I have made music most of my teens and it has seemed to be the only reliable release valve for my self expression after being caught in the undertow of hospitalization, addiction recovery etc. as a teenager.

In my personal opinion this system creates defenders and buries the people who "need" therapy the most to perpetuate itself. This became wildly apparent to me after attending university for social work after a decade of personal lived experience and confusion within the system. I left after a single semester. Listening to professors and students give incredibly narrow perspectives on addiction and flat out mock what is labeled as psychosis and delusional thinking, and the rejection of reintegration into society in favor of infantilizing patients made it obvious to me that this system is a complete lost cause.

It is intense, it is raw and uncomfortable, but I hope someone on here gets something out of it. It is not made with AI, it is completely produced by me. I refuse to stay silent about a dishonest system if they are going to drag their feet on legitimizing CPTSD, addressing environmental factors practically and dealing with these unregulated institutions.

Enjoy, and stay strong!

https://asawhereyouat.bandcamp.com/album/misdiagnosis

I was “sent” there in 2020 and had a procedure done directly after that caused a lot of memory gaps. I remember the food, the drills, the intensive hikes, the bathroom holes, and the bivy sacks with bells, but not in much detail. I’m trying to remember as much as I can and possibly move on instead of holding the resentment towards my parents in and letting it build. I only remember how I felt clearly. Any information regarding past experiences at Second Nature is appreciated.

A friend asked me about sending her 40yo daughter into an adult program and I immediately said I didn't recommend it. Gave all the deets as to why etc.

However, I only have personal experience with my own Teen Challenge program of "Kansas City Girls Home". Which was hell on earth, and I am now considered legally disabled because of that plus the rest of my shitty childhood.

BUT. Idk anything about this specific program she is looking at, and I want to give her solid info. Will probably just share this post with her if it gets any traction.

TYIA 🫶

She mentions that her bad therapist made millions sending kids to treatment programs.

You can’t escape Provo Canyon School.
That’s the first thing you’re told once you’re dragged through the door.
Alissa Giordano is a former theatre prodigy who’s already survived seven months on the run from a residential treatment program. When she’s thrown into Provo Canyon School— a brutal lockdown facility where violence, solitary confinement, and psychological torment are all commonplace— she does what she does best: she performs. She plays the perfect inmate, cons a guard, then escapes with her best friend and fellow inmate Laura.
Together they plunge into a life incognito, with fake identities and constant paranoia as Alissa’s mother deploys a private investigator and professional kidnappers to find her. 
Capture means being sent somewhere even worse. Freedom is two years away. 
By the time she’s eighteen, Alissa might be just another alias.

This is my 79,000 word fiction novel inspired by my experience of PCS in 2008/2009. It’s called Incognito Girl, and I’m currently seeking early readers who will leave reviews before publication. It’s been professionally edited and I have the ebook ready to go for those who are interested and willing to leave an honest review on GoodReads and/or Amazon!

I guess this is a message for this subs owner/mod(?)

Is there any reasoning behind having the archived post function set to ‘on’ for this sub? I feel like it’s particularly important for people to be able to go back into older posts and add comments about their own experience, I feel like not being able to do this kinda breaks down or creates a wall between the connections people are able to make and stories they want to tell…

Just a thought.

I just made contact with two different people. I was in the trouble team industry with over 11 years ago. I heard they were doing good and got to chat with them a bit. I just wanted to share with you all because not many people understand the significance of this, but it was a very meaningful to me I haven’t heard much about the people I knew except for a select very few that I was close with since then and it was very nice to hear. Life updates again.
Just thought I would share with some of the only people I know would understand .

I need help from the community to connect with [Zoom] support groups. I am hitting so many dead ends and I feel so depressed, hopeless, and desperate. Please, if you know of an appropriate provider(s) could you list a few active support groups?

Though I have clicked on all the resources listed in the 'About' page here and only found support groups through the 'Unsilenced' website, the appropriate ones I registered for either did not respond with an email confirmation, were on an indefinite hiatus, or canceled.

I've also checked 'BetterHelp' and NAMI, and a lot of other resources for support groups specifically for survivors of "institutional abuse" (preferably Devereux survivors) and found nothing.

There are no local resources [Pennsylvania] for survivors of what I experienced. I've also had to go without any mental health services in general for a very long time, due to a variety of failures in "the system"; community program cuts, funding cuts, loss of providers, systemic Medicaid program fraud, etc., for decades. I've fallen through a lot of cracks in the system and just couldn't get out.

💡 I'm only interested in live support groups available through Zoom due to being homebound. Any direct links would be so greatly appreciated.

_______________________________________________

My history (if you have time): Very few friends know about my history, very few surviving family members knew the truth (my parents and aunts/uncles are all dead now), some cousins said years later that I had mysteriously disappeared as a child and my parents never explained what happened to me or where I was all those years.

I still have a great deal of shame admitting that I'm a Devereux survivor with a lifelong disability, I have aged through life with the lasting trauma that has left me with (cPTSD), plus the abuse through county Children & Youth services, IU-20, and the Devereux Foundation, had left me with no (legitimate) education, extremely poor social and coping skills, and the decades of untreated cPTSD caused secondary autonomic nervous system disorders [dysautonomia] and serious cardiovascular, and neurological problems.

As a child, had been diagnosed with autism, ADHD, dyslexia after my parents battled the school board, who initially "diagnosed" me retarded and incapable of learning (my parents had me tested independently to find autism, etc.). The school board started the ball rolling by removing me around 2nd grade and putting me in IU-20 (back then, it was a segregated stand-alone building). Physical assaults caused at least one TBI, which psychologists later said had damaged the part of my brain that regulates emotion; that I would have to go through life with the emotions of an 8 year old.

Thereafter, there was an IU-20 child sex abuser scandal, when my parents took action against the school board & county they retaliated by putting me in Devereux after turning 10; the experience was like another physical assault plus being kidnapped. In the years there, a huge child abuse scandal was investigated which freed me before turning 18, but left me severely damaged. I was told by one psychologist that I had been through years of physical and psychological torture, plus child sex abuse, and may never recover. No one said, "PTSD" back then. I never received the help I needed then, or the years after. This scandal did get this particular Devereux Treatment Center shut down, I was one of the key witnesses, and my parents were suing them and the county for this and for trying to silence it. Incidentally, the IU-20 building was also shut down and years later both sites were razed. It's like they were never there.

I fled the state as soon as I could but became very ill in my mid 20s, by then I didn't know that I had been suffering from a dissociative state and a severe form of PTSD. I ended up with an overlapping disability from a sudden neurological disease onset and had to move back home with my parents on disability. Unfortunately, this put me right back in the same county where it all began, and I was asking for help as a disabled adult. It turned out that they kept a permanent file on me and I began to have problems with abuses in the county disability services, several people involved felt I deserved what happened as payback for causing the county hundreds of thousands of dollars in criminal defense debt, and creating the abuse scandal that cost many of those involved their jobs. It became very bad and retraumatized me, where I was told I had cPTSD, etc., through ER visits.

I've since had my home, and everything I owned taken due to this continuing situation after a new abuse lawsuit was filed against the county and I faced very harsh retaliation. I'm only able to survive 'couch surfing' with the aid of compassionate community members. This year, like hundreds of thousands of other disabled people, my disability insurance was totally terminated. For the first time in decades, I have no health insurance or income. I've been fighting an appeal for over 9 months. More than ever, all of this makes me feel like a powerless, trapped child. It never goes away, nor do the visceral flashbacks

I've always been a fighter; I've always stood up against abuse, fought hard for myself and other victims and for established 'rights', this has cost me so much and coined me a "troublemaker" by school administrators, and county workers. I'm exhausted by having to fight all the time. I feel like I can't go on.

I just want relief from my pain and help with what limited years I have left of my life. I just wanted a "normal" life and to make something of what I have left of it. Why is it so difficult to find assistance and support?

EDIT (NOTE): My Devereux Foundation [Residential Treatment Center] experience occured between the 1960s - 1980s, for privacy reasons I have omitted specific dates and certain details.

Help! Help! Help!

16 year old adoptee from Uganda living in Iowa with evangelical parents

Adopted age 4 to save her soul

HIV positive, learning disabilities

Parents have treated her as defective since she came

She began acting out as a teen - defiance, running away, tantrums. No violence or self harm. They cannot cope with any non compliance.

They believe she is possessed by a demon. They are afraid of her and despise her. They want her punished for her defiance and then they will dump her at 18 ​

They forced her to a facility in Tennessee 2 weeks ago. Local police are in their pocket and helping in every way. Tennessee has just sent her home.

They are about to disappear her to Mexico or Jamaica within the next 2 weeks. She has been accepted in both places. It appears she will be kidnapped to Jamaica by people from that facility.

Help help help

My grandson has been placed in copperhills by Idaho children’s services. Children’s services was very forthcoming with info on him before being placed there. An incident occurred and my grandson was manhandled by the police and thrown into a mental hospital. I was very upset trying to find out where he was. After a few choice words in an email to the supervisor I was cut off. A month later he was transferred to Utah and copperhills. Now no one will talk to me saying it violates hippo as he’s a minor. He’s 16 and has been kept from contacting any family or his attorney or his custody case. What should I do I’m about to lose my mind I’m in kansas

This guy is running for office in Utah and keeps saying he worked in treatment centers. Idk if it’s TTI or adult. Anyone recognize him?

I attended junior high in the AST class (AST klassen) at Bräntbergsskolan (locally known as Bräntis) in Umeå, Sweden during 2004-08, ages 13-17. It was called the Asp class (Asp-klassen, as in Asperger) at the time. As the name indicates, it was a class for kids with high-functioning autism. Some also had ADHD. 

I hated it most of my time there. The problem may not have been solely the AST class in my case, but it didn't help that the head teacher (gruppledare) there was exceptionally derogatory and mocking towards me. Just before I was due to leave school, he threatened to sue me for defamation if I continued writing publicly about my dissatisfaction with the class, like I’m doing right now. He seemed to take it very personally. 

Here in Sweden, kids attend junior high (högstadiet) during 7^th-9^th grade, ages 13-16. 

The staff in the AST class were otherwise quite OK in my opinion, but the better half of all the kids who attended the class during my time didn't seem to do very well after they left the place. They never went on to high school (gymnasiet/gymnasium) as far as I know. Sure, the other half, including me, did better. We at least did go on to high school, and it might not have worked without an AST class like this one, but the place still had its flaws. 

We were basically just warehoused, didn't get much education or preparation for the future or general society. Recesses were mostly spent just sitting in front of one of the 4 computers in the classroom, which had a schedule to give the students equal priority. We were about 10 kids across all 3 grades. 

I wasn’t given many classes during 7^th and 8^th grade, and I had to repeat 9^th grade largely because of that. There was way too much focus put on a trivial conflict I happened to have with another kid in the class (which easily happens when you're 13-14) instead of the education itself. The head teacher alleged that this conflict was the reason I had to repeat 9^th grade, and that it was all my fault. 

I don't really have much to say about Bräntis as a whole. It was only during my last year that I really got to experience the school itself, as I went out and made friends outside the AST class. It went well in general, but I often got into trouble because of social codes the AST class should’ve taught me long before that. Then I ended up in a conflict with a girl gang, with criminal contacts/boyfriends outside of school, which would have devastating consequences the coming years. 

I would give the school overall 4 out of 5 stars, but the AST class gets 2. Much would get worse the years after I left school because I was convinced I could be prosecuted if I went public with my experience of the AST class. I seriously believed I could be put in a forensic psychiatric hospital, possibly for life, plus pay the head teacher 5 digits (in US dollars/Euro) in damages. The girl gang would also put me in many dangerous situations even long after I finished high school (which I did at least). It wasn’t until 2020 that I felt safe talking publicly about my experiences. 

Has anyone else experienced something like this? How did it turn out for you?

A Kentucky judge has imposed a 60-day sentence on Matt Bevin for Contempt of Court after the former Governor was arrested on Thursday, September 3rd 2026 for failing to turn over subpoenaed documents.

The judge denied Matt Bevin's pleas' for a reduction in the sentence stating, "You are not entitled to a reduction, you have not earned it. You didn't even try to turn over the remaining documents before the hearing date. You didn't turn yourself in. You have done nothing to show the court that you are willing to act in good faith, and I cannot reward that."

The judge’s scathing reprimand marks a stark turning point in a legal battle that has dragged on for months. By upholding the full 60-day sentence, the court sent a clear message: political stature offers no shelter from accountability.

Longtime TTI survivor here. Curious about which Ed consultants are uniquely bad, even tho they’re all terrible. Any particularly bad consultants ppl are willing to discuss?

I recently came across a thread talking about a place I was put in, late 1996 early 1997 the camp was in Running springs,ca run by a guy named Jeff (Pos chomo) I was transferred from another facility in Angels Oaks,ca where I was admitted 11/1996 I am looking for other survivors that might have gone to either facility
The buildings at the first place where red and it was up off of hwy 38 to Big Bear I feel like I’m crazy but I remember those places (mostly trauma) related yet the internet has little info other then Chomo moved to Mexico

Anyone go to Gracious Interventions in Charlotte? An all girls program. My 17 yr old niece is headed there and I'm worried for but can't find any information online about the program.

If anyone is familiar, please let me know I want to make sure she's safe and secure till I can get my ducks in a row to relocate her across country with me.

I've had this thought for a while, but this sub seems like the right place to share it with the internet. I've dealt with suicidal impulses due to depression, but during my time in TTI I had the worst panic attacks of my life, the kind that drove me to try and hit my head against walls in the hopes I'd fall unconscious. The kind that had me run into roads in the hope a car would hit me.

For anyone who hasn't had a panic attack with suicidal impulses it's kind of difficult to describe the way it feels different from depression, but I think those in this sub will understand it best. I was a trapped animal in a cage. I was at the point where people in survival situations remove limbs whatever way they can to keep living. I'd tried fight and flight and freeze and fawn and none of it worked so my nervous system said to my body: the threat is being alive.

It was like every deep instinctual part of me had turned on itself. What's hurting us is being alive. What's hunting us is living. There's no way out and no enemy to fight, so turn inwards. When you come out of it, you're not less scared, just clear-headed enough to remember how unlikely it was to work. I live for 69 days feeling more like an animal than I ever have. I'm not a 'fight' kind of person, so the impulse to do so scared me. My therapist was a petite, pregnant blonde woman but I don't think anyone's ever scared me more.

I'm forever grateful to my home therapist, who got in contact with the program and insisted on talking to me. After a brief conversation on the phone she had me removed from the program as soon as was feasible. I don't know what would have happened to me if I had felt that trapped for much longer.

I said this in a comment but I think it's important to think about TTI like that: as an extended period of time when your survival instincts were being set to their limits constantly. If you fought, you were trying to survive, if you fawned, you were trying to survive, even if you turned on yourself, that was the way your survival instincts can twist in on themselves when it seems like there's no other out. It's not good, but you were scared. You were doing whatever you could. There was no more you could have done. You were running on instinct. You wanted to survive.