Movie: Without consent

Laura Mills is a rebellious teenager who spends her days getting drunk, listening to rock music and making out with several boyfriends. Her behavior gets worse when her brother David is kicked out of the house for theft and alcohol abuse. When it turns out she was involved in a drunk driving accident, her parents decide they have had enough. They are not able to control their daughter and send her to a private psychiatric center. It soon turns out that patients in this center are drugged and abused by the staff.

It sound familiar for many teenagers who have experienced the same. This movie from 1994 didn't get much attention despite showing the reality in many treatment centers.

Source:

• About the movie (Wikipedia)
• About the movie (Internet Movie Database)

James at Midwest Academy (from safeteenschools.org)

This testimony was given on the webpage Safe Teen School by the student James. All rights goes to the original author.

My name is James Farris, and I thought I'd send you my story. I am also an LGBT youth. I was at Midwest Academy in Keokuk, IA from Oct 08 to Dec 09 with a one month break nearly directly in between.

Before being sent to Midwest Academy, I was very depressed, had very few friends, and had seen several counselors and even a couple psychiatrists. I had been cutting myself and had one previous suicide attempt. What is ironic about this situation though is that a year and a half after leaving MWA, I was diagnosed with Bipolar I disorder after having such a severe manic episode that I literally lost touch with reality. However, while I was at Midwest Academy, I never once was able to speak to a certified/licensed counselor or psychiatrist. I find it ironic that I now have been diagnosed with a severely debilitating mental illness, but while I was being "treated" for being a "troubled teen," I never received any kind of legitimate mental health assistance whatsoever.

Furthermore, because students cannot contact the police when they feel like they are being abused, there is no government oversight of these programs, and mail and telephone calls are monitored, this leads to staff knowing that they can abuse children and get away with it, too. For example, one time, my family representative had me taken into solitary confinement because he preemptively thought I would act out because of a consequence I received. He, S. Tyler Mcghghy, never even asked me to fill out the consequence, but simply took me into OSS (out of school suspension) because he *thought* that I *might* react badly to the consequence and not fill it out. This clearly violates the premise that OSS or solitary confinement is only used by these people "when necessary" or "for cool downs." OSS is used by these people indiscriminately and in abusive ways.

Furthermore, this same kind of environment leads to staff making threats. Just having a threat made to you while you are in a facility like this is astonishing because you know there is nothing you can do to stop it if the staff member really wanted to go through with the threat. For example, because I got a 33 on my ACT, I was given a full
tuition scholarship to Illinois State University to begin in 2009. However, the same staff member (S Tyler McGhghy, my "family representative") threatened me that if I did not sign a letter stating that I would forfeit my scholarship that he would put me in solitary confinement for 3+ months (the remainder of my stay until I turned
18). Because I was still 17 when the fall semester was starting at Illinois State University, I could be legally kept at MWA against my will before I would have even had a chance to start college. However, it is worth noting that I was an Illinois resident at that time and was never allowed access to legal assistance to seek emancipation as a minor.

Feel free to contact me with any questions you have whatsoever. I try to just stick to the basic facts and the grossest problems with places like this. I believe it's also worth mentioning that the property at MWA is still owned by WWASP.

Thanks for helping to expose this evil industry,


Source

• The original testimony (safeteenschool.org)
• Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)

Christina at Diamond Ranch Academy (from safeteenschools.org)

This testimony was given on the webpage Safe Teen School by a student Christina. All rights goes to the original author.

I was there August 1, 2012 - March 27, 2013.

I was woken up at 5 am and taken by 2 people who called themselves transporters while my parents watched, my parents did not take me, they threatened me the second they saw me before even explaining who they were

One day in RFI the staff got mad at me and ripped my glove while still on my hand leaving a mark, then grabbed my arm and shoved me into a brick wall hard leaving another bruise then after I slid down and started crying from pain, grabbed my hair, slammed my face into the tile floor, got on top of me and almost popped my shoulder and wrist out of the sockets, I held my breath to keep from screaming and they said I was no fun then got off of me and left me in a locked room alone.

They gave me no breakfast or lunch and I was abused much more frequently like that after that incident , also a special person was often abused. She would take showers and if she was ever late, they would open her shower door pull her out of the shower and restrain her every time, there were only 5 staff I ever got along with, Mykin was 1 and she got fired when they found out she was being easy on us, Roxanne was another and she would give us food so would her sister Nola and Liz would try to get us everything she could but quit when they started threatening her for helping us.

We were punished for asking for water, extra food, or a bathroom break and if we weren't about to die on the spot, medical would yell at us for needing them, the school kept trying to put me on medication but my mom said no and I recently found out that my mom never knew about the pills they made us take everyday in O&A.

Before Diamond Ranch Academy I never talked to my parents and now is no different.

Sources:

• The original testimony (safeteenschools.org)
• Factsheet of the facility (Fornits Wiki)