Awareness & Advocacy
BREAKING CODE SILENCE
WWASP Survivors has teamed up with BreakingCodeSilence.net and SDLS (Suburbia’s Dirty Little Secret) to support the #breakingcodesilence campaign to spread awareness of the troubled teen industry and the need for reform.
Breaking code silence
Each year, thousands of teenagers are held against their will, in residential treatment centers.
These for-profit programs masquerade as therapeutic treatment centers and operate with impunity due to lack of government oversight. Teens can be held for years in facilities that claim to treat mental health and perform behavior modification but do not follow psychological guidelines for treatment.
The “treatment” these children receive is far from therapeutic. Instead, the abuse can leave survivors with lifelong trauma, including PTSD. This systemic abuse goes back decades – many of these programs have been shut down only to have others take their place.
Without government intervention, thousands of teens will continue to suffer abuse. Some have even died or taken their own life to escape the trauma. Countless victims have suffered after returning home from these facilities as a result of the lack of mental health treatment and unresolved trauma.
Paris Hilton joins #BreakingCodeSilence to speak candidly about trauma she experienced at Provo Canyon School in her new documentary This is Paris airing Sept. 14th 2020 on Youtube.
These programs exist globally and throughout the United States. They advertise themselves as premier rehab and treatment centers but are instead for-profit, privately-run detention centers. These programs deceive desperate parents and abuse the children they claim to help.
Please see our Red Flags list to learn to recognize abusive programs.
Details
What is Breaking Code Silence
Background
In the program, Code Silence is used to punish and demoralize students through forced social isolation. This oppressive silence can last for days, weeks, even months, up to years, if the student does not progress in the levels. This form of treatment causes feelings of frustration, abandonment and separation anxiety (the side effects have proven to result in complex trauma symptoms years after release). By literally taking student’s voices away, the program takes away the child’s right to express themselves, report abuse and make relationships with other students. Socialization and the developing brain of a teenager are extremely important. In a toxic totalitarian environment, the last thing a child needs is to be silenced. That silence ends today…
We will be silent no more.
We are Breaking Code Silence.
#Breakingcodesilence
#BreakingCodeSilence was created to encourage survivors of institutional abuse to stand up and testify about the abuse in their programs. We speak out today not for ourselves but for all the victims suffering in these troubled programs, with no rights to call for help.
Breaking Code Silence is a testament to the realities of the troubled teen industry – by us, the survivors. We hope this demonstration of empowerment and support for all survivors will gain widespread awareness which will fuel legislative action. In previous years, we have fought to bring forward both statewide and Federal legislative reform. To this day, no such federal regulations exist to reign in the Troubled Teen Industry. We will continue to hold our lawmakers accountable and push for legislation that will end institutional abuse. By telling our stories, we will unify our voice that:
This cycle of abuse and corruption needs to stop, we are not disposable, we demand justice!
2015 Economic impact study
Utah’s Troubled Teen Industry
licensed programs
72
Kids in Programs
11k
Annual revenue
$328M
Federal Regulations
0
Data based on a 2015 study of Economic Impact of Utah’s Family Choice Behavioral Healthcare Interventions Industry By Kem C Gardner Policy Institute, University of Utah. *Note that 18% of programs did NOT report their revenue and this study does NOT include unlicensed religious programs. To date no statistics exist to quantify the Troubled Teen Industry.
Submit Testimony
Are you a survivor of institutional abuse? Click here for more information about submitting testimony to #breakingcodesilence
Instructions
Written Testimony
INstructions
Write about your experience in a program or facility in roughly 800 words.
Include the age you were taken, and the year(s) kept in program.
Write what was done to you and/or what you witnessed done to others. Please write only from your own experience and not of anything you’ve heard or read which you did not yourself witness or experience.
Have a photo which you are willing to share of you at the approximate age you were when taken. (if you have no photo, a current photo is fine. We can release stories with no photo at all, but having one is more impactful.)
Tag #BreakingCodeSilence and end your story with your name, and “I am Breaking Code Silence”
Be aware of and willing to sign a permission and declaration of factual testimony.
#Breakingcodesilence
Submit Testimony
Submit Testimony
Video Testimony
Instructions
Photo Submissions
Instructions
Here’s what you will need:
- 1 White Poster board (or you can do this on a letter sized piece of paper)
- Black Permanent Marker (thicker tipped markers are best)
- Duct Tape (red or silver/gray preferred)
- Scissors
- A Clean, Solid Background (ex: a neutral colored wall or photography backdrop)
- Something Which Takes A Good Photo (ex: smartphone, digital camera, or good webcam)
- A Friend, to take the photo (if not you can use the timer feature on your device)
TIPS & TRICKS
The bolder your handwriting is, the better! Once you have your poster board, set yourself up for success. Find your clean background and set up your camera (or friend with camera) to take the photo. If you are doing it yourself, it helps to have the phone/camera/computer set up so you can see the screen and position yourself.
STEP 1. Using your marker and LARGE, clear handwriting, fill out your poster board like the diagram below.
STEP 2. Cut the duct tape to cover your mouth. This is not fun, we know, but it will be worth it!
STEP 3. Stand in front of the background, and hold your poster board so your hand is not covering the words. Try to keep the poster board as straight as you can.
STEP 4. It’s up to you whether you want to leave the tape as it is or if you want to use one hand to act as if you are pulling the tape off, you are literally #breakingcodesilence!
STEP 5. Take (or have your friend take!) several photos, so you have options.
STEP 6. Once you have selected your favorite photo, send it to us at breakingcodesilence@gmail.com !
#Breakingcodesilence
Submit #BCS Photo
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For More Information please visit:
breakingcodesilence.net