Book: Fall of the Guardians

This book tells the story about what goes on in many religious based so-called treatment centers and boarding schools.

In a thread on reddit the author introduced the book:

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind closed doors when a “difficult” teen gets sent away? Based on real-life events from the early 1990’s, this book tells the harrowing story of Vanessa, who at age 13, was one of those kids. She was ripped away from everything she knew and sent away to an abusive military boarding school for girls run by a religious cult that promised to fix these so-called “troubled teens”.
Like most Troubled Teen Industry survivors, Vanessa and her surrogate four-year-old little sister, Jess, experienced unspeakable horrors no human should ever have to endure. But unlike most, they were able to do things no one else could. Along her way, Vanessa found family. She was the catalyst for the formation of the Guardians, a special unit in her program tasked with making the girls human again. With the help of her family and friends, Vanessa came of age while making a real difference to hundreds of other girls in an impossible situation, that is, until it all came crashing down, as the Guardians fell.
Find out what it took for them to survive their time in this cult, their successes and failures, how they finally escaped, and what came next, including a 2022 update on what happened to the girls and staff she wrote about over the ensuing years and a number of response letters from some of the others she wrote about.
This powerful and heart-wrenching book is a must-read for anyone who has ever been or known a “difficult” teen, anyone who attended a Troubled Teen program, and especially for any parent that has sent away a difficult child or is thinking that sending their child away is the best or only option.

Sources:

• Fall of the Guardians - Paperback (Amazon)
• My book is out (Reddit r/Troubledteens)

Book: Stolen A Memoir

This book by Elizabeth Gilpin tells the story about a teenage girl who ended up in the teenage behavior modification industry in the United States where illnesses can bring you into prison-styled so-called treatment facilities where the approach often are based on very little medical science. Instead various mind games combined with use of psychical force replace treatment which in many cases result in a life-long battle with posttraumatic stress disorder.

She is first removed by professional transport agents which are an industry where everyone with muscles can get hired and taken to a wilderness program. She survived this stay unlike some of the many teenagers who have died over the last couple of decades.

Next she is sent to Carlbrook which was a sinister boarding school which used a methodology developed in the cult Synanon (which was closed down by the authority). It took her long time to convince her family that it was time for release. Carlbrook is now closed but a family is still looking to this day for their son who vanished without a trace from the school shortly before it closed. This mystery has never been resolved. Was he murdered or did he die during his escape. No body has been found, so there is no base for an investigation.

Elizabeth Gilpin provides a good insight in the Teenage warehousing industry which boomed in the 1990's where an entire generation was close to become ncarcerated in those so-called treatment facilities.

Source: Stolen - A Memoir by Elizabeth Gilpin (Grand Central Publishing)

Book: The Dead Inside

The book is about the stay of Cyndy Etler in the so-called drug rehab Straight Inc. Today known as a rehab program which destroyed more lives than it helped, it was considered one of the best rehab programs for minors when it was created.

The book provides a deep insight in the cult environment which founded the basis of a program where it never was about healing the teenagers but just proving whather ever lose assertion parents might had about possible drug use of their children.

Buy it here:
Source Book or ask for it at your local bookstore using the ISBN-number: 9781492635734

Book: Dead, Insane or in Jail: A CEDU Memoir

This book by Zack Bonnie tells the story about how to be forced to attend a CEDU bording school.

All the CEDU schools closed around 2005 after a number of lawsuits were issued by parents and former students.

Also several students disappeared never to be found again. Some of the children were most likely murdered by a serial killer James Lee Crummel who had unrestricted accesss to one of the campuses. To this day there are families out there looking for their relatives.

CEDU was founded in 1967 by an owner of a furniture business, who after a brief stint at Synanon created the first school in California where the main tool for transforming the children into the products their parents ordered were attack therapy.

The founder died in 2002. The school were sold but closed only some few years later due to the lawsuits.

The book provides a good insight into how it was to be a student in these special schools. After the original schools closed the concept were transferred into other schools where some are open even today.

Sources:

• Website about the book
• Article on Goodreads

Book: Linton Hall Military School alumni memories

This book covers the memories of a student who attended the Military School which turned into a religious day school sometime in the 1980's.

The military school opened in the 1930's. The author attended the school in the late 1960's.

For more information where to purchase the book, please use the link listed below, which leads to a memorial blog for former students.

In the blog you will among other information find stories about escape attempts and the unfortunately death of a cadet, which happened sometime in 1954.





Source:
Huge new book about Linton Hall Military School just published! (Linton Hall Military School alumni memories)

Book: Tough Love - Truth Behind The Trouble Teen Industry

In 2004 a teenage girl was handcuffed by two hired goons in Lansing, Michigan. The girl, hardly someone you could label as an at-risk teenager in any way was forcely been taken to a so-called boarding school in Mexico, which the authorities later shut down.

Almost a decade later she has worked her through the emotional scars this experience inflicted upon her and she has chosen to write her story.

Lillian Speerbrecker's biography gives the readers an insight in a world so cruel that there should have been made laws against the existence of such places decades ago, but as it always has been the case with so-called experts claiming to help parents raising their children, it is about the money.




Sources:

• Link to E-bookstore (Bookrix)
• Factsheet about Casa by the Sea (Fornits Wiki)
• Factsheet about Midwest academy (Fornits Wiki)

Book: The Discarded Ones: A Novel Based on a True Story

This novel by James Tipper explore the CEDU schools as they are seen through the eyes of the student Charlie Hoff. Boarding schools where you are not free to leave. Endless marathon therapy sessions looking more like psychodrama rather than healing therapy.

A reader named Thomas J. Cray writes the following review:

Nailed it!

James Tipper wrote the book that every student who graduated The C.E.D.U. School would like to write. I was happily surprised that no hidden agenda skewed his honest descriptions of that time and place that we have all tried to share with our family, friends, spouses, children. His memories are spot-on. He dug deep and was able to paint a complete picture that honestly depicted student and staff, for better or for worse. He also showed his exceptional writing skills - "The Discarded Ones" is a page turner!

Source:
The Discarded Ones: A Novel Based on a True Story (Amazon book store)

Book: Janice's journey

In 2006 a Danish teenager went on a holiday at her mother’s place or at least so she believed. As it turned out differences in the Danish and American youth culture meant that she found herself categorized as an at-risk teen despite being regarded a normal school girl in Denmark.

She has told her story to the Ylä Maatila who helped her rewrite her diary and various notebook entries into a biography which are published for free at Movellas.

Her story deals with the issue of being dumped in an alien culture with values very unlike the values she had been raised with.

Can she use the skills learned to change her destiny outlined for her due the special Danish structure with social classes structuring the future of young Danes based on their social heritage or will she return to Denmark having remained true to the cultural standards of her birth culture?

Link:
Janice's journey (by Janice Jensen and Ylä Maatila)

Book: An American GULAG : Secret P.O.W. Camps for Teens

It was one of the first books describing the Troubled Teen Industry in the United States. Despite tougher legislation, despite increased awareness horrible conditions are still found in private for-business programs.

Fact is that businessmen with a focus on easy earned money based on little effort and huge profit will enter any market regardless of how many lives they will destroy in the process.

Teenagers have been marked for life, some have even been killed. Parents who were acting in the best interest of their children were cheated out of every cent they had. Entire communities were left to bankruptcy when these businessmen skipped their project in the middle of the night.

The book came out in year 2000 and despite improvements things have happened too slowly because the conditions described in the book can be found in residential programs today.


Source:
An American GULAG : Secret P.O.W. Camps for Teens (by Alexia Parks, Amazon Book store, ISBN-10 1930418019)

Book: Christian School Confidential

This is a book which is supposed to be a satire. Despite our knowledge of the conditions in religius movements we have to say that it is a satire to remain sane and be able to sleep at night.

It is well written. It captures everyday incidents too well and it keeps the reader hooked to the book until the last page. We can only recommend it.

Source:
Blog with more information about the book

Book: Reform at Victory

We were happy to learn that the school that once was named Victory Christian Academy and housed the now deceased author Michele Ulriksen is closing. For many too late. For decades this school and the people behind it had made life miserable for the girls who happened to be captured inside it.

The book "Reform at Victory" is the story about how the author lived through the difficult years when she was forced to live locked up on the campus of the school.

The school was placed in California until an accident killed one of the girls and the authorities forbade the management from ever running a school in California again. They moved to Florida where religious school could do whatever they liked until the free and independent press decided to investigate the boarding school business in Florida and found evilness which forced the authorities into action. Being put under pressure the management decided to close their school before they could be forced to do it.

Sadly Michele Ulriksen is no longer among us. The past she the school gave her was a heavy luggage to carry through life despite her actions to write it down and put it on paper.

She would have been happy to learn that the school is closing. We can only hope that she is happy where she is now.


Sources:

• Reform at Victory (Homepage of the book)
• Michele Ulriksen (Red room)
• Christian girls' reform home closes after Times investigation (Tampa Bay Times)

Book: Lake Convict

The book covers a dark chapter in the area. Years ago a terrible accident happened when teenagers fell through the ice. Several people came to their rescue and some of them lost their lives as well.

The teenagers came from a camp where they excelled in behavior modification. It is not known how the employees were trained. The court system secured an agreement with the owners that they never would establish a program in the state again.

The owners started a new program in another state and it only took a few years before a teenager was discovered on his own at sea while he was trying to escape the program.

The book focuses on the impact the tragedy had on the local community.

It also questions why many programs like Camp O'Neal to this very day continues to hire employees with no or very little training. A terrible accident happened in 2010 in Utah. Two teenagers were killed in a traffic accident. The driver was no professionel driver. In 2011 a poor driver with many fines on his record managed to kill another teenager in Florida.

Maybe it is all about profit. We don't know how much the care of the teenagers in their care count in their mind but it seems that the teenagers are looked upon as a necessary burden - a cost needed to run the business.

For more information about this book please visit the home using the link below:

Sources:

• Homepage of the publisher
• Book on Convict Lake drowning accident both heals, hurts (Mammoth Times)

Book: Beyond Belief

Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape
by Jenna Miscavige Hill

is a book describing the experiences of Jenna Miscavige Hill while she grew up at a ranch which functions for boarding school for children of Scientology executives.

At the ranch she worked 14 hours per day all week with only one hour every week where she was allowed to see her parents. As an adult she joined Sea Org. which is the elite organization within Scientology.

The book covers her time working within the organization until she escaped it. The book provides an rather interesting look into how it is to spend a childhood within a cult, which is or has been under investigation in countries like Germany and Israel.

Source:

• Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape (Amazon.com)
• Jenna Miscavige Hill Pens Revealing Scientology Book (People Magazine)

Book: RELIGION'S CELL

Doctrines of the Church that lead to Bondage and Abuse
By Cynthia McClaskey

About the book:

Beginning with a firsthand account of her own subjugation within a fundamentalist sect, McClaskey moves forward with detailed and extensively referenced explanations of the God-intended role of woman.

Along the way, she provides explanations of how man, in seeking to retain power and authority in both religion and the world, has relegated woman to a subservient position in both areas, in violation of God's intended plan.

McClaskey's evidence is compelling and her logic flawless as she argues against the God-as-stern-judge mentality that permeates most modern religious sects and emphasizes the true nature of God as a loving father --a father who wants only the best for both genders of His crowning creation. She points out that Christ surrounded himself with women and that women played major roles in the early years of Christianity, providing copious scriptural support for her position.

In addition, McClaskey also takes the initiative to cover the three most destructive man-made doctrines taught as Bible truth. She exposes through meticulous scriptural and historical support, the truth behind these doctrines and the far reaching tentacles that they have and, the effects they have had on the populous.

Source:
Homepage of the book

Book: The Discarded Ones: A Novel Based on a True Story

This book by James Tripper tells the story of Charlie Hoff trying to survive an abusive therapeutic environment.

From Amazon:

They had many names: Cedu School, Rocky Mountain Academy, and Cascade School. Some called them cults, some said the schools saved their lives. But, none of them were free to leave. Charlie Hoff was there. Soon you will be, too. Unlock the mysteries of The Academy with Charlie as he faces the hardest decision of his young life: escape or assimilate. Neither is going to be easy.

In the recent year the authorities have intervened and close a number of these school but some are still existing destroying the young lives of teenagers until legislation hopefully will prevent the from continuing their operation.

Source: About the book on Amazon

Book: The Miseducation of Cameron Post

Book cover

"Coming out" is not an option for many teenagers because they risk ending up at a boarding school or other kind of program being removed from their familiy and friends while they will forced to participate in therapy in order to give up the choice of gender for a partner they had in mind.

One book covering this topic is The Miseducation of Cameron Post by the young author Emily M. Danforth.

On the webpage of Amazon you can read this description of the book:

When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.

But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is soon forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone (as her grandmother might say), and Cam becomes an expert at both.

Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship—one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to “fix” her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self—even if she’s not exactly sure who that is.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a stunning and unforgettable literary debut about discovering who you are and finding the courage to live life according to your own rules.

Today many teenagers find themselves shipped off to remote living family members. They are the lucky one. The real damage are put upon those who ends up in the hands of so-called professionals. It shouldn't be so living in year 2012, but it is sadly the case.

Source:

• The Miseducation of Cameron Post (Amazon homepage)
• The Best Novel About a “De-Gaying Camp” Ever Written (By Curtis Sittenfeld, The Slate Group, February 8, 2012

Book: New Bethany

Book cover

Testimonies collected by Mr Roger Kiser by The American Orphan Foundation

Picture perfect on the outside - let us take you inside

Confined to a remote Christian boarding school the students experienced a somewhat alternative version of the love and compassion Jesus told the world about.

Read their catching stories and understand that you don't know how it is to live at a boarding school.

A reader named "dulcikraut" wrote:

I can say before I even reading this book ALL the accounts are the ABOSOLUTE TRUTH of US who participated in comiling this book. Anyone who would doubt the reality of each and every account or question the truth about is simply showing thier own ignorance. There all too many witnesses to deny the horiific truth and we stand as one voice. This book is just the tip of the iceburg of how girls and boys were mentally, physically, emotionally, molested and raped at the hands of adult staff members of New Bethany. Some Abuser's are named some not. But they know who they are. I pray that the children hurt so severly by them will be able to grow strength to completly expose them all. May justice and truth be heard.

Thank you Roger and Rhonda, New Bethany Surivors for all your hard work to get this published, this is a vital turning point for us to finally come forward to help bring awareness as The Whitehouse Boys and SIA - Survivors of Insitutional Abuse. I am honored to be a part of this, Together We Are One Voice. These places must be stopped.

Source:
Product and webshop page on LULU

Book: Trapped in Paradise (Possible release 2012)

We have just learned that a new book about Tranquility Bay is in the process of being written.

The book is supposed to be named "Trapped in Paradise".

As Facebook group has been created while the book is in the writing process.

Update 2014:

The book is now for sale. On Amazon it is stated:

Memoir of the life of a 'student' of the WWASP run Tranquility Bay and Spring Creek Lodge Programs. Imagine what it would be like being taken from your home in the middle of the night by complete strangers? 'Trapped in Paradise: A Memoir' details the history of a troubled teen and her inner-struggle of being held against her will in the controversial Jamaica facility, with little contact to the outside world.

The story details the life of the troubled teen prior to being sent overseas to a controversial reform school for two years. The book has a great depiction of what it is like for a child to grow up with physical abuse, in a family whom also struggled to deal with mental illness. Particularly, obsessive compulsive hoarding addiction, anxiety and severe depression.

While a majority of the subject matter of this book describes the experience of a teenager living in a very strict and confined environment of a program which targeted parents of troubled teens, it also greatly describes the strained family relationship of the struggling family.

The tactics of WWASP programs are highly controversial. Several methods used on children were similar to those which are used on prisoners of war. Children are stripped of their identity, have little to no choices to make in their daily lives, and are broken down mentally to the point of where they have little choice but to comply. Systematic propaganda and coercive persuasion are the main tools used on these teenagers (mainly American) to facilitate change in the subjects way of thinking and behavior. The reader will get an accurate depiction of what the experience of living under these conditions was like for the teen, without dramatization or embellishment.

While there is opinion communicated in the book, the author wanted to leave the content as objective as possible, as to give the reader the ability to form their own opinion on the subject matter.

The Troubled Teen Industry is still largely unregulated. One of the main purposes of the Author writing this book was not only to let the thousands of others whom have gone through these sorts of 'programs' to know they aren't alone, but to also shed light onto important children rights issues, which have largely been overlooked.

Sources:

• Facebook group about the book project
• Datasheet about the facility on Fornits Wiki
• Link to Amazon

Book: Comeback - a mother and daughter's journey through hell and back

Book cover

This book deals with the story of Mia and her mother Claire and Mia is sent first to a boarding school in the Czech Republic and later - when the boarding school is closed down by the authorities due to suspicion of child abuse - to a boarding school managed by the same firm, which has operated boarding schools in six countries.

Despite the closure of the first boarding school the mother continues to have an almost scary faith in the system used by the boarding schools.

Today many of the so-called therapeutic boarding schools use parent seminars where parents are taught not to believe their children but the system used at the boarding schools with method mostly known from marketing of pyramid schemes. The mother seems to have fallen victim to these seminars.

It is rather interesting book to read.

References:
Come Back (Harper Collins)
About the book, the Fornits Wiki database

Hidden - book by Tomas Mournian

A new book called "Hidden" has entered the market. It is about 15-year-old Ahmed who reveals to his parents what kind of gender he wants the love of his life to be.

As result they take him to a rehab facility in Nevada. He escapes that makes it to San Francisco where he continue to live hiding for his parents and the authorities.

The book follows him and how he deals with his new life.

Rachel Cohn, New York Times bestselling author wrote: "This fresh and original novel defies easy labels. It's knowing yet vulnerable, observant yet naive--a wholly unique and compelling read."

Publisher: Kensington
Release date: January 25, 2011
ISBN-10: 0758251319