Each year thousands of children and teenagers are sent to these facilities from all around the world. These often-secretive institutions are largely unregulated, and for some have allegedly caused serious and lasting harm.
Hilton is one of many who claim they were essentially imprisoned within therapeutic residential care, and who’ve spoken about suffering emotional, physical and in some cases alleged sexual abuse.
At just 16, Paris claims she became a prisoner in a full lockdown-style facility where she was held against her will and abused.
“Sometimes they would lock children up in the solitary confinement room,” she said.
She also spoke about alleged sexual abuse.
“Late at night, sometimes they would come in and take us and do cervical exams, like every couple weeks, which as an adult now I’m realising that they were actually sexually abusing us, because none of them were even trained doctors.”
The alleged abuse still haunts her.
“It’s strange to think this was over 20 years ago and it still majorly affects me every single day. I have nightmares almost every single night.”
An Australian woman named Emily, who was also sent to one of the schools, also featured on the 60 Minutes segment.
Now 25, Emily was living in Sydney and just 15 years old when she was sent halfway across the world. Her grades had slipped and her parents had divorced.
Her first stop was a wilderness facility in Utah where she stayed for 10 weeks, and then she was moved to her final destination, a school called Monarch in remote Montana which she described as a kind of hell on earth.
Emily had a similar story to Paris about how her journey began.
“At around three in the morning, two strangers switched on my bedside lamp and … that’s when I was presented with the options, the easy way or the hard way,” she said.
“And I asked what the easy way was and they said, you know, ‘We walk out the door and get on the plane together.’”
Emily said her time at the school was terrible.
“If you even looked at someone the wrong way, you were forced to dig up tree stumps,” she claimed.
“Food was taken away, and you weren’t allowed to talk to a single other person for months at a time.”
Even worse was the aggressive group counselling known as Attack Therapy, which essentially pit child against child to re-enact the traumas of their peers.
“It was a snowball effect, so one kid would start yelling at another kid, and more kids would join in, and these were torture for me, to have a group of 15 of your peers yelling at you, and what would make matters worse was this rile-up gang mentality would go farther than the walls of that room.
“This was encouraged by the school.”
She said she walked away from the school feeling bad about herself.
“I will always have in the back of my mind, am I the problem?” Emily said. “Am I still a bad kid? Am I inherently evil?”
However, there are some who support therapeutic retreats, such as Andy Goldstrom, who has started a podcast and support group to guide parents through the process.
“I think you have to put the entire story in perspective,” he said.
“Paris Hilton has been the largest voice in this and gotten the most attention because of her celebrity.
“She came from a home where she was used to being spoiled and her parents tried to rein her in. She was sent for some discipline. She did not like the discipline.”
Goldstrom said the treatment of his own daughter, Audrey, at a residential retreat convinced him the industry does more good than harm.
At 17, Audrey’s learning difficulties had led to anxiety and depression and bad choices, giving
Goldstrom no choice, he said, but to send her away, by escort, in the middle of the night.
“She did not know what was coming. Making a decision to have your kid taken away from you in the middle of the night is a big deal, but we were at a very desperate point and we feared for her safety and ours,” he said.
“It was done very professionally … this was not some kind of fly-by-night thing. These were experts.”
He continued: “What bothers me is saying that the industry as a whole does not work just because of a few stories that have translated into the entire industry being bad. That’s what I object to. The programs are continuing to raise the bar.”
When told a story of alleged abuse by 60 Minutes, he responded: “All right. This is not the conversation I was expecting to have. I’m just a parent who’s trying to help my kids, trying to help the industry. I’m not on trial here.”
Caroline Cole runs the survivor support group Unsilenced and, like Hilton, is pushing for greater regulation of the industry and a bill of rights for young people in care.
When asked if the troubled teen industry has cleaned up its act, she said: “Not at all. I mean we have reports of horrific abuse still coming out of these facilities as of a week ago. As of yesterday.”
Where to get help:
If you are worried about your or someone else’s mental health, the best place to get help is your GP or local mental health provider. However, if you or someone else is in danger or endangering others, call police immediately on 111.
Or if you need to talk to someone else:
Depression helpline: 0800 111 757 or text 4202 Lifeline: Call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP) Suicide Crisis Helpline: Call 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) Need to talk? Call or text 1737
