”I went to KC House of Hope, a home for “healing teens,” during my junior year of high school. I had struggled with my parents and had an attitude problem that was not getting resolved at home.
When I arrived, I was taken off all medications unless they were life-dependent, like diabetic medicines or bi-polar. I had withdrawals from being taken off my depression medications and was not allowed to stay on birth control, which had helped my severe cramps.
I spent the first three months with zero contact with my family. I was only allowed to speak to the house staff and not the other girls. We were given three serving-sized meals daily, that they received from a food bank.
We went to school in the basement. In the first week, I was required to read the 30-page manual out loud, eight times. There was a rule called “Sister’s Keeper,” where, if another resident sees you break a rule, they tell you that you are breaking a rule, and you have five minutes to tell the staff. Then that resident reports to the staff that they did Sister’s Keeper on you. They are rewarded for reporting that and it helps you advance in the program.
I had to do a purity vow and recite Bible verses in order to get to the next level in the phases. I received mail but the staff read it first and if it was not “approved,” you never saw it. My grandfather wrote to me every week for nine months and I did not get a single letter of his.
If you made it to the higher phases you were allowed a dinner pass with your family once every two weeks. They interviewed my family afterward to see what we discussed at dinner. I was told if I mentioned anything negative or asked to go home, I would be bumped back to the beginning of the program and have to start over.
We never went anywhere in public, except for church, and could not speak to anyone outside of our staff. I could not read anything that was not a Christian book. There were no TV or movies, and no secular music. We were also forced to do chores every morning and evening, as well as daily yard work, like raking leaves and shoveling snow.
I suffer from PTSD, trust issues, and feel like I was used for their profit. I was asked to go back and speak at a fundraiser a few years after I graduated from the program and was told it would look good on my resume. They wanted me to tell my testimony to get donations, however, the founder of HOH KC had to approve my testimony and edited it several times. I regret speaking and being used for donations to a traumatic program.”