There is a silver lining to this bleak economy: Abusive and ineffective "tough love" programs for teens are failing right and left.
In just the last few weeks, the notorious Tranquility Bay program in Jamaica, Spring Creek Lodge in Montana, and Pathway Family Center in Detroit and Ohio have all been shuttered.
Tranquility Bay was known for making kids kneel on concrete for days and using "restraint" so harsh that it broke bones. Both Tranquility Bay and Spring Creek Lodge were part of a network called the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASP or WWASPS)--and the group's philosophy involves constant use of emotional attacks and humiliation in a rigid, structured day in order to break teens' spirits.
Spring Creek was notorious for a frigid, small isolation room called "the Hobbit"--sometimes teens were left there for months.
From Pathway--which was descended from the infamously abusive Straight Inc.--I received two separate accounts of suicide attempts by girls which were not reported to their parents, and many stories of the usual attack therapy and humiliation. Unfortunately, neither WWASP nor Pathway is completely dead yet: WWASP still has centers operating in the US and abroad, and Pathway has sites in Indiana: Porter and Indianapolis.
The media tends to present these closures as sad examples of needed services being cut--but in fact, teens are better off with no treatment than with treatment that often divides families and has characteristics known to produce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Family support tends to be crucial to long term recovery--and PTSD doubles the odds that a drug problem will become a lasting addiction.
Troubled teen programs were yet another sign of the bubble economy. Many were financed by mortgage and home equity loans because they cost thousands of dollars a month and because insurers, quite correctly, don't usually pay for programs that aren't proven to help.
Since there are proven alternatives for teens with drug and other problems that do not carry the risks of "tough love," we should greet the closings of these centers with glee.
And those who care about this issue should keep the pressure on so that the wounded programs finally die. After all, there are still teens suffering inside, being "treated" without dignity or respect--some of whom were just transferred from closed programs to other similar, sites.
Legislation to ban the most egregious practices is coming--and may well be strengthened now that the Democrats control Congress and the White House. But an even better outcome would be for the "troubled teen" industry to wither and be replaced by what the evidence shows works: community-based, family-centered, minimally restrictive, and youth-driven care.
[Cross-posted from Mother Jones]
Follow Maia Szalavitz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/maiasz
This school needs to be shut down, and I am happy if that day is coming near. Even if Elan survives the recession, it should still be closed. However, this could prove to be exceedingly difficult, because the students in the school are pressured not even to think a bad thought about the program, let alone utter it, and will receive punishment if they fail to oblige that rule. I know that while I was at the school investigations were conducted, and students were pressured into lying. Furthermore, a survey was also done, which now appears on the school's website, some questions asking about if we felt comfortable at the school. It was said to be anonymous, but again we felt pressured into lying, staff was supervising, and each of our handwriting could be easily identified.
I hope someone reacts to the atrocity that is the Elan School.
I knew your nephew, and I agree that this school needs to be shut down. He attended the school for a large portion of the time I was there, although we were in different houses.
I'm sorry about what happened.
What we still really do need though, are safe residential treatment centers, that parents can afford and trust and child and adolescent psychiatrists. The attrition of mental health beds for this cohort is alarming.
The mix of adolescence, mental health issues sometimes complicated by illicit drugs, sometimes not is a difficult thing to manage.
It's also worth noting that Air Force SERE instructors have to undergo regular psychological screening to make sure they're not getting into it too much.
The people running these programs sound like some twisted individuals.
These are bad people running these programs and they will be stopped. If the public were aware of the methods implemented within these programs, they would not stand for it.
As Zenith15 has mentioned, these destructive techniques are not only used to torture kids but also adults in prisons and as I have recently learned, half-way houses also. This model is so widespread that I have to wonder if this is some type of mass-conditioning tool put forth by certain powers that be (or have been). Guantanamo is a perfect example of how torture is seen as "OK in certain situations" by some. This is a terribly unethical paradigm and is hinged upon ignorance.
I wasn't surprised to read that you had reports of suicide attempts by other girls in PFC. My sister was in PFC from 2000-2002 and three of the clients have committed suicide since leaving, including her this past August. Another former PFC client who was in the program with her was rescued moments after a suicide attempt. What kind of program can claim to help families with this awful record of self-inflicted violence in former clients? Their tactic of breaking teens down and stealing away their sense of self-worth if they don't conform to the organization's values is WRONG!
I am truly relieved that PFC is closing down its center here and I hope investigation into the program leads to Pathway's grave as a paltry retribution for their toll on many families.
I tried to expose some of the atrocities that go on at these places to a congressional committee, only to be chuckled at and ignored by the chairman and called a liar by the Gateway staff that were present. And to think of them doing this to KIDS is even more horrible. Keep up the good work at exposing this torture masquerading as treatment or "tough love"--it is neither.