Any CEDU Parents, KIDS, Staff out there? Want to talk?

[Anonymous]

Well,Northwest Academy must be very happy to have your friend.  They get a great kid, and $5,000 a month.  

It really is unfortunate when disfunctional parents with enough money can lock their kids away.  I saw this happen over and over.  Sometimes the kids were just greatful to get away from their parents.  This was usually short-lived, however.  Since your friend was "escorted", I take it he would not have gone willingly.

I am really sorry for your daughter.  It will be a long time before she has any contact with him.  He will be expected to work on his relationship with his parents before he will be able to communicate with any friends.  It may be as long as a year.  I know they have changed some of the programs since I have been there, so maybe it won't take that long.

There are legitimate reasons to have a teenager removed from the home.  There are kids who are a serious danger to themselves or others, or who are so detrimental to the health of a family unit that they must be removed to save the rest of the family.  Unfortunately, knowing the right thing to do is very difficult, especially in times of crisis.  The most serious cases usually involve a health care professional.  Their advice is as good as they are...  Other parents find out about CEDU through Educational Consultants.  Most Educational Consultants will only refer CEDU as an option for kids who are so out of control they wouldn't be appropriate any where else, except lock down.  CEDU lives mostly off of its reputation as the school famous people use when their kids need an attitude adjustment.  (The only reason this is the case is because when this school started it was the only one, and it was located in Santa Barbara.) Let's face it, a lot of people with money are easily seduced by high ticket items, and hey, if you have to carry the shame of sending your child off to behavior school, it helps to be in the company of famous people.

I wish the best for this young man. I did work at Northwest Academy. Hopefully, he will develop some positive relationship while he is there.  This makes it bearable.  I'm assuming he will be eighteen fairly soon.  He can leave then.  Though his parents will be instructed to tell him if he leaves, he will be on his own.  The school uses the parents to coerce the students to stay after they are eighteen.

Please let us know how this turns out.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your quick reply I know that he had some problems he would not have spent so much time at our house about 8 mo.If there wasn't. There was little we didnt know. He got poor grades and was in jepordy of not graduating, he was the star of the football team the picture of school spirit, goodlooking and well liked. however he was in a private prep school and academicaly should not have been there. It was too tough. my daughter graduated and is in pharmacy school and was well prepared. girlfriend is still there.The school recomended this place to dad and they have sent other children off as well because the families have money this is easy to do. dad made decision 2 days before he was escorted to Accent. Nobody knew about it. kid went without any problems but with his personality type nobody would have thought any different. Had he been able to say good bye or have any type of closure had we known where he was, better yet if his mother would have known anything maybe the shock would not have been so great. Councelor at NWA says he has low self esteem he is depressed and has anger towards his parents gee I cant figure that out. They want to start giving him anti-depressants. He chewed tobacco and smoked pot we didn't realize how much beyond recreational it was because he was so involved in fotball and weght-training. NWA says substance abuse not a problem. He will be eighteen in July. School says he should stay until Nov. good grief isn't that alot to ask? Mom says he will miss all the fun stuff if he leave early? so sorry to ramble I have never talked to anybody outside of the family about this I am still shocked to find out that these places exist and I am scared for the kids and the outcome of all of this on everybody.

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of different types of kids that go to Northwest Academy.  They range from severe to average for behavior problems.  Your friend sounds pretty average to me.  I don't recall myself or any of my friends responding much differently to the ups and downs of being a teenager.  It's a tough time to go through.  A little experiementation, depression and acting out are all typical for the average teenager.  Unfortunately, when the parents are not prepared to handle these behaviors, they are often compounded, and if the parent has the means and the inclination, they can send their child to whatever facility they want.  I wonder if this school recommended any individual or family counseling before referring him to CEDU.  If not, I would seriously question the integrity and professionalism of this school.  Any parent who is truly interested in the welfare of their struggling child should seek professional help for their child and for themselves.  I find it very sad that parents are so much more comfortable sending their child off to an unknown boarding school than they are to do the work themselves.  

The severely damaged children that end up at Northwest  Academy are another story.  CEDU will take students who are on medication for various psychiatric illnesses.  They  do have to be on medication; however, if you have any experience in this, you know that medication is not always that effective.  Some of the students at CEDU were very scary to work with.  I heard students expressing their desire to murder and rape in the most gruesome fashions imaginable.  I have no doubt that some of these students are doing just that.  CEDU is allowed to take these students into their program because the are monitored by a psychiatrist.  However, there is only one psychiatrist for over a hundred students.  Each student gets 15 minutes once a week.  This is hardly a safe situation.

One of the issues for an average student is to come to terms with the fact that he or she is in the same school with psychotic students.  Is this good for self esteem?  There are so many wonderful programs out there.  I don't understand why a loving parent would send their child to CEDU.

Again, I hope your friend is able to leave the program as soon as possibe and move on.  There are no experiences in life that we can't learn something from.  Coming from someone who had to parent themselves, it may take longer, but you can still get there.

[Antibody?]

[ This Message was edited by: Antibody? on 2004-05-12 16:54 ]

[Anonymous]

Yeah,
I would go so far to say the medication issue is involved in keeping kids there. Instead of developing the skills to communicate, empathize, humanize and build relationships, drugs are used to control behavior. A great bind exists within a medical profession married to money and devoted to corporate interests. When human beings and drugs are combined to induce submission and keep the orginization in the black ink, ethics have been lost.
This is the case whenever you have one psychiatrist seeing 100+ kids at somewhere around $125.00 a pop for a 5 to 15 minuite medication evaluation. I was involved in weekly meetings with staff and psychiatrist, and the agenda appeard to be to up the drug dose or go to a harder drug and eventually a coctail of drugs including antipsychotics and mood stabalizers to keep them safe or from running away. In my professional opinion, the drugs would most often not be needed if the children were not deliberately put in double-binds, tortured verbally, given weeks of table isolation, miserable work assignments, shaming isolation from talking to friends or anyone for that matter, severe punishment for interacting on impulse, and extended isolation for any infraction. Further, workshops (propheets) with innappropriate sexual content, shame induction, pillow pounding and forced emotional screaming and yelling while being screamed and yelled at will often break a child into psychosis expecially if he or she has anxiety, OCD, PTSD, and are being bullied by children and staff with personality disorders such as histrinoc, narcissistic and passive-agreswsive and no psychological training - that is the case at all of the CEDU schools - NWA being the least of CEDUs problems. However, CEDU is always abusive and dangerous because even when you have good people at the top. No one in their right mind and with a consience could enforce that tyranny on children. And you, therefore, can only get fanatics to work there. The far right of the Mormon Church are attracted in mobs because CEDU is like an early chance to practice being a God. And they believe they are going to be Gods at kingdom-come - Lucifer's kingdom.

[Anonymous]

I am really sorry to hear about your daughters friend. He is the type that I had always thought was hurt more than helped by the program.  I am glad  to hear that they are allowing anti-depressants in the schools now. I know this sounds terible...when you're there it could mean all the difference in the world. Hell, it would have been nice to get a tylenol after having all four of my wisdom teeth pulled..
These people suck the life out of the innocent.
I have had a difficult time adjusting to society since leaving a CEDU sister school. They never did prepare you for transition into the real world. I spent a month in my mothers apartment afraid to go outside after leaving, and I was one of the 'stronger' students at the school. I went through all of the profeets and left before my I and Me workshop, and of course missed the Summit. From recounts of events that happened while in the Summit, I am convinced that all things happen for a reason. I would have litterally killed someone for humiliating and abusing my friends like p.o.w.'s.
Being honest has lead me through a harder path than if I had the ability to just nod and let it go. Unfortunately society as a whole doesn't want the truth. They want the perception that everything is okay and when you confront their illusions with facts, it doesn't go over too well.
Right now I don't have the strength to get into the topic of the Mormons buying up these schools. I was born and raised a Mormon. It just validates their 'right' to abuse children. It's disgusting and makes me want to vomit even more.
**off topic**
Recently, I went to a psychiatrist to get some kind of help with stress. After an hour and a half interview the guy told me that the problem is meds work for people who don't know why they are exploding or experiencing panic, he said you know exactly why and what is going on in your life, they don't make a pill big enough for you...Have you considered drinking again? I said no.. I didn't want to self medicate that's why I am here. He said alcohol is a drug and if used properly it will take the edge off for you.
So much for seeking help...
Damnit..I held it together pretty good for almost twenty years..why fall apart now? ::

M.

[Anonymous]

Can anybody explain "summit" to me and transition for the NWA students? thank you :smile:

[Anonymous]

:wave:

I accidentally stumbled onto this site while looking for something else. I have recently graduated from a CEDU program, and I was trying to look up something from one of the workshops because I thought I might have seen a show on TV that incorporated one of the Bio-energetics from the Summit in it. Then I randomly stumbled onto this website and I started reading Antibody's stuff an I immediately realized who he was. Are you M*** R***? If you are, then I would really like to talk to you. You were my therapist at one point in time (when I first came to the program), but you left during the middle of my stay. But while you were there you made a big impression on me and you made a huge difference in my **A life. If I am confused about who you are then forgive me. However, if I am not, tell me! Write back on here or email me at [email protected]. I'd really like to hear from you, and I can update you on the latest news on a lot of the people you knew and were friends with (if you haven't kept in contact with them). OK, that's it!


 :wave:  :wave:  :wave:

[Anonymous]

Hi

I am a prospective parent and I would like to send my son to one of the CEDU schools.  You worked there what are the bad points of this organisation?  I am concerned about safety and emotional care issues. Can you give me more info.
Thanks

[Anonymous]

Hey, I've got some advice for you...RUN with your child just as damn fast as  you can away from CEDU.  Don't even "cosider" having your son or daughter put in the rinsethebrain situation.  It ain't no fun.  Take it from me, I''ve beeb there.  Heres a good idea, take the money that CEDU would have cost and go on a family vacation with your child.   Be a parent.

[Anonymous]

Go and re-read the last post on the first page of this thread.  Read it carefully.  It'w written by an ex-staff member.

[Anonymous]

Your Fear is Rational and right on track.

[Anonymous]

MR talked to me a few times with me. He's afraid of those people. They thretened to sew him so he stays out of everything - he helped me too a lot and he was the best one there they had. he is practicing in Couerdlene now. has a web site though - you might find him that way. its probably no him and one of the other therapists. You know they all felt the same way as him - He woulnt talk to me util i said whioi was. he said i has to be out of the program and over 18. i don't know if he can talk to you but his site is http://www.mentalhealthdirection.com good luck

[Antibody?]

[ This Message was edited by: Antibody? on 2004-05-12 16:55 ]

[Jack1963]

I learned about a place from these forums - http://www.menatlhealthdirection.com

I'd talk to that place first. Good luck to you.

On 2004-03-05 04:43:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Hi



I am a prospective parent and I would like to send my son to one of the CEDU schools.  You worked there what are the bad points of this organisation?  I am concerned about safety and emotional care issues. Can you give me more info.

Thanks"