Teen Challenge
Posted by:
EsBravo32
()
Date: October 15, 2008 11:54AM
This is my first post on this web site, the moderator @ www.teenchallengeexposed.com put up a portion of an email I sent him on his "testimonies" page. The story I sent him was about my time as a staff member @ Phoenix Teen Challenge. I had, myself gone through the program (Dec. '97
through Jan. of '99), I started in the Chicago centre, and finished the program in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
I had a few rough moments while I was going through the program. My "counselor" decided to call my parents to tell them I was "faking the entire
program, and that I had no interest in God". This was soooo false and untrue, It took me a month to talk them down from that tree. To this day I don't know why that man did that, shortly after that episode, my counselor dissapeared, we were all told that he took another job, I have not a clue why he just "up and left".
About a year after graduating Teen Challenge I got married, I felt called to work w/ men who had the same life controlling problems that I had, Teen Challenge had truly helped me, so I figured I would seek out a position at a Teen Challenge centre. After a long search I came to the TEEN Challenge in Phoenix, Arizona. I ended up taking the job, my wife and I moved out there. My wife got a good job teaching at a High School there in Phoenix, we only worked about 10 minutes away from each other. Working at T.C. is a labor of love, I only made $75 every 2 weeks. Of course I was not there for the money, I had a genuine love for these men, and wanted to help them as I had been helped.
After being there for about 6 or so months a young man entered the program, the director put him on my "counseling" list, this meant that I was responsible for meeting w/ him a couple times a week to talk about his problems, questions and/or concernes. After meeting w/ him a couple times, I could tell that this kid had some serious issues. I went to the director of the program and told him about this young man, I stated that I was not able to help him in the manner that he needs. I made it very clear to the director that I was not comfortable "counseling" this kid anymore, I thought he needed profesional help (really bad). The program director totally blew me off, telling me that I should let the Holy Spirt guide me as to what to say to this kid. I was very frustrated, I knew that the "student" needed so much more than I could give.
One day he came to me, he was feeling depressed, upset about some family situation that was going on outside of the program. I sat there w/ him for a while and let him get some things off of his chest. After we were done, he asked if he could go lay down for a while, that he was tired. I gave him permission, but told him to report to the classroom in 10 minutes.
Well, about 15 minutes passed, I got up to make sure he made it to the classroom. He was not there, so I went to check on him in his room. I opened up his door, after knocking a couple times. When I steped into the room I saw this 19 year old kid, hanging by the neck. He was purple; he had looped his belt over the top bunk, then put all of his weight on his neck, choking himself to death.
I was stunned, for a moment I just stood there, I was frozen. I can't get into all of the emotions I felt (and still feel), I still think about this thing at least one time, every day.
The program director did his best to cover everything up. He only addressed it one time, it was in a staff meeting, and only to tell us that we are to never talk about it, not to the students, and not amongst ourselves. Can you imagine, needless to say, the program director was a real ass sometimes. All of this happened in 2001, but the wounds are still very fresh. I don't think I'll ever forget what happened that day, or how I tried to convince the director to get the young man better "help".
I did not stick around too much longer, one more thing happened before I left though. It turns out that a long time staff member had been having homosexual relations w/ a kid who would enter the program, then leave. He did this a lot, at least 10 times. This kid would sneak into the staff members room at night, when everyone was asleep, they would then look at pornography and have sex. By the way, this was shoved under the rug as well.
Love God and Serve Others
Erik
Love God and Serve Others
Erik
through Jan. of '99), I started in the Chicago centre, and finished the program in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
I had a few rough moments while I was going through the program. My "counselor" decided to call my parents to tell them I was "faking the entire
program, and that I had no interest in God". This was soooo false and untrue, It took me a month to talk them down from that tree. To this day I don't know why that man did that, shortly after that episode, my counselor dissapeared, we were all told that he took another job, I have not a clue why he just "up and left".
About a year after graduating Teen Challenge I got married, I felt called to work w/ men who had the same life controlling problems that I had, Teen Challenge had truly helped me, so I figured I would seek out a position at a Teen Challenge centre. After a long search I came to the TEEN Challenge in Phoenix, Arizona. I ended up taking the job, my wife and I moved out there. My wife got a good job teaching at a High School there in Phoenix, we only worked about 10 minutes away from each other. Working at T.C. is a labor of love, I only made $75 every 2 weeks. Of course I was not there for the money, I had a genuine love for these men, and wanted to help them as I had been helped.
After being there for about 6 or so months a young man entered the program, the director put him on my "counseling" list, this meant that I was responsible for meeting w/ him a couple times a week to talk about his problems, questions and/or concernes. After meeting w/ him a couple times, I could tell that this kid had some serious issues. I went to the director of the program and told him about this young man, I stated that I was not able to help him in the manner that he needs. I made it very clear to the director that I was not comfortable "counseling" this kid anymore, I thought he needed profesional help (really bad). The program director totally blew me off, telling me that I should let the Holy Spirt guide me as to what to say to this kid. I was very frustrated, I knew that the "student" needed so much more than I could give.
One day he came to me, he was feeling depressed, upset about some family situation that was going on outside of the program. I sat there w/ him for a while and let him get some things off of his chest. After we were done, he asked if he could go lay down for a while, that he was tired. I gave him permission, but told him to report to the classroom in 10 minutes.
Well, about 15 minutes passed, I got up to make sure he made it to the classroom. He was not there, so I went to check on him in his room. I opened up his door, after knocking a couple times. When I steped into the room I saw this 19 year old kid, hanging by the neck. He was purple; he had looped his belt over the top bunk, then put all of his weight on his neck, choking himself to death.
I was stunned, for a moment I just stood there, I was frozen. I can't get into all of the emotions I felt (and still feel), I still think about this thing at least one time, every day.
The program director did his best to cover everything up. He only addressed it one time, it was in a staff meeting, and only to tell us that we are to never talk about it, not to the students, and not amongst ourselves. Can you imagine, needless to say, the program director was a real ass sometimes. All of this happened in 2001, but the wounds are still very fresh. I don't think I'll ever forget what happened that day, or how I tried to convince the director to get the young man better "help".
I did not stick around too much longer, one more thing happened before I left though. It turns out that a long time staff member had been having homosexual relations w/ a kid who would enter the program, then leave. He did this a lot, at least 10 times. This kid would sneak into the staff members room at night, when everyone was asleep, they would then look at pornography and have sex. By the way, this was shoved under the rug as well.
Love God and Serve Others
Erik
Love God and Serve Others
Erik
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