Hurrikayne: What is the name of the facility you were in?
Alex: Boulder Creek Academy, in Idaho.

When were you there & how long did you stay?
I was there from June 22, 2007 to June 21, 2008.

Their website states that “Boulder Creek Academy is a safe refuge for at-risk troubled teens.” Do you feel that you were “at-risk” or “troubled”?

I feel that I was troubled, but not ‘at-risk’, whatever that means (assuming you mean cutting, drugs, sex, etc).  I was mildly depressed and had mood swings because of my medication.  Basically, my parents didn’t want to wait out me being on new medication.

They also describe typical students as, “Capable but discouraged by academic struggle; Isolated, low self-esteem; Unable to see consequences of actions; Experimented with drugs and alcohol.” Do you feel these generalizations accurately describe how you were at the time you entered the program?

I would say about 1/3 of the student body is as they described. Some of the people there are INCREDIBLY intelligent.  One kid was doing college calculus from Stanford before he was 18; another is reading books about string theory.

Most kids there, however, are not isolated.  I heard so many stories about crazy shit that happened at their homes and whatnot with their friends.  From what I saw, some of those kids had pretty good self-esteem.  Most of the students there have done drugs, but not all of them.

The rest are idiotic, immature simpletons.  They fail classes (which are not hard to pass), can’t see that A+B=C, and are total druggies.  Most of the kids who saw the website made jokes about how the kids had ‘an IQ of over 90′, because some of the kids were so stupid. One of the kids said that all the buildings in Tokyo were made of bamboo, and another believed that Japanese tiger eggs existed.

Whose idea was it for you to go to this facility?
It was my parents’ idea.

Why did your parents feel that a therapeutic boarding school would be better than a ‘normal’ boarding school?

I honestly don’t know why my parents thought it was better, but I’m guessing it had to do with a lot of one-sided misinformation.  They learned about this school from an Education Consultant, Molly Baron, and then my therapist at Second Nature, Jay Huffine, and took a tour at BCA with Shaunale Wilson.  My mom really is easy to get bought into all of this crap, and I’m honestly surprised that my dad was sucked into it.  Apparently, my dad looked at normal ones too, but he said at the time it seemed like the right thing to do, but now he seems to regret his decision.

Were you included in the decision?
No, I was not included whatsoever.  I wanted to go to a normal boarding school, but they sent me to a wilderness.

How did you get there?
I was transported to wilderness, and then to the school

What do you mean by ‘transported’ and what kind of wilderness were you taken to?

I was woken up at 5 AM at home by two men, who talked to me about a program called Second Nature in Bend, Oregon.  I was excited, and thought it was a (normal) boarding school.  I was allowed to take a shower and grab my Nintendo DS to use on the trip there. Then I was handed off to two people from Second Nature at the Airport in Richmond, OR. They took me to a doctor to get a physical, then to the headquarters of the place where I had to strip naked and show that I didn’t have any ‘contraband’ on me, (luckily no cavity search), and then got shipped off to the middle of nowhere.

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Patricia Ruland of the Austin Chronicle has just published her second in depth investigative report into the Synanon cult’s operations inside the criminal justice system.http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=645915In it, she details recent inmate testimony, perspective from a couple of Seed/Straight line veterans and a fair amount of background information about the organization.

 ”We were told if the lawsuit happens, what or who would give ‘dope fiends like us’ help?” wrote Brenda Carroll on June 5. Carroll says that she’d been forced to wet herself because an “expeditor” (a ranking inmate in the SAFPF “therapy” program) had denied her request to go to the restroom. “I was also forced to sit in the box [a solitary chair] … for not being aware of my ‘need.’”

Language and practices straight out of Elan/Abraxis.Now look to the Martin Lee Anderson story. You remember Martin, right?

Martin Lee Anderson (c. January 15, 1991 – January 6, 2006) was a 14- year-old from Florida who died while incarcerated at a boot camp-style youth detention center, the Bay County Boot Camp,^[1] located in Panama City and operated by the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.^[2] Anderson collapsed while performing required physical training at the camp. While running track, he stopped and complained of fatigue. The guards coerced him to continue his run, but then he collapsed and died.^[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Anderson_controversy

Guy TunnellFounder of the Bay County Boot Camp, longtime BOA member DFAF (just like Andrea), appointed by Steve Meadows, state attorney for the 14th Judicial Circuit, to be a coordinator of cold case squads in the 14th judicial circuit’s six counties.
Frank McKiethen Still sheriff of Bay County”If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to contact our Public Affairs Specialist at (850) 747-4700 Ext. 2117″http://www.bayso.org/Florida Sheriff’s Bootcamp programRenamed Star Academies, handed over from one faction of the toughlove hategroup to another and funding doubled.http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/053106BootCamps.htmlMartin Lee Anderson Still deader than hell. May your soul rest easy and your tragic death not be forgotten or in vain.

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Source: Cincinatti BeaconStraight, Inc. and KHK survivors protest locally

Posted by Media Release

 

Numerous Straight, Inc. and Kids Helping Kids survivors, along with other concerned activists, traveled from 5 different states and the Greater Cincinnati area to participate in the July 11, 2008 protest in Milford, Ohio. The group protested Kids Helping Kids, a Pathway Family Center (aka Pathway Family Center, PFC and/or KHK), a behavior modification teen treatment facility which is not only the current renamed version of Straight, Inc, it also still uses the STRAIGHT, Inc. treatment modality. 

The protesters’ mission was to express opposition and to educate local residents about the “treatment methods” used by PFC, methods which this group believes pose a substantial risk of harm to children. Specifically, the protesters strongly object to, among other things, the use of coercive thought reform, isolation from parents, peers and society, unlicensed host homes, unqualified peer staff, unnecessary and/or disproportionate punishments, and the denial of basic human rights such as total bathroom privacy. Additionally, the demonstrators are extremely concerned about children having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other serious mental health issues caused by their ordeal in Pathway. Repeated reports to state agencies of systematic abuse and other improprieties have also been ignored for years.  

This protest comes on the heels of the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelming approval of H.R. 6358, The Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008. Recent congressional investigations uncovered thousands of allegations of abuse, neglect and youth deaths in private teen behavior modification facilities in the United States. This legislation aims to protect youth in all private treatment facilities, including Pathway Family Center.

The rocky start of the protest itself did not deter the determined activists from sharing their message. One Pathway official (Monica Mertens, according to Pathway insiders who spoke with protesters) displayed unprofessional conduct by confiscating one of the protestor’s signs. PFC officials also summoned Miami Township police twice. The first time was to remove protesters from the far side of the driveway who occasionally crossed it without blocking incoming traffic. The second time, participants were later told, was an attempt to stop protesters from videotaping the public event. Demonstrators did comply with law enforcement’s request to stay off to the sides of Pathway’s entrance but were never asked to stop filming. In spite of these incidents, the peaceful protest resumed without further confrontation.

At the demonstration itself, protesters carried and displayed numerous signs including “Coercive Thought Reform is Not Treatment,” “KHK Tortured Me,” and “Close PFC Now”. Many drivers showed solidarity either by honking, giving the thumbs up or by shouting “Thank you! My friend (or relative) was in there. This place stinks!” In addition, many passersby stopped, took literature and were given the free DVD set of the congressional hearings and KHK news footage. Even former clients of Straight and KHK, with no previous knowledge of our protests, no prior contact with activist survivors, saw the protest and stopped to speak with survivors. Both supported our efforts.

As the event was winding down, current PFC peer staff/graduates initiated peaceful discussions. At times the talks became a bit heated and emotional. Certainly there was much disagreement. But for the most part, both sides remained civil. 

At the end of the day, the exhausted survivors unanimously agreed that this event was nothing less than a smashing success and felt rejuvenated by the interest from the community. All participants vowed to continue their quest to educate the community about the harmful Straight Inc treatment model used by Kids Helping Kids, a Pathway Family Center. Their mission is to protect children from these harmful treatment methods. 

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 In addition to ISAC’s Warning Signs, the FTC has just weighed in with it’s own: [source] Considering a Private Residential Treatment Program for a Troubled Teen? Questions for Parents and Guardians to Ask

Private residential treatment programs for young people offer a range of services, including drug and alcohol treatment, confidence building, military-style discipline, and psychological counseling for a variety of addiction, behavioral, and emotional problems. Many of these programs are intended to provide a less-restrictive alternative to incarceration or hospitalization, or an intervention for a troubled young person.

If you are a parent or guardian and think you have exhausted intervention alternatives for a troubled teen, you may be considering a private residential treatment program. These programs go by a variety of names, including “therapeutic boarding schools,” “emotional growth academies,” “teen boot camps,” “behavior modification facilities,” and “wilderness therapy programs.”

No standard definitions exist for specific types of programs. The programs are not regulated by the federal government, and many are not subject to state licensing or monitoring as mental health or educational facilities, either. A 2007 Report to Congress by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found cases involving serious abuse and neglect at some of these programs. Many programs advertise on the Internet and through other media, making claims about staff credentials, the level of treatment a participant will receive, program accreditation, education credit transfers, success rates, and endorsements by educational consultants.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, cautions that before you enroll a youngster in a private residential treatment program, check it out: ask questions; ask for proof or support for claims about staff credentials, program accreditation, and endorsements; do a site visit; and get all policies and promises in writing.

Questions to Ask

Here are some questions to ask representatives of any program you may be considering. The responses may help you determine if the program is appropriate for your child.

1. Are you licensed by the state?

   If the answer is yes, find out what aspects of the program the license covers: educational, mental/behavioral health, and/or residential?

   If the program claims to be licensed, get the name of the state agency that issued the license and contact the agency to verify that the license is current. Often, the licensing will be through a state Department of Health and Human Services or its equivalent. If the program’s representative can’t provide the name of the licensing agency, consider it a red flag.

   If the program is unlicensed and you still want to consider it, contact the state Attorney General (www.naag.org), the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org), and the local consumer protection office (www.consumeraction.gov/state.shtml) where the program is located.

   Regardless of whether a program is licensed, when contacting any of these groups:

   • Ask for copies of all publicly available information, including any complaints or actions filed against the program, site visit evaluations, violations, and corrective actions.
   • Pay particular attention to any reports of unsanitary or unsafe living conditions, nutritionally compromised diets, exposure to extreme environmental conditions or extreme physical exertion, inadequate staff supervision or a low ratio of staff to residents, medical neglect, physical or sexual abuse of youth by program staff or other residents, and any violation of youth or family rights.
2. Do you provide an academic curriculum?

   If so, is it available to all program participants? Do you have teachers who are certified or licensed by your state? Some programs may offer only self-study or distance education. Sometimes, educational options are not made available until a resident has reached an advanced phase of the program. In addition, some programs may claim that academic credits will transfer to the resident’s home school and count toward a high school diploma. Check with the board of education in the state where the program operates – and with your state board if you live out-of-state – to verify that academic credits will transfer.

3. What about accreditation?

   Several independent nonprofit organizations, like the Joint Commission (JACHO), the Council on Accreditation (COA), and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), accredit mental health programs and providers.

   • JACHO accredits and certifies more than 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the U.S. (www.jointcommission.org)
   • COA is an international child- and family-service and behavioral healthcare organization that accredits 38 different service areas, including substance abuse treatment, and more than 60 types of programs. (www.coanet.org)
   • CARF International is an independent accreditor of human services providers in areas including behavioral health, child and youth services, and employment and community services. (www.carf.org)

   Ask whether all components of the program are accredited, for example, the base program, the drug and alcohol component, and the wilderness program. Then contact the accrediting organization for confirmation.

   The GAO’s Report noted that one program claimed to be accredited by the JACHO, but in fact, only the base program was accredited. Neither the wilderness program nor the drug and alcohol component was accredited.

   The organizations above grant accreditation and certification after evaluating the quality of services provided by a treatment program. Parents and guardians should be aware that some other organizations that claim to accredit schools may serve merely as membership organizations, and may not conduct site inspections or otherwise evaluate the quality of the programs they certify. If a treatment program claims to be certified or accredited, parents and guardians should contact the accrediting organization and ask about the standards the organization uses when issuing a certification.

4. Do you have a clinical director? What are his/her credentials?

   Typically, a clinical director is responsible for overseeing, supporting, and maintaining the quality of care for the program. A clinical director may have an advanced degree in a related field, like clinical psychology, and may be involved in providing individual therapy, assessment and consultation, staff training and development, and managing or supervising the components of the program.

5. What are the credentials of the staff, especially the counselors and therapists, who will be working with my child?

   Do they have appropriate and relevant advanced degrees like a Masters in Social Work, a license to do clinical social work (LCSW), a Ph.D., or an M.D.? Are they certified or licensed within the state? If they are, by what agency or organization?

   Ask to see copies of relevant documents, and consider contacting the certifying or licensing organization to confirm the staff credentials. The GAO found that some program leaders falsely claimed to have credentials in therapy or medicine, which led some parents to trust them with teens who had serious mental or physical disabilities requiring different levels of treatment.

6. How experienced is your staff? Have they worked at other residential treatment programs? If yes, where and for how long?

   Ask to see current certifications in CPR and other emergency medicine. For wilderness programs, also ask for proof of relevant training and expertise.

7. Do you conduct background checks on your employees?

   If the answer is yes, find out who does the background check and how extensive it is. Call the company to confirm that it provides background check services for the treatment program. If the answer is no or the program does not conduct background checks, consider it a red flag.

8. What are the criteria for admission ? Do you conduct pre-admission assessments? Are they in person, by phone, or over the Internet? Who conducts them?

   If your child has serious addiction problems or psychological issues, take special care to ensure that the program is equipped to deal with them. Discuss the appropriateness of the program with your child’s psychologist, psychiatrist, or other healthcare provider.

9. Will you provide an individualized program with a detailed explanation of the therapies, interventions, and supports that will address my child’s needs? When is this done? How often will my child be reassessed?

   Ask whether your child will have group or individual therapy sessions. If the answer is yes, ask how often the sessions will take place and who will conduct them. Once enrolled, confirm with your child that the promised level of care is being received.

10. How do you handle medical issues like illness or injury? Is there a nurse or doctor on staff? On the premises? Will you contact me? Will I be notified or consulted if there’s a change in treatment or medication?

    Ask for copies of procedures the program follows on dealing with medical emergencies.

11. How do you define success? What is your success rate? How is it measured?

    Some programs make specific success claims in their advertising materials. To date, there is no systematic, independently collected descriptive or outcome data on these programs.

12. How do you discipline program participants?

    Ask about policies and procedures for discipline.

13. Can I contact/speak with my child when I want? Can my child contact me when he wants?

    Some programs prohibit, monitor, or otherwise restrict verbal or written communication between you and your child. Find out what is allowed and prohibited before you enroll your child.

14. What are the costs? What do they cover? What is your refund policy if the program doesn’t work out?

    Private residential treatment programs often charge hundreds of dollars per day. While health insurance sometimes may pay a limited amount, for the most part, the youngster’s family is responsible for paying the fees and bills.

15. Do you have relationships with companies and individuals that provide educational and referral services?

    Some companies may provide services, claiming to match troubled kids with an appropriate treatment program. Be aware that although some of these services represent themselves as independent, they may not be. They may actually be operated or paid by one or more of the treatment programs. Ask the service if it receives commissions from the treatment programs.

For More Information

Among the sources of information for families researching private residential treatment programs for troubled youngsters are:

• The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Report to Congress: “Residential Treatment Programs: Concerns Regarding Abuse and Death in Certain Programs for Troubled Youth” (October 2007) – www.gao.gov
• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s list of state mental health agencies – www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/state_orgs.htm
• The U.S. Department of State Fact Sheet: “Behavior Modification Facilities” – www.state.gov
• Your State Attorney General – www.naag.org
• The Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic and Appropriate use of Residential Treatment (A START) – http://astart.fmhi.usf.edu. A START is sponsored by the Department of Child and Family Studies of the University of South Florida. The Alliance includes leaders in psychology, psychiatry, nursing, mental health law, policy and family advocacy, as well as individuals with direct program experience as director, evaluator, parent, or participant in such programs.

 

About the FTC

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

 

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The protests against Kids Helping Kids, a Pathyway Family Center have now entered their 7th consecutive month.  Photo gallery here.  To those who doubt the effectiveness of protests, click here.  At the very least, it raises public awareness and lets those local to KHK know what is going on in their back yard.  At best, it reaches some on the inside.

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Hurrikayne: Where have you protested?

Tony: Kids Helping Kids, Milford Ohio*

(editor’s note: also known as Pathway Family Center)

When?

Friday November 30th, 2007

What was your personal reason for this protest?

At age 14, I was falsely imprisoned in Kids Helping Kids (now a Pathway Family Center), where I spent 21 months in the program. This organization abused, tortured and brainwashed me and has caused severe psychological problems that haunt me to this day.

Six months ago I finally got up the courage to look up some old friends from the program. It had been almost 20 years and the overwhelming shame and guilt had kept me from attempting anything that would remind me of the horrible experience. I proceeded to search online and what I found next was terrible. I found a vast array of information about how my family and I had been lied to and that there were numerous programs associated with almost identical methods of brainwashing. I was in shock for almost a month. I knew instantly that I had to do something. The protest is just one of the many things I have done since.

Were you able to educate anyone about the facility and its mode of operation?

I hope so, I am not finished with this campaign; this protest was only one small step on the long road ahead. Eventually people won’t be able to look away anymore, but this will take time and patience. I hope I am part of the snowball effect in getting people interested.

Do you have additional comments you would like included?

I am happy with what we are doing and will continue to search for better ways to defeat these deceptive programs. I commend everyone else out there who are fighting alongside in spirit. Intelligent, planned protests are needed, along with letters to anyone in positions of authority, to let them know we are out here and not going away. Any actions that are detrimental to this cause may be made out of good intentions but may indirectly be of benefit to the programs.

My advice: Don’t be a detriment by going off half cocked, acting like an idiot and giving the public the appearance that we are a bunch of fanatics. This is a serious issue and should be treated with much forethought. We haven’t gained enough ground to afford any setbacks. I will never give up on this and I encourage everyone else to dig in and prepare for a long fight. I think it is important to recognize those who have been fighting for years without support who have managed to hold things together and lay the groundwork that enables us to do what we are doing.

Hurrikayne:  I have additional questions about your experience in Kids Helping Kids that I’d like you to explain for those who are unfamiliar with the terminology used.  In Part III you stated, “Penny Walker would instruct us to act differently than we would normally in front of the reporter and crew.  We weren’t allowed to ‘motivate’ in front of them, instead we would raise our hands.”  Can you tell us what it means to “motivate”?

Survivor B:  To Motivate is when program clients are required by staff and program rules to flap their arms up and down in a fast motion in order to get called on to talk or relate to other clients in groups sessions. It also is used to gain the respect and trust of the other group members as well as the staff, as a way to move up in the program. If you do not get ‘motivated’ you will not advance to the next level. If you are on a higher level and do not get ‘motivated’ in this way, you will be stood up in ‘group’ by staff and questioned about not being honest, scrutinized about your thinking and motives not only by the staff, but by the whole group and then set back to a lower phase of the program, and often all the way back to first phase, day one. It is called being “started over”.

 

You have mentioned to me in our many discussions about this topic, that you have arthritis as a result of this practice of ‘motivating’, are there any other lasting physical problems that you are still suffering from?

Yes, I developed arthritis as a young adult in my elbows, as well as my wrists as a direct result of ‘motivating’ when I was a client of Kids Helping Kids. I also have had neck and back problems for years from ‘motivating’ as well; the sheer strain of ‘motivating’ so hard to impress staff and other clients, thrusting my whole body to ‘motivate’ as hard as I could, contributed. The staff at KHK made it like a symbol of status to see who could ‘motivate’ the hardest and the longest and would at times force us to have ‘motivating’ contests.

 

Very early on in our discussions, you mentioned Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; do you currently suffer any effects as a result of your time in KHK?

Yes, I have suffered from devastating effects as a result from my time in KHK. I have Post traumatic Stress disorder and also Panic disorder. The very organization of their treatment modality is abusive in and of itself in the fact that it causes a child to not self identify anymore (meaning the child loses their self identity within the confines of “the program”). This happened to me because I was put in there right at the stage of development when I was supposed to be finding out who I was and developing my self identity.

 

The KHK treatment modality does not give the child any room to be ones self because the program requires the child to conform to the programs every whim and abusively strict program rules, even at the foster home, with no relief. The child is threatened to conform by the program in extremely abusive ways, such as being threatened with homelessness, death, insanity, or jail. This particular tactic scared the life out of me, as it did with most others; it is a very harmful tactic because it induces panic and forces one to conform to ideals against their will, under threat to self and personal safety. This type of environment is what causes things like Panic Disorder.  

 

For people unfamiliar with what Panic Disorder is, the symptoms are as follows: Trouble breathing, chest pains - including tightening of the chest, sweating profusely, dizziness, a sense of feeling not in reality, extreme fear, fight or flight response impaired, fear of crowded places, tingling sensations in random body parts. The effects of Panic Disorder, especially before the person has a name for what is happening to him/her, can be extremely frightening, simply devastating them socially. Untreated Panic Disorder can lead to Agoraphobia, which is the fear of leaving ones home because the person afflicted with Panic Disorder starts associating the panic with every place they go, and therefore eventually concludes that it is just best to stay home out of fear. Obviously this type of panic reaction can have devastating effects on ones life such as job loss, social isolation, extreme stress, relationship troubles etc…

Now to address my Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, I would say it is very similar to Panic Disorder as far as the fear, but it differs in the fact that with PTSD I have awful flashbacks like I am actually re-living the traumas all over again. I’ve had to work very hard to fight those flashbacks and fight to stay in real time since leaving Kids Helping Kids.

 

Being physically restrained against your will and being forced into lying about your past traumatizes you, especially when you are still a developing child, as I was at the time. Witnessing other children being hurt, restrained, laughed at, ridiculed and scrutinized on a daily basis traumatizes you as well. It further traumatizes you when staff tell you to look forward, away from the incident, and all you can hear is crying and screams for help from behind you, knowing the whole time you can do nothing because you will be the one crying and screaming next if you try to intervene.

 

Then there is the guilt that I and others associate with not being able to do a thing to help another child. I live with that guilt everyday, even though I know that there was nothing I could have done. I still wish it had never happened to anyone at all. It created a self loathing in me for a long time, and I suspect in others as well.

 

Suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has permanently altered my perception of certain things to a degree where it has cost me relationships, jobs and friends. Although I am stable now, I still suffer from a lot of trust issues as well as residuals. My symptoms are fewer now than say, ten years ago, but periodically they flare up. I fight them with courage because I am determined not to ever let the program or those demons win.

The program may have stolen two years of my life, and my self identity for a time, but I took back what was, and is mine inherently, through hard psychotherapy work, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy and a lot of support from family members and friends to recover.

 

Is there anything good that you were able to take away from your experience in Kids Helping Kids?

 No, it was the worst experience of my life.

 

Did your parents struggle financially in order for you to attend KHK?

Yes, at that time the program cost them $20,000 USD. They bought a house 5 minutes from KHK, uprooted our whole lives. They also incurred further expenses by fostering program kids in our home (as required by the program) on things such as food and water, electric, laundry.

 

How was your relationship with your immediate family affected by your experiences in KHK?

The program lied to me, telling me if I would confess what drugs I had done with my brother, and they interviewed him and if he was honest and said the same, then they would let me see him. I told them, and he was honest with them, and they didn’t let me see my brother for a year and a half. It hurt our relationship immensely. We grew apart and we were best friends before that. We didn’t even know each other anymore.

The program stressed my relationship between me and my mother to where we did not talk for awhile. I didn’t feel comfortable letting her know that she had made a mistake by putting me in there for a long time because I knew in my heart that she did not know what had gone on behind closed doors. I waited to talk with her about it when I had decided the appropriate time, place and action to take with her about it.My father and I had never had a good relationship and the program only made it worse. My father was an alcoholic and abusive towards my brother and I before the program, and the strain and pressure of the program just made our relationship worse. We still do not talk to this day. In fact we had an abusive altercation since I have been an adult that landed him in jail and a restraining order in my hand.

How do your parents feel about what has happened to you as a direct result of your time in KHK?

My mother, after years of disagreements, hang up phone calls, and lots of talking hashing things out, me explaining what I witnessed along with things that had happened to me in there, started realizing a little bit of what had terrorized me.  Through lengthy discussions with her, she further started to understand and see how the place had affected me in a negative way in different areas within my life. She also now knows and understands why and how I was brainwashed and also admits that they had her fooled and brainwashed for awhile, as well. She supports and remains interested with my protest efforts against KHK. She supports me speaking out and educating the public about Kids Helping Kids.

My father, however, the last time we did speak, blamed my mother for that place even though he went along with putting me in there, as well.

 

Are there any other relationships that have been affected by your experience? 

I have chosen to be the loving caring parent to two wonderful children; as I had planned on being when I decided I wanted to be a mom at age 6. I chose to raise my children a bit differently, mainly because there were certain things about how I was raised that needed to change. I do not sweep things under the rug with my children or over shelter them. I also am a big advocate of, and encourage their dreams and right to freedom of artistic expression, as well as their freedom of speech. That has always been my attitude towards life in general, but it has definitely been magnified as a direct result of the process of trying to heal from my time at the program.

I was assaulted by a boss and she had trapped me in her office, blocking the door so I could not leave.  I had a flashback of being locked in the time out room at KHK.  I froze and could not accurately defend myself in all of the ways that I should have at the time, because I panicked inside and froze up.

It takes years to undo brainwashing, especially if it happens to you in childhood like it did to me.  While I was still stepping down and unreeling from the brainwashing I had several romantic relationships, separately but in between the reels.  Three of those people were from the same program and I worked parts of “my program” on all three of them, and they worked theirs on me as well.  By this I mean playing serious mind games just like in the program, but in a different playing field because we were out of the program and trying to re-adjust to reality. Mind games with romantic partners don’t work in the real world if you desire to obtain levels of true intimacy with the one you love. 

 

Adjusting to regular life after surviving the program is a big ordeal, and tends to leave you feeling relieved to be out, but also very lonely and isolated, with a sense of abandonment.  For me and many others, recovering from the program and attempting to do damage control after being brainwashed is a full time job every day for a period of many years. Any romantic relationship I had immediately following my time at KHK failed miserably because I still needed so much healing to take place within myself, and so did those I was involved with.

 

It is a common occurrence amongst Kids Helping Kids and behavior modification school survivors to re-learn how to successfully interact with others again because the abuse of the program steals spirits inside children. The abuses calculated with my recovery and healing process from the program, have definitely affected my relations with people in general and caused me to fight an uphill battle with those issues for the rest of my life little by little every day.

 

 

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Warning!!!

This is not a support group. This is not a safe place for you to divulge your secrets.

This is an open, unmoderated, uncensored wild place dedicated to discussion and inquiry into the troubled parent industry. Here we discus things like rape and torture from first-hand experience like other people talk about high school pranks and drama. It’s fucking ugly. If that ehff word bothers you, don’t even attempt to come here. Frankly, there are not words ugly enough to adequately describe what we’re talking about, but we do the best we can.

 

This is a very public place! Not only is this whole site accessible to anybody on the planet with a library card or friend with net access, but our actual readership includes the following; the psychotic, despondent, vengeful, hurt, sardonic, sociopathic, clueless, militant, sanctimonious, sadistic, guilty as well as the innocent. And those are just the program affiliated people. Our regular readership also includes the media, lawyers, law enforcement people, creepy brown shirts from alphabet soup named agencies and private contractors tasked with keeping an eye on us as possible terrorists and outlaws. And then, of course, there are the rubber neckers and trolls; the general public who are only looking because some friend or colegue told them they’d have to see it to believe it.

 

Trouble is, everybody thinks they’re the injured, innocent victim, heroically taking the beating for their sacred cause. And so you can see where things might get a little ugly, eh? If you choose to enter here, understand that I have a grudge. It’s simple and pure as anything ever to survive Occam’s Razor; honesty.

 

Honesty, the first and most impotent rule. Honesty has gotten every christ, profit and true hero from before the time of the Judeo/Christian Christ on through Tom Paine and Jack Kehoe publicly and painfully executed. The rule seems to be that Honesty is almost always the simplest, kindest, bravest and most sensible way to go, with the unfortunate cosequence that it will likely get you killed or, at the very least, make you wonder if you might be better off at rest sometimes. (no, this is not a suicide threat or plea for rescue. Anyone who’s experiencing a knee jerk paternalistic response or a sudden and overwhelming attack of altruism, pound sand. I’m acting in my own interest as well as those I love wherever those intersect. Please don’t help me, I’ve had all the help I can stand, thanks very much, good day, buh buy, pound sand!)

 

I was only 5 or 6 years old when this cult took my family and future from me. I thank the Fates these days that I was too innocent and idealistic to understand that fully at the time or I never would have had the courage to try anything. They demanded honesty, but defined the word a little differently than I had been taught. It was a double bind. Honesty, by program definition, meant confessing to and actually believing things that never happened. In order to make the next tiny incremental step toward the door, one would have to manufacture the appropriate set of feelings and attitudes to go along with the fiction.

 

Though money is as big a part of this story as it is of any other, it’s not really what drives the most dedicated proponants. It is guilt and shame, anger and regret and a desperate, desperate need to maintain those illusions that excuse their crimes against themselves, their own children and unwitting suckers who they recruit into their belief systems. These people do monsterous things because they are convinced that what they’re doing is heroic.

 

My object here is as it has been from the beginning; I’m just complying with the first and most impotent rule, Honesty. They want Honesty? Ok, I’ll give them honesty, all day long. Honestly, their illusions are crushing innocent others. As uncomfortable as it may be for them, they’ll have to either give them up or keep close society only with those who voluntarily share them. We’re intent, as ones fighting for survival, on blowing their cover among the general public. I expect them to act just as ugly and cruel in this venue as they do in those cloistered environments they create. Why would you expect anything else?

- Ginger McNulty 

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Well. Those who have been looking for SueScheffTruth are in bad luck for the moment. The site was apparantly hacked soon before I headed off on my Benchmark Raid. That’s one of the things i’ll be fixing during the holidays. In the mean time, you might want to take a look at this latest clip I’ve released from my Benchmark project (Benchmark Young Adult School):

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Well, it’s that time of year again, folks! Time to get lost in legend and lore, catch up with old friends and family, stuff ourselves silly, and dance naked in the snow if the spirit so moves you. It just so happens that today is the traditional date of the Roman Saturnalia festival. There is a theory that Christians in the fourth century assigned December 25 (the Winter Solstice on the Julian calendar) as Christ’s birthday (and thus Christmas) because pagans already observed this day as a holiday. This theory is much disputed, as the dates of Saturnalia are not coincident with Christmas. A more refined is that Christmas was set on the feast of Sol Invictus, which was on December 25, and which had supplanted Saturnalia.

The ancient lands of Lapland and northern Siberia are thought to be the homelands of much of the modern Rudolph myth. Far within the Arctic Circle, the Koryak shaman of a Siberian reindeer tribe enter dwellings each midwinter via the smoke hole in their tents to dispense gifts of the aforementioned fly-agaric mushrooms before their hallucinating tribal companions saw them climb out and depart on their “flying” reindeer. The Sami reindeer herders of Lapland traditionally dress like the legendary elves in red suits, long felt hats and reindeer pelt shoes that curl up at the toe, while the ancient story of Jultomten, a jolly Scandinavian elf who delivered gifts each winter solstice in a sleigh drawn by goats, has obvious resonance.

So I just thought I’d drop ya’ll a note of well wishes and trivia for this most festive season. Now, if you’re already feeling anxious over the assault to commonly held and much cherished myths, you probably don’t want to subscribe to our newsletter. If you’re tittering and making a mental note to yourself to get busy with those FMS Winter Solstice cards let us know, maybe we’ll get around to doing a newsletter. Meanwhile, I think we’ll just blog here once in awhile and see what grows up out of it.

Check out Kathy Moya, raid on Benchmark and the formation of the Raid On Benchmark and Youth Liberation Foundation. What else is going on in forum land or in the real world relating to the toughlove hate group? Post a comment, please.

Behind the scenes, we’re getting ready to move again. No really! This time, though, we’re not waiting for a crisis. We’ll be able to do a few more things like live streaming video/audio and to publish more of just the kind of legally defensible material that scares the living daylights out of regular commercial hosting providers. We’ll be needing a rack mounted server and some paid tech time to augment the stellar tech talent that we’ve got on a volunteer basis. To that end, we’ll be improving the look and feel and functionality of the forum, building this blog into something worth advertising on and seeking out those advertisers brave hearted enough to brand themselves with Fornits. More on that effort at Care & Feeding of Fornits

as things develop.

“This is gonna be fun!” –Racne Fornit’s last words

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