This testimony was found on a message board. All rights go to the original author known as Tesserac
I am so sorry
I was in Peninsula Village in the late 90s, for depression, mostly. I was one of the ones who climbed the level system by persistently "confronting" other kids for breaking the rules. I want to say how much I regret doing that. I participated in something terrible because I believed them when they said this was how we could help each other. I did it because time there was hard and I wanted to make mine easier. I did it because I thought that if I did, they would let me out sooner. It didn't work. They kept me for 16 months.
When I first arrived at the Village, I had the same reaction that everyone else did: You can't do this to me, this is abuse, if the cops don't step in, my parents will. They laughed and pointed out that the program had existed for a decade, several false accusations of abuse had been made, and the police never found anything. They said if the police were going to shut them down, they would have done so by now. Still I believed the cops would come. But weeks, then months came by, and they never did. Then I believed my parents would take me out, once I could finally see them and explain what it was like. But they had prepared my parents for that family session for weeks. They knew I would appeal to them to take me home, that I would say things like "If you really loved me, you would take me out of here." They explained that these kinds of statements were a manipulative attempt to prey on my parent's affection, and if they wanted to do what was right for me, they would keep me there. My parents believed them.
I'm saying this not as an excuse, but because I want to explain what I was thinking at the time. I simply could not believe that both the authorities and my parents would allow my placement in an abusive facility. The reality was incompatible with a teenager's naivete. So instead, I reversed my position and decided the Village could not be abusive at all. I tried as hard as I could to succeed in the program, and that meant watching the kids in my group for any kind of infraction I could confront them over later. The rules were so extreme, it wasn't hard to find infractions. Glancing upwards while someone else is being restrained. Taking 1 minute 36 seconds to go to the bathroom instead of 1 minute 30. if I couldn't find any infractions, I'd confront people over intangibles, like "being entitled" or "ignoring the focus". And sometimes I'd flat out make things up. I don't have the words to express how terrible I feel about that.
Ironically, none of my persistent ass-kissing seemed to do any good. I wanted so badly to be out, and could not understand why they kept me so long even though I was doing everything they said. They would grant various privileges for cooperating, then strip them away for reasons I didn't even understand. "Not confronting your issues." I was trying as hard as I could to confront my issues! Hell, I even made up some issues I didn't have, just to be able to confront more things. Based on the stories on this forum, it was not uncommon for them to keep those who could afford it as long as they could. I don't think it will surprise anyone when I say my parents were paying out of pocket.
The worst part is that when I got out, I continued to buy into their shit for the next 15 years. I can't believe what a colossal fool I was. I can't believe how blind I've been. I can't believe any of it, really. I still wobble back and forth between "it wasn't that bad" and "jesus christ, how could this have ever happened".
I just want to say again how very sorry I am for the harm I did to the other kids while I was there. I really wish there was some way I could make amends.
Peninsula Village has been sold and renamed to The Village under a new management and maybe a new program structure.
Source:
I am so sorry (The original testimony)
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Adam7448 at Peninsula Village
This testimony was found on a message board belonging to Fighting Institutional Child Abuse Network. All rights go to the original author known as Adam7448
My name is Adam. I was there in 93' at the Village. I was your usual pain in the ass teen that smoked pot and drank on occasion. My parents moved me to Chapel Hill NC where I was put into MacDowell unit of Duke Hospital. Dr. David Jones Recommended to my parents that they send me to Peninsula.
I had NO IDEA what I was in for. I spent almost a year there. 8 months of that were in STU (special Treatment Unit) the first time I went out to the cabins was to group 4. we were on shutdown for two other kids escaping (eloping) before I got out there. the second time I went to the cabins was when PV opened the "STU cabin". I was one of the first "screaming pioneers". I got sent back to STU again. I don't remember why.
After another month in STU the Village let me out. I had NO WARNING. I was told to pack up my stuff. and two hours later I was put on a plane back to a group home in NC. It was a crazy transition. at the group home I kept dreaming I was back in 5 points in the Quiet room. Or I was getting PCI'ed again. I got PCI'ed my first time because I refused to go to group. I think it was my first week in STU. I NEVER was violent or tried to fight with any staff. They didn't like the fact that I got up without permission. I remember getting an injection of Haldol. I don't know why they did that. I sampled every single "Intervention" the Village had to offer from the rope and the 4x4 that had to be carried everywhere, to a backpack filled with rocks. The wheelbarrow filled with rocks that I pushed all over the village was a nice touch too. Todd Roberts (Staff) gave me That little gift.
Bottom Line: Should I have ever been sent there? ....NO. Did I learn anything good form being there? ...YES. It DID screw me up a lot however. It made EVERYTHING I did after that a lot harder than it should have been like getting into a good school. I turned out good but not because of the village.
Peninsula Village is under new ownership and marketed as the Village
Sources:
My name is Adam. I was there in 93' at the Village. I was your usual pain in the ass teen that smoked pot and drank on occasion. My parents moved me to Chapel Hill NC where I was put into MacDowell unit of Duke Hospital. Dr. David Jones Recommended to my parents that they send me to Peninsula.
I had NO IDEA what I was in for. I spent almost a year there. 8 months of that were in STU (special Treatment Unit) the first time I went out to the cabins was to group 4. we were on shutdown for two other kids escaping (eloping) before I got out there. the second time I went to the cabins was when PV opened the "STU cabin". I was one of the first "screaming pioneers". I got sent back to STU again. I don't remember why.
After another month in STU the Village let me out. I had NO WARNING. I was told to pack up my stuff. and two hours later I was put on a plane back to a group home in NC. It was a crazy transition. at the group home I kept dreaming I was back in 5 points in the Quiet room. Or I was getting PCI'ed again. I got PCI'ed my first time because I refused to go to group. I think it was my first week in STU. I NEVER was violent or tried to fight with any staff. They didn't like the fact that I got up without permission. I remember getting an injection of Haldol. I don't know why they did that. I sampled every single "Intervention" the Village had to offer from the rope and the 4x4 that had to be carried everywhere, to a backpack filled with rocks. The wheelbarrow filled with rocks that I pushed all over the village was a nice touch too. Todd Roberts (Staff) gave me That little gift.
Bottom Line: Should I have ever been sent there? ....NO. Did I learn anything good form being there? ...YES. It DID screw me up a lot however. It made EVERYTHING I did after that a lot harder than it should have been like getting into a good school. I turned out good but not because of the village.
Peninsula Village is under new ownership and marketed as the Village
Sources:
- The truth about peninsula village- An absolute nitemare.... (The original testimony)
- Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Jzieg at Peninsula Village
This testimony was found on a message board belonging to Fighting Institutional Child Abuse Network. All rights go to the original author known as Jzieg
I had fantastic insurance and thus the honor of living at PV for well over a year @ 1992-1993. My experience was the same as the original post. It was a nightmare. As an adult I had to go to a PHD after waking up with nightmares from my time PV, his professional opinion.... I never should have been there.
Entering the facility I was a depressed teen with a mother who was uncaring and cold so I hated her. I had never done any drugs, I was not a run away, no emotional disorders, no eating disorders, no cutting, I got good grades in school, I had a job, went to church, had friends, I had not faced any major abuse of any kind,. I specify major because there was 1 occasion where I had at 17 year old show me his penis when I was @3... he never touched me. No one had ever beat me. I was just a kid from a broken home, who in a bit of depression OD on aspirin at 15 because my mother had grounded me from Homecoming 2 days before.
I was in STU for over 3 months, because I did not have a story that they could break out of me.... because there really was not one. I never had to be restrained, or medicated but the emotional BS of treating you like crap to break you was the horror I lived day in and day out. Eventually they gave up and decided perhaps they could break me in the cabins, 14 months later the insurance ran out and I final got to go home. I was 17 when I went home, to the same mom I hated before. I made it 6 months then got smart and moved out on my own, got a job, and finished high school.
PV did not cure me of anything, all it did is rob me of years and moments with family and friends. I have a daughter now the same age as I was at the village. She is hormonal and moody... Guess what she is a teen. I am sure we will live through it with her and my family could have lived through it with me had the professionals not convinced them that PV was the only way to protect me from myself.
Peninsula Village is under new ownership and marketed as the Village
Sources:
I had fantastic insurance and thus the honor of living at PV for well over a year @ 1992-1993. My experience was the same as the original post. It was a nightmare. As an adult I had to go to a PHD after waking up with nightmares from my time PV, his professional opinion.... I never should have been there.
Entering the facility I was a depressed teen with a mother who was uncaring and cold so I hated her. I had never done any drugs, I was not a run away, no emotional disorders, no eating disorders, no cutting, I got good grades in school, I had a job, went to church, had friends, I had not faced any major abuse of any kind,. I specify major because there was 1 occasion where I had at 17 year old show me his penis when I was @3... he never touched me. No one had ever beat me. I was just a kid from a broken home, who in a bit of depression OD on aspirin at 15 because my mother had grounded me from Homecoming 2 days before.
I was in STU for over 3 months, because I did not have a story that they could break out of me.... because there really was not one. I never had to be restrained, or medicated but the emotional BS of treating you like crap to break you was the horror I lived day in and day out. Eventually they gave up and decided perhaps they could break me in the cabins, 14 months later the insurance ran out and I final got to go home. I was 17 when I went home, to the same mom I hated before. I made it 6 months then got smart and moved out on my own, got a job, and finished high school.
PV did not cure me of anything, all it did is rob me of years and moments with family and friends. I have a daughter now the same age as I was at the village. She is hormonal and moody... Guess what she is a teen. I am sure we will live through it with her and my family could have lived through it with me had the professionals not convinced them that PV was the only way to protect me from myself.
Peninsula Village is under new ownership and marketed as the Village
Sources:
- The truth about peninsula village- An absolute nitemare.... (The original testimony)
- Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)
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