Annalyse’s Testimony – Teen Challenge Columbus Girls Academy

I had a really hard childhood growing up. It wasn’t my fault but my go to behavior was to self destruct. I was playing video games 24/7 in order to escape what I was dealing with at home.

I had just returned home from a 10 month wilderness program called SOAR, but honestly, SOAR was an amazing wilderness program despite a few difficulties and disagreements. My mom found a good one, not a bad one like most people go to. However, when I got home I thought I’d be home for good, what a fantasy that was. On April 4th, 2013, my family packed me up in a car & told me I would be going to an all girls boarding school.

They didn’t mention how we’d be forced to eat the large sum of meals they’d prepare for us with outdated food.

They didn’t mention how we’d be forced to do free work labor every single day until the day we left.

They didn’t mention every stuffed animal I brought would be taken except for one.

They didn’t mention that my whole identity would be stripped away from me against my will.

As my mother and grandmother and I arrived in the parking lot, I saw a big sign “TEEN CHALLENGE.” I knew what TC was, my mom had gone to 3 programs, none of them worked for her. They only brainwashed her for a short period of time. To this day, my family doesn’t know what she was thinking sending me there. They had to sign a contract, only finding out later from my grandmother, they didn’t read before they signed, as I’m sure most don’t. Little did they know they signed over parental rights for 15 months. For 15 months the directors of this new program are legally my parents.

I was given a hug from my family & then taken to a big dorm room with 6 bunk beds on each side and a huge bathroom in the middle. I was made to strip so they could see all of my scars due to self harm, I was also made to squat and cough. I also took my very first drug test here, on that day, in front of a random man, at 14 years old.

The next few weeks was a blur. My sister in the program (someone who mentors the new girls for 3 weeks) would have to go to the bathroom with me every time I had to go. I have bathroom anxiety from sexual abuse so for about 4 days I couldn’t urinate. The staff did nothing to help except FORCE me to keep drinking water thinking eventually I’d go whether I’d want to or not. They genuinely thought I was making all of it up.

They’d threaten me with something called sentences if I didn’t go after a week. Sentences is a character quality with a definition & a couple verses, it’s normally half a page long & we have to write it 75-150 times depending on the severity of our punishment. We wouldn’t be able to have any free time (not like we had much anyway) until we were done writing them. It sometimes took people weeks.

Another discipline that is common is Loss of Privileges (LOP) which meant no phone calls, no visits, no sweets, no fun. We only got to see our family once every two months, so if you got LOP the month of family visits, you won’t see them for 4 months total.

We got two phone calls a month, 20 mins each. We weren’t allowed to talk to anyone but immediate family. We weren’t allowed to know anything going on on the outside, if our family mentions the news or friends or weather, they would hang up our phone call. We were constantly monitored. Our letters were read before they were sent, our new letter opened before we got them. Our phone calls were monitored with a staff who’d sit down next to us. Nothing was private. That privacy ended the day our parents signed their rights away.

I was gay when I first got there. I remember prayer circles around me trying to pray the gay away. I vividly remember being forced to sit in my counselors office & read men magazines trying to trigger my straight gene. I remember being told if we didn’t stand during worship, we’d get in trouble. If we didn’t pray with them, we’d get in trouble. If we didn’t change, we’d go to hell.

God wants classy ladies, God wants perfect ladies, God wants accountability.

We would be forced to tell on the wrongs of other girls. If we didn’t snitch and they found out what was going on, every single person Who knew would receive the same discipline. I had it happen to me when I wouldn’t tell on my friend for having a same sex relationship. She had something they call a “breaking free” when someone feels so much shame they tell on themselves & everyone involved. I got 4 months added that day to a already 15 month sentence. My first two weeks there, they bullied me for days into admitting I did something I didn’t do. I got a month added for that as well. I don’t know why I admitted to it. I guess because I was tired of crying nonstop every day because of different counselors calling me a liar, and other horrible names. They bullied me into feeling as though I was worthless.

I wish I would’ve ran away.

I wish I would’ve told my family what was really going on before it was too late.

Before my mental health was too bad off. Something huge happened a couple months into my program. I accidentally walked in on a girl getting physically disciplined for not ever behaving. I also got beat due to seeing what I wasn’t supposed to. For months I decided I would work the program and show them what they wanted to see. I played sister Christian. I played the staff. I played the girls. My mind was set on survival mode.because I know if I didn’t work it, I wouldn’t make it. I finally went on my home pass at 12 months in for the first time. 6 days away from that hell hole. I went home, spent time with my mom, and I thought she wouldn’t make me go back. Please God, I’d beg to myself over and over. But at this point, I was too brainwashed to say anything. As a result, I ended up back there. Because I had so many months added, I had to skip months between my home passes.

When I got back on property at TC, I was traumatized. I had to do another strip search, in front of another man, which made no sense with all the women employees they had. Around the time I got back, I got super sick. Nobody would take me to the doctor. I was throwing up blood & having horrible bowel movements that also had blood in the stools. They gave me pepto bismol and Tylenol and told me I’d be fine. I wasn’t fine.

For 2 months I begged to be seen by a doctor, nobody would take me. On my next home pass my mom rushed me to the hospital & I had to stay multiple nights. I ended up being a day late back to my program & my counselor told my mom I’d have a month added to my already 20 month extended program because sometimes “the children suffer from the adults decisions” (talking about bringing me back a day late) My mom told my counselor that God would eventually hold them accountable for the manipulation they’ve caused.

I got in the car with her, and I cried as I watched the TC sign fade in the distance.

I. WAS. FREE.

After TC I developed an addiction to drugs. Any drug was my go to drug, anything that would make me space out & forget. I struggled with my addiction for 6 years. It started off small, and gradually got to harder and harder drugs. I was so traumatized by TC that I didn’t know what rehab was gonna be like, so I’d refuse to go. I finally did go to a rehab in Florida. That place saved my life. I had counseling & finally opened up about the cult like program that caused all my issues. I healed from it. Talking about it gave me peace. I found God on the floor in the hallway of a secular rehab. I forgave him just like he forgave me. I did it. I got sober. I got help. I broke free. ME. I will not own that 83% success rate bullsh*t they put all over their website. Because my success wasn’t theirs to own, it was MINE. They were the root of my addiction. They were the root of my trauma. They caused me to slip so they could add my percent to their little success rate.

I got free by myself.

I got clean by myself.

I did this BY MYSELF.

I just want to make sure that’s crystal clear.