Ruth Meier Adolescent Facility

So I spent some time here two years exactly in the early 2000s and let me tell you after thinking about some of the events that took place here as an adult I see corruption. This private company milks the state for money at the hands of our nations youth. They can keep a young individual there as long as they want just by saying they need all sorts of mental help. By doing so they will continuously be paid from the state at the expense of a child’s childhood don’t get me wrong, That so-called bike trip they do every year always remind me that I can do anything, but other than that my time here is prolonged by the profits of Ruth Meiers herself. I am pushing 35 years old and always have nightmares about this place. I Wake up in panic of being locked up as a child. My name is John Malnourie and I disapprove of this place.

In my time at Ruth Meier's, it did not aid my mental health in the slighest, and quite frankly, worsened it numerous times. Additionally, being sent here irreparably damaged my relationship with my parents. While it is long, I would request you read and consider my full review and consider if this facility is right for your child before sending them here. The "higher-ups" of the staff, I generally disapprove of. The structure is such that they stay in the administrative side of the building for the most part outside of important events, but at the same time they make the decisions on how a child is handled despite hardly interacting with them. Looking at the website now, the majority of them are the same despite years having passed, and the one who I did respect has left. While I will not call out any individual by name I will say that some were explicitly mean or rude to me, and they were generally derisive of my opinions of how my own treatment should be handled. I would like to give a hearty applause to the "lower-downs" though. They were called Direct Care Associates, if I recall correctly, and they did all the heavy lifting. From dawn til dusk, they watched us, helped us with things, talked us through problems, fed us, took us to school. All the actually caring and interacting portions. Even for the DCAs who I did not personally get along with, I respect their ability and willingness to work with a large number of mentally ill teenagers under situations that could easily escalate to tension. Unfortunately, though, my issues with the structure as a whole outweigh the good brought by these individuals. There is also the problem of treatment. Most likely, if you are coming to a facility such as this, you already visit with a psychiatrist or psychologist to consult on your condition, forge a treatment plan, etc. When coming here, I was forced to change from a psychiatrist who was generally receptive to me, to their onboard one, who was generally unresponsive to my feelings about treatment and strictly did things her way. There was also the nurse, who refused to give me medication multiple times, despite my chart calling for it, saying I was faking symptoms, forcing me to endure terrible migraines on multiple days while I stayed there. I simply stopped asking at a certain point because the endeavor felt fruitless. If any medical professional makes you want to stop seeing them by mere presence, they are failing. There are many forced activities which while boons for some, worsen the experiences for others. I arrived while they were preparing for their annual bicyce trip where they average 40 miles by bicycle a day. Despite not having the training that others did, I was expected to perform all four days and was reprimanded harshly when I simply couldn't finish the third day. Another such forced activity was drug rehabilitation therapy, once a week on tuesdays. At the age of 15, I had not yet touched a street drug and had no idea where to even start looking if I wished to. By the end of the program, I could easily find you dealers. That is not to say these activities are inherently bad, I can see how they would help a child, but the forced inclusion of them if they do not suit your child's needs is poor handling. The final point I wish to make is one of process where I feel RMAC fails. I did not "graduate" Ruth Meier's by actually getting better with my mental illness. I was allowed to leave by identifying what traits they valued and emulating them for a long enough period of time. This happened with a decent number of past residents I talked to, as well. They didn't get treated, they simply saw the trend of behaviors that let them out of an unpleasant situation and waited for the admin team to slap a smiley face sticker on them. While I understand you can't simply dive into the mind of the children you are hosting and find out how they truly feel, perhaps you could get a better idea of whether the treatment is working and what might aid them if you actually talked to them in person instead of just reading DCA reports.