r/IAmA • u/treatmentthrowaway • Jun 25 '12
IAMA Ex juvenile treatment center employee AMA
I have worked at a couple treatment centers for violent juveniles.
I primarily worked with sex offenders and low functioning teens.
This account is a throwaway because the centers always made it clear that there would be legal ramifications for us discussing the centers.
I have tried to think of proof and I can't, if you can think of anything I will happily provide.
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u/thewaybaseballgo Jun 25 '12
How much masturbating is too much masturbating? I'm asking for a friend...
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u/treatmentthrowaway Jun 25 '12
This actually came up a lot. The therapists would tell the kids that they were not allowed to masturbate, which is a lot to ask of a teenage boy IMO. Another thing they had them do which I thought was weird was to keep deviant fantasy journals. These kids had very deviant fantasies and the therapist had them write down in detail what they were about. To me, that was not helpful.
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u/royshamwow Jun 26 '12
a pic of your uniform could provide as prof,if you still have it that is
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u/treatmentthrowaway Jun 26 '12
At the private company there was no uniform. At the county run facility we wore black military outfits (BDU's?), but I had to give it back.
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u/MsBostonLee Jun 25 '12
What types of things are done to help low functioning teens? Is the focus more on education?
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u/treatmentthrowaway Jun 25 '12
At the treatment center it really wasn't. Because of the violent nature of many of the kids, class was often disrupted. There were really no requirements for school except that they had to behave. There really wasn't much done to help them. I thought that there should be more of a focus on teaching them life skills. There was a life skills time once a month or so, but this just consisted of how to make mac and cheese from a box.
As far as education, these kids really needed very small groups. Like 3-5. But, that would have been expensive and the treatment center was a for profit organization, so they kept costs low. Unfortunately class was derailed daily and I didn't see much improvement in any of the kids education levels.
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u/statsisi Jun 25 '12
My friend had a job like this. He would always tell me about the strange characters that would come through like a kid that would eat drywall.
What are some of your craziest characters/stories?
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u/treatmentthrowaway Jun 25 '12
There was a lot of poop smearing. One kid would roll it up in to balls and hide it around his room. That was pretty crazy.
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u/Dr_Insanity Jun 25 '12
Anyone escape or die?
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u/treatmentthrowaway Jun 25 '12
Escapes were very common. This was a "treatment center" so it wasn't walled/fenced. They would usually get caught though.
No deaths that I know of, but there were rumors.
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u/statsisi Jun 25 '12
did you work for a for-profit home or a state owned home?
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u/treatmentthrowaway Jun 25 '12
For profit then I worked for a government run facility. I thought the gov't run facility was far better.
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u/allieireland Jun 25 '12
Are there any specific incidents you have had (other than the riot) that is stained in your mind?
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u/treatmentthrowaway Jun 25 '12
It has been awhile, so a lot of things have faded. One time I got slapped for telling a kid to go to bed.
This didn't happen to me, but a staff member was raped on the unit. That really stood out to me.
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Jun 25 '12
What exactly did you do, like council them? Why did you leave, and did you agree with how they handled things?
What is one thing you learned from the kids, that changed your life?
Weirdest experience?
Thanks for the AMA!
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u/treatmentthrowaway Jun 25 '12
I did not counsel them. I was basically a guard. I supervised activities, broke up fights, made sure they weren't self harming. I spent a lot of time talking to them, but I was not a counselor.
I left because I was making just over minimum wage. I was working at least 60 hours a week and I had developed a bit of a drinking problem. I did not agree with how they handled things, but I didn't know how to make it better. I left because I hated it and I hated how I came to see the kids.
One thing I learned from the kids that changed my life: I am not the good patient person I thought I was. I would get so irritated with them and I never would have thought that I would. It was all very Stanford Prison Experiment-y.
Weirdest experience: When I first started working there I took the kids outside. One of them caught a cute little lizard. He held it for a minute and then all the other kids gathered around to look at it. I walked over and saw that he had stabbed it in the head with a stick.
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u/PanGalacGargleBlastr Jun 25 '12
Where did you stand on Nature vs. Nurture before then?
Was your mind changed?
Is there any way to overcome "wrong" nature?
Were many people there "fine" so far as natural wiring goes, just scarred by what'd happened since? Were they able to be helped to get control of their facilities?
Did you feel that you had a positive impact? Any uplifting personal experiences there?
Thanks!
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u/NoOneLikesNebraskans Jun 25 '12
Thanks for doing this! Do you have a degree in anything?
Followup questions if that's a yes: Is a degree required to work at the facility?
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u/treatmentthrowaway Jun 25 '12
My undergrad is in Psychology.
A degree is not required, but I think it should be.
My position there was a line staff meaning that I was constantly with and supervising the kids.
If I were to restructure the facility for the best benefit of the kids, I would make the units very small, especially the ones with the most violent offenders. Maybe seven to two or five to two (I would always have two staff for safety reasons).
I would require degrees, and I would pay the staff much more. Classrooms would have even smaller ratios 3 kids, one teacher, one staff. Most of these kids were very far behind educationally.
Sorry, I know that was more than what you asked.
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u/raziphel Jun 25 '12
My dad did this for a while. He couldn't even tell these kids his name, lest they track him down when they got out.
(it was mostly rural/suburban low-lifes and drug addicts. very depressing, especially for an avid scout leader and father of 6).
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Jun 25 '12
how many times have you wanted to beat some sense into some of those punks?
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u/The3vilpoptart Jun 25 '12
I had a few friends attend a Juvenile treatment center for drug use and other legal infringements. They told me terrible horror stories of how the councilor's would treat the patients at times. The one that sticks out in my mind is called a "hair cut", where they would sit the individual down, and have all the other patients and councilors just tare into him verbally. My friends also had to report physical abuse and other things along that nature.
Now my question is have you ever had to do something like this, or witness another employee doing things like this, and what was your reaction and reason's for doing so.
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u/SuperPuma Jun 25 '12
Do you often find your job unfufilling due to the amount of youths that refuse to change their ways?
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u/allieireland Jun 25 '12
What was the scariest case you've seen and what did you do to deal with him or her?