Troubled teen industry
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The troubled teen industry (also known as TTI) is a broad range of youth residential programs aimed at struggling teenagers. The term encompasses various facilities and programs, including youth residential treatment centers, wilderness programs, boot camps, and therapeutic boarding schools.[1][2]
History
The troubled teen industry has a precursor in the drug rehabilitation program called Synanon, founded in 1958 by Charles Dederich.[3] By the late 1970s, Synanon had developed into a cult and adopted a resolution proclaiming the Synanon Religion, with Dederich as the highest spiritual authority, allowing the organization to qualify as tax-exempt under US law. Synanon rejected the use of medication for drug rehabilitation, and instead relied on the "Synanon Game", group sessions of attack therapy where members were encouraged to criticize and humiliate each other.[4][5] Synanon popularized "tough love" attack therapy as a treatment for addiction, and the idea that confrontation and verbal condemnation could cure adolescent misbehavior. Synanon disbanded in 1991, after its tax-exempt status was revoked by the IRS and it was bankrupted by having to pay US$17 million in back taxes.[6]
Synanon's techniques were highly influential and inspired human potential self-help organizations such as Erhard Seminars Training (est) and Lifespring.[3]
Synanon-style therapy was also used in Straight, Incorporated and The Seed, two drug rehabilitation programs for youth.[7]: 8
Former Synanon member Mel Wasserman founded CEDU Educational Services in 1967, a company which operated within the troubled teens industry. CEDU owned several for-profit therapeutic boarding schools, group homes, and behavior modification programs. The techniques used by CEDU schools were derived from Synanon's; for example, long, confrontational large-group sessions called "Propheets" took cues from the Synanon Game.[7]: 122 [8] CEDU went out of business in 2005, amid lawsuits and state regulatory crackdowns.[8][9]
Joseph "Joe" Ricci, a dropout from a direct Synanon-descendent program, founded a therapeutic boarding school called Élan School in 1970.[7]: 122 [10] Élan closed down in 2011 amid persistent allegations of abuse.[11]
Synanon's techniques also inspired the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs (WWASP), an umbrella organization of facilities meant for rehabilitating troubled teenagers.[7]: 132–133 WWASP is no longer in business, due to widespread allegations of physical and psychological abuse.[12] Many WWASP programs were shut down by the Costa Rican,[13] Jamaican, and Mexican governments after investigations into allegations of abuse.[14]
Media
- Joe versus Elan School, an autobiographical, web-based graphic novel about the Élan School.
- "The Sunshine Place," a podcast whose second season covers the stories of Students placed within Straight Inc.
- The Opportunist: Gayle Palmer, a 7+-part series on Summit Quest
- Casefile: Case 296 Aaron Bacon, a podcast covering the abuse and neglect that 16-year-old Aaron Bacon experienced at North Star Expeditions of Escalante. The systematic mistreatment ultimately led to his death on March 31, 1994, thirty days after he joined the programme.
- Now Return Us to Normal, a 2024 film by Leslie Koren
- Wayward (2025 miniseries)
See also
References
- ^ Mooney, Heather; Leighton, Paul (2019). "Troubled Affluent Youth's Experiences in a Therapeutic Boarding School: The Elite Arm of the Youth Control Complex and Its Implications for Youth Justice". Critical Criminology. 27 (4): 611–626. doi:10.1007/s10612-019-09466-4. ISSN 1572-9877. S2CID 210585644.
- ^ Golightley, Sarah (2020). "Troubling the 'troubled teen' industry: Adult reflections on youth experiences of therapeutic boarding schools". Global Studies of Childhood. 10 (1): 53–63. doi:10.1177/2043610619900514. hdl:20.500.11820/c329e3a1-10b7-4803-a526-fd668a641d1e. ISSN 2043-6106. S2CID 213786803.
- ^ a b Szalavitz, Maia (April 17, 2009). "An Oregon School for Troubled Teens Is Under Scrutiny". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. OCLC 1311479. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
- ^ Novak, Matt (April 15, 2014). "Synanon's Sober Utopia: How a Drug Rehab Program Became a Violent Cult". Gizmodo. G/O Media. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
- ^ Ofshe, Richard (Summer 1980). "The Social Development of the Synanon Cult: The Managerial Strategy of Organizational Transformation". Sociological Analysis. 41 (2): 109–127. doi:10.2307/3709903. JSTOR 3709903. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
- ^ Messick, Brandon (December 10, 2018). "The new neighbors". Associated Press. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
- ^ a b c d Szalavitz, Maia (February 16, 2006). Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids. New York City: Riverhead Books. ISBN 1-59448-910-6.
- ^ a b Hawkins, Eric (June 8, 2020). "California School For 'Troubled Teens' Had Roots In A Notorious, Militant Cult". Oxygen True Crime. NBCUniversal. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
- ^ Hansen, Dan; Drumheller, Susan (March 26, 2005). "CEDU shutting down". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
- ^ "Ex-Head of Suspect's School Won't Testify in '75 Murder Case". The New York Times. September 25, 1998. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
- ^ Bowman, Parker (May 19, 2021). "Valley Vertigo: Documentary details controversial and experimental Élan School". The Sentinel. Hanford, California. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
- ^ Kirk Brown, Abbeville school had role in rise and fall of enterprise for serving troubled teens Archived June 14, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Anderson (South Carolina) Independent Mail, December 17, 2010
- ^ Weiner, Tim (May 23, 2003). "Costa Rica Intervenes at Troubled U.S.-Owned Academy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
- ^ Weiner, Tim (September 26, 2004). "Mexico Shuts Tough-Love Center". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
Further reading
- Reamer, Frederic G.; Siegel, Deborah (2008). Teens in Crisis. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-51450-7.
- Szalavitz, Maia (2006). Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids. Riverhead. ISBN 978-1-59448-910-5.
- Fanlo, Ciara (November 15, 2022). "I survived a wilderness camp: 'It's not necessary to break a person's will'". The Guardian. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
- "Opinion | When 'Tough Love' Is Too Tough". The New York Times. October 16, 2007.
- Archives, L. A. Times (January 15, 1995). "Behind Wilderness Therapy". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
- Hyde, Jesse (November 12, 2015). "Life and Death in a Troubled Teen Boot Camp". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
- Ortiz, Michelle Ray (June 13, 1999). "'Escort Service' or Legalized Abduction?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
- Solomon, Serena. "The Legal Industry for Kidnapping Teens". Vice.com. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
- Rosen, Kenneth R. (January 12, 2021). "When I Was Labeled a 'Troubled' Teen, I Obliged". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
- Miller, Jessica. "'Blindfolds, hoods and handcuffs': How some teenagers come to Utah youth treatment programs". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
- Weaver, Alison (October 6, 2009). Gone to the Crazies. Harper Collins. ISBN 9780061189586. LCCN 2007061009. OCLC 1021145830.
- Gilpin, Elizabeth (July 20, 2021). Stolen. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9781538735442. LCCN 2021934552. OCLC 1260137924.
- Wilsey, Sean (2006). Oh the glory of it all. New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780143036913. LCCN 2004063420. OCLC 67290176.
- Strangeways, Sam. (December 11, 2019) "Sending troubled children to US cost $33m"
- Leach, Samantha (July 20, 2021). The Elissas: Three Girls, One Fate, and the Deadly Secrets of Suburbia. New York: Legacy Lit (published June 6, 2023). ISBN 9780306826917. LCCN 2022057941. OCLC 1381457383.
- Breaking Code Silence, an English-language advocacy network for survivors.