Weighed down by the past

“My name is Brittany. I went to Copper Canyon Academy, in Arizona, from October of 2009 until December of 2010. I was 16 at the time. CCA was not my first program (it was my third), but it is the one I remember the most.

Seminars are what I remember vividly though. In the first seminar, we were forced to relive all of our trauma out loud with girls we did not know. I remember sitting in front of a mirror for hours in a dark room. We were told to think of all the bad things that had happened in our lives. We were not allowed to do anything else until we had “cried it out.”

Later that day we did an exercise called “Mom and Dad,” where we confronted our parents. We were sitting in a circle, facing outwards. At one point a girl got so upset that she got up, picked up her chair, and threw it. It hit me in the head. I was denied any kind of care because it would disrupt my progress. I had a headache for days after the incident.

In seminar three, later on in my stay at CCA, I remember being down at a river, where all the girls who admitted being gay were “baptized.” I watch a girl get hit with metal hangers because that is how she felt her parents would punish her if she did not do well. As for me, they made me burn some of the few pictures I had with my family. Saying I needed to move on from the past and learn to be better. They made me burn journals that had my sincere feelings in them because they had entries of a boy I had known, which they had found during a room raid. The worst part for me was being forced to burn my favorite book. Books were my safe haven, and they knew that. I was told I would be stuck there for much longer if I did not, so I did.

I was told I had Borderline Personality Disorder, but not until the end of my program. I had been medicated with antipsychotics for over a year, off of the assumption of a psychiatrist who saw me once a month for five minutes. As an adult, I found out I never had or have that disorder.

Ten years later, I have no relationship with my family, and I have an extremely hard time keeping any kind of relationship due to abandonment issues. That is what hurts me the most. After everything and all this time, after doing what I was forced to do, they no longer talk to me because I “faked” a program or I am not the same person they remember.”

Copper Canyon Academy was purchased by Aspen Education Group, which collapsed after several children died while attending their residential treatment programs. Then the previous owners bought it back and it is now named Sedona Sky Academy. Basically nothing have changed in treatment approach since Brittany was there

Source of the original testimony (https://www.breakingcodesilence.net/testimonial/brittanysstory" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Link)

This testimony was found on Google

Honestly, staff are very abusive here. I was here for a year and a half a couple years ago. Staff were having sexual relationship's with girls, Mr.Vince is a very evil man, he abuses his authority. The food here is amazing and a select few staff are there to really help. Don't send your kids here it will only damage your daughters more. Also the staff lie to parents and social workers and probation officers. If you're a social worker and you want to make or need to make a welfare visit my advice do not let any staff know or they'll make everyone be on there best behavior.

The State Of California made all the youth from California that were placed there come home because of the condition Mingus is. They are abusive and the education is terrible. There are restraints constantly so we cannot talk during an issue meaning we cannot be taught in school. We watched movies 24/7 in class.

The therapist some of them are amazing and the therapy groups helped me so much.

Other news

The facility was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic May 2020. 84 students and 20 employees were infected by this possible lethal illness - Source

This testimony was found on Google

I was at Mingus from August 23rd to October 3rd. I wasn't there for very long because I didn't belong there (DCS Fault). I was on Juniper with 19 other females at first I didn't find it all bad because my staff at the time really cared for me.

Outside of my dorm we got very poor academic help we watched movies 24/5 and currently I didn't get any work or credits and i got failed a whole semester just for missing 2 months of school (I'm in recovery classes at the moment). Leaving Mingus I begun having issues with many females for being so cramped with them and so I isolated myself by working in the cafeteria most of my time being at Mingus but that was my best experience..the cafeteria with Mr.Jose my best friend even though he didn't like when I called him that.

Don't send your kids here

Other news

The facility was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic May 2020. 84 students and 20 employees were infected by this possible lethal illness - Source