Summary: An abusive summer camp for emotionally disturbed children, run by Wediko Children's Services is exposed. Kyle Bishop and Dickie Richards, who are former campers, come forward and talk about being brutalized by mental health workers.
Quote from the show:
"He'd restrain me and no matter what, you'd tell him that you're hurt -- that you're getting hurt by him and they don't care, they'll still do it to the point no matter what. And they seriously they don't care about what the kids say. It can be as little as you know, you're pinching my hand or to the point where you're almost breaking my arm. And they're just like, we don't care about it."
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Listen to the show in streaming audio format Download the show in MP3 formatYou can also read Dickie Richards' personal essay about Wediko.
Kyle Bishop's e-mail address: dragonsphere_gooroo_2000@yahoo.com
7 comments:
Hey Dicky I got a Email From a Listener maybe you wanta see this shit... you gota email me my shit went on the fritz
I'd really like to see this e-mail. Could you forward it to me?
Harry never responded to my invitation to come on the show to respond to the allegations we made against Wediko. But that's not much of a surprise.
my name is joe allen i am 16 years old and a student at wediko i am in the year round program and was placed there bye the courts and things that are talked about in your interviwe still happen today the kids are phsicly restraned for things as simple as being what they call vebly agresiv wich in outher words is swaring theres has be to acounts i can think of at the moment when kids where held the wrong way and had gottin ingered to the point they needad medical attion this is a horable place for any kid to be i have drug problems and have naver been lable with any emotial issue and when i found this site i was relved that there where atchwell outher ppl felt the same about this place
Hang in there, bro. And if you could, why don't you send me an e-mail. The contact info is in the menu.
I was a female 20-year old Wediko counselor about 25 years ago and found your radio show clip. I think it's great you are speaking out. I was so disappointed to hear about your and Kyle's experiences, but I believe everything you say. Here are my memories and thoughts, good and bad ...
Most of us, the young college student counselors, did what we were taught by the Ph.D's because we assumed they knew what they were doing, as did the parents. I only had one year of college and wasn't even a psych major. I loved kids and really wanted to help them. I only used the basket hold a few times. I think it may have been better for the girl campers as far as the physical restraints go because I didn't see a lot of restraining going on regularly with the girls. But I must say, how can college students help a child who has been sexually abused for example? The only thing I can say is it was a chance for a girl to get out her home environment which might have been good if she was low income with nothing to do all summer but get in trouble or was being abused, etc.
For your mothers, you may wonder why they didn't do more to get you out or to complain, but don't forget, back then parents often weren't considered an important member of the team. You were supposed to hand over your child to professionals and not ask questions. They didn't have the Internet - the great equalizer for accessing information and other people with knowledge that can help.
I still feel good about what I did for the girls - one I taught to read part of Pippi Longstocking and I have such good memories of her. I do think a shower only once a week was ridiculous for the kids. I don't remember the bugs or leaches but I did sleep in the bunks along with the kids. For our cabin, we had a counselor who was a Wediko kid grown up, I forget his name. I remember thinking that yeah that's good therapy for him to be a counselor but I do think they should have put him with boys who would relate to him as a role model. So that's not true they never hire former Wediko students, at least back then.
I found the job so hard I was burnt out by the end and while I'd enjoyed it, the last day when they invited me to return the next summer I said "I'll think about it" but decided later not to do a repeat. I only got paid $500 for the whole summer and that barely made a dent in my college tuition. I only remember getting off one day a week. They had only one shower for the counselors and it was coed and not at all nice. I had to get up really early or there'd be a line that would make you miss breakfast. With my oily hair I had to shower every day!
The way the basket hold was explained to me is that it was a predictable, non-hurtful way to stop a child from certain behaviors. It made sense at the time but I can see people used it abusively which is terrible. I wasn't one to get off on using my power over children and I didn't use the hold that much and when I did, it didn't last long. I do think talking out why a child is acting out would have been more productive than just trying to eliminate the behavior -- since behaviors have explanations and it would be more helpful to get at the root of what is causing the behavior for any really help to occur, but at that time I didn't know what I know now as a middle aged parent with an ADHD kid.
We had a long day and some people stayed up to party but what do you expect with 20 year olds? I did it at the other camp I worked at too. It was all we had to release our own tension with such an intense job, long hours and one day off with no car. What else can you do in NH but party? Anyway, I don't remember bottles and trash in NH but I believe what was said that in Boston the trash may have been left out but that's disappointing to hear.
Anyway I felt compelled to write because the bottom line is, I think there was not enough supervision by experienced people. Even the PH.D people were young and at least some had not yet had their own children (it really does make a difference to be a parent). College students need a lot of supervision and really, experienced therapists should be doing the day to day stuff not 20 year olds.
I saw this myself when I used a behavioral therapy for my son with college students and that's when I learned, college students just don't have what it takes to work with special needs or emotionally disturbed kids, even if they are "trained". They just don't have the expertise.
So those are my thoughts ... keep talking about Wediko, these things should not happen and it breaks my heart.
Who knows? We might have been there at the same time. I don't know if you're aware of this, but there has been a war brewing on another parallel Wediko thread between myself and one or more ANONYMOUS message posters asserting that I am fabricating information about Wediko. I honestly cannot understand why anyone would want to post an anonymous message on an important issue like Wediko, as anonymous entries really aren't credible. As far as the world is concerned, I could have fabricated your last post in order to aide my cause. It would have been one hell of a detailed and persuasive fabrication, but, you see, there is no way to prove that it wasn't. If people are unwilling to go on the record, what they say really doesn't mean anything. I stated in my last post on the other thread that I am no longer allowing anonymous posts. I am however going to allow your post, because unlike the other anonymous message posters you did not accuse me of fabricating information about Wediko or attempt to label me as having psychological problems. It's the smear campaign which enrages me.
About five years ago another former Wediko staff member contacted me by e-mail, saying what you are saying. When I asked him to go on record, he didn't write back. I'm happy that you have made the post, I just wish someone who worked at Wediko would go on the record. I could understand why a woman might want to remain anonymous, however, former male Wediko staff members should step up to the plate. What really do you have to lose? The entire mental health industry is grossly under funded and has completely gone to shit. Most people in the mental health field have no future. You really have nothing to fear about blowing the whistle on your former employers, because if you work in the mental health field, you're already screwed. Come on, people, I know you want to get the Wediko experience off your chest. Maybe this existential doom I'm trying to imbue in you will help you to come forward. All I ask is name and rank. You don't even have to give a serial number.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I learned a few things from what you said.
Hi, thanks for your reply. This is the 45 year old former counselor. I know you don't like anonymous (from your other posts I've seen), but you're right, I'm a woman plus all I can do is give my recollections and thoughts for whatever it's worth and to say I support you making noise. But honestly, I don't know how my name can help because I didn't see any abuse -- I am not a witness. If I did, believe me I would have done something. Unfortunately, I didn't see what the boys experienced because I was with the girl campers. Even if you and I were there the same summer, I wouldn't remember you because I was with my cabin all the time. I can only remember my own cabin's counselors because I used to have a picture somewhere.
It almost seems like two different places between the boys and the girls. Some of the girls were quiet, the sexually abused one had trouble with masturbation in public not aggression, I think there was only one that was really aggressive and I don't remember holding her that much -- she tried to hurt me with her words. I don't think we worsened the girls' fates, but I doubt we helped the abused ones much due to our lack of training and if they were going right back into the abusive home to boot. I remember one of the leaders saying the summer kids "regress" when they go home. This made me feel a sense of hopelessness that I was making a difference.
I think it would be great to find more campers that shared your experience. And I hope you find them.
I say, forget about the anonymous counselor who disagrees with you. It's crazy not to believe you. Why would you or your audience make this up? Look at all the priests and sexual abuse. Of course you were wronged, because you are angry and you're talking about it. If you'd been helped, you'd be at peace. You'd feel good about your experience.
But my name doesn't help you -- you need witnesses. I send my love to you and all the boys (now men) who went through this.
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