Sunday 8 July 2012

Attending "treatment" at Fulshear Ranch Academy was quite honestly one of the worst experiences of my life. I am a 20 year old from Ontario, Canada. I started my process of seeking treatment in the United States in October of 2011. I was directed to the Government of Ontario's prior-funding approval website. Due to the nature of my disorder (BPD), I had no other choices in terms of treatment in another country other than Fulshear Ranch Academy. My family was urged to hire a lawyer for the process of attaining full-funding from OHIP. We declined to go this route and in February of 2012, we were approved. I would just like to note what OHIP says on their website regarding prior-approval...
The MOHLTC does not endorse, warrant, guarantee or otherwise certify the quality or standards of residential treatment or other services provided by preferred providers. These considerations should be reviewed by the patient in consultation with his or her attending physician(s). Hospital scorecards are one tool that may be of assistance to patients and physicians seeking further information about appropriateness, quality and safety.
This is the absolute truth! Two-weeks into my stay at Fulshear Ranch Academy, we were visited by InnerChange's CEO, Dustin Tibbitts. He explained to me that he went to all of the governments in Canada, asking for them to fund treatment at this facility. Ontario, stupidly, was, to my knowlege, the only province to accept. I feel like you don't just start funding three residential treatment facilities for no reason (the Ontario government funds all three of InnerChange's residential treatment facilities for young women). I cannot confirm that money was exchanged, but I don't believe that Ontario started to fund this facility solely based on the stellar record that I'm sure Mr. Tibbitts presented.

In March of 2012, I traveled to Texas to start treatment at Fulshear Ranch Academy. The first thing I noticed was the facility was not as it was presented to be on their website. The bathroom that was assigned to be mine did not look like it had been cleaned in recent memory, despite the fact the girls were said to have cleaned it every week. There was mold growing all over the shower curtain and it was all just completely unsanitary. Another thing that I found to be appalling was the quality of the food. I am a vegetarian and most nights, meat was on the menu. We were told we were only allowed to eat what was on the menu. Fortunately, we could also make salads for ourselves. However, having a salad is not a balanced meal. I would consistently bring up the fact that for vegetarians, the meal choices were nutritionally lacking and I was met with, "well, you can have a salad". My stomach started to hurt constantly from being deprived of protein, despite my best efforts to include it in my diet while adhering to my beliefs.

Fulshear Ranch Academy claims on their website that, "[their] professionals are selected for their clinical sophistication and talent with this population; they undergo continuous training in the most effective educational, therapeutic, and transitional approaches available for young women". This couldn't be further from the truth. Most of the daily staff likely had no post-secondary education and at the most had an undergraduate degree. One staff member, specifically, told me she was studying for a Master's degree in psychology and was using the same texts as Queen's University uses for second year, undergraduate courses. Some staff were employees at juvenile detention centres and would use tactics taught for that setting with the population at Fulshear, which was usually inappropriate. The clinical staff were no better. I found the therapists (mostly male, strangely), who are licensed (supposedly), would make sexual comments towards the young women in treatment and stare at our breasts. The recreational therapist loved to have us swim in the little pool during his time with us. He loved to see 20 girls all in their bikinis. I didn't find it the most appropriate, but it didn't seem to bother anyone else.

The daily programming is not how it is portrayed on Fulshear Ranch Academy's website. Having Borderline Personality Disorder, I expected the treatment, dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT), to be twice a week (as per the sample schedule on their website). DBT was once a week, but most weeks it was cancelled due to the therapist who was supposed to be running it not showing up (which was another commonality). I am an avid swimmer and was happy to learn that swimming at the YMCA was every morning and some evenings. I was told I was not allowed to swim during the mornings because it was not designated as a Christian swim time and it was inappropriate for me to be swimming during mainstream swim time. I don't happen to be Christian, so I found it strange, and a little offensive for me to be using their swim time for myself. Needless to say, I never went swimming my entire stay. Another aspect of the schedule that I was looking forward to was the academic time. This, quite simply, never happened. I started to take a course prior to going to Texas under the impression I could continue with it while I was down there. One day was allotted to me to work on my course but I wasn't able to access people with any knowledge of my course material for help, making it difficult. Although, I will admit, some of the girls who had not completed their high school diplomas were taken off of the treatment facility's campus to attend GED courses and some people in the other phases of the program were urged to attend classes at Wharton County Junior College. I have a high school diploma and I wouldn't have wanted to take classes at a college (especially not in the USA, especially not in Texas) but I was not offered such an opportunity.

Medication was an issue all on its own... There were three times dedicated to medication- Morning, afternoon, and evening. I usually would not wake up on time for the morning medication time and was not given an opportunity to take my medication until the afternoon. As many people know, psychotropic medication is not something to be messed with. Taking it at the wrong times, even though it was my fault, did not prove to be a good thing. Medication was usually doled out by the supervisor on the shift (yes, the same ones with little to no education, yes, those ones). You had to be very careful that you were, in fact, receiving your medication at the right dose because they would constantly give you someone elses or an incorrect dose, neither of which I found to be very professional. They claimed to have had some training on the subject but it was certainly not enough. In Ontario, the handling of medication in a health care environment is not done by anyone without sufficient training, so something like this would never fly here.
Because I am from Ontario, I got three months worth of my medication from the pharmacy here, prior to going to Texas. Some medication is marketed under different names in the US to Canada and the staff were very confused on this issue. It was left up to me to know both the Canadian name (which was the name on the bottles of pills I was taking), and the American name (which was on the list of medications I was taking and therefore what the staff referred to it by). This is where some of the confusion and misuse of medication came from.
When I left Fulshear Ranch Academy, they neglected to give me all of my medications that I had brought with me. I have a feeling they were giving it to other girls in the program, despite the bottle clearly having my first and last name on and is illegal. We contacted them after realizing their mistake and they never returned the unused medication or replied to our emails on the subject.

Fulshear Ranch Academy has some strange practices, albeit likely common in the world residential treatment facilities. A practice that they uphold is that no client shall call their family until two weeks into treatment and only for a half-an-hour on Sundays after that time. I don't know about you, but when I'm going through stuff, I kinda want to talk to my family. When you are allowed to talk to them, your phone calls are monitored (not super closely, though) and you always feel like you could lose your privileges if you say the wrong things. I honestly feel like not allowing clients to talk on the phone is due to the slew of malpractices. Most parents, if you are lucky enough to tell them how bad it really is, will bring it up in a phone family session. If your therapist gets word you have been saying bad things about the program, they will do their best to assure your family it is due to your child's manipulative nature and to absolutely not give into it. My parents, like many, did believe my therapist. Which was fine with me, I was 20, I checked in voluntarily, I would check out. Or, so I thought... Trying to get out without my parents approval was hell. Another one of Fulshear's strange practices is they take all of your money, most of your possessions, and your passport/other identification and lock it up. I thought that because I was an adult and in the program voluntarily, getting my things and leaving would be no problem. Boy was I wrong! At first they refused to entertain the idea of me leaving and told me I could not book a plane ticket, because I would be using their computers. I had my own, but it was locked up and according to them, it was my parents possession and that was their reasoning for not allowing me to have it. Fine, that was fine. I can live without a computer, but what I can't live without, and what there is no disputing was mine, was my passport and other forms of identification. Well, I was pretty much SOL when it came to obtaining those things, too. So I asked to seek legal council. The director of the program, Gayle Jensen-Savoie (awful, awful woman, by the way), sought legal council for herself and told me that according to her lawyer, it was within her right to keep me there because I was "unsafe". Well that was the biggest load of bullshit I had ever heard... So I thought I was going to have to call the Canadian Consulate, but not before I got my hands on a telephone and called the police. I called them, they came, and told me if I wanted my things back, I would have to take Fulshear Ranch Academy to civil court. So, in short, they were not very helpful. I was adamant I was going to leave, so eventually, they did entertain the idea. I looked up flight information on their computers and proceeded to call my family to let them know what time to expect me home. They were not thrilled with this idea, so they decided they would give into me, and drive down from Ontario to Texas. On the day that they arrived, I was so excited to show them all of the shit I had to put up with that month. We met with my therapist as he made one last ditch effort to keep me there. Fortunately my parents sided with me and told me that they had known me for twenty years and this man had known me for two minutes. What he was doing was manipulating them into keeping me there, not the other way around and thankfully they saw that. And thankfully I was not persuaded into staying with the promise of them getting me a dog (yeah, I'm serious...). 

As something I have not yet mentioned, some of the other girls at the treatment facility were not the best company. While I was there, one girl freaked out and was sent to jail because she injured two others. One girl was exposing herself to the other girls in treatment. Some girls would go off campus for meetings and in spite of the fact it was a smoke-free facility, cigarettes routinely made it onto campus and drugs were also common. 

I would think twice about sending my child to any of InnerChange's programs, but especially Fulshear Ranch Academy. I wanted to put this information where it could be accessible because I don't want anyone to have to go through what I had to. When I searched for reviews of Fulshear Ranch Academy, I didn't get very far when it came to negatives, but I assure you, this is the popular opinion even on the campus of FRA. If you are considering it, go to visit it first and talk to the girls, they will give you an accurate picture of what this place is really like, and I think you'll find it's not how Fulshear Ranch Academy portrays themselves.


*Also, just to note, the other two treatment facilities operated by InnerChange are located in Utah, which, for a reason I have not been able to answer, is filled with corrupt treatment facilities. If you would like more information on residential treatment facilities, particularly for adolescents, I recommend you read Teens In Crisis: How the Industry Serving Struggling Teens Helps and Hurts Our Kids.

16 comments:

  1. I just wanted to add two or three other things...
    Obviously, I was dissatisfied with the food provided at Fulshear Ranch Academy. Since I have been home, I have seen pictures on Facebook of some of the girls that I had lived with. Some of them came into the program with significant weight issues and some, since being there, have gained a substantial amount of weight. While I understand that weight can fluctuate and be influenced by different types of medication typically prescribed for mental health conditions, I think there is another, bigger issue at hand here, and that is quality and control of food. As I had mentioned, the food was of very poor quality. Dinner was served around five, which I feel to be a very geriatric time to have dinner, but that could be due to my cultural background. I am a descendant of the UK and meal times are much different to typical meal times in North America. So, we were made food by a lovely lady, but I would describe meal time as a free-for-all/survival of the fittest, or should I say fastest. Food was usually prepared and people got as much or as little as they wanted. If you were last to come to get a plate of dinner, or lunch, you usually did not get any food and there would be no more to be had. Other people would go back for seconds and thirds (probably where such significant weight gain came from), while others could get away with consuming no food at all for... well, as long as they wanted, whether that be by choice or not having enough food. In my opinion, sacrificing a healthy body weight should not come as the cost of getting mental health care treatment. I feel as they co-inside with each other and both are paramount in obtaining a healthy mind. Fulshear Ranch Academy certainly does not agree with me on this topic.

    Another thing I would like to mention, which has no relation to the first comment I have made (or perhaps it does...). Gayle Jensen-Savoie, on facebook and on various other websites claims she is a "doctor". While I am not sure if she is PhD trained, or medically trained (MD), this is her claim. I was in her office a few times and I noticed that she had her educational accomplishments on her wall. I have a pretty good memory, and this likely would have stuck me, but I do not recall seeing any degree denoting a certification of being a doctor of any description. You would think if you were placing your degrees in your office, you would hang all qualifications, and certainly your most prominent certification, which if she really is a doctor would be a PhD or an MD. I really have no idea of the policies in the United States. I believe the talk-show host, Dr. Phil is from Texas and does not actually have any qualifications to denote being a doctor, yet he very publicly is allowed to refer to himself as such. So, who knows, maybe in the states, or specifically in Texas, you can make false claims of being a doctor, even when you're not.

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    1. Honey!! It's Bekha. I finally got the frick out [they kicked me out after I spent weeks fighting to get myself kicked outta there]. It turns out they'd been lying to my parents about everything, including my "discharge plan"-what a joke! They handed me a list of homeless shelters then said, 'ok, get gone!'. So I'm suing.
      Let's talk!

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  2. Oh, did I mention that after you left they fired Peggy [the cook] for taking time off to visit her sick relative, even though she called her supervisor ahead of time--just because her supervisor failed to pick up messages? Then Fulshear refused to buy us food that week, because no one on campus knew how. They told us to eat the freezer-burned "food" that had been sitting at the very bottom of the freezer for God only knows how long and got my gluten-free, dairy-free self no food that week, nor the vegetarians any food. They claimed they "had no time" to get to the store for us [what b.s.].
    They also didn't order us any water for four days. We had NO WATER for four days!
    You got out just in time, IMO.

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    1. Hey Bekha! Certainly we should speak... So good to hear from you.

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  3. I left FRA a month ago. I can not begin to describe the absolute horror and corruption that exists so prevalently in that community. I seriously wish that I had read this when i was searching for aftercares while i was at my wilderness program, and i hope that others do read this before sending their children to this place. i had an absolutely incredible experience at wilderness and have been to countless other residential treatment centers in my adolescence and young adult life. FULSHEAR RANCH ACADEMY is the absolute WORST mental health treatment facility that i have ever witnessed. If i could devote my life to ruining that place and having it shut down, i would drop everything i am doing now and go for it. After wilderness and before i went to FRA, my relationship with my family was the best it had been since i was a young child. during my time at fulshear, it got progressively more strained and less communicative. i walked off from fulshear and returned three times, only returning to preserve what little i had left of my family relationship. i finally just left and accepted the disappointment from my parents because i figured it was better for me to have my health and sanity intact and to work on my family relationships in time than to crumble and be broken completely by Fulshear Ranch. I lived in a homeless shelter and with friends in the area from AA and then moved in with my aunts in Georgia. I am now actually happy, actually riding horses (the whole reason i went to FRA, but which never really happened there), and i own my own flock of sheep! i am doing well, and it is due solely to the fact that i GOT THE FUCK OUT OF THAT HELL HOLE. i learned skills in wilderness and at my other treatment centers, and i went to FRA to help me learn how to put those skills to use effectively. When i got there i realized that i was slowly losing the ability to even be cognizant of my emotions, and couldnt remember for the life of me any thing i had EVER learned. i spent all my time defending my body and my brain from the onslaught of emotional and physical harm that Fulshear provides. Now that I am out, i can admit that further mental health residential treatment would have made my life easier than it is, but i can say for a fact that further treatment at Fulshear would have single handedly destroyed my life, my thinking and my spirit. Every morning i wake up and thank the god that i dont even believe in that i am not waking up at Fulshear. i appreciate how eloquently you pointed out the realities of Fulshear Ranch Academy, and i am so glad that you escaped those realities.

    Thanks,
    Tess

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    1. Hi Tess,

      I'm sorry my blog couldn't have been more help to you and perhaps preempt some negative experiences. I am glad you did stumble upon it though.

      I know it can be really hard to adjust to mainstream life after experiences like this, but for me, nearly a year later, things are finally pretty normal again.
      I would be interested in hearing about your experiences more some time.
      Good luck,

      L

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  4. Fulshear Ranch Academy's business is detrimental to the health of those who seek its advertised services. With an out-of-date website and a brochure based upon experiences from years ago, misrepresentation is an understatement. This facility houses extremely unstable individuals who prove to be a danger to themselves and others. F.R.A's inability to dismiss unqualified staff and unstable clientele results in a choatic, destructive environment. With poor communication among administration and staff, clients lose their ability to do tasks that Fulshear claims to support, such as academics. Under staffed, Manipulative, and Corrupted by Greed, Fulshear proves itself to be one of the most deceitful, unproductive businesses I have ever encountered.

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  5. I'm so glad your out of there. I was pretty much forced to travel from the north of Texas to the south area where FRA is. LUCKILY, i did not have to stay there. I was in for an interview and tour with the whole staff. They talked down to me and mostly to my parents. I feel so quite lucky that i got out and did not have to actually stay there. I felt very trapped and about 20-30 minutes in my family realized that it probably was a huge mistake this place was.

    congrats.
    cheers to a better life outside of that place!

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    1. That's great to hear that you didn't end up staying!
      It's funny that you felt they were condescending towards you. Typically people do that to assert some sort of intellectual superiority over others, but since they're horribly uneducated in modern mental health practices, I don't really see why they feel the need to talk down to you.

      :)

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  6. I want to thank you for making this page. I am currently still at this god forsaken hell hole. Tomorrow is my 13th MONTH mark. Although at the apartments, i am miserable. i hate being told i'm an adult, but get treated worse than your average 14 year old. It took me 12 months to move over to the apartments because treatment team and i never saw eye-eye. But they couldn't hold me back for any reason once i got a job.
    Oh and shit has changed a butt load since i got here. since i arrived i have seen 46 girls come and go, not graduating but actually taking control of their life and leaving FRA!
    I unfortunately haven't had the balls, until now. My graduation date is January 17th, but even that is too fucking far away for me to have my sanity and dignity back.
    I've been wanting to take this "treatment facility" down for quite some time, but i'm afraid about legality with me still in the program.
    You are saving many lives!
    Keep spreading the word!

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  7. I still have nightmares of being there. I was stuck there for 6 months. I tried to run away four times. It is hard to get away when they take away your money, cell phone, and ID. The first time I was gone into the next day and when I finally decided I was too exhausted and called my mother from a gas station about 15 miles away, they hadn't even told her I was gone. My psychiatrist and the staff lied to my mother in order to keep me there. They told her that I was lying to her when I described what the place was really like. She wouldn't even listen to me because they convinced her that I just wanted to get out of being there. The place should be destroyed. It is full of corruption and underqualified staff. A psychiatrist there even slept with one of my fellow "students". She was fired. They covered it up and said that she left for a new job, but we all knew the truth. They refused to get one girl's meds when they ran out on the weekend. She begged them because she was feeling withdrawal and manic. She went into a psychotic episode and attacked the staff and literally punched bloody holes in the wall. They evacuated us to the front house and called the police. They had to shoot her with a taser gun to subdue her. Then they took her to the hospital. At least she got out of that hell on earth. That is just a tiny bit of what went on there. I finally got out of there when I ran away and got a ride with a fire fighter to the police department. I asked them to take me to the homeless shelter rather than live as a prisoner with no dignity or freedom of my own. This is finally what convinced my mother to let me come home. The last day and night I spent there they forced me to sleep out in the cold without warm clothes as punishment. I was so cold I ended up forcing my way into the little bathroom by the pool to get warm. The staff woman with me kept trying to make me come out. I still wake up in a panic when I dream of being trapped there.

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  8. Please report the licensed staff to the proper authorities. You can find their license info and reporting information at www.heal-online.org/fulshear.htm. We've updated the site with license info and links to complaint forms. Help shut it down by holding those who run it accountable. It isn't even licensed.

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  9. im moving there in two weeks and now i am terrified

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    1. I think that a lot of the staff has turned over in the last few years but I would genuinely look into it further and ensure that this is where you want to spend your money to get treatment. It isn't a good investment if the treatment is improper or it introduces additional traumas.

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