2023 Eva Carlston Academy. But, copycat programs have now proliferated across the country, negatively impacting a whole new generation of teens. The only time we can speak up is in a group but if we speak up to much then we would probably get in way more trouble and if we spoke up about a certain staff in a group that was it, you were in serious shit. When I first got there, there were groups held to basically bash a girl who was not ready to do her work. Resolved: Release in which this issue/RFE has been resolved. Im an adult now in my mid 20s, doing well in life, and happy, thanks to the years of therapy Ive been through to resolve the trauma and PTSD I gained while at ECA. Oh yippee now I get to talk about how consequences on your point card were worth 4 good actions!! They are in constant states of fear and are threatened often. One little fuck up and youre toast! so I told my closed friend about the delusions and then it eventually got spread across the house and everyone was treating me like I was crazy which I was already treating myself like that. Eva Carlston Academy is a residential treatment program designed to help teenage girls grow and improve while overcoming the difficulties of emotional and behavioral disorders. I have a history of sexual abuse, so this was particularly terrifying to me. We were told to just say Okay and sit there like a fucking dog. no Privs for you! Her therapist was speaking, breaking all confidentiality, telling her all these things that her trauma wasn't real, that she's faking everything. When I would sleep, I would scratch my skin to the point where it was bleeding and I had scars on my back. Eva Carlston Academy addresses the unique needs of adolescent females through well-researched, gender-specific addiction treatment. Kay says she was taken to the school in the night through an escort system, similar to the one Hilton experienced. With regards to the schooling, there were more negative points given for bad grades than positive points when good grades were achieved. I have seen girls ask staff for emotional support and be rejected, being told that there were more important things for the student to do. Often staff would pull us from school/classes to do yard work and shoveling. Staff didn't call 911 they didnt do anything. Points are deducted for the smallest, most minor transgressions like leaving a pair of shoes out or having a corner of your bed spread poking out. I am genuinely sorry that your daughter has suffered in the way she has. I found it very strange that we were not allowed to wear slippers in the house unless you had a medical problem, even in the winter. The girls cannot tell their parents what is really happening there without consequences. Believe it or not there was a lot I couldnt even cover because Im typing on an LG tablet and the autocorrect is driving me too crazy to go back and edit and add more for now u/RosesSmellNice (Reddit), 4943 Wasatch Blvd, Salt Lake City, UT 84124, . If you self harmed they made you sleep on a fucking camping cot in the living room with the full overhead lights on with a staff right next to you. The fact that our daughter was not allowed to express herself, robbed us from the opportunity to remove her from this extreme and abusive program. second, eva carlston makes themselves look great for the first hmm maybe first month then hides the mistreatment. The school at Eva offered her a lot of support and she was able to experience success in ways that she never had before. They just took her down. This wasnt an isolated incident, according to Rayburn. Adolescence is a complicated and delicate process of identity development and self-acceptance. so yeah if I wouldve stayed there for the rest of my junior year then senior year I would have failed all my classes no doubt about it. I had to drink those on top of all my food and everything, she says. Both women claim that they were punished for their attempted escapes. Classic TTI I'm afraid. I was professionally diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder a few months after leaving and had multiple therapists recoil in horror from what I was describing to them. She did a good job. This impression was reinforced during our tour. Makes sense that parents would appreciate the company that relieved them of 12-18 months of parenting responsibilities. There were some therapeutic benefits, but they were by far outweighed by the emotional abuse, intimidation, and extreme conditions. Girls receive a minimum of two hours of individual therapy per week based on a clear treatment plan that the girl herself is involved in articulating. Not one word that you've written is remotely new to us; the same thing happens day in, day out, across many hundreds of facilities in the U.S. We were referred to this program by a highly-experienced and well-regarded educational consultant. so an example would be (a family teacher gave me this once which triggered me extremely because I am a victim of rape) youre alone with a boy and he tries getting in your pants. Kristi Ragsdale did not address the situation at all even the therapists let this slip. We are now college students and are working on an article about how platforms like this subreddit and #BreakingCodeSilence are impacting how survivors, their parents, program staff, and the general public understands the TTI. In order to refrain from receiving these negative consequences our daughter felt she had to hide her feelings and couldnt open up and be honest about her emotional state. I was constantly scared of getting in trouble for every thing I did. The program manipulated my parents into trusting them over their own daughter. Girls can be restricted from contacting parents or anyone outside of Eva for months, and cannot talk in private to their parents, so they are not able to disclose their abuse till they have left the facility. When did she graduate? I was still in the process of reporting this to the police. I told staff I wasnt ready to talk about it and it caused me flashbacks. I tried to jump off the balcony in front of Eva Carlston a couple months after being there because I was just so unhappy, and because I didn't have any unmonitored communication, she said. Apply to Mentor and more! She also alleged that she had to partake in intense manual labor, and at one point was required to sit up for three days no lying down was allowed. Every student is assigned to a licensed psychotherapist who serves as that girls case manager and dedicated therapist. If you are a former resident of such facility in need of support, please head to BreakingCodeSilence.org to check out their survivor resources and advocacy pages. I had to quit after only a short time because of the cruelty I witnessed there. When I was picked up they told me I didnt earn that privilege. Survivor, Eva Carlston Academy & Second Nature Wilderness Therapy 2014-2015. When deemed appropriate by the treatment team, families are referred to the CORE Parenting Program where they learn strategies and receive support from a personal parenting coach. She questioned whether her experience qualified for [the therapy group], Friedrich explains, and then the therapist was like, okay, well then just don't be in this group.. However, this particular implementation of the model is punitive and had a corrosive effect on our daughter. Mine is not the only complaint that they have received about ECA. oh story time, so a girl got on focus system which is like a major consequence. The website and brochures are misleading and the program is not as described. you wouldnt be allowed to speak to anyone, read a book, write in your journal, or do anything except silently work on assignments and ask for more. Something was just gnawing away at me for years and I could not put my finger on it. If you accept the attack, its seen as a good thing. The girls are away from their families and in a very vulnerable time of their lives.The school tries to give them discipline, but ultimately it is a cold, cruel system of punishment that I believe severely damages the children psychologically. They will lie to you until your daughter is there, youve signed over her rights and then you cannot do anything. I wasn't allowed to go to the bathroom and I peed my pants and then was punished with 50,000 negative points with NO POSITIVE CORRECTION. The girls who spoke out against the program regretted doing so because it lengthened their stay and lead to shaming and being ostracized, while girls who cooperated felt like they lost themselves because they werent speaking their truth. whipee! Do not send your daughters here! After a while I just plugged my ears and tried to sleep and this one staff started singing right next to me and tapping her foot on the wall to try and get a rise out of me so I put a pillow over my head and she left me a lone. The staffs job is to keep us safe, and emotional safety is just as important as physical safety, especially in a mental health program (and one for struggling young people, no less!) Indicators of Abuse; Safe TTI Facilities; Advocacy Organizations; FOR PROFESSIONALS. Youre better off putting her into a part time school at home and doing an intensive out patient treatment. All Eva Carlston families participate with their daughter in weekly family-therapy sessions. #troubledteenindustry #breakingcodesilence #fyp. NO ONE should be here talk about loss of education. Aug 24, 2022. those that toed the line) and they did so out of pure fear. for all chores we had every single room white glove tested and if it wasnt clean goes what!!! As survivors of these institutions continue to speak out, the movement toward reforming them is growing ever stronger. We were instructed to always accept staff giving feedback to us but we were not allowed to give feedback to staff because they felt this was our way of telling a staff member how to do their job. I left ECA with scars on my skin from this. This website uses cookies and third party services. As an 18 year old ADULTI WAS LIVING MY LIFE DEPENDING ON HOW MANY POINTS I GOT ON A FLAT CARDSTOCK PIECE OF FUCKING PAPER SO THAT MAYBE IF I MADE ENOUGH POINTS THAT DAY FOR DOING GOOD THINGS I COULD HAVE MY PRIVILEGES for the night and get to eat night snack which was a single serving portion of whatever was planned. when you are teenager your appetite goes up and down and having a growling tummy when you go bed at night is a really shitty thing to have. The educational component is mediocre. you wouldnt be allowed to speak to anyone, read a book, write in your journal, or do anything except silently work on assignments and ask for more. Find your passion. If you so happen to make eye contact with a random boy, youll be forced to write essays in the basement about it for weeks or months. If you do not have enough points on your cards at the end of the night you are not given your night snack. it was never an appropriate time to express any emotion that wasnt submissive obedience., Residents are given 20 minutes to wake up, make their bed, have all 4 roommates get dressed, get cleaning supplies to Windex mirror, Clorox toilet, sweep/mop floor, Clorox spray sinks, take out trash, have someone check it off to make sure it is acceptable, Residents are given 10 minutes to eat breakfast. After girls are allowed to leave Eva Carlston Academy they are often worse than when they got there. mental health!!! throwing desks, screaming, throwing a vacuum at someone, throwing pots and pans and telling people to shut up when that is not her place. It is not treatment to be mocked, and berated by staff. They pick favorites and basically say screw everyone else. Employees in Salt Lake City have rated Eva Carlston Academy with 3.2 out of 5 for work-life-balance (3.1% lower than company-wide rating), 1.9 out of 5 for diversity and inclusion (38.3% lower than company-wide rating), 3.2 out of 5 for culture and values . From a review of its website and literature, this program looks promising. it was never an appropriate time to express any emotion that wasnt submissive obedience. They made me sleep with socks on my hands and refused to take me to a dermatologist. Eva Carlston is a female owned and operated facility that gives girls 12-18 a second chance in life. These are just a select few experiences from a handful of schools, but there are undoubtedly countless more within the industry. In a response to these claims, Devan Glissmeyer, PhD, the founder and current owner of Second Nature Wilderness Program, tells Refinery29 that we encourage students to confront each other, with honesty and direct feedback. The description of the petition reads, Girls under 18 and younger are signed away to Eva Carlston Academy, a residential treatment center that supposedly helps girls with addiction, eating disorders, depression, mood disorders and other mental health or behavioral issues. Ive also spoken to licensed therapists and they all agreed that the system they use is ineffective. Many of these places have been closed for years now, after having faced legal battles and federal investigations; it was even determined that The Seed had used methods similar to the highly refined brainwashing techniques employed by the North Koreans, according to a study commissioned by the United States Congress in 1974, called Individual rights and the federal role in behavior modification. I feel so sad that there are girls who are stuck there for years because they are still considered minors. is the Clinical Director of Eva Carlston Academy. The focus is on severe negative consequences instead of positive reinforcement. If you do not have enough points on your cards at the end of the night you are not given your night snack. I would like to say thank you to DeAnna, Alex and Hannah if you ever see this. She attended 3 years ago. They told me I was asking for special privileges. The strict environment encourages deceit and division in the houses. I can't even talk about everything that happened there. Legal Circle; Research Library; Facility Report Database . Together, they form whats often-called by media, by advocacy groups, by survivors the Troubled Teen Industry. Admission into Eva Carlston Academy: The age for application into the academy is 12-18, with a maximum enrollment of about 44 girls. I must speak my truth even if this comment is deleted my Kristi Ragsdale . Often times girls got sick from eating too fast since we had a very strict schedule; again this results in a severe negative consequence. Letters and phone calls with family are strictly monitored, by rule, and the girls are reprimanded for complaining to parents. And, our family is undergoing intensive family therapy for the same reasons. this place is psychotic. 6 months later I finally talked to my mom about it on a phone call. We were given no choice with regards to the daily workout; we were forced to participate in the preselected program or we would receive negative consequences. , promiscuity, or substance abuse. It should be noted that while they advertise that they are able to treat girls with eating disorders, they cannot. 229 Mental Health Therapist jobs available in Bingham Cyn, UT on Indeed.com. The nutritional habits they instill are extreme and even opposite of what nutritionists advise. However girls who arrive there are emotionally and psychologically abused by staff and directors. I will say that staff there(not including the owner and founder, Kristi Ragsdale) are mainly caring people, but they cant help when the entire program is behavior based. Hannah (Google Reviews), 4//3/2016: (SURVIVOR) I dont even know where to begin with this place. To support and accelerate this work, we incorporate therapeutic elements into every aspect of our students lives. to improve transparency in these programmes by "developing systems and infrastructure that will prevent catastrophic abuse and increase our understanding of evidence-based practices for youth in these settings". Anyone who attended, I am so deeply sorry. Usually they are busy and dont respond right away so you have to wait. However girls who arrive there are emotionally and psychologically abused by staff and directors. Rayburn, like Kyra, isnt fully satisfied. I just want to get this out there because I dont really hear anything bad about ECA on the internet and people need to know the truth before losing months and years of their lives to this traumatizing facility called treatment. We offer that support in the form of a robust program of individual, group, and family therapy led by seasoned, licensed therapists. the only good things I got out of Eva was a few friends and I met a VERY few nice staff. Provo Canyon, for instance, told Refinery29 that their facility was "licensed by the State of Utah, Department of Human Services; it is accredited by The Joint Commission (national accreditation of hospitals), and Cognia/AdvancED for academic services. But recently, Utah State Sen. Michael McKell sponsored Bill 127, which proposed changes related to the states human services programs, including explicitly prohibiting peer restraints, strip searches, abuse, neglect, repeated physical exercises, and discipline or punishment that is intended to frighten or humiliate. The bill also increases on-site visitation requirements, requires facilities to implement suicide prevention programs, and requires them to report the use of physical restraints or seclusion within one business day after the incident. Well then I realized I was starving so I did the worst thing I had ever done while at ECAI went downstairs without asking to the pantry without asking and got my box of honey graham Ohs I bought with my points at the convenient store run and i took them upstairs without asking and ate them in my bed. Based on our family's experience, our educational consultant says she will no longer refer families to this . This so called treatment center was a controlled environment that demoralized, demeaned, intimidated and caused emotional harm to me. going into eva, I had a very normal diet. Based on our familys experience, our educational consultant says she will no longer refer families to this program. You got 500 points for every good thing you did like going to workout in the morning, raising your hand in school, introducing yourself to someone new, doing your room chore in the morning(holy shit I need to come back to that part later wowwwza). I do know Eva Carlston was deeply harmful to our depressed, anxious child. This type of cruel punishment made my anxiety triple. Girls are not allowed to speak about anything relating to struggles or injustices ever. I have no words to express the extent of anger that all of us here will feel about that, but be assured it is the very same as your own anger. I came to this residential treatment center after completing a wilderness therapy program and this was supposed to help me deal with my feelings and emotions in a positive way during my last year of high school. so i went into eva on November 22nd which was a Friday. Towards the end, close to when my parents finally had it and scooped me all the way from Texas, things got really fucking weird. 299 following. Having the staff members look over your shoulder and either give you consequences or shame you for having slightly too much rice on your plate, or forcing you to eat something that makes you sick was not, um, pleasant, she says. This approach helps support change not only during treatment, but once the child returns home. The article also originally stated Danielle Bregoli had told Refinery29 that shed been kidnapped in the middle of the night; the statement in question, in which she said shed been taken there against my will and that transporters come in the middle of the night, came from a YouTube video. I write this review in hopes of reaching parents who are considering sending their depressed, anxious daughters to this program. I remember the day my mom came to pick me up, we went to iceberg and I got a huge shake and probably drank it down within five minutes. If it was reeses pieces you got a fourth cup of reeses pieces and that was it. The girls are punished for complaining and rewarded for reporting other students infractions. It was supposed to be my golden year, I had missed junior prom to go to wildy, I was about to have my 18th birthday, finally go to prom that I had somehow missed every year, and soak up all the final moments with my best friends before heading off to college.HAAHA what a fucking joke. We received very little to no support regarding college readiness or planning. With regards to the schooling, there were more negative points given for bad grades than positive points when good grades were achieved. Of course this place is going to do anything they can to get your money. If a resident did not earn at least 10,000 points in a day, they were forbidden from speaking to anybody and were forced to complete worksheets and write essays. I had four hours of sleep the first day I got there because my luggage was lost in the airport and they wouldnt let me just fucking lie down because apparently a staff needed to be watching you on every floor of the three story stupid fucking house unless you were on the last phase of the program and you could just go to whatever floor you pleased.yeah LAST PHASE. But, the legislation Sen. Gelser is working on passing in Oregon is similar to Bill 127 that passed in Utah. the skills card. Even during unmonitored home visits (later in the year) our daughter did not complain as she was afraid of being punished upon her return to ECA if we had intervened with the program. Rick Jackson worked as a Psychiatrist at Eva Carlston. I survived (I say survived because I actually had to zone out for the two months I wasn't allowed to speak and lived in my own world) ECA. These are the things that will sustain healing and growth for a lifetime. She began her career in the TTI working as a Family First Specialist at Utah Youth Village. This impression was reinforced during our tour. so first, -2000 points, then an additional -5000, then -10000, then -50000. it was horrible. If a girl is underweight, they dont allow her to eat more food, they force her to drink ensures while shes crying. Some therapists were good but the milieu was profoundly harmful and deeply negative. My best friend and this girl they were roommates and my best friend walked in and the girl was hanging herself by the chandelier, she says. The girls are even given rules about when they are allowed to use the restroom as if they can control when their body needs to be relieved. I strongly regret sending my daughter to this facility and am emotionally distraught as I watch my daughter continue to be traumatized by this center. , Our daughter was a resident at Eva Carlston Academy. They couldn't risk telling you what they wanted to, and I think you can now see that from your own daughter's reluctance to tell you about it even when she was home. so yeah. Dont send your kid here please. , Nightmares and panic attacks are commonplace among my friends after having left. you could earn a whole 500 points by saying okay then doing the task you were told to do then check back ( just saying you completed it). The portions are very controlled, she tells Refinery29. my parents had to demand a private phone call with me to find out all the freaky shit that was going on and even during my so called private phone call there was this psycho staff that came in and told me if I didnt hang up that she would physically take the phone from me even though I had permission and yeah that still makes no sense to me. Each of our homes are found within the neighborhoods of Salt Lake City, Utah giving a 'at home' feel to the environment. it was my first treatment center and gave me a horrific view on the treatment world. experienced mental illness since she was a young girl. the first night at Eva I started having persecutory delusions. Individual and family addiction counseling is also part of Eva Carlstons addiction-treatment program. oh story time, so a girl got on focus system which is like a major consequence. Girls are shunned and shit on in group therapies. They told me that if I took a step out the front door that they could restrain me on the ground like wtf well I wasnt going to try that and look like a lunatic. This is the key to forming an adult identity and to gaining a sustainable sense of belonging. (For his part, Lichfield said in an e-mailed statement to the New York Times that he no longer owns any of the schools and that he was unaware of children being harmed.) . I would never send my child here. Group therapy offers a unique opportunity for girls to find their place and their voice within a peer group. We regret the errors. Eva Carlston Academy is a specialized residential treatment program for adolescent girls who struggle with a wide range of emotional and behavioral issues. But youre usually about a week or two from graduating at this point anyway so who gives a shit? Its admissions process is highly selective and structured to guarantee that it's the right program for every incoming student. I went to this residential treatment center for adolescent girls called Eva Carlston and if you dont want to read the rest of this post just DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT GOING THERE! Specific clinical approaches and modalities are described below. Therapists are in and out, and staff are fired if they show empathy or sympathy to the girls. These restrictions can very easily cause eating disorders with a child not being able to feed her body properly and ignoring natural hunger signals as it needs nourishment during these developmental years. we were not treated like humans, we were treated dogs. the most disciplining, most strict, and unhumane piece of cardstock I have ever seen. Please sign this petition to investigate and hopefully shut down Eva. Her anxiety was exacerbated by the negativity and shaming messages inherent to the ECA program. Save a life from abuse from Eva. This type of cruel punishment made my anxiety triple. Kyra*, 22, attended Second Nature Wilderness Program and Eva Carlston Academy, both in Salt Lake City, UT, from January to April 2014 and from April 2014 to August 2016, respectively. Eva Carlston Academy Survivors. It's so important that these reviews are seen by parents and caregivers who are considering residential treatment and are willing to do the research, I hope you also leave reviews elsewhere, this issue needs as much attention as possible to prevent further harm. After being very suicidal my parents felt there was no other option but to send me to wildernessyadda yadda I actually enjoyed wilderness believe it or not but then I found out I wasnt going to just go right back home for my senior year of high school(I was on a 3 time national champion varsity cheer squad mind you) but that I was going to an ALL GIRLS RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT FACILITY WOOHOO!! They suffer from severe PTSD, drug use, depression and eating disorders from the abuse at the hands of Eva Carlston. She was often lightheaded from hunger and unable to focus in class. Every phone call I was allowed which was only once a week for 15 minutes, I couldnt tel. They put so much shit on our shoulders that we cant take. She previously has worked at both, currently works as a Therapist at Eva Carlston Academy. We ate like fucking rabbits because if you overdid your portion sizes you would get a big fat CONSEQUENCE. They are punished regularly. I have issues with eating which I NEVER had before. And so were the nightmares. This led to severe emotional harm as I was restricted in telling my parents what I was experiencing and was manipulated to hold it in. We were told to just say Okay and sit there like a fucking dog. so yeah if I wouldve stayed there for the rest of my junior year then senior year I would have failed all my classes no doubt about it. It was handled really poorly and I spent years after that working on these events that I was basically there to deal with, she says. I once lost the right to free time, hanging out with friends, and talking because my pant zipper was down. She spent the better part of the next two years at Eva Carlston Academy, which is viewed as another cog in the TTI machine. During her stint,James "Jimmy" Woolsey,a Turn-About Ranch employee, was killed by a teen enrolled in the program. There were 4 phases: Daily-you were treated like the equivalent of garbage Weekly 1-You were treated like a soft serve piece of shit Weekly 2-treated like a 10 year old child Achievement-congrats you get freedom but you can easily fuck it up if you leave your sweater on the dining room table then instead of getting to use your monitored computer time for 20 minutes youll only get it for 10 minutes! like I literally have 504 plan for it. Except Eva Carlston Academy punishes the gardener for months and brainwashes them into thinking the dandelion is a flower instead of a weed. Rayburn also says that she watched staff restrain students at Eva Carlston including a classmate who had autism. I still get panic attacks, flashbacks, and terrible anxiety filled thoughts. They said we didnt have to eat all of our food but when we didnt we got in trouble and sat there until we did because otherwise we couldnt do anything. we all had to keep our mouths shut in order for anyone to stay safe. Certain staff had very bad boundaries, very touchy would stay way to close to you and once again you couldnt really say much because they would look at that and say oh thats being disrespectful. I got in severe trouble and was forced to sit in the basement every night for weeks writing essays about what I did wrong. Overall this place is fucking sneaky and staff dont know what the hell they are doing.
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