Meg Appelgate
Appearances
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Then they'd carry them off to a room to lock them up until they woke up.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, you're completely right. And as if that wasn't enough, there are disturbing reports of sexual assault and harassments of all kinds. I myself experienced extremely inappropriate relationship dynamics with my therapist while there. The male therapist used to have wrestling matches with all of the girls and even had us sit on his lap.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
The kids can't report the abuse because they have severe restrictions on communication with parents, lawyers, and other advocates. If a staff member tries to report it internally, they often get punished. These programs make kids live under their total authority, stripping away their autonomy for months to years. These kids are victims of institutional abuse.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
The longer they stay in these places, the more likely they are to experience this abuse. This is especially true for kids with developmental disabilities who find themselves in these programs at an alarming rate. These kids are more likely to be abused, less likely to report the abuse, more likely to experience trauma-related symptoms, and less likely to be able to heal from the harm.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
And that's just scratching the surface. We also hear many reports of physical and nutritional neglect, think food and sleep deprivation and restricted access to medical care. There is also medical abuse, including forced medication and overmedication. I myself remember being put on meds that had me drooling like a St. Bernard and made me gain 60 pounds in six months.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Pretty much. They decided I had bipolar disorder after two days of being there. Turns out, I don't have it at all.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Hey, Jordan. Thanks for having me. It's quite an introduction and probably one that my teenager would roll their eyes at. It's funny you use the word transported because many of the kids that enter these programs are transported against their will, oftentimes in the middle of the night.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, pretty much. Many of the punitive and isolative tactics that they use create barriers for teens and are especially damaging to teenage brains. A primary example is conversion and aversion therapy that attempt to change youth's sexual or gender identities.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
If you can even call it school.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
For me, it was more like babysitting with a side of manual labor. The staff were often unqualified, and I personally didn't learn much beyond how to follow orders and stay out of trouble. My education in the program consisted of having me sit at a desk for 12 hours a day writing papers on topics they'd give me. I wasn't allowed to speak. I wasn't allowed to get up.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
I had to do exactly what they told me to do. I had no free will. Every day they just put us all in a room, give us handouts and told us, when you've learned everything here, we will give you a test.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, exactly. And you touched on something important. The troubled teen industry does have ties to cults. The roots of the industry are wild. So get this. Many modern day programs were actually inspired by a cult called Synanon.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Pretty much. Synanon started in 1958 as an offshoot of Alcoholics Anonymous. They had this twisted group therapy called The Game, in which members would verbally attack each other until they broke down. Not exactly a Hallmark moment.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Child care and colts are a bad mix, generally.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
And when I talk about the game, that's actually in reference to that attack therapy that I talked about earlier. It's the same exact thing.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, that's actually pretty accurate. You'd sit in a circle for two to three hours and hear everything that is wrong with you, everything you need to change and how you're not good enough.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yep. And Synanon was no different. Members of Synanon had to shave their heads, mate with people who weren't their spouses, and some were even forced to have sterilizations and abortions. When the LAPD finally caught on to the severe abuse and violence, Synanon's leadership collapsed. But not before some of its followers took those techniques and created spinoff programs on youth.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, no, it really is. I myself was actually kidnapped from my bed in the middle of the night and transported to a facility.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
And voila, the modern troubled teen industry was born.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Oh, yeah, it is nuts. And that doesn't even touch on the roots of wilderness programs like your friend in high school found himself in.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, that sounds pretty accurate, actually. But it basically started in 1966 when school officials at Brigham Young University created a course called Youth Leadership 480. And they paid a former student $90 to teach survival skills to university students who were failing school. It was essentially a month-long backpacking trip in the Utah desert.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah. But then, after leaving BYU, that student, along with other peers, started the first wilderness therapy program, charging $500 for a 30-day outing. So from 90 to 500, that's a nice markup they got going. It gets crazier. Another BYU graduate took it a step further and started the Challenger Foundation. They raised the price to almost $10,000. Ten grand for a month in the woods.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Better be gold-plated s'mores. There surely wasn't. But Challenger and all of its spinoffs were based on a very punitive approach.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Essentially, it didn't take long for youth in these programs to start dying from things like malnutrition, falling off of a cliff, extreme medical neglect, and even dehydration.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
All wilderness therapy programs today are descendants of this challenger foundation.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, there actually are a zillion of these. But in 1967, two former Synanon members went on to found CEDU, known as CEDU. CEDU marked the beginning of therapeutic boarding schools, behavior modification programs, and group homes.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Seadoo took children who struggled with behavioral or substance abuse issues and applied the same tactics that Synanon used, only they also threw in things like forced cuddling that they called smushing. This is when the industry started its heavy focus on youth.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, transporters that my parents hired came to escort me to my first program. They woke me up, told me I was coming with them, and that we can do this the easy way or the hard way.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, I don't blame you on that. Another program that focused on youth, The Seed, was started in 1970. It incorporated all of its predecessors' punitive tactics but took the abuse to a whole new level. In fact, a Senate report in 1974 compared The Seed's techniques to brainwashing techniques used on prisoners of war in Korea. This report is what primarily caused The Seed's collapse.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Nope. Of course not. In 1976, two men who felt inspired by the seed started Straight Incorporated. They claimed to rehabilitate teenage drug users using tough love tactics. which included coercive thought reform methods such as public humiliation, sleep and food deprivation, and confrontational tactics too.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Unfortunately, and not unsurprisingly, these kids actually received no counseling or therapy at all, and most of the kids had never even done drugs. It's pretty crazy when you think about it. It has been reported by survivors that when they arrive at Straight Incorporated, they'd be separated from their parents where other peers would question them about their drug use.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
If the youth indicated that they had never done drugs, many times they would be verbally and physically abused until they agreed that they had a drug problem and signed a confession to that effect. Then they'd return the kid to their parents and show them the signed confession and say something along the lines of, thank God you brought your child. Look at all the drugs that they're doing.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
And there are obviously other types of programs, such as religious academies and boot camps, which have different origin stories. But one thing remains the same. Regardless of how these programs were founded, many have patterns of rampant abuse and claim to fix struggling youth using these ineffective and non-evidence-based practices.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, I'm so glad to hear that your friend didn't have any lasting trauma from being there. You bring up such an important point. There are some who go to these programs and come out having had a great experience. While I am so thankful for that, the reality is that these programs are not federally regulated, severely lacking in oversight.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
And they also don't have proper reporting policies that would ensure the safety for every single youth. In health care, everything should be driven by outcomes. Until we can guarantee that every youth who enters these programs receives actual treatment and has a good experience, then alternative methods need to be used.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Not to mention, we know now that even in the absence of abuse for these children, the act of being institutionalized itself can be harmful. The kids who go into these facilities have every aspect of their lives monitored, contact with the outside world is cut off, and have a complete loss of free will.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
The very fact that communication is limited to the outside world, that there's no due process, and that these children are extremely removed from their support systems will often breed abuse, even if it's not intended.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, exactly. And most people don't understand that kids in prison actually have more rights than kids in these programs. Ripping a teen away from their closest relationships, or should I say kidnapping, as that's often what is done, can cause major disruptions in their ability to function in important ways, both internally and externally.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Exactly. But instead of a plant, it's a teenager's mental and emotional well-being we're talking about. And trust me, it gets worse when that adversity or trauma hits during childhood, especially without a caring adult to help them through it.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Exactly. It's something called toxic stress. It's like regular stress's evil twin. It changes the way our brain is wired right down to the genetic level and basically remodels the brain in all the wrong ways. It goes after key areas in the brain like the amygdala, hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Those are the parts that handle things like stress response, emotional regulation, focus, decision-making, and memory. When toxic stress messes with those, it's like trying to run a computer on a corrupted hard drive. Nothing works the way it should.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Unfortunately, it is legal. You may be more aware of this industry than you think. Thinking back to when you were in high school, do you remember any kids that just disappeared all of a sudden? Maybe there were rumors of them going to tour Europe or going to boarding school or going to prison.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, exactly. Our brains are like super sponges when we're young, soaking up everything around us. If that everything is chaos and stress, the brain rewires itself to survive in that kind of environment and not in a good way.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, you're not far off. When survivors of the industry finally get out of these programs, we're starting to see the full scope of damage. We're talking mental health issues like complex PTSD, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and personality disorders. But it doesn't stop there. Housing insecurity, lack of job training, poor educational outcomes— and even higher chances of suicide.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
It's like a nightmare bingo card of long-term effects, all tied to something called adverse childhood experiences.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah. So basically, they're traumatic events that happen before you turn 18 and can mess with your entire life, your health, your opportunities, your stability. They're grouped into three categories, abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
The original study and decades of follow-up research has linked these experiences to a greater chance of chronic disorders, obesity, behavioral changes, autoimmune disease, depression, alcoholism, you name it.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, childhood trauma is like a ghost that haunts you well into adulthood. And get this, there's a questionnaire for adverse childhood experiences. It's like a trauma scorecard with 10 different types of abuse scenarios that can happen in childhood. For every one you check off, you get a point. And trust me, you really don't want a high score on this test.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
What's even more mind-blowing is that many of the scenarios on that list match up perfectly with the kinds of abuse happening in these programs.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yep, pretty much nailed it. To give you an idea of how true that is, if I myself had filled out the questionnaire before I was sent away, my score would have been a 1 out of 10. Now, because of what I had to go through during three and a half years in institutions, my score is now a seven. And higher scores aren't just a bad look. They can literally kill you.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
In fact, because I have a score over four, my likelihood of developing chronic pulmonary lung disease is up by 390%. Hepatitis, 240%. Depression, 460%. And the chances of me attempting suicide is up a whopping 1,220%.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Great question, and it's one that a lot of people wonder about. The connection between trauma and physical health might not seem obvious at first, but it's all tied to how our bodies respond to stress. When you experience trauma, especially as a kid, your body is constantly in fight or flight mode, and your stress hormones, like cortisol, are working overtime.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
This prolonged stress can wreak havoc on your immune system, heart, and even lungs over time. For example, with chronic pulmonary lung disease ongoing stress can cause inflammation and damage to the lungs. As for hepatitis, it's not so much that trauma directly causes the disease
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
but that the people with high ACEs, or adverse childhood experience scores, might engage in risky behaviors to cope, like substance abuse, which increases the risk of contracting hepatitis. So in short, the stress from trauma messes with your body in ways that make you more vulnerable to a range of health issues later on.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
It's like your body ends up paying the price for what your mind had to endure.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, and the trauma effects don't stop there. Because many survivors experience medical abuse or neglect, many are terrified of doctors and hospitals, which shatters their trust in the healthcare system. I've been there. Anytime I had something wrong with me in those programs, whether it was a nasty, persistent cough,
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
or being covered in blood after a horrific car crash, I was praised if I didn't seek help or ask for a doctor. No matter what was going on, needing help was seen as being dramatic. Now, as an adult, the mindset has stuck with me. I almost never ask for help, thinking that sitting in pain is somehow better than being a burden by trying to fix it.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yep. Sounds so crazy, right? One Thanksgiving day, my dad came to visit me in the program. And while I was practicing my driving, since I only had my learner's permit at the time, we ended up getting into a serious car crash. The car rolled multiple times and ended up landing upside down. My hand smashed the windshield and I was a bloody mess.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
But my first thought after crawling out through the window was, I have to get to Thanksgiving dinner so I don't get called dramatic for this. People had stopped on the side of the road to help us. I remember them saying they were calling an ambulance, but I told them to stop. I thought that if I could just make it to Thanksgiving dinner, despite everything,
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
The program owners would be proud of me for being strong enough to not need help. And that is what I did. My dad and I took a taxi because the car was obviously totaled to Thanksgiving. And the owner was extremely proud of me.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
I mean, I would say a conservative estimate would be that approximately 120,000 to 200,000 youth are housed in these types of programs every year.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, awareness is key. The movement to stop institutional child abuse isn't new. For the past 50 years, survivors have been sharing their stories and hoping for change. But there's been a shift in recent years that gives us a real shot of making a difference.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
So starting around 2020, high-profile survivors like Paris Hilton, Drew Barrymore, and Kat Von D started speaking out through docu-series, documentaries, podcasts, and news stories. These stories shined a spotlight on the industry and ramped up the pressure.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
I know, right? But then there was the tragic death of Cornelius Fredericks in a Michigan facility in April of 2020. Cornelius died after being restrained by several adults for over 10 minutes for throwing a sandwich. His death sparked outrage in the media and highlighted the fact that over 377 youth have died in these programs. The media finally started to pay attention.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
And he said, I can't breathe. Yep. But then in May of 2022, the nonprofit I founded, Unsilenced, Paris Hilton, numerous senators and hundreds of advocates went to D.C. to speak to lawmakers about the industry and push for more regulations and reporting requirements.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah. In July of 2022, Senator Wyden and Senator Murray announced a federal investigation into the four largest for profit companies due to long patterns of abuse. And only a few months ago, we saw that come into fruition with the release of a report by the United States Senate Committee on Finance.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
The report is literally called Warehouses of Neglect, How Taxpayers Are Funding Systemic Abuse in Youth Residential Treatment Facilities.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Wow. It sounds like that guy might have ended up in a wilderness program and was likely conned the same way so many others were. Sadly, that's more common than you'd think. And it's not just about roughing it in the woods. It often involves a lot more complicated and distressing situations.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Absolutely disgusting. And it's great because since Unsilenced launched in January of 2022, we've seen 90 programs with a history and pattern of abuse shut down.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah. At Unsilenced, we focus on three main areas, preventing abuse, supporting survivors, and ensuring justice. For prevention, we educate parents and communities about the dangers of the troubled teen industry and the struggles survivors face after leaving these programs.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
We also push for transparency with our extensive program archive, which contains over 100,000 documents on over 3,500 different programs. These include DHS reports, news stories, lawsuits, and survivor testimonies, so we can put critical information into the hands of those who really need it.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
And to ensure justice, our justice support team is dedicated to ensuring survivors of institutional abuse have access to it. We connect survivors with dedicated attorneys through our newly launched attorney directory. The team also investigates programs, files record requests to expose abuse, and uses this information to inform the public through our social media channel.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Supporting survivors, though, is a huge part of what we do. We provide independence packs to survivors battling unstable housing, which include a essential resources like a laptop, gift cards and other items to help them transition back into society. And lastly, we also offer free support groups to help the survivor community connect and heal.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
These programs can be pretty harsh, and what goes on behind the scenes is often a lot darker than just camping and survival skills.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah. No, it's the inner workings of something referred to as the troubled teen industry.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, you would absolutely think that, right? Even more daunting is what it entails. The troubled teen industry is basically a powerful network of residential facilities that claim to fix struggling youth. Of course, the definition of struggling is up to whoever is responsible for putting them there. This can range from mental health concerns to social problems to homosexuality.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Essentially, anything deemed needing fixing.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, 100 percent. The only thing I was doing to get sent away was smoking pot and struggling in school and socially. And for many youth, they're there for years.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
That's the thing. So there's this well-known German psychologist named Erik Erikson, and he says teens are supposed to be a little rebellious. It's part of figuring out who they are. So when teens start testing boundaries, refusing to do chores, or having power struggles with their parents, it's not just normal. It's crucial for their development.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
They're trying to explore their own values and beliefs outside of what their family tells them.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Right. Yeah, no, these programs are master marketers. They use scare tactics to make typical teen stuff like talking back, breaking the rules, mood swings, power struggles, or even just being sexually active sound like a crisis that needs extreme measures. Then they make themselves look like the answer to everyone's prayers, advertising to them that they can handle any and every teen issue.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
My parents were literally told that if they didn't do something and quick, I would die. You'd be surprised how they can light a fire under a parent's butt to make a move.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yep. And they take it even further, often claiming to be experts in an impossibly wide range of mental health diagnoses and behavioral issues to caregivers. They'll put lots of colorful pictures of smiling kids on their websites and show off horses and other animals you might see if you enroll.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Exactly. They even use therapeutic buzzwords like evidence-based and trauma-informed care to draw in caregivers. But when my team at Unsilenced and I investigated, we found that most programs either don't use these methods at all or they misuse them. For instance, they might use therapeutic methods as a form of punishment for unwanted behavior.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Not even close. And as I'm sure you know, a therapeutic relationship with a therapist can only exist when it's rooted in trust between the patient and the provider. But these facilities that claim to provide mental health treatment are holding kids against their will. So the relationship is often inherently rooted in distrust.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Exactly. And it's sad because survivors of these programs often leave skeptical and fearful of therapy because of the experiences. This leads to them being hesitant to seek out help even when they really need it. For example, the abuse I experienced while I was in the program came directly from my two therapists.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
But because it came from people who had the title therapist, it didn't register as being abusive at the time. But now as an adult, it is extremely hard to trust or even go to a new therapist because of what happened to me.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Sure. In my line of work, I've learned to embrace being an open book. I experienced things like forced isolation, incorrect diagnoses and forced medication, name-calling and belittlement, forced labor to the point of injury, medical neglect. I had 8 to 16 hours of attack therapy per week. I experienced the removal of food and essential items as punishment.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
And I had inappropriate physical and emotional relationship dynamics between my therapists and myself.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah. No, it is a con. And there are whole pipelines that funnel youth into this industry. Caregiver placement, juvenile justice, child welfare, medical and mental health professionals, and even school districts.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Over the years, these programs have gotten smarter with funding pipelines. And it's now estimated that $23 billion in taxpayer dollars are utilized every year to send kids away to them.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
No. We're talking about your taxpayer dollars. Wow. Potentially funding abuse.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, and remember, that's only the public funds. So that estimation doesn't even include the revenue that these facilities get from parents paying privately.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
It's a complex web where each decision maker can be misled or pressured into thinking these programs are the best option for their kids.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Well, to be honest, it's not far off from the truth. They rely heavily on deceptive marketing tactics. They target people who are truly just desperately looking for help. Many programs have websites with quizzes you can fill out online to find out if you have a troubled teen that will ultimately recommend their program regardless of your answers.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Exactly. I actually did that once for a program called Shepherd's Hill Academy. They have this 10-question quiz to help parents determine if they have a troubled teen. I took the quiz as a hypothetical parent, but instead of indicating my teen had issues, I put disagree to all of the behaviors they deemed were problematic. And guess what?
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Even with all my answers being disagreeing, the quiz results still said, and I quote, it sounds like your teenager is experiencing moderate... to high levels of disobedience, anger, or risky behavior. They then, of course, go on to claim that Shepherd's Hill Academy was a solution to my non-existent problems.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Exactly. It's completely rigged. Using only 10 vague questions, and even when my answers were all disagree, they recommended their 12-month residential treatment program for a team they've never met. If that doesn't scream rigged, I don't know what does.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah. If the mattress guaranteed a lifetime warranty of psychological trauma.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
Yeah, what's really happening in these programs is far from what they advertise, I'm sure you can imagine. Instead of giving kids individualized, evidence-based treatment, many of these places are just hotbeds of abuse. You've got physical abuse, degrading punishments, and all sorts of inhumane discipline. Kids are also often subjected to dangerous seclusion and restraint practices.
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
This can mean being physically restrained, tied up with devices like zip ties, or even drugged to keep them in line. In my first program, if anyone was having an attitude or acting out of line,
The Jordan Harbinger Show
1091: Troubled Teen Industry | Skeptical Sunday
You would see this group of staff come running in and they would throw the kid to the floor on their face and have a staff member holding each of their arms and legs down and a staff with their knee lodged in between their shoulder blades. Then another staff member would come by, pull the kid's pants down and give them some shot of a tranquilizer or another sedative to make them pass out.