Alert: Greg Burnham (Dr. Jacky's Story)

As we have learned, the TTI is a veritable revolving door of  "therapists," staff, and other personnel. Through our movement network, we have been alerted that Greg Burnham, first employed at Cedar Ridge took his abusive tactics and sadistic pseudo-treatments to other youth programs in Utah, specifically: Cedar Ridge, New Haven, and now at Outback Excursions. We are extremely concerned.

 

Please read the following testimony by Dr. Jacky J., a pediatrician, and mother of four:

Greg Burnham was my “therapist” from 1999-2002 at Cedar Ridge RTC. According to records from the UDOPL, Greg was NOT a licensed therapist until 2001, so he was “treating” while unlicensed. He created specific attack “therapy” programs just for me. Meaning, other students were forced to single me out and verbally humiliate me for months. 

Unable to withstand this abuse, I tried to run away from the Roosevelt facility. Sadly, as any parent will realize after visiting the location, there was nowhere to run. There was no escape. When I was found and brought back, the treatment I received was tantamount to physical, psychological, and social torture. As punishment, Greg made me carry around five gallon buckets filled with gravel to symbolize my stubbornness. For months, he made me roll a giant log around outdoors for hours on end. Other students were explicitly instructed to humiliate me as much as possible. Greg was not professional in any sense. He held entire therapy groups about me and my personal "issues" with other students at the facility without my presence or knowledge. (Need I point out what a MASSIVE HIPAA violation that is?) Greg placed me "on silence" for extended periods of time. During these times, no one could speak or interact with me. It was as if I was invisible. I never felt more alone in my life. At other times, the other students were told to applaud and mock me every time I tried to speak. Greg claimed that nothing I said was genuine because it was all a shameless ploy for attention.  In reality, I was a kid who was bullied mercilessly and I just wanted to feel like people cared about me. The attack therapy and all of those “therapy programs” were literally the WORST thing they could’ve done to a kid who was bullied like I had been before Cedar Ridge. (I was bullied because my parents were super super strict which made me somewhat of a pariah. e.g. I couldn’t wear the clothes all the other kids were, I couldn’t listen to the radio or watch TV. It seems like small stuff, but it really affected how the other kids treated me growing up; essentially an outcast.)

Beyond targeting me personally, Greg failed to report abuses by staff and therapists at the facilities he's worked at. He was aware of another therapist (the OWNER of Cedar Ridge) doing “tractor therapy” with the female students. We would have to ride around on a tractor while sitting in the lap of said program owner/therapist. Greg did NOTHING to stop this. It went on the ENTIRE time I was there. Just the tractor therapy alone was awful enough and should have been reported, as this was also only done to the girls. I don’t think I need to point out how incredibly inappropriate that was.  

I am an adult now (pushing 40) with a loving husband and children of my own. I am also a pediatrician. We are happy, and I am relieved that all this is behind me. Let me explain this further. I have spent the entirety of my adult life, after Cedar Ridge, picking up the pieces and trying to deal with the multitude of issues I was left with after being sent away. Greg mentally broke me. I struggle with lingering issues of self worth, and massive abandonment issues. I suffer from CPTSD and hypervigilance. I incessantly lock the doors and windows in my house at night. (My parents used a youth transportation service. I was literally woken up by a complete STRANGER in my bedroom at 4 in the morning saying “Get dressed and come with me. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”  All the while my parents were in a van down the street so I wouldn’t see them. Supposedly, to make the experience less distressing for all parties involved.  It might be called a transportation service, just like my carrying buckets for miles and weeks was called "therapy," but let’s call it what it is: LEGAL KIDNAPPING. It was incredibly traumatic for me and for EVERY SINGLE survivor I have encountered whose parents also used a transportation service.

As a mother myself now, I would NEVER send any of my children away. EVER. DO NOT SEND YOUR KIDS TO THIS PROGRAM, GREG BURNHAM IS INCREDIBLY DAMAGING AND MENTALLY ABUSIVE.  

Any prospective parents reading this please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. I’m more than happy to chat and tell you my experiences. I can also give resources for alternative options to sending your child to a program like this.  As a physician, I can assure you, there is no such thing as a good program. #BreakingCodeSilence