Project PATCH
Please, do not send you children here. I was a res...
Please, do not send you children here. I was a resident as a teen and this program is abusive. I am now an adult with my own children, and I can say with confidence that I would never, under any circumstances, place my child in a program like this. I have been undoing the trauma Patch left me with for years. I still have nightmares of being here. The “consequences“ given are cruel and brutal, and they are given for the littlest hint of defiance or rule breaking. When on consequence, residents were not allowed to talk to anyone, including staff. They weren‘t allowed to eat typical foods. They weren’t allowed to sit on anything soft (like a couch or cushioned chair) and were instead forced to sit on the ground. They were subjected to hard physical labor and pushed beyond their limits. They were isolated and shamed. There is no free time to do anything enjoyable; every waking moment is spent working, in isolation, doing physical labor, etc. If they “failed” a day, their time started over. I could go on. It was awful.
Even when not on consequence, every little behavior is closely analyzed and you live in constant fear of messing up. The staff strips residents of any sense of independence or individuality and breaks their will. You are punished and intimidated and shamed into submission, until you can achieve immediate “simple compliance” (their term) without questioning their authority.
OTP/wilderness therapy is also awful. It is made out to be therapeutic and helpful, but it’s the opposite. Every resident went at some point, usually in the winter: The residents are given a tarp and some logs are are told to make a “tent” barely big enough to fit them. At night, you sleep in only long johns and a sleeping bag, because if they give you warmer clothes, they fear you’ll run away (and it is only done in the dead of winter for this reason). You are given flip flops, even in several feet of snow, in case you need to leave your tent to go to the bathroom at night. You can’t talk to anyone at all. You don’t shower or bathe. It’s truly awful and barbaric. The staff supervising get to spend their nights in a warm cabin while scared teenagers are left outside in freezing weather in the middle of the woods.
Parents are lied to and forced to sign over guardianship of their children. They are also told to expect their child to lie to them about abuse and “prepared” be manipulated by their child. A resident’s contact with their parent was closely monitored for a very long time, until they could be “trusted” (at which point they will be too terrified of being punished to say anything negative about the program, lest I be accused of “staff bashing”). My parents pulled me from the program after 9 months when they realized that it was hurting more than it was helping, and I’m glad they did. But here’s the kicker: they still had to pay the full 12 months. This is to discourage parents from pulling their children. This goes to show that the program is about money and power, not the ultimate good of the teens it claims to help.
Project Patch, along with other programs, are abusive and create more trauma. I understand that parents are desperate to help their children, but sending them to a program like this will only deepen and worsen their trauma. Please do your child a favor, and research alternatives. The troubled teen industry is corrupt to its core. Your child deserves better.
I am thankfully a well adjusted adult now, but that is in spite of Patch, not because of it. I have an incredible husband, wonderful children, and I’m an active member of my church. I have been supported and worked through my trauma in counseling. I wish that trauma had never been there in the first place, but I’m going to use it to warn parents about the darkness of residential treatment programs and urge them to consider alternatives for their children. Research the troubled teen industry, and choose a better, more evidence-based option for your child. Don’t compound whatever issue they are currently experiencing with more trauma.