Something Was Wrong

S24 Ep18: Fear-Driven

Host: Tiffany Reiss (Broken Cycle Media)
Guest: Katie R., PhD, Social Work Researcher and Survivor
Release Date: October 23, 2025

Main Theme & Purpose

Overview:
This episode centers on the lived experiences of Katie R., who as a teenager endured nearly two years within two institutional settings: Island View Residential Treatment Center and the Oakley School, both operated or acquired by Aspen Education Group and its parent companies. Katie shares her story to highlight the trauma, abuse, and long-term psychological harm suffered by children in such facilities. The conversation weaves her personal narrative with professional insights, aiming to raise awareness about institutional abuse, the ineffectiveness of shame-based behavioral modification for youth mental health, and the ongoing need for reform in the adolescent treatment industry.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background and Purpose for Sharing

• Katie's Motivation:
  • Katie holds a PhD in social work research and is driven to speak out due to the lack of attention survivors of institutional child abuse receive.
  • She addresses how insurance systems treat children as the sole problem, ignoring family dynamics (06:46).
  • Hopes sharing her story informs parents and offers validation to other survivors.

“Addressing youth mental health is more than fixing the child. It's addressing aspects of their environment.” – Katie R. (07:23)

2. Katie’s Childhood & Pre-Institutional Experiences

• Unstable Childhood:
  • Early parental divorce, repeated relocations, abuse by mother's new husband (07:50).
  • Developed severe depression, anxiety, resorted to self-harm (09:10).
  • Traumatic rape at age 14 after alcohol use (11:00).
  • Subsequent social withdrawal, increased risky behaviors, and suicide attempt (13:00).
• Parental Response:
  • Parents turned to therapy, medication, and eventually an educational consultant recommending residential placement (14:30).
  • Lack of communication/supervision and feeling misunderstood heightens her distress.

3. Island View Residential Treatment Center

• Arrival and Routine:

  • Katie entered Island View on March 19, 2004, for eight months (15:03).
  • Describes locked environment, zero privacy, rigidly regimented days, and “compass”/“compee” onboarding system (18:09).
  • Socialization strictly controlled; eye contact with other teams forbidden as “flirtatious” (18:09).

• Punitive, Fear-Based Culture:

  • Daily confrontational group therapy designed to “break you down to build you up,” but rarely rebuilt (20:18).
  • Omnipresent fear of losing privileges through the “level ladder” system—any small mistake threatened months of “progress” (20:48).

• Family Communication Manipulation:

  • Parental phone calls were closely monitored and parents were prepped to distrust their child’s distress (23:06).

    “They had been prepping my dad: When she calls, she's going to tell you, this is not a good place ... if you believe her, you're enabling her behavior.” – Katie R. (23:08)

• Staff and Clinical Practices:

  • “Milieu staff” or houseparents required little to no mental health credentials (24:11).
  • Katie’s experience with therapists included being required to recount her rape in front of 40 boys—a “wildly inappropriate” act (29:40).
  • Staff responded to self-harm or aggression with physical restraint or isolation (24:43, 26:00).
  • “Problem-solving” groups and leadership panels forced resident-on-resident confrontations (21:06, 41:10).

• Abuse, Isolation, and Tragedy:

  • Use of “yellow zone” (social isolation) for minor rule violations or illness (28:39).
  • Emotional toll of isolation heightened for those (like Katie) with attachment and trauma histories.
  • Witnessed and was deeply affected by another resident’s suicide (32:40).

    “Every time I closed my eyes, I could see him. ... The executive leadership walked around and told us ... his family knew he was going to do this, and they were just happy he did it here.” (32:56)

  • Describes the whole environment as modeled after juvenile detention, not trauma-informed care.

4. Impact on Return Visits and Transitions

• Family Visits:
  • Supervised, restricted, followed by search and suspicion; fear of making mistakes in public (34:14).
  • On first home pass, Katie was so anxious she didn’t leave the house (35:02).
  • Physical illness was misinterpreted as guilt over supposed misbehavior (35:25).

5. The Oakley School (“Step-Down” Program)

• Transition:

  • Sent to Oakley immediately after “graduating” Island View; not allowed home, no explanation given (37:24).
  • Only later did Katie’s family realize both facilities were owned by the same company, possibly for financial incentive (37:38).

• Structure and Discipline:

  • More “freedom,” but still operated with punishment and threat (39:23).
  • Severe consequences (“trails”: silent marches for multiple days) for repeated or serious infringements (39:45).

• Therapeutic Approach:

  • Groups existed, and Katie found a positive therapist, but the overall environment remained punitive (40:52).
  • Katie developed an eating disorder due to fear and social anxiety (41:10).
  • Confession during “come clean” periods led to isolation and loss of privileges (41:50).

• Re-entry to “Normal” Life:

  • “Graduated” after 12 months; school re-enrollment required her to tell her trauma publicly, leading to ostracism and loneliness (43:05).
  • Letters from friends were intercepted and destroyed by staff, deepening her sense of abandonment (43:50).
  • Notes complexity: some staff or teachers within the institution were compassionate (44:10).

6. Religious and Cultural Context

• Influence of Utah Mormon Culture:
  • While religion was not overtly forced, most staff were Mormon, and elements of shame or discipline may have been influenced by religious thinking (“spare the rod, not the child”) (44:51).

7. Long-Term Impacts & Recovery

• Lasting Psychological Effects:
  • Internalized shame, high anxiety, constant anticipation of conflict, impaired social functioning, and persistent self-doubt linger even after years of therapy (47:00).
  • “For 20 months of my adolescence, my identity was developing around this idea that I was a fundamentally bad person.” (49:30)
• Reflections as a Researcher:
  • Katie’s negative experience as an institutionalized youth informed her research and passion for systemic reform in child welfare (46:50).
• Family Relationships:
  • Despite trauma, Katie maintains a supportive relationship with her father and family (52:51).

8. Broader Takeaways & Message to Listeners

• Ineffectiveness and Harm of Behaviorist, Shame-Based “Therapy”:
  • Argues that these modes are not evidence-based and are counterproductive for youth mental health (51:41).
  • Urges listeners to question the logic of using control, shame, and confrontation to solve trauma and psychiatric conditions (53:55).
• Necessity of Reform:
  • Calls for residential care to be limited to only the most severe cases, for proper investigation of allegations, and for giving youth a safe way to report abuse (55:17).

“Behavioral modification, social isolation, shame, and confrontation are nowhere in any research indicated as effective modes of treating mental health in children. ... These treatment centers abound to this day.” – Katie R. (51:41)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Institutional Approach:

  “The mentality was, we're going to break you down to build you up. And there was a lot of breaking down and not a lot of building up.” – Katie R. (20:18)

• On being forced to recount rape:

  “My therapist thought it would be helpful to have me sit in a group room with about 40 boys my age and talk about what it was like to be raped. … That was wildly inappropriate.” – Katie R. (29:40)

• On peer surveillance and compliance:

  “You have to internalize the way of the program, it becomes a way of survival.” – Katie R. (31:45)

• On shame and lifelong impact:

  “I want to say that 20 years of therapy later, I've undone that wiring. But there are just some things you can't completely undo.” – Katie R. (49:56)

• Message for program operators:

  “When I walked into those programs, they told me that I had caused harm to my family. But they've caused irreparable harm to a number of families over several decades.” – Katie R. (55:37)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Katie’s early family life & trauma: 06:46 – 13:50
• Decision to institutionalize: 13:51 – 15:03
• Arrival and description of Island View: 15:03 – 18:09
• Daily life and behavioral programs: 18:09 – 24:06
• Therapist interactions, inappropriate practices: 24:43 – 31:30
• Witnessing suicide, crisis mismanagement: 32:40 – 34:10
• Visits home, post-trauma anxiety: 34:14 – 37:24
• Transfer to Oakley School: 37:24 – 39:23
• Punitive practices at Oakley (“trails”): 39:23 – 40:31
• Return to high school, social fallout: 43:05 – 44:43
• Cultural/religious context: 44:43 – 45:53
• Long-term effects and family relationships: 46:50 – 53:44
• Reflections and call for reform: 53:44 – 57:58

Closing Thoughts

• Katie emphasizes:

  • These residential programs use methods that are fundamentally mismatched for mental health needs.
  • Survivors’ stories are often dismissed, and the public lacks awareness of these institutions' pervasiveness.
  • Institutional trauma can have lifelong effects, especially when internalized shame forms a core part of one’s identity.

• To other survivors:

  “It is certainly not the most horrific case, but it’ll reflect someone else’s story and give them permission to hopefully see it as being a trauma and something that they can have compassion towards themselves for.” – Katie R. (54:50)

Overall Tone

Candid, reflective, and deeply empathetic. Both host and guest create space for difficult stories and healing, blending survivor testimony with informed critique of a harmful system.