46
Fornits
Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora
An open discussion about the troubled parent industry
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47
CEDU / Brown Schools and derivatives / clones / new group
« on: September 22, 2005, 02:18:00 AM »48
World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS) / New Group
« on: September 21, 2005, 06:07:00 PM »49
The Troubled Teen Industry / Newsweek supports these schools?
« on: September 19, 2005, 09:56:00 PM »
This site looks an awful lot like Newsweek- but it isn't clear it's an advertisement- looks more like promoting- as in the college university section. hmmm... anyone know of these schools?
http://www.newsweekshowcase.com
the schools listed are:
Red Rock Canyon School
Ben Franklin Academy
Brook Hill School
The Carroll School
George School
Graland Country Day School
Holland Hall
Oldfields School
Orme School
Queen Anne School
anyone heard of them? I draw attention to red rock mostly, as someone from Woodbury's strugglingteens.com recommened it. Given that Lon's daughter attended the school I attended, Mission Mountain, and gives it the thumbs up, any recommendations that comes out of there makes me pause. This is the e-mail I received from Ron at struggling teens:
Also recommended was Aspen & Three Springs
http://www.newsweekshowcase.com
the schools listed are:
Red Rock Canyon School
Ben Franklin Academy
Brook Hill School
The Carroll School
George School
Graland Country Day School
Holland Hall
Oldfields School
Orme School
Queen Anne School
anyone heard of them? I draw attention to red rock mostly, as someone from Woodbury's strugglingteens.com recommened it. Given that Lon's daughter attended the school I attended, Mission Mountain, and gives it the thumbs up, any recommendations that comes out of there makes me pause. This is the e-mail I received from Ron at struggling teens:
Also recommended was Aspen & Three Springs
50
The Troubled Teen Industry / youth in support of industry regulation
« on: September 19, 2005, 03:42:00 PM »
Please circulate!
Dear Youth Change Agents,
As many of you know, over the last fifteen years, privately run, for-profit programs advertised as ?therapeutic boarding schools,? ?behavior modification programs,? ?emotional growth academies? or ?specialty schools? have grown enormously. Some of these programs advertise aggressively over the Internet, taking advantage of parents who seek help or enrichment for their youth. Instead, parents and their children are often misled into believing such schools will help them ?get better?. Often young people are forced into these facilities and, once there, are not given the chance to express their opinions or voice. They have little to no control over their treatment or activities. Many of us come to find out that these ?treatment centers? are not regulated or even held accountable to basic ethical standards of care. Behavioral healthcare licensing requirements for these programs are minimal to nonexistent in most states. As a result, the care received is often ineffective, non-therapeutic and even abusive. Youth, like us, suffer daily as a result of this major oversight by our government and through adult/parental ignorance.
There is significant evidence, detailed in newspaper accounts across the country that poor care, rights violations, and abuses occur within many of these programs. These reports illustrate that:
? Excessive use of seclusion and restraint has resulted in serious physical injuries, and even death, in these facilities.
? Medical neglect and physical and sexual abuse are all too common occurrences within these program.
? Children are often prohibited from speaking with their own families for up to six months.
? Unqualified staff are charged with implementing treatment plans for children with extremely complicated needs.
The use of harmful physiological stressors such as excessive labor and exercise is a common practice.
A START (Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic and Appropriate use of Residential Treatment) is a multi-disciplinary taskforce?coordinated by the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, in Tampa, and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, in Washington, DC?which has met for the past several months to study this problem. This taskforce is convinced that unlicensed and unregulated facilities pose a serious risk to children.
We take this time to ask you to take a stand for your rights and the rights of youth who have been sent away to such facilities and have nowhere else to turn. We write to ask you?as youth?to SIGN ON to the attached open letter that aims to get Members of Congress to pass legislation to protect us youth and to provide safer and more effective alternative treatment.
To sign on, email or call Allison Pinto, Ph.D., of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, [email protected], 813-974-9179 by Friday, September 30, 2005.. Please let her know that you want to sign on, and provide your name, age, town/city and state. After signatures are collected, A START will hold a press conference at the U.S. Capitol. More details about the press conference will follow.
In addition to signing on, you are also welcome to send Allison Pinto an email describing your personal experience with unregulated residential programs, or your specific concerns, so that this information could be included in the packet of materials that will be provided to Congress. The packet will also be distributed to any members of the press who attend the Press Conference. You are in no way obligated to provide this information, but you are welcome to do so if you choose.
Also, if you are willing to be contacted by members of the press who are interested in speaking with youth who have concerns or direct experience, please let Allison know, and send her your contact information (phone and/or email). If a number of people express a willingness to be contacted by the press, then a list of youth (and their contact information) will be included in the packet as well. Again, you are in no way obligated to provide this information, but you are welcome to do so if you choose.
Please note that for this sign-on letter and press conference, we can only gather signatures, statements and contact information from individuals who are 18 years of age or older. We wish that we could gather signatures from people who are younger than 18, since we certainly know that a lot of the people who are currently dealing with these programs, or have recently been affected by these programs, are younger than 18. For legal reasons, though, we are required to limit this sign-on letter to people who are at least 18 years old.
We hope that you will lend your voice to protect the thousands of youth like us receiving treatment in these unlicensed and unregulated residential programs. By signing this petition you are taking a stand with other youth across the country to end abusive care in these facilities. You are telling Congress and the rest of the country that it is not okay for the voices of youth to be silenced, that it is not okay to strip away a youth?s rights and that it is not okay to abuse them in the name of treatment. With your help, we can push U.S. Congress to enact legislation to regulate this industry, protect children, and make more effective services available. Please forward freely to other family members.
Sincerely,
Lorrin McGinnis
Kathryn Whitehead
A Start (Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic and Appropriate use of Residential Treatment)
June 28, 2005
Honorable Members of Congress
United States House of Representatives and United States Senate
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Members of Congress,
As youth leaders who have spoken out on policy issues regarding youth services, we are pleased to add our voices to those of professionals and parents expressing concern regarding unlicensed and unregulated residential programs for youth in need. We are the ones who understand best how bad care can harm youth. We are the ones who have lived and continue to live with the repercussions of such care. Some of us know youth sent to good programs that have experienced positive outcomes as a result of the care they received. Many of us either know youth who have been severely harmed by facilities from which there was no escape and in which there was no access to relief from inappropriate and abusive care, or have been in these facilities ourselves. We feel this is unacceptable. Youth have a right to treatment by qualified mental health professionals in their own community and have the safeguards in place to ensure they are being treated with respect and dignity.
As youth who have benefited from community based programs that work to empower youth through nurturing within their own communities, we know that there are alternatives to sending youth away to special schools. Community based programs empower youth by focusing on their strengths and by teaching them how to be functioning members of the community they live in. Special schools and residential programs treat them in an isolated environment, and then try to put them back into the community they were removed from, frequently with very little long term success.
We have seen that over the last fifteen years many new unlicensed, privately run residential programs for youth with mental and emotional disorders have been established. With no access to outside advocates and no real system of accountability in place, these facilities are free to advertise as institutions that treat a range of issues, from serious mental illnesses like bipolar and depression, to anorexia and sexual abuse. Often these facilities do not provide students with qualified, experienced staff trained to handle such complex issues. Youth are severely punished for their negative actions or behaviors rather than being shown their strengths and taught how to build on them, at home, in their familial environment. At this moment, these conditions are producing life-altering negative effects. Many facilities resort to forced labor and exercise, seclusion, and physiological stressors in place to induce change, which often exacerbates youth?s problems.
As a consequence of this harsh, stressful treatment, a number of youth leave such facilities only to find that they are plagued by nightmares and suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety which make life outside the facility even more difficult than before. Our fear is that many parents, frustrated over inadequate community based care, will fall prey to these programs. From our parents, professional partners, and those youth who have experienced such programs, we have learned about the following horrific conditions that exist in these ?special? institutions:
? Youth are often prohibited from speaking with their own families for up to six months- a practice which has significant negative consequences for child and parent relationships.
? Seclusion and restraint procedures are significantly more restrictive than what is generally accepted by mental health licensing and accrediting bodies. These practices have resulted in several documented deaths.
? Even though the needs of the youth in these facilities are great, unqualified staff are charged with implementing treatment plans and supervising the youth.
? The educational services provided to the youth often fail to meet even minimum standards.
? There is a pervasive use of excessive exercise, labor and other physiological stressors to induce change.
? No research has demonstrated that these programs have long-term benefits.
Even more alarming is that abuse and negligence are all too common within these
facilities. There have been many highly publicized accounts of atrocious sexual and physical abuse, as well as medical neglect. However, there is still little to no public oversight, leaving already emotionally fragile young people even more vulnerable. Yet it appears that no one but us youth who have experienced such low-grade care, or those who are close to youth who have been in such care, are aware of what is taking place. Because these programs continue to operate virtually unregulated and unmonitored, there is the appearance that both the government and the public find such treatment acceptable, making it difficult for youth suffering in these facilities to feel comfortable speaking out. Damage to the mental health of our youth is being done, and there is little in place to limit or control it.
Alternatives have been developed to meet the needs of youth; however, options that work better and cost less are frequently unavailable. As the Surgeon General?s Report on Mental Health reported in 1999, ?the most convincing evidence of effectiveness is for home-based services and therapeutic foster care.? A new movement of consumers and their youth allies were at the Surgeon General?s 2000 Conference on Children?s Mental Health asking that the adults running our systems of care listen to youth, for we are an invaluable source of direct information on difficult issues such as those surrounding therapeutic boarding schools and emotional growth programs. We are the sounding boards of our lives. The emerging youth movement in the United States strongly supports a comprehensive system of care that would dramatically reduce the number of youth in these facilities. Youth could be served in their own communities, at a significantly reduced cost. We know that some parents, trying their best to help their troubled children, are often financially strained to afford mental health programs. Debt and spent resources inevitably will decrease their ability to help their youth once they are home. We feel that the federal government, many states and many parents are wasting money on harmful programs. We have seen the damage from these programs and have lived with it. It is real and long-lasting.
Specifically, we urge lawmakers to enact the following proposals that would support the call from President Bush?s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health to ?swiftly eliminate unnecessary and inappropriate institutionalization? and that would make the use of therapeutic boarding schools both safe and rare:
? End Institutionalized Abuse Against Children Act of 2005 (H.R. 1738);
? The Keeping Families Together Act (S. 1704, H.R. 3243);
Too little information is known about the extent of these problems and abuses, and yet what is known is the cause of great concern. As youth advocating for our own well being as well as that of all our brothers, sisters and friends experiencing troubles, we know that, at best, many of these programs do not meet the needs of most youth and, at worst, they abuse the youth for which we have the most concern. Today, we join with others in calling on the General Accounting Office to conduct a study into the issue of children housed in unlicensed therapeutic boarding schools, and the conditions that they are required to endure, so that the full extent of the problems in these facilities can be understood.
The undersigned individuals look forward to working with Members of Congress to enact needed reforms.
ON BEHALF OF:
Dear Youth Change Agents,
As many of you know, over the last fifteen years, privately run, for-profit programs advertised as ?therapeutic boarding schools,? ?behavior modification programs,? ?emotional growth academies? or ?specialty schools? have grown enormously. Some of these programs advertise aggressively over the Internet, taking advantage of parents who seek help or enrichment for their youth. Instead, parents and their children are often misled into believing such schools will help them ?get better?. Often young people are forced into these facilities and, once there, are not given the chance to express their opinions or voice. They have little to no control over their treatment or activities. Many of us come to find out that these ?treatment centers? are not regulated or even held accountable to basic ethical standards of care. Behavioral healthcare licensing requirements for these programs are minimal to nonexistent in most states. As a result, the care received is often ineffective, non-therapeutic and even abusive. Youth, like us, suffer daily as a result of this major oversight by our government and through adult/parental ignorance.
There is significant evidence, detailed in newspaper accounts across the country that poor care, rights violations, and abuses occur within many of these programs. These reports illustrate that:
? Excessive use of seclusion and restraint has resulted in serious physical injuries, and even death, in these facilities.
? Medical neglect and physical and sexual abuse are all too common occurrences within these program.
? Children are often prohibited from speaking with their own families for up to six months.
? Unqualified staff are charged with implementing treatment plans for children with extremely complicated needs.
The use of harmful physiological stressors such as excessive labor and exercise is a common practice.A START (Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic and Appropriate use of Residential Treatment) is a multi-disciplinary taskforce?coordinated by the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, in Tampa, and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, in Washington, DC?which has met for the past several months to study this problem. This taskforce is convinced that unlicensed and unregulated facilities pose a serious risk to children.
We take this time to ask you to take a stand for your rights and the rights of youth who have been sent away to such facilities and have nowhere else to turn. We write to ask you?as youth?to SIGN ON to the attached open letter that aims to get Members of Congress to pass legislation to protect us youth and to provide safer and more effective alternative treatment.
To sign on, email or call Allison Pinto, Ph.D., of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, [email protected], 813-974-9179 by Friday, September 30, 2005.. Please let her know that you want to sign on, and provide your name, age, town/city and state. After signatures are collected, A START will hold a press conference at the U.S. Capitol. More details about the press conference will follow.
In addition to signing on, you are also welcome to send Allison Pinto an email describing your personal experience with unregulated residential programs, or your specific concerns, so that this information could be included in the packet of materials that will be provided to Congress. The packet will also be distributed to any members of the press who attend the Press Conference. You are in no way obligated to provide this information, but you are welcome to do so if you choose.
Also, if you are willing to be contacted by members of the press who are interested in speaking with youth who have concerns or direct experience, please let Allison know, and send her your contact information (phone and/or email). If a number of people express a willingness to be contacted by the press, then a list of youth (and their contact information) will be included in the packet as well. Again, you are in no way obligated to provide this information, but you are welcome to do so if you choose.
Please note that for this sign-on letter and press conference, we can only gather signatures, statements and contact information from individuals who are 18 years of age or older. We wish that we could gather signatures from people who are younger than 18, since we certainly know that a lot of the people who are currently dealing with these programs, or have recently been affected by these programs, are younger than 18. For legal reasons, though, we are required to limit this sign-on letter to people who are at least 18 years old.
We hope that you will lend your voice to protect the thousands of youth like us receiving treatment in these unlicensed and unregulated residential programs. By signing this petition you are taking a stand with other youth across the country to end abusive care in these facilities. You are telling Congress and the rest of the country that it is not okay for the voices of youth to be silenced, that it is not okay to strip away a youth?s rights and that it is not okay to abuse them in the name of treatment. With your help, we can push U.S. Congress to enact legislation to regulate this industry, protect children, and make more effective services available. Please forward freely to other family members.
Sincerely,
Lorrin McGinnis
Kathryn Whitehead
A Start (Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic and Appropriate use of Residential Treatment)
June 28, 2005
Honorable Members of Congress
United States House of Representatives and United States Senate
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Members of Congress,
As youth leaders who have spoken out on policy issues regarding youth services, we are pleased to add our voices to those of professionals and parents expressing concern regarding unlicensed and unregulated residential programs for youth in need. We are the ones who understand best how bad care can harm youth. We are the ones who have lived and continue to live with the repercussions of such care. Some of us know youth sent to good programs that have experienced positive outcomes as a result of the care they received. Many of us either know youth who have been severely harmed by facilities from which there was no escape and in which there was no access to relief from inappropriate and abusive care, or have been in these facilities ourselves. We feel this is unacceptable. Youth have a right to treatment by qualified mental health professionals in their own community and have the safeguards in place to ensure they are being treated with respect and dignity.
As youth who have benefited from community based programs that work to empower youth through nurturing within their own communities, we know that there are alternatives to sending youth away to special schools. Community based programs empower youth by focusing on their strengths and by teaching them how to be functioning members of the community they live in. Special schools and residential programs treat them in an isolated environment, and then try to put them back into the community they were removed from, frequently with very little long term success.
We have seen that over the last fifteen years many new unlicensed, privately run residential programs for youth with mental and emotional disorders have been established. With no access to outside advocates and no real system of accountability in place, these facilities are free to advertise as institutions that treat a range of issues, from serious mental illnesses like bipolar and depression, to anorexia and sexual abuse. Often these facilities do not provide students with qualified, experienced staff trained to handle such complex issues. Youth are severely punished for their negative actions or behaviors rather than being shown their strengths and taught how to build on them, at home, in their familial environment. At this moment, these conditions are producing life-altering negative effects. Many facilities resort to forced labor and exercise, seclusion, and physiological stressors in place to induce change, which often exacerbates youth?s problems.
As a consequence of this harsh, stressful treatment, a number of youth leave such facilities only to find that they are plagued by nightmares and suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety which make life outside the facility even more difficult than before. Our fear is that many parents, frustrated over inadequate community based care, will fall prey to these programs. From our parents, professional partners, and those youth who have experienced such programs, we have learned about the following horrific conditions that exist in these ?special? institutions:
? Youth are often prohibited from speaking with their own families for up to six months- a practice which has significant negative consequences for child and parent relationships.
? Seclusion and restraint procedures are significantly more restrictive than what is generally accepted by mental health licensing and accrediting bodies. These practices have resulted in several documented deaths.
? Even though the needs of the youth in these facilities are great, unqualified staff are charged with implementing treatment plans and supervising the youth.
? The educational services provided to the youth often fail to meet even minimum standards.
? There is a pervasive use of excessive exercise, labor and other physiological stressors to induce change.
? No research has demonstrated that these programs have long-term benefits.
Even more alarming is that abuse and negligence are all too common within these
facilities. There have been many highly publicized accounts of atrocious sexual and physical abuse, as well as medical neglect. However, there is still little to no public oversight, leaving already emotionally fragile young people even more vulnerable. Yet it appears that no one but us youth who have experienced such low-grade care, or those who are close to youth who have been in such care, are aware of what is taking place. Because these programs continue to operate virtually unregulated and unmonitored, there is the appearance that both the government and the public find such treatment acceptable, making it difficult for youth suffering in these facilities to feel comfortable speaking out. Damage to the mental health of our youth is being done, and there is little in place to limit or control it.
Alternatives have been developed to meet the needs of youth; however, options that work better and cost less are frequently unavailable. As the Surgeon General?s Report on Mental Health reported in 1999, ?the most convincing evidence of effectiveness is for home-based services and therapeutic foster care.? A new movement of consumers and their youth allies were at the Surgeon General?s 2000 Conference on Children?s Mental Health asking that the adults running our systems of care listen to youth, for we are an invaluable source of direct information on difficult issues such as those surrounding therapeutic boarding schools and emotional growth programs. We are the sounding boards of our lives. The emerging youth movement in the United States strongly supports a comprehensive system of care that would dramatically reduce the number of youth in these facilities. Youth could be served in their own communities, at a significantly reduced cost. We know that some parents, trying their best to help their troubled children, are often financially strained to afford mental health programs. Debt and spent resources inevitably will decrease their ability to help their youth once they are home. We feel that the federal government, many states and many parents are wasting money on harmful programs. We have seen the damage from these programs and have lived with it. It is real and long-lasting.
Specifically, we urge lawmakers to enact the following proposals that would support the call from President Bush?s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health to ?swiftly eliminate unnecessary and inappropriate institutionalization? and that would make the use of therapeutic boarding schools both safe and rare:
? End Institutionalized Abuse Against Children Act of 2005 (H.R. 1738);
? The Keeping Families Together Act (S. 1704, H.R. 3243);
Too little information is known about the extent of these problems and abuses, and yet what is known is the cause of great concern. As youth advocating for our own well being as well as that of all our brothers, sisters and friends experiencing troubles, we know that, at best, many of these programs do not meet the needs of most youth and, at worst, they abuse the youth for which we have the most concern. Today, we join with others in calling on the General Accounting Office to conduct a study into the issue of children housed in unlicensed therapeutic boarding schools, and the conditions that they are required to endure, so that the full extent of the problems in these facilities can be understood.
The undersigned individuals look forward to working with Members of Congress to enact needed reforms.
ON BEHALF OF:
51
World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS) / Youth sign on letter supporting industry regulation
« on: September 19, 2005, 02:57:00 PM »
Dear Youth Change Agents,
As many of you know, over the last fifteen years, privately run, for-profit programs advertised as ?therapeutic boarding schools,? ?behavior modification programs,? ?emotional growth academies? or ?specialty schools? have grown enormously. Some of these programs advertise aggressively over the Internet, taking advantage of parents who seek help or enrichment for their youth. Instead, parents and their children are often misled into believing such schools will help them ?get better?. Often young people are forced into these facilities and, once there, are not given the chance to express their opinions or voice. They have little to no control over their treatment or activities. Many of us come to find out that these ?treatment centers? are not regulated or even held accountable to basic ethical standards of care. Behavioral healthcare licensing requirements for these programs are minimal to nonexistent in most states. As a result, the care received is often ineffective, non-therapeutic and even abusive. Youth, like us, suffer daily as a result of this major oversight by our government and through adult/parental ignorance.
There is significant evidence, detailed in newspaper accounts across the country that poor care, rights violations, and abuses occur within many of these programs. These reports illustrate that:
? Excessive use of seclusion and restraint has resulted in serious physical injuries, and even death, in these facilities.
? Medical neglect and physical and sexual abuse are all too common occurrences within these program.
? Children are often prohibited from speaking with their own families for up to six months.
? Unqualified staff are charged with implementing treatment plans for children with extremely complicated needs.
The use of harmful physiological stressors such as excessive labor and exercise is a common practice.
A START (Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic and Appropriate use of Residential Treatment) is a multi-disciplinary taskforce?coordinated by the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, in Tampa, and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, in Washington, DC?which has met for the past several months to study this problem. This taskforce is convinced that unlicensed and unregulated facilities pose a serious risk to children.
We take this time to ask you to take a stand for your rights and the rights of youth who have been sent away to such facilities and have nowhere else to turn. We write to ask you?as youth?to SIGN ON to the attached open letter that aims to get Members of Congress to pass legislation to protect us youth and to provide safer and more effective alternative treatment.
To sign on, email or call Allison Pinto, Ph.D., of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, [email protected], 813-974-9179 by Friday, September 30, 2005.. Please let her know that you want to sign on, and provide your name, age, town/city and state. After signatures are collected, A START will hold a press conference at the U.S. Capitol. More details about the press conference will follow.
In addition to signing on, you are also welcome to send Allison Pinto an email describing your personal experience with unregulated residential programs, or your specific concerns, so that this information could be included in the packet of materials that will be provided to Congress. The packet will also be distributed to any members of the press who attend the Press Conference. You are in no way obligated to provide this information, but you are welcome to do so if you choose.
Also, if you are willing to be contacted by members of the press who are interested in speaking with youth who have concerns or direct experience, please let Allison know, and send her your contact information (phone and/or email). If a number of people express a willingness to be contacted by the press, then a list of youth (and their contact information) will be included in the packet as well. Again, you are in no way obligated to provide this information, but you are welcome to do so if you choose.
Please note that for this sign-on letter and press conference, we can only gather signatures, statements and contact information from individuals who are 18 years of age or older. We wish that we could gather signatures from people who are younger than 18, since we certainly know that a lot of the people who are currently dealing with these programs, or have recently been affected by these programs, are younger than 18. For legal reasons, though, we are required to limit this sign-on letter to people who are at least 18 years old.
We hope that you will lend your voice to protect the thousands of youth like us receiving treatment in these unlicensed and unregulated residential programs. By signing this petition you are taking a stand with other youth across the country to end abusive care in these facilities. You are telling Congress and the rest of the country that it is not okay for the voices of youth to be silenced, that it is not okay to strip away a youth?s rights and that it is not okay to abuse them in the name of treatment. With your help, we can push U.S. Congress to enact legislation to regulate this industry, protect children, and make more effective services available. Please forward freely to other family members.
Sincerely,
June 28, 2005
Honorable Members of Congress
United States House of Representatives and United States Senate
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Members of Congress,
As youth leaders who have spoken out on policy issues regarding youth services, we are pleased to add our voices to those of professionals and parents expressing concern regarding unlicensed and unregulated residential programs for youth in need. We are the ones who understand best how bad care can harm youth. We are the ones who have lived and continue to live with the repercussions of such care. Some of us know youth sent to good programs that have experienced positive outcomes as a result of the care they received. Many of us either know youth who have been severely harmed by facilities from which there was no escape and in which there was no access to relief from inappropriate and abusive care, or have been in these facilities ourselves. We feel this is unacceptable. Youth have a right to treatment by qualified mental health professionals in their own community and have the safeguards in place to ensure they are being treated with respect and dignity.
As youth who have benefited from community based programs that work to empower youth through nurturing within their own communities, we know that there are alternatives to sending youth away to special schools. Community based programs empower youth by focusing on their strengths and by teaching them how to be functioning members of the community they live in. Special schools and residential programs treat them in an isolated environment, and then try to put them back into the community they were removed from, frequently with very little long term success.
We have seen that over the last fifteen years many new unlicensed, privately run residential programs for youth with mental and emotional disorders have been established. With no access to outside advocates and no real system of accountability in place, these facilities are free to advertise as institutions that treat a range of issues, from serious mental illnesses like bipolar and depression, to anorexia and sexual abuse. Often these facilities do not provide students with qualified, experienced staff trained to handle such complex issues. Youth are severely punished for their negative actions or behaviors rather than being shown their strengths and taught how to build on them, at home, in their familial environment. At this moment, these conditions are producing life-altering negative effects. Many facilities resort to forced labor and exercise, seclusion, and physiological stressors in place to induce change, which often exacerbates youth?s problems.
As a consequence of this harsh, stressful treatment, a number of youth leave such facilities only to find that they are plagued by nightmares and suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety which make life outside the facility even more difficult than before. Our fear is that many parents, frustrated over inadequate community based care, will fall prey to these programs. From our parents, professional partners, and those youth who have experienced such programs, we have learned about the following horrific conditions that exist in these ?special? institutions:
? Youth are often prohibited from speaking with their own families for up to six months- a practice which has significant negative consequences for child and parent relationships.
? Seclusion and restraint procedures are significantly more restrictive than what is generally accepted by mental health licensing and accrediting bodies. These practices have resulted in several documented deaths.
? Even though the needs of the youth in these facilities are great, unqualified staff are charged with implementing treatment plans and supervising the youth.
? The educational services provided to the youth often fail to meet even minimum standards.
? There is a pervasive use of excessive exercise, labor and other physiological stressors to induce change.
? No research has demonstrated that these programs have long-term benefits.
Even more alarming is that abuse and negligence are all too common within these
facilities. There have been many highly publicized accounts of atrocious sexual and physical abuse, as well as medical neglect. However, there is still little to no public oversight, leaving already emotionally fragile young people even more vulnerable. Yet it appears that no one but us youth who have experienced such low-grade care, or those who are close to youth who have been in such care, are aware of what is taking place. Because these programs continue to operate virtually unregulated and unmonitored, there is the appearance that both the government and the public find such treatment acceptable, making it difficult for youth suffering in these facilities to feel comfortable speaking out. Damage to the mental health of our youth is being done, and there is little in place to limit or control it.
Alternatives have been developed to meet the needs of youth; however, options that work better and cost less are frequently unavailable. As the Surgeon General?s Report on Mental Health reported in 1999, ?the most convincing evidence of effectiveness is for home-based services and therapeutic foster care.? A new movement of consumers and their youth allies were at the Surgeon General?s 2000 Conference on Children?s Mental Health asking that the adults running our systems of care listen to youth, for we are an invaluable source of direct information on difficult issues such as those surrounding therapeutic boarding schools and emotional growth programs. We are the sounding boards of our lives. The emerging youth movement in the United States strongly supports a comprehensive system of care that would dramatically reduce the number of youth in these facilities. Youth could be served in their own communities, at a significantly reduced cost. We know that some parents, trying their best to help their troubled children, are often financially strained to afford mental health programs. Debt and spent resources inevitably will decrease their ability to help their youth once they are home. We feel that the federal government, many states and many parents are wasting money on harmful programs. We have seen the damage from these programs and have lived with it. It is real and long-lasting.
Specifically, we urge lawmakers to enact the following proposals that would support the call from President Bush?s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health to ?swiftly eliminate unnecessary and inappropriate institutionalization? and that would make the use of therapeutic boarding schools both safe and rare:
? End Institutionalized Abuse Against Children Act of 2005 (H.R. 1738);
? The Keeping Families Together Act (S. 1704, H.R. 3243);
Too little information is known about the extent of these problems and abuses, and yet what is known is the cause of great concern. As youth advocating for our own well being as well as that of all our brothers, sisters and friends experiencing troubles, we know that, at best, many of these programs do not meet the needs of most youth and, at worst, they abuse the youth for which we have the most concern. Today, we join with others in calling on the General Accounting Office to conduct a study into the issue of children housed in unlicensed therapeutic boarding schools, and the conditions that they are required to endure, so that the full extent of the problems in these facilities can be understood.
The undersigned individuals look forward to working with Members of Congress to enact needed reforms.
ON BEHALF OF:
As many of you know, over the last fifteen years, privately run, for-profit programs advertised as ?therapeutic boarding schools,? ?behavior modification programs,? ?emotional growth academies? or ?specialty schools? have grown enormously. Some of these programs advertise aggressively over the Internet, taking advantage of parents who seek help or enrichment for their youth. Instead, parents and their children are often misled into believing such schools will help them ?get better?. Often young people are forced into these facilities and, once there, are not given the chance to express their opinions or voice. They have little to no control over their treatment or activities. Many of us come to find out that these ?treatment centers? are not regulated or even held accountable to basic ethical standards of care. Behavioral healthcare licensing requirements for these programs are minimal to nonexistent in most states. As a result, the care received is often ineffective, non-therapeutic and even abusive. Youth, like us, suffer daily as a result of this major oversight by our government and through adult/parental ignorance.
There is significant evidence, detailed in newspaper accounts across the country that poor care, rights violations, and abuses occur within many of these programs. These reports illustrate that:
? Excessive use of seclusion and restraint has resulted in serious physical injuries, and even death, in these facilities.
? Medical neglect and physical and sexual abuse are all too common occurrences within these program.
? Children are often prohibited from speaking with their own families for up to six months.
? Unqualified staff are charged with implementing treatment plans for children with extremely complicated needs.
The use of harmful physiological stressors such as excessive labor and exercise is a common practice.A START (Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic and Appropriate use of Residential Treatment) is a multi-disciplinary taskforce?coordinated by the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, in Tampa, and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, in Washington, DC?which has met for the past several months to study this problem. This taskforce is convinced that unlicensed and unregulated facilities pose a serious risk to children.
We take this time to ask you to take a stand for your rights and the rights of youth who have been sent away to such facilities and have nowhere else to turn. We write to ask you?as youth?to SIGN ON to the attached open letter that aims to get Members of Congress to pass legislation to protect us youth and to provide safer and more effective alternative treatment.
To sign on, email or call Allison Pinto, Ph.D., of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida, [email protected], 813-974-9179 by Friday, September 30, 2005.. Please let her know that you want to sign on, and provide your name, age, town/city and state. After signatures are collected, A START will hold a press conference at the U.S. Capitol. More details about the press conference will follow.
In addition to signing on, you are also welcome to send Allison Pinto an email describing your personal experience with unregulated residential programs, or your specific concerns, so that this information could be included in the packet of materials that will be provided to Congress. The packet will also be distributed to any members of the press who attend the Press Conference. You are in no way obligated to provide this information, but you are welcome to do so if you choose.
Also, if you are willing to be contacted by members of the press who are interested in speaking with youth who have concerns or direct experience, please let Allison know, and send her your contact information (phone and/or email). If a number of people express a willingness to be contacted by the press, then a list of youth (and their contact information) will be included in the packet as well. Again, you are in no way obligated to provide this information, but you are welcome to do so if you choose.
Please note that for this sign-on letter and press conference, we can only gather signatures, statements and contact information from individuals who are 18 years of age or older. We wish that we could gather signatures from people who are younger than 18, since we certainly know that a lot of the people who are currently dealing with these programs, or have recently been affected by these programs, are younger than 18. For legal reasons, though, we are required to limit this sign-on letter to people who are at least 18 years old.
We hope that you will lend your voice to protect the thousands of youth like us receiving treatment in these unlicensed and unregulated residential programs. By signing this petition you are taking a stand with other youth across the country to end abusive care in these facilities. You are telling Congress and the rest of the country that it is not okay for the voices of youth to be silenced, that it is not okay to strip away a youth?s rights and that it is not okay to abuse them in the name of treatment. With your help, we can push U.S. Congress to enact legislation to regulate this industry, protect children, and make more effective services available. Please forward freely to other family members.
Sincerely,
June 28, 2005
Honorable Members of Congress
United States House of Representatives and United States Senate
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Members of Congress,
As youth leaders who have spoken out on policy issues regarding youth services, we are pleased to add our voices to those of professionals and parents expressing concern regarding unlicensed and unregulated residential programs for youth in need. We are the ones who understand best how bad care can harm youth. We are the ones who have lived and continue to live with the repercussions of such care. Some of us know youth sent to good programs that have experienced positive outcomes as a result of the care they received. Many of us either know youth who have been severely harmed by facilities from which there was no escape and in which there was no access to relief from inappropriate and abusive care, or have been in these facilities ourselves. We feel this is unacceptable. Youth have a right to treatment by qualified mental health professionals in their own community and have the safeguards in place to ensure they are being treated with respect and dignity.
As youth who have benefited from community based programs that work to empower youth through nurturing within their own communities, we know that there are alternatives to sending youth away to special schools. Community based programs empower youth by focusing on their strengths and by teaching them how to be functioning members of the community they live in. Special schools and residential programs treat them in an isolated environment, and then try to put them back into the community they were removed from, frequently with very little long term success.
We have seen that over the last fifteen years many new unlicensed, privately run residential programs for youth with mental and emotional disorders have been established. With no access to outside advocates and no real system of accountability in place, these facilities are free to advertise as institutions that treat a range of issues, from serious mental illnesses like bipolar and depression, to anorexia and sexual abuse. Often these facilities do not provide students with qualified, experienced staff trained to handle such complex issues. Youth are severely punished for their negative actions or behaviors rather than being shown their strengths and taught how to build on them, at home, in their familial environment. At this moment, these conditions are producing life-altering negative effects. Many facilities resort to forced labor and exercise, seclusion, and physiological stressors in place to induce change, which often exacerbates youth?s problems.
As a consequence of this harsh, stressful treatment, a number of youth leave such facilities only to find that they are plagued by nightmares and suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety which make life outside the facility even more difficult than before. Our fear is that many parents, frustrated over inadequate community based care, will fall prey to these programs. From our parents, professional partners, and those youth who have experienced such programs, we have learned about the following horrific conditions that exist in these ?special? institutions:
? Youth are often prohibited from speaking with their own families for up to six months- a practice which has significant negative consequences for child and parent relationships.
? Seclusion and restraint procedures are significantly more restrictive than what is generally accepted by mental health licensing and accrediting bodies. These practices have resulted in several documented deaths.
? Even though the needs of the youth in these facilities are great, unqualified staff are charged with implementing treatment plans and supervising the youth.
? The educational services provided to the youth often fail to meet even minimum standards.
? There is a pervasive use of excessive exercise, labor and other physiological stressors to induce change.
? No research has demonstrated that these programs have long-term benefits.
Even more alarming is that abuse and negligence are all too common within these
facilities. There have been many highly publicized accounts of atrocious sexual and physical abuse, as well as medical neglect. However, there is still little to no public oversight, leaving already emotionally fragile young people even more vulnerable. Yet it appears that no one but us youth who have experienced such low-grade care, or those who are close to youth who have been in such care, are aware of what is taking place. Because these programs continue to operate virtually unregulated and unmonitored, there is the appearance that both the government and the public find such treatment acceptable, making it difficult for youth suffering in these facilities to feel comfortable speaking out. Damage to the mental health of our youth is being done, and there is little in place to limit or control it.
Alternatives have been developed to meet the needs of youth; however, options that work better and cost less are frequently unavailable. As the Surgeon General?s Report on Mental Health reported in 1999, ?the most convincing evidence of effectiveness is for home-based services and therapeutic foster care.? A new movement of consumers and their youth allies were at the Surgeon General?s 2000 Conference on Children?s Mental Health asking that the adults running our systems of care listen to youth, for we are an invaluable source of direct information on difficult issues such as those surrounding therapeutic boarding schools and emotional growth programs. We are the sounding boards of our lives. The emerging youth movement in the United States strongly supports a comprehensive system of care that would dramatically reduce the number of youth in these facilities. Youth could be served in their own communities, at a significantly reduced cost. We know that some parents, trying their best to help their troubled children, are often financially strained to afford mental health programs. Debt and spent resources inevitably will decrease their ability to help their youth once they are home. We feel that the federal government, many states and many parents are wasting money on harmful programs. We have seen the damage from these programs and have lived with it. It is real and long-lasting.
Specifically, we urge lawmakers to enact the following proposals that would support the call from President Bush?s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health to ?swiftly eliminate unnecessary and inappropriate institutionalization? and that would make the use of therapeutic boarding schools both safe and rare:
? End Institutionalized Abuse Against Children Act of 2005 (H.R. 1738);
? The Keeping Families Together Act (S. 1704, H.R. 3243);
Too little information is known about the extent of these problems and abuses, and yet what is known is the cause of great concern. As youth advocating for our own well being as well as that of all our brothers, sisters and friends experiencing troubles, we know that, at best, many of these programs do not meet the needs of most youth and, at worst, they abuse the youth for which we have the most concern. Today, we join with others in calling on the General Accounting Office to conduct a study into the issue of children housed in unlicensed therapeutic boarding schools, and the conditions that they are required to endure, so that the full extent of the problems in these facilities can be understood.
The undersigned individuals look forward to working with Members of Congress to enact needed reforms.
ON BEHALF OF:
52
Mission Mountain School / why this site may cause depression
« on: September 11, 2005, 12:37:00 PM »
For me, I avoid and then return, but I think I find this site a drag sometimes b/c there's nothing proacitve here in the sense that the discussions we have and stories I share do not reach anyone but the people here.
I also get bummed b/c it seems to be insisted that a program is overall ok when it was not OK for me and others. If it was not ok for some then, the hope is , that it should be recognized that, overall, the program is not good. It needs to not harm anyone to be ok.
I guess, this general disregard for the experiences of those who felt we were harmed is why i, at times, have gotten so disgusted.
Plus, it's draining to have to point that out- and to realize that society seems to think that it's ok too. SEEMS, though, that is the key word. Politicians are listen, even if the public isn't. That's part of what is so great about out society. You can have a bunch of people that feel it's ok to violate rights, but have political officials work on your behalf as injured people, to make right what was wrong.
And that's why I 'keep comin' back' -ha, and find that sense of empowerment in writing letters to congressman and senators. It does feel awesome to take back some of that power that was taken away from us as kids- as helpless kids who didn't know (or really didn't have) a choice but to suffer through MMS. I think MMS almost killed me and I'll be damned if sit around and let people ignore girls who are going to come out of MMS or other places feeling the same way when it is a situation that is perfectly preventable.
I also get bummed b/c it seems to be insisted that a program is overall ok when it was not OK for me and others. If it was not ok for some then, the hope is , that it should be recognized that, overall, the program is not good. It needs to not harm anyone to be ok.
I guess, this general disregard for the experiences of those who felt we were harmed is why i, at times, have gotten so disgusted.
Plus, it's draining to have to point that out- and to realize that society seems to think that it's ok too. SEEMS, though, that is the key word. Politicians are listen, even if the public isn't. That's part of what is so great about out society. You can have a bunch of people that feel it's ok to violate rights, but have political officials work on your behalf as injured people, to make right what was wrong.
And that's why I 'keep comin' back' -ha, and find that sense of empowerment in writing letters to congressman and senators. It does feel awesome to take back some of that power that was taken away from us as kids- as helpless kids who didn't know (or really didn't have) a choice but to suffer through MMS. I think MMS almost killed me and I'll be damned if sit around and let people ignore girls who are going to come out of MMS or other places feeling the same way when it is a situation that is perfectly preventable.
53
Mission Mountain School / Brat Camp
« on: September 11, 2005, 10:48:00 AM »
Ok, I know the show is over, but I just have ot say that I thought it was so disturbing that they were allowed to film these kids and braodcast their issues on national TV. Anyone recal when Lionel Ritchie came to look at MMS and brought his video camera. After a while John told him we al felt uncomfortable with that and to please turn it off. I can't beleive paretns would agree to this type of exploitation.
Secondly, did that therapist guy- the head dude, remind anyone of John or Mike, when he spoke to parents who were thinking of pulling their daughter out of the program and said 'your being manipulated and I think it's bullshit'. This gruff, but seemingly honest & forthcoming everyman- actually, no he's more of a man's man with a no holds bar approach and its very convincing/effective to desperate parents who want someone else to take the reins and assure them all is well in the world, well... in their program. It's very Dr. Phil- that appears on the surface to be common sense, that they're going to tell you like it is because they know how it is and you don't. I think that its very scary that parents can be that gullible and be that negligible- although, of course not all parents are, just as not all programs are bad.
kat
Secondly, did that therapist guy- the head dude, remind anyone of John or Mike, when he spoke to parents who were thinking of pulling their daughter out of the program and said 'your being manipulated and I think it's bullshit'. This gruff, but seemingly honest & forthcoming everyman- actually, no he's more of a man's man with a no holds bar approach and its very convincing/effective to desperate parents who want someone else to take the reins and assure them all is well in the world, well... in their program. It's very Dr. Phil- that appears on the surface to be common sense, that they're going to tell you like it is because they know how it is and you don't. I think that its very scary that parents can be that gullible and be that negligible- although, of course not all parents are, just as not all programs are bad.
kat
54
Mission Mountain School / Human Rights Violations Game
« on: September 07, 2005, 03:05:00 PM »
This is a game. How many HR violations was MMS guilty of? Can you spot them?
Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4.
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6.
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7.
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8.
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10.
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11.
(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Article 14.
(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16.
(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17.
(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21.
(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22.
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23.
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24.
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27.
(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28.
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29.
(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30.
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4.
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6.
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7.
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8.
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10.
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11.
(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Article 14.
(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16.
(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17.
(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21.
(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22.
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23.
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24.
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27.
(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28.
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29.
(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30.
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
55
Mission Mountain School / Calls with our parents
« on: September 06, 2005, 04:55:00 PM »
Betsy, do you remember how often you got to talk to your parents when you first got there?
Was it the same, can't talk for a few months, or maybe once but monitored for the longest?
Was it the same, can't talk for a few months, or maybe once but monitored for the longest?
56
Mission Mountain School / Gratitude
« on: August 17, 2005, 01:27:00 AM »
In 2001 i began speaking out against MMS methods, and there were a few girls, who have since disappeared, with whom I shared diaglogue with on this topic. This was done on a strugglingteens.com forum. They stopped allowing discussions that mentioned specific schools and criticisms, so for the longest open dialogue ceased. Despite the fact that I dislike how heated things get sometimes on this site, i am so grateful that Ginger has created this forum where girls like me can share and have open diaglogue. So, thank you Ginger.
Secondly, thank you to all the girls who share. its such a relief to have such a strong sense of commaradre among so many. I really felt very alone until recently. I have so much respect for all of you for being being so strong and great advocates for yourselves- it seems it's a rarity to find such an alliance. I think that this is a big reason why places like MMS have gotten away with this kind of thing for so long.
So- i just have to say I'm grateful...and exhausted. Since this whole thing started I have spent a lot of time thinking about this and, as I'm sure most of you know that revisiting the past is tiresome anyway without feeling like you have to contend with people who want to dismiss your points by resorting to the very same ways MMS made us submit- by calling us crazy or fucked up. Given that most of us have been called that for many years, it probably feels like a low blow that's somehow legitimate if only in it familiarity- at least at first that's what I felt- and those were the emotions I had to deal with. In some ways this turned out to be a good thing if only b/c of all the things I've realized that I'm talking about now.
I just hope that no one decides that this is true and they have no right to speak b/c of it. MMS was supposed to be there to help us, many of us not only were not helped, but we had to deal with the additional problems MMS caused us after we left (in addition to the original ones the got us there in the first place). I'm lucky i made i out alive...i came very close many times to not making it.
No matter where any of us are in our lives, no matter our struggles, we had a right to be helped in ways that were promised to our parents. We were not. Each one of us, fucked up or not, has a right to point this out and attempt to figure out why and examine what went wrong.
Secondly, thank you to all the girls who share. its such a relief to have such a strong sense of commaradre among so many. I really felt very alone until recently. I have so much respect for all of you for being being so strong and great advocates for yourselves- it seems it's a rarity to find such an alliance. I think that this is a big reason why places like MMS have gotten away with this kind of thing for so long.
So- i just have to say I'm grateful...and exhausted. Since this whole thing started I have spent a lot of time thinking about this and, as I'm sure most of you know that revisiting the past is tiresome anyway without feeling like you have to contend with people who want to dismiss your points by resorting to the very same ways MMS made us submit- by calling us crazy or fucked up. Given that most of us have been called that for many years, it probably feels like a low blow that's somehow legitimate if only in it familiarity- at least at first that's what I felt- and those were the emotions I had to deal with. In some ways this turned out to be a good thing if only b/c of all the things I've realized that I'm talking about now.
I just hope that no one decides that this is true and they have no right to speak b/c of it. MMS was supposed to be there to help us, many of us not only were not helped, but we had to deal with the additional problems MMS caused us after we left (in addition to the original ones the got us there in the first place). I'm lucky i made i out alive...i came very close many times to not making it.
No matter where any of us are in our lives, no matter our struggles, we had a right to be helped in ways that were promised to our parents. We were not. Each one of us, fucked up or not, has a right to point this out and attempt to figure out why and examine what went wrong.
57
World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS) / alumni network- come one, come all
« on: August 12, 2005, 07:58:00 PM »
Hi everyone,
I am interested in creating a network of survivors, would anyone be interested?
I attended Mission Mountain in Montana, but have found that a similar thread that runs under most these programs. My school was small, so dissenting opinion, while large enough in numbers, is constantly overun by the more unified opinion of those pro-program. Well, not a great deal, but I suspect that the school will become much more organized in this respect b/c I have been speaking out so loudly against some of their methods, much in the same way WWASPS facilities do, and do so effectively. I, for one, am tired of feeling like I can't speak about what I experience without fear or without an alumni/parent telling me that it's somehow my fault that I found the school harmful.
Anyway, I thought that by compiling a (long) list of dissenters we may be better equipped to organize in a unified fashion and prevent what happened to us from happening to others.
Please e-mail me at [email protected] if you're intertested. I'm also looking to form a network of staff and parents- so please don't hesitate to e-mail me as well.
If I get enough people contacting me expressing interest I'll start up a mailing list through which we may all communicate and share what we've seen as problems in the industry- this is just not going to go away, even with the passing of HR 1738. I, for one, would like to continue taking steps to ensure that kids are safe and have the same rights given to a person in a psych ward or juvinal hall.
I'm a student, just finishing up my degree and I also work, so time is of the essence, but I'm working hard to do what I can and this idea seemed like it could work out. So far I have not seen alumni unified anywhere- I suspect this is a major reason why these schools have been able to flourish despite all the problems we've encountered in the industry.
Any input appreciated,
thanks.
kat
I am interested in creating a network of survivors, would anyone be interested?
I attended Mission Mountain in Montana, but have found that a similar thread that runs under most these programs. My school was small, so dissenting opinion, while large enough in numbers, is constantly overun by the more unified opinion of those pro-program. Well, not a great deal, but I suspect that the school will become much more organized in this respect b/c I have been speaking out so loudly against some of their methods, much in the same way WWASPS facilities do, and do so effectively. I, for one, am tired of feeling like I can't speak about what I experience without fear or without an alumni/parent telling me that it's somehow my fault that I found the school harmful.
Anyway, I thought that by compiling a (long) list of dissenters we may be better equipped to organize in a unified fashion and prevent what happened to us from happening to others.
Please e-mail me at [email protected] if you're intertested. I'm also looking to form a network of staff and parents- so please don't hesitate to e-mail me as well.
If I get enough people contacting me expressing interest I'll start up a mailing list through which we may all communicate and share what we've seen as problems in the industry- this is just not going to go away, even with the passing of HR 1738. I, for one, would like to continue taking steps to ensure that kids are safe and have the same rights given to a person in a psych ward or juvinal hall.
I'm a student, just finishing up my degree and I also work, so time is of the essence, but I'm working hard to do what I can and this idea seemed like it could work out. So far I have not seen alumni unified anywhere- I suspect this is a major reason why these schools have been able to flourish despite all the problems we've encountered in the industry.
Any input appreciated,
thanks.
kat
58
Mission Mountain School / parents
« on: August 10, 2005, 07:03:00 PM »
Hi all,
I am seeking a parent that is interested in speaking publicly on the need for regulation of this industry. Please send me a private message if you are interested or know someone who may be. Must be articulate and feel comfortable speaking in public and have had a child in the program.
Thanks,
kat
I am seeking a parent that is interested in speaking publicly on the need for regulation of this industry. Please send me a private message if you are interested or know someone who may be. Must be articulate and feel comfortable speaking in public and have had a child in the program.
Thanks,
kat
59
World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS) / provo canyon - parent seeks info
« on: August 08, 2005, 12:12:00 PM »
Anyone been to provo- this parent is considering it for his child.
I heard about Provo Canyon School from [my son's] psychiatrist, but I am not overly familiar with what type of program would be suitable for my son. If anyone has any suggestions/comments I would greatly appreciate it. I am at wits end. I love my son greatly and wish to see him thrive, not kill himself. [Frown]
http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ ... 1;t=000607
I heard about Provo Canyon School from [my son's] psychiatrist, but I am not overly familiar with what type of program would be suitable for my son. If anyone has any suggestions/comments I would greatly appreciate it. I am at wits end. I love my son greatly and wish to see him thrive, not kill himself. [Frown]
http://www.strugglingteens.com/cgi-bin/ ... 1;t=000607
60
Mission Mountain School / struggling teens
« on: August 04, 2005, 09:55:00 PM »
at least we have a site where we may post freely