"They Became Who They Would Have Become Anyway, We Just Added Trauma." Troubled Teen Industry Staff Hystericology

Former staff member for two adolescent teen treatment center talks about his experiences witnessing abuse in the teen treatment industry with therapists Andrea Hanson and Elizabeth Beckmann. Andrea and Elizabeth are passionate about mental health and serving their clients. This has driven them to be outspoken about what is going wrong in the mental health field both for therapists and clients that is at the very least holding the field back, and at worst, actively creating a revolving door of trauma. *****Disclaimer message from Andrea: I experienced a dissociative trauma response and was not able to be fully mentally present throughout the recording. I am grateful that Elizabeth was able to move the conversation forward and that I at least made sense when I was able to speak according to Elizabeth. After going back and forth between not publishing or re-recording the audio, we decided to move forward with publishing the content as vulnerable honesty is important in these situations. Although I was able to get to a much better place shortly after we finished recording, I have not been able to bring myself to listen back to the recording yet. I hope I don't say anything too out of left field. If I do, I apologize and ask for your grace and understanding. If you find yourself in a similar space listening to this or any of our recordings, please pause and seek support. You are under no obligation to revisit the past if it does not benefit you. *****