I went to this day treatment program against my will. Although, I was allowed to go home and to school. It still didn’t change what happened to me. Everyday 5 days a week for 4.5 hours we were in group therapy, and individual 1 hour once a week. The program had staff working there who were not qualified. Some did not have degrees in any mental health related field, and the pay was low. During my time there we were subjected to a lighter but more legal form of attack therapy. Where 1-2 times a week we had a weekly check in that lasted around 2 hours. The check ins could range from the week to some sort of trauma. This is where things go somewhat wrong, during the check in you would be confronted, sometimes accused of lying, sometimes they would say they talked to your parents as a lie to get you to share stuff. Not willing to share personal stuff and you’d get scrutinized or even lose points on the point system. If you did not talk enough you would also lose points. They also did random backpack checks to make sure we had no contraband and we could not refuse them. Two particular incidents in which I remember is one day I had experienced insane migraines in which I had gone home and my mom brought me to the ER. They found that there were benzos in my system (although I had never taken any). I said the next day during my check in that I must have Been drugged or something. Nobody believed me in fact, the program director called the hospital for information about it. My parents never signed any ROI (release of information) forms for anything like that. She then told the whole group that they found a lethal dose of benzos in my system. I had never taken any ever. The only drugs i had ever done was abuse laxatives. I also had an eating disorder, no staff or the program was qualified for me there. I constantly felt misunderstood and couldn’t share my problems. I would tell my parents, but the program would tell them about how I was seeking attention. I was also forced to stay later than my original date of graduation even though it was not necessary. One of my last check ins ever I was told by the group leader that I was hiding something from everyone here. I had no idea what they were talking about. They wouldn’t let me leave until I told them what I was so called hiding. I had to make up some traumatic event so then I could leave. The group leader would make people uncomfortable as almost every girl I know who went there said they felt somewhat uncomfortable around him and even after complaints nothing happened. The program was required to serve breakfast and a snack. None of them were nutritious and were almost always junk food. The drink that was served was Kool-aid. Once I graduated I later found out that my insurance did not cover the whole program. My family was struggling financially and that my dad ended up paying 12,000 out of pocket, for a program that caused me trauma. There were good things about the program as the other residents were very nice most of them.
