ANOTHER WWASPS FATALITY?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone heard about a death at SCL yesterday?

[Anonymous]

yes.
the story as we have it now is a girl hung herself with her sweatshirt in the bathroom.
Supposed to hit print soon.

[Nihilanthic]

*sigh* and I bet they're gonna say its the kids fault as usual

Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
--Edward Everett

[Anonymous]

The press release from wwasp is out.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041008/laf082_1.html
Press Release Source: Spring Creek Lodge Academy


Student Commits Suicide at Montana School
Friday October 8, 5:15 pm ET


THOMPSON FALLS, Mont., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Spring Creek Lodge Academy (SCLA) a specialty boarding school in north-west Montana announced Friday that a student had committed suicide by hanging.
In spite of the efforts of SCLA staff, medical personnel, and emergency crews who worked to revive her, the girl was pronounced dead at a Missoula, MT hospital the Thursday evening, October 7.

In honor of the family's wishes, the student's name will not be released.

"We're all in a state of shock," said Chaffin Pullan, assistant director of operations at the school. "We're devastated. Most of all, we're deeply saddened for the family."

SCLA was acutely aware of the girl's fragility and had placed her on "high risk" observation. After showing signs of improvement, the 16-year-old student was recently removed from high risk after consultation with the student's counselor, the assistant clinical director and four staff members who had worked closely with her.

In describing the school's response, Pullan said SCLA will conduct a detailed investigation into the girl's death, and will review its policies and procedures in order to prevent such a tragedy happening at the school again. In addition, SCLA therapists, counselors, and staff will work closely with students in the coming days to facilitate the grieving process.

Pullan acknowledged the professional and compassionate work of those who responded to SCLA's call for assistance. "Law enforcement, first responders, the ambulance crew, the Life Flight crew, the doctors -- for me, it was just another way that the people here show their support for what we do, and their concern for kids. We can't even describe how much we appreciate that," said Pullan.

For further information, please contact: In Montana, Jacqueline Rutze, +1-406-827-4344, or Outside Montana, James Wall of Freeman Wall Aiello Public Relations, +1-303-232-3870, for Spring Creek Lodge Academy.

Source: Spring Creek Lodge Academy

[Anonymous]

// Pullan said SCLA will conduct a detailed investigation into the girl's death,//

And what about the medical examiner?
What about children and family services?
SCLA is just going to lay blame on the girl.

//SCLA was acutely aware of the girl's fragility and had placed her on "high risk" observation. After showing signs of improvement, the 16-year-old student was recently removed from high risk after consultation with the student's counselor, the assistant clinical director and four staff members who had worked closely with her. //

What credentials do any of these people have to make such a decision; and furthermore, WHY was a mentally fragile child ever placed in such a demeaning and emotionally traumatizing program??!!

Did the girls parents Know what kind of place this really is?!
I bet not.
I hope they aren't so consumed with grief that they are unable to now find out.

How long do you think it takes to hang to death with a sweatshirt? How sad to think of how desperate for release she must have been! How hopeless and helpless - and not able to even call home and tell anyone how desperate she was feeling! No way to call anyone at all for help.

I feel sick.
It is just so awful.

[Anonymous]

What kind of care does a wwasp program provide an emotionally fragile student?
Heres an example from my son's statement on Dundee ranch:

" The emotional abuse to me is
indescribable. I once stopped Mr. Kenny the Director at the time, and
told him I wanted to talk to someone and needed help. He responded by
saying " There is no more help boy, your ass is mine." He then turned
and walked away. "

[Antigen]

On 2004-10-08 16:07:00, Anonymous wrote:

"The press release from wwasp is out.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041008/laf082_1.html
SCLA therapists, counselors, and staff will work closely with students in the coming days to facilitate the grieving process.

Scarriest line in the whole article.

"Law enforcement, first responders, the ambulance crew, the Life Flight crew, the doctors -- for me, it was just another way that the people here show their support for what we do, and their concern for kids." said Pullan.

Second scarriest line in the whole article.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
-- Margaret Mead

[Anonymous]

Reporter Bob McKeown asked ROBERT LICHFIELD,
?Are there kids who responded in the opposite direction? Are there kids for whom this is simply not the right thing to do??
ROBERT LICHFIELD responded, ?There has been no child who has not been positively influenced? by the programs associated with WWASP.


This is the mind set that will enroll any kid no matter what the problem into these abusive and negligent hell holes.

[cherish wisdom]

My own child was supposed to be treated for severe depression, post traumatic stress syndrom with suicidal ideation at Provo Canyon School. PCS uses similar "therapeutic" techniques as the WWASP programs.  Here's what they did to her:
Human take downs with isolation in an ice cold observation room; a week-long isolation for venting about the abuse she was enduring in a group therapy session; forced druggings with Haldol; Chair punishment/isolation - where she had to stair at the wall for up to ten hours per day to work off points.  This was all done to a voluntary patient suffering from depression.

I'm sure that this poor girl's treatment was no different.  I'm sure she suffered extreme abuse and inappropriate treatment for her depression.  These programs ARE NOT SAFE FOR CHILDREN WHO SUFFER FROM DEPRESSION AND SUICIDAL THOUGHTS.  This is just too sad - something that should not have happened.  These parents need to look very closely at her records to see what was done to her.  We all know what observation means in a WWASP program.  It's brutal - isolation - staring at a wall- small, cold room....this was what she did during her last days on earth.  What a tragedy!  

A multitude of laws in a country is like a great number of physicians, a sign of weakness and malady.


--Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778)

[Anonymous]

Bless her heart.
I hope she is feeling peace.
Peace from confusion, anger, fear, the hurt of rejection, abandonment.... and toture under guise of 'treatment'.
I'm sorry there wasn't someone to remind her of her goodness, that she was loved and had value. To remind her that her situation was temporary. That as wrong as it was, she could endure it and that life would certainly go on. Someone in her corner cheering her on rather than deminishing her spirit.
I'm sorry she couldn't see even a dim light at the end of the tunnel, and that there was no one to help her see it.
Another child sends a powerful message. Will anyone hear? Will anyone listen?


How long had she been there?
Had she gotten the "We're on vaction having a great time without you" letter?
Was she taking psychotropic drugs?
When was the last time she talked to someone who loved her?
How much time had she spent in isolation?
Did she know how long her sentence was, or was she 'escorted' and told nothing?

[Anonymous]

Children are GOD's creation to his world.  

Fortunately for US; OUR children didn?t die.  They did however suffer from our ?stupid ness? and thinking one could be ?fixed? by someone else?s ?program?.

I too am deeply saddened by this child?s death.  At the very best WE can hope someone will wake up from this disturbed mentality as parents?that some thing is wrong with our children.  It isn?t OUR children?it?s us as adults & society that has caused this catastrophe?we as families have allowed wwasp to capitalize off of on OUR emotions.

Parents...please read the warning labels on all of your children!  DO NOT...dispose of them at a WWASP facility!

 

It is a very sad day in hell?when one needs a PR firm to justify ?child abuse? by ANY organization.  SICKOS!

My prayers & thoughts go out to her family, as well as for her safe & final journey into the house of the God.

[Anonymous]

All right, you sent your son to Dundee Ranch?  Did he graduate?  And why did you send him there?  Was he lieing when he lived at home with you?  I'll bet that he was lieing.  I'll also bet that he didn't graduate.  How do I know this, because I myself am a graduate of the program.  I graduated from Spring Creek.  For six months before I went there I was a big part of a mentoring program that was available.  I would go and talk to kids that were struggling.  I didn't need to have permission to talk to anyone, I could go anywhere at any time and talk to any other kid that needed or wanted someone to talk to.  I know, that the other programs have similar things.  I know that while I was in the program, I never once was told I couldn't talk to someone.  

If you talk to any other kid that graduated, they will tell you that they got a lot out of it.  They might not have loved it every day.  But they learned alot.  Since I have been out, I have been confronted with drugs, alcohol, and all sorts of other things.  But I think back on my time there, and what I learned and I know that I am better than any high, or any drunkin night.  

I have met Cameron, and I have met Gilcrese and all of the facilitators.  I know that there only concern is for the well being of us kids that are there and were there.  I still to this day have kept in touch with some of the staff, and they are still supporting me to this day.

[Anonymous]

On 2004-10-09 11:06:00, Anonymous wrote:

"All right, you sent your son to Dundee Ranch?  Did he graduate?  And why did you send him there?  Was he lieing when he lived at home with you?  I'll bet that he was lieing.  I'll also bet that he didn't graduate.  

Typical program talk. If you child didn't graduate, he is probably manipulating/lying-- only cult members can be trusted with the truth. This way of thinking is typical cult brainwashing.

How do I know this, because I myself am a graduate of the program.

Figures. You sound just like all the rest of them.

I graduated from Spring Creek.  For six months before I went there I was a big part of a mentoring program that was available.  I would go and talk to kids that were struggling.  I didn't need to have permission to talk to anyone, I could go anywhere at any time and talk to any other kid that needed or wanted someone to talk to.  

And I bet you recommended the Holy Program to these poor kids, right? You would have never been allowed to talk to these kdis if it wasn't fo advertising purposes.

I know, that the other programs have similar things.  

Probably. WWASP never misses on a chance to get itself some new prisoners.

I know that while I was in the program, I never once was told I couldn't talk to someone.

What about when you were in the lower levels? You probably were not allowed to talk to any one around you unless it was part of the ripping each other to pieces ritual, during groups sessions or during your seminars.

If you talk to any other kid that graduated, they will tell you that they got a lot out of it.  They might not have loved it every day.  But they learned alot.

Since kids who graduated have been brainwashed by the cult, I have no doubt that they will tell me how wonderful and helpful the Holy Program is.

Since I have been out, I have been confronted with drugs, alcohol, and all sorts of other things.  But I think back on my time there, and what I learned and I know that I am better than any high, or any drunkin night.

You've been programmed this way. It's understandable.

I have met Cameron, and I have met Gilcrese and all of the facilitators.  I know that there only concern is for the well being of us kids that are there and were there.  I still to this day have kept in touch with some of the staff, and they are still supporting me to this day."

Like many other cult members, you are still in there, with the same people, who continue to re-inforce the programmnig because if they won't, it might go away, and then what? You might actually start to think on your own! Imagine that!

[Deborah]

My dear,
Graduation from a program does not ensure 'success'. We have heard many stories of kids who have graduated and pick up their old 'habits' immediately. We have also heard accounts of kids who are estranged from their families, due to their parents total allegence to the program. You have to acknowledge this, or you are the liar. If I had the time, I could provide a long list of links to such stories. They're they if you choose to open your eyes and look.

At every turn there is an effort on the part of the program to conquer and divide the family- conrary to their stated goal of reuniting the family. Hence the advice to reject a particpant/graduate who is not 'working the program'. The program does not want parent and child in communication unless they are on the same page- thouroughly entrenched in the program rhetoric. If the parent advocates for their kid or challenges the programs methods and procedures, the parent and child are dismissed. Many programs require a transistional boarding environment post graduation, or attendance at a college they have an arrangement with. All these divisions do no reunite the family. They sever it and prevent the parties from talking about anything important, particularly how the program is going about or went about 'changing' the kid.
The program literally could surplant the parents role until a kid graduated college.

While it appears to have worked for you, there is no definitive answer as to why that is, or if the change will be permanent OR if it would have ocurred naturally without the program. There is certainly ample evidence to show that almost all kids grow and mature out of the rough spots. And ample evidence that when there is parent/child struggles, it is the PARENT who needs help. To blame the kid for the family issues is misguided and wrong.

One thing we absolutely know, is that people change when they have some kind of internal shift that results in a desire to change for themselves, OR when they fear external consequences. Genuine change can not be forced by an external entity. That is major flaw in the basic design and philosophy of all programs.

Programs know this. That's why they resort to austere and abusive means- combined with an extended period of isolating the kid from family and the world and, if at all possible the continued division of parent-child post graduation. Punitive environments do not foster genuine positive change- look at prisons.

Ironically, programs are in a position to bring about some real valuable change. They do not possess the necessary skills to build close and trusting relationships with parents and kids, because they have incarcerated the wrong person, and there's too much distance between parent and child. The parent needs the attention, and it is counter-productive to warehouse and torture the kid for the parents inadequacies.

Program owners and staff are not trained well. Why? Because our institutions of higher learning are not teaching effective skills. Modifying behavior with reward and punishment is easier. Requires less thought and certainly doesn't require any real caring. You can't teach or legislate love and respect. And many of the very people who praise the benefits of BM, would not condone the programs methods and policies. They are excessively harsh and abusive- flawed by design. The truth will be revealed eventually. Hopefully sooner than later.

[granny19]

I am absolutely sickened by this news. The poor helpless, fragile little girl, I pray she is at peace, and hope that her parents suffer forever for what they have done. It simply isn't that difficult to get truthful information on these places, the screwed up parents of these babies likely spend more time planning their vacations than planning the fate of their child. Every last one of these places should be shut down.