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The Truth
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Teen Challenge Lakeland is actively deleting reviews, including my own, due to the amount of much deserved scrutiny they're FINALLY receiving for the death of a child in their care and the countless testimonies of abuse that's finally being unveiled. They have been replying to reviews stating they only want HONEST reviews from girls who attended the facility... Well, here I am. In an effort to clean their horrible image up, they have tried to silence us survivors and we will not be silenced any longer.
I am a survivor of Lakeland Teen Challenge and it was the most traumatizing experience I ever went through. I STILL suffer from PTSD and nightmares 5 years later. Fortunately, my parents took me out early as they started discovering the horrible reality of how messed up this place truly is. The directors and staff have been cleaned out and fired almost every 5-10 years due to negligence, and the name of the "school" has changed multiple times in order to filter search results when googling the place.
Do NOT send your child here, they forcibly indoctrinate and brainwash children into submission, constantly threatening loss of visitation and once a week 15 minute monitored phone calls with family over their heads. I was 17 and not a drug user and never committed any crimes. I was battling depression and anxiety issues due to childhood trauma in which I was prescribed medication for. Teen Challenge made me quit my prescribed medications cold turkey, without informing my parents, and gave me the explanation of "Jesus heals."
I have never felt so dehumanized and depressed in my entire life being here. None of the staff are certified to provide "therapy" (as they advertise) towards teenage girls, in fact many of the staff members are previous graduates of the program who have no where to go afterwards. The staff got off on forcing literal child labour and forcing us to share our "testimonies" (aka sob stories) at local churches to bring in more monetary donations. I completed 5 months of my senior year online while I was there and none of it transferred over to my official transcripts, meaning I had to redo it all when I left. This is common when girls leave the program early, it's even gone as far as staff holding the student's ability to have their own earned final grades/high school graduation until they graduate the full 15 month program.
I have been praying for the day this place FINALLY gets held accountable for how inhumane and horrible it truly is. Please, if your child needs extra help get them a licensed psychiatrist/psychologist, not this religious exempt program that has no regulations when it comes to the law. Naomi Wood, a 17 year old girl and student of this exact location just DIED here last year due to the directors and staff not bringing her to a doctor despite her pleas, they instead gave her soup, pepto bismol, and "prayed over her."
Your child will be traumatized for life if you send them here and will forever struggle with the resent they have towards you and horrible places like this.
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