Rock Bottom Was The Only Answer
A majority of PDAP was the "younger group" which was comprised of the ages 12-17 years old, literal children, being told that their experimentation with drugs and alcohol labeled them addicts and hopeless without intervention. Not one bit of harm prevention is taught, just fear mongering that using will inevitably kill you.
Several of my close friends have overdosed over the past few years, and I can't help but think that the indoctrination of "This is your life, you'll never be anything but an addict, even in recovery" took a mental toll on these children, causing them to give up, throw their hands up and say what's the point.
There would be children ages 13/14 talking to the 17, almost 18 year olds and staff would not address these older kids to not seek communication with kids who are obviously in a vulnerable state at such a young age, and friends of mine who wish to remain anonymous have told me of their experiences being groomed by staff and older kids alike.
18-25 year olds are the older group, and would use PDAP as a way to convince parents/guardians they were staying with they were "being good" so they wouldn't be kicked out and homeless rather than using it as a tool of recovery, these older group people would also be convinced to start being staff for younger group, with no verifiable sobriety.
Staff would be using and lying directly to people's faces. The parent group of PDAP would constantly be told that rock bottom was the only answer for some addicts, and some parents were ADVISED TO KICK OUT THEIR MINOR CHILDREN.
The pipeline of these Alternative Sobriety Peer Groups to the private school Archway should be illegal. These parents are convinced to keep their children safe, they should send their kids to a private school with an insane tuition that's circled around "recovery." Even a class credit is given for a sobriety meeting.
I was a good kid who experimented with drugs and was labeled an addict. Being told I'd never truly be "recovered" broke my spirit so many times. It took several years of therapy to be okay after the fact. The mentality PDAP gave me and several others was one of "Addicts are destined for jails, institutions or death unless utterly devoted to recovery." And that's just not fair to put that mentality on a child.
The several fantastic people that I met through PDAP/Archway who have passed on never deserved the treatment they got.
-PDAP Survivor, 2015 - 2016
