Anonymous’ Adult Challenge Testimony

My son was 28 years old, and he died last month after being in the Adult Challenge program in Brainerd for six months. He was a wonderful person who was loved by many—he was helpful, and kind, as well as being highly intelligent and skilled in many areas. I am devastated beyond belief and am trying to understand what led up to this. My son was struggling with issues no one was aware of for awhile, and he tends to tell everyone he’s fine so as not to make them worry. He ended up acting out and getting in trouble.

I wanted him to get professional therapy, but he and his wife and family were fixated on him going to a Christian-based program so decided he would go to the Adult Challenge program in Brainerd, Minnesota. I had no say in the matter. I received one call from him in the six months he was there, on Mother’s Day. His phone time was very limited, and said he needed to use it mostly to talk to his wife and three children, which I understood, because he missed them terribly. We wrote letters, and he said he was doing well in the program. I think his letters were being read by staff though, because there were always initials on the envelope in someone else’s writing. He asked if I could send slides for the shower and coffee, and I began to feel like he was basically in prison.

I know the isolation must have been upsetting for him, and he must have felt lonely. One morning, he abruptly checked out of the program without first discussing it with family or friends. When I found out, I became extremely worried, especially because he wouldn’t answer calls or texts, and I knew his phone was with him, because he had briefly called his wife. She said he sounded disoriented and hoarse and was upset and crying. Over the next few days, he seemed to have his phone turned off most of the time but did contact his wife a couple of times and finally answered one of my texts to say he was ok and would call later. He didn’t, and that was the last time I heard from him. I had been calling every motel and hotel I could find in Brainerd, since that’s where he told his wife he was, and next I called hospitals. I called the police to ask what their criteria was to file a missing persons report, and because he was an adult and had contacted his wife, they said more time would need to pass.

Four days after he left the program, I got a call from his wife to let me know he had been found and that he had taken his own life violently. In his possession was medication the program had given him. There was a blister pack of Paxil that had been dispensed on August 3rd for a month’s supply, and there were only two left. In a letter to his wife, he had said that he was also taking gabapentin and hydroxyzine pamoate, but those were not in his possession. He had never been on psych meds before, and I don’t know what the program’s release policy is and if there’s a plan made for continuing medications or not.

I feel that the Adult Challenge program should have known that he was not in a good mental state, and that they should’ve made more attempts to help or reach out to family before just letting him go that way.  I’ve called them daily and left voicemails then finally got a call back, but they said they couldn’t tell me much without a release. I asked if I could get a copy of his discharge papers, and they said someone from their legal department would contact me, but I haven’t been contacted, and that was over a week ago. I’m hoping my son’s story might help others not to suffer the way I think he probably did if you have ideas of how to make that happen.