Katherine at Auldern Academy

This testimony was found on Google Maps. All rights go to the original author.

After now working in human services with disabled children, I've reflected a lot on my experience at Auldern. While I can agree that "it's all about perspective," it shouldn't have to be framed like that. The program is unprofessional, abusive, and traumatizing. Please do your research on the owner company, Sequel. It's a for-profit-prison and residential system-- not education at all. A lot of the practices used mimic that of being a prisoner. Their forms of punishment are that of manual labor, and after further research, are against labor laws. They used shame tactics, and had staff members come in intoxicated to verbally berate and abuse students at 1 in the morning. Please also look into "Breaking Code Silence." I was the first successful escapee in 2012. I've been called in to help with court cases and non-profits to bring light to these kinds of programs. If you are considering Auldern, I know that you are 1) desperate to help your daughter, and 2) you have money. There are other options that aren't institutionalized abuse. I have considered to this day to speak out against them for for everything from denial/refusal of medical care (I have a permanent muscle tear from being forced to carry boulders as punishment, and when I went to the nurse, was told it was just the weight from my backpack), endangerment (they convinced and manipulated my parents to kick me out during Hurricane Sandy in NJ until I agreed to come back when I ran away, even though I was 18), and the longterm impact/impairment that the trauma has left me.

If a parent is seeing this, please feel free to reach out to me. I will gladly divulge my full story. I have helped families get their daughters out of there. I promise you that your daughters can't fully communicate while they are there. Staff listens in on the phone calls, and are instructed to hang up the phones if students begin to get emotional or volatile. If someone has the e-mail privilege, their therapist is reading their e-mails. I would look like a lunatic when I'd behave normally on the phone, and then in person would beg my parents to get me out.

Also, in response to the mother saying their daughter's GPA went up, of course it did. The course work was easier than middle school and did not "college prep" me at all. In order to graduate, students had to apply to 2-3 colleges. They also withheld my credits when I returned to public school to finish senior year.

In addition, in response to "they are selective with their admissions process," they are not. It makes no sense clinically for me to have been accepted into a program with girls who had astronomically different treatment plans. I was there for having been in an abusive relationship and acting out in a rebellious way. I would sneak into New York City, and wouldn't answer my phone. While these are problem behaviors, how does it make any sense that I was in the same program as girls with addictions, ones who had witnessed siblings getting assaulted or had a Bi-Polar or Borderline diagnosis? Their "admissions process" is if you have the funding, and if they need a RTC instead.

So, my family dished out over $100k to leave me more traumatized with a lot of friends who are now dead after attending. If you have the resources, please seek help elsewhere.

Source
The original testimony from Google Maps

A stay at New Leaf Academy

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:

• Blog entry where the original testimony can be found as a comment
• Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)