8 Biggest Things Netflix’s The Program Documentary Leaves Out From The Shocking True Story

Netflix’s new docuseries The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping leaves out many shocking details that paint a bigger picture of the issues with the WWASP program and the troubled teen industry. The Program relays disturbing accounts of the events that occurred at the Academy at Ivy Ridge, coming from the voices of survivors. Ivy Ridge was a part of the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASP), which was advertised as a school to help troubled teens become positive and contributing members of society. Despite this pretty picture, Netflix’s The Program documentary revealed shocking facts about the school.

The dictatorial and authoritarian program started with teenagers getting kidnapped from their homes and taken to The Academy At Ivy Ridge, where they were strip-searched. The teenagers then went through months upon months of physical, mental, and emotional abuse. They couldn’t speak to or even look at one another without getting punished. What’s more, the punishments involved violence. Even without outside context, the stories in The Program are stomach-churning. However, the docuseries left out some details that are worth acknowledging because they change some of the story’s context.

8
Another WWASP School Founder Was Found Guilty Of Crimes Against Students

Randall Hinton Ran The WWASP School Royal Gorge Academy

The Program may have focused primarily on The Academy At Ivy Ridge in New York, but it also highlighted the larger network of the WWASP. This included discussing the other boarding schools that shut down and the crimes that occurred there. However, they overlooked one particular scandal in Colorado. A man named Randall Hinton helped co-found a WWASP school called Royal Gorge Academy in 2006. While many of the people in charge of these troubled teen boarding schools get off scot-free, Hinton actually faced consequences for his actions.

In August 2007, Hinton went up against a jury of his peers on four assault charges and two false imprisonment charges towards students at Royal Gorge Academy (via The Pueblo Chieftain). The school director was found guilty of one count of third-degree assault and one count of false imprisonment. Surprisingly, this marked one of the few instances where anyone involved in upholding this system of torture and pain went to trial and faced any kind of punishment.

7
The Success Of Large Group Awareness Training Could Manipulate The Dopamine System

LGATs Seemingly Cause Dysregulated Dopamine Levels

One part of The Academy At Ivy Ridge discussed in The Program is the Large Group Awareness Trainings (LGATs) that would occur every two months. The survivors of Ivy Ridge described their experiences going through the events, discussing the mental and emotional impact it had on them. There’s no question watching the reenactments that this is cult-like behavior that’s effective. However, there’s a very interesting brain mechanism that could be behind the success of LGATs. Dr. John Hunter has studied the relationship between LGATs and the brain, coming up with the Dopaminergic-Defense Hypothesis to explain the way LGATs work.

The idea behind his hypothesis applied to this example is that a period of high stress – the abuse at Ivy Ridge – followed by the arousal of the brain – the LGATs – causes dysregulated dopamine levels that cause euphoria and/or psychological harm and reckless behavior (via Freedom of Mind Resource Center). If this explanation is true, it could explain why Ivy Ridge used the tactic consistently. The worse that students behaved, the longer they stayed at the Academy. It’s important to note, though, that this is a systematic review of 121 data sources, and it needs to be studied further.

6
Synanon Founder Charles E. Dederich Didn’t Have The Education To Lead A Treatment Program

The Troubled Teen Industry Was Built Off The Back Of Someone Without Qualifications

In The Program, director Katherine Kubler highlights the origins of the troubled teen industry, tracking it all the way back to the cult Synanon started by Charles E. Dederich. They explain that Dederich started out attending an alcoholics anonymous program where he felt they were too gentle with the people seeking recovery from alcohol use disorder. As such, he created Synanon, a rehabilitation treatment center for people with all forms of substance use disorder. The cult was known for its use of attack therapy – a form of verbal abuse. What’s not mentioned in The Program is Dederich’s lack of credentials.

In The New York Times obituary for Charles E. Dedrich, writer Lawrence Van Gelder mentioned the fact that the cult leader failed out of the University of Notre Dame after 18 months. This means Dedrich had zero degrees in psychology or addiction treatment. He wouldn’t have trained in this field without getting a Masters Degree. Taking this into consideration, the entirety of the troubled teen industry, including the Academy at Ivy Ridge highlighted in The Program, was based on a cult that was run by a man without the qualifications to treat substance use disorder.

5
The Staff Of The Academy Of Ivy Ridge Denied Any Responsibility For The Riot

Ivy Ridge Blamed Unruly Students For The Riot In The Boys Dorms

The riot at The Academy of Ivy Ridge was discussed multiple times throughout The Program, exploring how and why it occurred. This incident is powerful to experience through the eyes of the man who helped plan the event. However, a couple of details about the Riot were left out, likely for time’s sake. The first of which is the staff’s reaction to the riot. In an article for The New York Times from 2005, the staff explained why the riot occurred. They completely absolved themselves and the facility of all blame. Ivy Ridge is painted as a safe haven.

Instead, the staff said that the riot was caused by volatile teens who just couldn’t be controlled. It’s unsurprising that the staff at Ivy Ridge reacted this way, but it just confirms the responses from staff members interviewed in The Program. Even Miss Siss, the most open staff member, spoke in a roundabout way when it came to her involvement in anything less than savory. There was zero accountability from anyone involved in the abuses that led to the riot.

4
Public Allegations Of Mistreatment At Academy At Ivy Ridge Occured Before The Riot

Allegations Of Abuse Didn’t Start After The Riot At Ivy Ridge

Another interesting tidbit that came out in the New York Times’ aforementioned reporting about the Ivy Ridge riot was the fact that this wasn’t the first incident of concern. The Academy At Ivy Ridge already received scrutiny from state investigators due to allegations of mistreatment from former students of the school. The Program paints the riot as the turning point for the school. However, this additional information proves that the institutions meant to protect students failed in their job, overlooking the abuses until it got to the point where they could no longer sweep the issue under the rug.

3
New York State Acknowledged Dangers At Ivy Ridge 3 Years Before The School Closed

The Department Of Education Was Allegedly Negligent In Handling The Academy At Ivy Ridge

When everything originally broke about the Academy at Ivy Ridge, New York State seemed shocked; however, a recently uncovered document from New York’s 7 News directly contradicts this notion. Apparently, the riot wasn’t enough to shut down the troubled teen boarding school, and neither were the state’s findings when the school applied to be accredited by the government. Around a year after the riot, New York State sent a letter to Director Jason Finilinson denying its accreditation and outlining multiple concerns regarding safety, education, and health that they had. The primary concerns they highlighted in the letter include:

• Academic deficiencies
• Lack of guidance from teachers
• Inadequate systems for health and safety
• Students being in the chain of command
• Students not having access to vital information
• Restroom restrictions
• Staff administering dangerous student restraint

Based on the state’s knowledge of these issues and lack of action, it’s easy to say that the New York Department of Education was complacent in the abuse of students at The Academy At Ivy Ridge. Instead, the only action taken, according to the letter, was denying Ivy Ridge’s ability to administer New York standardized testing or give out diplomas. This punishment did nothing to save students in unsafe and abusive conditions.

2
The Troubled Teen Industry Receives Approximately $23 Billion Every Year

People Become Multi-Millionaires By Exploiting And Abusing Teens

At the end of The Program, they give a glimpse at the bigger picture of the troubled teen industry. The docuseries mentions related programs like the shocking wilderness therapy camps in Netflix’s Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare. They highlight the money involved in the WWASP schools. However, The Program leaves out exactly how much money the industry is worth. According to the American Bar Association, the troubled teen industry brings in approximately $32 billion every year. This disturbing fact points to the fact that the teens experience trauma while those in charge thrive due to exploitation and abuse.

1
District Attorney Gary Pasqua Has Opened An Investigation Into The Academy At Ivy Ridge

Potential Charges Related To Ivy Ridge Are Being Investigated By The New York District Attorney’s Office

At the end of The Program, the survivors mention that there’s no happy ending to this story. However, there is one glimmer of hope that the docuseries couldn’t have included since it didn’t happen until after its release; District Attorney Gary Pasqua opened a legal investigation into the abuses at Ivy Ridge. According to his statements to Spectrum News 1, one investigator is spending 95% of his time working solely on the case. The only concern with the investigation is the statute of limitations. It’s unlikely Robert Lichfield of The Program will ever face charges, but it’s promising to know that there’s someone working to bring justice for the survivors of The Academy at Ivy Ridge.

Sources: The Pueblo Chieftain, Freedom of Mind Resource Center, The New York Times, The New York Times, New York’s 7 News, American Bar Association, and Spectrum News 1