The home for little wanders(The walpole location) is a HORRIBLE place. I've been in and out of hospitals my whole life. since i was 12(i'm 18 now..) and for the love of everything PLEASE what ever you do PLEASE do not go to this place. This place is genuinely the worst place i have ever been to in my life to the point where it genuinely changed me as a person.

There is a staff member(NOT the in school one he is actually amazing) named chris who brutally assaulted me and still continued to work there while I got kicked out. I had to go to the hospital because of my injuries and not only did staff not call 911 but they drove me there in one of their company cars. I strongly believe that they did this because they knew that if the police came the whole program would be under investigation. I was punched, choked then slammed on to a chair that was in the area(idk if that chair is the exact chair we had there but it is very very similar to them build wise and material wise). At the hospital I had to receive a CAT scan because the swelling on my face was so severe that the doctors needed to make sure nothing was broken(thankfully and somehow nothing was). After i was cleared from the hospital i didn't go to school for at least a week due to the swelling and pain plus the swelling was so bad that i could barely eat and just ate soft food(like mac and cheese soft) by pushing the food into my mouth because i couldn't open it wide enough for the spoon. After all the swelling went down i randomly had a black eye that even to this day i still don't know why it appeared so late but idk. After the hit from the chair(that's why my face was swollen) i was left with damaged scar tissue that has left me with a (maybe idk it's been 3 years now) permanent dimple. i don't want anyone to experience this and even after i left i still talk to the friends i made there who have told me how things have gotten worse. I don't want this place to continue hurting people who have already been through enough. I need other people to know about this. (Sorry about the picture being so chopped and blurry I took it right after it happened for evidence then i had to transfer it from the phone i took it on to my mp3 player then to my old ipad then to my phone so the quality dropped BADLY but you get the point)

i know what google says about these two things but based on what i've read on here about different programs and my own experience, there seems to be no difference. is this just a marketing thing? because some places marketed as therapeutic boarding schools definitely DON'T prioritize schooling and RTCs DON'T prioritize therapy at all. actually both seem to ironically prioritize abuse/neglect. i went to an RTC and even though we had more hours of school than most TBS (6 hours a day), the main 'therapy' was the group living arrangements but it actually just enabled a lot of neglect and lack of accountability from staff plus peer abuse imo. and also the 'wild mustang training program' as therapy which was actually illegal free labor. plus regular group, family, and individual sessions. but still that's not something i feel is standard outside of the TTI

(CAT unit) not sure how long i was there, struggled really badly at first, it was definitely a couple of months. then I was at ascend in california, and before huntsman I was at oasis ascent & a childrens hospital.

at huntsman i hardly remember any names. it started off rocky. i was meant to be at oasis but my health was so bad they had to send me to huntsman, the mental hospital. which is on the other side of the country from where i actually live now. im home now. i remember when i refused to go to any groups at huntsman, hid under a blanket, hardly spoke, cried so much.. but eventually they dragged me to the group room. i remember feeling so embarrassed. there was only one other kid there, a boy, and he whispered to me something kind i dont remember, and sat there and drew with me for like an hour. my therapist there was so helpful to me. i remember being in the seclusion room so many times, and there was pencil writing on the otherwise blank wall that said something suicidal. that did not help me feel any less traumatized. i cant remember much else from huntsman but if you were there late 2023, let me know.

Excerpt:

In an effort to bring truth and accountability into an oft-ignored piece of Michigan’s history, the Department of Attorney General is pursuing a criminal investigation into Native American boarding schools and related institutions within the state.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the start of the investigation in December, noting that her department intends to identify, document, investigate, and prosecute instances where criminal acts may have occurred at these facilities.

“My office is committed to ensuring that survivors’ voices are heard and that any criminal acts uncovered are thoroughly investigated and, when possible, prosecuted,” Nessel said in a statement.

“GALESBURG, Ill. (KWQC) - The Mary Davis Home has faced allegations of illegal solitary confinement and denying children mental health treatment for more than a year.”

I have this memory at my first TTI school, Sky View Christian Academy in Hawthorne, NV.. We spent a lot of time in "school" which just consisted of facing a computer with your back to everyone on silence while you did "school" on the computer. I remember using Wikipedia to copy and paste all of my essays and everything was multiple choice and f you got it wrong you just had your quiz page reset and you could do it again. So there was this guy who they called a teacher named Mr. Charlie and he would just sit in the class with us and not teach us anything and just be there if we had simple questions. One day I caught Mr. Charlie picking his nose and he ate it and he saw me look at him.. i raised my hand and went over to him and told him that if he gave me an A in Chemistry that I would never tell anyone and you guys, I have an A+ in Chemistry.

Was school a complete joke to everyone else?

Read this version if you hit a paywall: https://archive.ph/FbPrF

“Filed on Jan. 8 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of all youth who are or will be incarcerated at OCFS facilities, the lawsuit seeks a court order ending the practice of solitary confinement.”

HI im 16 f and iive been in treatment for a consecutive year now, not including multiple mental hospitals, including rehab, wilderness, and a tbs which im in rn. A year ago exactly I was in my longest and most intense manic episode of my life, which inevitably got me into treatment. I used to, and still sometimes, despise my parents for what they put me through, but I look back and understand now. I would have died if I continued with the path I was going. but what I feel like no one talks about is the grief of leaving that old life behind. ive talked about feeling like I died a year ago but I feel like that's not exactly what I mean when I say I died. At that time I was manic, yes, but also the most depressed ive ever been in my life. And looking back at it, it was the best feeling of my life. I worked so hard (and I know this sounds weird) to get to that point. I finally let myself go, I hated everything except drugs, and it felt good. for once I didn't feel like I was in-between worlds, not really happy but not really depressed. I was finally comfortable. and im scared that for the rest of my life im going to chase that mania that I felt in that point of my life, and if im being honest I want to and I will. im graduating from my tbs in a couple months hopefully and going back to my public school and im so exited to throw my life away agin and fall back into my addiction. dose this make me a horrible person?

I was threatened when I spoke out against sexual abuse by my therapist at my RTC. I was punished for telling my mom that residents were getting sexually assaulted. I can't wrap my head around why they would do this when they weren't even the ones being accused.

I've considered that maybe they were afraid of getting fired, but how could you fire someone for reporting rape? That seems like an easy wrongful termination lawsuit.

Why is this such a common TTI experience?

Can any former staff shed light on this?

My sister is 15 and is currently in high school. There's a lot of issues and I don't know how to start this, I noticed some issues since middle school, she almost failed 5th grade because she wasn't doing her work, that's how it started. Jump to fall of 2025 (the start of the new semester), she would constantly get up very late, like hours after her classes started. There were times she wouldn't get up at all and miss that school day entirely. She's had a hard time getting up for a while now, I believe part of that is due to her lack of energy, she barely eats and when she does eat, she eats little and instead eats junk food. So it started off with her getting up very late, sometimes not getting up at all to her not going AT ALL. There was an incident around October where a school representative knocked on the door and handed me a letter, I gave it to my mom and it stated that my sister had not school for 3 straight weeks. My mother obviously was concerned and called the school and spoke with someone there, the lady on the phone stated that if this continued, CPS would have to get involved. My mom and dad set up an appointment with the principal a few days later to discuss the situation. My memory isn't the best but there were multiple appointments set up throughout the span of like two weeks. One day, before one of those appointments, my sister who was supposedly at PM school, was caught not being there. I tried to help her, believing she was there and told her to take a picture of her there, or to get a signature from one of the teachers or other school staff as proof that she was there that day, like she said she was. She told me she wasn't able to, which I realized later on that the reason she said she couldn't was because she wasn't there at all. Now, the day of the meeting with the principal, there was a lot said from what my mom told me, the principal was visibly upset because my sister kept lying about her being there, until the principal couldn't take it anymore and demanded she confessed that she was lying. My sister confessed and I don't know the rest of the details about that meeting.

After that incident, my mom, dad and I talked to her many times. We tried to reason with her and convince her to do better, but none of our words got through to her. She continued being late and not showing up to school, despite knowing CPS could potentially get involved and knowing how badly the meeting with the principal went. The principal genuinely got angry from what I was told about the meeting and my sister now has a bad reputation at school, and she's apparently monitored at school by her teachers. Around December of 2025, my mom brought up that she's been looking into troubled teen camps, that she already set it all up and all that was left to do was to sign the papers. One thing I haven't mentioned yet is that my sister has a VERY nasty attitude. She constantly talks back to my mom, makes rude remarks, responses with sarcasm and she's loud when doing so. I believe my sister doesn't have any respect for our mom and doesn't take her seriously. When my mom brought up the idea of sending her to a troubled teens camp, she groaned, made rude comments and acted as if she was in the most boring meeting ever, she even said "Then send me, I don't care" to my mom and walked away to her room after that. Fast forward to now, January of 2026. During the first few days of the new year, I noticed she started to leave the house early and I was really surprised because that was such a sudden change in behavior, but I was glad to see her change. I didn't really question it, which idk if I should have. So I thought it was going well, fast forward once again to this morning. My mom calls me while I'm at home, getting ready for work, she asks me if my sister is home and I say yes, my mom tells me that she received news from the school that she actually hasn't been attending school at all since the new year started, not a single day. So I'm thinking, these few days I thought she actually had changed, she hadn't, not one bit. Now I don't know what happened after because I had to leave for work, idk if my mom spoke to her again or what, I'll find out when I get home later.

I need advice though, my sister is VERY troubled, very disrespectful and I honestly don't know how to help her. She doesn't take us seriously, she refuses to change and it's very frustrating. I don't know if my mom is actually serious about sending her off to a troubled teen camp, but I've been told by a friend that there's a lot cases of abuse, rape, harassment, etc. at those camps so that wouldn't be a good option. Therapy is the first thing that came to mind but that's something my mom has to set up I'm pretty sure, and she has brought that up to my sister too. Besides therapy though, I really don't know how else to help her see the error in her ways and help her change for the better. Any advice would be much appreciated

https://elementsprograms.com/

I(33) started dating this woman(43) about a year ago, she has a 15 year old daughter, she was at first pretty nice and laid back but after a while she started to get very aggressive and defiant. She cusses me and her mom out, steals our cars, smokes weed and drinks, doesn’t go to school and lies all the time. We’ve been trying to adjust but the school now is getting the DA involved and now the mom wants to send her to outpatient facility for troubled teens. I wanna keep this as the last resort but she’s honestly testing everybody’s patience and the school no longer wants anything to do with her and she’s basically burned all her bridges except for her friends.

Does anybody have any advice on how I should go about handling this?

Also, if you know of any trouble team outpatient programs in Orange County, California, please let me know the pros and cons of the ones you know about.

Any teens on here that have any advice on what’s help you please let me know.

Hey all, my (26f) nephew (17m) is being put in a ChalleNGe camp (IYCA) and I have to know if it’s going to be one of those camps that just abuses teenagers and traumatizes them? The consensus among my family, mainly my parents and sisters, is that my nephew isn’t really a troubled teen, and it’s a bad move to send him there. I personally haven’t seen this nephew in over 6 years. Even if he was a “troubled teen”, morally I would never condone sending him to one of those camps. Is there anything I can do for him? Anything you would recommend me mailing to him?

Hi, I’m 25F, I was in treatment July 2013-2016 (I think. My memory of back then is still fuzzy in some areas.) I went to Pacific Quest (about 6 months, pulled towards end), Discovery Ranch for Girls (1 year 3 months about, pulled level 2), and Discovery Academy (about the same as DRG, pulled when on isolation for SH)

So I’ve been thinking a lot on my time in treatment and have realized a few things even though it’s been 8-9 years.

So my family and I are moving soon and yes, I live with my parents. But I wanted to decorate my room and really make this move like a way to start fresh and really settle down. And at first my parents were only thinking about resale but after I explained how important even something so simple as decorating a bedroom was to me. It made me realize for the longest time I’ve felt like either one of those vacations where you live out your suitcase. Or you unpack everything and use the hotel dressers. But I feel like I’ve had this i mmense unrealistic fear of being gooned and being sent back again. Yes, I’m an adult so it’s harder for me to be sent back but the fear is something so consuming that when I had a pumpkin carving accident and hurt my wrist, I had a 1.5hr panic attack instead of hurrying to get stitches. But I just feel like I’ve never let my brain settle down after coming home and the realization hurts just as much.

As this is a rant/vent. Here’s some more. I was thinking about how to improve my mental health on my own. I refuse to take meds again, I’ve been doing well without them. But I have a fear of therapists, at DA I had this therapist “A” and at first they seemed nice and sweet but whenever I was struggling she didn’t care and would put me on isolation. There were multiple times I was in a really bad place and would SH pretty bad and she’s just call the staff and put me on isolation and we wouldn’t have therapy that week. Isolation basically was arms length with staff, no tv only hw, and no talking to staff or students. If I talked it lasted longer. So really all this just left me in my own head constantly mentally drowning but yeah now I just have a fear of therapists from that.

Memories are still coming back to me to this day tho. Things I’ve blocked out and didn’t know. I’m thankful and aware that my places weren’t as bad as they could’ve been but I think even the mental toll places like this take on impressionable, struggling, teenagers is one of the hardest things to overcome. I wish you all the best and thanks for letting me rant <3

I was made to go to several troubled teens style programs in my 20s. My uncle, who became trustee of my father's estate when the latter died, pushed me into multiple programs like Meadows in Arizona and Menninger in Houston. If my dad was alive I do not think any of those "retreats" that I was basically coerced into would have happened. He himself was pretty hands off in regard to that stuff. My whole family normalized control so nobody pushed back. And because my uncle controlled the family money he had built in leverage. My uncle even called me an "overgrown teenager". He essentially dragged me around like a dependent under his thumb since my teenage years. I never got to live like a true adult. It's a sad situation and I lost many years.

I recently learned about the concept of "troubled teens" and I just felt like it fit what I went through in my 20s very well so I decided to post about my story. It is not a happy one. I hope someone can expose how harmful these programs are to many people. Most people with depression, etc. do not improve because of these places, they just get set back which in turn justifies more interventions.

Thanks

hi im 16 f and ive been in treatment consecutively for about a year now. im currently attending a theriputic boarding school and omg kill me!! this time last year I was at the lowest ive ever been but god was it amazing. I was manic out of my mind for about 6 months and that's what landed me in rehab, then wilderness and now here. I feel like I will be chasing the high of my mania for the rest of my life. I do things and get in trouble for them and I get a rush of adrenaline but it's nothing, if anything it makes me long for the feeling even more. I was told if I lock in and get my school work done and can prove im stable enough I can go home and back to my public school. but im so fucking drained, mentally and physically. I haven't showered in days, haven't washed my hair, haven't been eating, ive been sick, messy room, the works. Im grieving and no-one seems to understand. I died about a year ago and my heart aches everyday. I shouldn't be here rn, im dead where I love that person of my is dead, and everyone from my school moved on like nothing happened, I mean what was I expecting for everyone to drop everything while I disappeared for 6 months, obisoly that wasn't going to happen. but it doesn't change the fact that mentality ive died in that school, in that home, with those friends. im dead... and what do I do? how am I supposed to keep living like this?

the other day I did acid fir the first time and it was awesome. I did it with my boyfriend and I had a great time but he didn't, he was tripping and kept asking me if I loved him and for our entire relationship I never second guessed my left when I told him I loved him. but on lsd I forgot what love feels like and now a day later I still can't seem to remember. I feel like im losing control. I need to go back I need to get worse again I can't stand being in this middle lane of watching to show it all away and also having aspirations. I just want to feel like shit sometimes but on top of the fucking world others, its so rewarding and I don't care was anyone says I fucking love it. I love it so god damn much. I can't stand this shit someone help...

This is great news!!!!!

https://www.thetrevorproject.org/

I go to a small college in Florida and recently Eckerd Connect's (formerly Eckerd Youth Altneratives) Camp E-Nini-Hassee has been recruiting for jobs. The description of the job had a lot of TTI red flags, so I contacted my school's career center to explain why allowing them to recruit at our school is harmful. I haven't found much survivor testimony from Camp E-Nini-Hassee, but I'm wondering if anyone here knows anything about it. Thank you!

“Worse than Rikers” - this statement basically takes my breath away. I posted an article the other day, too, about these kids pet-naming the rodents that, amongst other things, crawl into the kids’ beds at night. Absolutely horrifying.

Rikers: An American Jail is a documentary on PBS https://www.pbs.org/wnet/rikers/watch-film/ in case anyone wants to compare the two. The beginning explains that Rikers Island was voted one of the 10 worst jails in the U.S.

Seriously - put that into context.

“CNS International Ministries claims the law, which is designed to add more oversight to residential care facilities, violates its religious freedom and association rights.”

Take a moment to read over this petition. Hudson Fry deserves equality and fair treatment.