If You're A Survivor Of The "Troubled Teen" Industry, Tell Us Your Story
More than 50,000 teens in the U.S are sent away by their parents or guardians to "behavioral modification" centers each year. Many of these centers claim to help children, usually aged 12–18, with a range of issues such as trauma, depression, or disobedient behavior. But in many of these cases, the children going into these programs find themselves isolated, traumatized, and are even subject to abuse.
These centers are known by a range of names, including Wilderness Therapy, behavior boot camp, or therapeutic boarding schools.
Because this is unfortunately common and invisible, we'd like to raise awareness for the "troubled teen" industry. If you're a survivor of a "behavioral modification" center, and if you feel comfortable doing so, please share your story with us.
Many survivors, now young adults, are using TikTok to share their experiences, like Daniel Stearns (@danielthemammal). Daniel shared his story about being in wilderness therapy when he was 15 years old:
@danielthemammal it’s 2021. this can’t keep happening. #breakingcodesilence #troubledteenindustry #teensforprofit #iseeyousurvivor
♬ you not the same - slowed down version - tilekid
These videos use the hashtag #ISeeYouSurvivor.
In the video, Daniel describes being legally kidnapped by program officials with the consent of his parents before being brought to a wilderness therapy program, where he was forced to live in the woods. While under the care of an organization that had convinced his parents that he was thriving in the program, Daniel suffered from dehydration and malnourishment.
He goes on to talk about watching his peers in the program try to escape by attempting suicide or trying to run away. Though he initially expected to spend only three months in a behavior modification program, Daniel did not return home until a year and a half after he first began the program. He describes this as a common occurrence in many survivors' experiences.
When sharing your story, you could talk about your life before you were sent to the center and why you were sent to one.
What sort of behavioral modification program did you attend? Maybe it advertised itself as wilderness therapy, a boarding school, or a boot camp?
What was your experience like, and what has your life been like since you left?
