MICHELLE’S STORY

I don’t hide the fact that I was “shipped off” at 15 years old to a “therapeutic” boarding school. Cascade School in Whitmore, CA. Regardless of what I’ve shared, what I actually remember, and the questions that are asked, not one person (who hasn’t gone through the experience) understands. One day I just disappeared… poof! I was sent to a cult-like, abusive “school.” I was “attacked” and broken down on a daily basis. I was reprimanded for dressing incorrectly, not cleaning well enough, making eye contact with the opposite sex, etc. I was told that it was MY fault that I ended up there because I was a “spoiled whore.” The molestation at 11 years old was MY fault. I was the DIRECT cause of my parents divorce. The school was supposed to “fix” me, to mold me into the numb, emotionless, robotic girl that I did eventually become. It’s been hard since the day I stepped foot in that program. Paris Hilton attended the same school I went to, and others before and after that. The abuse was too much. The “workshops” and “raps,” the daily dose of medication (to this day I still don’t know what I was given), the punishments, the lack of communication with my family, the eerie, pedophilish staff members (many of them, not all), etc. There is so much that I remember, but there is SO much more that I don’t; subconscious has protected me in that way I guess. I was diagnosed with severe panic disorder just a few months after I graduated and I have struggled with anxiety since. Several years after I left the kids overtook the school and held the staff hostage. The school closed permanently after that. Just wanted to share as it’s been on my mind a lot since watch Paris’ documentary.