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Messages - Macadamia

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Psych Hospitals / Re: Peninsula Hospital in Louisville, Tennessee
« on: February 04, 2009, 11:43:44 AM »
I never met a Filipino staff member or one who resembled a portly boy bander. The guy I'm thinking of looked more like a scruffy J. Crew model. What does one have to do to be fired from a dreadful place like PV, I wonder?

The admission of a rapist, clearly in violation of their guidelines, is more proof (not that more is needed!) that the Village exists for less than honorable reasons. How disgusting that there are people in power who care more about money than about the safety and health of our young people. The pregnancy bit is interesting as well. I read a glowing endorsement of PV by a brainwashed young lady who was signed in while she was pregnant (I believe it was in one of the Village newsletters). I suppose she had a rich daddy too, or at least one with excellent insurance.

PH is no doubt the lesser of two evils, but they did tell some lies to my parents. Upon my admission, Mom and Dad were told that they could expect a phone call from me later that day after I'd gotten settled, but the counselors denied me use of the phone and told me it was against the rules. It could be that the admissions folks don't know what's going on in the murky depths of PH.. The counselors also refused to let me call my mother to come and get me on the day of my release, saying that she knew I was getting out that day and would come when she wanted to. I didn't know at the time, but my mom had been informed by one of the counselors earlier that week that I hadn't progressed to the next level and the psychiatrist assigned to me probably wouldn't sign for my release on the day originally planned. One of my roommates was released the same day and left in the morning, but I had to go through another day of group therapy and utter boredom while I waited for my mother to pick me up. She was startled when she arrived at 7 or 8 PM and saw that my bags were packed. I was almost crying because the counselor made me believe that my mom didn't want to pick me up sooner. Thank God it was a visitation day, or else they probably would have kept me longer! They tacked those extra hours onto the bill, of course. It's all about the money with those people.

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Psych Hospitals / Re: Peninsula Hospital in Louisville, Tennessee
« on: February 02, 2009, 02:41:12 PM »
ZenAgent, I don't recall a Dr. Raman, but he may have been there. When I was at PH there were a few psychiatrists who were each assigned to several patients in the ward. Like the other patients, I would only see my assigned psychiatrist once or twice a week, for five minutes or so. That was a major disappointment to me, as personalized therapy was what I had been seeking instead of the half-assed group sessions I found myself stuck with. My doctor, who had a private practice in Knoxville in addition to his PH work and thus was rushed to get from one patient - or building - to another, was quite liberal with medication and wasn't afraid to double the dosage if results weren't seen fast enough for his liking! There was also a psychiatrist who would lead our afternoon group therapy. Sadly, those sessions weren't any more helpful than the evening groups run by the Keystone Cops, and my parents were billed mightily for each one of them no matter if I participated, sat there waiting for the session to be up, or was in another room having a fruitless and painful private session with my parents and a bored family therapist.

None of the current overlords featured on the PV website are familiar to me, but a few of the PH counselors who came in a few times a week were also working at the PV then. Those staff members, most of whom looked as though they were in their early to mid-twenties, were cockier than those who exclusively worked at the Hospital. One particularly memorable Village guy liked to lean back in his chair and smirk at us as he let us know how sad and screwed up we were. The way he tried to make us see it, all our troubles were our fault and we had no cause to be upset with anyone but ourselves. I have no doubt that he really would have cracked down on us if someone in a higher position of authority had given him the green light. I was afraid of him and made it a point not to speak in group when he was there.

My first roommate at PH was a heavy drug user who had been there for five or six months, waiting for an opening at the Village. I knew a stay at the Village would be lengthy and the thought of going there frightened me, but I had the impression that it was more or less like the Hospital, just long term. The girls who were headed there didn't seem at all afraid of what lay ahead, either because they were genuinely eager to defeat their demons no matter the pain involved or else they had no idea how rough it would be. I was really surprised to find out how cruelly the kids are treated there. It's good that this board and a few other places online are getting the word out.

I never saw this Chef Bob character, but you've painted quite a picture of him. He could probably tell the world things that would curl its collective hair.

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Psych Hospitals / Peninsula Hospital in Louisville, Tennessee
« on: January 29, 2009, 12:52:33 AM »
Has anyone else here ever had to go to Peninsula Hospital? I've been thinking about the place a lot lately, having recently learned all the dirty little secrets of the mysterious Village, thanks to fine people like yourselves who aren't afraid to speak the truth. I had no idea PV was so awful until I began reading about it online.

For those of you unfamiliar with PH, it's a private psychiatric hospital, serving both minors and adults, that some future Peninsula Village detainees are in before they're sent to PV for more intensive "treatment". I only witnessed one restraint while I was there, but there were lots of confrontations and guilt trips about things the patients couldn't help. I'm confident that several members of the staff would have shown more cruelty if they had been granted the freedom to do so. That was 1994 when I was just 14 years old, but I vividly remember a lot of the daily tasks/activities and many of the staff. I have an excellent memory, but I think I'd forced myself to forget some of the more humiliating details that are now starting to come back. I swear, I'll scream if I ever again hear a brisk "Ladies, take care of yourselves!" (the signature line used to staff to alert us that the boys were walking past and we were to turn away lest we catch a glimpse of youthful masculinity).

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Peninsula Village / Re: Peninsula Hospital
« on: January 29, 2009, 12:16:12 AM »
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I absolutely understand why the Hospital would be a welcome change to you after doing time in a place that was more like prison than a treatment center. Some of the girls in my group seemed to genuinely love being there, but they were the Alpha patients who cozied up to the staff and were always quick to confront the rest of us. I knew I needed some help dealing with my family and other problems, but if I had known what PH was like I would have pressed for seeing a psychologist once a week or something like that.

My time at Peninsula Hospital was a picnic in the park compared to a lot of the things I've read here about the Village and other places, but it's always been my opinion that the staff there was (and probably still is) too rough with adolescents who needed kindness and constructive guidance more than anti-depressants and sharp words. Bluntly asking a 13 year old incest victim why she didn't do anything to try to stop the abuse, followed by more confrontational comments and questions thrown at her by her peers, is only adding an extra layer to the guilt and confusion she already feels. That's not right and it never will be.

(And on that note, I'm taking the PH talk upstairs to the hospitals section where it would be a better fit.)

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Peninsula Village / Peninsula Hospital
« on: January 25, 2009, 12:31:12 AM »
Hello, everyone. My name is Jane. I was never in Peninsula Village but was a patient in Peninsula Hospital, also in Louisville, in summer 1994 when I was 14. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with PH, it's a short-term facility for children, teenagers and adults. At the time I was there, a couple of the girls who were repeat patients were waiting for room in PV to open up so that they could go there for more extensive "treatment". They didn't seem too worried about it - perhaps the Village was different back then, or they were just ignorant of what awaited them?) I'd like to ask a few questions about the similarities and differences of the two institutions, as well as inquire about the ways they have both changed since then.

I'll add a backstory here to better explain PH to those of you who were never there. I was extremely depressed as a teenager and was having suicidal thoughts daily. My sister abused me physically and mentally, and I was bullied by many of my classmates. My parents fought all the time and ignored my sister's mistreatment of me. I alternated being blinding anger and crushing numbness. I could feel myself cracking and so I asked my parents if I could go to Peninsula. That's right, folks - I asked to be admitted. I never would have done so if I'd known what it would be like, but I'd heard general remarks about PH (my family was in East Tennessee, about an hour's drive away) and thought it would be a supportive environment where I could talk about my problems with caring experts who would then help my family understand why I was so broken. Telling my mother how depressed I was was hard to do, but I thought it would be the beginning of positive changes for me. I didn't know that the adolescent program focused mainly on kids who abused drugs and alcohol and generally raised hell, nor did I know that the place was run like a boot camp. It was the nastiest shock of my life after I was admitted and led away from my parents to the narrow ward where I'd live for the next three weeks. The patients were encouraged to verbally attack each other (this was always initiated by a patient holding up her hand during a group session and asking staff, "May I confront someone?") and snitch on each other if any of us should be so foolish as to trust another girl with a secret. There were some very nice girls there who, in my opinion, would have been much better served by outpatient therapy, but PH had its share of nasty little witches who took full advantage of the arrangements to bully the others. A couple of the female staff members really did seem to care about us and appeared to be uncomfortable with the strictness they were required to treat us with. The majority of the staff though had no problem keeping us in line. In fact, they seemed to thrive on it. It was a nightmare for shy, sensitive people like me and some of the other girls. I begged my parents to take me home when they came for the first family session several days after I was admitted, but they had been informed by staff that I would try to convince them that it was too harsh there and that I needed to leave it. Mom and Dad believed them and I was stuck there for three weeks. Honestly, I haven't been the same since, and neither has my relationship with my parents. My time in Peninsula Hospital was THE event of my growing up years. It took something from me that I don't think I can ever get back, and I can only imagine how much worse it is for those of you who were in that hideous Village. I hurt for all of you and sincerely hope that posting here and getting support from the others is therapeutic for you.

Now on to the questions:

If you were in the Hospital and then the Village, what were the major differences between the two? How were the eating, sleeping and bathroom arrangements different at the Village? How was your schoolwork arranged? What were the differences in the way patients were allowed to initiate contact with the staff there? How were the staff members generally different at the Village? How often did you see psychiatrists, family therapists, and nurses? At the Village could you leave messages for your parents to telephone for each night?  

I read on here or another board that the PH and PV were taken over by a different medical group sometime in the 1990s. Was that before or after I was there? I shudder to think that the Hospital has gone downhill it terms of staff qualifications and treatment of the patients, and is now worse than it was when I was there. Those poor kids.

And just because I'm curious, have any of you ever seen staff members in public since you regained your freedom? I saw a woman from the Hospital a few weeks after I was released. We were both at the mall and passed each other outside a shop. She glanced at me and then walked faster past me. It made my blood freeze to see her.

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