A Requirement to be Grateful for Everything
Cornerstone Team Counseling Survivor Story: 2017 - 2021
“The years spent in this outpatient where some of the most traumatic in my life… Every bit of my story was used as a weapon against me. On multiple occasions the threat of homelessness was held above me, I was forced to sleep in abandoned cars, park benches, and whoever was Willing to allow me to sleep on their parents couch… On multiple occasions my outpatient counselor said "I was meant to be homeless".
This Program is Supposed to be for Sobriety Support
The Pathway Program Survivor: 2019 - 2022
“A lot of you probably know of me whether or not we’ve personally met or you’ve heard stories about me because of my reputation in the Phoenix group. Even a while after I’ve left, I’ve still gotten messages from people in this program, telling me they know me because I was the one who “got shot in the face while in the group”.”
High Control Group
The Crossroads Program Survivor: 2001 - 2004
The aspect of the Group that I’ve had the most difficulty articulating is how deep this sort of control goes. You are expected to constantly share all of your thoughts, feelings, and actions. Anything less is dishonest.
A Message to Parents from a Crossroads Counselor
The Crossroads Program Staff Survivor: 2005
For those of you out there still defending the program… I was a Crossroads staff member. I am sorry.
Not a Typical Staff Meeting
The Crossroads Program Staff Survivor Story: 2002 - 2010
Truthfully it is hard to share Purpose stories because I don't remember a lot of details. Likely because I walked into every single Purpose SO afraid I just blocked much of it out, while I sat there hoping I would not be the one put on the "hot seat" that night.
The Crossroads Program stays with you forever.
The Crossroads Program Survivor Story: 2016 - 2017
I was in the Crossroads program in Columbia, Missouri from the summer of 2016 to April Fools of 2017. I had known people who went through Crossroads and had really great things to say about it. Intensive outpatient was ideal, because I wanted to continue getting my bachelors degree. I met with the head counselor, who made it immediately seem he understood the way I was feeling.
Staff Survivor Story
The Insight Program Staff Survivor Story: 2015 - 2019
I joined the group when I was 16. For the first couple of years, it seemed like my salvation. It felt like after years of trauma and abuse I had finally come home. For the first time, I felt like I belonged and I fell head over heels for that feeling. I had spent almost every day of the last 5 years not wanting to wake up the next morning and now it felt like my world had filled with color again. I did whatever I wanted and had hundreds of friends who all loved me, just so long as I complied with the rules and expectations imposed on me.
An Open Letter to Current Staff
I wanted to reach out to let you know that you can walk away from the program today. I assure you nothing I write here is meant to harm or cast judgement on you as an individual; I’ve been in your shoes. You are not “fucked up” for exploring this message, you have every right to hear this, to ask questions, to challenge your own thinking. I know you don’t think you’re in a cult, I certainly did not when I was there.
Topher Bayless Tells All
A Crossroads Program Survivor and Insight Program Outpatient Counselor tells his story of being a Group member, going to The Meehan Institute of Counselor Training, and becoming an Enthusiastic Sobriety Counselor. Topher spent 12 years in the Enthusiastic Sobriety Cult and has plenty to say about Bob Meehan, mind control and undue influence.
Synanon and Enthusiastic Sobriety
A conversation with David Cherry. He spent 15 years under Enthusiastic Sobriety's undue influence and mind control, which is a cult disguised as a drug treatment program.
Enthusiastic Superiority
It would be nearly impossible to discuss all of the ways in which the program views itself as better than the remainder of the world. While elitism is fundamental to any cult, it’s a trait of Enthusiastic Sobriety that often goes unnoticed by parents, who are so desperate to save their children, that they inadvertently hand them over to an institution that will likely damage them.
Steering Committee Purpose
The Insight Program Survivor Story
Four of us were on Steering Committee; myself and my roommate were the two females and there were two males. Before a Purpose, I had felt the energy shift with Steering Committee and the counselors - that my roommate was ‘not healthy’ or ‘not being honest.’ And before she arrived I recall Staff giving us a heads up in what was coming and how and what could we contribute about her being ‘fucked up.’
I Never Received the Help I Needed.
The Cornerstone Program Survivor Story: 2007 - 2012
My mother found the Cornerstone when I was 13. I had two previous psych hospitalizations for my mental health and they were not going to release me without an Outpatient program in place. Basically, the only place available because of my age was Cornerstone. My mother was able to take me on a day trip from the hospital to see Cornerstone. I was so young and all the freedom seemed so exciting.
The Group is a drug I’m still withdrawing from.
The Cornerstone Program Survivor Story: 2011 - 2013
I remember sitting in the lobby of Cornerstone in January of 2011. Arms crossed like I didn’t want to be there. The truth was, I did, and that was even before I was love-bombed. I was losing friends, I hated my school, and my parents were keeping close tabs on me. Then, when the kids came running through the hallway, so excited to see me, to show me around, to get to know me, to give me cigarettes, my dreams came true. No one was going to take me away.
A Personal Account of the Program’s Approach to Sex and Sexual Orientation
The program not only intrusively dictates the sex lives of their clients, but has proven itself to be particularly unloving toward those who are LGBTQIA+. It is a cultural issue that can not be reduced to a few examples of bad counseling. It is clear that they see no reason whatsoever to change this.
Trapped
The Cornerstone Program Survivor Story
Content Warning: Mention of Rape and Sexual Assault
Two male Staff members admitted, even boasted, about raping women. They just didn’t use the word rape. The Staff would routinely talk about how “fucked up” they were in the past, but often in this really arrogant way like, “I was so cool, I did the most drugs and fucked the most girls. But also it was bad and ruined my life. But damn, I was so cool…” Once I had announced I was leaving the Program, I was told I first had to complete an exit interview with the head of the Program.
How do you talk about a cult?
The Pathway Program Survivor Testimony: 2017 - 2020
How do you talk about a cult that killed so many people you loved and exploited you as a vulnerable teenager for their own profit? How do you talk about a place that practices conversion therapy and tells you that your sexuality isn’t valid? That blames you for your sexual assaults and your traumas?
Rosy Tint of Nostalgia
The Crossroads Program Survivor Testimony
I long considered my involvement in the Group to have been more personally beneficial than detrimental. On the occasions that I thought back on my time in Crossroads, which became more and more seldom over time, it was almost always with the rosy tint of nostalgia.
The “Cure” Will Do More Damage Than The Disease
Palmer Drug Abuse Program Survivor Story: 1975 - 1980
I was one of the very first kids involved with PDAP when it came to Denver Colorado in 1975. I spent 5 years in the program and I had a lot of good times. I felt like I was "sticking with winners in order to grow." I was surrounded by my friends. I lived with PDAPers, hung out every evening with PDAPers.
Exposing Enthusiastic Sobriety Programs
The Insight Program Survivor Story: 2004 - 2006
Mark from Talk Beliefs hears Liz's story of her two years inside an Enthusiastic Sobriety facility, where prejudices, magical thinking, and bizarre judgments were the order of the day.