|
Human Earth Animal Liberation
126 SW 148th St Ste C100-422 Seattle, WA 98166-1984
(877)845-3232
|
|
HEAL HEAL’S MISSION STATEMENT HEAL is an egalitarian network of activists self-empowered to plan events, create change, and make the world a better place for all life. Our goals include the liberation of humans, nonhuman animals, and the earth! We work in cooperation with like-minded organizations that put compassion in action! |
|
|
Teen Liberty Environment |
Human Rights Animal Welfare |
||
 |
With Chapters In: Colorado♥Illinois♥Iowa♥Kentucky♥New York Washington♥Wisconsin |
 |
| Prison Reform | Human Liberation | Earth Liberation | Animal Liberation | |||||||||||||||
pathway family center (Including the now closed Kids Helping Kids in Milford, OH) Alert ! Former Pathway Family Center executive staff members: Victoria Winebarger and Beth Bunn have started a business called Branches Counseling, PLLC. Beware of Branches Counseling, PLLC! This "counseling service" could evolve into the next generation Pathway program. Given the history of Pathway's cultish methods, the devotion by these two women to the Pathway program in the past and the lack of information on their own website about their previous employment by Pathway, attention should be drawn to this new enterprise. To see why, visit the Pathway Origins page and see how these deceptive programs have morphed in the past. indianapolis, in (definitely closed!!!!)
(porter county, indiana, Michigan and ohio locations have closed!)
(Videos from February 5th & 6th, 2009) SIGN PETITION TO CLOSE PATHWAY FAMILY CENTER! Pathway Family Center Truth--The Website
More Problems at Pathway Article Latest News--Kids Helping Kids and PFC Michigan Closed!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OfCXLdOAwk Read the History and Connections of The Seed, Straight, Inc., and Pathway Family Center KHK, PFC, Straight, and Straight Spin-Off Program Survivor Message Forum Pathway Family Center in Portage, IN NOW CLOSED! Kids Helping Kids Is Reportedly CLOSED!!!
Pathway Family Center/Kids Helping Kids is a continuation of Straight Inc. Straight Inc. was "shut down" due to abuses ranging from psychological torture, physical abuse, to rape. Please read, "Help At Any Cost" by Maia Szalavitz for detailed information on the torture of children at Straight, Inc. and it's spin-offs. HEAL does not endorse the use of psychotropic drugs, be they prescription or illegal narcotics. Persons such as Ms. Nissley use the "war on drugs" as a cover for their continued torture and rape of children. Such statements are a "red herring" and should be ignored by a thinking and informed public. Please educate yourself on the torture of children in this industry and programs such as "Pathway Family Centers". You will find that behind the veil of "anti-drug" fear mongering is a beast of behavior modification torturing and killing children, ruining lives, and destroying families.
family statement by leslie orihel DECLARATION UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY PURSUANT TO 28 USCA 1746
I, Leslie Orihel, declare and state as follows: 1. Pathway Family Center 2. Southfield, Michigan, USA 3. August 2000- July 2002 4. My identical twin sister, a 2002 graduate of Pathway's program, committed suicide in August 2008 at 23 years old. I am not attempting to draw an exact correlation between her death and her experience at Pathway, nor do I have the ability to judge for those who will attest to Pathway’s effectiveness in positively changing their lives. I can only attest on behalf of my sister, that the program can be a harmful and traumatic experience for some, effectively and negatively changing their lives too. Last year, in January 2007, a magazine called, "The Sun," printed an interview with Maia Szalavitz, titled "The Myth of Tough Love," on her book published in '06, " Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids ." In the interview Ms Szalavitz argues that " 'Adolescence strikes fear in the hearts of even the best parents,' and that fear drives well-meaning mothers and fathers to send their misbehaving teens to 'tough-love' programs, where they're subjected to abusive treatment in the name of helping them." (I won't detail the article, though I highly recommend an excerpt which can be found at the following link: http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/373/the_myth_of_tough_love ) I want to share with you a response to this article written by my sister and included in the following issue of The Sun's correspondence:
Dear Sun,
My feeling was one of overwhelming gratitude when I read Marc Polonsky's interview with Maia Szalavitz, "The Myth of Tough Love," and his personal memoir, "The Seed." I left Pathway Family Center (an adolescent "treatment" center that is a branch off of the Straight program) in 2002, and in the intervening years, two of my fellow "pathlings" have since committed suicide; another was rescued minutes after an attempt; many others, like myself, have struggled to maintain stability or a sense of hope in our early adulthood. My experience with these programs has shown that addiction ceases to be the central problem for clients when the counselors and environment create a more complete sense of powerlessness than any drug ever could. Psychological defeat from any source is destructive, and love, not misunderstanding, is the true foundation for people to construct a meaningful life. My relationship with The Sun gave these articles more credibility than if I had written them myself. Thank you.
Alicia Orihel
Considering my sister's own death adds a new significance to her words. I believe the qualities that made Alicia so wonderful, her creativity, sensitivity, compassion, wit and insight, made her a poor candidate for a program that takes such dead aim upon the adolescent's ego. They break teens down (in the name of re-building a healthier individual) at a time when they are so fragile, especially when you consider the self-esteem issues that have already driven them to self-medicating and destructive behaviors. The irony is that the teens most vulnerable are likely the ones experiencing a greater severity of problems. However, my sister strongly believed that these problems would only re-emerge after the Pathway experience. Alicia’s own post-Pathway experience shows this to be true. I came to understand that the psychological imprint of Pathway would never fade, as Alicia described Pathway-nightmares that continued to haunt her years after she had left. I do not agree with Pathway's ideology or methods, as a family witness and as the twin of someone who "survived" the program. I strongly question their projected "success rates" and I hope for an increased awareness among the parents who are put in the sad position of deciding on a rehabilitation program for their teen. I believe Szalavitz's book, "Recovery Options: The Complete Guide: How You and Your Loved Ones Can Understand and Treat Alcohol and Other Drug Problems" (2001), co-authored with Dr. Joseph Volpicelli, M.D., Ph.D. can help along with greater disclosure of the truth on 'tough-love' type programs by those who have oversight, investigate, and especially from those with a personal experience. As a newly graduated nurse (RN, BSN), I believe that if the programs continue to exist, there are fundamental changes that should occur. Severed communication from family, social isolation, lack of exercise and “outdoors” exposure, degradation from peers and staff, and treating any privacy as a privilege (i.e. not able to use the bathroom alone, going through journals to black-out lines deemed “inappropriate”), are just some of the practices that seriously cross ethical standards. Care-providers (though many staff are unlicensed, often former-clients) can take greater consideration of the individual's involvement in their care, promoting autonomy and self-esteem rather than offering it in a damaging reward-punishment manner. They can also do more extensive screening for teens whose psychological make-up is particularly vulnerable, recommending alternatives rather than compounding the problem. The question is, are they willing to put the health of their clients before the self-interest of their institution?
I give HEAL permission to use this statement. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on November 10, 2008.
________________________________ Leslie Orihel [PRIVATE] [PRIVATE] [PRIVATE]
survivor statement by anthony Connelly DECLARATION UNDER PENALTY
OF PERJURY PURSUANT TO 28 USCA 1746
I,
Anthony Connelly declare and state as follows:
..I was entered into Kids Helping Kids on August 28th 1986. The
location was route 20 Hebron, KY. I was 14
years old. I was interrogated and strip searched with an orifice examination upon my intake. I was restrained physically several times
during my intake with unreasonable force.
My clothes were taken away and I was given new, program clothes
to wear that were entirely too small. No shoes, no belt.
It was stated that I had a drug and alcohol addiction along with
behavioral problems. I denied this and stated that I was only addicted
to cigarrettes. I was repeatedly laughed at and called a liar. I was also asked why my
eyes were so red and that red eyes were an indication of drug use.
I did not have a substance
abuse problem then and I don't have one now. I am 35 years old now. I spent approximately 5 to 6 months on the first phase of the program.
During this phase I was subjected to
treatment that has been scientifically proven to be psychologically
damaging. I do not consider any of
the treatment methods which I received to be beneficial and therefore will refer to them as
tortures or abuses. Some of the mistreatments that I experienced on
first phase are as follows:
1. No rights to privacy, especially while using the toilet or showering.
2. No communication with the outside world including, family, attorneys, police, doctors,
psychologists, friends, et cetra. No mail or telephone use. They had rules called confidentiality
and no talking behind backs. These were rules of secrecy and controlling all communication.
3. No media from the
outside including television, radio, news, or newspapers.
4. No reading with the
exception of program related information posted on the walls.
5. Sleep deprivation. For
the first month I was
placed in a foster home that had a reputation for bringing the kids into the program early.
I was forced to stay up very late at night discussing my personal problems and learning the rules. I can only
approximate that I received 3 to 4 hours of sleep a night for the first month of my first phase.
6. Food deprivation. The group received 2 small meals a day at the program building. The food was less
than desirable and obviously didn't have the calories necessary to maintain the physical
activity that we were expected to carry out from day to day. We rarely ate breakfast because
of the rush to get everything ready and when we did eat breakfast it would be something
like a banana or a pop tart. Most days I did not get any breakfast. The last meal of the night
was called snack. I call it dinner because breakfast was not ever a real meal. If
a newcomer wasn't doing everything the staff expected, the newcomer received no snack. The other kids were
instructed to eat in front of the newcomer by the staff. I was continually hungry while on first phase. 7. Physical restraint. I was physically restrained several times while on first phase by other
kids and sometimes staff. My chest or back was sat upon by other kids which is very scary because
it disables you from breathing. I tried to run away while being transported to a foster home
and was restrained and a seat belt wrapped around my neck. I couldn't breath and thought I would
die. Luckily a staff member saw the attempt and stopped the kids from choking me to death.
Whoever was doing the restraining could decide how much pressure was to be applied and
how long to restrain the kid. It could be anything from not so bad to a horrific experience. The
longer a kid did not submit to the ways of the program, the more frustrated the group would
get with the kid and usually would inflict more force to the restraint.
8. Seclusion. If restraining ceased to be enough to deter the unwanted behavior, the program has "time-out"
rooms. These rooms were 4 ft. by 6 ft. and were about 15 ft. high. There was a steel door and the floor
was cold concrete. It was always so very cold in these rooms and if one were to lay down, the
heat would be sapped from your body. The amount of time in these rooms had no limit. It was
up to the staff member to decide.
9. Verbal assault and Humiliation. It was encouraged by staff and the group to talk about one's past. The negative aspects about onesself only. If an
individual were to talk about anything else, the group would verbally assault the speaker by cursing,
yelling or anything else that you would not put up with in the outside world. It may not sound
bad but when it happens all day every day for months, it alters your mindset and cripples your
ability to think analytically. Oldcomers at foster homes were forced to read newcomer's MI's (moral
inventories). I will describe MI's at a later point. The oldcomers were forced to
brutally dissect your personal problems and verbally assault you until you agreed with having
a drug and alcohol problem, along with any other problems the program believed you had.
10. No looking at or talking to the opposite sex. I still believe this caused mental trauma.
I think this is a critical time in an adolescent's life to become more familiar with the opposite sex and communication.
11. We were to ask to do everything including using toilet paper. If the request was denied there was nothing you could do about it.
12. No complaint procedure. They had something called the COC "chain of
command". This was a false system that presented a complaint
facade. If you were to request from someone else the same complaint, you were in
violation of the rule called,"no playing off". This means you cannot complain to
someone after the initial complaint has been made. Most complaints went unanswered so most people stopped
trying to use the system. Mostly it was used for ratting out other kids for minor
infractions. We were encouraged to report any behavior that was non-program behavior or if someone had
even shown "signs" of not doing what was necessary to commit to the program. 13. Being brainwashed:
time on their side. I fought for months but eventually I was so
physically tired, hungry and mentally fatigued that I had no other option than to do what they
wanted. The elment of so much time, being conditioned and abused with no private time is a
difficult concept to convey. How can I explain the anguish of spending every minute passing by so
slowly? Every day, every night, over and
over. From morning until late night for months, seemlessly neverending. I remember the systematic breakdown in my brain. It was strange because
I was being honest as they demanded but then was called a liar. I didn't know what to do
because I had done everything they wanted but they wanted me to be honest and make up
stories at the same time. This confused my mind and over time with all the deprivation and abuse
began to feel my brain lose the concept of reality. I started to have visual hallucinations
and couldn't distinguish if they were real. It felt like a tremendous twisting and pressure in my mind
until, I guess, I snapped. I can't describe it except to say it is like a smile on the outside while
crying on the inside. All the time.
I lost my ferver, I was confused about reality and this felt bad. A
deep emotional bad, if that makes sense. I had visual hallucinations of elves and tiny people
living in the walls of the building.
more drugs, more criminal behavior, weird sex acts, et cetra. Over and
over and over again. This is the part I don't uderstand: I started to make up stories that
weren't true but at the same time, I believed them. I honestly thought I was telling the truth. I
had to, to progress from first phase. (which I had been on for many months by then) They pounded it
into my brain that "you can't con a con" so I guess my brain was forced to give them the
information they wanted while believing it myself. After all, Honesty was the first and most
important rule. I remember
the feeling of numbness and as if something wasn't me anymore. After that, it gets more difficult to remember because I started
"working the program" and my brain worked on a sort of
auto pilot. After that, I believed everything they said and did whatever
was needed to help the group "stay off drugs". I preached this with such
certainty. I wouldn't blink. I was like a robot doing what I was
programmed to do. Brainwashed. I thought anyone who suggested anything other than
what the program believed was wrong. I thoughtThey must be on drugs or be a "dry
druggie" which is the term the program uses for someone who
doesn't do drugs but doesn't follow program thinking. I have not been a program supporter for many years and I am still alive. I am not on
drugs and I don't drink. I don't even smoke or drink caffeine. How can I be alive and well without
adhering to the program's ideas? The staff at kids helping kids would no doubt call me a liar or try
another tactic to discredit my character. They've done it to me before. Almost 20 years ago.
remembered to determine what was truth and what was a lie. It took many
years to get a hold on reality again. It took me approximately 2-3 years to de-program
myself after being banished from the program. I think it takes different amounts of time for
different people. During this time I abused drugs and alcohol and went to jail a few times. At one point I
faced a felony charge. I attribute all of this behavior to the damage done to my mind by the
program. I feel lucky to be alive after the drunken binges and serious injuries I incurred due to
fighting. I eventually decided to clean up my life and realized I needed to change.
very detrimental to my brain.
Once I was brainwashed, I was no longer in control of my identity, my
thoughts and even my actions. I was a minion; a
programmed biological robot. This is why I focus more on first phase because this is where I believe the emotional trauma and
psychological damage is inflicted at it's utmost. To understand the way the program works, a person must
have an understanding of how brainwashing works. I
have been brainwashed, so I know exactly how it works. 14. I eventually graduated the program, worked on staff as a trainee
and returned for several months to support the group. The executive staff convinced the other
staff that I had become a bad influence and I was ostracized from the program. That was it. I was
just dropped because I had nothing left to offer
the program. I had no coping skills for life outside of the program. 15. Suicide attempt and self mutilation. While on first phase I had
carved tracks of skin from my hand and arm using my
thumbnail but I do not recall why I did this.
I also attempted suicide by breaking my glasses and slitting my wrists. I was caught by staff and
the incident was never reported to my parents or anyone
else. 16. I was forced to sing songs all day in between raps and meals. These
songs seemed to numb the brain somehow. I believe it was
used as a tactic to make our minds more maleable. The songs were all
songs that a small child would
learn. I believe the intent was to demean the kids by disallowing any teenage music and forcing childrens music be sung by all in the
group. It was very humiliating. Humiliation was a very large portion of the program's methods. The
parents loved us acting like little children. I think it made them feel safe. 17. I was forced to "get motivated" which means to wave and
flap your arms ferociously to show your desire to get off drugs. I do not know why we were forced to do
this. It is ridiculous. I can only assume it was used as a repetitive action used to tire us more. 18. I was forced to memorize and believe in "the 7 steps" among many other program ideologies.
I was also forced to memorize a large number of those children's songs along
with all program rules. 19. I was forced to have my hair cut off. To me, that was emotionally
traumatic. If you disagree, ask any woman if cutting all of her hair off is a reasonable treatment. 20. I was forced to write an MI every night, (moral inventory). this MI
included 2 challenges, (past negative personal accounts) 3 good points (daily good things) 5 goals (short term goals)
and one blessing at the end.(Thank you God for such and such...) One
was not allowed to repeat any of the information written, so it was a
big problem trying to remember or make up stories to remain current with our MI's.
The oldcomer would review and dissect the MI every night and if the
newcomer was suspected of lying the newcomer would be forced to stay up
later and start coming clean and possibly verbally assaulted. 21. During my time at kids helping kids, between the 2nd and 5th
phases, I had read the Holy Bible twice. It was encouraged reading and we
weren't allowed to read much else. Encouraged means forced when I am
making a reference regarding the
program. In my post program life I have decided to not return to my
church. I have an aversion to large groups and specific ideologies now. I enjoyed the
churh before I went into the program. Now I have no religious
affiliation. I am nervous around any church or congregation. 22. PT or (physical training) This was a daily event
lasting at least an hour. We were forced to do calisthenics which included pushups, situps, jumping jacks, wall push-ups,windmills and
many other various exercises. It was always exhausting and I remember one day in particular when the staff decided
to go for a jumping jack record. We did 1200 jumping jacks in a row. It was very painful. The blisters on my feet
were the worst I have had in my life. I also remember doing several sets of pushups often where my chest muscles would lock
up and I would be forced to keep going. Sometimes we would do 15 sets of 10 but we would do them in a row. In
other words, we would do one set of 10, stand up and then return to the floor immediately for the next set. It was
grueling. It was very painful. 23. I would rarely see any 7-steppers (graduates)
while on my phases. This program claims an incredible success
rate. Where are all of these people that are successful? Why does almost
noone come back to pay tribute and be a part of this miraculous institution. If
my life was saved by a treatment center I would visit often. But almost
noone came back. I wasn't allowed to ask why because it was against the rules to ask. The constant torment I was forced to endure at kids helping kids was a
mixture of torture, brainwashing, abuse and human rights violations.
The tremendous psychological damage I have incurred as a result has been
a large detriment in my ability to navigate my way through society.
In spite of the program I have managed to make some small accomplishments in life.
Although, I believe my mental health was wrecked by kids helping kids.
It has taken many years of personal work to
reverse some of the program's damage. I am very far from achieving
psychological health due to the abuses I received in the program. More importantly, I am
very worried for the youth of today who are in these treatment facilities
and"out of sight" to the public.
They are the reason I am writing this. We cannot see into their minds or see what damage is taking place. There is a great need
for strong regulations and criminal prosecution of those who facilitate such violations against our vulnerable youth. I declare under penalty of perjury that the
foregoing is true and correct. Executed
on October 31st, 2007.
Anthony Connelly
[NAME OF DECLARANT]
SPECIAL NOTE: STATUTE
DOES NOT REQUIRE NOTARY] If you would like to submit a statement about Pathway Family Center and/or Kids Helping Kids, click here.
|
||||||||||||||||||