Marked NSFW for a number of reasons - potentially triggering to anyone who’s been through this or something similar. Supplemental links contain some very dark, horrifying accounts.
Why you should know: Hundreds of thousands (possibly far more) of now adults carry that trauma with them. Many of these schools are still in operation, still abusing children.
You likely can’t fully appreciate what these kids went through and what many of them still carry around with them, but reading and watching accounts from past “students” can get you closer:
Webcomic about one man’s experience with Elan, another Troubled Teen program outside the WWASPS umbrella. I won’t spoil the many, many twists, but his story is something I couldn’t pull myself away from the entire time I read it. https://elan.school/
Watch “The Program” on Netflix. Shows multiple people that were sent to different schools in the WWASPS umbrella retelling their stories while exploring the now abandoned facility they were once prisoners in.
https://elan.school/
Made it 30 chapters, thanks for nightmare fuel
There is a light af the end of the tunnel for Joe and the rest of Elan in this story. It’s not a perfect happy ending, but there’s plenty of positive by the end.
Joe was an absolute hero for shedding such a painful light on an industry and organization that thrive on raw human suffering. I hope creating this art was as healing for him as possible
I’ve spent most of my day reading this, thanks for sharing. Although the contents are quite rough, it’s amazing this person has been able to use his art skills for this purpose.