake and sodas"
cake and soda, cake and soda, cake and soda, again they repeated if you make your quota you get dessert or sodas or condiments throughout the day continously, it was pretty much all that was talked about by staff on work detail days "your not going to make your quota you bad horrible teens, no condiments if you don't make your quota"
"smack no cake and soda your a bad bulimic anorexic bad"
how the hell is that "treating" anorexia and bulimia?
seems more like torturing the anorexics and bulimics
they also took us on a field trip, a very very rare event, to Golden Corral of all places, we went on a field trip to just Golden fricken Corral, nowhere else.
everyone hit the buffet like a bunch of tortured teens out of a prison camp where they use food as a reward, they let the girls who were in there because of food problems pile their plates at the buffet too
it was nuts,
I'm not anorexic but I was dreaming about food and I hit the fridge like one when I got out
we were all weird about food in there. it probably killed a bulimic or anorexic or two.
it was very effective
we met the work quota's well enough to be allowed dessert rarely
i felt like Pavlov's dogs put it that way
"here cake dog cake don't you want some cake"
"well now that you mention it yes yes I do"
"no cake bad dog"
i kept waiting for them to hook up electrical wires to soda cans to shock us while they took notes.
"the teens, when presented with the proper inticement, seem willing to attempt to reach the soda even inspite of the shock up to 3.6 times, then they resort to the use of crude homemade tools, very ineresting, also it is fun to watch them twitch when shocked, hah hah hah hah"
I'm sure they would have if they could have gotten away with it.
if social services ever decided to show up for even a staff led tour it might have seemed odd. Plus why resort to shocking people when you have so many other slightly less obvious ways to abuse them."
Here is a statement from an ex PV staff members
also from the same site
"wow...been reading here and on fornitz for about 2 hours. I worked at the Village for several years in the early 90's in both the boys cabin and STU programs.
I oriented new kids to STU, did strip searches, wore the buzzer, participated in group therapy sessions, sat in treatment teams, worked with family therapists, slept in a cabin (hell, I actually helped BUILD one), drove a van to AA/NA meetings, chased down kids who eloped, restrained dozens of kids, and occasionally helped train staff to do the same. I guess I'm the enemy here.
I worked with nurses who abused prescription and IV drugs, line staff who left work at night to drive to Knoxville bars and then came back to work at 3am unnoticed, staff who met upstairs in the YC to screw at night, a counselor with a scab on the back of her hand from the back of her teeth (she got that from sticking her fingers down her throat to make herself vomit), aggressive STU staff who were quick to hit the buzzer to initiate a PCI (one kid called it "Patient Carpet Introduction"), and professional staff who seemed to set up line staff against each other at times, with the end result being a bunch of staff who were just as f&^ked up as some of the kids.
I also worked with incredibly talented and gifted staff members who truly made an effort to help damaged kids understand what they needed to do to turn things around. Peglar was one of those guys. I don't recognize him, from the way a few of you have described him. He was a caring, deeply intuitive guy who had a knack for reaching some of the toughest girls. Of course, I am talking about the early 90's, and he worked in the girls cabin program. Some of those other staff are long gone, as they recognized the tide of changes that came about in the mid-90's.
I felt at the time that much of what we did (I did) was helpful but in the back of my mind, I always wondered what happened after kids were discharged. Some of them made it...we heard from them and trumpeted their successes. I attended reunions a couple of times in the early 90's. One kid actually walked the Appalachian Trail after discharge. Others just disappeared. Sometimes I read about their deaths...two boys that I worked with committed suicide. One was an Army vet who went to Iraq in 1991 and was playing Russian Roulette. The paper said that "it was unclear if ____ knew that the gun was loaded." I thought damn...if you're in the Army, you KNOW if the gun is loaded. He didn't care.
Standards for staff were pretty high until Covenant came in around 1994 or 95. They wanted to save money and if I remember, they cut the starting hourly rate for STU counselors by a buck and dropped the college graduate requirement. This immediately resulted in a less-talented pool of applicants and created tension among staff when they realized that the old guys, doing the exact same job, got paid a dollar an hour more. I left a while later.
I took another job (not in the industry) and a few months later, a kid that I worked with at the Village saw me. I remembered him and said hello. He confronted me. He told me that he was not a bad kid but had made some bad decisions and that the Village had f^&ked him over and it took all he had to get out of there somewhat intact. He was angry but controlled. He made eye contact and measured his words carefully. He really needed to say what he said. I think I mumbled "thanks and I hope things are better for you now" or something like that. That's been 10 years, and I still remember it.
Someone was asking about the placement of the pee tubes. When I was there, the pee tubes were at individual cabins and were rarely moved. I helped a group dig a new site once...the bottom of each hole was covered with gravel, the tubes were placed, and the rest of the dirt was replaced. Occasionally we'd throw lime in the tube to help with the smell. The boys would use the bathhouse bathrooms when we could, and the pee tubes at night. I don't remember ever punishing a kid or harassing them for waking me up at night to go pee. Not saying it didn't happen, but I don't recall doing it myself.
I never saw anything that would constitute sexual abuse by any staff member. There was a program director (the one who crashed her car into a KPD cruiser on I-640) who was gay and seemed to hire a lot of gay women (and once really upset a counselor for implying that SHE was gay) but I don't recall any concerns or allegations at the time (early 90's) about that kind of thing.
That's all for now."
Here is something I wrote again:
"Here is is a quote I got out of my ethics class about rape, domination and pornography, I thought it was interesting in the context of how PV treats the kids ie. it tries to dominate every aspect of their lives and minds.
"According to MacKinnon pornography celebrates and legitimizes rape, battery, sexual harassment and the sexual abuse of children. More generally, it eroticizes the enforcement of dominance and submission that is common to all of them" ( MacKinnon 45).
If you look at it like this and watch TV for a while you realize just how sexist society today is as well.
The things that people are taught they have to be in a society have great influence on how they have to see themselves.
It also allows them to believe one thing and do something else completely.
The way these programs work allows for sexual abuse but also allows the abusers to be competely guilt free and even respected in the society while they are allowed to put all their shame on the teens they abuse.
They disserve it because they are bad teens. I am not watching them in the shower i am disciplining them because they disserve it.
all I'm saying is legitimizing watching teens change, go to the bathroom sleep and shower while enforcing complete dominance over their ability to do anything, stand up or lay down for example, falls pretty well into the psychological reasons people rape.
PV batters the kids, it sexually abuses them, it even legitimizes rape and celebrates it.
what counts for therapy in PV far more qualifies as a sort of sick celebration of the behaviors that PV says it treats.
It promotes suicide very much in this way, it does nothing but talk about suicide in this insane cult like way, with horrible abuse and the same with drug use or self harming behaviors.
PV's "treatment" of these disorders instead promotes them, making them cult like and ritualistic.
going into long details repeatedly with bulimics about buying the food they were going to use to purge for example.
PV legitimizes rape by saying the girls who were raped or molested were responsible for it and by abusing them horribly and telling them they are worthless and bad in relation to it.
PV and all of the programs that use these sort of criteria are sexually abusing the teens in their programs.
and using the programs to justify their sexually abusing them to themselves.
rape psych 101 the rapist always says,
they were asking for it
they really like abuse, PV says this a lot
and they disserve it
Also rapists want to dominate others
hmm what does PV say about the kids it restrains constantly and watches in the bathroom, shower and changing?"
-
This was posted by Jersey Girl over on Cafety on page 10, here is the link to Cafety, it also has a lot of good info
http://cafety.org/index.php?option=com_ ... 11&id=1008 (http://cafety.org/index.php?option=com_joomlaboard&Itemid=&func=view&catid=11&id=1008)
or you can just Google Peninsula Village, the Cafety site is just a few down
I thought this survivors post had some good description of just what goes on in PV
"My admission day to the village, from the beginning i knew i was in for a wild ride.
It started with being escorted to the Village. I arrived in Knoxville and had one of those bad gut instinction feelings.
I knew before I walked in this was not going to be pleasant.
I was taken to the nurses station where I met with a nurse and then was brought up to STU now known as GAAU ((girls admission and assessment unit)). the place in itself is depressing.
You walk through the doorways of hell. I was shoved into a metal chair in front of the staffs desk.
I signed my life away. when i went to ask a question, i was shut down.
then they said that I needed to be strip searched. my immediate reaction was fuck you you pervs.
They led me into the bathroom where I had to strip all of my clothing except my underwear.
Then they told me to pull my underwear to the side, bend over and cough to see if i was hiding anything in a territory that was private.
I was crying and was told to quit being dramatic.
I sat my practically naked ass on the cold floor when they told me to stand up, strip completley and take a shower in which the shower stall had half of a shower curtain.
they told me it was to moniter me. this shocked me.
i had never had anyone monitor my shower time.
with that i guess it infuriated them and two of the staff grabbed me by the arms and led me straight into the time out room.
the room was bare. i had seen this shit in the movies but never actually experienced one.
little did i know that that would become very familiar.
I was told to sit with my back against the wall and not to talk. i needed to think about my actions. i was panic sticken.
my anxiety was going through the roof.
I threw up all over the floor in there which i was later made to clean up.
then they asked me awhile later if i was willing to cooperate.
i shrugged my shoulders and they showed me to my cubicle aka my bed.
I was told once again to sit up straight with my legs crossed and not to look at anyone.
If i could not follow this i would be escorted back to time out.
Well I was exhausted, so i leaned over onto my elbow. Some fat chick who was a patient and apparently one of the "trusted" saw me do this. she asked for permission to confront the new girl for laying down.
I was like uh so what?! she was granted permission and she called a group.
everyone stood. i was shocked i didnt know these robot patients were able to move.
everyone was like a zombie. I didnt stand, for lack of this phenomenon not being explained to me.
i was barked at the stand whenever group is called.
she confronted me and said thats all.
everyone sat back down simultaneously. Drones i tell you.
Later on, i didnt give a shit so i laid down. fuck that fat bitch.
Staff came over and grabbed me by the arms and escorted me to the time out cubicle this time instead of the room because apparently the room was occupied.
I was told to sit there not move and not talk and to stare at the wall of the cubicle.
Well after awhile of sitting there, they gave me my meal which i ate on the floor.
when i finished eating i stood up to go back to my coffin of a bed.
Next thing I knew, I was grabbed, kicked in the back of the knees and fell to the floor.
an extremely loud, obnoxious alarm went off.
I was panic sticken worse than ever. what the hell is happening???
down on the ground I lay, face down with people sitting on me holding me down. one or two holding my legs, one on each arm, one sitting on my lower back, and one holding my head down when i tried to lift it up to breathe.
I thought i was going to die.
Felt my lungs collapsing.
Still in shock, I vommitted once again.
my face shoved back into it. ugh.
What seemed like forever, they then picked me up, about 10 people.
they carried me like some animal back into the forbidden time out room.
i was stripped of my clothes by the staff and then dressed into hospital gowns with old blood stains on them.
this is all while still being held down.
later on, i was released and sent back to my bed. then there was group.
i had to introduce myself and tell why i was in gowns.
i had no idea why i was so i made some shit up.
later on there were showers and then some other sort of groups.
i was told to make my bed just like every one elses.
i didnt know what the standards for intricate bed making were so i made it like i did at home.
i was yelled and criticised for that by some 23 year old counselor.
finally after other bullshit, we went to sleep. if only i had been aware that bed time was the only semi peaceful time i would experience for the next 6 months.
damn
what a day what a day
Jersey Gurl"
For the record, as another PV survivor, everything in PV is timed and monitered, i.e. watched closely
bathroom time, shower time, getting from point A to B
there is no free time at all
the teens have no time to read, or do anything but be abused 24-7,
no free time at all!
everything is scheduled and over scheduled
they use going over time as an excuse to abuse the kids
the times are so short that someone always goes over,
everyone is punished together
it's just another way they keep the level of stress at non stop
you get very little time to use the restroom and you have to tell them what it is you have to do
to quote Jersey Gurl over on Cafety again
"there is no such word in PVs vocabulary such as privacy.
It is completely invaded and is taken away from you.
For instance and I know this is a nasty subject but it seems important, when you had your period, and you used the bathroom, you had to wrap up your used feminine product and then show it out the stall door before you could flush your toilet.
That is just fuckin wrong man.
Our bathroom times were on their terms to and timed.
Before you went into the bathroom you had to hold up either one finger for peeing, two fingers for 2, and some weird hand gesture if you needed to also change your feminie hygiene product.
Jeez I dont know but being timed on your time to piss or whatever you needed to do, thats just flat out ridiculous.
you had 1 minute to pee, 2 minutes for #2 and an extra 30 seconds if you needed to change."
sorry for the grossness but it is important"
Here is another quote from a survivor called Milkblood over on Cafety:
"I was in Peninsula Village for 8 months in 2003-2004.
I was in the lockdown unit for the first 4 months and in the cabins (in the winter) for the remainding 4 months. The lockdown unit is one room with 12 beds in it.
You are not allowed to look up from the floor at anyone entering or leaving the unit.
You are not allowed to look at other patients or talk to them.
You have to sit in the middle of your bed all day, back to the wall, no sleeping, eyes open.
If you are seen by another patient breaking a rule (which i never understood as you aren't supposed to be looking at other patients) you are then confronted by the whole group and are given a consequence.
When I was on STU (the lockdown unit) I was restrained countless times.
The very first time I was restrained on the bed, I had these huge mitts on my hands to keep myself from picking at my fingers. I will not deny that I had been harming myself by picking at my fingers.
The nurse on charge put bandages on all of my fingers.
As I was in my bed with these huge mitts on and bandages, I was touching the ends of my fingers to see if the blood was still flowing to the tips of my fingers as the bandages were way to tight.
A staff saw me doing this and literally jerked me onto the floor as those horrible sirens went off.
They hoisted me up onto the bed after about 5 minutes of holding me down (I wasn't resisting as i was terribly frightened).
As they were strapping my legs and arms into the bed net I remember (and will never forget) the words that the staff said to me.
She said "We are not doing this to hurt you." ALl i could think about at that time was why am i being strapped to this bed.
I will never forget these moments.
In the cabins we live in a small cabin with 12 bunk beds.
We slept in our own sleeping bags as it was winter.
There was no electricity in the cabin.
There was one lightbulb over the staffs desk that was lit by a car battery.
The cabin was heated by one woodstove in the center of the cabin. We were forced to clean every place we visited, (the YC, the bathhouse, the cabin) numerous times.
If there were over 5 specks of dirt found in the location, we were made to clean it all over again.
Repeat process if more dirt was found.
Sometimes we spent the whole day cleaning the YC while the staff sat in the chair and watched.
One patiend that was there was always vomiting her food up.
She thew up in the woodpile and they made her clean it up.
She even resorted to vomiting in the vent in the school bathroom.
After a month it was discovered and they just ended up giving her a grocery bag to carry around and vomit in whenever she wanted.
IF she vomited in the bag she had to carry it around with her until the staff said she could dispose of it.
Is this sanitary??? NO.
Eventually this girl passed out in the toilet and was taken to the hospital, probably from severe dehydration.
Girls were put in straight jackets and walked around all day.
We had to carry around bags of sand as a consequence.
Our consequences as a group got so backed up that we had to wake up at 5am and do over 200 push ups for weeks.
I was pretending to be asleep one night and I overheard the staff making fun of a few patients.
When i told my mom about this in treatment i was brushed off by my therapist as being manipulative and lying to get attention.
there were so many things that happened at PV that i would love to forget, as they still give me nightmares to this day.
I am 20 years old now.I have No doubt that Pv is life changing."
here is one from Socleansara, also from the same Cafety site:
"I went to PV in 2004. It was treatment or a girls home due to some trouble i had gotten into.
My mom told me to play up my drug use to the judge so he would give me the option of choosing.
I went to PV and was on STU for 6 MONTHS!
not because I was a risk or because I refused the program but because I didnt have anything to talk about.
I never had any dark seeded desire to hurt myself or run away. None of that.
I come from an upperclass family in the suburbs of Memphis... Finally after months and months of being on STU they sent me to the cabins because they needed the room on stu for someone else.
I went to the cabins and once again had nothing to talk about.
I was put on "Permanent Silence" and wasnt allowed to talk to ANYONE for months because I didnt have anything "worthwhile" to say.
I was put on question cards which they tortured me with making me use a question card to ask for extra time in the restroom and with only 3 questions a day... I didnt ask for extra time very often.
One day we were making a trail from one cabin to another and all the sudden I wasnt able to breathe.
I started having terrible chest and back pains and couldnt move.
They made me walk from one side of campus all the way to the other just to have nursing say i was fine.
Shortly after I started vomitting and was unable to hold food down for quite some time.
Once again, nursing said I was fine with out doing any tests or bloodwork.
They wrote it off as test anxiety due to my upcomming ACT test.
My teachers tried to explain that I wasnt nervous at all and that something else could be wrong.
NO ONE LISTENED. I turned 18 and DCed AMA.
I came back to memphis and within weeks I was hospitialized on the verge of LIVER FAILURE.
I had gall stones that had come out of my gall bladder and were blocking off the duct that my liver uses to expell waste.
So all that TOXIN couldnt go anywhere.
The doctor that treated me said had I waited a week, my liver could of ruptured and I could have gone into some kind of shock as my body poisened its self.
Why wasnt I given the proper medical attention that I needed? Didnt my parents pay enough money?!
They told me repeatedly that if I signed myself out and left that I would "relapse" and DIE within months.
How encouraging right!?!?! When in fact its the opposite.
Had I stayed any longer I quite possibly could have died.
Obviously Im still very much alive. I just started my 3rd year of college, I hold down a full time job, at a bar I might add, I have my own apartment and my own car and I take care of my own bills.
A far cry from the hopeless drug addict they made me out to be.
My parents probably would have be interested to know all of these things but my family therapist didnt allow me to talk to my family often and when we did speak it was very brief and social.
I wasnt allowed to write my father at all and all of my letters home we read very carefully.
After going through them recently I have found that ALOT of what i was was blacked out with a marker.
Its only obvious that they knew from the get go that PV wasnt for me but the $$$$$ that my parents forked out was well worth the cover up.
My parents sent gifts for both of my birthdays and I never recieved them. Infact the cake she paid for for my 17th on STU was givin to everyone but me.
I was on "black out" again for not having anything "worthwhile" to say so everyone else including staff ate my cake right infront of me and I was never offered a piece. During my 14 months there I was never assisted or restrained. I never posed a threat or threatened to run. I never caused a problem for ANYONE. Why was I there for so long??? $$$$$$$ plain and simple. Im angry at the way I was treated. If there was something I could do about it I would in a heartbeat."
Here is some stuff I wrote, also over on Cafety, again just trying to give everyone an idea of what daily life/hell is like in PV, I'm PV is a money making scam over on Cafety, I also gave my statement to ISAAC, which I wish everyone else would do too.
i was thinking about the hard labor
i'm not sure anyone went into in great depth yet
it was what we did most days once out in the cabins, in STU you don’t go outside at all just sit on your beds,
We had work detail three days out of the week, two days of school with no homework.
and work detail all summer, we didn't go to school in the summer.
It was back breaking
We carried around an enormous Gott water cooler everywhere, it took two girls to carry it, i wonder how much it weighed? i looked up Gotts and the biggest one I could find on Amazon was 10 gallons, which full, i did the math, gallon to weight, would weigh about 85 pounds. That's a lot to carry around all day. I couldn't lift the thing full by myself.
it was our water supply for the cabins, again the cabins have no running water .
We cross sawed logs with an actual old fashion cross saw and were timed and punished.
It?s really hard to cross saw a log with an old fashioned cross saw.
We also mauled wood and dug stumps out of the ground. We did this a whole hell of a lot.
We had to cut enough firewood for the winter because the cabins also have no electricity, only a woodstove.
We had quotas for wood, which were ridiculously high, and we would be punished if we did not meet them
If you stopped working saying you were tired and felt ill you were consequenced then restrained.
We built things as well, and put in a big garden.
This was hard because the garden area was a mile or so away so we had to carry all the gardening tools and wheelbarrows full of manure and such out there. Don't forget the cursed Gott!
We dug up stumps and did all the grounds maintenance.
On weekends, when we weren't doing our normal forced labor schedule
We would clean everything,
Again we had no free time to read or relax or sleep in or any of that normal stuff.
we were made to exercise as consequences all the time, there are a lot of consequences in a day at the Village.
Pushups a lot, over a hundred a day at least, on a good day.
I, a thin small boned girl, had back muscles, pronounced scary back and neck muscles,
there was all this digging stumps out of the ground and turning over garden beds with pick axes, this was not your mothers gardening.
They had my group build a two story big work shed building
and tar and lay shingles in July, nothing like training anorexics and foster kids to be roofers. In July no less! It was a mess and so hot.
On the weekends, instead of work detail, they had us do aerobics.
Really hyper nonstop aerobics for hours until you felt sick as hell.
the aerobic were again on weekends.
They wouldn't let us go to sleep after working like this all day until we finished all our consequence pushup or other exercises,
I can remember standing against a wall with my knees bent till I fell over at like midnight.
I also remember having to do 200 pushups before bed, and I hadn't even done anything. Staff was just picking on me.
I was pretty cowed throughout, because I didn't want to be abused.
The exercise hurt like hell. It was torture and they used it as such.
I was really really really exhausted the entire time there.
I used to fall asleep standing up and as soon as I sat down, and I would get in all sorts of trouble for it.
Cleaning was top to toe carry all the mattresses outside scrub down the entire floor cleaning, the whole campus, every weekend.
Everything is timed of course, getting from point A to B, with a wheelbarrow full of tools and manure or roofing tiles or wood or going to the bathroom or showering or cross sawing and so on, all timed.
It was really hard work and they made it as unpleasant as possible.
It wasn't work therapy it was just work detail and it was horrible and abusive and it hurt like hell.
we were covered in dirt and sweat.
we woke up very early.
I believe 5:30am
we didn't get to bed till late often
so certainly not a full eight hours of sleep.
and they would wake us up sometimes to be drug out to the wood shed to be shown how much wood we still needed to chop or something random.
If you asked the staff to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, the porta potties are a good twenty feet from the cabin, you were sure to have an unpleasant day.
this is additionally cruel as many of the medications have peeing often as a side effect.
they would with hold anything other then basic foods,
no condiments and such,
as punishment for not meeting work quotas.
staff would hype it up and brow beat us with it, it was arbitrary like everything else there really anyway.
I don't think food as a reward is an appropriate way to treat anorexics either, especially tied in with making them work past the point of all sense and abusing them
who comes up with such things?
cold showers were also a consequence and really short showers,
staff stands right out side the shower curtain too when you shower,
they also watch you dress, like they stand right there,
it's supposed to keep the anorexics from vomiting in the shower, but as they let them carry around bags of vomit, it ends up just being another way they totally invade every private aspect of being human,
like being timed and watched in the restroom.
i say the above because staff thinks they have a right to watch you in the shower so they really do, it's not they just stand there, some were worse then others in this respect, some are practically on top of you, others just keep an eye on you. Either way they stand right there.
They also very much encouraged us to become angry and look down on peers that they were picking on too.
They punish the entire group for the actions of each individual and try to breed as much anger towards the individual as possible.
often it would have no reason at all,
jill is not cross sawing fast enough, or something, we all must beat up on Jill?
Poor Jill would be cross sawing pretty damn fast too considering because she didn't want to draw staff attention!
it was just a way to keep the level of trauma high
for some reason PV thinks it needs to keep the level of trauma at non stop
they go on and on about breaking us down and such.
never saw any building back up though.
here is what I wrote about sexual abuse in relations to PV on another site
it needs to be said I think
oh and again
PV staff are Nazi sadistic monsters
and what they do is an insane stupid farce
they know this too,
having foster kids who didn't have much by way of education go to school TWO DAYS out of the week! and not letting them read for years
not to mention all the rest of the sick pointless crap that goes on in PV
it is a scam to make millions of dollars duh, you think
greed makes the evil peoples dreams come true
i can abuse foster children teenagers physically, emotionally and pretty sexually too, and make millions for it!
PV is so into sexual abuse, the emotional sexual abuse is certain, and a lot of the stuff is pretty off,
it seems like they are taking some restrained girls clothes off a lot in survivor accounts and there are real strip searches and people standing out side of showers and bathroom stalls always
Jersey gurl says in her strip search that they told her to bend over naked and cough! How is that not sexual abuse!
this is to some girl who was in PV because of PTS because her mother died!
they stand right outside the stall door, which you have to leave open
every time you go to the bathroom and time you and you get consequenced for going over your time
could that be anymore Nazi abusive degrading and horrific?
the teens have no privacy, any privacy they have is invaded completely rightly away, third or fourth day all the girls have a complete gyn exam, this is after being restrained for a few hours and strip searched and made to shower with staff standing right out side the curtain and treated more abusively then you ever have been before, shower curtains at PV are your typical see through pink plastic ones,
staff saw us all naked everyday,
they stand in the bathroom as you change and do all the other things people have to do without clothes.
Not to mention you sleep on wooden cubicle cots with no fronts in a medium sized open room with staff there breathing on you all the time, it's horrible, and so sexually abusive, not to mention the verbal sexual abuse in group.
It's like if some adult was able to watch you sleep, shower, go to the bathroom and beat all your secrets out of you, keep you completely isolated and locked in a small room with almost total power over you.
and of course brainwash you into thinking you deserve the abuse.
again for the millionth time some one from FOSTER CARE or the police needs to get a court order and go in and interview the girls in STU right now
sorry about how horrific the above is
and it needs to be seen for how bad it is so it can be stoped
who ever came up with the entire scenario, definitely is a very sexually abusive person
there is such a total horrifically abusive invasion of every private aspect of just being human, every aspect
and it has no point, kids who are anorexic or something, that level abuse did not help them, if you take someone who is depressed and torture them they become really depressed
i think most of the girls, were really suicidal after a few months in PV
i was right we did go to school Tuesday and Thursday
not Monday Wednesday and Friday
i thought so but i read another girls post and she confirmed it
what the hell is that, they go to school two days out of the week!!!?
i knew I remembered that we always worked on Mon, Wed, Friday
we worked a lot,
and we didn't go to school in the summer
and we didn't go when we were on shut down, we were on shutdown for four or five months
although they brought us work but not that regularly,
maybe it was just on Tuesdays and Thursdays,
that's not often really
school was certainly not in the foreground at PV
it was sort of a uncommon thing,
Especially when some other trauma was going on
Which, like with all abusive situations and people, there is always trauma
they would pull us out of school too if something happened?
we also had no real take home homework
which really prepares you for college!!
not to mention listing a behavioral mod. facility as your high school
with all the school shooter hype going on right now,
makes it very very hard to get into affordable colleges
trust me I have fought my way through hell with it!!
also Jersey Chick, when I was in we saw a psychiatrist, the real doctor who prescribes medications once every six months right?
for about a minute to discuss medications?
then we saw the therapist in group once every six weeks maybe
sometimes he decided not to show or put it off for a week or two extra?
was this the same when you were in?
i had no private therapy only group therapy
i don't know why, i had good insurance?
the every six week therapist was this creepy guy with bushy hair.
very in your face and they made a big deal about it when he would come by.
I wasn't overly impressed, although levels would be changed oh wow
and then taken away again among more sobbing
there was a hell of a lot of sobbing
the rest of the time it was group therapy two or three times a day with regular daily staff, who you don't see on the website"
Also by me:
PV promoted food issues
most girls were not anorexics or bulimics but if you had thrown us a pint of icecream we would have decended on it they focus on food as a reward every work day
its one of the only rewards we were given
it was again pretty much the only thing talked about during work detail, which is what we did the majority of the days at PV
they made a big big deal over it,
"YAY you guys earned condiments pass out the ketchup salt and pepper, good job group, reward yourself with food."
It was nuts now that i think about it.
"you guys were bad bad horrible teens and didn't earn your food today"
they did this every work day,
it was the main focus
"If you meet your work quota you get cake or sodas, cake and sodas"
cake and soda, cake and soda, cake and soda, again they repeated if you make your quota you get dessert or sodas or condiments throughout the day continously, it was pretty much all that was talked about by staff on work detail days "your not going to make your quota you bad horrible teens, no condiments if you don't make your quota"
"smack no cake and soda your a bad bulimic anorexic bad"
how the hell is that "treating" anorexia and bulimia?
seems more like torturing the anorexics and bulimics
they also took us on a field trip, a very very rare event, to Golden Corral of all places, we went on a field trip to just Golden fricken Corral, nowhere else.
everyone hit the buffet like a bunch of tortured teens out of a prison camp where they use food as a reward, they let the girls who were in there because of food problems pile their plates at the buffet too
it was nuts,
I'm not anorexic but I was dreaming about food and I hit the fridge like one when I got out
we were all weird about food in there. it probably killed a bulimic or anorexic or two.
it was very effective
we met the work quota's well enough to be allowed dessert rarely
i felt like Pavlov's dogs put it that way
"here cake dog cake don't you want some cake"
"well now that you mention it yes yes I do"
"no cake bad dog"
i kept waiting for them to hook up electrical wires to soda cans to shock us while they took notes.
"the teens, when presented with the proper inticement, seem willing to attempt to reach the soda even inspite of the shock up to 3.6 times, then they resort to the use of crude homemade tools, very ineresting, also it is fun to watch them twitch when shocked, hah hah hah hah"
I'm sure they would have if they could have gotten away with it.
if social services ever decided to show up for even a staff led tour it might have seemed odd. Plus why resort to shocking people when you have so many other slightly less obvious ways to abuse them."
Here is a statement from an ex PV staff members
also from the same site
"wow...been reading here and on fornitz for about 2 hours. I worked at the Village for several years in the early 90's in both the boys cabin and STU programs.
I oriented new kids to STU, did strip searches, wore the buzzer, participated in group therapy sessions, sat in treatment teams, worked with family therapists, slept in a cabin (hell, I actually helped BUILD one), drove a van to AA/NA meetings, chased down kids who eloped, restrained dozens of kids, and occasionally helped train staff to do the same. I guess I'm the enemy here.
I worked with nurses who abused prescription and IV drugs, line staff who left work at night to drive to Knoxville bars and then came back to work at 3am unnoticed, staff who met upstairs in the YC to screw at night, a counselor with a scab on the back of her hand from the back of her teeth (she got that from sticking her fingers down her throat to make herself vomit), aggressive STU staff who were quick to hit the buzzer to initiate a PCI (one kid called it "Patient Carpet Introduction"), and professional staff who seemed to set up line staff against each other at times, with the end result being a bunch of staff who were just as f&^ked up as some of the kids.
I also worked with incredibly talented and gifted staff members who truly made an effort to help damaged kids understand what they needed to do to turn things around. Peglar was one of those guys. I don't recognize him, from the way a few of you have described him. He was a caring, deeply intuitive guy who had a knack for reaching some of the toughest girls. Of course, I am talking about the early 90's, and he worked in the girls cabin program. Some of those other staff are long gone, as they recognized the tide of changes that came about in the mid-90's.
I felt at the time that much of what we did (I did) was helpful but in the back of my mind, I always wondered what happened after kids were discharged. Some of them made it...we heard from them and trumpeted their successes. I attended reunions a couple of times in the early 90's. One kid actually walked the Appalachian Trail after discharge. Others just disappeared. Sometimes I read about their deaths...two boys that I worked with committed suicide. One was an Army vet who went to Iraq in 1991 and was playing Russian Roulette. The paper said that "it was unclear if ____ knew that the gun was loaded." I thought damn...if you're in the Army, you KNOW if the gun is loaded. He didn't care.
Standards for staff were pretty high until Covenant came in around 1994 or 95. They wanted to save money and if I remember, they cut the starting hourly rate for STU counselors by a buck and dropped the college graduate requirement. This immediately resulted in a less-talented pool of applicants and created tension among staff when they realized that the old guys, doing the exact same job, got paid a dollar an hour more. I left a while later.
I took another job (not in the industry) and a few months later, a kid that I worked with at the Village saw me. I remembered him and said hello. He confronted me. He told me that he was not a bad kid but had made some bad decisions and that the Village had f^&ked him over and it took all he had to get out of there somewhat intact. He was angry but controlled. He made eye contact and measured his words carefully. He really needed to say what he said. I think I mumbled "thanks and I hope things are better for you now" or something like that. That's been 10 years, and I still remember it.
Someone was asking about the placement of the pee tubes. When I was there, the pee tubes were at individual cabins and were rarely moved. I helped a group dig a new site once...the bottom of each hole was covered with gravel, the tubes were placed, and the rest of the dirt was replaced. Occasionally we'd throw lime in the tube to help with the smell. The boys would use the bathhouse bathrooms when we could, and the pee tubes at night. I don't remember ever punishing a kid or harassing them for waking me up at night to go pee. Not saying it didn't happen, but I don't recall doing it myself.
I never saw anything that would constitute sexual abuse by any staff member. There was a program director (the one who crashed her car into a KPD cruiser on I-640) who was gay and seemed to hire a lot of gay women (and once really upset a counselor for implying that SHE was gay) but I don't recall any concerns or allegations at the time (early 90's) about that kind of thing.
That's all for now."
Here is something I wrote again:
"Here is is a quote I got out of my ethics class about rape, domination and pornography, I thought it was interesting in the context of how PV treats the kids ie. it tries to dominate every aspect of their lives and minds.
"According to MacKinnon pornography celebrates and legitimizes rape, battery, sexual harassment and the sexual abuse of children. More generally, it eroticizes the enforcement of dominance and submission that is common to all of them" ( MacKinnon 45).
If you look at it like this and watch TV for a while you realize just how sexist society today is as well.
The things that people are taught they have to be in a society have great influence on how they have to see themselves.
It also allows them to believe one thing and do something else completely.
The way these programs work allows for sexual abuse but also allows the abusers to be competely guilt free and even respected in the society while they are allowed to put all their shame on the teens they abuse.
They disserve it because they are bad teens. I am not watching them in the shower i am disciplining them because they disserve it.
all I'm saying is legitimizing watching teens change, go to the bathroom sleep and shower while enforcing complete dominance over their ability to do anything, stand up or lay down for example, falls pretty well into the psychological reasons people rape.
PV batters the kids, it sexually abuses them, it even legitimizes rape and celebrates it.
what counts for therapy in PV far more qualifies as a sort of sick celebration of the behaviors that PV says it treats.
It promotes suicide very much in this way, it does nothing but talk about suicide in this insane cult like way, with horrible abuse and the same with drug use or self harming behaviors.
PV's "treatment" of these disorders instead promotes them, making them cult like and ritualistic.
going into long details repeatedly with bulimics about buying the food they were going to use to purge for example.
PV legitimizes rape by saying the girls who were raped or molested were responsible for it and by abusing them horribly and telling them they are worthless and bad in relation to it.
PV and all of the programs that use these sort of criteria are sexually abusing the teens in their programs.
and using the programs to justify their sexually abusing them to themselves.
rape psych 101 the rapist always says,
they were asking for it
they really like abuse, PV says this a lot
and they disserve it
Also rapists want to dominate others
hmm what does PV say about the kids it restrains constantly and watches in the bathroom, shower and changing?"
-
This was posted by Jersey Girl over on Cafety on page 10, here is the link to Cafety, it also has a lot of good info
http://cafety.org/index.php?option=com_ ... 11&id=1008 (http://cafety.org/index.php?option=com_joomlaboard&Itemid=&func=view&catid=11&id=1008)
or you can just Google Peninsula Village, the Cafety site is just a few down
I thought this survivors post had some good description of just what goes on in PV
"My admission day to the village, from the beginning i knew i was in for a wild ride.
It started with being escorted to the Village. I arrived in Knoxville and had one of those bad gut instinction feelings.
I knew before I walked in this was not going to be pleasant.
I was taken to the nurses station where I met with a nurse and then was brought up to STU now known as GAAU ((girls admission and assessment unit)). the place in itself is depressing.
You walk through the doorways of hell. I was shoved into a metal chair in front of the staffs desk.
I signed my life away. when i went to ask a question, i was shut down.
then they said that I needed to be strip searched. my immediate reaction was fuck you you pervs.
They led me into the bathroom where I had to strip all of my clothing except my underwear.
Then they told me to pull my underwear to the side, bend over and cough to see if i was hiding anything in a territory that was private.
I was crying and was told to quit being dramatic.
I sat my practically naked ass on the cold floor when they told me to stand up, strip completley and take a shower in which the shower stall had half of a shower curtain.
they told me it was to moniter me. this shocked me.
i had never had anyone monitor my shower time.
with that i guess it infuriated them and two of the staff grabbed me by the arms and led me straight into the time out room.
the room was bare. i had seen this shit in the movies but never actually experienced one.
little did i know that that would become very familiar.
I was told to sit with my back against the wall and not to talk. i needed to think about my actions. i was panic sticken.
my anxiety was going through the roof.
I threw up all over the floor in there which i was later made to clean up.
then they asked me awhile later if i was willing to cooperate.
i shrugged my shoulders and they showed me to my cubicle aka my bed.
I was told once again to sit up straight with my legs crossed and not to look at anyone.
If i could not follow this i would be escorted back to time out.
Well I was exhausted, so i leaned over onto my elbow. Some fat chick who was a patient and apparently one of the "trusted" saw me do this. she asked for permission to confront the new girl for laying down.
I was like uh so what?! she was granted permission and she called a group.
everyone stood. i was shocked i didnt know these robot patients were able to move.
everyone was like a zombie. I didnt stand, for lack of this phenomenon not being explained to me.
i was barked at the stand whenever group is called.
she confronted me and said thats all.
everyone sat back down simultaneously. Drones i tell you.
Later on, i didnt give a shit so i laid down. fuck that fat bitch.
Staff came over and grabbed me by the arms and escorted me to the time out cubicle this time instead of the room because apparently the room was occupied.
I was told to sit there not move and not talk and to stare at the wall of the cubicle.
Well after awhile of sitting there, they gave me my meal which i ate on the floor.
when i finished eating i stood up to go back to my coffin of a bed.
Next thing I knew, I was grabbed, kicked in the back of the knees and fell to the floor.
an extremely loud, obnoxious alarm went off.
I was panic sticken worse than ever. what the hell is happening???
down on the ground I lay, face down with people sitting on me holding me down. one or two holding my legs, one on each arm, one sitting on my lower back, and one holding my head down when i tried to lift it up to breathe.
I thought i was going to die.
Felt my lungs collapsing.
Still in shock, I vommitted once again.
my face shoved back into it. ugh.
What seemed like forever, they then picked me up, about 10 people.
they carried me like some animal back into the forbidden time out room.
i was stripped of my clothes by the staff and then dressed into hospital gowns with old blood stains on them.
this is all while still being held down.
later on, i was released and sent back to my bed. then there was group.
i had to introduce myself and tell why i was in gowns.
i had no idea why i was so i made some shit up.
later on there were showers and then some other sort of groups.
i was told to make my bed just like every one elses.
i didnt know what the standards for intricate bed making were so i made it like i did at home.
i was yelled and criticised for that by some 23 year old counselor.
finally after other bullshit, we went to sleep. if only i had been aware that bed time was the only semi peaceful time i would experience for the next 6 months.
damn
what a day what a day
Jersey Gurl"
For the record, as another PV survivor, everything in PV is timed and monitered, i.e. watched closely
bathroom time, shower time, getting from point A to B
there is no free time at all
the teens have no time to read, or do anything but be abused 24-7,
no free time at all!
everything is scheduled and over scheduled
they use going over time as an excuse to abuse the kids
the times are so short that someone always goes over,
everyone is punished together
it's just another way they keep the level of stress at non stop
you get very little time to use the restroom and you have to tell them what it is you have to do
to quote Jersey Gurl over on Cafety again
"there is no such word in PVs vocabulary such as privacy.
It is completely invaded and is taken away from you.
For instance and I know this is a nasty subject but it seems important, when you had your period, and you used the bathroom, you had to wrap up your used feminine product and then show it out the stall door before you could flush your toilet.
That is just fuckin wrong man.
Our bathroom times were on their terms to and timed.
Before you went into the bathroom you had to hold up either one finger for peeing, two fingers for 2, and some weird hand gesture if you needed to also change your feminie hygiene product.
Jeez I dont know but being timed on your time to piss or whatever you needed to do, thats just flat out ridiculous.
you had 1 minute to pee, 2 minutes for #2 and an extra 30 seconds if you needed to change."
sorry for the grossness but it is important"
Here is another quote from a survivor called Milkblood over on Cafety:
"I was in Peninsula Village for 8 months in 2003-2004.
I was in the lockdown unit for the first 4 months and in the cabins (in the winter) for the remainding 4 months. The lockdown unit is one room with 12 beds in it.
You are not allowed to look up from the floor at anyone entering or leaving the unit.
You are not allowed to look at other patients or talk to them.
You have to sit in the middle of your bed all day, back to the wall, no sleeping, eyes open.
If you are seen by another patient breaking a rule (which i never understood as you aren't supposed to be looking at other patients) you are then confronted by the whole group and are given a consequence.
When I was on STU (the lockdown unit) I was restrained countless times.
The very first time I was restrained on the bed, I had these huge mitts on my hands to keep myself from picking at my fingers. I will not deny that I had been harming myself by picking at my fingers.
The nurse on charge put bandages on all of my fingers.
As I was in my bed with these huge mitts on and bandages, I was touching the ends of my fingers to see if the blood was still flowing to the tips of my fingers as the bandages were way to tight.
A staff saw me doing this and literally jerked me onto the floor as those horrible sirens went off.
They hoisted me up onto the bed after about 5 minutes of holding me down (I wasn't resisting as i was terribly frightened).
As they were strapping my legs and arms into the bed net I remember (and will never forget) the words that the staff said to me.
She said "We are not doing this to hurt you." ALl i could think about at that time was why am i being strapped to this bed.
I will never forget these moments.
In the cabins we live in a small cabin with 12 bunk beds.
We slept in our own sleeping bags as it was winter.
There was no electricity in the cabin.
There was one lightbulb over the staffs desk that was lit by a car battery.
The cabin was heated by one woodstove in the center of the cabin. We were forced to clean every place we visited, (the YC, the bathhouse, the cabin) numerous times.
If there were over 5 specks of dirt found in the location, we were made to clean it all over again.
Repeat process if more dirt was found.
Sometimes we spent the whole day cleaning the YC while the staff sat in the chair and watched.
One patiend that was there was always vomiting her food up.
She thew up in the woodpile and they made her clean it up.
She even resorted to vomiting in the vent in the school bathroom.
After a month it was discovered and they just ended up giving her a grocery bag to carry around and vomit in whenever she wanted.
IF she vomited in the bag she had to carry it around with her until the staff said she could dispose of it.
Is this sanitary??? NO.
Eventually this girl passed out in the toilet and was taken to the hospital, probably from severe dehydration.
Girls were put in straight jackets and walked around all day.
We had to carry around bags of sand as a consequence.
Our consequences as a group got so backed up that we had to wake up at 5am and do over 200 push ups for weeks.
I was pretending to be asleep one night and I overheard the staff making fun of a few patients.
When i told my mom about this in treatment i was brushed off by my therapist as being manipulative and lying to get attention.
there were so many things that happened at PV that i would love to forget, as they still give me nightmares to this day.
I am 20 years old now.I have No doubt that Pv is life changing."
here is one from Socleansara, also from the same Cafety site:
"I went to PV in 2004. It was treatment or a girls home due to some trouble i had gotten into.
My mom told me to play up my drug use to the judge so he would give me the option of choosing.
I went to PV and was on STU for 6 MONTHS!
not because I was a risk or because I refused the program but because I didnt have anything to talk about.
I never had any dark seeded desire to hurt myself or run away. None of that.
I come from an upperclass family in the suburbs of Memphis... Finally after months and months of being on STU they sent me to the cabins because they needed the room on stu for someone else.
I went to the cabins and once again had nothing to talk about.
I was put on "Permanent Silence" and wasnt allowed to talk to ANYONE for months because I didnt have anything "worthwhile" to say.
I was put on question cards which they tortured me with making me use a question card to ask for extra time in the restroom and with only 3 questions a day... I didnt ask for extra time very often.
One day we were making a trail from one cabin to another and all the sudden I wasnt able to breathe.
I started having terrible chest and back pains and couldnt move.
They made me walk from one side of campus all the way to the other just to have nursing say i was fine.
Shortly after I started vomitting and was unable to hold food down for quite some time.
Once again, nursing said I was fine with out doing any tests or bloodwork.
They wrote it off as test anxiety due to my upcomming ACT test.
My teachers tried to explain that I wasnt nervous at all and that something else could be wrong.
NO ONE LISTENED. I turned 18 and DCed AMA.
I came back to memphis and within weeks I was hospitialized on the verge of LIVER FAILURE.
I had gall stones that had come out of my gall bladder and were blocking off the duct that my liver uses to expell waste.
So all that TOXIN couldnt go anywhere.
The doctor that treated me said had I waited a week, my liver could of ruptured and I could have gone into some kind of shock as my body poisened its self.
Why wasnt I given the proper medical attention that I needed? Didnt my parents pay enough money?!
They told me repeatedly that if I signed myself out and left that I would "relapse" and DIE within months.
How encouraging right!?!?! When in fact its the opposite.
Had I stayed any longer I quite possibly could have died.
Obviously Im still very much alive. I just started my 3rd year of college, I hold down a full time job, at a bar I might add, I have my own apartment and my own car and I take care of my own bills.
A far cry from the hopeless drug addict they made me out to be.
My parents probably would have be interested to know all of these things but my family therapist didnt allow me to talk to my family often and when we did speak it was very brief and social.
I wasnt allowed to write my father at all and all of my letters home we read very carefully.
After going through them recently I have found that ALOT of what i was was blacked out with a marker.
Its only obvious that they knew from the get go that PV wasnt for me but the $$$$$ that my parents forked out was well worth the cover up.
My parents sent gifts for both of my birthdays and I never recieved them. Infact the cake she paid for for my 17th on STU was givin to everyone but me.
I was on "black out" again for not having anything "worthwhile" to say so everyone else including staff ate my cake right infront of me and I was never offered a piece. During my 14 months there I was never assisted or restrained. I never posed a threat or threatened to run. I never caused a problem for ANYONE. Why was I there for so long??? $$$$$$$ plain and simple. Im angry at the way I was treated. If there was something I could do about it I would in a heartbeat."
Here is some stuff I wrote, also over on Cafety, again just trying to give everyone an idea of what daily life/hell is like in PV, I'm PV is a money making scam over on Cafety, I also gave my statement to ISAAC, which I wish everyone else would do too.
i was thinking about the hard labor
i'm not sure anyone went into in great depth yet
it was what we did most days once out in the cabins, in STU you don’t go outside at all just sit on your beds,
We had work detail three days out of the week, two days of school with no homework.
and work detail all summer, we didn't go to school in the summer.
It was back breaking
We carried around an enormous Gott water cooler everywhere, it took two girls to carry it, i wonder how much it weighed? i looked up Gotts and the biggest one I could find on Amazon was 10 gallons, which full, i did the math, gallon to weight, would weigh about 85 pounds. That's a lot to carry around all day. I couldn't lift the thing full by myself.
it was our water supply for the cabins, again the cabins have no running water .
We cross sawed logs with an actual old fashion cross saw and were timed and punished.
It?s really hard to cross saw a log with an old fashioned cross saw.
We also mauled wood and dug stumps out of the ground. We did this a whole hell of a lot.
We had to cut enough firewood for the winter because the cabins also have no electricity, only a woodstove.
We had quotas for wood, which were ridiculously high, and we would be punished if we did not meet them
If you stopped working saying you were tired and felt ill you were consequenced then restrained.
We built things as well, and put in a big garden.
This was hard because the garden area was a mile or so away so we had to carry all the gardening tools and wheelbarrows full of manure and such out there. Don't forget the cursed Gott!
We dug up stumps and did all the grounds maintenance.
On weekends, when we weren't doing our normal forced labor schedule
We would clean everything,
Again we had no free time to read or relax or sleep in or any of that normal stuff.
we were made to exercise as consequences all the time, there are a lot of consequences in a day at the Village.
Pushups a lot, over a hundred a day at least, on a good day.
I, a thin small boned girl, had back muscles, pronounced scary back and neck muscles,
there was all this digging stumps out of the ground and turning over garden beds with pick axes, this was not your mothers gardening.
They had my group build a two story big work shed building
and tar and lay shingles in July, nothing like training anorexics and foster kids to be roofers. In July no less! It was a mess and so hot.
On the weekends, instead of work detail, they had us do aerobics.
Really hyper nonstop aerobics for hours until you felt sick as hell.
the aerobic were again on weekends.
They wouldn't let us go to sleep after working like this all day until we finished all our consequence pushup or other exercises,
I can remember standing against a wall with my knees bent till I fell over at like midnight.
I also remember having to do 200 pushups before bed, and I hadn't even done anything. Staff was just picking on me.
I was pretty cowed throughout, because I didn't want to be abused.
The exercise hurt like hell. It was torture and they used it as such.
I was really really really exhausted the entire time there.
I used to fall asleep standing up and as soon as I sat down, and I would get in all sorts of trouble for it.
Cleaning was top to toe carry all the mattresses outside scrub down the entire floor cleaning, the whole campus, every weekend.
Everything is timed of course, getting from point A to B, with a wheelbarrow full of tools and manure or roofing tiles or wood or going to the bathroom or showering or cross sawing and so on, all timed.
It was really hard work and they made it as unpleasant as possible.
It wasn't work therapy it was just work detail and it was horrible and abusive and it hurt like hell.
we were covered in dirt and sweat.
we woke up very early.
I believe 5:30am
we didn't get to bed till late often
so certainly not a full eight hours of sleep.
and they would wake us up sometimes to be drug out to the wood shed to be shown how much wood we still needed to chop or something random.
If you asked the staff to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, the porta potties are a good twenty feet from the cabin, you were sure to have an unpleasant day.
this is additionally cruel as many of the medications have peeing often as a side effect.
they would with hold anything other then basic foods,
no condiments and such,
as punishment for not meeting work quotas.
staff would hype it up and brow beat us with it, it was arbitrary like everything else there really anyway.
I don't think food as a reward is an appropriate way to treat anorexics either, especially tied in with making them work past the point of all sense and abusing them
who comes up with such things?
cold showers were also a consequence and really short showers,
staff stands right out side the shower curtain too when you shower,
they also watch you dress, like they stand right there,
it's supposed to keep the anorexics from vomiting in the shower, but as they let them carry around bags of vomit, it ends up just being another way they totally invade every private aspect of being human,
like being timed and watched in the restroom.
i say the above because staff thinks they have a right to watch you in the shower so they really do, it's not they just stand there, some were worse then others in this respect, some are practically on top of you, others just keep an eye on you. Either way they stand right there.
They also very much encouraged us to become angry and look down on peers that they were picking on too.
They punish the entire group for the actions of each individual and try to breed as much anger towards the individual as possible.
often it would have no reason at all,
jill is not cross sawing fast enough, or something, we all must beat up on Jill?
Poor Jill would be cross sawing pretty damn fast too considering because she didn't want to draw staff attention!
it was just a way to keep the level of trauma high
for some reason PV thinks it needs to keep the level of trauma at non stop
they go on and on about breaking us down and such.
never saw any building back up though.
here is what I wrote about sexual abuse in relations to PV on another site
it needs to be said I think
oh and again
PV staff are Nazi sadistic monsters
and what they do is an insane stupid farce
they know this too,
having foster kids who didn't have much by way of education go to school TWO DAYS out of the week! and not letting them read for years
not to mention all the rest of the sick pointless crap that goes on in PV
it is a scam to make millions of dollars duh, you think
greed makes the evil peoples dreams come true
i can abuse foster children teenagers physically, emotionally and pretty sexually too, and make millions for it!
PV is so into sexual abuse, the emotional sexual abuse is certain, and a lot of the stuff is pretty off,
it seems like they are taking some restrained girls clothes off a lot in survivor accounts and there are real strip searches and people standing out side of showers and bathroom stalls always
Jersey gurl says in her strip search that they told her to bend over naked and cough! How is that not sexual abuse!
this is to some girl who was in PV because of PTS because her mother died!
they stand right outside the stall door, which you have to leave open
every time you go to the bathroom and time you and you get consequenced for going over your time
could that be anymore Nazi abusive degrading and horrific?
the teens have no privacy, any privacy they have is invaded completely rightly away, third or fourth day all the girls have a complete gyn exam, this is after being restrained for a few hours and strip searched and made to shower with staff standing right out side the curtain and treated more abusively then you ever have been before, shower curtains at PV are your typical see through pink plastic ones,
staff saw us all naked everyday,
they stand in the bathroom as you change and do all the other things people have to do without clothes.
Not to mention you sleep on wooden cubicle cots with no fronts in a medium sized open room with staff there breathing on you all the time, it's horrible, and so sexually abusive, not to mention the verbal sexual abuse in group.
It's like if some adult was able to watch you sleep, shower, go to the bathroom and beat all your secrets out of you, keep you completely isolated and locked in a small room with almost total power over you.
and of course brainwash you into thinking you deserve the abuse.
again for the millionth time some one from FOSTER CARE or the police needs to get a court order and go in and interview the girls in STU right now
sorry about how horrific the above is
and it needs to be seen for how bad it is so it can be stoped
who ever came up with the entire scenario, definitely is a very sexually abusive person
there is such a total horrifically abusive invasion of every private aspect of just being human, every aspect
and it has no point, kids who are anorexic or something, that level abuse did not help them, if you take someone who is depressed and torture them they become really depressed
i think most of the girls, were really suicidal after a few months in PV
i was right we did go to school Tuesday and Thursday
not Monday Wednesday and Friday
i thought so but i read another girls post and she confirmed it
what the hell is that, they go to school two days out of the week!!!?
i knew I remembered that we always worked on Mon, Wed, Friday
we worked a lot,
and we didn't go to school in the summer
and we didn't go when we were on shut down, we were on shutdown for four or five months
although they brought us work but not that regularly,
maybe it was just on Tuesdays and Thursdays,
that's not often really
school was certainly not in the foreground at PV
it was sort of a uncommon thing,
Especially when some other trauma was going on
Which, like with all abusive situations and people, there is always trauma
they would pull us out of school too if something happened?
we also had no real take home homework
which really prepares you for college!!
not to mention listing a behavioral mod. facility as your high school
with all the school shooter hype going on right now,
makes it very very hard to get into affordable colleges
trust me I have fought my way through hell with it!!
also Jersey Chick, when I was in we saw a psychiatrist, the real doctor who prescribes medications once every six months right?
for about a minute to discuss medications?
then we saw the therapist in group once every six weeks maybe
sometimes he decided not to show or put it off for a week or two extra?
was this the same when you were in?
i had no private therapy only group therapy
i don't know why, i had good insurance?
the every six week therapist was this creepy guy with bushy hair.
very in your face and they made a big deal about it when he would come by.
I wasn't overly impressed, although levels would be changed oh wow
and then taken away again among more sobbing
there was a hell of a lot of sobbing
the rest of the time it was group therapy two or three times a day with regular daily staff, who you don't see on the website"
Also by me:
PV promoted food issues
most girls were not anorexics or bulimics but if you had thrown us a pint of icecream we would have decended on it they focus on food as a reward every work day
its one of the only rewards we were given
it was again pretty much the only thing talked about during work detail, which is what we did the majority of the days at PV
they made a big big deal over it,
"YAY you guys earned condiments pass out the ketchup salt and pepper, good job group, reward yourself with food."
It was nuts now that i think about it.
"you guys were bad bad horrible teens and didn't earn your food today"
they did this every work day,
it was the main focus
"If you meet your work quota you get cake or sodas, cake and sodas"
cake and soda, cake and soda, cake and soda, again they repeated if you make your quota you get dessert or sodas or condiments throughout the day continously, it was pretty much all that was talked about by staff on work detail days "your not going to make your quota you bad horrible teens, no condiments if you don't make your quota"
"smack no cake and soda your a bad bulimic anorexic bad"
how the hell is that "treating" anorexia and bulimia?
seems more like torturing the anorexics and bulimics
they also took us on a field trip, a very very rare event, to Golden Corral of all places, we went on a field trip to just Golden fricken Corral, nowhere else.
everyone hit the buffet like a bunch of tortured teens out of a prison camp where they use food as a reward, they let the girls who were in there because of food problems pile their plates at the buffet too
it was nuts,
I'm not anorexic but I was dreaming about food and I hit the fridge like one when I got out
we were all weird about food in there. it probably killed a bulimic or anorexic or two.
it was very effective
we met the work quota's well enough to be allowed dessert rarely
i felt like Pavlov's dogs put it that way
"here cake dog cake don't you want some cake"
"well now that you mention it yes yes I do"
"no cake bad dog"
i kept waiting for them to hook up electrical wires to soda cans to shock us while they took notes.
"the teens, when presented with the proper inticement, seem willing to attempt to reach the soda even inspite of the shock up to 3.6 times, then they resort to the use of crude homemade tools, very ineresting, also it is fun to watch them twitch when shocked, hah hah hah hah"
I'm sure they would have if they could have gotten away with it.
if social services ever decided to show up for even a staff led tour it might have seemed odd. Plus why resort to shocking people when you have so many other slightly less obvious ways to abuse them."
Here is a statement from an ex PV staff members
also from the same site
"wow...been reading here and on fornitz for about 2 hours. I worked at the Village for several years in the early 90's in both the boys cabin and STU programs.
I oriented new kids to STU, did strip searches, wore the buzzer, participated in group therapy sessions, sat in treatment teams, worked with family therapists, slept in a cabin (hell, I actually helped BUILD one), drove a van to AA/NA meetings, chased down kids who eloped, restrained dozens of kids, and occasionally helped train staff to do the same. I guess I'm the enemy here.
I worked with nurses who abused prescription and IV drugs, line staff who left work at night to drive to Knoxville bars and then came back to work at 3am unnoticed, staff who met upstairs in the YC to screw at night, a counselor with a scab on the back of her hand from the back of her teeth (she got that from sticking her fingers down her throat to make herself vomit), aggressive STU staff who were quick to hit the buzzer to initiate a PCI (one kid called it "Patient Carpet Introduction"), and professional staff who seemed to set up line staff against each other at times, with the end result being a bunch of staff who were just as f&^ked up as some of the kids.
I also worked with incredibly talented and gifted staff members who truly made an effort to help damaged kids understand what they needed to do to turn things around. Peglar was one of those guys. I don't recognize him, from the way a few of you have described him. He was a caring, deeply intuitive guy who had a knack for reaching some of the toughest girls. Of course, I am talking about the early 90's, and he worked in the girls cabin program. Some of those other staff are long gone, as they recognized the tide of changes that came about in the mid-90's.
I felt at the time that much of what we did (I did) was helpful but in the back of my mind, I always wondered what happened after kids were discharged. Some of them made it...we heard from them and trumpeted their successes. I attended reunions a couple of times in the early 90's. One kid actually walked the Appalachian Trail after discharge. Others just disappeared. Sometimes I read about their deaths...two boys that I worked with committed suicide. One was an Army vet who went to Iraq in 1991 and was playing Russian Roulette. The paper said that "it was unclear if ____ knew that the gun was loaded." I thought damn...if you're in the Army, you KNOW if the gun is loaded. He didn't care.
Standards for staff were pretty high until Covenant came in around 1994 or 95. They wanted to save money and if I remember, they cut the starting hourly rate for STU counselors by a buck and dropped the college graduate requirement. This immediately resulted in a less-talented pool of applicants and created tension among staff when they realized that the old guys, doing the exact same job, got paid a dollar an hour more. I left a while later.
I took another job (not in the industry) and a few months later, a kid that I worked with at the Village saw me. I remembered him and said hello. He confronted me. He told me that he was not a bad kid but had made some bad decisions and that the Village had f^&ked him over and it took all he had to get out of there somewhat intact. He was angry but controlled. He made eye contact and measured his words carefully. He really needed to say what he said. I think I mumbled "thanks and I hope things are better for you now" or something like that. That's been 10 years, and I still remember it.
Someone was asking about the placement of the pee tubes. When I was there, the pee tubes were at individual cabins and were rarely moved. I helped a group dig a new site once...the bottom of each hole was covered with gravel, the tubes were placed, and the rest of the dirt was replaced. Occasionally we'd throw lime in the tube to help with the smell. The boys would use the bathhouse bathrooms when we could, and the pee tubes at night. I don't remember ever punishing a kid or harassing them for waking me up at night to go pee. Not saying it didn't happen, but I don't recall doing it myself.
I never saw anything that would constitute sexual abuse by any staff member. There was a program director (the one who crashed her car into a KPD cruiser on I-640) who was gay and seemed to hire a lot of gay women (and once really upset a counselor for implying that SHE was gay) but I don't recall any concerns or allegations at the time (early 90's) about that kind of thing.
That's all for now."
Here is something I wrote again:
"Here is is a quote I got out of my ethics class about rape, domination and pornography, I thought it was interesting in the context of how PV treats the kids ie. it tries to dominate every aspect of their lives and minds.
"According to MacKinnon pornography celebrates and legitimizes rape, battery, sexual harassment and the sexual abuse of children. More generally, it eroticizes the enforcement of dominance and submission that is common to all of them" ( MacKinnon 45).
If you look at it like this and watch TV for a while you realize just how sexist society today is as well.
The things that people are taught they have to be in a society have great influence on how they have to see themselves.
It also allows them to believe one thing and do something else completely.
The way these programs work allows for sexual abuse but also allows the abusers to be competely guilt free and even respected in the society while they are allowed to put all their shame on the teens they abuse.
They disserve it because they are bad teens. I am not watching them in the shower i am disciplining them because they disserve it.
all I'm saying is legitimizing watching teens change, go to the bathroom sleep and shower while enforcing complete dominance over their ability to do anything, stand up or lay down for example, falls pretty well into the psychological reasons people rape.
PV batters the kids, it sexually abuses them, it even legitimizes rape and celebrates it.
what counts for therapy in PV far more qualifies as a sort of sick celebration of the behaviors that PV says it treats.
It promotes suicide very much in this way, it does nothing but talk about suicide in this insane cult like way, with horrible abuse and the same with drug use or self harming behaviors.
PV's "treatment" of these disorders instead promotes them, making them cult like and ritualistic.
going into long details repeatedly with bulimics about buying the food they were going to use to purge for example.
PV legitimizes rape by saying the girls who were raped or molested were responsible for it and by abusing them horribly and telling them they are worthless and bad in relation to it.
PV and all of the programs that use these sort of criteria are sexually abusing the teens in their programs.
and using the programs to justify their sexually abusing them to themselves.
rape psych 101 the rapist always says,
they were asking for it
they really like abuse, PV says this a lot
and they disserve it
Also rapists want to dominate others
hmm what does PV say about the kids it restrains constantly and watches in the bathroom, shower and changing?"
-
ZenAgent, whenever you make it over to PV I'd really like to have some pics of the white off-campus vans and the license plates on them
They'll SUE you for that! (even if you don't do it)... You're stalking the poor program and causing untold emotional sufferings to the poor poor staff members who will probably write very nasty declarations about you composed of 70% heresay 20% opinion, and 10% pure fiction. Shame on you. Act.da. Have some compassion on the poor poor staff members. They have feewings too!
LOL
It's not funny, dammit! While I was photographing the vans, the Blount County deputies showed up... all I remember is out of tune banjo music, a freshly-cut log, and someone ordering me to imitate porcine sounds....
-
PV is a backwoods, redneck, uncle-fucking abuse facility. Even though I was never an inmate at the place, I enjoy ranting about it anyway. I hope it bothers those who think it's a good place. It's enough to hear how fucked up it was from the people who were in there; that's enough for me. I don't believe a word uttered by the people who worked there (or still do), not one word. They more than likely LIE about things in effort to cover up their crimes against the inmates. Anyone who would send their kid to a place like PV ought to have their fucking head examined. I hope lawsuits continue to be brought up against them, I hope the inmates murder or otherwise fuck up the people working there as they fucking well deserve it. Peace out.
-
PV is a backwoods, redneck, uncle-fucking abuse facility. Even though I was never an inmate at the place, I enjoy ranting about it anyway. I hope it bothers those who think it's a good place. It's enough to hear how fucked up it was from the people who were in there; that's enough for me. I don't believe a word uttered by the people who worked there (or still do), not one word. They more than likely LIE about things in effort to cover up their crimes against the inmates. Anyone who would send their kid to a place like PV ought to have their fucking head examined. I hope lawsuits continue to be brought up against them, I hope the inmates murder or otherwise fuck up the people working there as they fucking well deserve it. Peace out.
shoopboopbadoop doneditty doneditty screetin screetin screetin
-
PV is a backwoods, redneck, uncle-fucking abuse facility. Even though I was never an inmate at the place, I enjoy ranting about it anyway. I hope it bothers those who think it's a good place. It's enough to hear how fucked up it was from the people who were in there; that's enough for me. I don't believe a word uttered by the people who worked there (or still do), not one word. They more than likely LIE about things in effort to cover up their crimes against the inmates. Anyone who would send their kid to a place like PV ought to have their fucking head examined. I hope lawsuits continue to be brought up against them, I hope the inmates murder or otherwise fuck up the people working there as they fucking well deserve it. Peace out.
shoopboopbadoop doneditty doneditty screetin screetin screetin
:D :D :D
-
Click here for info on a possible PV protest in Raleigh! (9-27-08) (http://http://www.fornits.com/smf/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=25748)
-
"Without the care and patience of the doctors and staff at Peninsula
Village, our daughter would be in a very dark, lonely and difficult place."
-PV Parent
-
FOCUS: Your manipulation will buy you a longer stay!
::OMG::
-
FOCUSes:
You call bereavement social anxiety...You call neediness agitation...How sad that your emotions confuse you so.
You are not 12 and your mother has passed away. When will you truly deal with this!
GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK
-
PATIENT quote directed at staff during a restraint:
FUCK you ALL, get the fuck off, Im going to KILL ALL of you.!!!!!
:jerry:
-
PV Hocus Focus:
"Other than your manipulations, we are having difficulty noticing you,"
Jibby Redfield/Adam McLain, 2006.
That's a great affirmation for a teenager, isn't it?
Like goddamn Lennon and McCartney, Jibby and Adam were. It's a shame PV broke up their act, but I hope there's never a reunion...
-
FOCUSes:
You call bereavement social anxiety...You call neediness agitation...How sad that your emotions confuse you so.
You are not 12 and your mother has passed away. When will you truly deal with this!
GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK
The sick melodies of Redfield and McClain. Those comments are sadistic, especially with the flippant tone. I hope you wished them 'luck' with a capital "F".
A psychiatrist friend gave me this rule of thumb: What looks like wrong, unethical, and abusive treatment to you as a parent will look wrong, unethical, and abusive to any ethical mental health professional. What was the intent of those focuses, other than to worsen your trauma? And why were you in PV, a program called a "last ditch" effort before entering the penal system? PV needs to clarify the nature of their program: is it a private, lock-down juvie hall for rich teenage rapists, Columbine wannabes and pyromaniacs? A restrictive wilderness BM program for "treatment resistant" kids? Or a therapeutic boarding school for kids with anorexia, ADD, and depression? PV claims to be any of the above types of RTC based on what it takes to sell a parent and admits all of the types of kids mentioned above and mixes them in the same treatment milieu, utilizing "peer-on-peer" based treatment. In a peer conflict situation, who's going to annihilate the other: A violent rapist convicted as an adult who sodomized his victim with a baseball bat, or a teen suffering from deep depression following the loss of a parent?
That's not an exaggeration. The violent and the anorexic, the homicidal and the depressed, all shoulder- to-shoulder and receiving identical treatment. Don't think the counselors will intervene to stop peer on peer abuse - the staff is there to "break down" the patients. A predatory sociopath humiliating and abusing his weaker peers will be rewarded by staff for "confronting" the labile patients. The clinical staff always rely on the "break them down" treatment, regardless of what the patient's needs are. Fight2Survive's "focuses" show the treatment team's inability to deviate from the program's abusive methodology, and they display all the compassion and treatment skills of Nazi guards in dealing with a teen grieving the loss of a mother.
It should be no surprise PV's post-treatment relapse and re-hospitalization rate is high. It's become so embarrassingly bad PV is making parents and their recently discharged kids attend relapse prevention sessions. The efficacy of the sessions is not important to PV, avoiding legal liability for malpractice is the real motivation. When a PV alumnus relapses, PV calls it a "natural consequence", which means the parents did something wrong post-PV.
-
I'd take it a step further dude. Is it any surprise PV grads, victims, survivors, and what not have a whole new set of issues on top of their old ones upon graduation? I'd wager to say that in most cases the kids come out more fucked up than when they went in. I saw plenty of kids come into 3 springs with problems like a bad temper and leave with issues like suicide attempts, cutting, and violent assaults on other kids.
-
I'd take it a step further dude. Is it any surprise PV grads, victims, survivors, and what not have a whole new set of issues on top of their old ones upon graduation? I'd wager to say that in most cases the kids come out more fucked up than when they went in. I saw plenty of kids come into 3 springs with problems like a bad temper and leave with issues like suicide attempts, cutting, and violent assaults on other kids.
Definitely, yeah. My step daughter discovered cutting at PV. Luckily she didn't get heavily into it. It's deviant peer influence. PV mixes Pitbulls and Poodles. When my step daughter was pried from PV's clutches, she admitted to being curious about the drugs some of her peers had raved about in group therapy - not good, considering her description of these peers as "affluent addicts" prone to turning tricks and beating their moms for a little scratch. Since my kid didn't have any CD issues when she entered PV, I asked what she learned from Pegler's incessant drug addiction groups and the AA 12-step shuffle. She said she learned not to buy Mexican weed because it has Paraquat on it, and she should buy American. Seriously, one of Big Bob's drug brochures advised the kids that if they were going to smoke pot, they need to avoid Mexican brown shitweed because it's sprayed with Paraquat.
$100,000+ a year for this kind of "widely acclaimed" drug treatment. No wonder PV parents refuse to blame the program when their kids come home and go off the rails - they can't acknowledge the thought of pissing away the cost of a few college tuitions or new cars without twitching like Tourette victims.
-
To bad the federal and state mandates for the Least Restrictive environment rulings by the Supreme court(can't remember the exact details) can't be brought into play. Considering the whole poodles and pitbulls scenario you've painted.
-
To bad the federal and state mandates for the Least Restrictive environment rulings by the Supreme court(can't remember the exact details) can't be brought into play. Considering the whole poodles and pitbulls scenario you've painted.
-
Seriously, one of Big Bob's drug brochures advised the kids that if they were going to smoke pot, they need to avoid Mexican brown shitweed because it's sprayed with Paraquat.
Well at least she learned something useful there amidst the bullshit... can't say I learned anything that useful at Straight, Inc.
-
Seriously, one of Big Bob's drug brochures advised the kids that if they were going to smoke pot, they need to avoid Mexican brown shitweed because it's sprayed with Paraquat.
Well at least she learned something useful there amidst the bullshit... can't say I learned anything that useful at Straight, Inc.
PENINSULA CHARGED A 100 LARGE FOR THAT MINOR WISDOM? That's all you had to tell me. Put me on the road for $75K per annum and I'll enlighten the substance-curious youth of America with an assload of knowledge. I'll teach them how to tell good hash from sage ripoff by eye. We'll review the advantages of low pressure sodium grow lamps over any other spectrum, study the importance of timers, and demystify the process of sexing up your plants.
I've finally got a fucking career that's the joy of my existence, not just a job. Helping the youth, tomorrow's future, and stacking paper up at the same time. Only in America! Thank you, Mr. Jesus!
-
And remember kids: weed didn't put you in a program, your asshole parents did. Which should you give up, weed or the asshole parents? Good choice, now let us raise a burnt offering up.
-
Evertime I drive my kids out on a TA I teach them lil hotentots all about the fine points of growin Ethiopian Shim Sham.
-
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O6AoXROoN0
THEY SAY SIDNEY POITIER WAS A BUH-LIND MAN, UH-HUH.
-
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O6AoXROoN0
THEY SAY SIDNEY POITIER WAS A BUH-LIND MAN, UH-HUH.
You mean Sidney Potter
-
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O6AoXROoN0
THEY SAY SIDNEY POITIER WAS A BUH-LIND MAN, UH-HUH.
You mean Sidney Potter
No, he didn't. ::unhappy:: ::evil::
-
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O6AoXROoN0
THEY SAY SIDNEY POITIER WAS A BUH-LIND MAN, UH-HUH.
You mean Sidney Potter
No, he didn't. ::unhappy:: ::evil::
Hows about we let Delboy settle this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC-MQ8_AbsQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC-MQ8_AbsQ)
and now lets get back on topic...
-
Keep your telly trimmed and burning.
-
Act.da, here are pics of the dreaded blue PV van:
http://www.fornits.com/pv/PV%20Van.jpg (http://www.fornits.com/pv/PV%20Van.jpg)
http://www.fornits.com/pv/PV%20Van1.jpg (http://www.fornits.com/pv/PV%20Van1.jpg)
-
http://www.peninsulabehavioralhealth.org/pbh-cares.cfm (http://www.peninsulabehavioralhealth.org/pbh-cares.cfm)
Would you like to share a positive comment about your experience as a patient, or as a family member of a Peninsula patient? Or, perhaps you’d like to recognize one of the caregivers at Peninsula who has been especially kind or helpful to you. We’d like to hear from you today, and we’ll be glad to pass along your feedback.
Our goal at Peninsula is to exceed your expectations in providing excellent patient care. As we continue to identify ways to enhance your experience, help us recognize and reinforce those individuals that helped achieve this goal.
They want positive comments only, not surprisingly. Keep it positive - "I'm positive PV's treatment did damage I'll never recover from," "I'm positive PV did nothing but drain my family's money and subject me to mental and physical abuse camouflaged as 'treatment'.
Keep it positive, and give special mention to staffers and clinicians who made lasting impacts on you.
-
What is the link if you have something mean to say?
-
What is the link if you have something mean to say?
email addresses provided-be nice though!
http://www.peninsulavillage.org/pv-staff.cfm (http://www.peninsulavillage.org/pv-staff.cfm)
-
What is the link if you have something mean to say?
http://www.peninsulavillage.org/dev/null (http://www.peninsulavillage.org/dev/null)
-
Yesterday I called Country Inn & Suites to let them know that if they allow PV in their building for the parent meeting on the 27th there will be a protest.
Here's the vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j-tBmsDIiE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j-tBmsDIiE)
-
I just about fell out of my chair laughing. Well done sir, well done.
-
Yesterday I called Country Inn & Suites to let them know that if they allow PV in their building for the parent meeting on the 27th there will be a protest.
Here's the vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j-tBmsDIiE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j-tBmsDIiE)
Just make sure to bring a videocamera to the protest (and keep it rolling the whole time). Ain't no evidence like video evidence.
-
Unfortunately the PV protest ended up being a one-man protest, but I still consider it a sucess. Near the beginning, a hotel worker drove up to get the mail and said something like "You stay right there or we'll call the police". She can be seen in the first few frames of the video. Then awhile later someone in the hotel called 911 and a Cary police officer showed up. He was very professional and let the hotel people know that I could stay since I was doing nothing illegal. A different hotel worker pulled over beside me as she was leaving and asked about PV. I let her know the basics and she seemed shocked to hear that a group like PV conducts meetings there. About this time, the PV meeting ends. As a vehicle was leaving a female passenger told me she thought the police told me to leave. You can see her in the video as well. As the PV group was leaving I did spot "Bob" Pegler, who ignored me avoided eye contact. Hopefully next time we can have more people attend! Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p4k5iVz8bc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p4k5iVz8bc)
-
Arrr, matey! Sounds like a sea-farin' name to me!
Pegler's his name; peggin' arses, his game!! ARRR!!! :D
Carry on...
-
Epic.. My hat is off to you act.da.. I've talked about protesting solo, but I've never actually done it. You've got grit kiddo.
-
What Che said. You got grit like John Wayne. The best part was the hotel employee becoming aware of the nature of PV, hopefully that will spread.
That woman in the car who asked why 5-0 hadn't taken you away? She looks exactly the way I imagined a PV loving parent would. Bet she votes Republican.
Thanks, act.da.
-
To act.da:
Good job. Thanks for posting the video and audio.
Is that in Raleigh North Carolina? I used to train in the research triangle near Durham. It's about an 8 hour drive for me.
Where is PV and is it a protestable facility? Or is Country Inn the only avenue for that?
It's great to see the activity, I would hope that next time you don't have to go it alone. Great job getting footage.
T
-
To act.da:
Good job. Thanks for posting the video and audio.
Is that in Raleigh North Carolina? I used to train in the research triangle near Durham. It's about an 8 hour drive for me.
Where is PV and is it a protestable facility? Or is Country Inn the only avenue for that?
It's great to see the activity, I would hope that next time you don't have to go it alone. Great job getting footage.
T
Thanks!
Yep, that's Raleigh in North Carolina. I haven't posted a formal notice/invitation for the next protest, but another one is being organized for the same place and time on November 22nd. There are also parent meetings like this one in Knoxville TN and Atlanta GA, but as far as I know there are no protests planned for them.
Peninsula Village is located in the Knoxville/Louisville area of Tennessee. Their address is 2431 Jones Bend Road but they use almost all of the westernmost 1/3rd of the peninsula. A protest at the facility is not something I'm worrying about right now, though there should be one there by the end of next year.
-
Thanks for the info,
Though I doubt I could make it in November, there is a possibility that I could make it to the Tennessee or Georgia locations. I sometimes drive down that way in the winter anytime between X-mas and the end of March. If you planned a protest for the Tennessee location, that would be a lot easier since it is a much shorter drive for me.
Keep me posted and hopefully I can join you at some point.
Tony
-
Hey! Check out the PV Shuffle longtime PV staffer Lauren Messer is doing in this video! Notice she has to sit down to dance. Shake it up, girl!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSe4Ot35_VQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSe4Ot35_VQ)
-
LOL!
Shake for me, girl! I wanna be yo' backdoor man! Uh! Gotta whole lotta butt! Whole lotta butt!
-
Hey! Check out the PV Shuffle longtime PV staffer Lauren Messer is doing in this video! Notice she has to sit down to dance. Shake it up, girl!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSe4Ot35_VQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSe4Ot35_VQ)
Great find zen! She also has a bunch of photos on her facebook page, here's a link to one of her holding a dog named "Delilah":
http://http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v140/120/37/9405076/n9405076_35596506_985.jpg
If you look at some of the other vids from that youtube account there is one guy (they call him "Scott" in a description) that I photographed at the protest. One of those girls may have been there too.
-
The point Zen is that you dont know Dominic's situation and you slander him by your words. I hope you get suid! You have no right to bring his name into your forum. And if you are so unhappy with your step daughters treatment, then remove her from PV. But wait! You don't have custody do you? Wonder why?
I know Hawranke personally, and think that all this bullshit going around on the forums and internet should really just stop. It has been several years, he's done his time. Let things disipate? Every time you put his name out there it just brings up the past. Daily Progress no longer has anything published on the net about him. He works hard, and deserves to have his privacy back. I think it's fine that you express your opinions about PV, but leave names out of it. The point of PV is to get your life back on track, and this bullshit on the net really doesn't help that, don't you think?? You should think twice before mindlessly chatting about someone else's life. It's immature. Assholes.
-
Bringing up a year-old thread on Fornits to tell people not to attack someone is either an act of trolling or suicidal.
C'mon. You know what happens next here, right?
-
No, but maybe you can enlighten us?
-
You should think twice before mindlessly chatting about someone else's life. It's immature. Assholes.
As has been noted here, PV staff pull old patient files and read from them during group therapy sessions, no names redacted. Has someone censored information about this Harwhatever guy?
This forum isn't fucking up his life, I'm sure. Programs like PV drive the notion of accountability home with the kids, so why bitch about one of the program's key elements? What's the old programee mantra they spout here?
"Deal with it. Get over yourself and move on."
The young man will be accountable all his life, trying to hide his past because his family is wealthy is just enabling. If he's truly doing better, he'll have to come to terms with his situation. Cleaning it up and trying to hide it will j
Besides, I thought he was only mentioned because he was homicidal and that went against the program's admission policy. Didn't see him particularly dragged through the mud like a lot of other peeps. You're being a bit thin-skinned.
-
http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2006 ... osive.aspx (http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2006/02/09/newsexplosive.aspx)
NEWS- Explosive: Details sketchy in school plot
By LISA PROVENCE
Published February 9, 2006 in issue 0506 of the Hook
Details remain sparse about the actual threat Albemarle police feared when they announced February 3 the arrest of three county students for allegedly planning "violent acts" at Western Albemarle and Albemarle high schools.
And while police did not release the names because the suspects are juveniles, the identities of the boys-- who police said had plans to damage the schools before the end of the year-- have not remained a secret in the community.
Each of the teens-- a 16-year-old from Western Albemarle, a 15-year-old from Albemarle High, and a 13-year-old from Jouett-- is charged with two felonies and is being held without bond at Blue Ridge Juvenile Detention.
Parents of two of the boys contacted by the Hook expressed shock but declined to comment. The father of the Albemarle High student told the Richmond Times-Dispatch his son is a good kid with a large heart.
"I firmly believe he never has and never would hurt anybody," says the stunned parent. "We have no idea what evidence they have against my son."
Chief John Miller reported that three computers and two shotguns were seized with search warrants, but he declined to comment when asked if explosives were found.
The alleged plot was reported by a "confidential source" January 30, according to Miller, and had been discussed in an Internet chat room. Miller refused to say whether the source was a parent or another student. He urged members of the community to report people they know who want to hurt themselves or others.
Authorities also decline to say whether the phenomenally popular Myspace.com was the scene of the alleged threats. MySpace.com, which boasts nearly 43 million members, is blocked at Albemarle schools, and has been banned from school systems across the country because of its potential for inappropriate behavior.
Most recently, Connecticut police believe at least seven teens who were sexually assaulted met their attackers on MySpace.com.
"It's very important for parents to get involved with their children and what they're doing on the computer," advised Chief Miller at the press conference. And Western Albemarle High plans a program titled "Internet uses and abuses" for February 23.
On the MySpace.com profile of one of the suspects, friends posted their reactions to his arrest. Writes one, "You're one of the most awesome people I ever met. I miss you! I'm praying for you! Everything will be okay."
The Western Albemarle student was arrested January 31 and charged with communicating a threat to kill or do bodily harm to another and persuading another to commit a felony.
The two other students are charged with conspiring to commit murder and to use an explosive device to destroy a schoolhouse. The 15-year-old was arrested February 1 and the 13-year-old the next day. Two of the students live in the same neighborhood, according to police.
Details of the nature of the threats were not released, but the threats did not entail a hit-list of names, according to police. One source says simultaneous attacks on Western and Albemarle high were planned.
School officials announced the arrests to students and the media February 3 and mailed letters home to parents.
"Everyone was a little shaken up," says Western sophomore Sarah Teplitzky. "I haven't seen anyone going to guidance or crying. I don't think anybody's freaked out."
As for a potential Columbine scenario here, "A lot of people doubted it could happen," Teplitzky says. "Then we read in the news they found guns and plans."
Jouett Middle School principal Dave Rogers reports that students were "a bit subdued" returning to school February 6. "We've had-- not a lot, but a little bit of parents' questions coming in," says Rogers. "Attendance was good."
Two of the youths attended a detention hearing February 3, and all three remain in state custody. They'll appear in court again February 22, and the prosecution has not decided whether they'll be charged as adults, according to Albemarle Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Camblos. "The Commonwealth would oppose any bond," says Camblos. "These are very serious charges."
If convicted as juveniles, all three could face incarceration until age 21.
Camblos commends the rapid response by the police department.
And Albemarle schools Superintendent Pam Moran said, "We believe cooperation with police helped us preempt a very violent act inside the school."
However, with authorities releasing so few details, some citizens wonder whether the youths were serious.
Waldo Jaquith, a former student at Western Albemarle, says he's followed preemptive arrests since Columbine. "Usually kids are making idle threats-- almost always," he says.
"I sympathize with law enforcement and school officials," he adds. "I appreciate their caution."
But he recalls wanting to blow up his school with a rocket when he was in the sixth grade-- and drawing up plans to do so. "It was an idle threat," he says. "I was mad."
Part of Jaquith's skepticism about the threats comes from the lack of information. He cites the example of frequent news reports of "a mysterious white powder" being found in courthouses that "inevitably turns out to be cleaning powder."
And he'd like to know more about the two shotguns. Did they belong to the parents, or did the kids have them without the parents' knowledge?
If explosive materials were found, Jaquith sees a big difference between a bottle rocket or a can of gasoline for the lawnmower-- and C4, a plastic explosive.
"I would feel more confident with more information," he says.
"We believe it's a viable threat," says Miller.
Jaquith summarizes the dilemma of living in a zero-tolerance, post-9/11 world: "It's just been criminalized to be a stupid kid. But if they were doing something wrong, I'm glad they caught 'em."
-
and plenty about Hawranke in the Richmond Times Dispatch Archives. It'll cost you though.
Dispatch - Richmond, Va.
Author: CARLOS SANTOS
Date: Apr 13, 2006
Start Page: B.1
Section: AREA/STATE
Text Word Count: 727
Newsom, who was an Albemarle County High School student, could be held in juvenile detention until he is 21. But Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judge Susan L. Whitlock ordered a review of Newsom's case next month.
[Eileen Ryan] described Newsom as a "kind and empathetic" person who tried to befriend [Dominic Hawranke], who was a loner without friends. Ryan said that she didn't believe Newsom had any intention of carrying out the plot.
Newsom drew national publicity when he filed suit in September 2002 against the Albemarle school system after a school official asked him to turn his National Rifle Association T-shirt inside out. Newsom, an eighth-grader at Jack Jouett at the time, wore a shirt that showed three men shooting shotguns at clay targets. School officials worried that could be viewed as depicting violent acts.
-
Were staff at Peninsula Village gay or sexual predators?
-
Of course staff is gay. How do you think we can treat homosexuals and turn them into normal, happy, white, productive members of the community? This is a very, VERY stupid question. Get with the program!
-
The point Zen is that you dont know Dominic's situation and you slander him by your words. I hope you get suid! You have no right to bring his name into your forum. And if you are so unhappy with your step daughters treatment, then remove her from PV. But wait! You don't have custody do you? Wonder why?
I know Hawranke personally, and think that all this bullshit going around on the forums and internet should really just stop. It has been several years, he's done his time. Let things disipate? Every time you put his name out there it just brings up the past. Daily Progress no longer has anything published on the net about him. He works hard, and deserves to have his privacy back. I think it's fine that you express your opinions about PV, but leave names out of it. The point of PV is to get your life back on track, and this bullshit on the net really doesn't help that, don't you think?? You should think twice before mindlessly chatting about someone else's life. It's immature. Assholes.
It is a shame this topic had to be brought to the front page again. I understand that Dominic went through close to two years of PV and is doing well. I agree, he does deserve to have his privacy back. In his case PV was an attractive alternative to jail. PV accepted him against their admissions policy, but what is their admissions policy? My experience with PV is that they will admit and treat a patient according to the wishes of the parent who is paying for it. In other words...what kind of patient does PV admit? Any patient whose parent can pay the tuition.
-
It's very frustrating to still find my name on the internet. But it's even more frustrating to listen to people talk about me that have never met me! How can you judge a book by it's cover? The news papers said what ever they wanted about me to sell more copies, but most of it was lies. I am not a violent person by any means! I have tryed to hide my past very hard, but every time my name is posted on here it gets that much harder. I just want a normal life. I know what I did was wrong, and I am VERY sorry to everyone for what happened. The reality of it all is that I was just a kid that wanted attention, and I found it by making disturbing comments to others. PV took me in because they knew I was not violent just very depressed, if they would of turned me away I would be dead by now. The main reason that I am posting on here is to ask anyone who used my name to delete it please. If you dont want to remove your post can you please just change my name to DH. The news papers are long gone and turning yellow now, but the internet will not go away. I want to live a life were my future family, friends or employers dont find my name on here causing problems. Thank you D.H.