CEDU therapy

Steely

Active Member
Another poster responded on another post and mentioned CEDU and how horrible this therapy was, their schools, etc. I have now researched for hours, CEDU, its history, their schools and their therapy (past and current). I have also researched the fact that this is a spinoff from a cult in the 70s, Synanon. Unfortunately, I think I am in still as much confusion as I was when I started. I only know now, that my son is in one these "such" programs - but I do not know to what extent it practices this CEDU therapy, or confrontational/primal therapy. From my visit there, and observation there, I could see no signs - but I never saw a group in session.

What do you know about CEDU therapy, and the schools that have spun off because of it?
I remember in the eighties when The Forum was a big deal, and EST..........and it is also related in indirect ways to CEDU.

Any personal insight would be more than valuable. I am now in an all night tail spin of anxiety and angst.

Cr@p I just really need to talk to him. Just me and him. I need to know he is OK. Yea, I know, I am freaking out. Silly me - I hold it all in - and then poof - my steely interior is gone.
Thanks
Steely
 
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Rotsne

Banned
I asked in another board. The answers depend on the timeframe they were in these programs.

Basically up til 1990, they were totally against medication. If a child entered the program and was on medication, they forced him or her off medication. Some of you have children, who have been denying to take medication and you know what happen then.

In 1990 they suddenly decided that medication is OK. It became a different program. Wasserman got old and sold the program to the Brown School. Staff claims that the new owner ran the business into the ground. They closed in 2005. Two of the schools and the wilderness program opened now owned by a large hospital chain. Here is a link about the closure: Rocky Mountain Academy to close; Inability to find leadership blamed (The Spokesman Review)

The program structure is very similar to the one in the late 1990's but the marathon seminars are not called Propheets anymore but Workshops. The confrontation therapy called Request Group is now called Group therapy, which could indicate that the new owners, who is a hospital chain have hired professional staff, so the most important risk factor with group therapy among youth - that they takes others problems on them - are being eliminated.

If you allow a youth to attack a peer during group therapy, you can risk that the attacked kids takes the contents of the attack serious and frankly what kind of knowledge does a 16 year old kid know about mental problems. Isn't there a reason for professionals to study the human mind for years?

Because the new owners are a huge chain and they want to remain a huge chain, I guess that they have removed a lot of the religion the original program contained. They won't like lawsuits. One thing parents should be allowed if possible is to be a fly on the wall during group therapy. It is there the action is.

If I had a kid in a program I would go there when possible as often as it is possible. In many of our continuation schools, which are close to these places, mobilephones are allowed during certain hours every day. The school wont accept any kind of urban legend to develop just because the kids live in some kind of bubble. When I asked our department of education for a SEVIS approved schools in Idaho, they refered me to research boards like Fornits and webpages like Isaccorp and Caica.

I was a little disturbed to find that people still speaks so badly about a place they were in some 10-20 years ago. I can understand that a kid just leaving the program is angry about loosing a year from partying and high school life. But when they are matured and have good lives with job and children, they should be able to see that their parents did a good thing for them. But that is not the case. I did go to the extend to research the myspace groups of former students when I wanted to remove my daughter from our appointed family coach from our county (The one who wants to introduce our daughter to the party life with alcohol and all). On the myspace groups they still are angry and we are in some cases talking +10 years out of the program.

I don't believe that these places in Idaho are as bad as the foregin ones closed by the local authorities in Mexico, Costa Rica, The Czech republic, Italy and Samoa. However I don't understand why they insist on isolation. They could give the kids mobilephones, which are opened for one number only so they can call home on a budget? Here in Denmark you can buy phones which the parents load with a certain amount every month and coded so one number can be dialed. Then it is up to the kid to use the phone wisely.

Steely. If you are afraid, then call and demand him on the phone. It is your child. You are paying a lot for him to be there. It certainly should be your right.

I can feel that you are a good parent and care for your son. If I somehow upset you and my previous post was too judgmental I apologize for that. It was not the intention.
 

meowbunny

New Member
I looked at CEDU for my daughter. She needed more intensive therapy geared towards Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) and therapy for dyslexia. Those were my only objections to CEDU. All in all, I was impressed with their basic philosophy. Their "do to get" was pretty spot on, I thought.

I did not see where they tried to stop their kids from being medicated. They did have psychologists and psychiatrists on call. Individual therapy was available at an additional cost, as well as the group sessions.

I did have some problem with the lack of education of the staff and I was never really answered when I asked what training the staff got once hired. I was told, if I remember correctly, that staff went to their own "propheets." I do admit I would have wanted the staff trained more in mental illnesses but they were caring and really wanted the kids to succeed. I don't know what it is like now nor do I know what it was like when it was founded. I checked it out in the mid-90s.
 

meowbunny

New Member
One other thing. My daughter is very good friends with a couple of CEDU grads. They are not resentful about having gone there but rather feel that it truly helped them. One girl flat out says it saved her life. These girls are open about their classmates, including the ones who quit before graduating, the ones who went back to their old lifestyle, the ones who are resentful, and the successes, etc. From what I could tell, the majority were at the very least accepting of their need to be there and not exceptionally resentful.

Her own program actually had a lower success rate. However, they also dealt with a very specialized group. Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) is extremely hard to treat. To me, "success" for Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) kids is if they can be taught even an iota of empathy. Her Residential Treatment Center (RTC) did succeed in that with about 45% of the kids. Not a high success rate, but considering what they were working with, pretty darn good.
 

Steely

Active Member
Thanks guys.............actually rotsne you answered a lot of my questions in a informative way which helps. Actually this CEDU therapy/philosophy has it's fingers in virtually every over 18 program out there that I had been suggested to by an ed consultant which bothers me. The fornit website also bothers me, as does the fact that my ed consultant as early as 1993 was advocating this type of therapy.

What excatly do you think in the year 2008, owned by this major big shot health care company (another disturbing fact), that this type of therapy looks like? I know they have "groups 3-4 times a day", but I have never listened in. I have toured the school, houses, etc, extensively.
 

klmno

Active Member
Try not to get too worried, Steely, just based on this info. I don't know the answers and you are aware, I get antsy about stuff like this, too, but I think ALL inpatient care or intense residential treatment is going to have a lot of group therapy, isn't it? I'm not sure that's a bad thing. I'd be worried more if my kid were singled out to do a lot of individual therapy with one specific therapist. Also, is it even allowed for someone outside of a program to sit in group therapy sessions? My guess would be "no" but if it was, I doubt you'd see the "real" picture.

As far as the type of therapy used- that would be my concern. What do those initials stand for? Is it a therapuetic method ONLY used at residential treatments run by this company? I think I'd search google for that and also maybe ask some local tdocs and psychiatrists what they think about it.

If you talk to M on the phone, can you ask him a few indiscreet questions (without it worrying him or without it being listened to by the staff there) and see if he's comfortable with things- not if he likes beiing there, but if anything is going on that isn't kosher?
 

Steely

Active Member
Actually where M is at IS owned by this big company, and it is directed by the former director of RMA.
(And Barbara Walters almost brought a lawsuit against them when she pulled her family out.)

Thanks though - I know you are trying to cheer me up.
I am going to go to work now, on this crazy christmas shopping day, (biggest one of the year!) and will sell lots and lots of stuff - probably good to do physical stuff when I am emotional like this.
 
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totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
Steely I deleted my posts... I am sorry this was even posted or started... You don't need this added pain.
Please do not make any quick decisions. Take your time. We are all here.
I do not need to add to your pain... I will still give you the info, :)
I just do not want to argue about carp in a news paper... with others. Not you! :)
 

Epiphany

New Member
I went to ***, a CEDU school, and can tell you anything you want to know about the program, what has changed, how they operate today, the good and the bad, about the staff, the independent consultants, the spin-offs.

If you want to know about confrontational therapy, I can explain it to you in detail. If you want to know what Propheets, Workshops, LifeSteps are about, I will tell you. It is a lot to cover though, so one topic at a time might be best.

I can also explain why some kids had good results, and some horrible. Why many kids returned to old ways and others didn't.

***, which was just closed, was a spin-off, started by ***, the director of RMA when I was there. And while ***, Barbara Walters daughter attended. I can describe some of this "incest" where staff from one program move off to others, found their own, or work in different areas like bounty hunting, or what is known as child escorts, who kidnap your son or daughter in the wee hours and take them forcefully to these programs.

If you have questions, I will try and provide the best answers and descriptions I can.
 
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