After a suicide at Mitchells Tucker County WV Wilderness Facility for troubled teens also known as Alldredge Academy, Inc., or Ayne Institute, the founder decided to open a boarding school for troubled girls. They transformed a former hotel into a boarding school and ran the Greenbrier Academy for girls for 15 years.
15 years where teenage girls had to endure separation from their families in the therapeutic Skinner box the boarding school became for them postponing the time where they have to face reality they were forced to leave.
The feedbacks from the girls were mixed. Here are some testimonies:
I would give 0 stars if I could. I went to GBA for 2 years between the years of 2012-2014. I was in a unique situation because I entered the school in 8th grade, which should not have been allowed. There were some good people, I honestly loved the most RAs. Without them, the school would not be functioning. I, like many other GBA girls went on to another boarding school after GBA; so in my personal opinion, if you’re thinking about sending your child to GBA, don’t. I would seriously consider sending them to another boarding school since most boarding schools are very structured and scheduled. I have been receiving therapy after GBA to treat the PTSD & Boarding School Syndrome I have from the school. I’m unsure if they’ve changed their policy but on weekends, girls were only allowed to talk to their families for five minutes and they had to be monitored the entire time, so if you expect to be in touch with your daughter, think again. The only feature worth that helped from this school is Village with Paul. To Terry Smith, the reason for the negative reviews stem from the students experiences at this facility.
L Berman
and
I was a past student at Greenbrier and coming out of the woods i did think the school was very good but after being there for 8 months and it being my 7th treatment center and it was the worst out of all, the teachers didnt seem to conect with many of the kids or they would push their problems to the side if it interferes with what their doing, the new staff they got in the last few months dont seem qualified to work with us they were very disrespectful at times and although there was some great staff theres only about 5 good ones left so its a very bad combo and the treatment center treats kids like were in a behavioral facility with the way they handle situations, the therapists dont work with the clients and will cancel meetings and avoid the kids if they dont want to do sessions. The students are out of control and instead of trying to work with the students to find out how to help them and make everyone come together they just put up cameras and make things strict and take everything away. I personally dont recomend wasting money on sending your child here because ive bearly seen people come out and be as you would call “normal” I stayed in my bed and didnt go anywhere for over a month till i convinced the staff to send me to another center
Alena Butt
This podcast video also mention the boarding school
In the end they had to stop their operations. Not because some died in their so-called care but because the insurance business saw them as a potential risk due to deaths happening in other boarding schools operating in the same manner. Over 100 deaths where teenagers have died in wilderness programs and boarding school caused the entire insurance business that they would not have boarding schools as customers if the business plan is to detain teenagers until they have milked the parents for their money or the children for their college fund.
So this adventure did not take tragedy to stop unlike so many businesses of the same type. While it was properly not fun to be there as a teenager, that is somewhat positive.
Sources:
- Treatment Center Settles Lawsuit Related to Teen Suicide (Dallas CRPS RSD Lawsuit News)
- Awareness for “therapeutic” boarding schools like Greenbrier Academy for Girls (Change.org)
- Greenbrier Academy for Girls (Breaking Code Silence)
- Greenbrier Academy (Wikipedia)