Book: Fall of the Guardians

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

In a thread on reddit the author introduced the book:

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

Sources:

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

A stay at Highland Ridge Hospital

This place has been getting some attention recently and I'm loving it. Highland ridge hospital is an inpatient for adolescent and adults. When I was 14 I attempted to die and after medical care was told I was going here. This being my 4th hospital made it less scary. I arrived at 2 am ish, was admitted then went to bed. Then woken up at 6 AM being told they were changing my meds cause clearly mine were not working, I had not talked to a docter or therapist by then. I then was put on a crazy high dose of a medicine known for withdrawls if you get off of it, I also didn't know what it was at the time but it gave my motor and verbal tics.

Throughout the stay the kids were not watched and there was about a groups a day, we could do whatever we wanted. There was also group punishments including losing the TV cause someone slept in. My tics left me punching walls which resulted in significant hand injury ( I had torn or stretched almost every muscle, vien, ligament, and tendon in both hands. ) as well as being threatened to be held down and restrained, and put in a medically induced coma for these tics. On night three my peer had a seizures, and was given mystery medication ( she was pregnant, and scared for the fetus ) that night after taking some random concoction of pills I went to bed with this girl ( roommates ) I woke up at 3 am to find that I was no longer wearing anything before yhe waist and my clothes was near my head, I had no blanket covering me. The staff were to check in every 5 minutes but Cleary that had not happened and the door was open leaving me exposed. The next Morning my roommate didn't wake up for a while due to the medicine she was given. On day 6 I told a staff about the situation and was told the male staff wouldn't return to the unit and they would send someone to interview me and my roommate. They didn't tell my parents. My mom called me and asked what I was doing when I told her that I was filling out a legal complaint, she had no idea why until she talked to the staff. I had to get legally pulled out that night with a police officer escorting me out. While at the e.r there was witnesses cause me and my roommate were both drugged and It had been to l9ng to do a rape kit. I told my mom about 4he med change only to find out she wasn't made aware of it, which isn't legal at all. The case was deemed inconclusive cause of the Drugs involved ( it was a male staff giving me the drugs that night ) I then had to change meds 8 months later which led to severe withdrawals to where I couldn't function.to my understanding this place is getting shut down soon as my experience isn't the only one similar to this. I am so excited for it to no longer see patients. Edit: I forgot to write this but I was there for 6 days. I didn't see a single doctor, and didn't see my therapist once. Some people saw her twice a day.

Sources:

Utahs "rape hospital" (Reddit r/troubledteens)