Uncategorized

Sue Scheff looses bid to shut down Psy’s sueschefftruth.com site!

Posted in Uncategorized on October 2nd, 2008 by cheGookin – Be the first to comment

Read more about it here:

 http://fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25919

 Learn how Sue Scheff failed her attempt to have WIPO take Psy’s sueschefftruth.com site away.

 More details as the situation unfolds!

Two Days of Protests for Two Different Programs

Posted in Uncategorized on October 2nd, 2008 by cheGookin – 1 Comment

On Friday and Saturday, if you didn’t notice, the entire world stood still. Two protests against programs occurred in two different locations that were lead by two very different people. The first protest, and the 12th one by Deprogrammed and her legion, took place against the Pathways Family Center in Milford Ohio. The second protest, lead and performed by the solo protestor act.da took place at a Peninsula Village Regional Parent’s conference at the Countryside Inn in Raleigh North Carolina. Despite the geographical separation, the difference in programs, the protests both sought, among other things, to expose to those around them the truth about the danger of the protested programs.

Peninsula Village, a treatment center or so they claim, is located in Tennessee. Survivors of the program have made allegations of physical abuse, mental abuse, and neglect of numerous types. More information about Peninsula Village can be found here http://www.isaccorp.org/documentsnz.asp#peninsula. Another source of information regarding Peninsula Village can be found this interview viewtopic.php?f=52&t=21438. Facing Pegler, one of the administrators of Peninsula Village, and the parents of the children being abused in Peninsula Village demonstrates a turning point in the evolution of the active, but entirely legal, resistance to Peninsula Village. Before Saturday the majority of the resistance to Peninsula Village was internet based. As of Saturday Act.da has demonstrated the willingness to take it beyond the realm of the internet in such away not all could ignore it.

While Pegler seemed content to ignore Act.da, others did not. Act.da managed to capture on film (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p4k5iVz8bc) a parent asking why he was still present after the police were called to make him leave. It is interesting to note that the police did in fact arrive. Even more so it is interesting to note that the police officer who responded was somewhat annoyed that his time was being wasted responding to such a trivial call. The officer was not in the least bit annoyed with Act.da. The police officer informed those who made the complaint that Act.da was in no violation of the law and he, the police officer, couldn’t believe he was being called over one person. While act.da was tightening a noose of truth around Peninsula Village’s neck on Saturday Deprogrammed was once again beating Kid’s Helping Kids with small legion of protesters on Friday.

Deprogrammed, a former resident turned staff member of the Kid’s Helping Kids program, has been instrumental in leading a long series of protests against the KHK programs in their various guises.The KHK program having transformed itself into the Pathways Family Center has a long history of abuse. Please see this link for more information http://www.isaccorp.org/kidshelpingkids.asp. The first protest against Pathways Family Center occurred last year earned local media interest with this article http://www.cincinnatibeacon.com/index.p … ping_kids/. The activities of the protesters have been well documented on blogs, screenplays, and youtube videos.

The lunchpail blog, http://onlinelunchpail.blogspot.com/200 … ation.html, gives a somewhat amusing retelling of an interaction with a program supporter. One can see the intellectual powers of the program supporter clearly were not present at the time. This youtube video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_xHGwyC … re=related, shows one of the protesters signs being stolen. The November 30th protest of 2007 can be viewed here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQenxwq7 … re=related, displays the determination of the Pathways protesters. Friday’s protest had an attendance of twelve participants, including some first time protesters and a police presence.

Like most program protests the police were called. Of course, like most program protests the police left after determining that the protesters were not violating any of the local ordinances. This must have come as a relief to the first time protesters in the crowd due to their age. Deprogrammed reports that these protesters were teen agers who have never been part of the Pathways program, but wanted to speak out. Hopefully they’ll continue speaking out against abuse of any sort in the future as they do not appear to be the atypical teens. The success of both protests can be measured and weighed by one standard.

Television coverage, radio coverage, or newspaper articles not being factored the protests are a success to the people who participated in them. Protesting is the physical act of defying the authority of another. Act.da and Deprogrammed with her small legion are physically defying the authority and power of the programs who’d love to silence them. The programs use the intimidation of calling the police, misinformation given to their clients and parents, and out right intimidation from program supporters to protesters. The programs failed on Saturday and Friday to silence the one thing the program’s hate the most, the truth. This is the standard of success the protesters measure themselves by, their unwillingness to be silenced. No matter how many times the police are called, no matter how many people show up or don’t show up, no matter how many program supporters accuse them of being drug addicts, no matter how many signs are stolen by program supporters, these protesters will not be silenced.

The White Rose

Posted in Public Sector, Uncategorized on September 29th, 2008 by Ginger – Be the first to comment

On February 22, 1943 Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans, and Christoph Probst were found guilty of treason against Germany. The three were beheaded the same day. They were condemned as traitors for producing and distributing leaflets titled – Leaflets of The White Rose – the name of their loosely knit group. Those leaflets clearly and passionately explained the crimes being committed against millions of innocent people in Europe and Russia by politicians acting in the name of the German people. The leaflet was the sixth in a series that had been distributed over a period of a little less than a year by various means throughout Germany.

 

The White Rose movement was intended to trigger an awakening by the German people to their ability to positively influence society to become more humane. Their rallying cry was “Freedom and Honor!” The White Rose advocated that German’s proactively work towards creating such a society by rising up and refusing to passively go along with the government that was staining the good name of the German people. For daring to suggest that German’s act on their conscience instead of mindlessly following the government’s directives, the people of The White Rose were targeted by the German government to be ruthlessly hunted down, In addition to the Scholls and Christoph Probst, Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, Professor Kurt Huber and Hans Leipelt were executed.

 

http://www.forejustice.org/

Group Plans Campaign Against G.O.P. Donors

Posted in Uncategorized on August 23rd, 2008 by Ginger – Be the first to comment

Group Plans Campaign Against G.O.P. DonorsBy MICHAEL LUO
Published: August 7, 2008
Nearly 10,000 of the biggest donors to Republican candidates and causes across the country will probably receive a foreboding “warning” letter in the mail next week.

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Tom Matzzie, the leader of Accountable America, an outside left-wing group.

The letter is an opening shot across the bow from an unusual new outside political group on the left that is poised to engage in hardball tactics to prevent similar groups on the right from getting off the ground this fall.

Led by Tom Matzzie, a liberal political operative who has been involved with some prominent left-wing efforts in recent years, the newly formed nonprofit group, Accountable America, is planning to confront donors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions.

“We want to stop the Swift Boating before it gets off the ground,” said Mr. Matzzie, who described his effort as “going for the jugular.”

The warning letter is intended as a first step, alerting donors who might be considering giving to right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including legal trouble, public exposure and watchdog groups digging through their lives.

The group is also hoping to be able to respond if an outside conservative group broadcasts a television advertisement attacking Senator Barack Obama, or another Democratic candidate, by running commercials exposing the donors behind the advertisements.

Judd Legum, who was the research director for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign, has signed on to play the same role for Accountable America.

The group has raised only $200,000, but Mr. Matzzie said he expected to collect more than $500,000 by next week, with an ultimate goal of $2 million.

Mr. Matzzie said he had decided to focus exclusively on conservative donors because such an effort could be done cheaply.

“It’s targeted,” Mr. Matzzie said. “We don’t need $25 million.”

Mr. Matzzie recently served as one of the leaders of Progressive Media U.S.A., a group that was intended to lead a left-wing media effort in the presidential election, but the group folded several months ago after it failed to raise enough money, partly because of signals from the Obama campaign that donors should not give to outside groups.

Mr. Obama and other Democratic officials have issued warnings about possible activities by outside groups like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which helped sink Senator John Kerry’s presidential bid in 2004. But activity among outside conservative groups has been decidedly low-level.

Still, Accountable America has singled out some major Republican donors, including Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire casino mogul, and Mel Sembler, a former ambassador and real estate magnate, both major donors to Freedom’s Watch, a conservative group.

Calls to Mr. Sembler and Mr. Adelson were not returned, but Ed Patru, a spokesman for Freedom’s Watch, scoffed at Mr. Matzzie’s plan.

“This idea sounds even more sloppily thought out than his last venture, which, of course, went belly-up for lack of financial support,” Mr. Patru said.

“I doubt anyone will be intimidated by him,” he said, “but if it gives anyone pause, they are always welcome to give to Freedom’s Watch – all of our donors are entitled to complete anonymity by law.”

Indeed, anonymity is a potential obstacle to the group’s efforts. Outside political groups organized as 501(c)4 entities, including Accountable America, do not have to disclose the names of their donors.

Chris LaCivita, a Republican strategist who helped organize the Swift Boat effort, said Mr. Matzzie’s group was likely to have the opposite effect on potential donors, firing them up instead of discouraging them.

“They’re not going to be intimidated by some pipsqueak on the kooky left,” Mr. LaCivita said.

Source

$100,000 Reward!

 

“Accountable America is offering a $100,000 reward for information that is material to either a criminal conviction for committing a felony or a misdemeanor, or a final and unappealed judicial or administrative determination of civil liability that entails the imposition of fines or penalties of at least $10,000, for a violation of federal campaign finance, tax or other statutes or regulations by an organization that operates or purports to operate under Internal Revenue Code Sections 501(c)(4), 501(c)(6) or 527 and that primarily serves business or ideologically conservative interests.”

Check it out!

Former deputy director of the Drug Free America Foundation goes pro MMJ

Posted in Public Sector, Uncategorized on August 23rd, 2008 by Ginger – 1 Comment

Former anti-marijuana lobbyist switches sides

By Mike Soraghan
Posted: 08/14/08 11:51 AM [ET]

The last time the House debated medical marijuana, David Krahl trod the halls of Capitol Hill lobbying against the legislation as deputy director of the Drug Free America Foundation.

Now, he’s ready to lobby for allowing medicinal use of marijuana, and do anything he can to support it.

So far, no one has asked him for help, but in a recent letter to medical marijuana bill sponsor Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), he proclaimed that he’d reversed his position on whether cannabis can be a medicine.

I’m saying, ‘Here I am, an individual who had one point of view, and now I have a different one,’ ” Krahl said in an interview.

Krahl left the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based foundation in October, and has returned to teaching. He declined to name the college where he is teaching, but said the topic is “drugs, deviance and crime.”

Being away from the Drug Free America Foundation allowed me an opportunity to take a fresh look at the issue,” Krahl said. “I don’t have skin in the game anymore.”

He had joined the foundation in July 2006. At the time, the foundation’s executive director, Calvina Fay, noted his 25 years of experience in criminal justice and human services and said, “His anti-drug philosophies, along with his experience, will be a great fit.”

Krahl had previously been a grants manager for the YMCA.

When I joined that group the question of medical marijuana was not entirely settled,” Krahl said. “I was looking at it from the issue of ‘does it have a medical benefit?’ There’s evidence both ways.

His letter to Hinchey lays out seven points that revolve around states’ rights to regulate marijuana and the physician-patient relationship.

In our nation today, we need less interference by the federal government on any issue such as this,” Krahl wrote.

Foundation officials were caught off guard by Krahl’s reversal, saying they hadn’t heard of the letter until a reporter called about it. But they said they’re happy that lawmakers still aren’t trying to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.

I don’t believe one person changing their position gives any credibility to the other side on this,” said foundation spokesman John Pastuovic.

A medical marijuana measure likely won’t come up in this session, because it would be an amendment to the Commerce-State-Justice Appropriations bill and Democratic leaders have all but junked the appropriations process for the year.

This actually happened

Posted in Uncategorized on July 22nd, 2008 by Ginger – 1 Comment


Fade In:
Ext. Driveway PAthway Family Center, Ohio evening
ANGLE ON:
Ext. Driveway PAthway Family Center, Ohio evening
POV Protester number one Female
We see a gold-like colored compact 4 door sedan car coming up the driveway towards Branch Hill- Guinea Pike. An Adult person is driving the passenger vehicle with three minors in the back seat. Three children are seen in the back seat of the car writing in confession journals, noticing one boy on the back left side writing something furiously.
Cut to:
Ext. Across the Driveway Pathway Family Center, Ohio Evening
Angle on:
Pov Protester number Two Female
She is facing inward looking down the driveway, and watches a car PULL UP the driveway towards her and Branch Hill- Guinea Pike. The car is a metallic gold in color. In the back of the car she notices a boy with sandy blonde hair on the left hand side in the back seat wiggling about and turns around quickly.
Cut to:
Ext. Across from the driveway Pathway Family Center, Ohio evening

Angle on:
Int. Car back seat evening Boy with sandy blonde hair
Boy
(Holds up a sign he wrote in his spiral notebook, mouthing the words help me. The sign reads help me!)
The boy with sandy blonde hair holds up a
BOY (CONT’D)
hand written sign in his spiral notebook that reads, “help me!” ; Smashing the sign up against the back window of the vehicle.
Ext. Pathway family Center Driveway Early evening
PROTESTER NUMBER TWO runs out in the Driveway yelling back to the child asking for help; chasing the vehicle in the driveway with her arm raised and outstretched in the air above her head pointing.
Protester Number Two
(running, yelling loudly, pointing at the child)
I will help you, I will try to help you!
Cut to:
Ext. Across from the driveway Pathway Family Center, Ohio evening
Angle on:
POV PROTESTER NUMBER THREE Female
Standing across the street directly across from Pathway family Center’s driveway she sees PROTESTER NUMBER TWO running out in the driveway and a gold car approaching Branch Hill -Guinea Pike at the end of Pathway Family Centers driveway. There is an adult driver of the car and three male minors in the back seat. She see PROTESTER NUMBER TWO SHOUTING in the cars direction. On the back right side of the car in the back seat she can see a child having a notebook grabbed from him by another male child sitting in the middle of the back seat. The male child sitting in the middle is then seen laughing and holding the child’s notebook. PROTESTER NUMBER THREE sees the gold car PULL OUT with TIRES SQUEALING and PROTESTER NUMBER TWO shouts across to PROTESTER NUMBER THREE.
Protester number two

Interview with a Survivor of Boulder Creek Academy: Part 1

Posted in Uncategorized on July 19th, 2008 by hurrikayne – Be the first to comment

Hurrikayne: What is the name of the facility you were in?
Alex: Boulder Creek Academy, in Idaho.

When were you there & how long did you stay?
I was there from June 22, 2007 to June 21, 2008.

Their website states that “Boulder Creek Academy is a safe refuge for at-risk troubled teens.” Do you feel that you were “at-risk” or “troubled”?

I feel that I was troubled, but not ‘at-risk’, whatever that means (assuming you mean cutting, drugs, sex, etc).  I was mildly depressed and had mood swings because of my medication.  Basically, my parents didn’t want to wait out me being on new medication.

They also describe typical students as, “Capable but discouraged by academic struggle; Isolated, low self-esteem; Unable to see consequences of actions; Experimented with drugs and alcohol.” Do you feel these generalizations accurately describe how you were at the time you entered the program?

I would say about 1/3 of the student body is as they described. Some of the people there are INCREDIBLY intelligent.  One kid was doing college calculus from Stanford before he was 18; another is reading books about string theory.

Most kids there, however, are not isolated.  I heard so many stories about crazy shit that happened at their homes and whatnot with their friends.  From what I saw, some of those kids had pretty good self-esteem.  Most of the students there have done drugs, but not all of them.

The rest are idiotic, immature simpletons.  They fail classes (which are not hard to pass), can’t see that A+B=C, and are total druggies.  Most of the kids who saw the website made jokes about how the kids had ‘an IQ of over 90′, because some of the kids were so stupid. One of the kids said that all the buildings in Tokyo were made of bamboo, and another believed that Japanese tiger eggs existed.

Whose idea was it for you to go to this facility?
It was my parents’ idea.

Why did your parents feel that a therapeutic boarding school would be better than a ‘normal’ boarding school?

I honestly don’t know why my parents thought it was better, but I’m guessing it had to do with a lot of one-sided misinformation.  They learned about this school from an Education Consultant, Molly Baron, and then my therapist at Second Nature, Jay Huffine, and took a tour at BCA with Shaunale Wilson.  My mom really is easy to get bought into all of this crap, and I’m honestly surprised that my dad was sucked into it.  Apparently, my dad looked at normal ones too, but he said at the time it seemed like the right thing to do, but now he seems to regret his decision.

Were you included in the decision?
No, I was not included whatsoever.  I wanted to go to a normal boarding school, but they sent me to a wilderness.

How did you get there?
I was transported to wilderness, and then to the school

What do you mean by ‘transported’ and what kind of wilderness were you taken to?

I was woken up at 5 AM at home by two men, who talked to me about a program called Second Nature in Bend, Oregon.  I was excited, and thought it was a (normal) boarding school.  I was allowed to take a shower and grab my Nintendo DS to use on the trip there. Then I was handed off to two people from Second Nature at the Airport in Richmond, OR. They took me to a doctor to get a physical, then to the headquarters of the place where I had to strip naked and show that I didn’t have any ‘contraband’ on me, (luckily no cavity search), and then got shipped off to the middle of nowhere.

FTC Issues Warnings on Programs

Posted in Uncategorized on July 16th, 2008 by admin – Be the first to comment

 In addition to ISAC’s Warning Signs, the FTC has just weighed in with it’s own: [sourceConsidering a Private Residential Treatment Program for a Troubled Teen? Questions for Parents and Guardians to Ask

Private residential treatment programs for young people offer a range of services, including drug and alcohol treatment, confidence building, military-style discipline, and psychological counseling for a variety of addiction, behavioral, and emotional problems. Many of these programs are intended to provide a less-restrictive alternative to incarceration or hospitalization, or an intervention for a troubled young person.

If you are a parent or guardian and think you have exhausted intervention alternatives for a troubled teen, you may be considering a private residential treatment program. These programs go by a variety of names, including “therapeutic boarding schools,” “emotional growth academies,” “teen boot camps,” “behavior modification facilities,” and “wilderness therapy programs.”

No standard definitions exist for specific types of programs. The programs are not regulated by the federal government, and many are not subject to state licensing or monitoring as mental health or educational facilities, either. A 2007 Report to Congress by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found cases involving serious abuse and neglect at some of these programs. Many programs advertise on the Internet and through other media, making claims about staff credentials, the level of treatment a participant will receive, program accreditation, education credit transfers, success rates, and endorsements by educational consultants.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, cautions that before you enroll a youngster in a private residential treatment program, check it out: ask questions; ask for proof or support for claims about staff credentials, program accreditation, and endorsements; do a site visit; and get all policies and promises in writing.

Questions to Ask

Here are some questions to ask representatives of any program you may be considering. The responses may help you determine if the program is appropriate for your child.

  1. Are you licensed by the state?

    If the answer is yes, find out what aspects of the program the license covers: educational, mental/behavioral health, and/or residential?

    If the program claims to be licensed, get the name of the state agency that issued the license and contact the agency to verify that the license is current. Often, the licensing will be through a state Department of Health and Human Services or its equivalent. If the program’s representative can’t provide the name of the licensing agency, consider it a red flag.

    If the program is unlicensed and you still want to consider it, contact the state Attorney General (www.naag.org), the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org), and the local consumer protection office (www.consumeraction.gov/state.shtml) where the program is located.

    Regardless of whether a program is licensed, when contacting any of these groups:

    • Ask for copies of all publicly available information, including any complaints or actions filed against the program, site visit evaluations, violations, and corrective actions.
    • Pay particular attention to any reports of unsanitary or unsafe living conditions, nutritionally compromised diets, exposure to extreme environmental conditions or extreme physical exertion, inadequate staff supervision or a low ratio of staff to residents, medical neglect, physical or sexual abuse of youth by program staff or other residents, and any violation of youth or family rights.
  2. Do you provide an academic curriculum?

    If so, is it available to all program participants? Do you have teachers who are certified or licensed by your state? Some programs may offer only self-study or distance education. Sometimes, educational options are not made available until a resident has reached an advanced phase of the program. In addition, some programs may claim that academic credits will transfer to the resident’s home school and count toward a high school diploma. Check with the board of education in the state where the program operates – and with your state board if you live out-of-state – to verify that academic credits will transfer.

  3. What about accreditation?

    Several independent nonprofit organizations, like the Joint Commission (JACHO), the Council on Accreditation (COA), and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), accredit mental health programs and providers.

    • JACHO accredits and certifies more than 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the U.S. (www.jointcommission.org)
    • COA is an international child- and family-service and behavioral healthcare organization that accredits 38 different service areas, including substance abuse treatment, and more than 60 types of programs. (www.coanet.org)
    • CARF International is an independent accreditor of human services providers in areas including behavioral health, child and youth services, and employment and community services. (www.carf.org)

    Ask whether all components of the program are accredited, for example, the base program, the drug and alcohol component, and the wilderness program. Then contact the accrediting organization for confirmation.

    The GAO’s Report noted that one program claimed to be accredited by the JACHO, but in fact, only the base program was accredited. Neither the wilderness program nor the drug and alcohol component was accredited.

    The organizations above grant accreditation and certification after evaluating the quality of services provided by a treatment program. Parents and guardians should be aware that some other organizations that claim to accredit schools may serve merely as membership organizations, and may not conduct site inspections or otherwise evaluate the quality of the programs they certify. If a treatment program claims to be certified or accredited, parents and guardians should contact the accrediting organization and ask about the standards the organization uses when issuing a certification.

  4. Do you have a clinical director? What are his/her credentials?

    Typically, a clinical director is responsible for overseeing, supporting, and maintaining the quality of care for the program. A clinical director may have an advanced degree in a related field, like clinical psychology, and may be involved in providing individual therapy, assessment and consultation, staff training and development, and managing or supervising the components of the program.

  5. What are the credentials of the staff, especially the counselors and therapists, who will be working with my child?

    Do they have appropriate and relevant advanced degrees like a Masters in Social Work, a license to do clinical social work (LCSW), a Ph.D., or an M.D.? Are they certified or licensed within the state? If they are, by what agency or organization?

    Ask to see copies of relevant documents, and consider contacting the certifying or licensing organization to confirm the staff credentials. The GAO found that some program leaders falsely claimed to have credentials in therapy or medicine, which led some parents to trust them with teens who had serious mental or physical disabilities requiring different levels of treatment.

  6. How experienced is your staff? Have they worked at other residential treatment programs? If yes, where and for how long?

    Ask to see current certifications in CPR and other emergency medicine. For wilderness programs, also ask for proof of relevant training and expertise.

  7. Do you conduct background checks on your employees?

    If the answer is yes, find out who does the background check and how extensive it is. Call the company to confirm that it provides background check services for the treatment program. If the answer is no or the program does not conduct background checks, consider it a red flag.

  8. What are the criteria for admission ? Do you conduct pre-admission assessments? Are they in person, by phone, or over the Internet? Who conducts them?

    If your child has serious addiction problems or psychological issues, take special care to ensure that the program is equipped to deal with them. Discuss the appropriateness of the program with your child’s psychologist, psychiatrist, or other healthcare provider.

  9. Will you provide an individualized program with a detailed explanation of the therapies, interventions, and supports that will address my child’s needs? When is this done? How often will my child be reassessed?

    Ask whether your child will have group or individual therapy sessions. If the answer is yes, ask how often the sessions will take place and who will conduct them. Once enrolled, confirm with your child that the promised level of care is being received.

  10. How do you handle medical issues like illness or injury? Is there a nurse or doctor on staff? On the premises? Will you contact me? Will I be notified or consulted if there’s a change in treatment or medication?

    Ask for copies of procedures the program follows on dealing with medical emergencies.

  11. How do you define success? What is your success rate? How is it measured?

    Some programs make specific success claims in their advertising materials. To date, there is no systematic, independently collected descriptive or outcome data on these programs.

  12. How do you discipline program participants?

    Ask about policies and procedures for discipline.

  13. Can I contact/speak with my child when I want? Can my child contact me when he wants?

    Some programs prohibit, monitor, or otherwise restrict verbal or written communication between you and your child. Find out what is allowed and prohibited before you enroll your child.

  14. What are the costs? What do they cover? What is your refund policy if the program doesn’t work out?

    Private residential treatment programs often charge hundreds of dollars per day. While health insurance sometimes may pay a limited amount, for the most part, the youngster’s family is responsible for paying the fees and bills.

  15. Do you have relationships with companies and individuals that provide educational and referral services?

    Some companies may provide services, claiming to match troubled kids with an appropriate treatment program. Be aware that although some of these services represent themselves as independent, they may not be. They may actually be operated or paid by one or more of the treatment programs. Ask the service if it receives commissions from the treatment programs.

For More Information

Among the sources of information for families researching private residential treatment programs for troubled youngsters are:

  • The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Report to Congress: “Residential Treatment Programs: Concerns Regarding Abuse and Death in Certain Programs for Troubled Youth” (October 2007) – www.gao.gov
  • The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s list of state mental health agencies – www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/state_orgs.htm
  • The U.S. Department of State Fact Sheet: “Behavior Modification Facilities” – www.state.gov
  • Your State Attorney General – www.naag.org
  • The Alliance for the Safe, Therapeutic and Appropriate use of Residential Treatment (A START) – http://astart.fmhi.usf.edu. A START is sponsored by the Department of Child and Family Studies of the University of South Florida. The Alliance includes leaders in psychology, psychiatry, nursing, mental health law, policy and family advocacy, as well as individuals with direct program experience as director, evaluator, parent, or participant in such programs.

 

About the FTC

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

 

Warning

Posted in Uncategorized on June 30th, 2008 by admin – Be the first to comment


Warning!!!

This is not a support group. This is not a safe place for you to divulge your secrets.

This is an open, unmoderated, uncensored wild place dedicated to discussion and inquiry into the troubled parent industry. Here we discus things like rape and torture from first-hand experience like other people talk about high school pranks and drama. It’s fucking ugly. If that ehff word bothers you, don’t even attempt to come here. Frankly, there are not words ugly enough to adequately describe what we’re talking about, but we do the best we can.

 

This is a very public place! Not only is this whole site accessible to anybody on the planet with a library card or friend with net access, but our actual readership includes the following; the psychotic, despondent, vengeful, hurt, sardonic, sociopathic, clueless, militant, sanctimonious, sadistic, guilty as well as the innocent. And those are just the program affiliated people. Our regular readership also includes the media, lawyers, law enforcement people, creepy brown shirts from alphabet soup named agencies and private contractors tasked with keeping an eye on us as possible terrorists and outlaws. And then, of course, there are the rubber neckers and trolls; the general public who are only looking because some friend or colegue told them they’d have to see it to believe it.

 

Trouble is, everybody thinks they’re the injured, innocent victim, heroically taking the beating for their sacred cause. And so you can see where things might get a little ugly, eh? If you choose to enter here, understand that I have a grudge. It’s simple and pure as anything ever to survive Occam’s Razor; honesty.

 

Honesty, the first and most impotent rule. Honesty has gotten every christ, profit and true hero from before the time of the Judeo/Christian Christ on through Tom Paine and Jack Kehoe publicly and painfully executed. The rule seems to be that Honesty is almost always the simplest, kindest, bravest and most sensible way to go, with the unfortunate cosequence that it will likely get you killed or, at the very least, make you wonder if you might be better off at rest sometimes. (no, this is not a suicide threat or plea for rescue. Anyone who’s experiencing a knee jerk paternalistic response or a sudden and overwhelming attack of altruism, pound sand. I’m acting in my own interest as well as those I love wherever those intersect. Please don’t help me, I’ve had all the help I can stand, thanks very much, good day, buh buy, pound sand!)

 

I was only 5 or 6 years old when this cult took my family and future from me. I thank the Fates these days that I was too innocent and idealistic to understand that fully at the time or I never would have had the courage to try anything. They demanded honesty, but defined the word a little differently than I had been taught. It was a double bind. Honesty, by program definition, meant confessing to and actually believing things that never happened. In order to make the next tiny incremental step toward the door, one would have to manufacture the appropriate set of feelings and attitudes to go along with the fiction.

 

Though money is as big a part of this story as it is of any other, it’s not really what drives the most dedicated proponants. It is guilt and shame, anger and regret and a desperate, desperate need to maintain those illusions that excuse their crimes against themselves, their own children and unwitting suckers who they recruit into their belief systems. These people do monsterous things because they are convinced that what they’re doing is heroic.

 

My object here is as it has been from the beginning; I’m just complying with the first and most impotent rule, Honesty. They want Honesty? Ok, I’ll give them honesty, all day long. Honestly, their illusions are crushing innocent others. As uncomfortable as it may be for them, they’ll have to either give them up or keep close society only with those who voluntarily share them. We’re intent, as ones fighting for survival, on blowing their cover among the general public. I expect them to act just as ugly and cruel in this venue as they do in those cloistered environments they create. Why would you expect anything else?

- Ginger McNulty 

Note From Psy

Posted in Uncategorized on December 17th, 2007 by admin – Be the first to comment

Well. Those who have been looking for SueScheffTruth are in bad luck for the moment. The site was apparantly hacked soon before I headed off on my Benchmark Raid. That’s one of the things i’ll be fixing during the holidays. In the mean time, you might want to take a look at this latest clip I’ve released from my Benchmark project (Benchmark Young Adult School):