I left DRA with a PTSD diagnosis from the treatment I received there. On my first night, they told me to get into bed, but I wanted to call my mother because I believed they had illegally kidnapped me against her will (long story, but not outlandish since they took me in the middle of the night from my previous placement and didn’t tell me anything about what was happening) so I refused. I asked to see my patient right as this wasn’t my first rodeo and they said they had no idea what I was talking about, but the program head probably had it and they had no access since it was late at night, and if I didn’t get in my bed right away they would “put” me into bed. I put my shoes on and told them if they laid hands on me I would fight back, so they called the head of the program and said I was threatening to fight them and got permission to restrain me on my bed. Two guys pushed me onto the mattress on the ground and dug their thumbs into the pressure point behind my ear until I stopped screaming. DRA uses manipulation tactics to train their staff and parents to believe that the children are always the manipulators in the situation, so it is impossible to receive proper medical care sometimes or make any complaint. We could not make any private phone calls and the “grievance box” they provided that was supposedly sent to the state once a month was left unlocked and never emptied again by my third month staying there. If we tried to complain about DRA to our parents, it was considered an attempt at manipulation and we would get RFI punishment where we would have to work in silence in gym uniforms in the heat all day without speaking. You couldn’t use the bathroom if staff didn’t feel like taking you, and if you peed yourself if was considered self-harm and you were punished the same. DRA takes on mental health patients when they are not equipped to do so. They kept me around for the money my school was paying them but they knew they were not equipped to treat me and instead punished me for being sick at every turn. My anxiety disorder, which I was there to treat, only got worse at DRA and when I expressed fatigue over a connective tissue disorder I was later diagnosed with, I was accused of manipulation and told by the doctor I would feel better in general if I lost about 50 lbs. My friend and I who both had IBS were told we couldn’t get passes to go to the bathroom as-needed because it might be used to get out of chores. Our “psychiatrist” was a nurse practitioner who struck a deal with me to prescribe me Adderall if I agreed to go to therapy again just because I brought up that I wanted Adderall. I once overheard a nightstaff say the reason they couldn’t get anyone to work nights was because they were trying to pay people less than a McDonald’s salary to stay up all night with unsafe kids and work crazy overtime. Most of our day-to-day staff as a result were kids barely older than us, most in college. When they switched me to a new therapist and I was doing clearly worse on this change, my old therapist told me the head of the school acknowledged that he had made a mistake (against my old therapist’s recommendation) but they will only switch therapists once and not back again because that “looks bad.” The symptoms of my connective tissue disorder only became worse because of my strenuous time at DRA. I have irreversible physical and psychological damage due to my time there. Maybe they can help the genuinely disobedient and manipulative people I did meet there, but they should not be advertising as a place for the severely mentally ill. It is irresponsible and unethical to send mental patients here.
Name:
Elise
Program:
Diamond Ranch Academy
Location:
Utah, United States
Years Attended:
2016 – 2016
