Tough Love or Torture?

The troubled teen industry has been all over the news lately, and not in a good way. According to the New York Post article “A terrifying look at the Troubled Teen Industry,” the industry “is largely unregulated, but a 2021 article from the American Bar Association estimated that between 120,000-200,000 kids are currently in the system at an annual cost of $23 billion,” which is mostly paid by medicaid and medicare.

On August 17th, 2023, WinGate Wilderness Therapy announced that they would be shutting down operations. WinGate was one of many wilderness camps in the “Troubled Teen Industry” in which parents would enroll their teens, aged 13-17, into programs that promised, according to WinGate’s official website, to “provide a safe, nurturing, and supportive environment in which your child can heal.” 

However, many people who have been in these programs express the opposite sentiment. Beetle James (@uwunisom), a creator whose platform is centered around dismantling the troubled industry, shared her experience on her social media.  

“I was legally kidnapped in the middle of the night and flown across the country where I was forced to survival-backpack with strangers for three months in the winter, all in the name of therapy,” James said in a TikTok on October 27th, 2023. “WinGate left me with cracked ribs, brain damage, and nerve damage from unsafe conditions and medical neglect.”

Many of the stories on social media posted by those who have experienced the troubled teen industry start very similarly: being woken up in the middle of the night and taken to cars or planes, and then to complete isolation far away from any familiarity. 

Many teens, when they first arrive on site are told that they will only be there for a short amount of time. However, those stays often end up being much longer.

“When I was 14 I was… taken,” said Ze (@gallaghersquirellfund on TikTok). “They told me I would be gone 3-6 weeks. I was gone 2 and a half years.”

This article contains a few accounts from survivors of the industry, however, that leaves out the voices of those who did not survive. A full list can be found here. The list starts as far back as 1970 and continues with the most recent child lost being in July 2023. 

The list is hard to look at, especially if you think about how each name represents a child lost due to the conditions of a troubled teen institution. For example, Dee Rutzen fell from a third story to his death at the age of 16. His death is still under investigation. Astrid Valdiva, 13, was shot on January 23rd, 2011, during an attempted escape. Or Gregory Owens Jones, 13, fell after hiking for 9.5 hours with no water in temperatures exceeding one hundred degrees. Angellika Arndt, only seven years old, died on May 26th, 2006, due to her restraints. 

Ze has been using her platform to educate others about the abuse she suffered, and she has brought the death toll to the public’s attention. 

“The deaths keep growing,” Ze posted on TikTok. 

Ze and Beetle James have one thing in common: they are publicizing and documenting the abuse many teens have suffered under in the troubled teen system. It may feel like we are powerless to do anything to help, but there are two things we can do: be aware and spread the word.

A lot of the abuse that goes on is allowed because people are unaware of the actions that take place in these camps. Take away their power by learning more. A few good places to start are The National Youth Rights Organization and The American Bar Association.