WEBVTT - "A Pine Tree and a Red Hill" 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.199 Camp hell an Awake is a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.640 The views and opinions expressing this podcast are solely those 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:09.799 of the author and participants and do not necessarily represent 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:12.840 those of I Heeart Media or its employees. Due to 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:17.720 discussion of traumatic, sexual, and violent content, listeners, discussion is advised. 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:23.320 The whole episode was almost surreal. I moved to Atlanta 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:27.720 in X seven, became a graduate student. Needed money, so 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:30.520 I looked under psychologists in the phone book in the 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:34.880 yellow pages, and there was something called any Wakey Foundation, 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.400 and I said, what the dickens is that? This is 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.200 Roger Brenn. He was an early employee at ana Waki. 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:47.279 Today he's a clinical psychologist and currently practices in Huntsville, Alabama. 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:51.479 First person I talked to was Lewis Petter, and on 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:54.920 the phone he asked my credentials. He said, you're exactly 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:57.640 what I'm looking for, and so I drove out to 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.840 his offices. Lewis Heater came out and introduced himself to me, 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:04.160 and we sat in his office and he hired me 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:06.800 on the spot. I was probably there fifteen minutes. He said, 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:08.720 do you want to work with us? It sounded like 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:13.000 a fun exciting place I thought I could grow. He 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:16.280 basically made me the clinical director. There was no other 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:20.160 mental health person on the campus per se. Now he 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:24.680 had a license to practice psychology, but had been grandfather, 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:27.720 and he had doctor in front of his name. I 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.560 didn't know for several months what that meant, but he 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:34.240 had an honorary doctorate degree, and from that point on 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:38.800 I thought he was a real psychologist. When medical licensing 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.560 laws came into play in the United States, if you 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:45.080 already had a master's degree and had been practicing psychology 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:47.480 for a number of years, you were able to obtain 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:51.040 a license as a one time clause. Roger explained that 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:53.880 this would not fly today, but at the time you 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:57.800 were grandfathered in. Such was the case with Anna Waki's founder, 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:02.240 Lewis Petter. There was no training Number one. It was 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:06.360 all on the job. The boys were required to build 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:09.560 their own lodging. UH. They did a lot of their 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:12.079 own cooking. UH. They had to make sure that they 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:16.280 stayed in groups and worked in groups and teams. I've 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:18.959 been there about six months, and of course it took 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:23.000 me a while to get acclimated to the camp, and 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:24.840 at the same time I started thinking there were some 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:28.440 unusual things. Well, we started suspecting that there was some 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:32.600 kind of sexual misconduct. Couldn't prove it, kids wouldn't admit it, 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:35.160 so we sort of hung in there to see what 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:41.280 we could find out. Over the past several weeks we 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:44.320 have received the number of very serious allegations concerning both 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:47.040 the facility out there in a number of individuals involved 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:51.000 with him. It was just a form of their therapy. 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:53.200 They were told to do it, and at the time 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:55.720 he was fourteen and a half fifteen years old, they 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:59.000 didn't know any better. I asked him, why are you 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:01.760 letting this hypen? Why are you covering up for Louis Patter. 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:09.239 He had no answer to that question, having paid its little, 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:18.120 such destricable place, and to do absolutely the contrary of 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:21.919 what they should have said. I'm disturbable the fact of 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:24.000 something I can still got on it and I wake you. 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:32.360 I'm Josh Stain and this is Camp Hell Anawaki. In 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:36.000 speaking with former patients and employees of Anawaki, I heard 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:40.800 a range of experiences, some heartbreaking, some inspiring, and some 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:45.200 that were straight horrific. To understand what led to these experiences, 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:47.760 we need to look at how this institution was initially 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.920 set up. What were its purposes? And why were so 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:54.000 many parents sending their children there? I tried to find 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:56.080 anyone who could give me an idea of what the 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:59.080 early days of Annawaki were like. It was out in 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:01.720 the woods. Was a dirt road going into it. Outside 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:05.080 Douglasville was still a dirt road. The Aniwaki sign was 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:07.600 there in a path where the Abulds are going to 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:11.560 be built. Down below that was the small little school 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:15.560 room and one lodge, and then as you go down 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:17.680 into the campsite there was a tool room and stuff. 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.320 My name is Richard Edgerley. I got recruited there in nineteen. 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:27.440 My number was e seventy nine. That means Richard was 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.719 only the seventy nine person to attend an awake. He 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:32.880 says he was admitted when he was around the age 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:36.720 of ten or eleven. The lake was being built. It 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:38.839 wasn't like hite finished because I worked on that for 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:41.560 I would say a month before they filled it up. 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:45.599 The cabins had just received power. Fact the place where 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:47.680 they stuck the poles and it was still flat, so 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.799 it hadn't it time to grow up. An Awaki Lakes 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:53.960 still sits in Douglasville and can easily be seen on 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:57.360 any map. This was one of Richard's original work projects. 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:01.000 While attending in the beginning was that's what everybody was 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:05.760 working on. The lake clearance, stumps, burning the wood, the grass, 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:09.920 cutting with sling blades, lots of trail building because everything 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:13.040 was new. We line all our trails of the rocks. 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:15.840 We used to have competitions to see who could move 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:18.960 the biggest rock. In fact, the one my friend and 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.280 I did is still sitting there exactly where it's set. 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:24.760 Fifty years ago. We stay in the cabins. We built 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:28.040 two extensions. They weren't finished totally. A couple of the 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:31.960 cabins had the foundation for an add on to the 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.080 building and it wasn't done during my time. We knocked 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:38.400 down the wall and built that extension. During that time 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:41.719 we installed heating panels, and twenty years agoing now and 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:43.839 out there, they were still hanging and they were still working. 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:47.200 The day to day for patients at an Awaki was 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:49.919 set by a self planned schedule. It was to be 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:53.240 followed by the letter. On Sundays, we have to write 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:55.800 a schedule of everything we did for that week from 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:59.160 morning to night five three would bake up five forty five, 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:02.640 we get dressed. Six o'clock we would assemble as a group. 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:05.520 Six ten we would move to the lodge. We would 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:08.360 have to walk around the lake. Seven o'clock was breakfast, 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:11.560 always thirty minutes. Eight o'clock we go to the tool room, 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:13.600 check out the tools. Depending on what we had to 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:17.760 do that day, axes, rakes, whatever, we'd actually go to 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:22.520 whatever project it was, cutting grass, lining trails, building things 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:25.760 in the camp, helping other groups build their stuff, cleaning 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:30.600 out sewage ponds, painting, staining. Eleven o'clock we would stop 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:34.280 clean up. Twelve o'clock, lunch, one o'clock we'd go back 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:37.120 to work. At three thirty four o'clock we would stop 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:39.760 back to the lodge and think again what happened with dinner. 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:42.240 Three minutes after that, we went back to our campsites 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:45.640 and had a group meeting. Could range anywhere sixties seven o'clock, 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:48.599 and that was in the back of the campsite, split 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:51.279 logs around the fire pit. The group would sit there 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.760 and talk and work out our problems and say what 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:57.760 happened during the day. And then after that we'd have 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:00.640 free time activities. Letter writing showers ever we need to do, 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:05.160 and then twenty around there lights out. It wasn't that bad. 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.120 It kept you busy, and you had your friends and 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:11.240 bec you didn't have any time to thank nearly at all. 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:15.880 This rigid daily structure provided the patients of an awaki 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:19.720 with a predictable routine, a widely accepted strategy to reduce 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:24.000 problem behaviors in children with emotional behavioral issues. So what 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:27.400 doesn't mean to be diagnosed with an emotional behavioral issue? 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.280 The answer is more complicated than you may think. I 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:33.240 went to speak with an expert who could shed some 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:36.800 light on the subject. My name is Steve Trustcott. I 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:39.480 am a professor at Georgia State University in the school 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:42.960 Psychology program. And I'm Katherine Perkins, and I'm also a 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:47.080 professor in school psychology at Georgia State. I asked Stephen 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:49.560 Catherine to explain what it means to have a child 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:53.680 with emotional behavioral issues. One of the things that is 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:57.040 probably going to make your story complicated is that there 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:01.560 are multiple systems for determining what or a child has 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.840 an emotional or behavior disorder, and within those systems, there 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:10.920 are different definitions. There's a legal system. There's an educational system, 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:13.920 and then there's a system of psychiatric kind of disorders, 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:18.320 and they overlap some but they're not the same, so 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:22.240 i'll give you up. For instance, the classification using the 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:27.680 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual identifies about ten of us population 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:32.360 of children notes having an emotional or behavioral disorder, whereas 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:36.000 the school based definition only about a little less than 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.880 one percent of kids or kids who are classified as 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.599 having an emotional or behavior disorder. So there's a disparity 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.680 between those and part of the disparity is that the 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:48.480 criteria are different. So the criteria for a special education 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:51.240 for the label of eb D and Georgia. That's another 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.120 thing is the labels change across the states, but in 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:57.880 Georgia it's eb D. The label requires there to be 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:03.760 an educational impact. Basically, the term emotional behavioral issue is 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:08.840 not a universal standard. What qualifies as emotionally disturbed changes 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:12.079 depending on the context in which it is determined, whether 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:16.120 it be by a school, hospital, or otherwise. This is 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:18.400 something that would give in a waky enough wiggle room 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:22.079 to claim anyone could be accepted based on the facility standards. 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:27.800 Emotional behavioral disturbance is the label that was given by 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:32.600 the federal government. That's in this law Individuals for Disabilities 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:38.640 Education Act that specifies what students qualify for special education 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:43.040 in public schools. That's what that label is. And then, 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:47.040 like my colleague pointed out, there are other labeling systems 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:50.760 that are more medically oriented, or you know, the judicial 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:55.040 system has their own label, which is guilty or not guilty, 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:58.720 and so it's a little confusing. But the federal law 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:04.840 for special education clearly outlines the criteria that you're looking 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:09.120 at to determine if a child meets that criteria for 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:14.040 emotional behavior of disturbance. There isn't a definitive way to 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:17.960 say this kid does and this kid doesn't have that disability. 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:22.080 Catherine and Steve pointed out that just because a child 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:26.199 is labeled as emotionally disturbed, that doesn't make that criteria 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:29.000 the same in Georgia as it may be in Alabama 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:31.880 or Florida. This term is a blanket that could be 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:35.160 used in a number of situations. Some of these would 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:40.360 not only include school, but also the judiciary system. The 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:45.800 definition in Georgia is based on five primary concerns. The 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:49.840 first one is an inability to build or maintain satisfactory 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:54.839 interpersonal relationships with peers and or teachers. An inability to 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:58.960 learn which cannot be adequately explained by intellectual, sensory, or 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:03.040 health factors. The third one is a consistent or chronic 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:08.560 inappropriate type of behavior or feelings under normal situations. The 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:12.359 fourth is a displayed pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression, 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:16.040 and the last one is a displayed tendency to develop 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:20.800 physical symptoms, pains, or unreasonable fears associated with personal or 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:25.560 school problems. So those are kind of the five hallmarks 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:29.600 of students who are identified as having eb D. So 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:33.359 here's how I think of it. There's typical childhood development, 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:37.600 you know, the way most kids grow and learn, and 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:40.640 then sometimes the kind of behaviors that we're talking about 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:45.960 when we're talking about eb D. They may be perfectly 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:50.880 typical and normal, but then if they persist into other 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:56.760 developmental stages, they might look very different. So, for example, 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:01.520 many people talk about the terrible twos, have you know, 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:05.360 tantrum behavior and very young children who are trying to 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:07.760 find their way in the world and are trying to 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:12.160 assert their power and their choice and their decision making. 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:15.360 And then if they don't get their way, they let 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.960 you know they're not happy about that. But that same 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:22.200 tantrum behavior that would be typical with a two year 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:26.240 old starts looking very different in a school aged child. 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:33.400 And so it's when these behaviors persist with frequency, intensity, 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:39.320 and duration beyond that that is seen in typically developing children, 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:46.560 that's when we start saying, Oh, that's problematic. And how 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:49.400 do parents react when faced with this type of situation? 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:52.280 And how did so many come to the conclusion that 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:56.320 Anna Waki was the answer. I spoke with Richard Dressler. 0:12:56.559 --> 0:12:59.960 He part time serves as a motivational speaker helping family 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:03.480 deal with crisis. His son was also sent to an 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:06.680 awake as a team. I asked him what it was 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:10.000 like dealing with a child with emotional behavior issues and 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:12.240 how he came to the conclusion to send him to 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:20.280 an awake. Oh. Desperation, helplessness, anxiety, frustration. When people ask 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:24.440 me that question about being a parent, and I tell him, look, 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:26.640 we're not giving any guide books to read how to 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:31.760 be a parent. Okay, it's a daily experience. It's a 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:35.000 constant struggle between your head and your heart and knowing 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:37.120 what you should do, what you don't want to do. 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:40.840 There was no place, because I look back, that I 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:45.160 felt I could go to that could really help me. 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:50.280 There are more programs today that are more advanced. There's 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:55.200 more advancements about drug abuse. There's more what I would 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:58.960 call openness in society. So the only thing you could 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:04.199 do back then is trust your psychiatrist, who also was 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:07.280 duped and knew nothing about what was going on at 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:11.240 any of these places like an Awake. Richard says in Awake, 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:14.079 he was first presented to him by his son's psychiatrist. 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:16.840 This would often be how children would get referred to 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:21.200 an Awaki through a doctor or teacher. If I remember right. 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:24.840 He described it as a psychiatric institute that can help 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:28.040 him adjust or change his personality and behavior on a 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:32.520 long term treatment program. Okay, and I accepted that. Richard 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:35.320 and his wife visited the Anawaki campus for a tour 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:38.520 before deciding whether to send their son there. This is 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:42.760 how the Anawaki staff explain their treatment center. They talked 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:47.640 about the fact that it was a psychiatric facility. They 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:51.200 forewarned us about the possibility of some of the incidents 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.480 that occurred, and that is we have to break down 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:57.600 their personality we're gonna read all the letters that come in, 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:02.640 all the phone calls. There was no privacy, and we 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.120 hope you expect that will probably complain about some of 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:09.360 these issues. All these things are normal. At that point 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:13.880 I accepted it, knowing what I briefly knew about these 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:18.640 kind of programs. Looking back now, I think it was 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:24.720 one great anticipated thing they did so that you wouldn't 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:28.160 question what they were really doing. So when your son 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:30.920 came home and complained they're abusing me and I want 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:33.480 to leave and this is happening to me, you would 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:36.400 just go back, well, look he's got these psychiatric problems 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:39.640 and needs treatment, and I'm assuming that what they told 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:42.720 me is true, which we did. In retrospect, I have 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:46.320 to say that, based on my experience, they probably like 0:15:46.520 --> 0:16:07.160 to us. For parents dealing with an adolescent with emotional issues, 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:09.440 they can often feel like they have nowhere to turn. 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:12.920 Annawaki was the solution for many of these parents in 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:16.800 Georgia in the nineteen sixties through the nineteen eighties. What 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.000 was Antawaki doing to treat these children put into their control? 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:25.760 Psychologist Roger Brinn explains the origins of wilderness therapy. It's 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:29.000 been a rule of thumb that if you get kids 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:33.920 into the woods and impel them into some type of adventure, uh, 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:38.040 they do better. And that if they have delinquent proclivities, 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:41.040 if they're going to break the law or to become oppositional, 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:44.400 if they do much better, and that it's a great treatment. 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:46.960 And since then we found that that probably is a 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:50.400 case if it's structured correctly and done right. There was 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:54.640 a book called Wilderness Road, and as I recall, there 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:58.520 was a businessman's club in Dallas, Texas that sponsored the 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:04.200 original residential treatment center for kids, particularly boys. In Our 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:08.320 program at Antawaki was supposed to be designed after that program, 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.680 and it was similar. The boys were required to build 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:14.480 their own lodging, they did a lot of their own cooking. 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:16.960 They had to make sure that they stayed in groups 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.960 and worked in groups and teams, and putting the kids 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:25.520 in the woods made sense. Wilderness Road, published in nine 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:29.520 five by Campbell Loch Miller, has served as the manual 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.760 for much of what we know today as wilderness therapy. 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:37.280 Camp Woodland Springs was started in by Lock Miller as 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.040 an expansion of a summer camp program. He began with 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.240 the Salesman's Club of Dallas, a group of business and 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:47.480 professional men from the area. The parallels between Woodland Springs 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:51.200 and Antawaki are numerous, from a campground setting where the 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:53.640 children are in charge of their own lodging and meals, 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:57.640 to isolating patients into groups, and even alluding to Native 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:01.520 American terminology. Lock Miller was known around his camp as 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:05.840 Chief Lock. The following is an excerpt from Wilderness Road. 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:11.280 We find the camp environment good because it accords more 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:15.199 fully with the child's nature and provides ample opportunity to 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:19.600 satisfy the desire most boys have for adventure and exploration 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:23.480 in the outdoors. Small group living in this environment encourages 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:28.600 original experimentation and provides the widest possible variety of direct 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:32.440 experience with the natural surroundings. Such a life calls into 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:36.280 play numerous individual skills, provides an outlet for almost any 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:39.959 ability a boy may have, and constantly encourages new and 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:44.480 ever broadening experiences of the individual and the group. Life 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:48.159 in this setting provides for the maximum variety, freshness, and 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:54.520 intensity in the daily experience of each boy. Most of 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:57.720 Anawaki's therapy consisted of a daily group meeting at the 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:00.359 end of each day, a time where the always in 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:02.720 your work or school group would sit around the fire 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:06.800 and address any issues they encountered in their day. After dinner, 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:09.919 we had group therapy on logs and that was just 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:13.880 about every night. I worked with the staff. Everybody had 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:18.320 two staff leaders to group leaders in each group, so 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:21.959 you have about eight kids and two adults, maybe ten kids, 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:24.520 and they would do group therapy and work on what 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:28.040 went on that day in process to day. Mark Butler 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:33.080 attended in Awake from four to He remembers the group 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:36.040 therapy which was still taking place during his time there. 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:40.480 The guidance counselors would kind of push you along and 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:44.320 you know, I begin to things and it was also 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:47.280 time to go over the day. What happened? Were there 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:51.080 any incidents? Why did this happen? Because people got in 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:55.920 trouble all the time. These groups would serve an integral 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:59.960 part to the in Awaki program. Children were separated based 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.919 on different factors such as age and whether they were 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:06.199 in a work group or school group. Staying on brand, 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:10.040 These groups were all given Native American names, names such 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:15.600 as Tawanka, Kirkeeed, and Wahonka. Most of the groups of 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:19.240 Anuwaki were done by age limits. Like Wahonka was the 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:21.640 older groups, the one they went to school, alf campus 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:26.680 had the cars. Twanka was the youngest and arranged from 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:30.160 eight till like twelve or thirteen. Then you had other 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:34.600 groups that were ranging groups like maybe twelve, fifteen and 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:38.920 fifteen and sixteen or eighteen. Tuanka where I was at, 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:42.720 was literal translations to attempt or undertake a difficult task. 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:45.399 And like Antawaki is supposed to be the land of 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:50.800 the friendly people. Here's journalist Albert Edgin who reported on 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:56.119 in Awaki extensively for the Tallahassee Democrat. They were broken 0:20:56.200 --> 0:21:02.480 up into groups, and the groups were are designed for 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:09.200 therapy and also for growth, so they had tasks they 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:14.240 had to perform in the groups monitored the behavior of 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:18.000 the kids in the group. The groups were independent. They 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:20.040 were not supposed to cross polony. They were not supposed 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:23.520 to talk to each other. Mark Butler recalls this group 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:27.080 structure and how it functioned during his time there. I 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:30.399 classify him into two groups, the word groups and the 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:33.960 school groups. The word groups are always working. The school 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:37.360 groups are always going to school. When I was there, 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:41.920 I believe there's about tended twelve working groups and there 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:44.600 was no socializing between the groups. Of course we did 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:47.320 a little bit in anyway. I guess they kept thinking 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:50.160 that if they kept the groups smaller and more contained, 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:54.080 and it's much easier to handle, I guess. But then 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:57.520 there was things like football where they would have to 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:01.840 be group mixing. You know, Okay, football players come from 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:06.120 different groups, so there was always some kind of talk 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:12.680 between the groups. The work group model would serve two functions. 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:15.919 At in Awaki to build what would become the largest 0:22:15.960 --> 0:22:19.760 medical facility in the state, and second to help break 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:22.800 down the patients so they could be remolded into the 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:26.399 inn Awaky way of life. That was the idea at least, 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:31.600 here's Mark Sublett, another former in Awaky patient. So if 0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:33.639 you had a building group, they might come in and 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:36.399 you might do all the masonry. Okay, so you're the 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:39.359 masonry group. So he cleared all the land, poured all 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:43.240 the concrete foundations, hauled all the block out there, laid 0:22:43.280 --> 0:22:45.960 all the block next, all the mud, did all the plaster, 0:22:46.160 --> 0:22:48.560 did it all and then another group might come behind 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:51.200 you and they might be a carpentry group. So that's 0:22:51.240 --> 0:22:55.080 what they would do, And it seemed like sometimes the 0:22:55.119 --> 0:22:58.320 groups would split off and would help the electrician and 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:02.040 be the electrical groups they've thing pulling wire doing all 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:06.280 this stuff. I think an Awakes look on it was 0:23:06.400 --> 0:23:09.720 that they wanted to tell you, like, what we're gonna 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:12.119 do is make your life real shitty and you're gonna 0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:14.240 hate it. So what would you want to do to 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:17.040 get out of your shitty, hated life? And they told 0:23:17.080 --> 0:23:19.960 you that from the beginning, like, hey, from here on out, boy, 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:21.800 you're gonna have to work the rest of your life, 0:23:21.840 --> 0:23:24.040 and you better get used to it. That's your life 0:23:24.040 --> 0:23:26.600 from here on out. Unless you go to school and 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:29.600 get that education, then you might be able to do better. 0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:32.359 So kind of right off, their feeding that into your mind. 0:23:34.640 --> 0:23:38.159 This separation between work groups and school groups was the 0:23:38.200 --> 0:23:41.679 beginning of an involved hierarchy at an Awaki. It was 0:23:41.760 --> 0:23:44.639 only after one had proven themselves through a series of 0:23:44.680 --> 0:23:47.960 tasks and personal development that they would receive a rite 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:51.040 of passage. All of the attendees were expected to achieve 0:23:51.840 --> 0:23:54.920 to get your crest. I don't think I've ever cried 0:23:54.920 --> 0:23:57.000 as much in my life as when he stood up 0:23:57.040 --> 0:24:00.480 when he got his crest, which is a certain achievement, 0:24:01.040 --> 0:24:04.280 and said, I'd like to thank my parents for letting 0:24:04.359 --> 0:24:07.520 me enough to send me here. The crest would serve 0:24:07.600 --> 0:24:11.000 as one of the key elements of Anawaki's mythos. An 0:24:11.000 --> 0:24:15.120 Anawakee document called Legend of the Crest reads as follows, 0:24:18.960 --> 0:24:22.200 The pine tree and red hill are the materials found 0:24:22.240 --> 0:24:25.440 in nature, which man may use, according to his ability 0:24:25.520 --> 0:24:29.639 and ambition, to improve the state of his existence in nature. 0:24:30.280 --> 0:24:33.840 The scroll depicts the democratic concept of the value of 0:24:33.840 --> 0:24:37.520 the individual and also the importance of one's relationship to 0:24:37.600 --> 0:24:42.760 other individuals. The winding path to the rising sun signifies 0:24:42.880 --> 0:24:46.639 the importance of striving toward a goal in life, using 0:24:46.640 --> 0:24:51.159 the self discipline necessary to overcome obstacles which may present 0:24:51.240 --> 0:24:55.359 themselves in reaching of that goal. The praying hands show 0:24:55.440 --> 0:24:58.879 the need for a religious concept, the recognition of a 0:24:58.960 --> 0:25:01.879 power in the universe which is higher than the individual. 0:25:02.800 --> 0:25:05.639 The dovel with the olive branch was selected from the 0:25:05.680 --> 0:25:08.480 story of Noah in the Bible to show that a 0:25:08.560 --> 0:25:15.359 new life in a clean, new world is possible. The 0:25:15.440 --> 0:25:18.320