In May of 2022, 17-year-old Naomi Wood died of what was said to be a seizure disorder. However, she complained of abdominal pain a month prior. She was given Pepto-Bismol 20 times instead of being sent to a doctor. This was all under the "care" of Lakeland Girls Academy.

Lakeland Girls Academy was a non-profit teen challenge program located in Florida. They claimed their "mission" was to help young girls struggling with substance abuse, behavioral problems, and mental issues. It has been reported that the girls were restricted from taking medication for anxiety, depression, and ADHD which can lead to antidepressant withdrawal that just creates more anxiety.

The academy has since been closed. Lakeland Girls Academy is just one of the thousands of programs in the troubled teen industry, and I'm going to tell you all about this industry and why it's so hard to shut down.

Basic Understanding

I didn't know what the troubled teen industry was until late 2023 when a woman popped up as I was scrolling TikTok. She told her story about her time in the Utah wilderness, which seems to be a leading place for these programs which we will talk about in a moment. I remember seeing #BreakingCodeSilence in the caption.

I then fell down a rabbit hole, trying to fathom how these people are still running these programs. I am sure some all have a small understanding of the Troubled Teen Industry(TTI) if you know who Paris Hilton is, but if you don't here is an explanation.

The TTI consists of numerous different types of programs ranging from boot camps, boarding schools, wilderness therapy, etc. Parents can send their children to these places against their will. The woman's video I saw described how she and many others were forced to hike miles and miles in the Utah wilderness, with no showers, or really any basic necessities.

These programs typically practice food and sleep deprivation, verbal abuse, physical abuse, intense labor, and humiliation. Parents normally do not know about the abuse as they are told their children are making up lies so they come to pick them up, despite all this, somehow they still make $1.2 billion a year. Many of these programs are working under the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools organization(WASP), and of course, it is based in none other than Utah, founded in 1998 by Robert Lichfield.

Image Credit: Jackson Simmer from Unsplash

Take the Quiz: Music or no music when studying?

Which helps you study better?

Academy At Ivy Ridge

Many are familiar with this name because of the Netflix documentary "The Program", I highly recommend watching it if you want more information. Academy at Ivy Ridge was a privately owned and operated for-profit behavior modification facility, also referred to as a boarding school. The academy started admitting students in 2001, they had basketball courts and everything you'd expect to see at a school, however, the students could not look out the windows, go outside, talk, or look at others until they had enough points.

Ivy Ridge operated under a level system, higher levels were given more authority and freedom. Once you hit a certain level you can go out outside on a high-level outing about once a month, you may also look out the windows. Many survivors of Ivy Ridge told their stories of abuse, such as unauthorized medical procedures, poor living conditions, psychological torture, denied medical attention, and many other forms of abuse.

The majority of the staff were not properly trained for the job, this only led to intense punishment and neglect. Many survivors recall being in isolation, being forced into a psychically exhausting position as punishment, some were also made to carry a box filled with objects making it incredibly heavy, they had to carry these for days or even weeks.

On 16th 2005, students started a riot, which resulted in 4 dozen expulsions, and 12 arrests. One survivor claims the dorms smelled of rotted animals, while another who was arrested in the riot, claimed jail was better than the conditions at Ivy Ridge.

Students were promised they would receive their high school diplomas here, but this was not the case. Many students found out later that their diplomas were not credible.

Image Credit: M. on Unsplash

Steve Caritsano and the Repeating Cycles

Former Air Force instructor Steve Cartisano and founder of the Challenger program, a wilderness program based in Utah in 1998, their mission was to teach these teens valuable life lessons and survival skills. The program gained attention due to abuse accusations as well as the death of a member.

Kristen Chase died at 16 years old due to heatstroke just three days into the 63-day long program. Kristen was taken from her home against her will in June of 1990. She was taken to the Utah wilderness where she would now be participating in the Challenger program.

Kristen suffered from spells of coughing up blood, stomach pain, knee injuries, and much more. Despite her medical health, she was still forced to hike for hours at highly elevated places which she was not used to as soon as she arrived, this ultimately led to her unfortunate death just a few days later.

Steve had opened many other programs: if one got shut down, he'd just open a new one. This is what makes this industry so hard to shut down. This industry is stuck in a repeating cycle, there is no law stopping these people from opening another program after one shuts down, there are no laws that directly regulate this industry so in return they face less punishment, there is no way to track these people and stop them from just opening a different program in a different location.

Surprisingly, many of these programs continue to operate legally due to loopholes and lack of oversight, at least to an extent. They operate in legal gray areas where they lack federal oversight and have many loopholes in child welfare laws, this essentially means they can neglect these minors and face little to no punishment. States such as Alabama, South Carolina, Utah, , and Florida have almost no oversight on these programs, some states regulate licensed treatment centers but not unlicensed private boarding schools, and others require a basic inspection but don't investigate psychological abuse. Parents are legally signing their kids' rights away to these places, and sometimes sign NDAs which makes it increasingly harder trying to seek justice. As long as parents consent, the program does not need any government approval. If a program does not claim itself to be a medical facility they don't legally have to follow medical safety laws, they can also avoid state oversight by saying they are faith-based schools or ministries.

Final Thoughts

Despite many survivors coming out and telling their stories, this industry is still bringing in over a billion dollars a year. It remains a complex situation with many odd things that make it hard to truly get justice for lives lost and stolen adolescence. Some programs may have started with good intentions, but the industry has become more focused on profit than rehabilitation, They knew exactly what they were doing putting these programs in the areas they did, it's no coincidence majority of them are in gray areas with a lack of federal oversight.

These programs don´t seem to be effective at all, they are supposed to help teens who are struggling with mental health, substance abuse, and other issues, but instead, they leave with fear and PTSD. They are not helping these teens, they are just forcing them into submission.