I loved finding a group in Baltimore. I had spent time in Alabama and felt like a group would help me get my life together. I had a substance problem, but more so a living life problem. I was wildly impulsive and suicidal. Initially the support with Judy Birch was a godsend. I think choices split the community and every time I did work with Choices I felt worse and more alone. I left because It was just too much. I’ve always missed group. 12steps ect are fine but it’s are to find OP groups. My life has been”ok” but i sometimes feel like I had a real chance then and that Sbeth and her manipulative behaviors sidelined me. I think about people I met more often than i thought i would.

Hi, it’s Liz, 1995-2004, and I recognize so many of you. I’m healing from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome with a multi-faceted program that includes daily meditation, and past traumas are coming up to be reworked. Hah, one thing Choices gave me – I know how to work a program!

I’m very clear now that I was abused and traumatized by the Choices program and the counselors. I’m sure others found hope, healing, and community there. It is us screw ups and scapegoats that are posting (we are totally not that, but were necessary for the sick system to function). I was a set-up for a cult. With two Narcissistic Personality Disorder parents, I had lived with abuse and trauma my whole life and was absolutely unable to recognize what was happening to me at Choices. I was home. My whole world rose and fell (mostly fell) on how my weekly session with my counselor went, and she was mean. Transference anyone? I came in with so little sense of self, no self confidence, and was further torn down from there by constant negative feedback in group after group. I quit speaking up in group, it was too painful.

I did learn some really good basic life skills there, mostly how to be a friend and have friends. With no role models and somewhere on the Asperger’s spectrum, I really needed Social Skills 101. But what a s**tshow of misdiagnoses! I was desperately lonely and needy, and labeled a sex addict. I was slender and shut down in a world of fear and cognitive dissonance and diagnosed anorexic. And deepest cut of all, I had no social skills and was labeled narcissistic.

In my healing, I have raged and wailed. They were supposed to HELP me! I was absolutely betrayed. In my healing I am strong and clear and I will NEVER be treated that way again!

Beth, our paths barely crossed but I remember you vividly from an afternoon group with Karen and my heart went out to you. You were real. I commend you for the courage it took to bring actions against Choices. I was specifically helped by seeing the psychiatrist and getting on antidepressants. Thank you!

Lauren, I’m the other biology nerd and you knew the rat’s secret name! I’m so sorry for what you went through. You’ve been special to me this whole time!

To all of us. My counselor has a saying I just love, “you’ve put your trauma to good use.” Stay strong and carry on. Liz

Liz, Thank you for your kind words! I'm so happy to hear from you. I'm still here and I still try to share my story to help people who have been harmed by groups like Choices and therapists like the Traynors. I'm so glad you are doing better, too.

For anyone who's still looking for help, there are now 12 step meetings for folks recovering from trauma and we qualify for sure! Look into Pete Walker's book about Complex PTSD. What they did was abusive and harmful and the State of Florida sanctioned Maureen which is actually really difficult to do. There are even groups specifically for therapy abuse.

Hang in there everyone and KNOW that we recognized that what they did was wrong and we left! That's pretty amazing. After I left Choices, a well-known therapist in Orlando told me, "Look at this beautiful road that you paved." He thought they were all WHACK, too LOL

If anyone would like to see the official complaint, just send me a private message and I'll send you a link. -Beth



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2021 11:27PM by Lady Pleiades.

Hello all, I went to choices a long while back now ( 12 years now wow). Crazy to see they’re still going. Are all the old timers still going to groups and stuff there?

Choices was weird. I’ve spent many years putting together everything that happened to me there, especially in the context of discovering many of the techniques they use are considered unhealthy / the feeder that sent me there no longer supports them, but I did absolutely benefit from choices.

If it weren’t for specific actions from Beth, I’d actually consider myself grateful if it weren’t for the fact that she purposely broke confidentiality of something I didn’t ever want my mother to know in the post therapy bit that serves no purpose other than to hurt a wonderful lady.

On the off chance she ever reads this, Beth, you had no right to disclose an adults sexual trauma. You’re not a dumb lady - in fact you’re quite perceptive. When you wrote in a letter to my parents intimating what they didn’t know, was it because they annoyed you? Was it spite? I guess I’ll never know.

You can hide behind a veneer of professionalism, but I’m certain if you read this you remember it. Your memory was famed. This wasn’t an accident. It was a blatantly spiteful act.

All in the past! I have had - and am having - a great life, filled with things I thought were out of reach for me. I have other gripes, but they were all in the context of the professional and personal relationship I had with my counselors while there.

This was egregious specifically because it violated the trust I actually had with you. The discussion I had to have because of that letter served no purpose other than to make a wonderful older lady sad. You owe me an apology. I don’t ever expect it, but whatever.

I assume you’re still going strong, so chances are “I’m in an addiction” for one of twenty random things and you’d say I owe you and yours an apology.

Oh well. This went on longer than intended. I appreciate the people who’ve maintained this forum. It’s a weird shared experience we have - made all the stranger by the fact that many of us had and have legitimate issues we came to choices looking for help with.

The only people who’d read these rants are the same people who get them, so thanks to this little corner of the internet I guess aha. Thanks as well to the L Pleiades for keeping this post active



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2021 04:09PM by Somekindofperson.

Hey...is anyone still out there? This is Bailey, I was at choices for all of 2008. I can't believe it's been 14 years, and I'm just now starting to begin to peel back the blindfold covering all of the trauma from that year. I have been struggling with cptsd and I am completely overwhelmed by the flashbacks and memories coming to surface from my time there. I don't know how to explain it to someone. I can barely remember what happened. But I have been running away from choices since I actually ran away in 08. I would really like to talk with anyone who might have been there around when I was, or really just anyone else who understands. I remember finding and reading this board at "school" at Dan's across the street and it was a godsend to know that I wasn't alone. Thank you, Beth, for creating and maintaining this forum. I hope you're still here and doing great!

I think i remember some of you from your posts.
I def. Remember bailey.

That place was sick beth is most likely a sociopath.

Choices shipped me to a nut ward in texas where i was told i was fine but most likely over medicated.

They then dropped me off on the streets with my possessions in a black bag at a shelter full of crackheads looking at me like im fresh meat.

Long story short after years i finally got it together stayed sober and built a successful business. I have never forgotten about this place or how they manipulated people for money.
The most evil thing they tell u is you will never recover from addiction.

I'm glad to see you here, Jason, although I'm so sorry for what you went through. Even though they told me I'd be drinking and turning tricks on the street if I left Choices, I also have been able to stay sober and am successful and content. I have a happy, healthy son, too.

Another of the flashbacks that I have is when Maureen asked me if I WANTED to be hospitalized. The stuff they do is evil because people are at their most vulnerable when they are there. My husband ended up marrying someone from his group -- which is nuts to begin with -- but they made me feel crazy because I was jealous of their friendship. What a relief we are not there anymore!

There's a book called CPTSD by Pete Walker that has been super helpful for me with the flashbacks.

There's a book called CPTSD by Pete Walker that has been super helpful for me with the flashbacks and recovering from the trauma of Choices.

Sorry for the duplicate post.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/2022 01:49AM by Lady Pleiades.