On 10/3 the National Youth Rights Association (www.youthrights.org) held a conversation about the successes the anti- "Troubled Teen Industry" movement has had shutting down abusive behavior modification facilities and the steps we can take to coordinate more closely between the various groups involved, including survivors, lawyers, state legislatures, and organizations focused on intersecting issues such as LGBTQIA+ rights.
Content warning: This panel may include mentions of child abuse, cults, brainwashing, homophobia, ableism, transphobia, sexual assault, and death.
GRATITUDE to Brian Conner for hosting this panel. To hear more from him directly, checkout NYRAs episode on Troubled.
Panelists: Wayne Besen: LGBTQIA+ rights advocate and founder of Truth Wins Out and the Center Against Religious Extremism; has helped lead the fight to ban conversion therapy in 20 states.
Sara Gelser: a state senator from Oregon who focuses her efforts on advancing the rights of children, youth and people with disabilities and ending the use of restraint and seclusion. (@sensaragelser on Twitter)
Amanda Householder: she started with exposing and closing the abusive boarding school her parents own. She is the Executive Director of the nonprofit created out of the abusive ashes of her father's crimes against children, with a primary mission of providing mental health access to Survivors as the do the difficult work of healing their selves and saving future generations. She is also a host of Troubled and is working with local Missouri legislators to repeal the State's Religious Exemption. (@exposingcircleofhope on TikTok & YouTube and @berlinvonmortis on IG)
Shain Neumeier: an attorney based in Springfield, Massachusetts who uses the legal system to protect the autonomy and prevent the abuse of youth, people with disabilities, and transgender people; in particular, they have worked on issues of bodily autonomy and freedom from coercive interventions in the name of treatment.
Miranda Sullivan: Survivor & Founder of Troubled, a podcast by survivors of institutional child abuse with the intent of exposing the open secret of institutional abuse in the US, from the Assimilation of the Indigenous through the cult-spawned “toughlove” industry to today. (@talktroubled everywhere for the podcast & @m0rrigu personally) Gabriel Joseph Gonzalez: a survivor that educates and advocates for young people's rights in The Troubled Teen Industry and has worked on various projects promoting legislation creation including a recently co-facilitated collaborative campaign to congress to regulate controversial care practices and challenges in TTI, as Legislative Coordinator of Breaking Code Silence, a movement organized by a network of survivors and activists to raise awareness of the problems in the Troubled Teen Industry.
#iseeyousurvivor #breakingcodesilence