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I came across this thread while trying to find out what happened to the youth mental health center that I spent time in. I was locked up in the "Golden Valley Youth Center" for three months during the 80's. I spent some time in the mentioned seclusion rooms. I plan on taking a drive out to the address mentioned to see if it is the same place.
I probably crossed paths with some of you. I came across this post totally by random on new year's eve 2016, first time I've ever looked at the Mpls section of CD & it caught me off guard & brought up a lot of emotions. I have blocked out much of this experience, so not sure I'll be helpful to most, plus it took me this long to decide whether to set up an account on CD & post. Today, I learned that my niece was just committed to this type of place & so I decided to come back here & maybe it's time to confront this time period in my life. There are only a few people in my life who even know I was at a place like this. I wonder whatever happened to the records?
The truth is, I don't remember much. Based on where I lived, I must have been here between 79-84, my best guess would be 1980. Also, I was 'sent up' (that's what we called it back then), twice, was there a place called Fairview South, maybe? I know once was at GV, the other time, Fairview rings a bell. Both were locked wards & my memories run together from both places, so I'm not sure what happened at which. The name "ATP" rings a bell, but Dr. Corman does not, nor does the 'treatments' some of you have posted about. IDK if this is b/c I've blocked things out or if I just never witnessed them. I remember something about "levels" & a sign on the door of rooms indicating what level you were on & that those levels & "privileges" changed based on behavior. I don't remember any medications, but I remember being woken up every single morning to have my blood drawn, tho' maybe that was at the other facility.
I am a totally functional adult & was a functional teen. I was locked up for being a normal teenager, partying & experimenting with drugs, like most kids in the 70's & 80's. My parents were not from the US & completely overreacted to normal teenage behavior. I remember at one of the places meeting a kid who had murdered someone & I remember a girl who was, looking back at it, probably extremely autistic or something like that. Those opposite ends of the spectrum, kids with true juveniles troubles & true behavioral/psych issues, were mixed in with the 'normal' population, which was 95% of the kids there. It was all completely an insurance scam & most of the kids there were kids that were just normal teens with nothing but normal teen problems & experimentation. I remember lots of kids from my school in there.
I wish I could remember more to help some of you who are looking for answers. I don't honestly know how long I was in either place, though my guess would be 30 days or so. I know it was until the insurance ran out. We all knew that on the inside, that it was an insurance scam. It was so long ago that I just don't remember many details. I recall one instance when going to "group", that I walked in to the room to find my name written on the whiteboard along with something rude about me. That sticks with me, all these years later. The other thing I recall which now makes me laugh at their incompetence more than anything else, but at the time was upsetting, is that at some point after being badgered to confide in the staff, over & over again, I confided something. I was concerned about something that I was afraid wasn't "normal" about me. I remember a lot of the staff was really, really young, just a few years older than most of the inmates & I finally shared with one of these staff members/counselors, which looking back, were probably not even professionals. So after weeks of haranguing me to confide, I finally extended my trust & shared something that really did worry me. Only to be told that I made it up to get attention (I didn't) & it was never addressed. I seem to recall that they even wrote me up for trying to get attention. It became a big deal that I'd made it up to get attention. The whole thing was ludicrous!
What a ****ing nightmare these places were! Most of the kids had no business being there at all & I am so sad for those who's lives were affected so much more deeply than mine. My thoughts are with you all.
I was there and remember many of these things. Yes I think it traumatized me and completely changed my personality. I was in isolation for over a year, I think a year and a half, from 15-17 yrs old. I remember RPRs, the mats, room Restrictions, the quiet room. I remember names of other patients and staff. I remember verbal and physical and sexual abuses. I even remember the custodial staff, as they were often the only human contact I had.
Anyone who wants to contact me about this place, please feel free. [email]Banshee914@aol.com[/email]. My name is Sandy and I was one of 'Cormans Kids'.
I feel like someone finally found the black box inside me.
ATP 1&2, 1983-84.
It would do me so much good to talk to anyone else that e peridnced these things.
Last edited by Banshee914; 03-14-2017 at 10:33 PM..
Reason: Left out info
Golden Valley Health Center / Adolescent Crisis Unit was referred to by juvenile courts throughout the United States for treating juveniles for for mental illness. One of the few facilities willing to deal with actively psychotic adolescents in it's Golden Valley Adolescent Treatment Program. There is no address for 'this place' as it is no longer in existence.
The laws have changed, the treatments have changed, the care has changed.
The state operates facilities for the care of those with mental illness in various State Hospitals and facilities around the state. The trend is to move towards group homes with assimilation into the community. A higher staffing ratio enables better care, and naturally costs more to the state.
To fully understand, one would have to research psychiatric care methods throughout the history of psychiatric care. These practices and uneducated methods were the norm throughout the country. The majority of the abuse reported seems to be patient to patient, with not enough staff available to observe and separate all during a 24 hour day.
The Staff at State facilities are no longer able to restrain, there are no longer straight jackets. Patients now have a right to refuse prescribed medications, which sometimes leads to behaviors that cannot simply be dealt with safely by staff to protect the other residents as well, so occasional visits are made to the psychiatric units of local large hospitals. Sometime with police assistance, to get the out of control away from those in harms way, and evaluate to help the one in distress.
Children aren't pulled off of the street and rolled in carpets. If their parents are no longer able to care for them, i.e: if they are a danger to them-self or others, the state eventually ends up with them through the courts system. Including costs for treatment and housing.
The treatment for all adolescents throughout the history of mental illness treatments has been barbaric at times, abusive, illogical. Gains have been made in medicine, and psychiatry, and occasional lawsuits where money speaks to prevent future ignorance and better training-- as well as education for the general public.
IMO
for real you don't know WHAT you're talking about or maybe feel complicent in what actually happened.
Most of the kids there were NOT court ordered and were NOT psychotic.
Sounds like u were one of the administrators looking to ease your conscience about what was done to us.
I can't believe I stumbled upon a post about that facility and I am haunted by it. I was 15 when placed there and adolescent long term treatment in the 80s seemed to last as long as your parents still had money to throw at them. I remember the evaluation unit that made you wear hospital PJs and the treatment there was to decide if you were crazy or a substance abusers. I had been smoking quite a bit of weed then but so were 70% of all other teenagers. It was the 80s for F&$@'s sake, pot and coke were very popular. They should have been happy that I was just smoking pot then and held off a few more years before coke. I do remember the bizarre group counseling, the lounge area and singing the Lean on Me song entirely too many times. There was a counselor named Bruce and I can remember him telling us that he was lucifer. I believed the sadistic bastard and he was constantly threatening me as well as others with being sent to long term treatment unless we came up with some padded I am an addict story to make them believe that I had in fact embraced the AA mantras.
I did get sent for additional treatment at Fairview Deaconess after Golden Valley apparently didn't help. I also got sent to the Warren Eustis House and then to Jane Dickman house in Woodbury. Unfortunately, it was not a good thing for me that my parents had plenty of money to throw at them. Despite being traumized by the 80s treatment and labeled an alcoholic, I am happy to report that I am 50 now and did live through it. It's buried memories but they are still there.
I remember that the Activity assistant was named Jerry. He was an untrained recovering addict that relapsed while I was there. He was the one obsessed with the Lean on Me song and his behavior was very erratic. I was from Indiana and was sent there on a plane by myself. My Dr was Constantine Rigas and I am sure that he made millions off from the kids. I have had some health problems that have required hospital stays throughout the years. I am traumatized by memories anytime I have to go into a hospital which makes sense now that I am remembering being locked up for so long. My name is Lisa and I was just a young pot smoking blonde girl back then
It never ceases to amaze me how I posted this thread several years ago and as people stumble across it, I receive the validation of how horrible this place really was. I've had many problems, questions, unresolved issues and I continue to try and work through them. For many years, I thought all my struggles were the result of coming from an abusive home. I certainly remember being at GVHC and other institutions after that place. I remember being miserable there and wanting to leave but not knowing where I wanted to go, as home was a bad place to be as well. It wasn't until I was talking to a therapist about my time at this place, and seeing HER reaction to what happened there and what they did to kids that I realized how sick that place was and how much they tortured children. I just never stopped to question that the people who were supposed to help me actually hurt me just as bad, but in many ways it was worse. They burrowed into my brain, my thoughts, my emotions, and twisted everything so I never trusted again and learned too well to lock myself away from people. How this was allowed to happen and then so silently swept under the rug is shocking. When I went searching for answers to coping with having been in these places, there is just nothing out there, like nothing ever happened and the treatment given to us kids in the 1980's was normal and acceptable. Hence, the reason I wrote the original thread. Hopefully when others come across this thread, they will realize what happened there is not okay and we aren't alone. There are others who also survived it and I'm not just crazy and alone in my terror of those years behind those walls, which continue to haunt my life to the present. If anyone would like to connect with me, I can be reached by email at where.is.sam@me.com and I was at this lock up from fall 1985 until fall 1986.
I hate that I feel like my path in life was so drastically altered by being sent off to those places. At least in my case, it was 1982-84 before I finally got out of Minnesota and the kiddie treatment mill. I have very rarely spoke of it throughout my life. I have read a few candy coated version of the 80s treatment abuses but they fail at telling the story of the long term effects on the kids. It is so nice to have my memories validated by others who were there st that time and place. It was not just a horrible dream and it was real
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ATP 1-2 survivor, 1983-4
