I was sent to Pacific Life Program on Feb 8th, 2018 and I spent 7 months there.
Prior to attending this institution I was having severe mental health problems and I stopped attending school, so my mom kicked me out and PLP was basically just a housing option for me because none of my family wanted to deal with me at that time.
First off, this place is in Mexico. Should be the #1 red flag to parents. Most of the staff didn’t speak English at all, or very poorly.
PLP heavily manipulates parents. For example, they have a handbook they send to all the parents in the beginning explaining what their children are gonna complain about. In this handbook, they state that all the complaints are “manipulation”. They heavily monitor student-parent communications and wont hesitate to interfere with it by whiting things out on student’s letters or not giving the students their letters from parents.
The condition of the “school” is awful. There is no A/C or heater. There are cockroach and mice infestations in the dorms and kitchen. The bathrooms were in foul condition and our showers were usually cold and we were only allowed 3 minutes.
The Staff were not trained and some weren’t even much older than us.
When I arrived at PLP I was confused about where I was and what going to happen to me. The first thing they did was strip search me right in front of my peers. I froze at this moment in fear and told them I had sexual trauma and would like to like process what was happening before they did that. They weren’t having it and they ended up forcing everything off of me and pinning me down to the floor. I was having issues breathing because there was a knee on my throat, and while I was gasping for air telling them I couldn’t breathe they told me I was lying. While this was my only experience with the staff getting overly physical with me, it was not the only time i saw it happen.
They had a tiny room with a few desks in it. This was called Intervention. A better name for it would be seclusion. You sit in a desk chair for 11 hours a day staring at the wall. I’ve seen people stay up to a month in there. As if that wasn’t enough, they would add two months to your stay as well.
They had me on heavy medications including risperdal while their website specifically states they don’t give out that medication. The “psychatrist” didnt speak good english at all and only asked me about 2 questions before giving me an adhd diagnosis.
They separated the boys and girls completely, and we were given severe slut shaming and punishment if we did as much as even interact with someone of the opposite sex.
The dress code was extremely sexist and we’d be slut shamed by the staff frequently. They were weirdly invasive regarding our bodies and had a specific rule about not not letting us shave our vaginas.
One time, I didn’t wear underwear and they somehow knew and shamed me in front of my peers and made me put some on while watching me.
They’d watch us change and even in the bathroom sometimes.
Although I don’t think the staff had predatory intentions it was still a violation to me as well as all of us.
They read our journals and listened to our conversations. I was not able to heal in this environment because i wasn’t even able to reflect on my past because I wasn’t even allowed to talk about it.
The whole 7 months I stayed I don’t think I ever had one real therapy session to fix the issues that i was sent for. i got a bipolar “workbook” that my parents had to pay for, but thats pretty much it. I only saw the psychiatrist once.
I gained 30 pounds while I was there due to the large potions they would force us to finish. As someone who had struggled with eating/body problems, I would cry to the doctor about being overweight but she never did anything to help me. 99% of the people who go to PLP will gain at least this amount of weight.
When I graduated my program, everything got worse. I started using drugs more and being more destructive, I’ve noticed this is a common response with the other people I know who attended.
Coming almost 3 years out of this program I still suffer from frequent nightmares about my experience.
