Aftermath of a stay at the Discovery Academy

This testimony was found on Reddit. It covers mostly the aftershock of having been placed in a institutionalized environment. All rights goes to the original author.

I started smoking meth at age 16. I grew up in a decent home, but my ma is crazy (neurotic i think), was emotionally absent as a mother and left when I was 15 for a man she reconnected with thru AOL. I had a hard time fitting into society in Texas and went down the wrong path way too early, having being given independence from my parents, but not much guidance. Everybody says I'm "book smart", but I had no idea what I was getting into as that little girl.

Meth was great for a while, partied on and off. Had awesome crazy sex, got my homework done, room was clean, and I'd tweak out and do artwork. I didn't get caught til I was 17, when I was nearly kicked out of high school for selling Xanax to support my meth habit, but was only caught with a weed pipe.

I was sent to wilderness therapy, which sucked but was cool. Following that time in the woods, i was immediately taken to an institution called "disovery academy", a therapeutic boarding school, aka lockdown for rich kids. The effects of institutionalization have never left me. If jnterested, see Erving goffman's "total institution".

That school was a few states away from my home state, but on my 18th birthday, I left because they couldn't legally hold me for therapy anymore, I would have to check myself in, and I refused, being able to see the program for its exploitative, harmful nature. My father and his new wife (who had encouraged sending me away so there would be no obstacles to her wedding) refused to let me stay with them. My mother wanted to send me to another state to live with her sister. Mind you, before all this, I had just been a high school student with no responsibilities. Now, I'm 18, and I'm gonna have to pay all my bills, find somewhere to live and try and stay sober with no support from my family, who were busy with their new families. So I tried. I went to the other state. It didnt work. I came back to texas and did ok for a few months. I paid rent at my mothers husbands house. I paid my phone and my car insurance and found a good job in literally one week. I started community college eventhough I never technically finished high school, I flew under the radar with great SAT scores.

Well I couldn't hold it together. My family were acting terrible, and I had no life skills for handling responsibility. My stepdad kicked me out, due to his anger/control issues, eventhough i was as straight as possible (only a little beer/weed after work). So i reacted and I made some really bad choices and spent a few months in a terrible period of my life, freshly 18y/o girl spun out in Dallas. The things I have seen and the people I have met are the worst. It kills me to think that people have to grow up in those families. I have lasting damage from being raped several times, starting before the meth use, and during this period the sexual exploitation was the worst. I now live in a state far away from my loving family partially because of this period in my life. There are a few people-- mid level suppliers and gang bangers who I absolutely do not want to run into. Then there are my scummy former cohorts, white trash from my hometown who I let pimp me out to the threat above. I strive to live a beautiful life these days just to spite them. In a few short months of constant meth use I experienced: beatings (the worst my ex smushed my face into a parking lot), three times people tried to steal my car, I was roofied, I was banned from motel 6 because I had a threesome over a pile of dollar store stuff that we dumpster dived and we left the room trashed, I was pimped out at the end of a five day long acid trip to a scary ass dealer and now still fear that they will come after me for not taking a trap they set up, I went thru five phones and two blackberries, had another threesome and ruined my friendship with my best gf, got chlamydia/hpv and possibly herpes, was arrested and jailed for five days and then had to do the whole probation/court dance, I was chased by gang members and had to hitchhike forty plus miles to safety, I was nearly beaten for the accepting the help of a black stranger and really, I came out better than most. After I lost my car and therefore place to live, I begged my mom to let me stay at her stupid husbands house again and got myself into state college ASAP.

College was going great until I transferred to Austin. I never really dealt with my issues eventhough I had quit meth for good. Was stil young enough not to know how to even feed myself nutriously. Got depressed, started partying. Made the huge mistake of doing heroin at a party, cause I'm into uppers right? Got hooked instantly, as you would expect from someone who started smoking meth at 16. Spent a year terribly addicted to heroin, hiding my junkie abusive mooch boyfriend in my tiny college apt with fiveroommates listening to our drug use/domestic violence. Well, I eventually broke up with him, couldn't kick the habit and got a sugar daddy, as I was reading Lolita at school, shudder. Just as I went back and fucked the first boy who raped me (who was a 15 y/o high on meth when he did it, but it was before I started using), I went back and fucked my sugar daddy again when I by chance reconnected with him clear across the country after I got completely sober. Confusingsentence but point is, lasting issues.

To conclude, I haven't used heroin in three+ years or any opiates and it has been a huge struggle. My ex got hep c. I have a thousand dollar ambulance bill because I fainted at work from the blood test I had for hep c. I am neg, but it is karma. Everyday is a challenge not to do drugs, and normal life is always slightly less enthralling, kind of dull. I still yearn for support. I have a normal 8-5 and no one even knows, because I moved several states and I have an "honest face" and dont want to expose my past. I often feel that if it hadn't been for that goddamn meth so young, I wouldn't have such intense opiate cravings. I also still crave meth after having not touched it in 6+ years and knowing it is foul poison. And like I said, I came out relatively unscathed; if it hadn't been for my family coming around eventually and being decent in the first place, I wouldn't have been able to bounce back as easily as I did as many times as I did.

Sources:

• The original testimony (Reddit)
• Factsheet about the school (Fornits Wiki)

A testimony about Discovery Academy

This story was originally written on the old CAFETY website. This website crashed and was reconstructed but lost a lot of testimones. The message board called the Fornits Home for Wayward Webfora managed to save some of testimonies. Here is one of them:

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I was close to finishing the freshman year of highschool when my aunt and uncle sent me to Discovery Academy. I can understand some of the reasons they had. I was experimenting with marijuana and had tried LSD. I was starting to act out. I was into grunge and punk and rock, ( I had long dyed hair, dressed like a freak - way cooler than I dress now) Typical adolecent behavior. I figured that I was doing pretty good for a kid that had spent his first 12 years of life living in the fostercare system. I was on the varcity soccer and baseball team. I had reasonable good grades. I know that I was starting to withdraw from my peers.

Well, I can understand that my parents overreaction to my normal behavior is a typical one. My folks had hired an educational consultant , Miriam Boudean ( bay area , california ) and she had referred me to the private highschool I was attending and she definalty referred me to Discovery Academy when my folks were "trying to save my life". I was fortunate that I wasnt kidnapped and taken to discovery that way. I have heard the stories. I am fortunate that I didnt have to goto any of the wilderness hiking hippy bullshit programs. I flew there on my own accord thinking that this was a boarding school. I thought that I would be gone 3-4 months. Little did I know that there is a year minimum of enrollment. I was there for 2 1/2.

Immediatly on reaching the place I remember being in the parking lot and all of a sudden a huge mutha sucka comes running up and acting very aggressive with a serious hyped up look in his eyes. He wouldnt stay more that 2 feet from me. Well we went in the place and Terry started shmoozin the folks and crap and they took all my stuff to be "approved". Half my friggin clothes and almost all my music, books were NOT approved. When I went to discovery they hadnt switched to uniforms yet. I was still there when they were in the early stages of picking the uniforms. I swear to god that Carol Thorne was like a crazed old child playing with her dolls in her big dollhouse. Often times the new students are put into Unit 1 ( solitary supervised confinement ) Parents are billed ridiculous amounts for this "service". I guess since I thought I was actually in a boarding school they decided to let me into the general population. My second day there they told me that I could go get my hair cut off or they could hold me down and shave my head. Having already spoken to some of the other students I realized that I was )#(%&ed and went the route of the hair cut. Discovery has a punishment system called demerits. One demerit is 25 minutes of standing inches away from a wall, hands at your sides, no talking - deviate from those rules and you will be restarted. I have stood thousands. I have stood till my ankles and knees were ridiculously swollen. I have been restrained, i have been shot up with thorazine. I have been incorrectly diagnosed. My therapist was Alan Thorne. This worm of a man was the owners son. Dr Gene Thorne started this school. He is a evil, self important, pug of a man. And very, very rich.

I have taken the time to read everyones profiles and I empathise with the horrors that you all have had to endure. I feel especially bad for the individuals that had to deal with the jamacian school, paradise cove. I can only imagine the helplessness that you must have felt in the face of not only being trapped out of the country, but also being abused so severly and being coerced to commits acts of abuse.

I might go into detail at a later point some of my experiences that I have gone through while attending Discovery Academy. I cant beleive that the Discovery Academy Forum is down. What a croc. I think I finnaly convinced my aunt and uncle that Discovery was doing more harm than good, and for my senior year of high school I was sent to John Tylers boys ranch. This was a group home facility set in the suburbs of spokane, washinton.

I can say that this place was a huge improvement. John has a true heart and really cares about youth and young adults. There were a few times that I was ready to kill one of the staff there in particular, but for the most part I endured my increase in freedom. One of the things that really messed with me was that I was back in public school. After the pisspoor education system of Discovery I was hard pressed to catch up the first few months. Discovery takes dated text books and chops them up by chapter. They call these "Concepts". You then take a test on the chapter. You are not allowed to test below a B. This is how they maintain thier bullshit excellent GPA of the school. Not only was there a weirdness of being able to react to kids living so called normal lives and not knowing what you are going through but I felt a little socially retarded. My previous contact with girls for the last 2.5 years had been a little supervised coed. Well... there was that one time that involved some serious mission impossible stuff but thats another story. Now Im a senior in high school that cant see anyone outside of school. LAME I had girls wanting to go to the prom with me. Cant do that now. I wanted to get a job so I could have some experience before I moved "home", knowing I was going to be on my own. no go. I know that someone else had mentioned that they felt like they had been robbed of thier adolescence. I feel like I never was a kid.

I have been independant with almost no help from my aunt and uncle. They did help me when they wanted me to goto school. I didnt think I was ready yet. I dropped out after 2.5 years. I have been through substance abuse issues and severe depression since I have been 18 now and have not sought any sort of professional help because of my negative experiences. I was able to kick my meth habit on my own.

At this point of the game I am a 26 year old young adult professional with a great job and a wonderful group of friends. I work as a Youth Support Coordinator for the System of Care initiatives. I now get to tap on to that life experience and hopefully make a difference in someones life. I work as a advocate for youth and Young Adults that have SED or Mental Health diagnose(s). I ran across this site not long ago and was very encouraged to see that there are being steps taken to regulate these child prisons.

I will try to add more to this site in time. Sources:

• Discovery Ranch (The original testimony on the Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora)
• Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)
• The new website for the Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth (CAFETY)

Erik at Discovery Academy

This story was originally written on the message board called the Fornits Home for Wayward Webfora.

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I attended Discovery Academy (DA) from the summer of 1997 through January of 1998. It was among the most psychologically damaging experiences of my life. Please don't send your children to Discovery Academy. DA is a very punitive place.

For example, if a student does not make his bed to the satisfaction of the DA staff, the student may be made to stand up to five "demerits", one demerit being defined as standing for 25 minutes facing a wall. Demerits are liberally doled out for any offence, from slight infractions of the rules such as cursing or complaining, to large violations, such as attempting to escape from DA. An attempted escape typically prompted between 100 and 500 demerits, or more. That is between 2 and 9 days, approximately, standing facing a wall.

Five minute breaks were allowed between each 25 minute standing session, as well as breaks for sleeping and eating. When most students arrive at DA, they are upset and they show it. As they become familiar with the way Discovery Academy works, they learn to conceal their anger and any other emotions that are indicative of problems. When the DA staff sees this, they take it as the student's problems being solved.

If the symptom disappears, the cause must have disappeared, is the logic that Discovery Academy operates by. However, in reality the student's problems remain, and are made worse by the habitual concealing of them that DA's punitive/"therapeutic" system rewards. I picked up on this rather quickly, and was able to rise rapidly through the level system and complete a good deal of coursework in a fairly short time.

In light of this, and my newfound ability to conceal my emotions, I was able to convince my parent to remove me from DA after about six months. During the time thereafter that I lived at home, I worked as hard as possible to conceal my true feelings from my parent. Those true feelings, if expressed, had the potential to land me back at DA, something which I was not about to let happen.

So, parents, the moral of this story is: If you want your children to never tell you the truth again as long as you are their legal guardians, to disown you in the future, as well as to add to their unhappiness, send them to Discovery Academy. I am not exaggerating or dramatizing the consequences. Before you send your child anywhere, I strongly recommend that you read the book Smart Love by Pieper & Pieper. If you have any questions that you'd like to ask me about this, please feel free to email at: xxxxxx@xxxxxxxx. (email-address removed due to privacy)

Sources:

• New List of Reportedly Abusive Programs In Utah (The original testimony on the Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora)
• Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)

necolumen at Discovery Academy

This story was originally written on the message board called the Fornits Home for Wayward Webfora.

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I think its time for me to jump in here, as I graduated Discovery Academy in 2005. All the staff their thought I was trustworthy, believed in the program, and was 'cured' from depression, which in of itself is a dubious claim. None of that is true of course.

Side Note: The Facility is ran by a Brent R. Hall, and is owned by the ASCENT CORPORTATION which also owns 'RED-CLIFF ASCENT' wilderness program.

I have recently learned that i am a manic-depressive, and I do have a better hold on it now, almost three years later.

I truly hate that place, I faked my recovery from depression. They tried to slow down the rate at which I blowing through their school curriculum. They initially made it so that I had to get a 96% to pass a test or I had to retake it. I will personally testify, in court if need be, that they are actively defrauding the accrediation system. but enough about that.

I graduated as a level 4, the highest 'level', which is a measure of trust, in their 'program' their was only one other 'level 4' after I and a few others, graduated. So I have been Through the program, faked it, and know its ins and outs. Not only that, but because of my level, I was privy to information, discussions, and general musings of some of the staff.

I am a highly intelligent individual, no boasting; IQ, memory, psyche, and standard tests continually back that up. Some of the more intelligent staff, being a majority college students, were eager to engage me in conversation. I learned a lot.

Below is part of an e-mail i sent to someone in regards to their son's plight at discovery academy. I tried to make it as factual as possible. And include much about the inner workings as possible.

Well, I can tell you that it won't actually help the kid if he has actual problems. Most of the kids their when I was their were kids with drug problems or problems with the law. Its essentially a lockdown school, cant leave campus by yourself, alarms on all the doors, daily chores, it a like a step up from a military school. The environment their is controlled by 'therapists' and two people in charge of the boys and girls divisions respectively, Alan is the guys, guys and girls cannot normally interact at the school. You get punished with 'reflection points' which are similer to demerits. A reflection point is an hour of work. kissing a girl is 75 reflection points for example. Running away is 150. Saying a racial slur is 10. Cursing is one.

I particularly found the place unhelpful, and sometimes hostile. The staff is mainly college students. The therapists see students once a week for an hour, some even less than that. There are strong religious (mormon) overtones, all community service benefits the LDS in some way or form. All media, books and tv is regulated, cd players and mp3 players are not allowed, though students can own a radio. You cannot send letters without permission of a therapist, nor call anyone. They reccomend everyone stay their a year or more, it is not a non-profit organization as far as I can tell. While I was there (9 months) I saw three students return with more severe drug problems.

Failing to Follow the rules results in PHYSICAL RESTRAINT

The school there is all self taught they have four teachers a day for the whole school and everyone works independently. Thus students who are depressed about being there or are not good self-teachers tend to fall behind.

I personally graduated from there with a full highschool diploma and completeion of 'the program'. To complete the program you must show yourself progressing in 'therapy' and trustworthy and hardworking their are 12 'levels' representing level of trust and responsibility, level changes happen every two weeks or 4 weeks I cannot remember, and rarely do students progress that fast.

Perhaps I should mention that I absolutly hate discovery academy. If your kid has actual problems their are better places to send him, if he doesn't, the therapists will make one up.

The people who run the place are unreasonable, they are for the most part fundamentalists, and you will hear such rehtoric and beleifs coming from their mouths often.

I have considered filing legal action against them, but I really do not have the time, with college, and the money, being that I am in college.

If he is a good kid, he should not be there, end of story. If you are looking for a legal challenge, perhaps you take up the actual existence of these schools. Think about this for a second.

If you lock your kid up and never let him go out into the world, social services will come after you. If you physically restrain your child from leaving the house to go outside and play, Social Services will come after you.

Judicial Oversight needs to be in place to represent a neutral third party in determining whether it is proper to send a child to one of these places.

Sources:

• Discovery Ranch (The original testimony on the Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora)
• Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)