Fornits

Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora
An open discussion about the troubled parent industry

Yes.  I was there!  That was the fun outing I was talking about.  Actually that may have been the only one that we went on, but considering what it was like in Cincinnati, it seemed pretty major at the time.  What about some of the people you mentioned earlier.  Do you keep in touch with anyone?

I was also one of the people who came over from Cincy to start the Michigan Straight program.  I was on 5th phase and (from what I found out later) just weeks from 7th stepping, when I left the program by simply walking out of my house.  My parents called the police, who came and said there was nothing they could do.  This, of course, would be unheard of in Cincinnati - I would have been tackled by everyone in the room, or kept in by locks, etc.  I was also restrained on the floor in Cincinnati and saw the many people who tried to escape being tackled to the floor by anyone near them, so I was brainwashed to try and physically stop people who tried to leave the Michigan program.  I remember grabbing one girl's arm who tried to leave and Staff told me that I had to let go.  As messed up as the entire Straight program is (I have been reading various posts about the violence and holding people against their will that took place in the different Straight programs and certainly remember similar things firsthand) I feel fortunate that I got to go to Michigan when its program first started because many of the laws were on our side then.  We actually had some fun and quite a bit of freedom when the program first started.  Group sessions were shorter, we went on outings, had groups in people's homes until the building was ready.  We really got to know each other and I felt like we were "normal kids."  Having missed out on things like my prom, highschool friendships, graduating highschool with anyone I knew because of Straight, this particular period in Straight is one that I remember relatively fondly.  I guess I can only say that it was fun because I came from Cincinnati where it was anything but fun.  I guess the leaders of the Michigan program were able to manipulate the Michigan laws as well because it sounds like it wasn't long before it became the same as Cincinnaiti was.  I left before the restraining laws came into effect, but it wasn't long after the Michigan program started that the verbal abuse and other tactics were used and I finally left (this was my only, but last cop-out attempt - don't ask my why it took so long, fear I guess).  It sounds like some of you were there the same time I was.