The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping

If you have ever wondered what being sent to a residential treatment center, Katherine Kubler encapsulates that feeling so accurately, I was transported back to my own experiences in the Troubled Teen Industry. This was so thoroughly researched and thought out. The connections between Synanon, WWASP programs and the Litchfield family and the LDS Church really show how complex and multifaceted this vile industry is. Thank you to the survivors who participated in the creation of this docuseries and to the people who worked tirelessly to make this happen. You will change lives with this. We are Unsilenced!

I think this was a pretty good show, but one thing I will say is this stuff goes on all over the U. S still till this day. I was in group homes and foster care from age of 9 until 18 and many went on a point system. Things kids are in those homes to get away from go on in those homes. I've physically fought staff members because I refused to be bullied. Staff members sleep with some of the kids sexually and all. It's crazy. They kicked me out when I turned 18 in an area hours away from my home town and I had to figure it out. I'm great now my own family, land, and home. They fail, I made it...

Really skillfully done, and surprisingly very hopeful and endearing throughout. These girls could be anyone you know, and they have such beautiful, strong spirits. I'm so glad to see that hasn't been ripped from them completely. I loved the heavy dashes of F you: the inside church audio, the gutsy phone calls to past workers, and the One Way or Another part. ;) How brazen of these absolute criminals to leave behind all their evidence, that really speaks to how above the law they feel they are. I'm glad it was all there to be found, I wish happiness and abundance to all who survived, and anxiously await the downfall of every wretched person who contributed to this nightmare.

As someone who was to a school with the exact same structure (Cross Creek in Utah), from 1997-1998, I can confirm that every detail about the schools setup is completely accurate. I never experienced abuse, or saw anyone being abused, to the degree these women did, but I do believe that it existed in other, similar "schools". From levels 1-6, with the privileges of makeup and shaving being earned after level 3, to the school's education structure, with independent learning and the requirement that we pass all exams with 80%+ to advance in a subject.

I was lucky. I had a wonderful group leader/therapist who cared immensely. I learned so much and grew emotionally, but I can also see how those that didn't have the same experience would have left with so much trauma. And it didn't mean that the bulk of my experience wasn't anywhere from terrifying to extremely uncomfortable.

I'm glad that the parts of these programs that are corrupt are being exposed, and that their insane shield of secrecy has been pierced. I hope this brings some sense of peace to the many that need it.

I began the documentary with the idea that I'll get to learn more about the programs Paris Hilton keeps mentioning, instead I revisited a suppressed memory.

When I was about 7 years old I recall my half sister being in and out of my life. The time we did spend together she was the funniest person I knew and I would normally feel excited to have her around. I remember her mother coming to pick her up one day after she had spent over a year with us and told my father she had a "contingency plan" in place in case she began acting out again. My sister was 14 years old, she was rebellious on paper but nothing that could not be managed since my parents had proven in the last year that she was just starving for attention and got her to change. However, her mother thought otherwise.

A month later her mother contacted my father to let him know that she was going off to a "behavior modification program" and that she would pay for it. My father reluctantly agreed and off my sister went. The next time I saw her I was 12 years old and she was a shell of the girl I remembered. Yes, we were both older by now but something was different beyond normal aging, she was hurt.

Today she does not speak to my dad despite him stating he would have intervened sooner had he known. It took this documentary for me to connect the dots on why she stopped keeping in touch and cut off her parents. As a child, things are explained on a surface level, "your sister was a broken kid due to a divorce and now she resents the world". I never even contemplated it was the program she was sent to, even though I now can connect how that was what ultimately broke her.

After finishing the documentary I questioned my dad about the "special school" she was sent to and he had a difficult time even explaining it, instead he summarized it to "a reformatory".

Today I am 33 years old and even though I am grateful that I did not suffer from the same fate as my sister, I feel guilty for not learning of this sooner. I can only hope she is willing to speak to me one day again.

Thank you all who participated in this documentary, it was not your fault.

"You're not a victim for sharing your story.

You are a survivor setting the world on fire with your truth. And you never know who needs your light, your warmth, and raging courage." -Alex Elle.