Gooned is a deep dive into an industry with blood on its hands.

The Troubled Teen Industry (TTI) is a network of profit-incentivized behavior modification facilities for youth, ranging from wilderness programs to therapeutic boarding schools. The decades-old industry uses predatory tactics to capitalize on families in crisis and victimize hundreds of thousands of children and teens every year.

Gooned premieres December 6th, 2023.

Find Gooned at goonedpodcast.com and on TikTok @goonedpod. To support the show and its creators, see exclusive content, and get early access to episodes, head to patreon.com/goonedpodcast.

Gooned is researched, reported, and edited by Emma Lehman. Original music for the show was created by Olivia Springberg. This trailer was produced by Grayton Newman . Episode artwork was created by Sam Doe. Sarah Lukowski and Avery Erskine copyedited and consulted on the show.

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Episode 1: The EdCon

Educational consultants, or EdCons, are a first step in the pipeline into the Troubled Teen Industry. Meet Nancy, Emma’s 57-year-old alter-ego, and Sharon, the mother of a child currently in a wilderness program, to learn how consultants use parents’ desperation to funnel kids into the TTI.

Find Gooned at goonedpodcast.com and on TikTok @goonedpodcast. To see the parent handbooks and other documents referenced in this episode, along with exclusive content and early access to episodes, head to patreon.com/goonedpodcast.

Credits

Gooned is researched, reported, and edited by Emma Lehman. Original music for the show was created by Olivia Springberg. Victoria Shifflett mastered the show. Episode artwork was created by Sam Doe. Sarah Lukowski and Avery Erskine copyedited and consulted on the show. Special thanks to Martin Gottesfeld and Nora Ashleigh Barrie, whose reporting contributed to researching this episode.

Sources and Further Reading

Jump and Don’t Look Back

Sex Offender, Teen Suicides and $10K Fine Plague Utah Autism Program

Forty-nine States Slowly Realize Utah Is Not Safe Place for Children

Teen's death helps close "Troubled Teen" Center Diamond Ranch Academy

Victims of the Troubled Teen Industry in the United States

Residential Programs: Selected Cases of Death, Abuse, and Deceptive Marketing

Facility Deaths

Transcripts available at goonedpodcast.com

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Episode 2: The Hard Way

With just a few clicks and a phone call, anyone can hire “goons,” or legal kidnappers, to take their child away in the middle of the night. Emma goes undercover as Nancy, a fictional mother looking to transport her daughter to a wilderness therapy program, and discovers just how easy it is for the average parent to hire a pair of goons to abduct their child under the cover of darkness.

Find Gooned at goonedpodcast.com">goonedpodcast.com and on TikTok @goonedpodcast">goonedpodcast. To see the transport estimates and forms in full, listen to the entire call, and read the email communications with transport agencies, head to Patreon.com/goonedpodcast">Patreon.com/goonedpodcast.

Credits

Gooned is researched, reported, and edited by Emma Lehman. Original music for the show was created by Olivia Springberg. Victoria Shifflett mastered the show. Episode artwork was created by Sam Doe. Sarah Lukowski and Avery Erskine copyedited and consulted on the show. The research of Jamie Mater, who was interviewed in this episode, can be found at https://www.unh.edu/inquiryjournal/spring-2022/troubled-teen-industry-and-its-effects-oral-history">https://www.unh.edu/inquiryjournal/spring-2022/troubled-teen-industry-and-its-effects-oral-history.

Sources and Further Reading

The Troubled Teen Industry and Its Effects: An Oral History

A Closer Look at Involuntary Treatment and the Use of Transport Service in Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare (Wilderness Therapy)

OAR 309-033-0432: Standards for the Approval of a Secure Transport Provider to Transport a Person in Custody or On Diversion to an Approved Holding Hospital or Nonhospital Facility

AMATS website

Utah S.B. 239 Congregate Care Program Amendments

Transcripts available at goonedpodcast.com

Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.