Watch Next: For millions of wheelchair users, flying on an airplane means undergoing a series of indignities, and sometimes even dealing with a broken chair upon arrival. VICE News rides along with one traveler to see the nightmare firsthand. - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/g7iep8p2zrqseY0.html

Having a complete stranger (MALE!) “supervise” a 13 year old girls shower absolutely disgusts me.

Treating a young kid with mental health issues: "Let's throw more traumatic experiences at them! that'll fix em! "

How is this not illegal and classified as child abuse?

Not all parents deserve children But all children deserve parents

My mother, who has never liked me, tried to send me to one of those places. My Father told her "over my dead body will you send my kid away." RIP, daddy, I miss you.

Utah won’t shut them down because they create jobs!? WTF kind of excuse is that.

The whole "r*pe" relive thing is utterly sick. How can such disturbed adults produce anything but damaged and broken babies. There are a lot of unpunished pedophilic; child abusing; sick adults amongst us.

I am a survivor of a troubled teen program. I was the first girl at a place called teen challenge in Lakeland Florida. I was 14 and pregnant and sent away almost 2 years and forced to adopt out my baby. I cannot put into words how badly that place messed me up and how much trauma it caused me. I was taken from everything and everyone I loved and had zero contact with the father of my child or anyone else that wasn't in my immediate family. We were forced to do manual labor and we were paraded around like show ponies and forced to share our "testimonies" at church so we could raise money for the program. We were abused, neglected, denied medical care, denied medications, etc. I remover being 8 or 9 months pregnant and I had a double ear infection that was so bad my eardrums bursted and fluid spilled from my ears down my neck...I was in so much pain before they finally got me help. I have so many stories I could share, but I'm just glad I made it out alive...Many, many kids weren't so lucky.

I blame on "Dr." Phil. He's the one who keeps on encouraging families to send teens on this kind of camps.

Adults in actual jails have more rights and protections than these poor kids.

The fact that she had a male staff member watching her is disgusting, parents need to learn how to treat their kids and stop shipping them off to places with random people

The parents are in no way 'victims', Theo's mom is completely refusing to acknowledge her WILLING part in his abuse. These schools did not condition the parents, the schools just reinforce the parent's pre-existing negative conceptions of their children. The 'adult good - child bad' way of thinking. If parents did not already think this badly of their children, they would not have sent them to this institution. What adult in their right mind thinks when their child asks them for help that he is manipulating them?!

If a school says ”tough love” that’s a biiiiiig red flag

Many "troubled teens" are not troubled. Some parents fail to accept responsibilty and connect with their child. They fail to provide a nurturing path forward. Any teenage rebellion is blown out of proportion.

One thing that should be brought up more is how difficult it is to receive effective therapy after experiencing abuse in these programs. My abusers were “therapists”, psychologists, and psychiatrists and they gave me life-altering CPTSD. One of the most devastating effects PTSD from of systemic abuse in mental healthcare settings is that it’s almost impossible to treat, as I can’t trust anyone and being in a therapeutic environment brings the memories flooding back. It’s like giving someone an illness and making sure the treatment can never work. Evil

Children should never be sent away against their own will. Instead of sending them away to let others deal with them parents should try to listen and understand them. There are too many bad parents out there that can't take care of their own children, it is scary.

one of the worst parts is that they train the parents to ignore what the child is saying. They intentionally harm the parent-child relationship and trick the parents just for the purpose of money.

So the kid had depression, suicidal thoughts, abused drugs, harmed himself and they sent him to a facility for "troubled teens" ? Is this how you treat mental issues? With being tough and imposing strict rules? Interesting...

Wow. This really resonates with me. As soon as he said he got gooned (2 big people showed up and said we can do this the easy way or the hard way) my heart immediately dropped and the flashbacks came back of when I went through the same situation. It was 6 am and I was naked asleep in my bed. And next thing I know there are 2 giant strangers in my room with handcuffs telling me to get up and get dressed and go with them. They said the same thing " we can do this the easy way or the hard way" may parents were standing at the door way of my room refusing to make eye contact with me. I had 2 choice. Try to fight past these people and jump out a 2 story window and run. Or comply. I started crying and just made it easier on myself and everyone around me. I went peacefully. I remember getting in the strangers car and my mom said "I know you hate me right now, but I love you" and as much as I did hate her in that moment. I couldn't have those be my last words to her in that moment. So I just said " I love you too". After getting to Utah (discovery academy in provo utah) I was put on suicide watch for the first 48 hours. I realized how drastically my life had just changed in a matter of hours. No phone. No personal clothes. No wallet. No ID. I got assigned a therapist. Went to classes, went to group therapy. For 3 months I didn't take my weekly phone call to my parents. After 9 months my parents couldn't afford to keep me there. So I was finally sent home. My 18th birthday was in that facility. I had the option to "walk". Which is where you sign a paper that you're leaving with the clothes on your back and that's it. They ship your phone and wallet and everything you came with back to your parents and put you on the street. It was either stay or be homeless in a state I don't know anything about. I stayed. It was awful. They shut the place down years later. Thank God.

If a kid is giving you a hard time… it’s because your kid is having a hard time. Compassion goes a long way….

I can’t stand these parents (mine included) who act like their kid was fine until one day, then they became awful. What lead up to your son sleeping on others’ couches? Kids in safe homes don’t do that. I know from first hand experience. A lot of parents need some internal reflection and therapy.

I like how quick that guy said NO when she asked him if he would send HIS kids to one of those facilities

I would never be able to forgive my parents if they have done it to me. It's cruel, selfish, and stupid to think that punishment and torture work better than affection, adapted therapy and love. Some people are just not ready for the responsibility of raising and educating a human being that parenthood requires.

This isn't just them 'saying' what happened inside. This IS what happened inside

They had WHAT reenactments?! How do these places actually exist? Good fucking grief.

On todays episode of: Parent's still cannot accept that they are the source of much of their kids trauma and developmental issues

I was depressed and angry because I was 12 and watched my beloved daddy die of cancer. I’m 44 and STILL depressed and angry because you lied to me, yelled at me, and locked me up instead of helping me.

This is blatant child abuse. How is this legal?

My cousin was a "troubled teen" and basically the biggest thing that really caused a shift in his life was an English teacher who asked him if he wanted to eat lunch with her and talk one day. (It's always the English teacher.) Love an compassion reaches far deeper than fear

If any of this happened to adult prisoners of war you'd call it torture, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

I went to one of these places. It was a truly terrible 7 months of my life in which I felt the darkest I’ve ever felt. Although I came out sober and healthier, I’m truly traumatized by the acts that went on in that place. The staff were corrupt, I had five minutes a week to call my parents. The staff governed everything we did. There was one staff who didn’t like me and she did everything to make my stay miserable. I was so truly broken by that place. They stripped me down to my core. They called me pathetic for not abiding to their rules. They shamed me and degraded me for talking back (standing up for myself). I’m traumatized and my parents still don’t believe me. To all those who have been through these places, I hear you ❤

They completely retraumatized these kids! Disgusting and heartbreaking

parents forcing their children into being the parents idealized versions of themselves because of their own failures literally never ends well

Only abusers demand you remain silent. If what’s being done is so “helpful”, why keep it a secret?

Wow, first off: terrifying that these businesses exist. Second off: what parent would think this is a good solution? Sending your kid off to be abused…despicable.

My best friend growing up was sent to one of these in Western Samoa and it made him into a maniac. He wasn't troubled at all. His parents never loved him or gave him love the way he deserved. He was taught fear by his dad and his parents worried more about themselves than they did him. He left on his 18th birthday because they couldn't keep him anymore. He came back and was dead within 2 years. Someone literally shot him in their own front yard. Claimed self defense. The preacher at his funeral had the nerve to apologize for him on behalf of his parents at his funeral after he was killed by someone else. No investigation nothing. I left after his whole existence on earth was apologized for in front of a whole church. Bunch of Mfers. He was worth more than any of them.

These kids needed therapy, meds, and better parents. You don't EVER let someone you don't know take your child at ANY age.

I honestly feel so bad for these people. My mother would talk about these reform schools sometimes. And my best friend almost got sent to one by her mom. Now as an adult and a Christian myself, I actually visited a Christian reform school, I was going there to teach Bible lessons to the kids. Everything seemed somewhat okay on the surface but I always got a bad feeling about it, every time we left. A matter of months later allegations of sexual abuse and neglect were brought against the owners of the school. All of the girls were taken away, sent back home and the school was shut down! The problem I see with these reform schools is that they do not create real positive changes in the children, they simply abuse and force the children to comply. It honestly damages the parent-child relationship more than anything.

I have a hard time with people trying to abdicate their parenting to others. Because often time that isn’t parenting or therapy it’s abuse

I just can’t imagine being a sexual abuse survivor and yet have to relive the abuse while others yell stuff at you. Being an abuse survivor hurts so much and it fucks you up in ways we can’t even understand now I can’t imagine adding that trauma to the abuse... I hope all the victims get justice and may they heal from this horrible experiences.

I was at Cross Creek... I was there with the girl in this episode with the brown hair, Sarah. It was utterly awful. I was 14-16 when there. Now I’m 35. I have nightmares all the time. You never get over it. Watching this, as soon as they showed the school I burst into tears. I can’t even begin to explain the lasting effects. I’ll live with it till the day I die.

My best friend went to one of these.. He was forced to become imprisoned because he didnt believe in mormonism like his rich parents did, so he was troubled and therefore two big men woke him up from his bed and said, “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” He was in prison for years and had to get sent back again cause they convinced his parents he wasnt done and they’d ruin their child by pulling them out early when really they just abused him. The government cant even make sure these facilities arent breaking any laws or are allowed into the facilities because they’re religious facilities. So all these poor kids are being tortured and nobody, even the family is allowed in to see for years. He’s still my best friend to this day. It changed him so much. He was only a kid :/

As a 17 year old who’s had mental health problems for half a decade and who’s been in a lot of treatment programs for it, hearing about how these people were treated made me feel physically sick. I’ve experienced a few of the things mentioned here (forced sedation, being strip searched at 13- luckily they let me keep my underwear on when I started crying, isolation in a white windowless room- again, luckily for only a couple hours, and being yelled at and lied to by staff with little to no knowledge on mental illness), and they still impacted me, so I can’t even begin to fathom the lasting emotional trauma that people in “troubled teen” programs have endured. I think the parents and former employees need to take way more responsibility, and that if they aren’t crushed by the guilt of what they put vulnerable children through, then something is seriously wrong with them

A mother whose letter begin with "you hate me" and end with "I love you" ....healthy.

So it took a Paris Hilton for the state to listen while unknown victims are irrelevant. Good to know

It’s crazy to dismiss any child’s complaint about sexual, mental or physical abuse and call it “a few disgruntled kids”? What???? Not hey, we take these complaints seriously and looked into it with a 3rd party? We put these measures in place to assure this will not happen again. No just the kids are liars! That answer alone should warn all parents to stay away from this guy and anything he touches.

There is a special place in hell for people who do this to children.

Had my parents sent me to one of these places, I’d remember it when choosing their nursing home.

I am in my 50s. I was a “troubled teen”, and my parents sent me to similar programs in Australia. I could never understand what I was doing so wrong, and I tried so hard to be what I thought my parents wanted. I still hurt because of my parents’ atrocious parenting. I cut them out of my life. As an adult I was diagnosed as autistic; my ‘behaviours’ were actually pretty typically autistic. I am a parent of three teenagers, who are all very like me. I love them for that. These facilities exist across the world, and they are perpetuating child abuse.

I was a “troubled teen” strung out on drugs and I’m so grateful that my parents didn’t put me in one of those programs. Had several friends that ended up going to these type of programs and they haven’t been the same since. They’re still a shell of their former selves and that was over 10 years ago.. thankfully, I ended up in a great rehab program and got clean with the support of my family, great therapists/counselors and my sponsor. A good support system and proper treatment is way more effective than sending kids to some shady, unregulated “therapy” camp. I’m sure some parents really did think these camps were the answer but I know there’s a lot of shitty parents that didn’t wanna do their job as a parent and decided sending the kid away was the best answer. That’s a damn shame

Kids don’t act out for zero reason, it’s usually a cry for help and parents are responsible to address, help, support and validate their pain. But instead of handling the situation they send them away to be broken down because you don’t want to deal with your main responsibility as a parent. I’m so glad people are speaking out

Big up to the former staff who agreed to be interviewed. Being able to recognise and face your wrongdoings is so difficult

Keep talking, Kids. Keep telling the truth. Keep exposing these predators. Best wishes for maximum healing.

I feel bad for all the people who suffered from the abuse of these evil programs. My mom who is a REAL therapist is doing all she can to get places like this shut down. She also told me that “I could have never sent you to a place like that”. I may have never went to one of these programs and I’m an adult now, but they make me sick just thinking about them. My biggest hope is that all these victims team up and get these horrific places shut down.

Dr Phil has a lot to answer for with his promotion of these "troubled teen" facilities that have resulted in so many deaths (including from overdose and suicide as a result of trauma), destroyed lives and ruined relationships.

my parents threatened to “send me away” multiple times for being a “troubled teen” (aka undiagnosed autism and ignored depression). seeing these stories sends a shiver down my spine

I am a survivor of Camp Joshua Scott/Blue Creek Academy. Life has been crippling since I left. I didnt get the worst of it, other kids were abused worse than I was. That place destroyed me, sent me into a 18 year mental health spiral and I ended up homeless and addicted. Life is better now, but these homes do not help.

I struggled when I was a teen, I had depression, anxiety and pretty bad anger issues. I thank God for my parents, I was difficult but they loved me and never gave up. I feel awful for these people. No parent should ever send their own kids to these places. These places shouldn't exist.

The parents should be held just as responsible as the facilities. How can you go along with the whole "don't believe your own kid, he's going to manipulate you into thinking we're abusing him" when the first thing they did when showed up at your house was attack your kid right in front of you? You can't claim manipulation at that point, it happened right in front of your face.

I begged for an interview about SUWS 9 years ago. No one cared. What me and others were put through in that desert in Idaho was beyond comprehension. My center got closed down for child abuse and a 30 million dollar lawsuit. If you want a story vice, come talk to me. I’ve messaged the feds the state authorities before. It’s hell my family didn’t believe me making it all the worse. I was catatonic for months after I got home. I was at the program where the kid escaped - the kid with an article on cracked.

Just imagine giving birth to a child YOU decided to have, and then if they aren’t perfect you ship them off to live with abusive strangers to get them out of your way for a while

“I find myself looking forward to the future & all the good things that will come for MYSELF” that must’ve been so hard to read 💔

What broke me was how that former worker was mentally tormented by his submission to the system. You can tell his guilt haunts him and having a good-intentioned person bear the weight of this tragic circumstance emphasizes how this can traumatize the workers in these facilities as well. Devastatingly emotional peice.

The staff member interviewed was at the edge of crying, you can see the regret and pain for participating in that.

Thank you for helping these survivors speak up. I am currently writing a school work about this topic. The videos on social media have reached all around the world. It was a big topic in my english class, in my school, in Germany. This horror needs to end.

as someone who was sent away at age 13 and spent 2 years in the troubled teen industry, i can say that i've never heard of a single program where someone wasnt abused in some way, whether that be by other children (allowed to go on by staff) or by staff themselves. everyone has a horror story with these places.

If my parents did this to me, they won't be seeing me ever again lmao.

I’d never forgive my parents for that. They can beg and cry for me to talk to them and all I would say is cry harder.

I can relate I was sent to a similar school in 1999 till 2001. It was in New York and this school is also closed.

I'm in my mid 30s and still vividly remember the juvenile "treatment" programs I went to. The DJJ (Department of Juvenile Justice) ran facilities were the absolute worst.

It bothers me that the blonde mum in this is using words like “our experience” when In reality this facility had all the red flags (openly telling her mail was being read, never being alone with her son), and she had the option to pull her son out. She is not a victim in this her son is. I don’t think she is necessarily a bad person for doing this to her son. Just seems like she isn’t very apologetic about it...

When you become a parent. That's it. You signed up for life. You can't send them away to be better. It's up to YOU!

Super weird to see this for me, I was there at Cross Creek at the same time as Theo was - which was a bit of a surprise to see him. I was there from Nov 2005 - Nov 2006 and even 16 years later, I still have some nightmares. I'm glad that y'all are putting some focus on this place specifically, but the whole idea of these programs as a whole. It's something that I'll never forget, so many things ingrained into my mind, super weird. I think of my group often, I think of the things we went through, just crazy.

Was almost sent to one of these. I’m grateful that these victims bring awareness to the troubled teen industry because it prevents so many people from also following victim.

My best friend was sent to a similar place when we were teens. He was abused in several different ways and was never the same after returning. He committed suicide 8 years ago. I think about him every day.

I was at cross creek from 94-96. This came on my survivor page 2 mornings ago and it sent me into a world of pain. Seeing the building made me physically ill. Hearing that man got a job from the papers made me cry. I was 14 and use to have to shower in front of those men. They medically abused us all as well. Your parents sign custody of you over to them blindly. I’ll never forget the girls I met there and the bonds we created to survive. I’ll also never forget any of the staffs faces. Ever.

I was in a few of these programs in Rhode island in the 90's. Some of them were seriously terrible places.

Almost 7 years ago, my step-dad and mother had continuously threatened to send me to the "beyond scared straight" program because I was suicidal and had anxiety, severe depression, and anger issues and "stole" food from them because of my binge-eating habit. Not long after, something happened which got CPS and the cops involved and they concluded that one of my siblings and I were abused to the point where the best course of action was to get us out of there and have us live with my biological father. Since then, everything had vastly improved and I finally got to feel what being cared for and loved was like and finally got the appropriate therapy I needed. Even though I was never officially in one of these programs, I really feel for those who went through it. These teens aren't "troubled" because they're deliberately screwing up, they're "troubled" because their parents can't appropriately care for them and give them the support and resources they need.

Cross Creek “closed” and they opened Horizon. It was still the same program just under a different name. I attended Horizon in January of 2013. The fact that the way they operated the same way 10+ years later is alarming

They need to do a Vice news report about kids who went through the “Scared Straight” programs. I had a friend of mine who went through one of those programs when he was 13 years old and he was physically and sexually assaulted by two correctional officers and six inmates. He has lived with full blown AIDS for over 20 years. He works as a guidance counselor for troubled and abused children in Seattle nowadays.

I was sent to Casa by the Sea in 1999 and as a 39 year old I realize I still am affected by this place and experience and I get really emotional thinking about what happened to me and others there. I have real trauma and I’m owning it now. I’m done with feeling like what happened there did not happen!! Because it did!!!

I’m so glad your doing this brother I knew you and was there When you were there but you were an upper level when I got there. Thank you Teddy for doing this and anyone else that is standing up. Cross creek was a horrible place and had caused so much chaos in my life I had to learn how to handle my life alone I still have ptsd every night I love all survivors from these places keep fighting.

I never believed in the whole scared straight nonsense. They don't work, they often harden the kids they're supposed to help, and more often than not it's more damaging than nurturing.

I was 16 & sent away to 1 of these places. It was beyond traumatizing. 3 years later, AFTER I'd already told my mom what happened there, she gets the mail, sighs, & says to me "I'm STILL paying for your time at ___". So am I mom, so am I. 23 later & I'm still paying....

I’m honestly sometimes grateful my mental health was diagnosed so early in my childhood because when I acted out i was always given leniency and time to figure it out. So many children are labelled “mischievous” or “troubled” at the first instance of misbehaviour at such a young age because of an aged lens. We need to remember children need to be shown and taught even social cues. Reform not ridicule.

My friend went to one of these and he was definitely more messed up when he got out. He's doing better now but it's sad to see that it clearly had a lasting negative impact

I'm now grateful we grew up in poverty. My parents didn't have the money to send me to this prison.

I was sent to a “mental rehabilitation” for young teens and preteens after a suicide attempt at 16. I remember one of the members dragging a kid down the hall. I remember one kid was screaming and crying in pain and they put him in an “isolation room” for hours and we could just hear him screaming to death in the background. A girl was administered a sedative and she slept for at least 20 hours. Maybe a full 24 hours, I’m not sure. I was immediately prescribed drugs after talking to a psychiatrist for less than 3 mins. And they even administered the wrong drug to me on “accident”. That’s incredibly dangerous and it made feel dizzy and delusional. It was traumatizing and I was only there for LESS THAN A WEEK. I can’t imagine any longer. Some of those kids were in there for 6-8 months.

Thank you for everyone's courage here

I work with troubled teens in a more acute hospital setting. I try as much as possible to stray away from places like this for employment. Dangerous for patients

Kudos to Paris Hilton for bringing awareness to these types of “schools.” I look at her in a whole knew way after she told her story. 🙏🏽

First of all wtf. Second of all what kind of Parent sends a sexually abused or a child that has been rap*ed to a troubled teen program???? Actual neglect. They should have had their children taken away from them and be sent to prison wtf.

I'm glad vice did this episode. I was at camas ranch in Montana which was the program for males about to turn 18 and also it went up to the age of 25 so 18 to 25 I remember having to go to seminars at what was called the facility it was an hour and a half drive to Thompson falls every 6 weeks and we would stay in the upper level cabins while we were there for the few days of the seminar and it was just really horrifying seeing how the miners had to live there they were like prisoners and we would talk to them at night in the cabins and they would tell us how horrible it's been and some kids have been there at that point for years basically it was all kids whose families were mostly middle class to upper middle class and a lot of kids came from wealthy homes as well but the point is these programs were manipulating families out of their money so that they can just hold their kids hostage and use the seminars as a way to disguise this place as helpful nurturing and whatever nonsense they would spew out in their stories they told our parents while we were over there in whatever program whatever country it was a lot of them were closed down by the time I got there in the summer of 2005 I left May 2006 so the experience in Montana was for the most part not too bad only because I was 19 years old or just turned 19 years old so I knew that I could leave anytime but that was the whole thing they manipulated our parents as well so that the only thing we could do is walk down the road with our luggage and we were in the middle of nowhere it was maybe like a two or three days walk to Missoula to the airport or Greyhound station anyway it was very traumatizing seeing these kids and how they had to live I felt their fear I felt their anger I felt their sadness all of their feelings when I went to that facility for those seminars and hearing the stories about Mexico about Jamaica from guys who had been through it and sent to the ranch was just awful I couldn't believe what I was hearing and also how they resolve these other programs in America ivy ridge Cross Creek the list goes on and on I'm glad that these places were closed down and I'm glad that this show was made on vice a respected KZfaq channel exposing this dark side of American greed just horrible and a lot of these people I knew at the ranch became my best friends and I still communicate with a lot of them on Facebook and unfortunately some of them have passed away I'm glad this was made. God bless you all.

Incredible seeing all this support from folks who weren't there. It was awful and thank you for your comment

Honestly, I blame the parents. "Oh they didn't know". Really? You send off your child to some "school" that has to abduct them and you didn't know there was something wrong with it? C'mon now...

I was sent to 5 abusive facilities throughout my adolescence, one of which was shut down by the FBI 6 months after I ran away on a home visit. I'm 29 now and still suffer from severe ptsd that has destroyed my life completely. Majority of my friends from those places are dead and they are the lucky ones...

That’s horrifying.. those poor kids!! :((

My goodness 😢 I just watched the Netflix docu series The Program n it brought me here. This is INSANE

It’s sad, because if parents could have afforded this expensive ‘camp’ they could have also easily afforded therapy for their children and their family instead of shipping their child off to strangers