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

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Episode 3: Level Zero

Troubled Teen Industry programs use a system of points and levels that award or revoke basic needs based on compliance and submission. Necessities like food, water, and social interaction are privileges that can be taken away at any time, and constant surveillance means nothing goes unseen. Inside a TTI facility, you live and die by your level.

Find Gooned at goonedpodcast.com and on TikTok @goonedpodcast. To see program materials and learn more about daily life in a TTI program, 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. Marlee Porter’s podcast Broken Promises is available wherever you get your podcasts, and at brokenpromisespodcast.com.

Sources and Further Reading

Wilderness Sample Schedule

The Troubled Teen Industry and Its Effects: An Oral History , Jamie Mater

Beyond Point and Level Systems: Moving Toward Child-Centered Programming

Search programs by state, including whether they have a levels/points system and if that system is tied to privileges, on the Unsilened Program Archive

Transcripts available at goonedpodcast.com

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Episode 4: Drinking the Kool-Aid

So, what’s the pitch? Despite growing public scrutiny towards the troubled teen industry, tens of thousands of parents and caregivers still send their children away every year. Hear from Sharon, who sent her son into a TTI program, and listen in as the host contacts admissions directors posing as a curious parent.

Find Gooned at goonedpodcast.com">goonedpodcast.com and on TikTok @goonedpodcast">goonedpodcast. To hear the full call between Nancy and the program representative, 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. Marlee Porter’s podcast Broken Promises is available wherever you get your podcasts, and at brokenpromises.com">brokenpromises.com.

Sources and Further Reading

KC’s article, “My Time Spent in the Troubled Teen Industry”

About IECA

IECA Principles of Good Practice

Transcripts available at goonedpodcast.com

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Episode 5: Straight, Inc.

Straight, Incorporated was one of the earliest troubled teen industry programs to take hold in the United States, garnering support from the media and the likes of Nancy Reagan and Princess Diana. Hear from a survivor of Straight, Inc. about the program that became a blueprint for the industry’s current practices.

Find Gooned at goonedpodcast.com">goonedpodcast.com and on TikTok @goonedpodcast">goonedpodcast. For more information about Straight, Incorporated, to listen to testimonies, and to read some of the reports and news articles, 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.

Sources and Further Reading

1978 Task Force Investigation of Straight Inc.

1983 Report on Class Action Suit Against Straight, Inc.

Weaver v. Straight, Inc.

Straight, Inc. Letters written to Nancy Reagan

1978 Project Straight Inc. Investigation

Florida Department of Administration 1978 Fiscal Monitoring Abstract Straight Inc.

Research for the Florida Department of Administration’s 1978 Fiscal Monitoring Abstract Straight Inc.

Research for the Florida Department of Administration 1978 Fiscal Monitoring Abstract Straight Inc., part 2

An Examination of Straight Incorporated, by Andrew & Barbara Malcolm

Straight, Inc. Brimmer Inquiry

Letter to CBS President Regarding “60 Minutes” reporting on Straight

Transcripts available at goonedpodcast.com

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Episode 6: Money Talks

The TTI is a multi-billion-dollar industry whose funding is nearly untraceable by design. Tracking where this money comes from and whose pockets it lines is crucial to understand how an industry built around victimizing the vulnerable has continued to thrive for so long.

Find Gooned at goonedpodcast.com">goonedpodcast.com and on TikTok @goonedpodcast">goonedpodcast. For exclusive bonus episodes, behind the scenes content, and further reading, head to Patreon.com/goonedpodcast">Patreon.com/goonedpodcast. Remember to rate, review, and follow Gooned wherever you listen to podcasts, and check out goonedpodcast.com for more information.

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.

Sources and Further Reading

A Profitable 'Death Trap' - Sequel youth facilities raked in millions while accused of abusing children - NBC News https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/profitable-death-trap-sequel-youth-facilities-raked-millions-while-accused-n1251319">https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/profitable-death-trap-sequel-youth-facilities-raked-millions-while-accused-n1251319

Social Security Act §1905 https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title19/1905.htm">https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title19/1905.htm

2022 GAO Report https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-104670">https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-104670

Trapped in Treatment S1E4 https://open.spotify.com/episode/0PhYwQXafHNEUbCN4mNCnq?si=XyJuInWwRLeJrDPSQVE_JQ">https://open.spotify.com/episode/0PhYwQXafHNEUbCN4mNCnq?si=XyJuInWwRLeJrDPSQVE_JQ

Youth were abused here - APM Reports https://www.apmreports.org/story/2020/09/28/for-profit-sequel-facilities-children-abused">https://www.apmreports.org/story/2020/09/28/for-profit-sequel-facilities-children-abused

Five Facts About the Troubled Teen Industry - American Bar https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/childrens-rights/practice/2021/5-facts-about-the-troubled-teen-industry/#:~:text=Descriptions%20of%20experiences%20in%20the,needs%20like%20food%20and%20water">https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/childrens-rights/practice/2021/5-facts-about-the-troubled-teen-industry/#:~:text=Descriptions%20of%20experiences%20in%20the,needs%20like%20food%20and%20water.

Transcripts available at goonedpodcast.com

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Episode 7: NATSAP

Emma goes undercover at a conference for members of NATSAP, the preeminent trade organization for troubled teen industry programs and directors, to discover the culture of those at the head of the machine.

Find Gooned at goonedpodcast.com and on TikTok @goonedpodcast.To see the notes and materials from the NATSAP conference and read the study that was presented, head to Patreon.com/goonedpodcast. Remember to rate, review, and follow Gooned wherever you listen to podcasts, and check out goonedpodcast.com for more information.

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.

Sources and Further Reading

The Troubled Teen Industry and Its Effects - An Oral History, Jamie Mater

Selected Cases of Death, Abuse, and Deceptive Marketing, Statement of Gregory D. Kutz, Managing Director Forensic Audits and Special Investigations

Cases Of Child Neglect And Abuse At Private Residential Treatment Facilities, 2007

Salem couple sues school over son's suicide

“Jump and don’t look back”—three-story suicide is latest in Utah’s troubled teen industry

Leaked Audio Brings More Attention To Utah’s ’Troubled Teen Industry'

NATSAP and the TTI - Unsilenced

Transcripts available at goonedpodcast.com

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