Share your experience.

What was your experience like? I went when I was 15 and I am 19 not and still think about it often. Sometimes I can’t keep out the memories at night and resort to drinking. My experience was absolute hell but I want to hear stories of other patients as well.

I worked there for about 9 months in 2019 and I worked in oak and then spruce and it was the most fucked up place I’ve ever been to. The staff were so fucking inappropriate with each other and abusive to the kids and the administration didn’t give a fuck about the kids in any way. I showed up to meetings every week advocating for staff and the kids. Admin just wanted money so they were putting sexually abusive patients in bedrooms with other vulnerable people who suffered from previous SA and depression. It was just fucking insane. I stuck it out because I cared so much about these trouble kids because I was one… I grew up in foster care and my adopted and biological family were abusive beyond belief and so I’ve been no-contact for most of my adulthood. I have worked hard to build a life for myself and wanted to help traumatized kids and teens because I understood that support is needed. Instead, it was just insane abuse everywhere. I’m so happy they shut the fuck down. I hope every kid that was there is getting the care they truly need and is healing. The mission statement read “we hold respect for children and great care is taken to ensure the safety, security, and comfort necessary for personal growth.”—- which is the most laughable shit I ever saw. Also some of the staff were creepy with their boundaries with the kids. I also HATED their pride that there were taking in “border refugees” to “assimilate to American culture”… these foreign people were put in camps and seperated from their families… it was all for money. Devereux is an evil place. Kids died from there too. It breaks my heart. I hope you’re all ok…

This morning NATSAP (The National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs) sent an email announcing their “10th Annual DC Hill Day” in which Drunk Kate (aka Kate Deily of Solstice West, formerly of Spring Ridge Academy, recently convicted of fraud) and her mary band of low-functioning nitwits will travel to our nation’s capital in an effort to pander to low level congressional assistants, take embarrassing group photos, and terrorize bars in Georgetown. To be very clear, they are not advocating for mental health funding, mental health policy reform, access to mental health…they are there to beg, bargain, and plead for less restrictions governing their abusive practices and to protect their rights to traffic children for profit..

Anywho, we will have boots on the ground. Big thanks to whomever manages communication in the NATSAP organization. You are doing a great job making it easy for us to track you!

Mark your calendar for April 28th-30th!! If you are able to get to the nations capital and want to have your voice as a survivor of NATSAP heard!

Looks like all the dorms had renovations and can be rented out via air bnb

How do you get over it? I'm in my mid 20s and just tired of living and mine wasn't even that bad. I've had terrible experiences outside of the troubled teen industry: racial abuse, weird sexual stuff (not nearly as bad as what a lot of people on this sub have gone through, but still annoying), having guns pointed at me. None of which were the fault of my parents or ed consultants. So, I know what experiences people would consider traumatic feel to me. I swear on everything the troubled teen industry is worse. The troubled teen industry destroyed my mind, my ability to perform tasks, my anxiety levels, and ability to enjoy things, and I just want my mind back. Crazy thing is my TTI wasn't even bad. It was just really boring brainwashing for years on end. The TTI indirectly also caused me to be so angry and so mean for so long. I work, but that's all the strength I have to do. I can't bring myself to do much of anything else. I hate this industry and just want a simple, beautiful life where I'm happy so I can stick it to the people who hated me enough to do all this crap to me. I'm nowhere near perfect, but before and after the TTI my life goal was always to be a productive citizen. I've dealt with anger issues, but I've never been criminally violent. Such an evil industry.

As those of us who work hard gain more power over time, we have to remember to do the right things for the youth, because this is really, really sick when you think about it deeply. The ripple effects through society are crazy.

Hi just wondering if any relates to this. I feel like memories that don’t affect me as much during the day get so much worse at night, maybe just because night time and like the act of going to bed is obviously an unavoidable trigger. I think the the reason is because daytime has more distractions and night has less and more time in your brain. Just wondering if this is common

Hi, I’m not really sure how to ask about this but I will try my best.

A bit about me, I live in southern california and would be going to one of the houses there. I got diagnosed with anxiety when I was four. I would throw tantrums for hours and wouldn’t be able to sleep (i still have extreme trouble sleeping and have never been on anything for it) Along with the diagnosis came medication, I believe I was on it for a couple of years and then stopped and started back up again, that cycle happened a couple more times and I am now on lexapro right now.

I am in high school, I have EXTREME trouble with coming to school. my parents used to be able to fight me on it but it’s not a fact of not knowing the severity of what happens if i don’t go, trust me i do know, my grades show it. I come to school maybe twice a week. it’s difficult for me to get out of bed, not in a tired way but in a physical way. I have a few close friends who I wouldn’t trade for the world. but recently before I become close with them I had been practically kicked out of my own friend group (we all became very close near the end of the school year last year and only continued to get closer over summer.) when school started up again they started hanging out without me and stopped talking to me. I realized that they weren’t good people and excluded myself even more from them. even with the good friends i have now I still struggle socially. I’m not awkward, but i’m not exactly the loudest person in the room. I don’t really have trouble talking to people I don’t know and I’m extremely good at reading people.

For my mental health- It has never been good. I would have extreme anxiety attacks when I was little and there was really no way to calm me down. It stayed that way till about eighth grade when I would dip into these deep deep depressions, I stop talking, eating, socializing, moving. I always took care of my hygiene because I have a fear of being unclean. These depressive “episodes?” have only gotten longer and worse. (which hasn’t helped with my attendance and i do have a 504 plan) I had done a sport (wrestling) for a little bit till the coach kicked me off (he told me i can come back next year he’s just doing what’s best for me in his eyes) because of my absences from practice and grades. Not sure if this is mental health related - I’m also extremely sensitive (i end up crying, extremely angry or scared) to chewing/mouth noises, repeated noises and loud noises/yelling. Overall, i’ve never really understood what’s happening inside my head nor am i probably including everything that happens when i’m in these kind of episodes because I forget the worst of it, most likely my brains way of protecting me.

I have gone to therapy before and it really never did anything, once a week/ every two weeks for an hour isn’t helpful. So i stopped but with everything slipping out of my control again my parents decided to look into therapy programs again. my parents found newport academy just through looking at what people recommend in our area.

Im not completely against an impatient program (if you couldn’t already tell it would be my first time) I just have concerns, every time I look anything up about newport academy i get all of these horrible negligent and abusive experiences (none in california from what i’ve seen) and I couldn’t even imagine what any of you have gone through and I think it is all so horrible.

Please let me know your guy’s experiences I would like to hear people’s thoughts.

As was mentioned earlier this week, we’ve had several members of the TTI6 Intelligence Team mingle amongst the scum and trash at this years NATSAP Annual Conference. In addition, we extend a large amount of gratitude for the increased number of calls coming from inside the house.

Yes, you heard that correct…we maintain regular communication from sources working inside the industry in various capacities. Our team always throughly vets any information before we make it public knowledge in the sub, but your leaks have made it possible for us to advance our agenda. A very big thanks to one special Family Help and Wellness insider.

Gathering Intel on programs and the absolute idiots that work for them is much like watching monkeys at a zoo. It’s interesting for the first few minutes and then you realize it’s mostly just a lot of yelling and shit flinging. These are not exactly America’s greatest minds and it seems no one in this industry understands the concept of discretion or speaking in a hushed voice. It was exhausting, but here are some take aways overheard by our team on the ground:

1. Many attendees made comments about the noticeably low attendance this year. In chatting with a NATSAP employee at the registration desk (where I stole a name badge with no one noticing😈) informed me they believe programs sent fewer people because it’s not a good “marketing investment” and because there was a general level of trepidation regarding outsiders with “malicious intent spying” (Hi. It’s me. I’m the problem 🙋🏽‍♀️)

2. Several comments were made by what seemed like established people within the industry pointing out the incompetence of the new NATSAP leadership (although, I never heard of anyone who was real impressed with the old NATSAP President). It was remarked by several individuals we interacted with that they were not going to continue being members of NATSAP both in attempt to distance themselves from negative PR, but also to conserve resources.

3. There was definitely a vibe that “programs are in trouble”…this ranged in expressed fears about ongoing low census, high employee turnover, reduced funding from school districts, more stringent state regulations due to the mass media attention of the death at Trails Carolina, etc.

4. In talking to people (particularly program leadership) there seems to be a growing amount of tension and hostility between the programs and educational CONsultants. Program people (particularly those who have had a few too many drink while bellied up to the bar late night) seemed to enjoy ripping on those in the consulting profession, making fun of their lack of education, lack of legitimate credentialing, physical features, etc. it was the predominant topic of the late night conversation.

5. There is a very palpable hierarchy within those who attend NATSAP and the people selling auxiliary or support services (such as computer programs for electronic record keeping and at-home/aftercare services) are most definitely at the bottom.

6. My personal biggest take away is that there is a high percentage of people who are not in this line of work for the right reasons. The way clients were joked about, comments made about parents being “insane” and difficult to manage, how to keep a client enrolled the max amount of time…none of the actual content seemed to really be intended on how to do better work. More about how to charge more, pay less, and keep the lights on.

7. I spoke with four different educational consultants during my two day and had the chance to observe them in the breakout sessions. I was truly dumbfounded by how ignorant, crass, and misinformed they were. ZERO knowledge of basic mental health information, including terminology. One CONsultant stopped a loudly/rudely presentation to ask the presenter to explain what hypersomnia was (like, basic understanding of the English language should give you the answer and if not why the fuck are you involved with a making treatment recommendations). 🤯

8. Program waste a lot of money. Rounds of drinks, tons of food at dinner, wining and dining. One member of our team was invited on a particularly interesting social outing in which a girls RTC paid for their dinner and several expensive craft cocktails and they never asked her name. There was a lot of flexing the company card 💃

9. In the six breakout presentations I attended I was really appalled by lack of preparation…they seemed to all just read from their power points.

10. Lots of side conversations from individuals looking for jobs outside the TTI. It seems many of these individuals observed are pretty stuck and have made numerous lateral moves within the industry. I personally heard a number of jokes about people working for several programs over the years or asking someone when they switched jobs. Seems like people don’t stay at programs very long.

Again, those were the highlights. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask in the comments. I will do the best answer for our team.

Elan: Has Mafia and FBI Connections, Bounty Hunters able to drop everything to look for escaped teens that look like any other teenager in cities as large as New York, threatens to make actual police officers "Disappear like Jimmy Hoffa" if they try to expose it during the height of its power, and more.

Also Elan: Collapses like a house of cards in a year because Joe Nobody said mean things about them on Reddit and Tumblr.

my boyfriend recently got sent to an ip facility for substance abuse and bipolar i and i really want to contribute to his wellness. his family has been incredibly kind, putting me on the list of authorized letter senders and allowing me to call him during his two allowed calls during the week. i also may be part of his family therapy if his therapist gives him the ok, since we have been together for almost a year now and he’s informed them that i am incredibly aware of the family dynamic; however, i feel like im not doing enough. i have tried to write him letters daily except for times when ive struggled with my own mental health issues. i asked what i could do for him when i got the chance to speak to him and am planning on sending him pictures for decorating his walls. what else can i do to help him? thank you so much

I was sent to an abusive program in Montana many many years ago, and now I have a friend whose family in planning on sending their child to Rodeheaver Boys Ranch in Florida and has reached out to me for advice and input, at I'm the only person they know with TTI experience.

I've never heard of it, but I'm wondering if anyone here has any insight on this place?

Greetings, people of r/troubledteens. I come here to speak about a place that tormented me in my childhood. Here is a full compilation of information that I’ve found.

Introduction

When I was young, my parents believed that I had ADHD due to my behaviour at school. I've had already went to some therapists before, so I figured out that this wouldn't be so different. As it turns out, I was wrong. I don't think that this place fits the "troubled teens" category, but it's very similar in the way it treated special needs kids.

A for me, I was a troublesome kid: I'll just say that. I was uncapable of forming friendships and I suffered from bullying in my school. This was because of my (then) undiagnosed Asperger syndrome (which was diagnosed by this place, as a matter of fact).

And, so, there's the site: it was called "Centro Educativo Excelsior" (Excelsior Educational Center). The place was the address Pedro de Alvarado 144 in the Mexican city of Veracruz. I don't remember how it was presented to my family or me; judging by their website, they probably did the "school for unintelligent kids" façade.

Routine

I went six days a week: the only day off being Sunday. I don't remember the hours of the day they took, but I'd say it was around 6 PM.

In comparison to other TTI sites I've seen, I was a lucky one. The routine wasn't that bad at least in theory: it worked just like your typical school. It felt as if they were actually trying to do something good (but failing nevertheless).

Here is a list of classes or portions of the day's session that I remember:

• Physical education: This class was led by a tall, dark-skinned man. As the name implies, we did a lot of physical stuff here (and also received some heavy physical abuse). We would play with rings, do races, and more boring stuff that tired you. The curious part, however, is that the "teacher" would punish you by choking you while he held you in the air.
• Board games: This one is also self-explanatory. I don't remember who was the "teacher", but it was a woman. In this class, you'd play board games where you'd be pushed outside of your comfort zone (and that last part is an understatement). This class was designed to make you as uncomfortable as possible; this was achieved by the annoying, coercive attitude from the "teacher" and the other children, who adopted a "brainwashed" attitude if their disabilities allowed them to. This is why I don't like playing UNO nowadays, although I remember playing mostly memory.
• Computing: In this class, you'd usually make use of computers. In what manner? Neurofeedback. Say what you want to say about neurofeedback, but I have a history of discomfort and even escapism thanks to it. For those who don't know, it works by wiring cables to your head and shoking you if you did not pay attention to the computer monitor's contents. While the shocks weren't as bad as they sounded, they eventually became a nightmare the more time you spent on them. Sometimes, you'd also play board games in this class. I forgot to mention this, but this class' teacher was pregnant at the time of my stay.
• Sandbox: This is the creepiest one of them all in my opinion. Likely also led by a woman (but my memory could be wrong). It consisted in letting you play in the implied sandbox while you were expected to let other kids annoy you, harass you and destroy your sand builds. By this logic, you'd assume that you were allowed to do this to other kids when they had their turn to play, but this was also punished. They disguised psychological sadism with inclusive fun; you weren't allowed to defend nor offend.
• The hub: Rather than a class, it was a multi-purpose room where other kids went more than me. We did some physical exercises, social sessions and misc. stuff that I don't really remember if I'm honest. I remember being scolded here by the P. E. "teacher" sometimes, specially when I tried to escape.
• The pyramid: Similar to the hub. You'd go here along with the rest of the children to wait for your parents. You'd do mostly physical games and exercises here as a filler. I still remember seeing most of the kids (sometimes, even me) being scolded and getting in problems in this session.

Events

I don't remember that much about the events except for "posadas" (which weren't really Christian; just celebrations). I don't remember why we did those "posadas", but I do remember that we got to finally play in the playground that the place has as its logo. We also drank punch, which I despise already. These events felt uncomfortable because they were set in an already hostile atmosphere: like a playground in a battlefield. Needless to say, I didn't play that much in those occasions.

There was, however, one time where we went to the P. E. classroom and played a game of mimicry. In that game, you were supposed to go behind a blanket and make the others guess your shadow. It was weird, I'm not even sure if it was about mimicry. All I remember is that it involved a dark room with a dim light and a blanket where kids made shadows. I also remember being scolded here: I either misunderstood it or just wanted to go home.

Escape attempt

I knew (and still know) most of the place's layout. I don't remember exactly how did my attempt start or if I did plan it that much beforehand. I only remember running through the open hall and forcing that lock as if my life depended on it. While I broke the lock, the P. E. caught me before I could've figured what to do next in order to open the door.

My parents weren't happy with me when they found out. My dad had to pay for the broken lock. They still did not believe me when it happened.

Layout

It's not easy to describe this in words. It was mostly an open space except for the classrooms (the only one class in the open was the sandbox one, which took place in the far right of the place from the entrance (which was in the center). The computing, board games, P. E. and puzzle classrooms were in the left. The pyramid was also in the left but farther in comparison to the other classrooms. The bathrooms were in front of the board games classroom and the hub was in the center besides the playground.

Gallery

The playground and the pyramid. To the left of the pyramid, you can see the puzzle classroom. The hub is in the other building.

The pyramid.

P. E. class. The woman isn't the P. E. \"teacher\" but likely the computing one.

Computing classroom. You didn't always get to use the computers.

Neurofeedback. This is not the computing classroom.

An special ocassion? In the background, you can see the computing and board games classrooms from left to right. Also, I was the one who censored the kids' photos; disgusting, isn't it?

Personnel. The woman in the inferior left is María de Lourdes. The tall, black man between the two women is the P. E. \"teacher\". The pregnant woman is the computing \"teacher\".

P. E. classroom. I don't know what's going on.

The hub. In the background, there's our schedules. Note that the yellow desks seen here were also used in puzzles.

The sandbox.

Notes

Please do not harass anyone mentioned or seen here, it won't make it any better. I've already got over this, so don't feel bad for me. I am doing this because it must be made known, because it's justice to my younger self. Feel free to ask me anything in the comments, I'll gladly answer. Pardon my horrible redaction, by the way, as I've just got a dental extraction when I wrote this.

Thank you.

So obviously the program I was in was abusive, brainwashing and extremely controlling. I was abused by other children (I was the scapegoat of the team because I have bipolar so my symptoms were more stressful to be around). That was traumatic but I’ve learned to forgive my peers for that.

I’m having a hard time with guilt for my part in abusing my peer. There was this one girl who had severe mental illness. She was basically mute and she was in bed all day everyday. There were a few moment when she’d be out of bed but that was very rare.

The program didn’t like that she was like that so obviously instead of helping her they punished her. That didn’t really help so they would have us punish her. They wouldn’t let us eat breakfast or go to school (school at that program not a real school) until she got out of bed. That obviously didn’t help her or us because she physically couldn’t get out of bed. They turned us against her. We couldn’t rationalize that it was unfair they were blaming her for us not being able to eat breakfast. They got us angry at her and then prompted us to go into her room every time she went back to bed and tell her how she’s “ruining our day” and how we’re hungry and how she was being selfish and terrible. It was awful.

She obviously didn’t get better at all and she left the program after being there for 9months. She went to a different facility. She killed herself a few months later.

They didn’t tell us she had died. We went on believing she was getting the help she needed. I found out TWO YEARS after that she had died.

I know it’s not my fault. I don’t think it’s any of my other peer’s fault that they partook in that. And I don’t think it’s their fault that I was treated like that too but she was like severely depressed. I can’t help but blame myself sometimes for being a part of her suffering in that program. I know 100% she would still be alive if she went to a good program and not one affiliated with this fucked up industry.

I was only there for a very short time but the whole experience was very traumatic and most of it is a blur. I had no idea what this place was called until reccently. Does anyone know why they shut down?

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/man-convicted-of-holding-down-boy-while-he-was-raped-at-a-youth-center-gets-20-to-40-year-sentence/3613957/

“Bradley Asbury, now 70, was found guilty in November on two counts of being an accomplice to aggravated sexual assault”

I’ve been out of my program for almost 4 years. I still think about it all the time. (The obsession comes in waves) but recently this past week and a half I’ve been OBSESSING over my time spent in the program. I try so hard and distract and reframe my thinking patters to help me move forward in life but it doesn’t help when the obsessions so intense. I genuinely feel like that program broke me to pieces and I’ve never felt the same since.

I’m currently back in therapy which I think will help me process my experience and help me move forward. I’m also receiving ketamine treatment. I know I’ll get through this I just haven’t been able to yet.

I know basically all of you understand how I feel. I was wondering if any of you that feel that you’ve healed from this experience completely or have healed from it a lot more than I, have any advice to share. What helps you accept this experience for what it is and let it go? What helps you remind yourself it wasn’t your fault? What helps you get out of that state of thinking where it feels like you’re at the program? I’d love some advice from you guys!

I hope whoever’s reading this is safe and is doing okay❤️🙏🫂

I’m forever grateful this subreddit exists. It’s so important we can share our experiences now.