My Time at Three Springs Paint Rock Valley Boys
My Time at Paint Rock Valley Boys
I worked as a counselor at Three Springs of Paint Rock Valley Boys from 2002 to 2004. During that time I participated in abusive acts and witnessed even more. My actions have brought me a great deal of personal pain and remorse. It wasn’t until after I was terminated, for what essentially was the exercising of poor judgment that I came to realize the full extent of what I did and saw. Everything must have a start and my story started with the extremely poor training I received, moved on to the appalling lack of supervision, and is rounded out by the horrible conditions of the facility.
I started working at Three Springs a few weeks before Christmas at the end of 2002. At my time of hire I spent four or so weeks going through the Three Springs 100 hour new employee training. During this time I went to classes all day and spent time with a group at night. The training program was inadequate to say the least. Most of it went over the various levels of the stages system, the medicine wheel, and creed. We received minimal medical training, minimal training in how to deal with violence, minimal training in dealing with people who were upset. All in all we received very little useful training to prepare us for covering the group we were being trained to cover.
Once training was complete, and we passed our tests, which most of us cheated on, we were given our group assignments. My group was the group of Lisicha. This group was the youth group that consisted of boys from the ages 10 to 14 or so. My first introduction to Lisicha involved a restraint in the middle of the dining hall during lunch hour between two of my training classes. Restraints were something that I learned happened quite frequently in Lisicha.
I was a counselor at the long term boys program during the time of the events outlined above and can attest to the truthfulness of most of them. Although not all of the counselors and staff were excessive or abusive, there were many who were or outwardly appeared to be, and speaking out against their actions was often met with stonewalling, disdain, or were completely ignored by supervisors and administrators. The training was woefully sub par even for those of us who went into it with Psychological degrees, and field experience. The focus always seemed to be on the program and with maintaining the integrity of the program and less with the treatment of the residents in the programs care. Often times counselors worked for days on end, alone, with their groups which (outside of Lisicha), consisted of 12-16 boys aged 14-19 years of age (I actually had a resident who turned 20 at the end of his stay). This occurred even though mental health guidelines state that the number of staff to residents is not to exceed a 1 to 8 ratio. As a direct result of this infraction counselors often found themselves trying to maintain the welfare and functionality of their groups under great duress. Fatigue, exhaustion, and an unhealthy amount of stress was an everyday part of a counselors life as we put in our 120 hrs of work a week on average while trying to maintain discipline and safety, as well as aid our charges in learning how to cope with their issues and interact with others in society, it’s not a wonder many of us came there sober and left as alcoholics. Often we would work for days on end without showers in the heat and the cold, occasionally getting five to ten minute breaks during meal times when there were three or more other counselors present with their groups in the dining hall. Under these conditions with constant pressure to maintain control of our groups, it is no wonder that counselors would lose it and sometimes respond to situations in ways that they may not have chosen to had they been rested and in full control of their mental faculties. Although every person should be accountable for their actions, it is my firm belief (knowing the writer of this article, and knowing how much he loved his group) that the actions he has mentioned, committed on his part, were not committed out of or in malice or with malicious intent , therefore the vast majority of any fault or blame resides squarely on the shoulders of the program we worked for, and not on ours. Having said all of that, do not beat yourself up too much about your time there. Your group loved you and trusted you, I saw it every time you returned to work and they would mob you telling you everything that went on while you were away.
The counselor at Three Springs….please call me, my son was abused in one of their programs. I need some help. We need some advice. All of his records were shredded. but by Maryland law, they are not supposed to do that until he is 25 or twelve years later. Everything youdescribed about the abuse to the boys happened to my son. Please help us. Please write me at micheldura2@yahoo.com and let’s stop this abuse! Michelle
Michelle: Pls. contact me directly – I am also a parent and I’m not sure if this website is accurate or not. My son was there for 18 months and was not able to complete the program due to bullying. The comments may be from former students or could be actually true.
I am a past graduate of Three Springs Paint Rock Valley Girls. I was sent there in 2006 and graduated in 2008 and still attend aftercare. In my opinion, Three Springs PRV has gone downhill. It is no longer a stable place; the training for the counselors is lacking, the girls have not enough structure, and due to lack of training the girls are no longer held accountable, and seem to be just a bunch of brats (I love the girls, but it’s the truth). If you want your child to be taught that child abuse is ok, then send them here. Restraints are ridiculously violent, and we were forced to do labor that I’m sure is against the child labor act. Also, due to lack of funding, they have put both the girls and the guys sides together, expecting that they won’t notice each other, and if they do notice (which always happens) they must suffer illogical consequences. Also, the consequences there have no logical explanation, they are very intense and irrelevant to the bad decisions made by the child, which from my point of view is another source of child abuse. It was in the beginning, a helpful program, but I think that now, due to lack of training of staff and funding, it is one of the worst places to send your kid.
By the way, they only keep records for 7 years there…
I am really sad to see all that is written above. I don’t discount any of these experiences – everyone has the right to express what their own reality is or was. For the parent that feels their child was abused at the facility I am so very sorry. No matter where or when abuse happens it is tragic. I also know that in every field there are those who will be good at what they do and those who will not. When caring for youth it is imperative to reduce the number of individuals who are not. It is a stressful job. There are many jobs out there that are stressful. Some can handle the stress and some cannot. I was a counsellor on the girl’s side just over 8 years ago. I had a wonderful experience there. In fact, many of the girls I worked with have more recently contacted me and are doing wonderfully. I was trained in SAMA and it was very effective if used properly. Over the last 8 years I have continued to work with at-risk youth who struggle with behavioural challenges. I have now moved into training others to support these individuals. With this in mind, I feel that this job is not for everyone, no matter how much training is involved. Things may vary well have changed at Three Springs, I am not sure. I can only account for the time I was there. It was a wonderful place. It was a place many found peace, self-respect, accountability, responsibility and opportunity.
To say I am a bit surprised to see this here is an understatement. I remember posting the original post on another forum. I didn’t know that it had gotten out to another blog till someone showed me the link today. Those events that occurred back in 2004 still linger with me to this day. I’m open to answering questions that Michelle might have for me. please email me at dan.the.chainsawman (at) gmail dot com. I live and teach English in China now so a phone call is a bit expensive.
I, too, am an EX counselor for Three Springs. Their other programs are equally as abusive as the program in Alabama. The place is a hellhole and needs to be shut down completely in ALL states. My state came to their senses and shut down the Three Springs programs available in this state simply by not sending kids to them anymore. Three Springs hightailed it out of this state like a dog who got whipped.
Dan from the post above mine can get ahold of me if needed.
My name is Gergely Ortutay. I am now 28 years old, and I spent 8 months in Paint Rock Walley Boys of Three Springs Inc. from 1996 to 1997. You say in your post that your guilt has been excorcised because your apologies have been accepted by former residents, hence your guilt has been excoricsed. Truthfully you are a criminal who took an active part of the systematic abuse and humiliation of defenseless children. I will never forget the "consequences" , and abuse myself and other kids there suffered at the facility I guess you were too cowardly to give an account of soem of the other thigs that happened here (not surprising because it takes a special kind of coward to abuse kids who are smaller and weaker than you) . You will never understand what that place had on me psychologically and probably most of the other kids you took part in the tormenting of, to this day. I’ve been in theraphy ever since. Shame on you.
And nor should you forget what happened to you George. Don’t pass up any opprotunity to seek some sort of legal redress for what was done to you. If I’m not mistaken there is no statue of limitations on child abuse. I encourage you to take 3 springs to court over what they did to you. As for me, I don’t think I’ve ever said I’ve felt a total and complete exorcism of guilt for my part of what happened. Yes, speaking up and reaching out to some of the kids in my group has been good, but far from complete. Rest assured I still have my late night tormented and can’t sleep moments.