I went to Spring Ridge Academy in 2015. I was originally “gooned” (woken up in the middle of the night and taken hostage by strangers who escorted me) to a wilderness program. The wilderness program ended by recommending me to SRA. When I first got there, everyone seemed nice but it all felt extremely fake like everyone was talking down to me. I had horrible allergies to the weather and immediately I was accused of faking it by staff behind my parents back. The program was a nightmare right after my parents left the veil of happiness receded and was replaced by treating me as if I were some kind of inmate by staff. I was immediately strip searched and my every little blemish on my body was recorded by a staff member. I was emotionally abused into staying quiet about my needs and reaching out to my parents for help. Students who tried to get out of the program were yelled at by both staff and students in group meetings and could risk losing contact with their parents if they didn’t immediately follow up with them and say they were lying. One could even have their mail pre-read before receiving it if they were suspected as not being loyal to the program. We were emotionally manipulated into “calling out our peers” if anyone did anything bad (anything from masturbating with an electric razor to planning on trying to escape the program) we were told it would be our fault as well for not reporting them to staff. One time I stayed up all night two nights in a row having consistent 8 hour anxiety attacks, the staff encouraged the anxiety and I wasn’t allowed any time to sleep during the day. We were starved, but girls who were deemed “underweight” got to eat more than the rest of us. Girls who were deemed “overweight” were shamed during required exercise times and were forced to eat less food than the rest of us. In one of the trainings called “action” we were told to envision we were on a cruise having a wonderful time with our families. Jeannie (CEO) played happy music and the sound of waves while we were instructed to keep our eyes closed. Out of nowhere a huge BANG! was heard and staff opened and closed the doors loudly. We were told that the ship was sinking and we were all probably going to die. We had to then defend why we deserved to live and vote on wether or not we were going to kill our peers (other people in the training). We weren’t allowed to read certain books, staff had to review them before allowing us to have them. We were allowed iPod nanos only, with pre-approved songs. We weren’t allowed to talk to our friends until we got to level four, which took most people around a year from arrival. They emotionally abuse you/traumatize you into silence and cooperation, belittling you along the way. One time I was on my period while a group of us were getting in trouble, they made me sit in my period blood (which was bleeding through my tampon and onto the couch) until they were done (over an hour). I had rashes on my behind from that experience and was humiliated. Often we would spend days thinking about food, because all of us were always so hungry. In fact most of my conversations at that school with peers were about food. I once even talked with a friend about sneaking in nutrients up my butt, like how people smuggle drugs. I got in trouble for that with the school. My therapist forced me to write down every single traumatic thing that ever happened to me and do EMDR therapy regarding each of them. We weren’t given emotional support after these sessions, just set back into the dorms with 2-3 unlicensed staff who were tasked with taking care of up to 40 of us at a time.
