He Was Sent To A Group Home For Troubled Teens During High School, So Now He’s Still Struggling To Recover From The Mental Impacts And Deal With His Hatred For His Parents
It’s always tragic to hear stories of parents who didn’t know what to do with their kids who were going through a hard time, so they put them in alternative living situations that were far worse for their mental health than living at home.
One young man is trying to recover after moving out of a group home for troubled teens his parents placed him in when he was 17.
As a teenager, he played football for his high school team. When he was around 17, he suffered a horrible concussion while playing and had to spend a long time recovering.
“My parents were very concerned and took me to doctors and physical therapists,” he explained.
“My memory was hazy, and I had some range of motion problems with my neck, but that was it; I recovered fully. I missed a lot of school, though, and the makeup workload was killer. I was drowning in that schoolwork for months, going through some loneliness issues, and I didn’t enjoy life. This feeling followed me home, where I was dismissive to my folks.”
He had struggled to maintain a good relationship with his parents before his injury, but afterward, things got worse between them. One evening, he admitted to his dad that he was tired of him and his mom always being on his case and that he wanted them to stop bugging him about his schoolwork and focus more on his mental health.
However, his dad didn’t seem empathetic and instead suggested that his concussion was the only thing impacting him mentally.
Eventually, his parents sat him down and told him they found “alternative housing” he could live in for a year until he was a legal adult.
“l liked the idea initially, but to my surprise, they had already selected a place, a group home for drug recoveries and societal integration,” he recalled.
Mapodile M/peopleimages.com – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
“They showed me a video showing the property and the people who ran it all the way down in Louisiana. I said that [it was] for people struggling with using substances, and my parents insisted that It was for ‘all troubled youth,’ [which] really made me feel loved.”
While he wanted to look into different programs for him, it was too late, as his parents had already signed the paperwork needed to admit him to the program in Louisiana. It became clear that his parents wanted him to leave, not so he could get help, but so they wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore.
Soon enough, he was shipped off far away from home, and he never looked at his parents the same way after that.
The group home was traumatic for him. It was a filthy place on the edge of a swamp. He was forced to do physical labor around the home in the hot, humid, swampy weather.
He and his housemates, who he didn’t get along with for the most part, were only allowed to make one routine phone call home, and the entire experience was very isolating and exhausting.
When he advanced in the program and was allowed more independence and phone usage, he would call his parents and beg them to let him go home, but they would accuse him of not being a changed man and deny him from leaving.
“I later left the program because I turned 18,” he said.
“I live on my own now in New York [but] I’ve never been more alone, confused, angry, and sad. My mother sends me long messages about how much she loves me and wants me to come home. I cry every time I read her messages, but I also hate her guts.”
What would you do if you were in his position? Would you bother reconnecting with your parents?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
More About:Relationships
