If you're a parent of a struggling teen, work with young people, or just want to understand how billion-dollar industries profit from family desperation, this episode pulls back the curtain on the troubled-teen industry with survivor and author Dr. Corey Jentry.

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Most people who survive the troubled-teen industry want nothing to do with it ever again. Dr. Corey Jentry is not most people.

On this episode of Even Tacos Fall Apart, Corey takes us through his journey from survivor to advocate. He didn't set out to be a voice for reform because of some grand altruistic calling. He got pissed off. And honestly, that's probably the most human reason there is.

After escaping one of these so-called therapeutic programs as a teenager, Corey did what a lot of survivors do. He tried to move on. He went to Europe for his education and earned a PhD from the London School of Economics studying power structures and systemic violence. His European friends would hear his story and shrug it off as "so American" because these facilities simply don't exist in countries with regulated healthcare systems. That cultural distance actually helped him heal for a while.

But life has a funny way of pulling you back. Corey ended up working as a business consultant in the behavioral health industry. Seeing these operations from the inside reactivated trauma he didn't know he still carried. He started recognizing faces from his past. Former practitioners still running programs. Other survivors still fighting to be believed.

Then Paris Hilton went public with her story. Corey watched industry insiders dismiss her as a troublemaker and a liar. That's when something clicked. He had insider access and academic credentials. He was a survivor himself. And he realized that most of the stories getting attention were from female survivors. Male victims of these programs needed a voice too.

The result is his book "Selling Sanity: The Troubled Teen Industry, The Insane Profits, and The Kids Who Pay the Price." But Corey didn't want to write just another survivor memoir... He also wanted to expose the business mechanics behind these operations and the macro-level problems that allow them to thrive.

During our conversation, Corey breaks down how America's fragmented healthcare system creates what he calls "a target rich environment" for facilities preying on desperate middle-class families. He explains the anti-regulation mindset that lets everyone pass the buck on oversight. Federal agencies point to states, states point to counties, counties point to cities... and nobody takes real responsibility.

We also talk about the myth of quick fixes in mental healthcare. Corey references a book by Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield called "After the Ecstasy, the Laundry." The title says it all. Mental health isn't something you microwave. It's like brushing your teeth. You don't see the benefit because you do it every day, but stop and you'll notice real quick.

The troubled-teen industry banks on parents believing there's a shortcut. Send your kid away for a few months and they'll come back fixed. It's a lie that makes billions while traumatizing the very kids it claims to help.

Corey's story is proof that survivors can turn their pain into purpose without losing themselves in it. Check out "Selling Sanity" on Amazon and connect with Corey through his website and LinkedIn to learn more about the work he's doing to expose this industry and push for real reform.

The Troubled-Teen Industry with Dr. Corey Jentry