Academy at Swift River - Information Needed - IMPORTANT

[Troll Control]

On 2006-06-23 08:34:00, Deborah wrote:

"What a crock of shit. 4 years, 7 years....

Bentz was there from 98 (when the article was written) - 03, Sept to be exact.



There are reports of degrading comments/ humiliation, etc going on as late as Aug 04



http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... t=30#58816



03 Grad

http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... t=60#75780



02 Grad

http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... t=60#77264



"Clinical Director"? So they are attempting to operate more like a psychiatric facility now, or what?

Who is the CD?

[ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2006-06-23 08:36 ]"

This is the point, Who.  Having not worked in the industry or really knowing anything at all about it you wouldn't know that this is the MO of these facilities.

They don't make fundamental changes.  They change out some personnel, pin the problems on the recently shit-canned, hire new people and proclaim "We're moving forward," only nothing ever changes.  

You were saying the same bullshit before, Who, deflecting concerns over Rudy BEntz by saying that there was a new team in place and imrovements were being made.  Well, guess what?  THAT team was all fucked up, they let them go, pinned the blame on them and hired a new team - all the while there are steady streams of reports of abuse/neglect/lack of true treatment.

But here you are saying the same thing again.  It's a cycle.  It's a pattern of behavior.  The concept is flawed to its very core and plugging in new names doesn't change anything, just like with Rudy Bentz and Tim Brace.  The changes are to shine on to unhappy customers that there is real change, but it's just cosmetic - and appearances are all that matter to desperate people.

[TheWho]

Seems you havent been keeping up (been away from the industry too long), you'll be quoting Rudy Bentz and Tim Brace 20 years from now and posting reports from the 90's to support your position.
Every year that goes by your position gets Weaker and Weaker, DJ.  You should read from the beginning of this thread, to see what we are talking about before you jump in.

If you cant contribute, please, read and learn.
.............And be nice, mind your manners today.

[Troll Control]

On 2006-06-23 11:38:00, TheWho wrote:

"Seems you havent been keeping up (been away from the industry too long), you'll be quoting Rudy Bentz and Tim Brace 20 years from now and posting reports from the 90's to support your position.

Every year that goes by your position gets Weaker and Weaker, DJ.  You should read from the beginning of this thread, to see what we are talking about before you jump in.



If you cant contribute, please, read and learn.

.............And be nice, mind your manners today."

You're got real mental problems, Who.  Bentz was there up until when, three years ago?  And Brace after that?  Two proven abusers from CEDU ran ASR until just a few years ago.  Then they hired some new talking head and had to let him go for the same reasons.

C'mon, Who, you're tired rhetoric is lame and ineffective.  Try as you might to change the history of ASR, you can't.  It was founded by a child abuser and has been run by other child abusers since.  It's all part of the same story.  You don't have enough excuses to cover up the fact that ASR is a cookie-cutter model of of a failed system.

I can see why you're unemployable.

[Troll Control]

On 2006-06-23 11:38:00, TheWho wrote:

"Seems you havent been keeping up (been away from the industry too long), you'll be quoting Rudy Bentz and Tim Brace 20 years from now and posting reports from the 90's to support your position.

Every year that goes by your position gets Weaker and Weaker, DJ.  You should read from the beginning of this thread, to see what we are talking about before you jump in.



If you cant contribute, please, read and learn.

.............And be nice, mind your manners today."

ASR New Grad Mom
Posted: 2004-08-24 10:02:00  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 I also graduated from ASR very recently on August the 6th. And I can tell you right now that any kid who complained, their parents were manipulated right out of believing them. There was extreme emotional abuse there, and the only reason anyone's behavior was modified was because they were scared shitless of staying there longer or going to a worse program. We were so scared, your own friends turned against you and you couldnt trust them. The group sessions were awful. One of my friends who had issues with sleeping around was in group and the counselor in the room told her that she might as well keep a mattress tied to her back. Daily, I heard awful things about myself and everyday I was just so sad. Places like this are awful and they need to be stopped. ASR isnt even the worst of them but they all need to go.

Spin, lie and squirm all you want.  The victims of this place are speaking up and telling the truth about things you would have no way of knowing.  You're a shameless shill for the industry, Who.

Is this kid lying?  Is his argument "outdated"?

Why should you care what happens to the kids there?  The answer is that you don't, so why pretend to?

[Anonymous]

On 2006-06-22 20:21:00, Deborah wrote:

"***But let me assure you, that we would have been shut down years ago if we were doing anything illegal.



Who would know? And who would shut them down? They aren't licensed. The state licensing authority can't even enter the property of a private corp.



I didn't get a satisfactory response for why ASR has refused to be licensed and monitored by the state. Why would you avoid state oversight?



You gave all the particulars regarding accreditation. So the academic aspect is montiored. No one's is monitoring the therapeutic aspect.



You mentioned that you report accidents, injuries, assaults to the appropriate entities. Who are they? What do they do with that information? Is it available to prospective parents?"

We are a member of the Massachusetts Boarding SChool association (I'm not sure of the exact title) who oversees us.  Of course we have to follow all sorts of state and federal regulations.  It's silly to think that anyone can just open up a school and run it with no oversight.  That doesn't even make sense.

As far as reporting aciidents and such, I don't have specific information regarding that.  That is not a part of my job.

[Anonymous]

On 2006-06-23 06:18:00, Deborah wrote:

"

That's understandable. Who wants a government agency breathing down their neck. Prohibiting you from censoring mail and phone calls, etc, etc.



No illusion, state oversight provides a minimum of protection, at best.



I imagine that parents "assume" that programs are monitored by the state. What facility that warehouses kids 24/7/365 isn't regulated? When they proclaim to be accredited a parent can misconsrue this to mean regulation.



It's fraud plain and simple to lie about services provided to avoid such regulation.



Until programs are regulated we will not have accurate data on deaths, injuries, assaults, sexual inpropriaties, etc.

It is what's best for the kids.

Can you show otherwise? How state oversight would not be in the kids best interest?"

We do not claim to be accredited.  We are in the accrediation process.

[Anonymous]

On 2006-06-23 07:33:00, Deborah wrote:

"http://old.valleyadvocate.com/articles/swiftriver.html



Excerpts:

In other cases, however, such programs may load additional stresses onto an already struggling young psyche.



That's what Dean Kent feels is happening far too often at ASR. Kent, a former employee of the school, is so concerned about the treatment of students at the academy that he has gone public with his fears, drawing the attention of the state Office of Child Care Services.



The state started looking closely at the school several months ago after Kent spoke out about things he'd seen and heard while working there. As a cook at ASR last year, Kent grew increasingly disturbed by the way the staff treated students: viewing them as manipulative and untrustworthy, shouting obscenities at them during so-called "communications sessions," holding all-night group therapy meetings that students seemed to dread, and severely restricting their communication with the outside world. And he saw bored students who seemed to be growing increasingly unhappy and agitated.



Eventually his concern turned to fear -- fear that the use of sleep deprivation, forced work and tough wilderness outings as behavior-modification tools amounted to emotional and physical abuse.



Other things worried Kent too. He noticed that the students were not allowed to make telephone calls, even calls to their parents, without a staff member listening, and that their incoming and outgoing mail was read. After he learned that a boy who had broken his collarbone had been forced to move heavy cans and jars and wipe down shelves in the kitchen as punishment for a trifling infraction just a week after being injured, Kent became so worried that he decided to contact the state Department of Social Services about the school's practices. DSS passed the information on to the state Office of Child Care Services, which sent an investigator, Eric Lieberman, to the academy.



Academy administrators told Lieberman it was true that students were denied sleep for 19 or 20 hours during the first Life Step session, called "The Truth." Staff and students might stay up all night, then break for a nap between 5 and 7 a.m., then continue the session until 2 the next afternoon, the administrators said. One administrator also acknowledged using profanity toward the students during communications sessions, and added, "Some days I have said things to students that I wish I did not say."



The Office of Child Care Services' investigators found that the school had not been remiss in getting medical treatment for the student with the broken collarbone, but it did substantiate most of Kent's other concerns. It cited the school for "using behavior management techniques which subject students to verbal abuse, ridicule and humiliation, denial of sufficient sleep, and repetitive exercise as a response to an infraction of a rule."



OCCS also cited the school for monitoring students' telephone calls and mail. The agency said that the right to privacy in communications, even for juveniles, can be restricted only by court order -- for example, if a therapist believes that the teen's communication should be monitored, perhaps to support a young person through a crisis in relations with his or her family -- and then only temporarily.



The citation struck at another bone of contention between the state and ASR. A few months ago OCCS found itself at odds with ASR over whether the school needs to be licensed in Massachusetts as a treatment center, something College Health Enterprises had not done. ASR officials seemed to be having it both ways by enforcing rules usually associated withtreatment programs for people with emotional or behavioral disorders, but refusing to have the school licensed as a treatment center, which would give OCCS the right to oversee its operations. The disagreement is still unresolved, and has turned into a battle between lawyers for the state and the school.



Meanwhile, Kent was suspended from his job, and later fired, for calling the state and the press. Not content with firing him, school officials also had their lawyer, Northampton attorney Ed Etheredge, follow up the termination with a letter threatening Kent with possible libel action if he continued to speak.



In addition to declining to speak to the press, ASR officials seems to have become more defensive in recent months. When OCCS staff visited the school last month to discuss another complaint, school administrators refused to answer any questions and escorted the state officials off the property. At press time attorneys with the OCCS were trying to arrange a meeting to discuss differences between the school and the agency, which still maintains that ASR needs a license.





"

This article is from 1997 when Dean worked there for about 2 months.  The school did shut down and repoened under a whole new administration.  The school is an entirely different entity than it was 9 years ago.

[Troll Control]

We are a member of the Massachusetts Boarding SChool association (I'm not sure of the exact title) who oversees us. Of course we have to follow all sorts of state and federal regulations. It's silly to think that anyone can just open up a school and run it with no oversight. That doesn't even make sense.

Can you explain why you have teachers on staff working in classrooms that have no college degrees whatsoever?  How about the fact that none of your teachers are licensed to teach?

THAT doesn't even make sense.

[Troll Control]

This article is from 1997 when Dean worked there for about 2 months. The school did shut down and repoened under a whole new administration. The school is an entirely different entity than it was 9 years ago.

Yeah, under Rudy Bentz and later Tim Brace, two administrators well-known for their incompetence and abusiveness.

_________________
"Compassion is the basis of morality."

-Arnold Schopenhauer[ This Message was edited by: Dysfunction Junction on 2006-06-23 12:29 ]

[Troll Control]

WOW!  I just went back and looked over their staff.  They've turned over about 75% of the staff since we were last discussing the issue only two or three months ago.

Guess who stayed on though.  That's right, the teachers with no degrees whatsoever and still not a single licensed or certified teacher on the staff - very sad commentary for the "Princeton" of the industry.

I also took a little time to look over the counseling staff.  Huge turnover including the top guy who was the only licensed staff there - and he was replaced by an unlicensed staff.

Who's doing the "therapizing" with no licensed staff on board?

You're right, Who, things are changing there.  There getting worse and worse and worse.

_________________
"Compassion is the basis of morality."

-Arnold Schopenhauer[ This Message was edited by: Dysfunction Junction on 2006-06-23 12:28 ]

[Anonymous]

DJ, how long will it take you to get sick of donkeypunching the same guy over and over?  :roll:

[TheWho]

On 2006-06-23 11:55:00, Anonymous wrote:

"

On 2006-06-22 20:21:00, Deborah wrote:


"***But let me assure you, that we would have been shut down years ago if we were doing anything illegal.





Who would know? And who would shut them down? They aren't licensed. The state licensing authority can't even enter the property of a private corp.





I didn't get a satisfactory response for why ASR has refused to be licensed and monitored by the state. Why would you avoid state oversight?





You gave all the particulars regarding accreditation. So the academic aspect is montiored. No one's is monitoring the therapeutic aspect.





You mentioned that you report accidents, injuries, assaults to the appropriate entities. Who are they? What do they do with that information? Is it available to prospective parents?"

We are a member of the Massachusetts Boarding SChool association (I'm not sure of the exact title) who oversees us.  Of course we have to follow all sorts of state and federal regulations.  It's silly to think that anyone can just open up a school and run it with no oversight.  That doesn't even make sense.



As far as reporting aciidents and such, I don't have specific information regarding that.  That is not a part of my job."

I apologize for the Dysfunction Junction interruptions.  He is fornits ?Mental health professional?.   The majority (1.5%) of the industry supports his views and his compassion for people comes through in his postings very clearly.  His friends will soon follow with some very mature postings themselves, but try to hang in there for those of us who are listening,
Thanks again.

[Troll Control]

Damn! Now that's an eye-opener.

Maybe you can pick up some of the slack and start setting the record straight after The Who makes up and then mangles the data, distorts the facts and outright lies about everything?  It would be a help if I didn't have to carry the yoke alone...

Thanks in advance.

[Troll Control]

The majority (1.5%) of the industry supports his views...

Can you provide the statistics that support this claim?

Yeah...I didn't think so.  You just made it up yesterday, so I guess today it's a proven fact. :lol:

_________________
"Compassion is the basis of morality."

-Arnold Schopenhauer[ This Message was edited by: Dysfunction Junction on 2006-06-23 12:39 ]

[Nihilanthic]

WOW! I just went back and looked over their staff. They've turned over about 75% of the staff since we were last discussing the issue only two or three months ago.

Guess who stayed on though. That's right, the teachers with no degrees whatsoever and still not a single licensed or certified teacher on the staff - very sad commentary for the "Princeton" of the industry.

I also took a little time to look over the counseling staff. Huge turnover including the top guy who was the only licensed staff there - and he was replaced by an unlicensed staff.

Who's doing the "therapizing" with no licensed staff on board?

You're right, Who, things are changing there. There getting worse and worse and worse.

What kind of a joke reply to THAT is... ignoring it and instead turning and attacking DJ instead of actually addressing what he has to say?

Oh, wait, its TW, how dare we assume he acts responsibly.

DJ, youre getting nowhere fast even responding to him! The only winning move is not to play, because if he cant win, he'll argue instead of debate, and change the focus, attack you, or try to obfuscate or whittle it down to a "cant be wrong cant be right" waffling. Or, in this case, dig up old shit and attacking DJ in a passive-aggressive manner and all of fornits at the same time and patronizing him and apologizing for his 'interruptions'.

TW got owned, plain and simple, and this thread needs to be locked and TW banned, because hes either a troll or so mentally far gone hes acting as one anyway.

But, unfortunately, fornits is totally open and totally uncensored, so people feel compelled to answer this guys stupidty for the lurkers.

We just need a disclaimer put into all of TW's posts that shows all his bullshit, and the rebuttals, so we dont have to do this shit anymore, and actually go out and accomplish more than rebuking a programmed parent.