By Katie: 1999 One night in early 1999, I was feeling like I was having another sinus infection. I had already slept a bit that day and it was early at night for me, but I did remember having a headache and mentioning it to my mom. I remember my mother giving me a red [...]

By Anonymous: 2019-2020 I have been a victim of institutional child abuse since age twelve. As a child, I suffered from severe anxiety and depression. I was bullied at school and struggled academically due to a learning disorder. My parents, heartbroken by my suffering, decided to get me help. They brought me to NYP Westchester, [...]

By Kim: 1998-2003 In the spring of 1998, at age 12, I was sent to be evaluated by a therapist with supposed expertise in substance use problems after my mom found something written in my diary about drug use and was understandably concerned. I was never told the reason for the evaluation or asked about [...]

By Annalyse: 2011-2013 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 [...]

By Kyra: 2014-2015 Four days after New Year 2014, winter of my freshman year of high school, my parents made decision to send me to a wilderness therapy program in Utah based on the recommendation of my psychiatrist and education consultants. I’d been struggling for years with trauma, behavioral and relationship difficulties – both internally [...]

By Sasha: 2007 My name is Sasha Oates and I am a survivor of multiple abusive programs. When I was 14, I was struggling with self harm, depression, and an eating disorder. In April of 2007, I was taken from a psychiatric hospital by two transporters, put on a plane, and arrived in Salt Lake [...]

By Sacheen: 2019-2020 I sent my 15-year-old daughter to Kansas City Girls Academy in September of 2019 thinking it was my last hope and an answer to a desperate prayer. I later came to realize that this is how these programs prey on parents and ultimately make us unwitting partners in their victimization of our [...]

By Giovanna: 2019-2020 Basically, I was sent to this program a month before my fifteenth birthday due to extreme relationship dysfunction between men and my mother. Upon arrival, staff immediately told my mother to leave, and I was not allowed to say goodbye. I was strip searched by a woman I obviously hadn’t known a [...]

By Anonymous: 2015-2016 In the summer of 2015 my parents had hit a wall with me. They decided that I would be sent to a Therapeutic Boarding School in Montana. Turning Winds is located in Yaak, Montana and has a history of abuse allegations and issues with law enforcement specifically in 2006 after they beat [...]

By Hann: 2021 Trigger Warning: suicide, self-harm, eating disorder, restraints Hi, my name is Hann (any pronouns) and I would like to share my story of being a victim to institutional child abuse. I would never wish the trauma I went through on anyone. I would consider this time period the worst time of my [...]