I was sent to KW Legacy Ranch when I was sixteen-years-old. I didn’t struggle with substance abuse issues at the time, and the focus of my admittance there was due to intolerant perceptions of my sexuality as a teenager Evident in my parents kicking me out of my home. While bases were covered to convey in-person treatment plans as objectives of bringing me closer to my family, it was apparent throughout my eight month stay that this was instead a facade — an organized attempt to be an individual for whom my parents could be proud of. The ranch’s organizers are members of the Mormon church, and tenets of that faith are leaked profusely in their ideology of treatment — even in scientific best practices to the American Psychology Association. They base the program off the five stages of change based off a model of smoking cessation, whose model has been criticized and deemed ineffective for instances that KW Legacy Ranch advocates. For punishment you’re sent under the Nevada sun on a hay bale or hard metal chair. Most times, it’s for around a day; while others, up to a week. You’re under silent treatment while sitting, and youre afforded bland meals with staff sometimes neglecting to even provide sunscreen. During the night, you sleep on the kitchen floor with night staff looking over you. Upon morning, you’re again sent out there. Their practices are abusive and ineffective. Out of my group of patients, one has committed suicide, while others have severe PTSD—myself included