I went to new leaf academy earlier this year.
It messed with my head. They made u think that u couldn't any mistakes in life or u would get punished for example if u forget to ask permission to enter YOUR room u get an LO which is a learning opportunity u have to do physical work for half an hour and if a girl constantly makes mistakes like not wearing an undershirt or run inside the house or forgets to bring her water bottle to meds, she has to do half an hour of work everyday and if u say a curse word or throw a tantrum or get in a fight u get an hour of work or two even three sometimes and you will have to work them off all that once on the weekends while everyone is having fun you wouldn't watch the movie with everyone else you will good grounding work you have to write down some of the you wouldn't watch the movie with everyone else you will good grounding work you have to write down why you got grounded for how long and until you excepted your grounding and said it was the right thing you wouldn't get off of it. The staff was mean only three or four of them were nice to us but the others they will yell and say mean things to us sometimes we were trying to explain ourselves they would just say I don't want to listen to what you have to say thankfully my mother was really comprehensive about it so I only stayed there for like six months.
I told my mom about everything my native language is Spanish and I was not allowed to talk to my mom and Spanish I had to do it in English because they wanted to understand what I was saying. I had two people listen to my conversation with my mom so at first I had no way to tell her what was going on so I used to say I don't really know how to say this in English can I say it in Spanish and then I'll tell my mom all the bad things they did to me that day and that's how we communicated because three letters they read everything before we send it but to be honest the friends I made there are awesome yeah. I once was almost murdered by this crazy girl Sophia she threw my shoes to the roof but the rest of the girls were amazing.
I still talk to some of them almost every day.
There used to exist two New Leaf Academies. Aspen Education Group collapsed and the remaining academy is now in local ownership.
Sources:
A blog presenting tales from boarding schools world over. If you have a story about how the life in a boarding school changed you or shaped the foundation for the life you has as an adult, please contact my secretary by email jonase(a)mail-online.dk
Sunday, October 15, 2017
Sunday, October 8, 2017
Feedbacks about Eagle Ranch Academy near St. George in Utah - Volume II
This testimony was found on Reddit. All rights go to the original author which has chosen to remain unnamed.
I've thrown pieces of my story around this sub a couple of times, but nothing too memorable, so I'll just leave it short and sweet by saying I had an extremely abusive childhood, coupled with absentee parents, and was eventually put into two separate "troubled youth" facilities - one for 41 days which wasn't bad minus transport and solitary confinement and the other for a year and a handful of months, which was abusive, demeaning, and awful - for running away from home to avoid being sent to a clearly neglected - we took a tour together - facility in my home state for, as my parents stated, "someone to do our parenting for us" - yes, verbatim. I never had a drug problem, never committed any crimes, and was simply trying to take control of my life before they continued to beat me into the ground any further - wouldn't recommend it, but in my situation it was all I could do. I needed something to change.
Anyway, It's been quite some years since I've been in either facility, I'm an adult, I've moved past it - for the most part, some PTSD and anxiety still sticks around but it's nothing I can't live with - and I'm trying to make up for the time I lost. Unfortunately, due to financial hardship, I've had to move back in with my parents temporarily - with someone else, no worries, he keeps me sane - and it's been rocky but bearable. Today, however, my mother brings up that one of the program directors of the abusive facility I attended emailed her to check up the other day, and she was going to forward it to me so I could maybe have a nice chat and give him an update? To which I say - a little rudely, today has been excessively rough for a sea of reasons - "Why on earth would you forward me that? Why in gods name would I want to look back on that time in my life?" She then tries to change my attitude. "Oh brother. Why not start looking at that time as a positive, instead of sitting in self pity?" This has been a constant point of disagreement for us since I left the program. I've taken accountability for the things I did to get myself there - running away isn't acceptable, our lack of communication was all of our faults, etc. - but I refuse to believe that sending me there was the best/their only option. As well, I've gained some knowledge and changed some traits because of my time there, but I refuse to see that experience as a positive. Nothing about what I witnessed there was acceptable, respectful of the clients, or in-line with my morals. I was ripped from my bed in the middle of the night and driven three states away with a single bathroom break, no food, no water, no explanation, and constant bullying from the transporters. I was subjected to cruel and rather unusual methods of punishment, and made to feel like I wasn't a valuable human being - nonetheless a human being. Sure, I graduated high school early, but that's a small upside to the situation overall. Along with that, my parents are now in a pool of debt whilst unemployed because they spent both my and their savings on this place that is admittedly dishonest to potential customers - they'd even have us clients feed hopeful parents stories to keep their interest.
She scoffs at me any time I try and explain to her why I try and ignore that period of my life, and won't look at it as a good thing. Is it just denial, and her trying to feel alright with her decision, or is there just no hope for getting parents to believe the wrongdoings of facilities that convince them their kids are manipulating when they explain the troubles they face from these programs?
tl;dr: went to two programs, try to discuss how awful they were with parents years down the line as an adult, constantly belittled and told i'm dramatizing it. no hope to reach the same page?
Sources:
I've thrown pieces of my story around this sub a couple of times, but nothing too memorable, so I'll just leave it short and sweet by saying I had an extremely abusive childhood, coupled with absentee parents, and was eventually put into two separate "troubled youth" facilities - one for 41 days which wasn't bad minus transport and solitary confinement and the other for a year and a handful of months, which was abusive, demeaning, and awful - for running away from home to avoid being sent to a clearly neglected - we took a tour together - facility in my home state for, as my parents stated, "someone to do our parenting for us" - yes, verbatim. I never had a drug problem, never committed any crimes, and was simply trying to take control of my life before they continued to beat me into the ground any further - wouldn't recommend it, but in my situation it was all I could do. I needed something to change.
Anyway, It's been quite some years since I've been in either facility, I'm an adult, I've moved past it - for the most part, some PTSD and anxiety still sticks around but it's nothing I can't live with - and I'm trying to make up for the time I lost. Unfortunately, due to financial hardship, I've had to move back in with my parents temporarily - with someone else, no worries, he keeps me sane - and it's been rocky but bearable. Today, however, my mother brings up that one of the program directors of the abusive facility I attended emailed her to check up the other day, and she was going to forward it to me so I could maybe have a nice chat and give him an update? To which I say - a little rudely, today has been excessively rough for a sea of reasons - "Why on earth would you forward me that? Why in gods name would I want to look back on that time in my life?" She then tries to change my attitude. "Oh brother. Why not start looking at that time as a positive, instead of sitting in self pity?" This has been a constant point of disagreement for us since I left the program. I've taken accountability for the things I did to get myself there - running away isn't acceptable, our lack of communication was all of our faults, etc. - but I refuse to believe that sending me there was the best/their only option. As well, I've gained some knowledge and changed some traits because of my time there, but I refuse to see that experience as a positive. Nothing about what I witnessed there was acceptable, respectful of the clients, or in-line with my morals. I was ripped from my bed in the middle of the night and driven three states away with a single bathroom break, no food, no water, no explanation, and constant bullying from the transporters. I was subjected to cruel and rather unusual methods of punishment, and made to feel like I wasn't a valuable human being - nonetheless a human being. Sure, I graduated high school early, but that's a small upside to the situation overall. Along with that, my parents are now in a pool of debt whilst unemployed because they spent both my and their savings on this place that is admittedly dishonest to potential customers - they'd even have us clients feed hopeful parents stories to keep their interest.
She scoffs at me any time I try and explain to her why I try and ignore that period of my life, and won't look at it as a good thing. Is it just denial, and her trying to feel alright with her decision, or is there just no hope for getting parents to believe the wrongdoings of facilities that convince them their kids are manipulating when they explain the troubles they face from these programs?
tl;dr: went to two programs, try to discuss how awful they were with parents years down the line as an adult, constantly belittled and told i'm dramatizing it. no hope to reach the same page?
Sources:
- Parents who expect you to look on your time in these facilities as a good thing? (Reddit troubled teen - link with the original testimony)
- Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)
- Other facilities (Safe Teen Schools)