My Story

[Carolineswims]

I was sent to Trails Carolina in March of 2020. It was a horrible experience. To this day I still have nightmares that keep me up at night. I ended up staying 3 days and not completing the program. I hated the hours and hours of hikes that went uphill or having the sun right next to you with long black pants and a blue or black long sleeve shirt. Not being allowed to roll up the sleeves. Some were in the day, ALL DAY. You are not allowed to show your skin because of triggering reasons. You are not allowed to touch, this includes hugging, high-fiving, and other forms of human contact. You could not have private conversations(otherwise known as PCs), and you had to be in the eye-site of a staff at all times. You have to inform them when you are using the bathroom and talk to the staff during this time. With questions about what you are doing and how everything looks. You also have to request to go to the restroom and are most times told no and then forced to wait. You have to hold your bodily functions (that are healthy and bad when not happening naturally) for hours sometimes. Then comes the food. There was a food schedule of which days u ate what. 
For breakfast, we either got oatmeal with less than a teaspoon of brown sugar, and that never lasted through the week or two weeks that you had the brown sugar(otherwise known as B-Shug), or you had grape-nola which is granola and grape nuts, then with that, you had powdered milk, (otherwise known as P-Milk). For lunch, you had either a packet of tuna and one packet of mayo and two of mustard on 2 tortillas, and on the other days you have 2 lousy scoops of peanut butter and if you were lucky 3 seconds of honey(they counted how long they put the thick layer of honey on), onto your tortilla. For dinner, you had quinoa, mac and cheese, rice and beans(R&B) , and rice and lentils (R&L)-which u had three out of the seven nights. I did not eat anything because all of the stuff looked disgusted plus I was trying to starve myself to death at that horrible place. If we wouldn't make or couldn't make a fire we wouldn't eat. Same with water. They want to break you down until you're nothing. They treated us like objects. We were nothing more than cargo. It was dehumanizing. They call it therapeutic, but it's just cruel. Every kid is treated like a criminal.  The program also overworks kids while giving them little to eat. They don't tell you future plans (i.e. how much time a hike will take).  Staff told us that our parents had signed us away and I was now property of trails. I was also told that if anything should happen to me in the event that I would die or have critical injuries that my parents had signed a waiver saying that it would be legal. This is not a safe environment. I am 17 now I was 15 when I went. In the 3 years since I have been diagnosed with depression and panic attacks from this event. To this day I have a feeling of abandonment and I am terrified that I am going to be sent back. 

[Monsoon]

9 hours ago, Carolineswims said:

I was sent to Trails Carolina in March of 2020. It was a horrible experience. To this day I still have nightmares that keep me up at night. I ended up staying 3 days and not completing the program. I hated the hours and hours of hikes that went uphill or having the sun right next to you with long black pants and a blue or black long sleeve shirt. Not being allowed to roll up the sleeves. Some were in the day, ALL DAY. You are not allowed to show your skin because of triggering reasons. You are not allowed to touch, this includes hugging, high-fiving, and other forms of human contact. You could not have private conversations(otherwise known as PCs), and you had to be in the eye-site of a staff at all times. You have to inform them when you are using the bathroom and talk to the staff during this time. With questions about what you are doing and how everything looks. You also have to request to go to the restroom and are most times told no and then forced to wait. You have to hold your bodily functions (that are healthy and bad when not happening naturally) for hours sometimes. Then comes the food. There was a food schedule of which days u ate what. 
For breakfast, we either got oatmeal with less than a teaspoon of brown sugar, and that never lasted through the week or two weeks that you had the brown sugar(otherwise known as B-Shug), or you had grape-nola which is granola and grape nuts, then with that, you had powdered milk, (otherwise known as P-Milk). For lunch, you had either a packet of tuna and one packet of mayo and two of mustard on 2 tortillas, and on the other days you have 2 lousy scoops of peanut butter and if you were lucky 3 seconds of honey(they counted how long they put the thick layer of honey on), onto your tortilla. For dinner, you had quinoa, mac and cheese, rice and beans(R&B) , and rice and lentils (R&L)-which u had three out of the seven nights. I did not eat anything because all of the stuff looked disgusted plus I was trying to starve myself to death at that horrible place. If we wouldn't make or couldn't make a fire we wouldn't eat. Same with water. They want to break you down until you're nothing. They treated us like objects. We were nothing more than cargo. It was dehumanizing. They call it therapeutic, but it's just cruel. Every kid is treated like a criminal.  The program also overworks kids while giving them little to eat. They don't tell you future plans (i.e. how much time a hike will take).  Staff told us that our parents had signed us away and I was now property of trails. I was also told that if anything should happen to me in the event that I would die or have critical injuries that my parents had signed a waiver saying that it would be legal. This is not a safe environment. I am 17 now I was 15 when I went. In the 3 years since I have been diagnosed with depression and panic attacks from this event. To this day I have a feeling of abandonment and I am terrified that I am going to be sent back. 

Hello @Carolineswims

Thank you for sharing this with us. It sounds like you had a really traumatic experience that has definitely left it's impact on you which is completely normal and understandable. You went through a lot at the camp and it sounds like you could use some support to help process these deeply emotional experiences. What do you think? I just want you to know that this is a completely safe space and we will ehlp you to cope with this and work through the effects that this has left on you. We've got your back.

[Carolineswims]

On 5/24/2022 at 3:58 AM, Monsoon said:

Hello @Carolineswims

Thank you for sharing this with us. It sounds like you had a really traumatic experience that has definitely left it's impact on you which is completely normal and understandable. You went through a lot at the camp and it sounds like you could use some support to help process these deeply emotional experiences. What do you think? I just want you to know that this is a completely safe space and we will ehlp you to cope with this and work through the effects that this has left on you. We've got your back.

Awwwwwww thank you. 

 

[Monsoon]

12 hours ago, Carolineswims said:

Awwwwwww thank you. 

That's okay :)

I'm wondering then, what are you hoping to get out of your support here from Ditch the Label? What would you like to be different?