DECLARATION UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY PURSUANT TO 28 USCA 1746 I, Leslie Orihel, declare and state as follows: 1. Pathway Family Center 2. Southfield, Michigan, USA 3. August 2000- July 2002 4. My identical twin sister was a 2002 graduate of Pathway's program. She committed suicide in August 2008 at 23 years old. I am not attempting to draw an exact correlation between her death and her experience at Pathway, nor do I have the ability to judge for those who will attest to Pathway’s effectiveness in positively changing their lives. I can only speak on behalf of my sister that the program can be a harmful and traumatic experience for some, effectively and negatively changing their lives too. Last year in January 2007 a magazine called "The Sun," printed an interview with Maia Szalavitz titled "The Myth of Tough Love," on her book published in 2006, " Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids ." In the interview Szalavitz argues that " 'Adolescence strikes fear in the hearts of even the best parents' and that fear drives well-meaning mothers and fathers to send their misbehaving teens to 'tough-love' programs, where they're subjected to abusive treatment in the name of helping them." (I won't detail the article, though I highly recommend an excerpt which can be found at the following link: http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/373/the_myth_of_tough_love ) I want to share with you a response to this article written by my sister and included in the following issue of The Sun's correspondence: Dear Sun, My feeling was one of overwhelming gratitude when I read Marc Polonsky's interview with Maia Szalavitz, "The Myth of Tough Love," and his personal memoir, "The Seed." I left Pathway Family Center (an adolescent "treatment" center that is a branch off of the Straight program) in 2002, and in the intervening years, two of my fellow "pathlings" have since committed suicide; another was rescued minutes after an attempt; many others, like myself, have struggled to maintain stability or a sense of hope in our early adulthood. My experience with these programs has shown that addiction ceases to be the central problem for clients when the counselors and environment create a more complete sense of powerlessness than any drug ever could. Psychological defeat from any source is destructive, and love, not misunderstanding, is the true foundation for people to construct a meaningful life. My relationship with The Sun gave these articles more credibility than if I had written them myself. Thank you. Alicia Orihel Considering my sister's own death adds a new significance to her words. I believe the qualities that made Alicia so wonderful, her creativity, sensitivity, compassion, wit and insight, made her a poor candidate for a program that takes such dead aim upon the adolescent's ego. They break teens down (in the name of re-building a healthier individual) at a time when they are so fragile, especially when you consider the self-esteem issues that have already driven them to self-medicating and destructive behaviors. The irony is that the teens most vulnerable are likely the ones experiencing a greater severity of problems. However, my sister strongly believed that these problems would only re-emerge after the Pathway experience. Alicia’s own post-Pathway experience shows this to be true. I came to understand that the psychological imprint of Pathway would never fade, as Alicia described Pathway-nightmares that continued to haunt her years after she had left. I do not agree with Pathway's ideology or methods, as a family witness and as the twin of someone who "survived" the program. I strongly question their projected "success rates" and I hope for an increased awareness among the parents who are put in the sad position of deciding on a rehabilitation program for their teen. I believe Szalavitz's book, "Recovery Options: The Complete Guide: How You and Your Loved Ones Can Understand and Treat Alcohol and Other Drug Problems" (2001), co-authored with Dr. Joseph Volpicelli, M.D., Ph.D. can help along with greater disclosure of the truth on tough-love type programs by those who have oversight, investigate, and especially from those with a personal experience. As a newly graduated nurse (RN, BSN), I believe that if the programs continue to exist there are fundamental changes that should occur. Severed communication from family, social isolation, lack of exercise and “outdoors” exposure, degradation from peers and staff, and treating any privacy as a privilege (i.e. not able to use the bathroom alone, going through journals to black-out lines deemed “inappropriate”), are just some of the practices that seriously cross ethical standards. Care-providers (though many staff are unlicensed, often former-clients) can take greater consideration of the individual's involvement in their care, promoting autonomy and self-esteem rather than offering it in a damaging reward-punishment manner. They can also do more extensive screening for teens whose psychological make-up is particularly vulnerable, recommending alternatives rather than compounding the problem. The question is, are they willing to put the health of their clients before the self-interest of their institution? I give HEAL permission to use this statement. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on November 10, 2008.
________________________________ Leslie Orihel HEAL has given Pathway Family Center Truth permission to use this statement.
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