Has your child been in a ‘tough love’ program?
Did you place your child into a controversial ‘teen rehab’ or a behavioral treatment program? Does your child harbor resentment towards you for placing him/her in it? Does your relationship with your child feel strained because of the experience? Do you need help repairing it? Email only if you are willing to appear on TV.
WWASP Survivors was contacted by the Dr Phil Show’s Executive Producer looking for survivors who might want to participate in the show. Our initial call to action was met with so much support that it seems that there will be a great turn out for this show. So much so that we thought it appropriate to use this opportunity to show our numbers and ask that any survivors of these tough love programs come forward here, tell your story and share with the world your concerns for the kids currently in these programs.
Dr. Phil’s viewership is exactly the audience we need to reach, the struggling families with challenging youth, and the supporters of the tough love mentality that are not aware of the way these programs operate on a day to day basis. If Dr. Phil can show that these schools are doing it wrong, I believe many will start to understand that there is much more to the troubled teen industry than meets the eye.
We encourage every survivor who has been through these programs to stand up and fight for these kids… Because we are the ones who know what it’s like and our best weapon against these places is the truth. Please leave a comment with the program you went to and a short description of your experience. Help us to show the Dr. Phil show how many of us out there have been effected by these programs and are deeply concerned for the kids currently in them.
I am a survivor of one of these”programs.” It’s been about ten years now since I was at Casa by the sea In Mexico. I was 13 years old I remember being lied and tricked into going these two people whom I’ve never met in my life put me in there car offer me ciggerates … Im thirteen I did not smoke I just remember feeling really scared and abandon by my mother . I just feel that parents shouldn’t be able to send their children away to people who can hardly speak English it’s not like they were doing thereof for the child or the parents or the family’s . It was very strict you couldn’t talk without permission had to talk with three people at all times couldn’t use the restroom without someone taking you it was a lot like a jail for children very sad time in my life these programs are not helping the child with their attitudes or their problems there was no communication with the patents for months only emails or mail then after following the program a certain way After being brainwashed left with no other option you finally start moving up in levels then can have one phone call a month . Then also the schooling system is a big mess. I finished my whole 4 years of high school there in 1 in 1/2 years . Crazy and I didn’t learn anything at all I have no idea how I passed I had a really good gpa too . The education was so bad I wish that I could of went to high school and really learned something now I’m in college it’s been a struggle but I’m basically teaching myself everything I need to know and I need to make sure I educate myself . I would never recommend sending a child to a place like this . I recommend talking to your children loving them unconditionally and going to a family therapist you just need to know you’d children and find a way to get back in once your already so far closed out by them it will be hard but it’s worth it both the child and the parent deserve it I’m now 24 years old me and my mom are very close now she’s my best friend I love her very much. I wouldn’t say the program helped us it made me feel more angry and unloved alone when I needed someone the most it was a very painful experience I never talk about this time in my life at all! I’m now married with two children of my own. Life’s good but these arnt good places for kids it’s jail for children who didn’t commit any crimes .
This is so sad . These people are horrible . I was just listening to paris hiltons memoir as she went to a sister school I believe . God bless you and your family. I’m sorry you had to go through this !
WWASPS has deeple affected my life, though I never went there. my first true love was abducted and sent there. she had good grades, did not do drugs, was a really ideal young woman. Her only folly was seeing me against the wishes of her parents. she was taken with police escort to Casa By The Sea. For years i feared for her safety. I feel she was released from the WWASPS program a more distressed person. They taught her THIER way of doing things, leaving her ill-equipped to deal with the actual problems of the world.
Once I reconnected with her, I heard the awful stories of that place. Humans must be treated with respect and dignity, not forced to march, lay on concrete floors for months ata time, placed in a tiny, dark isolation cell, locked in dog cages outside, forced to decide which of their peers should ‘drown to death’ and given sub-standard nutrition and medical care.
Many of these programs have been closed down in other countries. Many times these governments have an AWFUL track record for human rights, yet they close WWASPS schools on the grounds of human rights. That should be a unmistakeable red flag, and more parents need to be warned of these ‘reprogramming centers’, as they describe themselves.
I was at Casa By The Sea for 11 months and during that time I was deprived food got food poisoning twice. I was tortured I had to lay naked well almost I got to keep my briefs on but it was on a cold tile floor in a postition that I can nolonger even get into I had to lay there with my chin ground into the grout in the tile floor bleeding with my hands behind my back touthching my elbows and my feet crossed in the air for 72 hours. This happend on numerous occasions I have a disease in my knees called ausgoodslughter disease and for day to day punishment I would have to sit in a little cube with my knees toutching the wall allong with my forehead indian style for hours at a time I still have problems walking because of this. I was assaulted on more than one occasion by the staff kicked in the face was the worst. It was just a bad place and I am thankfull the Mexican government shut it down It was abusive and just plain torment everyday I have communication issues and hold myself to a standard that is unachievable I have PTSD from there and anyone that went there at the time pre 2000 that says it helped them has stockholm syndrom It was torture and they threatned that I was going to get sent to High Impact so when waasps says they had no affiliation with that program I am a testimate to the lies and misconduct that cost my parents over 11 thousand dollars I hate to cut this off but my wife is demanding we go to the store.
I was incarcerated in Paradise Cove, a WWASP program in Western Samoa, for two years. While there we (I say we because I was there with hundreds of other boys who all experienced the same conditions daily) were denied communication with the outside world, including friends and family. The letters we were allowed to send and receive were censored. We were often denied adequate nutrition. We were punished with both verbal and physical abuse on a daily basis. I was locked in a box with my hands and feet tied behind my back for days at a time and denied access to food or a restroom. While in confinement I was made to eat meager portions of rice off of the floor like a dog. This was a common form of punishment that happened to many and often. We were forced to participate in TASKS seminars which use incredibly abusive attack therapy to break participants down so they’re more pliable to the coercive persuasion of the facilitator – these seminars use techniques that echo Robert Lifton’s outline of brainwashing techniques beat for beat. The attack therapy from these seminars was often used in day to day family meetings, so the verbal and psychological abuse was near constant. We were denied all privacy for the length of our stay. We were not told how long we would be held against our will. We were denied access to reporting abuse to a third party. We were denied medical care. I developed hemorrhoids at 13 from being made to carry large bags of rice and sand on my back and received no medical treatment or lightning of workload. I had my rib cracked and received no medical treatment. I severely injured my wrist and received no treatment. I had severe pink eye at one point and was told to rinse my eyes with salt water from the ocean. All of us were constantly plagued by scabies, ringworm, and large boils. We were denied hot water and adequate access to hygiene.
I could continue writing, practically ad nauseam, cataloguing abuses we suffered, but you get the picture.
I have not mentioned the vast sums of money parents are charged to send their kids to these places, or the incredible lengths the program will go to to convince desperate and vulnerable parents that these places are right for their child. Their lying, manipulating, and making false claims about the medical legitimacy (read: absolutely none) of their programs is well documented in books like American Gulag and Help At Any Cost. Books which the producers at Dr. Phil should have read if they are at all serious about addressing this topic with any integrity.
The fact that these conditions, worse than those of people on death row, are tolerated for American teenagers is completely unconscionable. The fact that Dr. Phil has recommended Tough Love programs in the past should weigh on the conscious of every producer and in fact wage earner on the show, right down to the make-up lady and the guy who sweeps up after, but especially Mr. Phil Mcgraw Ph.d – because all of you are complicit in this abuse and torture. This is your chance to do something about it. Make sure that your show denounces these places for what they are – profit-mongering, child abusing, torture camps.
What is the reason you were sent there and could things have been different?
Still searching desperately to blame the victim, eh? Disgusting.
JC Sevcik is a notorious white supremacist. So glad he was tortured this way.
Yeah sadly it seems JC has been experiencing some severe mental issues, although I don’t have any knowledge about him being involved with white supremacy one way or the other. I can’t join you in wishing torture on him, though, and frankly even if that was okay, you’re kind of skipping over all the rest of us who were tortured the same way.
I was sent to Casa by the Sea in Ensenada MX back. in December of 2001 and graduated 2 years later. upon arrival and being at a young age during a time in my adolescence when being Rebellious was just a phase in my life i was quickly apprehensive to the program. little did i know the abuse and humiliation i would face while in attendance there. its hard to find the right words to express what really happened there so i guess i will just start with the humiliation of being treated like a useless and worthless human being all while being forced to believe that i am not that person and that i am worthy. along with physical nature of the abuse..these things included grueling fitness all the way to violent restraining and take downs from so called “resistance”. i heard of other types of abuse such as sexual abuse but personally didn’t experience that. in a world where a child is looking for answer and searching for the right path to make a successful entrance onto adulthood i was reluctant to do so after attending Casa. i felt afraid in there. afraid to be my own person and afraid to tell others my own feelings of fear or just opinions in general. being told to express myself and then punished for doing so just seemed to hold a double standard and it affects almost every aspect of my life today. leaving Casa was a fearful time for me. sure i was happy to leave the awful grasp of the hell i was living for two years but i knew its after affects would take a toll on my personlaity and the way i perceived the future for myself. i struggle to live accordingly. to make the most of everyday. o battle with PTSD and just a feeling of low self worth because of the standards i was taught to hold for myself. above alkalinall is the will to find motivation in my life without fearing disappointment. its like i gotta be perfect all the time. aand again this was something we were told not to worry about bit never taught . recently a Facebook page was made that helped me re unite with old friends from Casa. they seem to be my only solid source of support for everything i am dealing with today. its sad to think of so many other who haven’t or maybe never will come forward with their own testimony. i know we all want a shot at trying to make things right and inform others of our experiences but i truly believe the after affects hold strong to others and so those is a voice for them. to let everyone know that we are hurt and affected by such
tortures we each individually endured while being there and the tortures we all face daily. we just wanna be heard.
Thank You for your submission Jennifer, Your application has been recommended.
Jennifer H.
I went to CBS when I was 16 (2000) and stayed there till I was 18 ( 2002) I was with a lot of the people I see on the Internet like Chelse Filer ( constantly saw her in Room Restriction – worksheets) Micheal Perry ( he was in a seminar with me ) my story is probably much like everyone else’s. I wasn’t a bad kid just going thru normal teen stuff , experimenting with drugs , hung out with the wrong crowd. The hardest thing is that I was sent there I believe because my parents were just done with, I was adopted at age 3 and I just became a nuisance to my parents. My brother was also really sick and died a few weeks before I left to Casa. The day after his funeral the escorts picked me up and took me to Casa, was just a crazy experience. I still can’t believe I went there and survived it all. I am so glad that they are shedding light on this now, my parents still believe it was the best thing for me and it drives me crazy. I still to this day can’t really get them to understand. Even if I don’t get picked to share my story I will make sure my parents get a Anonymous copy of the show, thank you.
jen henry? that you
Thank you for your submission Mandy, Your application has been recommended.
Mandy C.
Tough Love Program Survivor
Straight Inc. Cincinnati 1986-1987
Founder Mel Sembler and Betty Sembler
*http://survivingstraightinc.com/
“this says it all and my story is in here.
Why I sent my e-mail is because these program cause damage 25+ years later. I think that the public needs to see that. Their is about 400-600 of “US” survivor’s of this program called the grandaddy of treatment programs that has found one another. I think with our voice’s being heard, may show the public the true impact of damage these programs can really do in the long run. I wish I could get my mom to speak up but the damage runs so deep she doesn’t even want to talk about it. That’s how bad it was for me and hundreds of other family’s.
*Another resource is the book Straighling written by former survivor Cyndy Etler
http://www.cyndyetler.com/
*Their is also a documentary that is almost ready to be put on the market at the movie festival’s called Surviving Straight.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for your submission Brittany, Your application has been recommended.
Brittany P.
I was sent to Dimond ranch academy in 2007, I am from canada , my parents took me to vegas , and told me we were going to look at a rehab as I asked for help with my drug problem. They took me to the ranch dropped me off where I was stripped down naked and humiliated, they told me god wouldn’t forgive me for getting a devil tattood on me. I had pictures taken to be sent to my parents and I didn’t smile, ricky diaz came and screemed at me right in my face . I was told I looked like slut for wearing a skirt that didn’t come down to my knee. I tried to run away and was attacked by a 200 pound women. I wasn’t allowed to look in a mirrow for 16 days, had to count in the bathroom, do forced physical labour, I was restrained into the ground and thought my ribs were broken. Homeless is the first level and they treat us like inmates. Telling us. Were all there because we deserve to be . I was molested by a doctor , who told me o look at the ceililing while he fewt my whole body and sruck his fingers inside me and said I wouldn’t have to do this if u only had one partner . I go on for days this place was pure torture
Any thoughts on your behavior that got your parents so riled up that they thought this was the solution?
Does it matter? Isn’t the whole point of giving adults control the idea that they can step beyond emotions and make rational decisions without their heads being clouded? If not, then why do parents even have the right to make these decisions in the first place? Seems to me that parents, in this cacse, did not know best.
Thank you for your submission Collin, Your application has been recommended.
Collin O.
I was sent to Diamond Ranch Academy, as seen on the Dr. Drew show, and witnessed many teens suffer under the program. Parents were misled, kids brainwashed into compliance, some beaten (restrained), and lives changed (for the worse). The whole system of ‘Troubled teen programs’ is extremely flawed, and only exists due to the parent’s willingness to do absolutely anything for their teens. Most, understandably, turn to troubled teen programs as a last attempt. Unfortunately, the teens come out worse, more often than not. The lucky ones avoid physical pain, while the emotional pain is inevitable.
The saddest is when young teens are sent for very minor problems that could more than likely be solved by some outpatient therapy sessions. They are often mixed into the teens who have deeper issues, and ‘learn’ from then. Upon release, they face much more angry and unmanageable after being exposed to things they otherwise would not have. I have seen this first-hand multiple times. A tragedy.
Thank you for your submission Brittany, Your application has been recommended.
Brittany T.
I was in a tough love program for about 1 1/2 years. I was 14 when I came into the program and left shortly after I turned 16. I was from California and was sent to Cross Creek Academy in Laverkin, Utah. I’ve been out for a little over 3 years now and to this day I still have horrible nightmares and flashbacks to that place. I want to get our stories out there so that parents will make a better decision of where to send their children when they are “troubled.” I don’t ever want to see another child send to a place like this.
Where are good options? You can’t cry about where you went if there are no solutions. Govt and schools make it very difficult to parent tough children and leave us little option.
So your best option is private teen gulags with long track records of abuse? Yeah, way to find a real solution!
Thank you for your submission Daniel, Your application has been recommended.
Daniel W.
I was in Casa by the Sea for 23 months. I went in when I was 15 and came out when I was 17. I kept a detailed journal the whole time I was housed at this facility. I believe that I possess some very detailed examples of how poorly this place was run. I was injured playing basketball and broke my knee in two places. The medical care here was almost non existent. I saw several instances of abuse, both mental and physical. Please contact me if you are interested in hearing my story. I was pulled from Case two years prior to them being shutdown for child abuse and lack of proper medical treatment. Thank you.
I was imprisoned at Casa by the sea from 1999 through 2001. I was there for 26 months. I was going through my rebellious teenage stage, where I struggled with depression and had only just a few close friends that my parents did not approve of. I had tried to get along with the “nicer” kids, but I didnt fit in and felt rejected by them. I also felt like my parents were trying to turn me into what they wanted me to be, not what I wanted me to be. so they sent me away to that wwasp program in ensenada, Mexico. it was two most hellish years of my life. our living conditions work deplorable. we were crowded to about 25 girls in each single wide trailer, where we slept. lice, athletes foot, and illness were rampant. mushrooms grew from the walls, and our sewage system was so poor that we were unable to flush toilet paper
DID U KNOW MY COUSIN STEVEN BAXTER FROM BEAVER CREEK OREGON?
Thank you for your submission Cheri, Your application has been recommended. We would also offer our condolences and sympathy for your son’s death. May he rest in peace.
Cheri S.
My son was in Teen Challenge Jacksonville Florida. They kicked him out on the streets with no money, food or anything. He was found dead less than 24 hours later. This happened 8/20/2011. I have filed a wrongful death suite against them.
. instead, we had to throw soiled toilet paper away in unsanitary trash cans which often overflowed and had to be cleaned out by hand with no gloves and just mild soap. we were often it said fed rotten or pesticide laced food. medical care was almost non existent, and we students had to sort each others medications by hand ( another reason this place was closed was for running an unlicensed pharmacy). the only contact we had with our parents was through weekly letters, or a closely monitored phone call (after we reached the appropriate level, that is. it was over a year and a half before I was able to hear my parents voices again). we were unable to tell our parents about our living conditions there because if we did, it was considered manipulation and we could lose our levels for it and have to start over. we had no contact with the outside world; even when 9/11 happened, we were forbidden to talk about it. I also saw girls treated very rough week by the staff. there were a few that seemed to have permanent rug burns on their chins and faces from having been tackled and had their faces ground into the floor. we also had to go on the rope challenge from time to time, which meant we were tied together with a sissal rope chain gang style. since we were allowed no shoes and only flip flops, the iohorough rope would cut into our ankles and cause a bloody gash. I was also subject to psychological tortures and brainwashing. we had monthly seminars which were ran by a facilitator that was unlicensed in anything psychological. in these we were intimidated and chewed up for anything that we ever were or had ever done in front of our peers. this was very traumatic and rattling for myself and I’m sure many others. they did all kinds of things to play with our heads, including giving us no-choice and having us play games where there’s more than 1 answer but there is no correct answer. then we were encouraged to give each other feedback which involved stripping each other down and pointing out any possible weakness in each other. then, after we all had each other feeling miserable, the facilitator ( who had originally been intimidating and belittling us) took the role of a loving parents in order to build us back up into what they wanted us to be after we had all been broken down after all that we had known of reality had been shattered. the feedback continued outside of the seminars in every day to day program life. we had daily group sessions where we would ream each other and break each other down for verious traits we saw in each other that were not even necessarily bad. needless to say, this practice made us very down trodden and insecure with each other. never the less we were still forced to divulge our deepest secrets to the mercy of everyone else, even if we couldn’t trust them. if we didn’t, we were accused of being unopen and not working the program. all in all, to put it in a nut shell, the only thing I really learned in the program is that I can’t trust anyone.. in stead of thinking like I used to when I got confused, I now just get very angry when a situation arises because I feel like someone is trying to play with my head. I was forced to trust untrustworthy people, and had no choice as far as keeping my own security and safety. my parents were cut off from knowing anything that was happening to me, or its was covered up with a lie through our “case manager”. for all the money that my parents paid for me to stay in there, it was not worth the cost. when I finally got out, the world outside was unfamiliar, so of course I went back to my old roots before the program. I thought out as many of the old friends as I could, and went back to experimenting with the same old drugs that I had tried before the program. I felt like I had a huge gap where my life had been left on POS, because the real world changed while the program did not and I was doing my best to bridge it. I simply feel like the program stole 2 years of my life, and actually handicapped me in my maturity to adulthood by not letting me learn life lessons naturally. even in 12 years after graduating, I still feel lost and confused about what is reality and what is not. I still fight with depression and post traumatic stress disorder left over from that place. while I don’t fight with my parents too often any more, I now feel distanced from them and insecure in our relationship. when I was a child they swore you protect me from all harm. instead I was sent off to the mercy of a bunch of complete strangers that they had never met to go live in a cult ( which was something against their values as well). as far as words for any parent looking to send a way their teen to any of these residential programs, I would say that you need to be sure where you are sending your teen. personally go check out the staff and facility your self.
Maybe it is better to follow your parent and school’s directions in the first place, huh?
More victim blaming
I am a mother of a very troubled teen. She has tried to commit suicide 2 times after not receiving her cell phone or not being aloud to see her boyfriend. I have thought about tough love programs and want to ask the people that have been through this, what can I do to reach her? If these programs are not the answer what would have helped you?
I would look into Wraparound services in your area. If you suspect she is a danger to herself or others, I encourage you to take her to your local emergency room and have her evaluated by a mental health professional in your area. Be aware that in some cases, when the police are called in the case of a mentally unstable person, the situation ends with that unstable person being killed by the police called to help. It sounds like she may need true mental health help from a professional. These kinds of program rarely, if ever, provide anything close to that kind of service.
do not send your teen to any program that will limit the communication between you and your child. thoroughly investigate these programs on the internet and read any and all complaints or concerns from former students or their parents. while many of these programs will tell you that your child is wine or manipulating how to get their way out, many of these childrens cries for help and decent treatments are not made up. These things do happen to children in these programs. above all do not send them to any program belonging to the world wide association of specialty programs or even anyone affiliated with them. WWASP has had over 20 different programs that were affiliated or overseen by them, and all but about eight ( both here and abroad) have been closed down for the same repeating reason: child abuse.
sorry my story was garbled in places for using the voice recognition on my phone (and then accidentally hitting the send button twice before I finished). Hopefully you still get the jist of it:)
Thank you for your submission Stacy, Your application has been recommended.
My name is Stacy Robin. I was sent to Horizon Academy on March 27, 2011.
I saw and expierenced many horrible, inhumane things during my stay.
The second I arrived at the Horizon Academy facility all of my rights were taken away.
I was told to take off all my clothes and stand in front of complete strangers with nothing more than a towel covering my front while my backside was completely exposed. That was not the only time I was required to do that. Strip searches and pat downs were required when anything “went missing” Keep in mind that I was only 16 years old at the time.
I lost the right to talk when I wanted to. I had to ask for permission to do everything with little hand gestures for a while.
Every convorsation I did have was monitered including face to face, over the phone and my mail (which I learned was also edited)I was also limited on how often and how long I could talk to my family. If I said something my family rep didn’t want me to in a letter she editied it, if it was on the phone she would hang up on my family. I was denied contact with some people completely. Even my own bother and sister.
I was banned from talking to certain people all together because either we were too close or I was not the right level.
young girls and boys were often restrained by being slammed to the ground and having their wrists bound together by zip ties.
If the entire group did not rat a single person out we all suffered. Girls were denied their home visit because a boy stole $200
Girls and boys were not allowed to look at or speak to eachother.
Bathroom doors were always to remain cracked
Showers were timed (7-10 minutes) and most of us ended up with a very bad case of foot fungus and were denied treatment. Oh, and girls couldn’t shave until we earned it.
If you were sick too bad, you still had to go about your day. Even the girl that fainted and slammed her head into a table was denied rest.
We were watched while we slept. I often couldn’t sleep due to the night staff constantly shining a flashlight in my face.
We walked everywhere in a single file line and were required to be on step with the first person in line
I was first denied the right to quit my medication then I was cut off and told I had to join the military if I wanted to go home
I got out of there on my 18th birthday just 5 months ago. I was a level 4 with only 2 levels left until I was considered ready to go home, but I didn’t want to wait any longer while I was evaluated. So I left. My guardians picked me up just as everyone else was going to bed.
I am still adjusting to being back in the real world. I often forget that I can speak without permission and just get up and go wherever I need to.
My family and I are worse off than we were before but I have never been happier. You see I wasn’t even a troubled teen. I was set to graduate with my class. I came home every night and made sure the house was clean.
The only fault I know for sure I had was I wasn’t afraid to fight back against my families abuse. Which when you think about it isn’t even a fault. My uncle constantly hit and strangled me. His favorite thing was to lift me off of the ground by my hair. I went into kidney failure when I was 8 due to malnurishment. I’de been hiding it since I went into their home at the age of 4. I protected them. I don’t know why but I did.
The whole reason I was sent away to begin with was because of what was going on with my guardians. And when I came back and had the guts to ask the answer I got knocked the wind out of me.
My aunt called Horizon because she couldn’t bear to look at me. She said that everytime she saw me she wished I had died instead of my mother.
While my family life is troubled I do not wish to have them on the show. I have tried too hard for too long.
Today I am standing up for something much bigger than my childhood. I hope that I can help bring the truth to light.
I didn’t recieve any form of treatment while in a program. What I recieved was abuse. I was broken apart and then forced to put myself back together in a more acceptable form.
Horizon Academy told me that I was a problem that needed to be fixed. But the thing is you can’t fix something without the right tools. Horizon Academy and Cross Creek do not have the right tools. I was a witness to what went on in both programs. What went in broken, came out shattered in the name of treatment
I was at aspen ranch from 95 to 7/18/97. Before that I was at cascade school in California. Is there someone I can talk to about what happened all those years ago? I left aspen ranch on my 18th birthday, July 18,1997. I was at that place at the beginning, I’m only just finding out that what happened to me shouldn’t of happened. Things still haunt me to this day……. can someone reach out to me?
Please feel free to join our Facebook group, WWASP Survivors. https://www.facebook.com/groups/wwaspsurvivors/
My prayers for you to make a real go of it now that you can control your world.
Just remember, the kids you sent to the program get to pick your nursing home in just a few short years…
Abbigayl –
“I attended Penninsula Village in Loiusville Tennessee for 5 months prior to my luckiest birthday ever- I turned 18 and was able to leave. I was insulted, restrained for no reason other than sitting up and injured as a result of restraint. They left me in a burrito restraint for 18 hours at times. They operated on a system of insult and punishment and brainwashing. I could not write letters or speak to my family without a staff on the line. Calls were terminated if I tried to tell them the situation or I was made out to be a liar. There was no doctor nor any liscensed mental health professional . We were made to sit for hours unmoving without being allowed ever to speak or make eye contact. I used to wish to be in jail. I still have nightmares.”
Thank you for your submission Abbigayl,
However, we are no longer taking submissions for the Dr. Phil Show. We are however grateful for any new comments and encourage everyone to submit testimony to their experience at any behavior modification program.
It amazes me the amount of people (some currently incarcerated) who insist that wwasps programs are/were worse than prison. It would be an interesting study to look up all the ex detainees who have done actual prison time and take a poll. So far the consensus is prison is more inviting. Lichfield should pat his fat pasty self on the back…no easy fete.
Dr. Phil is a ruse. He must have a financial interest in Aspen Education Group because he sends kids to those abusive facilities on a regular basis.
Last week he told an abusive husband/father that he didn’t think he was a bad buy. Aw come on. He chastised the depressed abused wife and packed their kids off to one of these RTC’s and stood in front of a huge screen with the Aspen Education Group logo displayed proudly.
Aspen Education Group is the same “program” as WWASPS except they use different names and corporate shields. I don’t know why Phil did the show on Casa unless it was to get ratings but, he has bought in to the “$troubled teen$” industry hook, line, and sinker.
I would like to see any adult professional (pop psychologists specifically included) that recommends children be incarcerated in these facilities have to spend ONE YEAR of their lives at Level 1. Their heads would explode and then they would go on a campaign to get them all shut down. Unless, of course, they were brainwashed into the “program”. . .
Hey Dr. Phil…GET REAL, NOT RICH off of the lives of these kids!
i am a survivor of dundee, tranquility and spring creek. there are photos of me on the internet being humiliated in ob. I was restrained on a daily basis and to this day i have shoulder and wrist problems that require surgery…a direct result of being restrained until i would beg for them to get off of me.
I saw that you went to Dundee Ranch academy and to tranquility bay I was also at both places I was sent to tranquility bay after I was involved in the riot in Dundee Ranch. Those place ruined me emotionally, mentally, and even physically for awhile and am still undergoing trials
Jessica dibb… when I was in Dundee and tb there were two jessicas there were you the tall one kind of short hair and used to ask keke to sing for u at night time?
Dr. Phil is an advocate of teen prison camps.. Mostly financial kick backs..What’s in it for him, ratings. The other day he said to another ambushed teen. “I can make you go but I would rather you went voluntairley.
This is Dr. Phil at his best for sending teens to prison camps.. WAKE UP!!!!!
http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php?t=641918
I was at aspen ranch from 95 to 7/18/97. Before that I was at cascade school in California. Is there someone I can talk to about what happened all those years ago? I left aspen ranch on my 18th birthday, July 18,1997. I was at that place at the beginning, I’m only just finding out that what happened to me shouldn’t of happened. Things still haunt me to this day……. can someone reach out to me?
dr phil is sending teens to abuse programs him self. You shouldn’t promote him. You should try to shut him down. He’s just as guilty of child abuse. Even worse! He makes it entertainment. Because of the promotion he does for these programs . Many more children are being kidnapped and imprisoned. There have been lawsuits against him by former guests. Dr Phil belongs in prison!
We aren’t promoting. We’re trying to let Dr. Phil know how abusive these places are.
Where is the comment I posted to this last this morning at like 3am? I wanted to make be a copy of it because it was the first time I ever recounted that much of my story but it disappeared after I clicked submit but didn’t show up with the other comments.
I was sent to ivy ridge for 9 months around 2003. From what I’ve read there wasn’t as much physical abuse as some of the other wasp programs and the food was decient but everything else was the same. 16 years later and I’m still dealing with the PTSD I got from two 300lb dudes busting in my room at 4am to abduct me and drag me halfway across the country, against my will, to be held captive for a indefinite amount of time. Since then, I haven’t been able to sleep for more than a hour or two at a time unless I’m so fucked up, I’m more passed out than sleeping. And every time I wake up, especially if the house creaked or something made any sound at all, I wake up basically in panic mode and then it takes a minimum of a hour and smoking at least a cigarette to calm down before I can fall back asleep. This continuous lack of sleep and the chronic tardiness it causes, has been the primary reason I was unable to complete college and haven’t been able to hold a job for more than 6 months from the last 16 years. My parents sent me there for smoking pot, drinking and skipping school. Basically being a normal 16 year old going through my rebelous stage and falling a little behind in school. I got bullied a bit by my older cousins (we all went to the same school and lived on the same road) and there friends and was pretty shy, especially around girls, but didn’t have any real problems. Didn’t have smoke pot or drink to cover or escape from anything, was just doing normal teenage experimenting. With in a month of getting out, I ended up trying coke, extcy, and oxy cottin all in one weekend because now I did have stuff to excape and cover up but pot and alcohol weren’t cutting it. Ended up having problems with all three until finally settling on opiates and switching to herion once I got addicted. So, before Ivy ridge, recreational pot and alcohol use, after Ivy ridge full blown addiction to coke, extcy, oxy cottin, then herion that I’ve been trying to overcome for the last 10+ years. I used to think, well at least I got caught up with my school credits and was able to get my highschool diploma when I got out. (I turned 18 before I graduated) But just recently I found out that Ivy ridge wasn’t actually accredited and didn’t have the authority to give out highschool diplomas or credits so I probably don’t even have a valid diploma. I could actually use some info on this topic. I did my last semester at and my diploma was issued from a normal highschool before the 2005 court rulling so they didn’t know 9 of my credits came from a unaccredited school. Is my diploma still valid or if someone looks into it, will it say I never graduated? I did the work, it’s not my fault they lied about being accredited. And if my credits are no good, why did the judge only award the parents a partial refund? There not the ones who don’t have diplomas because of this, there not the ones who’s lives were ruined by that place.
Another way that place messed me up is in regard to relationships. As I said, before getting sent there I was pretty shy around girls, at the beginning of my 11th grade year I still had never had a real girlfriend, never had gone further than holding hands with a girl. About a month and a half before being sent away. It took me a month to work up the courage to kiss her for the first time. Right about the time we start getting close and comfortable with each other, and I’m just starting to figure out how relationships work and getting used to the concept of a intimate relationship in general, I get hauled off and locked up in a place where they cut off any development in that area by basically drilling into you that the feelings your having are wrong and bad, your punished for even looking at the opposite sex. This has stunted my growth in that area so much that I haven’t had a relationship that got past kissing, no toung, EVER. I’m a decent looking 33 year old man who would still be a vergin if it wasn’t for a hand full of drunken one night stands because I can’t get past the feeling that I’m doing something wrong whenever I’m in a intimate situation with a woman that was instilled in me there. The seminars we’re the only time you had contact with the opposite sex. You get put into groups for the crap you have to do. They are assigned, you don’t get to pick. At the 2nd one I almost got restarted because me and this girl happen to be assigned by the staff to be in a group together at both seminars and didn’t tell anyone so they accused us of trying to start a relationship.
The worst part about the whole situation, is that it was all completely unnecessary. I was skipping school and smoking and drinking had been for a year or so. and like I said shortly before I got sent away to the school I got into my first real boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. Well the girl that I was seeing was kind of preppy. She didn’t drink or smoke cigarettes, she smoked pot but like once a month, not almost every day like me, and she didn’t skip school. I got her to like twice that first couple weeks but she wouldn’t anymore after that but I still did for a week or two untill she had a talk with me after one night we hung out and I was drinking. First she told me about how she likes riding to and from school with me, I had a car, but she can’t do that if I’m skipping school or leaving early. And then she says it doesn’t bother her if I was just smoking weed but that kissing me or even being real close to me after I’ve been drinking or smoking cigarettes smells nasty and grosses her out. She didn’t try to force me to do anything but I was infatuated with this girl so it was a pretty easy choice. I liked kissing her a hell of a lot more than I liked cigarettes. Even if both of our parents would be in the room, I would choose sitting on a couch with my arm around her watching a movie over getting drunk with my friends any day. And I didn’t want to let her down by not showing up to pick her up for school or not being there to take her home. So for the next two weeks or so, I go to every one of my classes, don’t drink at all, prior to this I had been almost every weekend, cut back on the pot and get down to 2 cigarettes a day instead of almost a pack a day. Then two guys show up and abduct me. My parents didn’t know about the changes I had made on my own yet. If they had just let me be a normal teenager and figure out things for myself, like they did when they were younger, instead of freaking out and deciding they had to do something drastic about something it’s normal for almost every teen to go through, I might have had a chance at a normal life, instead of getting so physocologically messed up that I can’t hold a job and at 33 am still living in my parents basement.
I was sent to Ivy Ridge in 2004 and ended up getting expelled from the program and sent to Tranquility Bay in Jamaica. It’s very hard to believe what went on in these places had I not been there to see it and go through it myself.
First of all, I am so sorry for all the kids that have gone through this. I’ve watched the documentary and cried almost the whole time. Why on God’s earth is your government and police not doing anything. That is disgusting ! I am not from the US and don’t know if there are those programs here, but will look into it now and try to help spread this message. Oh, and who are you “Mary”? You are a horrible person for asking what they did to get put in there! There is no justification for that treatment of a child! You should be in there@