XGW previously reported that the Love In Action Refuge youth program had been discontinued. In a recent press release, Love In Action reported that it has returned with a new name, Family Freedom Intensive. Unlike Refuge, this new incarnation will not be residential.
The Family Freedom Intensive involves a four-day schedule of group interaction and individual family meetings designed to help parents better understand the sexual issues their teen is experiencing while equipping them with healthier and more effective communication tools. Should a teenager decide they would like to be included in their parents’ process, we will work to faciliate [sic] that request.
The removal of the live-in aspect mixing of youth and adult attendees appears to be a follow through on a promise by Exodus president Alan Chambers. In a post to his personal blog from March of this year, Chambers responded to an issue brought up in his appearance on the Montel Williams Show.
I hate that [Lance Carroll], a 16 year old with no prior homosexual (or sexual for that matter) experiences was put into groups with adults, especially an adult that was a convicted sex offender. I stated on air that I believe that is wrong and I will follow through on seeing that a policy is enacted and enforced within any Exodus Member Ministry that works with youth.
The statement “should a teenager decide they would like to be included…” from the LIA press release seems to indicate that they will no longer take youth against their will. While this does seem to be a positive step, one must ask how free a teenager would feel to object. We know all to well, some from personal experience, that some of these kids are threatened by their parents with losing privileges, college funding, even shelter and their love.Will LIA make an effort to determine if this kind of coercion has taken place even if the youth seems to be willing?
Correction (3:06 pm):
As Peterson Toscano pointed out, Refuge, though often reported as such, was not residential. It was, however, and intensive 2-8 week program aimed at teens under 18 who attended sessions with adult members of the LIA residential program (now called “The Source”). It was during this intermixing of youth from Refuge, and adults from The Source which led to the problems (brought to light by Peterson Toscano earlier this year) to which Alan Chambers was responding in his blog quoted above.
From the archived version of the LIA/R site:
Refuge was developed to coincide with The Source, our 3 month residential program for men and women who struggle with sexual addiction and obsessive relationships. Therefore, the same tools and skills will be used in this group that have proved to be such an asset in the adult program. Some joint sessions will occur with the clients of The Source to allow additional input and perspectives into the lives of these young men. In addition to group sessions, participants in Refuge will be offered individual sessions as necessary, recreational opportunities with the other clients, as well as an atmosphere of accountability and support. [Emphasis Added]
Family Freedom Intensive can’t be accurately called Refuge with a new name, because the former is only a 4 day program, aimed mostly at parents, and apparently only involves the youth if they so desire (caveats listed above still apply).
The title of this post has been changed to correct the inaccuracy. The original title was “Ex-Gay Boot Camp Youth Program Returns, No Longer Residential.” We apologize for these errors.
The Refuge program was never residential. The youth stayed with parents or guardians each night and were dropped off during the day for the program. (leaving mom & dad to venture into the “forbidden zone” of Memphis where all the tourist stuff is)
Most of the youth spent 2-8 weeks in treatment, much of it in sessions with adults from LIA’s adult live-in program. The parents only attended special sessions.
The biggest changes with the Family Freedom Intensive is that it seems to primarily target parents and is only four days (at a cost of $2000. Add another $1000 if your child elects to attend).
Since January 2007 Exodus instituted a rule that no youth and adult can be in sessions together. I don’t know how this rule effected John Smid’s decision to discontinue Refuge. I imagine he could not afford to run two separate programs. Even with the prices he charges, I wonder if the ministry suffers financial strain.
Even parents who cannot afford to dump a couple thousand dollars into the four day intensive (do they even provide room & board???) will make a way out because of their desperation for a cure, and if their experience is anything like that of my own parents’ (who twice attended LIA’s Family & Friends weekend) they will walk away with shame, blame and tons of misinformation.
I just noticed that in the press release they changed the prices from the originally advertised fee of $2000 for parents plus $1000 for child (i.e. $1000 per person). Now it is a bargin at $600 per person for 23 hours of intensive therapy, um ministry by unlicensed (and untrained?) staff.
So I guess if siblings and grandparents attend, they have to cough up $600 each.
Guess no one is going to Disney World this year. I hope they at least get to go to hear some Blues or go to the Civil Rights Museum while they are in Memphis. Hmmm, but that might hit too close to home (and besides both are in Love in Action’s “Forbidden Zone,” a wide swath of Memphis off-limits to participants.)
Whatever happened to Lance? Is he still around? Last I heard, he was willingly submitting to Exodus’ theories about SSA’s, saying he was trying to “heal.”
I wonder how long an “ex-straight” camp would last, especially being run by all untrained and unlicensed people. Heck, how long would anyone be allowed to operate an unlicensed psychology practice? I’m willing to bet that anyone opening an office and practicing without a proper license would be shut down immediately. Why aren’t these places simply shut down because they are not qualified and practicing without a license? Oh wait, they’re only hurting gay people. I guess I just answered my own question.
Emily, hearsay is not permitted at XGW. As it happens, I believe you may be confusing Lance Carroll with another LIA attendee named Zach. Of course, if you have reliable sources, feel free to provide a link to them.
oh ok, my bad. here’s the thing about Zach’s change of heart, as reported by the Southern Voice a couple years ago:
https://www.sovo.com/2005/8-5/news/national/nationalnews_zachupdate.cfm
Peterson,
I am sure that LIA uses licensed and trained therapists within the program. In fact, since their move (or not long after) to Memphis they have retained the services of a licensed therapist.
Additionally, I know that they now provide after care, which is a great thing and one of the issues that you felt strongly about.
Alan, we work differently here at XGW.
Please provide evidence for your statements. A policy statement etc. A profile of exactly who works with clients etc. Details of the process used in this “after care” etc.
Your word, like anyones, is not good enough in such matters — but we will accept the records held on file by Exodus.
These are the differences that I see between the Family (Anti-) Freedom Intensive and Refuge:
–Parental guidance seems to be required
–The program will last four days
I see no evidence that LIA will choose to, or be able to, prevent parents from threatening and blackmailing their teens into participating.
Alan, if you really believed that being gay was a choice to walk away from, you wouldn’t hedge that choice by reaching out to KIDS, at all. Especially because they are STILL under their parents authority.
Making the issue of avoiding YOU and the ministry no choice at all.
Here’s the ONLY way to make your work truly be meaningful and sincere.
If you engaged in social policy that accepted gay youth, and encouraged their parents to love those kids and encourage them to have enduring and safe relationships equal to their heterosexual siblings, and didn’t participate in politics that assured that gay people didn’t have any alternatives BUT to be straight, then a fair and accurate judgement can be made about what choices can be made in one’s life.
It’s VERY difficult to avoid the religious beliefs of your family. Church or temple attendance is from birth. Indoctrination starts early.
So it’s even stranger that there is this specific sort of outreach, to further assert the indoctrination.
Even if a child has likely been inculcated with your belief system most of their lives already.
That’s not enough?
That’s not for long enough?
The point has to be hammered home even more with this ministry of yours?
To a young person, that’s a powerfully threatening situation, VERY intimidating. Do this, or God and nobody else will love you. And in the meantime, we’ll make sure no one will respect you and your needs and what you are.
If you have to go after kids…who have no choice of avoiding what is taught, what does that make you and YOUR agenda Alan?
Methods and manner sure changes when comparing Exodus to PFLAG.
Or Models of Pride, which is similar to GSA’s but are throughout the LA Unified School district.
1. No religious affiliation or denomination is required. All religious backgrounds and cultures are welcome.
2. No major fees to be included in family rap sessions and being supported by those who share your experience.
3. Homosexuality isn’t conflated with INEVITABLE criminality, unhappiness, slavery, bondage, disease or parent’s blamed for not having enforced the ‘rules’ of gender.
4. There are gay parents, gay children, gay siblings and other configurations that are mostly about what the name says. It’s a thoroughly mixed situation.
5. PFLAG families have similar support groups that have detailed statistics on the outcomes of families who participate in PFLAG.
6. Testimony among the participants are about support and finding those with similar feelings and experiences. No one is there to say they are right or wrong to feel or have their ideas. That is to say, the purpose isn’t to shame the members into changing their minds, one way or the other.
But to see for themselves which course is healthiest and most valuable to themselves and their family.
7. The inherency of homosexuality is obvious when you ARE dealing with gay KIDS. Their inexperience, virginal status, innocence and self esteem is the same as that of their heterosexual peers.
Choosing to be gay, wouldn’t be a conscious or determination done by a child. It’s not about ‘becoming’ anything of the sort.
But becoming AWARE of being gay. And having OTHERS become aware, usually isn’t a safe thing to do…especially if you have Exodus or Jonah to look forward to if you do, eh Alan?
The PRESSURE to be straight just doesn’t let up.
So what makes Exodus or any of the rest, make people think there is somethig innovative, new or improved going on for the message to be heard?
Alan, I’m an ever straight woman. Personally I don’t see anything so magically improved by being straight that you can deliver.
Being straight carries similar relationship difficulties and insecurities. Professional woes and family dysfunction are a part of straight life too.
My questions tend to go unanswered by you. Even if I PAID you to answer me I doubt you would.
I’d like to know what’s so wonderful about being straight are you selling these children and their folks?
Or is the GAY experience they can’t imagine because they don’t have personal experience all you’ve got to show as being the hard part of life?
Not being gay is the magic bullet, eh?
Well, I”m not gay… and neither is Pam Ferguson.
You SURE being straight is all you’re cracking it up to be? And how do you KNOW?
Just asking…
Gay to straight in four days…?
Even God took longer to make the world….
Alan,
Additionally, I know that they now provide after care, which is a great thing and one of the issues that you felt strongly about.
I would love to hear more about what this consists of, but I’m tentatively glad to hear of this.
I’d be curious to know the exact degrees and areas of licensure for staff, as the ethics codes of both psychologists and social workers effectively prohibit overt discrimination (or the promotion of discrimination) against minorities. While the professional organizations have been fairly lax on this front, I think it’s only a matter of time until providing misinformation to the parents of minority children is rightly classified as promoting prejudice and can get a professional’s license stripped away.
A quick scan of their staff seems to show only one with some real education/training – David Jones. Ok, Clay Kessler also has a degree in counseling. I don’t know if any are licensed, but John Smid doesn’t list any post high school education at all and he is the CEO and Director.
Why do “Christian” ex-gay orgs feel so comfortable telling parents overt lies about gay people? I’ve been out for years now and I haven’t even come CLOSE to the “lifestyle” that’s described to parents with gay children. Isn’t lying a sin?
Maybe it’s because they realize if they tell parents the truth – that gay people can be healthy, well-adjusted contributers to society – their business will dry up.
They don’t think they are lying, and here’s why: the foundation of their view of homosexuality is not based on the findings of science or even societal views, it is based on their interpretation of Scripture. They think they are offering truth and the rest of the world is wrong about homosexuality. This idea is so deeply embedded that it makes them blind to the examples that contradict their view. They can’t imagine that someone like Emily lives other than the ‘lifestyle’ they harp on. And while financial motives are likely involved, it is the belief motive that allows them to feel comfortable telling what they tell.
PW, I definitely see your point. But when they offer bogus statistics and start using bogus science to defend what should ONLY be presented as ideas based on scripture, things get strange. If you already have scripture – i.e., God – on your side, why do you even NEED to use “statistics” and “science?” Where in scripture is it commanded to spout claims of gay life being nothing but empty sexual encounters in bathrooms and bars, with no hope of finding a true love (outright lies)?
From the press release:
“Refuge Becomes Family Freedom Intensive
“After five years of working with Refuge, a specialized and successful program for adolescents dealing with sexual issues, we are pleased to announce its evolution into the Family Freedom Intensive. ”
After looking at FFI, the idea that it’s a newer, better version of Refuse seems like 99% nonsense to me. They’re not similar at all. I think all they’re trying to do is save face. Instead of having to deal with the real reason they closed Refuse down, they can pretend it “evolved” into something better, FFI.
I wouldn’t take their version of evolution too seriously. It seems like a PR ploy to me.
Dr. Holsinger, now before the Senate committee to decide on his appt. to Surgeon General, probably has excellent credentials for medicine.
But how he’d further that medical experience with gay people turns him into a complete incompetent.
Dr. Laura Schlesinger, has her doctorate in physical education, NOT psychology.
Bigotry and prejudice has a way of creating a level of dangerous incompetence in people who refuse to address the object of their prejudice with the correct applications.
Credentials mean nothing if it’s not in the area of expertise and so far…there IS no ex gay area of expertise that CAN be licensed and practiced.
For the most part because it’s NOT NECESSARY to change orientation or cure it.
There is no urgency in addressing it.
Let’s just say, the need for ex gay licensed experts is as necessary as someone who can change ‘drapetomania’.
I think if they chose not to accept kids who were being blackmailed / coerced by their parents into R/FFI, there wouldn’t be much of a point to having the program at all. Most people my age (I’m 22) and younger aren’t being raised with the cultural idea that they can or should change, so chances are slim that they would freely choose to go.
I find that the more I read from Mr. Chambers, the more concerned I become. Having recently attended Love In Action, I am amazed with how much the program has ‘changed.’ For example, aftercare. Such a wonderful idea…in theory; however, ‘aftercare’ was supposidly an option after I left in August 2005. What does LIA do when a former client ‘slips up’ after leaving the ex-gay bubble…you know…the real, unsheltered world where you aren’t going to the bathroom in groups of 3 or more…and you don’t have restrictions on what stores you can go in, who you can talk to, and have the opportunity to think for yourself??? Well, in my experience…a ‘slip up’ after exiting the program results in your aftercare being terminated, for the most part. My counselor no longer talked to me, I was not allowed to contact any of my friends who were still in the program(because if they were to have communication with a gay person who was no longer being assimilated by the Ex-gay Borg, the gay rays might over power the ex-gay ones!) If that doesn’t make a person feel untouchable and damaged, I don’t know what does. I was allowed to go to an evening group led by other struggling ex-gays who meeting after meeting shared either how they ‘slipped up’ or how they were struggling to NOT slip up…also, these group leaders were NOT licensed counselors…which is my next point.
Mr. Chambers, you say that Love in Action uses Licensed counselors. Well, partially you are correct. My counselor was licensed. However, daily we had group sessions led by various leaders, including John Smid, office workers, and former/current clients…non of which, to my knowledge, are licensed counselors. These theraputic groups are designed to help us focus on ourselves, begin healing, and be at our most vulnerable…something that, in hindsight, I believe that only a trained professional should be leading. *As a disclaimer, John Smid was…well..the Rev. John Smid at the time of my stay. No, not because he went through Bible College…or Seminary…but rather, because the lovely leadership at GBC, Love in Action’s host church and a major financial supporter, decided that his leading of such a noble cause earned him the title! Makes sense right?!?*
Even if a person has a license to counsel…that does not mean he or she should be able to practice. In the multiple sessions I had with my counselor, he never once took notes…which I always found odd. He also sometimes made me wait days before I could talk to him…because he was busy…despite the fact that in my 19 years of existance, I had never dealt with anything as emotionally draining and trying as Love in Action.
Also, Alan, I find myself very curious as to how many times you have visited LIA in the last six months…or a cumulative amount of hours you have spent observing the ‘many changes’ that you speak of. I mean, you sound like an expert about all that is LIA. Do you just rely on the Rev. John Smid’s word, or have you seen the progress you speak of first hand?
Well, this message has turned out to a bit longer than anticipated…I guess I found my next blog topic as well!
Alan has not substantiated any of his claims yet, so before we take them at face value, I suggest we wait to hear from him or another source that can confirm or deny Alan’s assertions.