KSL recently reported, "The family of a teenage girl who claims she was berated on television by Dr. Phil and then sent to a residential treatment center in Utah where she was falsely imprisoned, has filed a civil lawsuit."
Read the full story here:
Family sues Dr. Phil, Utah treatment center
In their suit, they now call the facility a "private prison" and claim their daughter was placed there "for the purpose of forcing her to become obedient instead of truant by depriving her of freedom, privacy, education, and subjecting her to involuntary servitude, and unjust unusual punishments."The facility, Island View Residential Treatment Center (now called Island View School), was co-founded by Waypoint Academy co-founder Jared Balmer.
In one incident, the daughter apparently refused to obey staff members who told her to get off of her bed. When staff members tried to pull her off, her right arm "was badly and perhaps irreparably broken, and its main nerve severely damaged," the lawsuit states.
The family also claims their daughter's constitutional rights were violated and she was falsely imprisoned, as well as conspiracy and fraud.
From the Waypoint Academy website, we read some of Dr. Balmer's credentials:
Jared’s professional career centers on adolescents and their families. He is one of the pioneers of a multi-disciplinary approach in the private sector of the residential treatment arena, integrating education, milieu therapy, recreational therapy, psychiatry, and psychotherapy. While living in the mid-west, he founded two treatment centers that served students with severe conduct and related disorders. Since returning to Utah, Jared co-founded Rivendell Psychiatric Hospital, Island View RTC, The Oakley School, and the Aspen Institute for Behavioral Assessment. Drawing on his vast experience and passion for working with adolescents, he has joined forces with other seasoned professionals to create WayPoint Academy, a specialized residential treatment facility for males with anxiety and relation problems.