Monday, August 30, 2021

Annie's testimony about Solstice Residential Treatment Center

This testimony was located on Yelp and might be gone if the marketing department of the facility has removed it. All rights goes to the author Annie

I attended solstice rtc for almost 2 years starting in 2015 and graduated the summer of 2016. It was the most traumatizing experience of my life. I would rather have anything happen to me again from my pre solstice trauma than ever go back there. I still have nightmares that I'm there and even though I'm too old to be forced back it is still my biggest fear.

The emotional abuse was horrific. I was forced to clean bloody tampons out of the toilet with my bare hands by the lower level staff who weren't being supervised on multiple locations. They force patients to sign off on treatment plans that include diagnosis's, medication, and bullshit "progress reports". If you don't they withhold your privileges. They also force patients to meet with perspective parents and intrerveiw with them. They tell the parents before each interview that they (the parents) can ask us (the residents) any question and we can answer however we want, without fear of retribution. THIS IS NOT TRUE. As a patient, I had to lie to the many parents and guardians about solstice. If someone didn't , the other girls in the room would snitch in the person telling the truth. That's why they always put at least two of us if possible in the room, preferably three. I will live with the guilt of convincing people to send their children to solstice and for covering those "people" for the rest of my life's. Please don't make the same mistake.

They once took a girl's speaking privileges away did weeks. She couldn't SPEAK to staff, therapists, or patients, or HER FAMILY for weeks. She slept in a (finished basement). She wasn't allowed to go to groups, school, or therapy. This was because she kissed a couple girls and lied about it. They sometimes made us, the patients vote on whether or not we wanted this to happen to people. They didn't always listen to the vote, but still. They call this "positive peer pressure". I can assure you, this pressure is nothing more than rewarded bullying and emotional abuse. It was this emotional abuse that lead to my suicide attempt, while in the program. The pressure was nonstop. My therapist, literally said they would, " break [me] down to build [me] back up."

They broke me for so long. By the time I left, I was almost completely brainwashed. I believe what had been drilled into my head again and again. They told me I wasn't abused as a child, that I never had a "legitimate" eating disorder, that I didn't use substances before solstice and so much more. They also convinced me that the awful things that they did there were a result of my poor decisions that led me there. If I was bothered by the abuse or stood up for myself it was because I was "entitled". It makes me want to throw up to know that my name and face are still proudly displayed on the walls as a success story. I am, but in spite of solstice, not because of it. I will never erase the guilt of helping that system run, you don't want to feel the same way, I promise.

This place should be shut down, it robbed me of my own voice and autonomy in a way my previous physical, emotional, and sexual abuse can't compare to. They bill themselves as a tough love treatment center that will give you you kid back again. In one way, they were right, but only in the sense that I would literally prostitue myself before ever going back. Please don't let this happen to anyone else. No child deserves what happens behind those close doors

Sources:

The original testimony on Yelp