kateslogan

One of the most disturbing things we saw was a girl who was sent to the school for drug problems, who had also been raped as an 11 year old, was "paddled" on the ass as a punishment. This happened to all the students there if they "acted out," but I was especially shocked that they would do this to a rape victim.

I was also shocked by how closely the program mirrored classic brainwashing techniques used in prison camps.

Always a min of 9 months, most stayed 2-3 years.

The tuition was between 3-6 grad per month, which is up to $72,000 per year. For reference that's more than the sticker price for Harvard.

There were many ways that doing this film has impacted my life, but one way in particular was that when I went down there to film, I was an evangelical Christian myself and believed that homosexuality was a sin. However, one of the students I got to know the best was sent to the school for being gay, and I found myself unable to pray or wish for him to be straight. Seeing how he was treated in the name of Jesus was just sickening and that was the catalyst for changing my views on homosexuality and faith in general.

The school advertised itself as a "therapeutic christian boarding school" for "high potential, underachieving youth." The website and brochures made it look like a nice Christian school that had a therapeutic element.

Their application packet contained a checklist of "problems" that your teen could get sent there for, and the list was so long and broad that ANYONE could be deemed in need of their program.

I think they really told each family what they wanted to hear depending on their kid's "problem." Most parents had no idea the extent of the punishments their kids were receiving, and all the communications were censored both ways so there was no way for the students to tell their parents what was really going on.

Congratulations on getting married! And we are so sorry you had to go through what you did. As I'm sure you know, you aren't alone. I hope you can find help for the lasting impacts like PTSD and depression. It's tough, but as I've spoken with lots of survivors of these places, over time it gets better. If you haven't connected with SIA-Now.org (survivors of institutional abuse) you may want to reach out to them for support.