Unknown - 2002

Years have gone by but today 14 years ago an unnamed 15-year-old girl died while she was forced to attend the now closed infamous Catherine Freer Wilderness program. It is was the second death that year at this program and one out of 3 death while the program was operating, which made it one of the most deadliest wilderness programs to attend.

The founder closed the program years later without warning so the employees and students at a boarding school the owner also ran was caught by surprise. Everything was really for profit and had nothing to do with the woman the program was named after. The owner just happens to know her.

It is very sad that this girl remains unnamed because it wasn't her fault that she was thrown into this dangerous enterprise. Based on what marketing material looked like and the little knowledge about the real danger of wilderness programs, it wasn't the fault of her parents either.

It was a tragedy waiting to happen but who could have prevented it? None.

May she find peace where she is now.


Sources:

• Staff list (HEAL-online)
• Factsheet about the program (Fornits Wiki)
• Wilderness therapy school closes abruptly (Albany Democrat Herald)

Cindy Gilbert Sohappy - 2003

While having been born in Denmark we understand and respect that some countries have another age limit for alcohol consumption than here in Denmark where the purchase limit is 16 year of age.

But a law is one thing. Putting teenagers in holding cells while they are so intoxicated that they are unable to walk is playing with their lives. And they played with the life of 16 year old Cindy Gilbert Sohappy. She came to the Chemawa Indian School in Salem Oregon to get an education – not to be placed in a holding cell to die.

Whenever laws are made to make something interesting teenagers will investigate with a curiosity as cats and some will go too far as Miss Sohappy unfortunately did. She needed medical attention because such a young body has not decades of experience with alcohol. She didn’t get it. Instead the employees treated her as a hardened alcoholic and this decision killed her.

Fortunately they no longer use the holding cells but if the death of this woman should have any lasting impact they should start treating teenagers who consume too much alcohol as patients, not criminals.

Miss Sohappy never got to live an adult life. May she find peace where she is now.


Sources:

• Testimony of Corinna Sohappy before the United States Senate Finance Committee September 21, 2004
• INDIAN TRIBAL DETENTION FACILITIES (HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON OVERSIGHT HEARING ON ISSUES AND PROBLEMS RELATED TO THE CONDITIONS IN INDIAN TRIBAL DETENTION FACILITIES)

Corey Baines - 2003

A simple tree killed 16 year old Corey Baines while he was placed at a wilderness program named Catherine Freer. He is just one out of three teenagers who have died at this particular program which makes it one of the most deadly wilderness programs still in operation.

There are many parents out there. Some seem determined to fix problems within their families at home. It was sadly not the case with Corey Baines. For some reason he was shunned by his family when he fell into problems and they let so-called professionals do a kind of dirty work.

We don't know what kind of problems he had and it doesn't matter because the cure became his death which sadly is the case so many times.

16 years was all he got and it is a waste of so much potential.

May he rest in peace.

Sources:

• Victims 2000-4 (Fornits WIki)
• Catherine Freer Wilderness Program (Fornits WIki)
• Utah wilderness therapy deaths (The Salt Lake Tribune, OCTOBER 11, 2007)

William "Eddie" Lee - year 2000

It has been 11 years since 15 year old William "Eddie" Lee died at Obsidian Trails Wilderness Camp.

It was not the first death in a wilderness program. It was not the last death in the wilderness program.

It had not the media coverage as in the case of Aaron Bacon. His parents did not testify in congress. There was no movie made of him.

The wilderness program was not as high profile as Sagewalk known from "Brat Camp". A wilderness program which got closed down 9 years later when Sergey Blashchishen lost his life at Sagewalk.

Who's fault is it that William "Eddie" Lee is not an everyday household name? Did he not have just as much a right to outlive his potential and fulfill his dreams?

Of course he had. But in order to make it to the frontpage, you have to have a strong support group. One second used on natural grief and the death is forgotten in a modern and cruel media world. It is not the fault of his parents. They were only humans and kept their grief private.

That's why this post was made. I never knew William "Eddie" Lee but his deaths was unfair and cruel.

RIP

References:

• Death Trip (Healthday Magazine)
• Charge in Wilderness School Death, The Associated Press, September 20, 2000 (Reprint from Project Nospank)
• A son's death fueled drive for wilderness-school law (The Seattke Times)

Sergey Blashchishen - 2009

August 28 2009 marked to endings.

First it marked the ending of the claim that commercial wilderness therapy can be safe. Sagewalk - a wilderness program - featured nationwide as a safe option for parents who had teenagers facing trouble in a modern world where temptations present themselves even inside the home when the computer is switched on, did turn out as deadly.

It was hardly a surprise as many teenagers had died in wilderness programs before. But the industry did always have some kind of explanation. Among the lame excuses were:

• It was a simple accident
• It was an unlicensed wilderness program
• It was the actions of a single employee running amok

But this time a 16 year old boy died in what was the properly finest wilderness program in the United States. There were no excuses. There were no staff members doing other things than they had done with hundred of teenagers. They had simply gambled as all employees in wilderness programs do when they take a teenager who had been removed from his home not days ago out in the wilderness without days of hospitalization to determine if the child was fit to function without the basic standards of 2009.

This day they lost their bet and had to pay the price with the loss of their jobs.

But there was another ending. It was the end of the life for 16 year old Sergey Blashchishen - a boy who knew that he helped help and had reached out to his parents. What did look like an obvious choice of hospitalization in a place where he could detox and receive therapy were somewhere changed - perhaps by an educational consultant on the payroll of schools or programs - to include a stay at a wilderness program.

A deadly choice but also a tragic loss for his family who had to suffer the ultimate sacrifice - the loss of a child.

May he be remembered as a person who paid too dearly with life so families of teenagers in need for treatment may be advised better in the future?

May be rest in peace.


References:
On the the fatality of Sergey Blashchishen at Aspen Education Group's Wilderness Camp, Sagewalk..., The Troubling Troubling Troubled Teen Industry blog

Erica Harvey - 2002

15 year old Erica Harvey cooked to death in the wilderness. Despite the fact that the wilderness program marketed themselves as professionals they didn't take into account that the body temperature can change very fast on a medicated person in the harsh wilderness conditions.

Her parents sought help by professionals. They didn't get that. Instead they got their daughter killed by amateurs.

Many years later her mother came forward expressing a hope that the tragedy the loss of her daughter meant her for should not repeat itself for another family. Sadly it was not the case.

Sources:
Deaths 2000-4, Fornits Wiki Database
Losing Erica: Cynthia Clark Harvey Doesn't Want Anyone Else's Child to Die in a Wilderness-Therapy Program Phoenix New Times, November 5 2009

Lorene Swan Larhette - 1971

She is one the earliest deaths which I have found records of where a wilderness program was involved. The purpose was to built character but instead it was at built-up to a tragedy.

They were caught unprepared in a storm and among the young people who did not make it out of the wilderness was Lorene Larhette.

She was 17 years of age when she died. She could have been a mother, maybe even grandmother today with a large family around her. It was never allowed to happen.

Due to the 39 years which have gone since the tragedy, we have no knowledge of the circumstances leding up to her participation in the course.

Was she a troubled teenager who was forced to attend?

Was she seeking adventure and trying to explore her own limits?

References:
Victims in 1970s (Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora Wiki)
Survival test ends in tragedy (Rome News Courier, September 8, 1971)