r/troubledteens

Hi, sorry to bug you all but I had a couple questions about what it's like in a day to day environment in an RTC?

Mainly I wanted to ask, what happens if you don't want to join in group therapy, or the group activities? I ask because I prefer to just be alone, and frankly, listening to other people talk about their problems would likely only bring me down further.

If an attendee gets violent, does that usually shut down everything for everyone else?

How much alone time do you traditionally get in a 24 hour window?

What happens if I refuse to take part in general, or stay in bed?

What sort of tricks should I watch out for from staff? Is everything said there likely to be turned against me?

Thank you.

I don't think you even need to know​ about the kids who were murdered by wild​e​rness programs. How can you put your teen in some stranger's hands as th​e​​​y hike through the middle of nowhere, surrounded by "troubled" teens who might, for all you know, be drug​ addicts and killers?

How can this seem like a good idea to any half​way​ well-intentioned parent?

The an​swer being, imo, that most parents don't really care. Even the ones that aren't blatantly abusive would rather take those risks in order to have the child-doll they want. ​

Today is the 10th anniversary of me getting transported. Everything feels so weird. I just wish I had someone to talk to who gets it.

I went to Newport Southern California! The location I went to was called applewood. So basically today I was looking on Google to find pictures of the house and I found multiple things online saying that location closed down. It’s also no longer on the Newport website anymore. I’m really glad that it shut down cause that place was a shit show. I’m hoping more locations shut down and the whole Newport industry shuts down. I’m still trying to find out why it shut down but I’ll let you guys know when I figure it out

Let me just stick this here.

A couple summers ago, I went to a residential treatment facility for young adult girls in Virginia - partly to help my mental health, but mostly to get away from my abusive family. It appeared to be holistic and I was going in with pre-existing PTSD.

Absolutely nothing that had been advertised for the place was available, and there was absolutely nothing that I was prepared to handle while being there.

The other girls and I were psychologically abused around the clock, sleep deprived, deliberately triggered, etc. The staff would stomp around us making loud noises and it would cause nearly all of the residents to have panic attacks. It was like we were animals in a zoo. Was a fucking nightmare. We weren’t allowed to talk to each other so we had to warn each other in code and by passing notes when the staff weren’t watching us - which was never. I was physically assaulted by multiple staff members, denied a shower, a bed, and my nightly medications on more than one occasion, basic amenities like toilet paper and towels were kept under lock and key… It just went on and on. It reminds me of those movies where the parents send their kid away to some reformative camp or school to fix their behavior and it turns out to be a totally evil set up that they have to escape with their bare hands because nobody else believes them when they explain what’s really going on behind the walls. I was denied discharge even though I had voluntarily admitted myself, so I had to pack up my shit and make a run for it.

I must have run about a half a mile to get to the main road and then nearly got myself killed while trying to flag a car down. I was terrified. Staff were in hot pursuit and even showed up with a van, yelling at me to get in. I got a driver to call 911 and well, from there, it actually got worse.

The police officers that arrived cornered me and did nothing but mock and taunt and humiliate me while I tried to explain what was happening. An ambulance showed up and I told them I did not need one, that I needed help getting away from the facility and how I was worried about the other girls. They could not have cared less and waited a good 10 minutes until I fell on my ass from exhaustion before stuffing me in the vehicle. I was stripped naked in the middle of the ER and changed into a gown when they unloaded me. Then I was essentially held hostage for the next 14 hours while all the doctors and nurses in the building completely refused to communicate with me. It was like an episode of the Twilight Zone. I called my parents, but they didn’t care, my extended family didn’t care, I didn’t know what else to do. That was the end of the line.

Police showed up at around 3am the next day. Yes, 3 fucking am. They handcuffed me and dropped me off at a psych ward. Didn’t even tell me where I was. I then was forced to rot away in there for a month while being denied my medications, and was further abused. Ironically, I was in much worse shape when they finally released me. Wish I’d never tried to get help.

I read the papers when I got out. The residential facility had petitioned for my lockup using made-up stories. The police did the same. The report said I was running around, being suicidal, and had laid down. In the middle of the road. Their justification for everything was that I was a danger to myself. My mental health has never been worse in my entire life.

So what was the real danger? Me? Or them?

I'm not sure if this is the right place, but I don't know where else to go.

Why exactly do people support this industry? I understand that officials probably are getting payouts, but why the parents, especially when crimes from the TTI is well documented? I mean, they're actively paying to send this children to the abuse factories, and that's not mentioning gooning services, so they're actively taking a hit to have their kids be abused. And that's not even mentioning the local population around these families. People who turn a blind eye to these kids suffering. Wouldn't they at least try to help?

Sorry, I just can't comprehend why these people would do such a thing.

I’m a troubled teen industry survivor.

Specifically, I survived a program run by Rite of Passage which is still open and one of the worst for sexual abuse of children in the state of Utah. I can provide the articles on this if you need further verification. I can also provide my own interview that I was forced to do as a resident of a Rite of Passage program, as a minor, in a Cincinnati based newspaper.

Rite of Pasaage ran hillcrest academy in Springfield Township up until 2023, when they were shut down after a female staff sexually abused a male child there.

Unfortunately, charges were dropped.

These kids weren’t even from Cincinnati. They were sent here from somewhere else. They only experienced our city while being tortured- and I do not use this word lightly. The TTI is known for illegal restraints that kill children, for starvation, sleep deprivation, isolation. I know this because I lived it in a Rite of Passage program, and yet I got off easy compared to what happened to my friends… all in the name of mental health care, of “fixing delinquent children.”

I have seen articles every year since about plans to reopen. I saw one a week ago with no mention of rite of passage (which had previously taken the entire blame in articles about the closure) and the discussion of the sexual abuse was very minimal.

As someone who knows how these programs work in multiple states, abusing children and getting away with literal torture, I am absolutely sickened at the thought of one being open less than a half hour from where I lay my head at night.

I also know first hand that unfortunately, one instance of sexual abuse is never enough to get a program shut down- falcon ridge ranch in Utah is still open after sending multiple staff members to prison. There is more to this story. If you know more, I am all ears.

For residents of Cincinnati, I want you to share my outrage and ask why the fuck are we reopening this? How do we have funding to torture kids in the name of mental health care while we cut grants to valuable programs provided by GCBH?

hello,

i currently go to an alternative school, and they will not let me go back unless i go to an RTC. i have went to an rtc before 3 years ago (center for discovery in stamford, ct) and i had an intake with Haven of Hope Addiction Treatment & Recovery Center. can anyone tell me about this program, or tell me some other programs too? im worried about the fact that they were kinda pushy on me going to "better myself" (i know im paranoid) but in order to go back to school i have to attend this rtc. i suggested iop/php, wraparound, and anger management. they said "nope you have to go to an rtc". i dont want to end up with trauma and the feeling that im essentially being "forced" to get better. can anyone help?

edit: we are looking at short term programs.

Greetings everyone —

We have BIG NEWS for you 📰** **

A former Family Foundation School (FFS) student/survivor filed a federal civil RICO and trafficking lawsuit on June 29, 2026, naming 29 defendants – not just the school and the Argiros family, but the local bank, the referring school district, the accreditation body (NATSAP), a follow-on treatment provider, a college that placed instructors on campus, the local newspaper, and the village and county government. She’s seeking $200M+ in damages. This is a newly filed complaint – these are allegations, not findings of fact, with one major exception: Paul Geer’s federal sex abuse conviction, which is already final.

Van Arsdale v. Education Plus Corporation et al., Case No. 1:26-cv-03885, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Filed June 29, 2026 by attorney Elizabeth Sarah Johannesen (Johannesen & Umana, P.C.). Plaintiff attended FFS from June 2002 through 2004, beginning at age 15.

The complaint asserts 15 separate causes of action, including civil RICO (18 U.S.C. §1962(c) and (d)), federal sex trafficking and forced labor statutes (18 U.S.C. §§1589, 1591), New York’s child trafficking victims law, the NYC Gender-Motivated Violence Act, negligence, negligent supervision, fraudulent misrepresentation, and §1983 claims against the government defendants. It demands a jury trial and seeks compensatory damages exceeding $200 million plus treble and punitive damages.

In short: The complaint frames FFS as an association-in-fact racketeering enterprise, not just a negligent institution – arguing the school’s tuition fraud, uncompensated child labor on the Argiros family’s private estate, and sexual abuse were interlocking parts of the same financial scheme rather than isolated failures.

It also advances a “village capture” theory: that the Argiros family’s ownership stake in a large share of Hancock’s commerce (the only bank relationship, the only local newspaper, the Chamber of Commerce, hospitality businesses) gave surrounding institutions a financial incentive to look away.

Who is named:

FFS and the Argiros family: Education Plus Corp. d/b/a Family Foundation School; Emmanuel/Michael Argiros; Cindy Argiros a/k/a “Cindy Ray”; Betty Argiros

FFS staff: Paul Geer (already convicted federally, 27 years); Diane Geer; Lynda Drake (nurse/EMT); Ivan Fras, M.D.; Jeff Brain, M.A.; Susan Runge, L.C.S.W.; plus unidentified John/Jane Doe defendants

Argiros-controlled entities: Kasos Co Family LP; Kasos Enterprises LLC; Chapel Hill Land Holdings LLC; K9-5 Inc.

Local government: Village of Hancock; Hancock Village Police Department; Delaware County Sheriff’s Office; Delaware County Board of Supervisors

Media: The Hancock Herald (owned/published by Cindy Argiros under a different name)

Banking: NBT Bank, N.A.; NBT Bancorp Inc.

Post-FFS referral network: Villa Veritas Foundation Inc.; Suzanne Cusack

Academic/accreditation: Lackawanna College; National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) 👈🙊

Referring district: Half Hollow Hills Central School District

Medical: Garnet Health Medical Center Catskills-Calicoon

This lawsuit is one that matters for TTI accountability across the industry landscape because the complaint reaches further than a typical program liability suit. It names an accreditation body (NATSAP), a bank, a referring public school district, and a downstream treatment provider as defendants — arguing that institutions adjacent to a program can be held liable if they knowingly benefited while ignoring red flags. If any of these theories survive early motions, it could matter well beyond this one case for how survivors think about who else might be reachable in litigation.

Congratulations to this brave survivor and all of you Family School badasses. Could not be more proud of you if I tried! ⚖️

I feel like another huge issue in the tti is harassment from other clients, and the staff refusing to do anything about it, other times encouraging the behavior from said client. I made a post a while ago about my time in Aspiro, there was someone named Lydia who would frequently mock people having panic attacks, myself included and would outright tell people that they were using past trauma as an excuse to "make her uncomfortable" and would yell at them (along with staff) if they happened to be experiencing any sort of flashbacks or severe anxiety. (Which resulted in staff outright telling people to suppress their emotions). She'd also insult people out of nowhere, including another girl in my group who had been struggling with an eating disorder. She frequently called her "fat", tell her to burn herself with her propane, and anytime we ate, she'd watched the girl the entire time and tell her that she was finally being "put in fat camp". Other times, she'd announce a list of people she didn't want to sleep next to (all of which included people who were prone to panic attacks), because she was worried about "them killing her". It wasn't even limited to our group either. She'd seen a male from another group running away one time, and had told him to dive into the lake and not come up.
As I said before, staff not only did nothing about this, but would cater to everything she said. I remember calling them out on this, to which the staff would respond that they were "glad I had heard her, because I needed self improvement". Part of the horrible experience in the industry was dealing with things like that. Wondering if anyone else also got harassed during time in the tti, with the staff similarly doing nothing about it.

If a TTI is claiming they are a “charity“ and they have a charity registration #, can anything be done? They say in their bio: We are an “Accredited children's mental health centre. We are a registered charity.”

EDIT: This is an RTC, not a hospital.

I was put in facilities at a very young age. I was diagnosed with ADHD at 5 and bipolar and generalized anxiety disorder at 8 or 9. And since that age was in and out of facilities, I always just wanted to stay home. I wanted stability. I wanted a place I could count on to feel safe. When I was 12, I was put in a place called Eau Claire Academy. When I got out of there, I guess my dad liked visiting Eau Claire despite being 3 hours away from where we lived, so we would frequently visit and go to the video game store there. But on one of these trips on the way back, we stopped at an old thrift shop in the middle of nowhere along the highway, and I picked out the Beatles rock band for the Xbox 360. The game was almost ten years old at the time, but I already had the guitar peripheral from the other rock band game I had. I got home and I played it the next day, but I only recognized a couple of songs, that being “Here Comes the Sun” and “Yellow Submarine.” But I was kind of entranced by what I was playing. Several months later, I was sent to another facility, and my dad put a compilation album “Beatles 1” on my MP3 player. And that’s when I first heard “Hey Jude,” which I really liked. I listened to more and more of their songs and got hooked more and more. I then got kicked out of that facility and was sent to another place where the therapist would play me Beatles songs during therapy sessions, from there I was sent all the way across the country. I remember listening to “The Ballad of John and Yoko” on my way walking to the school building on my first full day. Almost everything I had had been stolen the night before. I was in an awful place, but my interest in the music really kept me going! In my classroom. There was a book on the Beatles. I read it a lot throughout my stay there. It had no front or back covers, but I still learned a lot. I remember several months into my stay, I had a visit where my parents picked me up, And we kinda traveled around the state. I stayed up all night pirating every Beatles album using a YouTube to MP3 converter, and I put it on my MP3 player, but soon the trip was over. It was always an awful feeling for me being driven back to my living hell. Pure dread. I was not okay. Then I clicked on “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and I was like, wow!
I don’t think I would be alive without that band.

“Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see. It’s getting hard to be someone, but it all works out; it doesn’t matter much to me.”- John Lennon

As a teenager I went to multiple residential eating disorder treatment centers. I've heard mixed opinions on if eating disorder treatment centers can be considered tti or not. And it also made me wonder if the same applies for substance abuse treatment centers.

I was reading the 'minimum standards for teenage healthcare' and I have never been to or heard of any residential facility that meets all those standards. So is every teen residential facility considered tti?

I know that, as someone who has been in every level of care for eating disorders (inpatient, residential, PHP, iop, outpatient), I have found the residential level of care to be redundant, and only resulting in added trauma.

This is because, it's difficult to see a good reason to take a child out of the home for 'therapeutic' reasons, except in cases of abuse or problems at home. I have never been to a substance abuse facility so I can't speak on that. But I do think that the residential level of care should not exist for eating disorders or general behavioral issues because what is the therapeutic purpose of taking someone away from their family, friends, and everything familiar and isolate them from society? Even if they somehow did improve in terms of their mental health or eating disorder, how are they going to maintain that when they are suddenly put back in their original environment?

I personally never got better from my eating disorder, UNTIL I was in treatment that actually kept me at home. Where I learned how to recover in the environment that I was going to be in for the foreseeable future and could learn how to integrate that into my daily life.

If a child has problems bad enough that is a threat to themselves or others, they should be in inpatient treatment, not residential.

If a person with an eating disorder needs medical stabilization, they should be in temporary inpatient treatment until they are stabilized and then go to PHP where they can continue to receive medical monitoring and therapy without going to an abusive residential facility.

Even if inpatient treatment is traumatic (which it absolutely is) it can at least be justified as life saving care. The same cannot be said for residential treatment.

It's very difficult for me to think of a situation where residential treatment would be warranted for mental health or eating disorders over inpatient or PHP.

I'm wanting to learn more about this because I have a lot of trauma from my time in treatment centers, but I don't have the same experience as people who went to wilderness therapy or therapeutic boarding schools. So I'm very interested in hearing others thoughts on this.

And I wanted to clarify this because I see some people talk about eating disorder treatment centers on here, but it doesn't generally seem to be included in the discussion so I'm not sure if there is a distinction or not and what that distinction is. My same question applies for substance abuse treatment centers, which I don't have any personal experience with so I can't speak on it, but i am curious.

Thank you for reading, I know it was long, but I appreciate what ya'll do here and I'm glad that more awareness is being brought to tti.