Narconon Vista Bay
christopher struve
My Name is Chris Struve. I have a loved one that was entered into the
Narconon vista Bay facility. I am not going to put names or anything
because I still dont know who to trust right now. At the moment she
is still at the facility, but when she was there....I started to
research myself about the place. When I was trying to get information
about it from their main website, they just had this crazy loop system
that kept bringing me back to the most ridiculous information. I
started to get a little scared and enlisted my mother and family to
help me investigate. As the night went on...we uncovered so many
horror stories about the place and all of their practices. When she
was admitted into the facility, her parents had an "intervention"
more like recruitment, and got her to go there. At the time in our
relationship we were battling drug addiction, and were currerntly in a
Methadone program in Milwaukee, WI. Things were very rough for
awhile, but I personally have made so much ground since March when she
had gone there. She does not have a great relationship with her
parnets, things happened in the past that I would like to keep
personal due to her wishes, but I can not talk to them because they
blame me for all of her drug use. Anyways, now that she is at this
facility, I have slowly tried to release information to her, and try
to find out what is going on there. She has been there since Feb 22,
and three days ago from today, she finnally tried to say something to
me on the phone. We talked about some things and said scientology,
Ron hubbard, and other things. The next day she was brought into an
ethics office with an "ethics officer" and was forced to call me and
say things like, she wants nothing to do with me, wants me to leave
her alone....etc. Well I thought this was wierd because the night
before we had just talked and everything was beautiful. That
conversation was the one where the scinetology talk had come up. So
obviously the phones were bugged and they brought her in because of
that. Well....she is very scared. I got a letter today from her
trying to say a few things, and for me to go and find out as much
information about the facility that I could. Since she is so far
away, it is hard to coordinate getting her out of there. Mainly, I
read that you help people get their money back from Narconcon. I was
so worried sick that things were strange there and not a safe
treatment facility. Well....it is all true. She said that her
friend talked about Scientology, and the next day she was gone. She
needs my help, and I am taking it upon myself to find the help
neccesary to get her out and to be refunded as much of the 30,000$$$
that was used to go there. At the time of her singing the contract,
she was sick ( dope sick) and not of sound mind. She did not have the
correct information and only aggreed to it because the liaison officer
that was there told a completly different story of what the place
was. Now that she is there and clean with a clean sober mind, she is
scared. I am contacting anyone because I dont know where to turn, and
it seems like all of this runs so deep within that place. Very very
corrupt. I dont know who to trust or talk to because I dont want
anything to happen to her while she is there. But she is screaming
for help, and she needs me to do something.
Please get back to me with any information possible. Thank you in
advance.
Chris
christopher struve
ethercat
Hi Chris,
You do not say whether you or your friend are minors or not, and how you
should proceed depends on that. If she is a minor, there is little you
can do other than speak to her parents, or have your mother or family
speak to them about what you found out about Narconon. If she is an
adult, legally speaking, she can walk out of there if she chooses to, but
in practice, it may not be such a simple task (distance from home, no
money, no transportation, unfamiliarity with the area, etc).
Please be aware that although there are some Narconon horror stories (too
many), and although Narconon is not a good place to seek treatment, the
majority of people who attend do leave without being harmed. Some are
even helped, apparently. I say this, not to try to change your opinion
about Narconon, but to try to calm your fears.
The fact that she is aware that it is Scientology will hopefully prevent
her from becoming involved with them long term. As for her friend who
mentioned Scientology and was gone the next day, she was probably sent
back home because Narconon doesn't like to admit they are related to
Scientology, and doesn't want people stirring up the other "students"
about it (since most people don't have a favorable opinion of
Scientology).
Frequently, people who successfully complete the program are asked to
stay on as staff. If your friend is asked to become staff, she should
politely decline.
I don't know how you will communicate any of this to her, because as
you've discovered, the phones are sometimes bugged, and it's not too far
fetched to think that a letter back to her might be read and then
disposed of if you say too much that is negative in it. My opinion is
that having her parents arrange for her to leave is your best bet,
regardless of your ages, so I would work on that angle.
You also don't say who paid the $30,000. I'm assuming it wasn't you.
Whoever paid will need to try to get the money back; I don't think you
will be able to if you didn't pay (nor should you). Trying to get the
money back is really premature until she is out of the program. Once she
is out, whoever paid may have more options for a refund, or a partial
refund, as Narconon resists giving a refund for time spent in the program.
ARS is kind of a ghost town right now. You may get more responses and/or
information if you post instead to one or more of the forums:
http://forum.reachingforthetippingpoint.net
http://forums.whyweprotest.net
http://ocmb.xenu.net/ocmb/
Do be aware that Narconon monitors any public site that discusses them,
so I'd advise you to be careful how much you say on this newsgroup or any
forum, and also to anyone who emails you, for that matter. Use your best
judgement and don't be pushed into anything you're not comfortable with.
The same goes for your friend.
Best of luck to you both. Please let us know what happens.
--
|_____|__| |\__/,| (\
|__|_____| _.|o o |_ ) )
|--------------------------| ethercat |----------------(((---(((--------|
|_____|_____|_ http://ReachingForTheTippingPoint.net _|_____|_____|_____|
|__|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|__|
|_____|_____|____ Scientology - Through the Door _____|_____|_____|_____|
|__|______|_____|__ http://ThroughTheDoor.net/ ____|_____|_____|_____|__|
|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|
Out_Of_The_Dark
> My Email is stru...@gmail.com
Hi. I have much experience in these matters and some advise and links
besides those that ethercat so kindly posted and sent you.
Since your friend has been there for 3 months, she should be nearly
finished with the program.
Do not expect a refund of all or part without a struggle. Believe me.
Only those with little time on the program at a Narconon facility, or
one who suffered physical damages or death doing it's program are able
to afford the effort and legal help needed to get their money back.
You can read lawsuits and complaints filed against Narconon at these
links and decide if you want to sue them for fraud, which many have
done with cases settled:
http://www.scribd.com/AnonyMary/collections
http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/Narconon.aspx
Better to first have a grip on how well she is doing in her recovery
and a plan on where she will go for continued rehab help when she
leaves before you try to get her out. Most who leave or relapse on
Narconon ( as it has about a 10% success rate) wind up going to a
local clinic and attend AA or NA meeting afterwards, as these are
available, affordable and actually helpful.
So find out how she is really doing in her recovery first. Don't take
her out unless you have an agreed upon plan with her on what she will
do as soon as she gets out. Enlist the help of an AA or NA sponsor if
you need advise. If you have enough money to put her in another
facility up that way, one that other Narconon victims have gone to and
have been pleased with is one referred by Samhsa.gov , a facility
named A Better Tomorrow in Temecula, California but it's 6 hrs from
Vista Bay. Find something like it by checking out the SAMHSA Facility
Locater
http://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/
You can read my blog articles on Narconon here:
http://free-from-scientology.blogspot.com/search?q=Narconon++
I hope all works out.
Mary