Still picking up the pieces of what was broken in me by this program.
The Insight Program Survivor: 2017 - 2019
this was my personal first incident of many of sexual abuse, coercion or harassment in the program that wasn’t punished or handled. I was forced to share about my prior assaults in excruciating detail, including being made to think of my part to blame for them.
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.
I became a completely different person.
FullCircle Program Survivor Story: 2019 - 2022
I had the epiphany Full Circle was not doing what they said they were doing. Regardless of me knowing that I was in a cult, I stayed.
The Addict and Six Degrees of Separation
Adolescents In Recovery Survivor Story: 2005 - 2009
When I was about three weeks sober, just before my 19th birthday, we discovered Adolescents in Recovery (AIR), an outpatient treatment center for young people that offered group and individual therapy, peer mentoring, and social activities. Little did we know this treatment center was based on an infamous rehab known as PDAP.
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.
Rock Bottom Was The Only Answer
Palmer Drug Abuse Program Survivor Story: 2015 - 2016
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.
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.
The Only Way.
The Insight Program Survivor Story: 2017 - 2019
While in The Insight Program, I cycled through manic and depressive episodes as a result of being stripped of all mental health medications and therapy. June of 2019, at almost 11 months sober, I has reached absolute rock bottom with my mental health after a chaotic visit home. I felt I was incapable of even closing my eyes without triggering a trauma flashback.
I never found any real solution.
The Insight Program Survivor Story
At 16, I was recommended by a psychiatrist to join The Insight Program. I was told it was a short term support group and it was not mandatory for me to attend. I did not think I needed to go whatsoever, but that was against my will. I was pretty open to joining once I had arrived, because of the amount of kids hanging out and smoking cigarettes. I didn’t even smoke.
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.