NC - 12-year-old dies at Trails Carolina wilderness therapy camp, Lake Toxaway, February 2024

[SpicyFruit]

Therapist addresses wilderness therapy after camp shutdown last week

Informative. Too bad there was not an easy way to just find these bad camps and shut them down. Seems like a kid has to die or be severely injured for something to come of it.


“Trauma-informed care is partnering with both mental health professionals, your teens and the camp to provide transparency and a better understanding of what kind of treatment they're going to get,” Spear said.

Spear used to work at a center that often partnered with these sorts of camps, but she says the ones she worked with were transparent and had a good relationship with therapists who recommend the camps."

 

[Izzylizzy]

Informative. Too bad there was not an easy way to just find these bad camps and shut them down. Seems like a kid has to die or be severely injured for something to come of it.


“Trauma-informed care is partnering with both mental health professionals, your teens and the camp to provide transparency and a better understanding of what kind of treatment they're going to get,” Spear said.

Spear used to work at a center that often partnered with these sorts of camps, but she says the ones she worked with were transparent and had a good relationship with therapists who recommend the camps."

I'd like to know what Spear's definition of "transparency" is.
Parents need to understand "what kind of treatment they're going to get"?

We know these camps talk a good line to parents and no matter how much parents think they understand what their kid's treatment will be does not make so and according to most testimonies from those who had been sent to Trails their so-called treatment was a joke.

She was right in saying stay away from camps with lawsuits etc.
I'd like to know what wilderness camps she's recommended.

 

[Izzylizzy]

Ahh, yes.
Those "passionate" professional women who are so concerned about other people's young girls.
Much more in article.

'Why is Trails Carolina the best wilderness therapy for girls?'​

"The female therapeutic team who work with the female groups at Trails are extremely passionate about their work with the students of Trails. Derry O’Kane, Tai Kulenic, Shalene Pierce, and Ashley Brown bring unique perspectives and therapeutic approaches to their work with female students at Trails. Learn more here.
Within Trails, there are a variety of change agents that help ensure a smooth transition for students after their experience in wilderness therapy. Students go through multiple transitions throughout their experience at Trails. By going back and forth between a campus setting and expeditions, it helps ensure that the therapeutic changes made are transferable to real world settings.
“Trails has always been the premier wilderness therapy program for our female population,” says Shalene Pierce, MSW, LCSW, Primary Therapist for girls ages 14-17. “We’ve always had more girls within our program than boys, which is very rare for a wilderness therapy program. Our very first group of students were girls and we’ve consistently built a program that is oriented towards the female adolescent experience since our inception.”
Although Trails offers programming for both boys and girls, there are no co-educational groups within Trails. This is an intentional design which prevents distractions and allows for programming specifically designed to cater to the needs of each gender. Research shows that girls and young women in middle and high school develop more confidence within all female environments. Through single-gender programming, girls are able to focus on developing a strong sense of self identity and can overcome the challenges that brought them to Trails in the first place.'

Women In Wilderness Therapy: Trails Carolina Female Therapists Discuss Wilderness Therapy for Girls - Trails Carolina

Women In Wilderness Therapy: Trails Carolina Female Therapists Discuss Wilderness Therapy for Girls

trailscarolina.com

 

[Izzylizzy]

Huh?
Could this be accurate that Trail's Carolina has 84 current employees?
I'm not familiar with how Zoom works.

https://www.zoominfo.com/pic/trails-carolina/352023728

 

[Mack the Knife]

Huh?
Could this be accurate that Trail's Carolina has 84 current employees?
I'm not familiar with how Zoom works.

https://www.zoominfo.com/pic/trails-carolina/352023728

Its just a guess based on the info that Zoom can gather online about people who seem to work at Trails. Its similar to if you looked up your name, there are sites that might have your address, might have somewhere you lived 10 years ago, might have someone confused for you.
The data is pretty fuzzy. For example, I clicked on one of the employees on that page (totally random so I hope it doesn't count as sleuthing), and there it says that Trails has 27 employees.

 

[Knitty]

MOD NOTE:

Move on from the earlier lawsuit(s). While it is helpful to provide background, this thread has become more about those lawsuits than about THIS case. If you wish to further discuss the other lawsuits, you can make a private conversation with up to (I think) 19 other members and discuss you thoughts there.

Thanks.

Knitty,
Moderator

 

[RickshawFan]

Huh?
Could this be accurate that Trail's Carolina has 84 current employees?
I'm not familiar with how Zoom works.

https://www.zoominfo.com/pic/trails-carolina/352023728

They have those several other camps. Plus, they're counting off-site counselors. Plus, they prolly have landscapers. Plus, drivers. And don't they have a (fake) "academy"? They've figured some way to create high school credits with a classroom at one of the sites?

 

[imstilla.grandma]

A search warrant filed by the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office described a similar sleeping arrangement the 12-year-old boy–identified at CJH—had been in prior to his death.

“The base layer of it is a heavy duty plastic that is cut approximately 6 feet and tied on each end with a string, on top of this is a sleeping Bivvy which is considered a small tent. One side is collapsed and the other side is held up by a flex pole,” the warranted described.

“Inside of this bivvy is where the sleeping bag is placed, and CJH would have to sleep like this on the first night per protocol of Trails Carolina,” the description continued. “On the zipper of the bivvy is a small alarm apparatus that is triggered to go off anytime someone tris to exit the bivvy.”

“Mr. Hunt also mentioned that CJH could exit the bivvy at any time, but he when he describe (sic) any interaction with CJH he kept stating ‘we’ would open or close the bivvy,” the warrant said

‘Shame on you.’ Former participants weigh in on NC wilderness camp

WBTV Investigates: Transylvania Co. camp shut down after 12-year-old boy’s death

www.wbtv.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

A search warrant filed by criminal investigators described how the boy had to sleep that night in a Bivvy bag, or an emergency sleeping bag, strung up on a thick piece of plastic with an alarm that would go off if he moved.

It's a slightly different version of a contraption Mitterando and other former campers have described having to sleep in called a burrito

"The restrictive component of it was the same," Mitterando said. "I remember I was on burrito for two weeks and I remember not being able to sleep because I could not move. I could not breathe very well. It was just kind of like a cocoon."

Another former camper, a 14-year-old girl whose parents asked reporters to not disclose her name, described, "We would lay on a tarp and then they'd wrap it over us, restraining us from any movement. You had to stay like this long time."

Former campers raise concern about NC wilderness camp where 12-year-old died

Former campers who attended Trails Carolina, the North Carolina wilderness camp where a 12-year-old boy died in early February, are speaking out.

www.wral.com

 

[acutename]

I don’t buy 8am as a wake up time either, and I’m taking the panic attack story with a grain of salt.

wonder if there is a published schedule somewhere showing a typical day. It is winter in the mountains,
so not sure when it is really light in the morning and I would think (?) that some of the hiking/camping activities might not be done in bad weather IMO.

 

[Izzylizzy]

They have those several other camps. Plus, they're counting off-site counselors. Plus, they prolly have landscapers. Plus, drivers. And don't they have a (fake) "academy"? They've figured some way to create high school credits with a classroom at one of the sites?

I don't see a medical doctor listed.
Do you know if a camp doctor has been mentioned in the reporting since the 12 yr old boy was found deceased?
There's a Lindsey Elliot listed as Trails "Director of Health & Wellness" and looking at her Trail's bio.she has "wilderness camping and rock climbing" experience that must make her qualified to know about and dispense medications to minors.
Am I missing something here?

Lindsey Elliott - Family Help & Wellness

Lindsey understands the concerns that arise in sending your children to the wilderness and having persistent and adequate medication management. Lindsey works daily with the Doctors and Nurse Practitioner partners to offer the best possible management of our student’s medication and medical...

famhelp.com

 

[Izzylizzy]

If this is true that Lindsey Elliot is also a board member at Trails we certainly don't have to be concerned about a conflict of interest, eh?

Lindsey Elliott
Board Member

Trails Carolina CEO And Leadership: Executives and Demographics

Trails Carolina CEO And Executives - Learn more about Trails Carolina CEO and key people by exploring the management team.

www.zippia.com

 

[SpicyFruit]

I'd like to know what Spear's definition of "transparency" is.
Parents need to understand "what kind of treatment they're going to get"?

We know these camps talk a good line to parents and no matter how much parents think they understand what their kid's treatment will be does not make so and according to most testimonies from those who had been sent to Trails their so-called treatment was a joke.

She was right in saying stay away from camps with lawsuits etc.
I'd like to know what wilderness camps she's recommended.

I was curious about what camps she recommends too. To me, as a parent what I would want for my kid's transparency would be access to them. I need to be able to speak to them, see them, and hear from them WITHOUT staff intervention. Maybe family group therapy. A lot of the stories I have read about have said that their mail is often intercepted, read, and sent or read and not sent. The parents are told the letters are stories and manipulation.

None of these camps seem to have that. Maybe there are a select few that do have positive outcomes and humane practices. I have yet to hear about one though.

 

[acutename]

I don't see a medical doctor listed.
Do you know if a camp doctor has been mentioned in the reporting since the 12 yr old boy was found deceased?
There's a Lindsey Elliot listed as Trails "Director of Health & Wellness" and looking at her Trail's bio.she has "wilderness camping and rock climbing" experience that must make her qualified to know about and dispense medications to minors.
Am I missing something here?

Lindsey Elliott - Family Help & Wellness

Lindsey understands the concerns that arise in sending your children to the wilderness and having persistent and adequate medication management. Lindsey works daily with the Doctors and Nurse Practitioner partners to offer the best possible management of our student’s medication and medical...

famhelp.com

Before all this the web site had a lot of staff listed with bios, etc. That might be on Wayback but it is not on the web site now... imagine they were all getting a lot of calls and news inquiries and well, you can imagine.

 

[Izzylizzy]

I was curious about what camps she recommends too. To me, as a parent what I would want for my kid's transparency would be access to them. I need to be able to speak to them, see them, and hear from them WITHOUT staff intervention. Maybe family group therapy. A lot of the stories I have read about have said that their mail is often intercepted, read, and sent or read and not sent. The parents are told the letters are stories and manipulation.

None of these camps seem to have that. Maybe there are a select few that do have positive outcomes and humane practices. I have yet to hear about one though.

From what the kids say who have attended these camps staff checks both incoming and outgoing mail.
They're also not permitted to call parents when they want to, if at all, and also can't call 911.
iirc and it may be out of Utah that the calling parents and 911 became a right for kids and was written into the laws they passed about these wilderness camps.
Trails and I assume most other wilderness camps also have temporary custody of your child,

 

[Mack the Knife]

4) It has been hypothesized here a few times that the foam found in CJH’s mouth could be a reaction to a drug.
Do we know if they are regularly prescribing anything? It’s one thing to be doling out already-prescribed medications, or providing run-of-the-mill medical care, but Trails is not advertised as a medical facility, and the doctor on staff is listed as a “consulting physician” and is not a full-timer (Trails Carolina Staff Bio: Dr. Tony Fisher, MD - Trails Carolina). Based on the credentials of the staff they have listed, I wouldn’t expect them to be regularly administering any sort of psychiatric pharmaceuticals.

Before all this the web site had a lot of staff listed with bios, etc. That might be on Wayback but it is not on the web site now... imagine they were all getting a lot of calls and news inquiries and well, you can imagine.

The website had Dr. Tony Fisher listed as a consulting physician, which (IMO) sounds like they had a physician they called when they needed to, maybe on intake as well, but there might not have been any regular medical treatment.

Once a medication is prescribed, per state law, public school employees are generally permitted to administer prescribed treatments at the written request of parents (G.S. 115C-375.1, more info).

That applies to public schools, and but I would guess that something similar applies to private schools and whatever Trails Carolina is categorized as. Or perhaps it is something even more permissive.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[MsMarple]

A search warrant filed by criminal investigators described how the boy had to sleep that night in a Bivvy bag, or an emergency sleeping bag, strung up on a thick piece of plastic with an alarm that would go off if he moved.

It's a slightly different version of a contraption Mitterando and other former campers have described having to sleep in called a burrito

"The restrictive component of it was the same," Mitterando said. "I remember I was on burrito for two weeks and I remember not being able to sleep because I could not move. I could not breathe very well. It was just kind of like a cocoon."

Another former camper, a 14-year-old girl whose parents asked reporters to not disclose her name, described, "We would lay on a tarp and then they'd wrap it over us, restraining us from any movement. You had to stay like this long time."

Former campers raise concern about NC wilderness camp where 12-year-old died

Former campers who attended Trails Carolina, the North Carolina wilderness camp where a 12-year-old boy died in early February, are speaking out.

www.wral.com

WTH is the purpose of such a restrictive sleeping arrangement- for 2 weeks! How does this provide “therapy?” No wonder the boy had a panic attack, I’m having trouble breathing just reading about this torture.

Would anyone here treat a new puppy that way on their first day with you? These people- counselors and so-called therapists are horrible. I don’t care what letters any of them have after their names. And the consulting doctor, I can’t even.

Absolutely disgusting. All MOO

 

[MrsWatson]

Some of this "treatment" sounds like POW type stuff. Torture.

Again, how is this legal???

moo

 

[Rolypolyoly]

WTH is the purpose of such a restrictive sleeping arrangement- for 2 weeks! How does this provide “therapy?” No wonder the boy had a panic attack, I’m having trouble breathing just reading about this torture.

Would anyone here treat a new puppy that way on their first day with you? These people- counselors and so-called therapists are horrible. I don’t care what letters any of them have after their names. And the consulting doctor, I can’t even.

Absolutely disgusting. All MOO

Its not therapy, it's dominance, it's control, it isn't designed to induce calm and acceptance, it is designed to break...And it did.