Weighed down by the past

This testimony was located on Reddit (link). Hope Ranch aka Star Meadows Academy is closed but the legacy of their strange school uniforms remain forever

I’ve lurked in this subreddit for a long time and made an account to post and share my experience with you guys. I’m almost 40 now and the tldr of it is that it fucked me up.

I was sent to Wilderness Treatment in 1997 when I was 16 years old. Like many of us, I came from an abusive and neglectful family. After I expressed some self destructive and suicidal behaviour, my parents put me into an inpatient treatment facility for 2 weeks. I expect this is where they were given the idea to send me to Wilderness Treatment.

After the inpatient facility, I was sent to Idaho. The school had a bunch of resident kids there but we weren’t allowed to interact. 2 of us lived in a cabin with 2 counselors until we went into the woods for 3 months. This part was actually really nice; my counselors were decent, in it for the right reasons type of people. Once we got back to the house in Idaho, things changed. We were given a 3 day solo, where we were not allowed to leave our camping spot, not allowed to speak to anyone, and given half a day’s ration of food for the whole three days. We had to sleep in the open air, no tents, no heat, and I remember seeing lots of bugs and worms out at night. I was so hungry. It was horrible.

After my solo I was sent further upstate to a place that is now shut down. There were...6 of us? The food was moldy. The house was full of stink bugs and we found maggots living in the mop. We told the counselors, but the mop wasn’t replaced the whole time I was there. We had to do 2 hours of PT every morning and if you opted out, you had to sit on a stump with a 3” diameter for the rest of the day. Phone calls were monitored. They made fun of us and took opportunities to be mean to us and said it was to make us appreciate our parents. I think I spent 6 months there before my parents sent me to a different school.

Hope Ranch. I don’t remember the names of the others but I remember this one. Abusive Christians hiding behind The Bible. They would perform exorcisms on us if we misbehaved. A few of the counselors lived there with their children and they encouraged their kids to be mean to us. It was so demeaning, being berated by an 8 year old. Some girls said they were molested by one of the counselors but I wasn’t. I ended up running away from that place.

My parents took me back in but looking back at it, I wish I had just left.

My relationship with my parents was pretty good for awhile, but I recently had a kid and all of these memories came flooding back, fresh as ever. I am low contact with them and they think it is because I live far away, when in truth I just can’t stand to look at them.

If I could rate this facility lower, I would. I was a patient here for 5 months from May-October 2015, the worst 5 months of my life. During my stay, I experienced things that only made my problems worse.

When you first arrive to the village, after you are checked in, strip searched, and drug tested, you get sent to Magnolia cabin. In Magnolia, you get very little chances to talk, you rarely go outside (but when you do, you’re stuck in a fenced in front yard that really doesn’t get much sunlight). Most of the time in this cabin, you’re either in the classroom teaching yourself your school work, or you’re sitting in a hard plastic chair in the day room staring at a wall not allowed to talk. You’re allowed 2 outfits while in magnolia, but you have to ask the staff to get them for you because all of your belongings are in a room behind the staff desk. Only when you prove yourself with your best behavior can you be transferred to an outdoor cabin.

While I was in the outdoor cabin, fights constantly broke out. At any point if you got upset, instead of trying to talk to you and calm you down, you get out in a hold and get injected with Benadryl to calm you down. Luckily, I never had to experience this myself, but I watched many of them take place.

At one point during my stay, one of the staff members in my cabin disappeared for a few weeks. She later returned, and she told me why she had been gone. She had attempted suicide, and even showed me pictures of the graphic incident on her phone.

The “school” they have on campus is just a double wide trailer with desks. The teachers don’t actually teach, they sit at their desks and have conversations with each other and some patients. If you want to learn, you have to teach yourself with the falling apart textbooks they provide.

The only thing I got from coming to The Village were nightmares I still continue to have, and the fear of messing up again because I was scared to get sent back.

Please, if you care about your children, please don’t send them hear. There are plenty of other behavioral health facilities that will actually benefit your child, and aren’t just in it for the money.

Source
The original testimony on Google Maps

This testimony was located on Reddit message board (link)

I attended auldern from March 2015- May 2016.

I don’t even know where to begin... the staff would totally brainwash desperate and uninformed parents to send their kids there and sign custody over to the staff of Auldern. So I guess that’s what happened to my parents around the time I got in to some trouble a few weeks earlier. My parents tricked me; they told me I was going to visit like a normal high school because I wasn’t making good grades and thats what they cared about most, so we had been visiting some schools lately.

We drove to auldern and they gave me an hour long fake tour of the school and after I told the headmaster I didn’t like it she said “Well, it doesn’t matter because you have to stay here.” I begged and pleaded to my parents not to leave me here. Then a staff member brought me in front of the whole community to introduce me while I was in complete shock and intensely crying. It was humiliating and I felt like I was in a night mare. I was, and I still haven’t woken up yet.

To try to make my story a little shorter I’ll sum it up; they emotionally abused us every chance they got, the therapists and staff were not trained properly at all, staff picked favorites and bullied the ones they didn’t like, they made up steps you could move up through throughout your stay incredibly difficult and emotionally straining. I was on apprentice which is what your on when you first get there. You can’t even go outside without having a staff member come with you and coldly stare you down. I liked to run; they didn’t let me unless and staff could watch me and rarely was there a time when there was enough staff available for one to watch me. They had multiple punishments. One was non-com where you couldn’t talk to anyone.

They had “bans” where they would not let you talk to a specific friend, or be in the same room with them even if they were your best friend there.

They had a punishment called”Refocus” that they could keep you on for as long as they want. When I was on it I remember the staff laughing at us in the freezing cold trying to set up tents for ourselves, which we didn’t know how, and didn’t have any directions. We had to sleep in below freezing weather and I remember my toes feeling numb and my nose being frozen solid.

They made us do manual labor all day instead of school. I remember one time we had to pick weeds out of this sand pit for about three hours in pitch black and freezing cold while the staff member sat on her butt and went on her phone. They made us make our own fires to make meals and gave us limited matches. I remember fighting over some girls for a can of chicken because usually all we got was rice and beans. We were so hungry from doing labor all day. We would occasionally get to have an apple. We couldn’t sit on furniture like dogs.

They made people sleep on the tile floor under a fluorescent light, sometimes for weeks on end. I feel I could write on and on but to make it shorter auldern was so terrifying, manipulating, isolating. Many people who have gone have died, including one of my best friends, who I believe would not have died if she had not attended auldern. Sometimes we would sit in these huge circles and we would just go around the room and people would berate you for no reason. It was so emotionally abusive and I think I came out so traumatized from it that I developed many new anxieties, insomnia , awful night mares. Even if you didn’t need to be there they would keep you there for the money. I’m so glad it’s getting shut down and I know there are so many other schools like this and worse.. that I hope are getting shut down too.

It changed my life and I still suffer from the memories of that place.

Everything they say on the website is a complete lie. My parents and I were completely dissatisfied. My therapist was rude and discouraging about my passions and dreams.

I was not able to address any of my adoption related issues in the 8 months I was there. my parents and I went to the head of school and asked to switch therapist but I was never allowed. My parents were completely shocked and appalled at all the lies the school told them and have even said they wish I was never sent there.

My mom worked hard to get me to graduate early due to the dishonesty, and incompetence of the school and they still have not given my family money back for a trip I was supposed to go on. Its an overall lousy school and I would recommend ANY thing other than this.

The original testimony on Yelp (link)

This entry was written in 2009 on a website. The owner of the facility where the person who wrote the testimony was confined committed suicide after the authorities charged him with a crime. The victim wrote:

I have been thinking a lot lately about my 16 month stay at wellsprings academy back in Dec 2001- April 2003. I was there when it was shut down and all of us had to leave. I am now 23 and am still recovering from what I experienced there.

I was sent there because when I was 16 a became involved in drugs and alcohol. My parents we told it would be the best place for me. They were misinformed. My parents were terrified about my problems and wanted to desperately help me. While at wellspring I was confined to a small room in isolation for weeks on end. It was punishment for not behaving. I attempted to reach out to my parents but they had already been subject to my stories so they did not believe me. Furthermore the staff at wellspring assured them I was not being mistreated. I was also forced to participate in religious practices. If I did not I would be punished by ISS( in school suspention). This is what we had to refer to the isolation. The "students" or as I say prisoners referred privately to this punishment as the box. What I endured at wellspring effected me greatly.

When I was released I became a time bomb. I could not cope with this abuse. Even though I know now my actions were wrong and I take full responsibility for my actions I saught escape from what I felt. I turned to Herion to do this. I lived in a downward spiril until I was 21 years old. I destroyed everything around me. I finally got sober at 21. I was able to start dealing with all the feelings I felt. I am now 23 years old. I have been sober for over 2 years. I am back in school and am living a great life. Today I was thinking a lot about what happened and I hadn't heard anything about wellspring since I left back on that cold April day. I googled it and found this page. I can't say I was too upset to find that bob g. killed himself in 2008. I guess karma is working. I hope that we can just stop this "abuse" from happening to other families at other schools like Wellspring. 

The original testimony on FICAN message board (link)

More information

Spring Creek Lodge was operating under the WWASP franchise. A girl committed suicide there during her stay even when the employees were warned about her being potential suicidal. A lawsuit is ongoing. An employee have been arrested for circumstances involving students in a job he got after he left Spring Creek Lodge

Sources

• Jury hearing lawsuit over girl's suicide at Thompson Falls boarding school (The Missoulian)
• Reflections Academy school for girls sued 3 times in 3 months; claims of grooming, abuse (The Missoulian)

 

This testimony was located on Google Maps (Source)

I attended this academy 4 years ago.

Some of the staff is very encouraging and sweet, however this program is a complete and total waste of time and money. The pictures that are online are an inaccurate description of what your daughter's next year of her life will be like. While yes, there are horses at the facility, there is no horseback riding or anything of the sort.

My education has always been very important to me, yet when I left this school I was so far behind. I had to retake classes in high school, and my Algebra credit was not valid in public school. I feel that a former student's thoughts on this program is very important and indeed valid. The only thing that Wings of Faith Academy gave to me that helped me when I went home was fear of going back as is a very depressing environment. I benefited much more from learning from life experiences now that I look back. I am grateful for my family's intentions, however this is not the right place for any young girl looking for guidance.

More information

Spring Creek Lodge was operating under the WWASP franchise. A girl committed suicide there during her stay even when the employees were warned about her being potential suicidal. A lawsuit is ongoing. An employee have been arrested for circumstances involving students in a job he got after he left Spring Creek Lodge

Sources

• Jury hearing lawsuit over girl's suicide at Thompson Falls boarding school (The Missoulian)
• Reflections Academy school for girls sued 3 times in 3 months; claims of grooming, abuse (The Missoulian)

 

More information

This year the police raided the Circle of Hope Girls ranch. Investigation is ongoing but the girls who were at the ranch have been removed. The politicians have recognized the need for legislation.

Source:

Civil lawsuits allege rape, severe abuse at Circle of Hope Girls Ranch in Cedar County (News-Leader)