The Dam Breaks

In 2015, someone I had reconnected with on Facebook, my “big sister” from Phoenix House added me to an online group of adults who, as adolescents, had been residents of the same facility I experienced. The catalyst for the creation of this book was the news of the closure of our our Phoenix House program

Excommunication

One of the things that was drilled into our heads in Phoenix House was that we only needed each other and that we were “our” brother and sister’s keepers”, meaning that we were responsible for keeping each other accountable and out of trouble. From time to time, the staff would take a group of us

Abuse/Guilt

When I arrived at Phoenix House, there was a female resident there who had been there for probably a year already and was still in the second of three phases possible in the program before you graduated the inpatient portion of the program. Michelle was sweet and shy, and seemed to have some level of

Betrayal

During my time at Phoenix House, I had a psychologist that I had session with once a week. Her name was Anna. She carried herself in a way that I admired. She was in her 50s, always had a smile on her face, but not in a way that seemed disingenuous, had a warm presence

How a Therapy Cult Goes Unchecked

Reports by the New York Controller regarding Phoenix House’s misuse of State funding date back to 1970, when New York City Controller Abraham Beanie sent a 165-page report to the NY State Attorney’s Office stating that there was not a clear separation between the City of New York and the Phoenix House entity, and that

From The Ashes of The Phoenix

The Rise Of The Phoenix Phoenix House was started by Mitchell Rosenthal, a psychiatrist who had spent enough time with the cult Synanon to decide to replicate their program. Synanon was a recovery cult which spawned basically the entire “troubled teen industry” and tough love movement of the 70s, 80s and 90s. The Synanon methods,