ATI Wisdom Booklet: First-Aid in a cult

I feel like these ATI Wisdom Booklets were created to see how many followers of Bill Gothard they could kill off. 

I was first certified for CPR and First Aid sometime after I turned 18 but before I graduated college.  There's a Red Cross facility not far from the college I went to so I remember taking a long, single day course that covered Infant/Child and Adult CPR with AED followed by First Aid.    I got another long course when I was a camp counselor followed by a refresher class just before I started student teaching.  Once I landed a teaching job, I signed up to be on the Medical Emergency Response Team for my school so I got a full-day course on CPR and First Aid yearly plus I got to participate in random emergency drills throughout the school year. 

ATI manages to forget the first rule of first aid response - be safe.   At my very first CPR class, the instructor got us all on the floor with our dummies and gave us this scenario: "You walk into a Red Cross training room and find 15 people unresponsive on the floor.  What do you do next?"

 My classmates launched into detailed triage ideas.

 I said, "Get the hell out of there and call for help.  Fifteen people down means something really bad like a gas leak, stray voltage, or an axe murderer and I don't want to be number 16.  Especially if it's an axe murderer. "

Yup.  I know when I'm completely inadequate for a job and I know when to call for help.

Once you've verified that there's not an immediate danger, you check to see if the person is really unconscious by yelling at them or flicking at their feet if they are a baby.  Being a camp counselor is even more fun when any counselor who drifts off to sleep in a moment of downtime immediately has another counselor screaming "Are you ok?  Name, ARE YOU OK?" at them.  (I do have a quirky sense of humor, I admit, but I had fun.)

If they are unconcious, you check to see if they are breathing.  If they are not, you move into the ABC's of cardiopulmonary resuscitation where "A" stands for airway, "B" stands for breathing, and "C" stands for "Circulation" or "Compressions".  The idea is pretty straightforward.  First, a rescuer checks to see if the airway is open by tilting the head and lifting the chin to prevent the tongue from blocking the airway.  If the person doesn't start breathing, the rescuer administers two rescue breaths.  Once the two rescue breaths go in, the rescuer either checks for a pulse or begins chest compressions. 

It's not complicated - yet ATI manages to fuck that up:



First aid procedures are created to remedy the most common life-threatening health issues in a target population first.  For adult victims, the most common cause of cardiorespiratory failure is cardiac issues so solo first aid responders are taught to call for help before starting chest compressions because the sooner a victim has access to an AED and cardiac life support the better their chances of survival.  In contrast, infants and small children have a much higher rate of respiratory failure and choking than adults do so solo responders are instructed to give one minute's worth of breaths and compressions before calling for help. 

Civilian responders are unlikely to run to a situation where the main cause of cardiorespiratory failure is catastrophic bleeding - but ATI manages to even mess that up!  Military members in combat have a much higher chance of treating a comrade who has had a traumatic amputation with massive bleeding.  Because of that, soldiers are trained to apply tourniquets to amputated limbs before beginning CPR.  If ATI was aping military first response, the "bleeding" section should be moved first.   Equally importantly, ATI does nothing to differentiate massive, life-threatening bleeding from a nasty laceration that can wait until the person is breathing with a heartbeat. 

ATI next moves into an EFG mnemonic that I cannot find anywhere.  Don't get me wrong; there are protocols for life-support that include "EFG" - but they are not for minimally trained civilian responders and none of them involve E = eyes, F = fractures and G = Get help. 

Having "Get Help" come last makes no sense.  The best thing a first responder can do is to get the attention of another human being who can call 911 and send fully trained emergency responders to the rescue.  During one of MERT team drills, our slightly sadistic nurse-trainer decided to keep all of the other adults "trapped in an office" while I was stuck with a downed student in another room that didn't have any dangerous situations.  I started the ABCs while screaming like a stuck-pig.  I'm not kidding; I let out a series of blood-curdling screams.  Suddenly, the room was filled with teenagers who bailed from the class next door to see what was going on.  I called the name of the most responsible one and told them to pretend to call 911.    Not exactly what our trainer expected - but hey, I got the attention of someone with a phone. Problem solved. :-)

 In ATI-land, "E" is where the responder checks for pupil size and responsiveness and protects the head and neck.  The Red Cross and the American Heart Association both train civilian responders to hazard an educated guess about head and neck injuries in the initial airway phase.  If there is more than one responder and a head or neck injury is suspected, a different way of opening the airway by thrusting the jaw down and out is used by the responder who is keeping the head and spine immobilized.    If there is only one responder, the head tilt-chin lift is used because the responder needs to be at the person's side instead of stationed above their head.   

Doing a quick check to see that the person is neurologically ok is probably not going to hurt at this stage - but in my experience civilian first responders like me spend more time keeping the injured person calm and gently encouraging them to not move around.   Frightened injured people do really weird shit under the influence of "fight or flight" so focusing on keeping them from hurting themselves worse will probably pay off more than staring intensely at their eyes. 

Speaking of bad ideas, ATI also recommends "gently pressing" on people's bodies to look for fractures or joint damage. 

That's insanely bad advice for so many reasons. 

People in fight or flight can react violently to another person intruding in their personal space.  A few years ago, I had a bad case of pleurisy that landed me in the ER.  Every breath caused pain to shoot through my rib cage so I was breathing very rapidly and very shallowly and my heart-rate went through the roof to try and compensate. The pain was so bad that I couldn't talk - but when my blood oxygen level started to drop, a lot of people came in the room.  I was so out of it that I would try and hit anyone who touched me.  According to my husband, the medical staff took it all in stride because this happens a lot apparently.  Someone talked to me quietly and calmly and I let them put the cannula on me. 

If a person is not in fight or flight, the responder can simply ask them if any of their limbs hurt. 

And let's be honest.  ATI has a horrible history when it comes to molestation.  Let's not give cult members any reasons to start feeling up injured folks, ok?

If you want to be trained in CPR or first aid, there are plenty of places that provide both trainings like the Red Cross or the American Heart Association. 

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus: Part Fifteen

We are finally nearing the end of the Application Form for RU: School of Disciples.    So far, RU's collected personal identification information, legal information, health information and previous employment information.

They have a section on a background check that matches closely the background check run by the school districts I have worked for.  The two major differences are that the background check used for teachers costs ~100 dollars and involves being fingerprinted by the local police department.  The RU background check costs $40.00 and is limited to what information was provided by the applicant.

The drug screen form is similar to one I signed for an industry job with one little change:

I'm pretty sure the legality of the document is based more on the signature of the applicant than the fact that RU is paying for them.

Notice that RU never asks for permission to see the results of the drug test - that's an interesting oversight.

This next part is a doozy that I didn't see coming.

RU requires their students to apply for food stamps.

That's really fucked up - especially since the patients/clients are ineligible based on the amount of wages they should be earning.

Why should students in RU's program be ineligible for food stamps?

From the USDA website: the gross monthly income eligibility maximum for a family of one is $1,276.

Illinois' minimum wage is $8.25 per hour.  According to RU, patients are working a minimum of 40 hours a week which is 160 hours a month.  160 hours x $8.25 dollars per hour = $1,320 gross income per week.  In the previous post, I argued that most of the patient / students probably earn more than minimum wage, so RU's fleecing the government.

How much could RU earn?  

From the USDA website:
 - Take the net monthly income for the family unit and multiply by .3.  This is the amount of money a household is expected to pay for food.
     - Since RU students/patients make $0, $0.00 x 0.3 = $0.00
-Subtract the maximum monthly allotment limit from the expected household payment to get the amount of food stamps.
     - $194 is the maximum for 1 person.  $194 - $0 = $194 dollars monthly.

That's $1,164 in six months.

Follow up question - Do the patients/students declare themselves as a family of one - as I did - or do they count their dependent spouses and children?

Let's run the math for Josh Duggar if RU required him to declare Anna and his four kids. He's still making $0.00 - but the maximum allotment for a family of six is $925 per month.

 Josh's monthly EBT would be $925 per month or $5,550 dollars in six months.

I think I just figured out why they wanted the age and marital status of all of the kids of the clients/patients.   Fuckers.

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus: Part Fourteen

Honestly, I never expected this series to get this long - but the more I read about this program the more freaked out I got.  In fact, my husband argues that signing up for RU's Schools of Discipleship should be legally admissible as a sign of mental incompetence.

Today, we look at the work information that RU wants prior to acceptance.

Previous Employment:

1. Notice the conspicuous absence of the standard box under each job that asks "Can we contact this employer?"  I don't want RU to call anyone I've ever worked with...ever....for any reason.
2. RU doesn't seem to care about length of employment either.  
3. What do you do if you have more than three previous jobs?  I've had nine paying jobs since I was 16.

Skills Section:

1. Later in the application, RU argues that all of the work completed during the ministry is similar to an unpaid internship.  Without going into all of the problems with their interpretation of an unpaid internship, the first legal requirement of an unpaid internship is that the intern is learning new skills that can be applied to other employment opportunities.  As such, if you have any of these skills before the program, you can't do an unpaid internship to learn the same skills.
2. Let's do some math on how much money RU is actually making on each "student volunteer".  To find salaries/wages, I used salary.com for median salaries in 61101 which is the Rockford, IL zipcode.  

Example One: A woman who working in the shipping/orders department for 40 hours a week, completes 2 hours of chores that the facility should have paid wages for and 5 hours of janitorial work on Saturdays.

• Median salary for shipping clerk in Rockford, IL is $30,995 per year - so that would be approximately $15,497.50 in six months.  
• Minimum wage for 2 hours per week which is 48 hours in six months at $8.25/hr = $396
• Median salary for janitors is $13.00 per hour for 120 hours in six months = $1,560

Total wages to RU: $17,453.50

Example Two: A woman works as an office assistant for 40 hours a week + the same 7 hours of extra work in Example One.

• Office assistant median wage is $19.00.  Six months of 40 hour weeks is 960 hours for $18,240.
• Seven hours of additional work across 6 months = $1,956

Total wages to RU: $20,196.00

Example Three: A woman works in the North Love Christian School or College as a substitute or "specials" teacher.  

• The first quartile* (25%) hourly wage for teachers in Rockford is $22.00 for $21,220
• Seven hours of additional work across 6 months = $1,956

Total wages to RU: $23,185

Example Four: A man works as an intermediate level carpenter or auto mechanic for 45 hours a week with 2 hours of additional chores.

• Carpenter II median hourly is $23.00 per hour for 960 hours for $22,080.
• 120 hours of over-time for $34.50 per hours for $4,140.
• 48 hours of minimum wage chores is $396.

Total wages to RU: $26,616

Example Five: A man works as an intermediate level electrician for 45 hours a week with 2 hours of chores.

• Electrician II median hourly is $27.00 per hour for 960 for $25,920.
• Overtime wages: $4,860
• Chores wages: $396

Total wages to RU: $31,176

RU gets a good amount of cash from each of their "students".  In addition, RU Ministry manages to avoid having to pay the matching taxes and workmen's compensation that would be required if the jobs done by "students/patients" were done by employees.

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part Twelve

We've moved on to the Complete Application portion of RU Homes.  So far, you've coughed up enough information for your identity to be stolen (name, address, birth date, SSN), and plenty of information that could be used to steal passwords and/or use as emotional manipulation (current and previous marriages, children's name, age and marital status.)

As previously, red/orange marks are for information that has potential to be misused while blue is something I find funny or ironic.

Today's theme: Legal information that RU Homes wants.

Have you ever been arrested or in jail?  Where? Charges? Time Served?

Oh, freaking no.  Arrests and being in jail are not a sign of guilt; many people have been arrested or been in jail without having done anything wrong.  

Why would RU Homes want this information?  Well, emotional manipulation springs to mind - or blackmail.

Status of supervision, parole, probation:

I don't have a problem with that question per se; the problem is that people who are on supervision and parole are generally required to stay in a tight geographic area.  I doubt they are going to be allowed to relocate for RU Homes.

Name and contact information of parole/probation officer:

I wouldn't give that information over either - before or after being accepted to the program.  So far, RU has information that can be used to embarrass patients.

 Contacting a parole or probation officer with a negative behavior report can have negative repercussions on personal freedom.

 Imagine a parole officer getting calls that Jane Smith has received two major infractions during her program.  Now, hopefully the parole officer would ask about the cause because this could be as minor as "occult or New Age behaviors" or talking with a guy.  On the other hand, a parole officer could mistakenly assume that a major infraction means Jane is using drugs again or has tried to escape.  Bluntly, turning this over is giving RU a free rein to threaten to have you returned to jail or prison.

Details of upcoming court cases:

Is RU Homes a lawyer?  No.  They don't need to know the details - except perhaps dates needed in court - in writing.  

You may be obligated to reschedule court dates when accepted to the program.

Uh.....seriously?  Does RU Homes expect the US Court System to accommodate them?  Good luck with that.

Do you have to register your residence with any entity whatsoever? Y/N

*Sniggers*

Everyone over the age of 18 should answer "Yes" since you would need to register as either a resident of Rockford for voting purposes OR report your long-term absence from your home voting precinct to get absentee ballots.  After all, any student/patient who has not lost voting rights due to a felony conviction has the right to be involved in the political process.

Answering "Yes" may or may not disqualify you from the home:

A few thoughts:

• While men and women are theoretically separated during this program, I would be extremely uncomfortable being in a program with men or women who had been convicted of violent crime or sexual misconduct.    The program seems understaffed to be sure of patient safety.

• Who is doing the screening?  Is there a preset list of convictions within a timeframe that excludes people or does a "I found Jesus" story outweigh an aggravated assault charge?

Driver's license information:

You can have it when you explain why you need it.  Since presumably I won't be driving during the program, I have no idea why they need it.

State photo ID and SSN card/birth certificate are required for entrance:

You do often have to show a photo ID at a hospital, but I've never needed to show an SSN/birth certificate in a hospital.

Of course, I've needed both to fill out my I-9 for employment purposes - but that makes no sense.  All of the people at the RU Schools of Discipleship are "volunteers" or "unpaid interns".  Either way, they have NO reason to turn in an I-9.

Questions about Government Assistance:

Why on Earth would RU Homes need this information - unless they can take that funding from you....

This is sketchy.....

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus: Part Ten

This is the last post from the handbook!

• For starters, Hebrews 12 is about remaining steadfast when life gets hard and viewing the normal hardships of life as becoming more like Jesus. 
• Things that are legal to do in hospitals in the USA that will get you punished in RU:
• Carrying cash, cash equivalents and bartering
• Occult and new-age type behavior (What does that mean?  Would I get a major offense for doing yoga, praying the Rosary or making an Advent tree?)
• Fraternization with the opposite sex.
• Breaching the "Chain of Command" or complaining.
• What does "loss of all privileges" mean?  The patients don't have any privileges to take away unless phone calls are counted.
• When do any of the patients have 10 extra hours of time to do anything?  They have NO free time built into the schedule.  Are "service hours" extra working hours?  When can they do that?  How can they do that? 
• It's amazing how a problem action by the student ends up bringing in more cash for RU - e.g. students work more hours and their wages are sent back to RU.

• I find this section more scary than the major offenses.  For any "minor offense", you end up doing more work for RU.   Let's think about some minor offenses listed so far:
• Not making your bed properly.
• Not wearing a belt if you are a man or having an untucked shirt.
• Having an unauthorized photo in your room
• Showing any non-happy emotion.
• I spent years in Catholic schools where having your shirt tucked in was paramount - but you never got a detention because of it.  
• Think about this:  
• If you have your shirt untucked twice, you are punished by RU getting four hours of your wages. 
•  If you have your shirt untucked a third time, you get 10 hours of discipleship training.
• Make it to a fourth time and RU starts racking up 10 hours of labor wages + an extra month of wages.

My concerns:

• Notice the lack of timeline for dealing with any complaints.  You can fill out a "Complaint Form" and the staff can handle it that day - or in two months.  Either way, you can't tell anyone about it - that's the outcome of "general complaining = major violation".
• Notice the fact that the student/patient cannot be present when the person in authority is confronted with the "alleged" offense.  You have no idea what the steward said to the dean or intervention mentor - just the outcome.
• Procedural question: How do you give the written grievance to the non-offending steward without interacting with them?  Remember, you can't have a conversation or fraternization with anyone of the opposite gender.
• Notice that you have to fill out a complaint form to go around the steward - which you have to turn into the steward....who has no timeline to deal with it.....and could bury it.
• The entire process pits patients needs against the needs of a group of people who work together.  It's really hard to be genuinely objective towards your coworkers which is why there is generally outside oversight.
• There is no outside oversight.  You have no appeals to an outside entity or people not involved in RU.

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part Nine

I think I can get through the rest of the handbook in two posts.  Today's theme: clothing and cleanliness.  You may be confused - didn't we cover clothing requirements before?  Yes, in Part Six

My thoughts:

• The quotes from 1 Peter: " for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” and " But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people,[a] in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
• Quote from 2 Corinthians: "15 What agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we[a] are the temple of the living God; as God said,
  “I will live in them and walk among them,
      and I will be their God,
      and they shall be my people.
  17 Therefore come out from them,
      and be separate from them, says the Lord,
  and touch nothing unclean;
      then I will welcome you,
• I have no clue how any of these verses apply to wearing a belt and keeping shirts tucked in.
• No V-necked tee-shirts, huh.  Must be the sign of the devil.
• Another way to save on costs: make the patients do the cooking.  This practice is illegal in the way that RU Ministries does it.

From Illinois Legal Aid:
"Working for the Facility

The facility cannot force you to perform work for the facility, except that you may be required to perform your own housekeeping chores.
Example: The facility can have rules requiring you to sweep and dust your room, but the facility cannot require you to cut the grass or sweep the hallways.

If you agree to perform work for the facility, you are entitled to be paid a fair amount for your services, in accordance with federal and state wage laws."

•  I strongly doubt the legality of being paid by the facility and then having the facility take that money directly as payment for treatment. Doubly so since RU has no set "total cost" that a patient needs to cover during their stay; RU just takes all of your wages earned during your treatment period.

My thoughts:

• So far, all I know to pack as a woman is 3 dresses or 3 skirt/blouse combinations, a black sweater, shoes and hosiery.  How do I know what to bring?  I suspect there are rules about how much skin can be showing - but if you don't tell me ahead of time, how can I plan accordingly?
• How does this fit in with one of the "volunteer jobs" available for RU women - working in the shipping department of RU?  I stumbled upon this gem while looking up the tax status of RU.

  

  Screen Capture from 11/2016.  Underlining adding by Mel for emphasis.
  
  
  

  

  
  

  My two cents:

  
  

  
  

  Mark 5:15 tells me what I to know about how RU views their patients.  "They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid."  Yes, patients need to dress nicely because like the demonically possessed man in the Gospel, you can scare your neighbors into believing in Jesus if you wear a nice shirt and hair cut above the ears while dealing with addictions.  

• John 11:39 tells me what I need to know about how RU views their patients. "Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”  Fuckers.

My thoughts:

• The main bullets are SOP in most institutions to prevent chaos.
• The random search and seizure of items in rooms is completely legal.  I don't know about searches of persons - that's not covered in the legal documents I've found online.
• We covered above how unpaid chores outside of keeping your room clean is illegal in Illinois.
• To my way of thinking, the Bible verse from 1 Corinthians is a scathing indictment of RU:
• 1 Corinthians 4:2 "Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy."
• To my way of thinking, the Bible verses from Matthew are a scathing indictment of how RU sees their patients:
• Matthew 25:21 " His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’"
• Matthew 25:29 " For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away."

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part Eight

We're into page 7 of 10 in the RU: Schools of Disciples Handbook.  Today's theme: conduct, conduct and more conduct - and the Bible verses that don't really support them.

First up: how to behave during educational components.

My thoughts:

• How many Bibles do the students need?  Is this a way of adding that Bible Concordance to the list of needed materials?  How long do you need to do that journal a day?

• I have a mental image of staff members running surprise checks of patients to see if they are carrying their "Daily Meditation Cards" during dinner or at work.

• How much Bible work is required on top of the work from the "Phases"?

• How far do you need to progress in the "Program" each week?

• The last two bullet points are weird for any program - and creepy for adults.  During my time in Pine Rest, I gave and received support from people of both genders. Often, people in similar life situations - unmarried young adults, married adults, older adults who had lost a spouse - shared good times with each other.  Also, how does this work out practically on a job site?

My thoughts:

• 2 Corinthians 5:12 " We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart." I have no idea how that has anything to do with riding in a van to a job site.

• 1 Corinthians 14:40 "But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way." Sounds better - but the chapter is about how to conduct yourself in church so perhaps it should be moved to the previous chunk.

•  All of my math for the scheduling bit is a bit off now since a full 30 minutes is wasted at the beginning and end of all programs and services.

• Does keeping all conversations "Christ-like" mean that you have to use the aphorism "Amen, Amen I say to you....." at a certain frequency?  Or that all convos will be in ancient Aramaic? I missed the obvious one: It's all about carpentry.

 My thoughts:

• Sweet!  I call turning over tables and yelling at people when they do something I don't like after Mark 11:15-16. Go Jesus-style or go home!
• Notice that most of the outlawed verbal behaviors - e.g. griping, negative criticism, complaining, faultfinding and sowing discord - create problems for the staff, not the patients.
• Good luck trying to contain gossiping in a place with 50 men or 80 women and 3 full-time staff.

• In real therapeutic settings, you talk about "old habits or lifestyles" - e.g. your addictions - to help clearly see how they were hurting you and the people in your life.  By talking with others, you gain understanding of what triggers your behaviors and other bad consequences that can befall you if you continue in your current path.  Now, glorifying the old habits and lifestyles is a bad idea - but in a therapeutic setting either the therapist or fellow patients will call you out on that.
• Who is scrutinizing the relationships to determine their relevance?  The correct answer is the patient with support of a therapist - not a blanket prohibition on anyone that is not your spouse or a blood relative.  Two of the people who were most helpful to me when I was recovering from depression were two family friends who had experienced depression themselves and reached out to help me recover.

• I worry that there is no timeline for dealing with complaints addressed by the patients.  I'm sure this surprises no one, but there is also no appeals process or outside oversight - but we'll cover that more when we get to the Complaint Process.

My final thought for today: The priorities of a group become clear in their writings.  Helping patients recover takes low priority for RU compared to crowd and cost control measures.

RU: Labor Exploitation For Jesus - Part Six

This next section of the handbook covers what people need to bring with them for their 6 month stay at the RU School of Discipleship.

The clothing section seems to imply that the men will be working on some kind of physically demanding labor crew along with some kind of white collar job while women will be working in some kind of white collar job.  Based on the schedule from earlier in the handbook, I also suspect that women are in charge of laundry duties because I can't figure out when anyone would have time to wash their clothes.

How RU saves money:

• When I was at Pine Rest, I brought my own comfortable clothing, personal hygiene items, slippers and a book or two to read before I fell asleep.  Pine Rest, however, provided ALL of those things if you needed them.  You could also make local phone calls for free - and without monitoring.
• Things that were provided by Pine Rest that RU makes the patients bring:
• Towels
• Alarm Clock
• Bedding
• Pre-paid phone cards
• Office Supplies.
• When I was in Pine Rest, I did ask for Pastoral Counseling.  One of the chaplains was an elderly retired priest who was a big supporter of psychology and psychiatry.  He asked me if I wanted a Bible.  I did and mentioned I liked the NRSV.  He gave me a copy of the NRSV Bible that I still have to this day.   The fact that the staff at RU makes people bring their own Bibles - and paper - makes me feel sad as well as angry that RU is passing off normal business costs onto the patients.
• Why do you need two forms of ID?  All I've ever needed in medical situations are a single, picture ID and in emergencies you'll get treatment without it.  In fact, the only time I've ever needed two forms of ID was for a job..... hmm.  Fuckers.

1 Corinthians 6:19 is oddly fitting: " Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;" since you're turning over your whole life to RU.

Most of these prohibitions make sense.   A few don't.

• I'd like to know who is in charge of deciding which medicines are authorized and which are not.  Does this person have advanced medical training?  Are they legally liable for any negative side-effects if someone goes off a medication at their behest?
• What is the obsession with jewelry?  I doubt that a man who is addicted to meth is going to be cured by not wearing a necklace or removing an earring.   In a medical setting, jewelry is discouraged for reasons of personal safety or theft, but if you aren't suicidal, no one cares if you are wearing a necklace or three earrings in each ear.

RU's communications policy is in blatant violation of the rights of mental health patients in Illinois.

• Patients may communicate freely with any persons they want without monitoring or interference of staff.
• Patients must be given access to phones and writing materials if they cannot afford them on their own.
• Communications can be restricted only to prevent "harm, harassment or intimidation".

Compare those rights with the program handbook:

Another way of looking at this: 

• In Phase 1, you get a 6 ten minute monitored phone calls for a total of 60 minutes of outside contact to pre-approved people across six weeks.
• In Phase 2, 12 ten minute phone calls for 120 minutes (2 hours) across six weeks.
• In Phase 3, 18 ten minute phone calls for 180 minutes (3 hours) across six weeks.
• In Phase 4, 24 ten minute phone calls for 240 minutes (4 hours) across six weeks.

You get to talk to your family for 10 hours across six months.

When I was in Puerto Rico for 16 days, I talked to my husband for close to 10 hours by just having 30 minutes of talk most days and a few longer talks when I had had a hard day.

I don't trust programs that limit contact to outside human beings.

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part 5

We're working our way through the Handbook for RU ministries.

Page Four outlines the weekly schedule for inmates disciples.  Since these are people who are dealing with legitimate mental illnesses like alcohol and drug addiction or anorexia, medical treatment programs would include group therapy, individual therapy, classes to learn about coping mechanisms and plenty of time for rest.  The rest time is as important as the other parts because when someone's brain is injured, the brain's way of recovering is through sleep.

(This is something I've learned both from a very severe case of depression when I was 19 and a closed head injury I received a few weeks ago.  I've started to tell people that my main daily activity is sleeping followed by hard-core napping followed by short-bursts of mental work which leads to more napping.)

Here's the weekday schedule.

Things I've Noticed:

1. The day starts very early and ends very late.  Assuming that you fall asleep immediately at lights out, men can get 6.5 hours of sleep per night during the week and women can get 7 hours of sleep per night during the week.
2. Somewhere in all of the materials for this program the fact that disciples have chores is mentioned.  I'm assuming that's included in the first hour of the day compared to the normal 30 minute dinner period.
3. I can find 3 hours of time to work on the "Phase" work - the cornerstone of the recovery bit - from 5:30-7:30 AM and 9-10PM for men and 6-8AM and 9-10PM for women.
4. Men put in a 9 hour workday; women put in an 8.5 hour workday which says quite a bit about the priorities of the program.  Unless the men get a full hour lunch and the women get a half-hour lunch, these work periods move into overtime rules.
5. You also get 3.5 hours of chapel, church services or something thrown together by the volunteers involved with the ministries a day.
6. I'm guessing that using the 9-10pm slot to actually relax will end up either slowing your program down to a crawl or end in disciplinary measures taken against the person.
7. I'm curious who provides lunch.

Here's the weekend schedule.  Men are on the left; women on the right

 Things I've noticed:

1. On Saturday, men get a Bible class.  The program overview describes the Saturday morning class as
    "College level classes will be held every Saturday. These classes may include: Theology, financial management, health and nutrition, basic computer skills, auto mechanics, driver’s safety training and childcare. The college classes give students an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of God’s word, life skills, and Bible doctrine. The classes also prepare students for greater usefulness to their local church when they return home."
2. On Saturday mornings, women clean the buildings.  Sexist much?  Actually, to bring the women up to 9 hours of work per day like the men, I'm guessing that the women are used as a local cleaning crew for either the ministry or businesses for at least 2.5 hours on Saturday after doing any grunt work needed around the campus.  Maybe it's the whole time.  RU sells a daft book for women called "Handing Her the Heritage of Holiness and Homemaking" so I can see how they could justify using the female patients as a cleaning crew.  This would also add to overtime pay.
3. Saturday gives you 1 hour of time to work on the Phases.
4. Is there really a monster chapel session from 5:30-sometime before 11pm?  That's overkill.
5. Friday night into Saturday morning gives a decent 9 hours of sleep for men and 10 hours of sleep for women, plus eight more hours of sleep on Saturday night. God knows they would need it at this point.
6. Looks like everyone get mandatory rest time on Sunday afternoon from after lunch to dinner.  That must be the time that the website talks about being able to enjoy their lovely campus because I can't find any other time on the schedule for it.
7. Sunday does allow you 2 hours of work on the "Phases" program.

 Summary Per Week:

• A maximum of 50.5 hours of sleep per week instead of 56 hours of sleep per week recommended for healthy adults.
• 18 hours of work on the "Phases" Recovery Program.
• 26.5 hours of chapel, services or other scheduled worship times (That could jump by 6.5 hours per week to 33 hours per week if you are male and the Saturday Morning Class is on a theological aspect.)
• 45 hours a week of "paid" employment for men; 42.5 hours + "cleaning crew" of "paid" employment for women.  In case you haven't put it together, the money earned by patients goes right into RU's pocket to "offset expenses".

How much can RU earn from their patients a week?
For one person working 45 hours a week at $8.25 per hour - the minimum wage in Illinois - the person makes 371.25 before tax and ignoring overtime.  Let's say that's $300 per week.  That's $1,200 per month.

For 80 women and 50 men, that's 156,000 per month income.

The numbers start climbing if the women do secretarial work and the men do construction work - but we'll get to that later along with the unethical ways they keep their costs low.

RU's emphasis isn't on recovery; RU uses desperate, hurting people as an income stream. 

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part Four

 We've covered why RU should be compared to inpatient treatment facilities, their spurious views on addictions and the lack of trained staff on site.

This information alone would be enough to send me running for the hills, but let's pretend for a minute that I'm still interested in going to RU Schools of Discipleship like Josh Duggar did.  They have a four part application process.    The first step is to read the handbook fully and until you completely understand it.

Page 1 is a cover page.

Page 2 is a standard welcome letter explaining that you have to read the handbook, fax the application packet and supporter packet, and someone will call you back.

Page 3:
The total program cost is $7,500 which is non-refundable.
The same page lays out the fact the program will take a minimum of 180 days because there are 4 phases each of which requires a minimum of 45 days.   Most inpatient drug rehabilitation centers cost between $18,000 - $35,000 per month.

 Six months at the low end of that range should cost $108,000 - so how is RU making up the $100,500 difference per patient?  We've already covered that their staff has no degrees from accredited colleges and most are recent graduates of the program, so that drives the salaries way down.

The handbook lays out the "Phases".  I've linked the materials that are for sale through RU.

Phase One (minimum of 45 days)
 1. Complete the Challenger Workbook
 2. “It’s Personal” Daily Journal
 3. View a principle a day, every weekday
 4. Attend all evening training functions
5. Six individual student intervention meeting sessions with the Intervention Mentor (SIP)
6. Read Nevertheless I Live chapters 1-2 by Steve Curington
7. Read Distressed, Oppressed, or Possessed? by Steve Curington
8. Your First Phase will be evaluated by the Dean of the Home upon completion.

Phase Two (minimum of 45 days)
1. Complete the Transformer Workbook
2. “It’s Personal” Daily Journal 
3. View a principle a day, every weekday
4. Attend all evening training functions
5. Four individual student intervention meeting sessions with the Intervention Mentor (SIP)
6. Read Nevertheless I Live chapters 3-4 by Steven Curington
 7. You must pass the Transformer level test to enter into Phase Three.
 8. Your Second Phase will be evaluated by the Dean of The Home upon completion.

Phase Three (minimum of 45 days)
 1. Complete the Conformer Workbook
2. “It’s Personal” Daily Journal 
3. View a principle a day, every weekday
4. Attend all evening training functions
5. Three individual student intervention meeting sessions with the Intervention Mentor (SIP)
6. Read Nevertheless I Live chapters 5-7 by Steven Curington
7. Read Tall Law by Steven Curington
8. You must pass the Conformer level test to enter into Phase Four.
9. Your Third Phase will be evaluated by the Dean of The Home upon completion.

Phase Four (minimum of 45 days) 
1. Complete the Reformer Workbook
2. “It’s Personal” Daily Journal 
3. View a principle a day, every weekday
4. Attend all evening training functions
5. Two individual student intervention meeting sessions with the Dean (SIP)
6. Read Nevertheless I Live chapters 8-10 by Steven Curington
7. You must pass the Reformer level test in order to graduate.
 8. To graduate you must be have a final evaluation with the Dean of the home.

Things that I've noticed:

1.  There is no reason the "educational" component of this program should take 6 months.  It consists of 

• a workbook which is probably based on the "Nevertheless I Live" textbook readings.
• writing journal entries (the journal lasts 90 days, so you work through it twice during the program)
• look at one of 10 principles on a weekday (which means you'll have them memorized by the end of Phase 2 at the latest)
• Reading two additional books - one on how "satanic oppression" makes you feel unmotivated and one on how this whole curriculum isn't really "works" based.

2. You have to attend all evening meetings which run from 6:30-9:00pm at night and be in a good mood the whole time.

3. You get fewer and fewer meetings with actual staff members as the program goes on.  Since the women's program is missing an Intervention Mentor - and I have no idea what SIP stands for - either everyone in the program has ground to a halt or something has been modified.

4. How does the staff handle all these meetings?
The women's program can have 88 women in it. For simplifying the math, I'm going to assume 80 women are enrolled.  I doubt the number of people in each phase is evenly distributed, so let's assume 10% are in Phase 4, 20% are in Phase 3, 30% are in Phase 2 and 40% are in Phase 1.

This means:

8 women in Phase 4 needing 2 meetings per 6 weeks = 16 meetings

16 women in Phase 3 needing 3 meetings per 6 weeks = 48 meetings

24 women in Phase 2 needing 4 meetings per 6 weeks = 96 meetings

32 women in Phase 1 needing 6 meetings per 6 weeks = 192 meetings.

That's a total of 352 meetings per 6 weeks or ~59 meetings per week.

If each meeting is one hour - 50 minutes of time with the patient and 10 minutes of bookkeeping and prep - that's 59  hours of meetings a week for two staff members to handle.

This doesn't include anything about making plans for new patients, dealing with "discharge summaries" for anyone who leaves, or running any of the administrative items involved with this type of care.

The next section in the handbook is on the daily schedule.

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part Three

The quality of staffing in inpatient treatment varies greatly.  The American Psychological Association noted that getting qualified staff in substance abuse treatment facilities is difficult due to low pay and weak educational opportunities for employees (pg. 16).  The implied educational criteria is that there are multiple layers of professionals with advanced degrees - doctoral, master's and bachelor's degrees in psychology or medical degrees in psychiatry - with paraprofessionals with less education being overseen and trained by people with advanced degrees (pgs. 16-17).

Compare those ideas with the listed staff for the RU Schools of Discipleship; a school that treats potentially life-threatening disorders such as heroin addiction and eating disorders like anorexia.

Cribbed from their website:

Dr. Paul Kingsbury: 

• Pastor of North Love Baptist Church; cofounder of RU
• Attended Maranatha Baptist College  (which has regional accreditation) - but gives no dates of graduation or degrees earned.  The highest degree awarded by Maranatha is a Master's Degree in Education or various Master's in Ministry degrees.  None of the degrees has an emphasis in healthcare ministry let alone training for working as a provider of healthcare.
• Graduated from Hyles-Anderson College (which is unaccredited). Hyles Anderson has Master's degrees in Education and Ministry.  They have a certificate program for counseling - this is equivalent to about 1 year of freshman level college classes.
• When researching North Love Baptist College (also unaccredited) from another staff member's blurb, I found a different educational list for Dr. Kingsbury.  He got a Bachelor's from Hyles-Anderson and a Doctorate of Divinity from both Ambassador Baptist College and West Coast Baptist College.  I hate when people can't get website information correct.

He's a highly educated individual within the unaccredited Baptist college world.  Unfortunately, that's not enough to run an inpatient program.

Steve Currington:

• Cofounder of RU based on his personal recovery from a heroin addiction.
• Wrote or coauthored most of the recovery materials used by RU.

His credentials are moot; he died in 2010 of a heart attack.  I find it strange that he's still listed on their staff page.

There are six people listed who sound like administrators for day to day operations at the Schools of Discipleship houses.  The men's program can have 55 inpatients while the women's program can have 80 patients.

Donnie Barnes:

• Graduated from the RU program in 2007 from a previous drug addiction.
• Married Hannah Barnes in 2008.
• Has been the Director of Housing for some unspecified time.
• Earned a degree from North Love Bible College in Ministry in 2014.

Hannah Barnes:

• Graduated from West Coast Baptist College with a ministry degree.
• Has served in RU since 2008
• Became the Dean of Women in 2012.

Dale Akin:

• Graduated from Hyles-Anderson and served as a pastor in CA from 1995-2011.
• Graduated from RU in 2003 for an unspecified addiction.
• Has worked in RU as an Assistant Steward (spring 2012), Student Mentor(summer 2012) and is currently the Men's Intervention Mentor

Shirley Rawlings:

• Began as a patient at RU in 2011 addicted to heroin and "other sins".
• Became a volunteer monitor after graduation for two years.
• Became the Head Steward in around 2013.
• Became the Assistant Dean of Women at some time in the past.

Sheridan Powell:

• Began as a patient at RU in 2013 addicted to meth, heroin and "other sins".
• Volunteered for a year after graduating from RU.
• Became the Head Steward either in late 2014 or early 2015.

Charles Rodberg:

• Addiction to crack cocaine lead to discharge from the Marines and prison
• Graduated from RU in 2014
• Became Head Steward sometime after graduation.

Things that concern me:

1. None of the staff members have a degree of any level from an accreditation agency recognized by the US government.
2. Five of the six staff members who are presumably interacting with patients have graduated from RU because of previous addictions.  Of those 5, two have been "graduated" for less than 3 years.  Only one of the five has been graduated for more than 10 years.
3. The one staff member who was never enrolled in the program married a former patient within one year of the patient graduating.   While this is not illegal - to the best of my knowledge - it opens up questions about professionality since she was volunteering while he was in treatment.
4. Based on those three previous points, I question the oversight available by the staff towards volunteers and patients.
5. This appears to be a closed-system.  Since most of the staff rose up through the RU program, has no outside education, and has no oversight from an outside body, there is no one available to question any unethical or illegal behaviors by RU.

We haven't even gotten to the really shady stuff, though.

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part Two

Since Reformers Unanimous (RU) is an organization that treats addictions, I thought it would be important to understand their definitions of addiction.

From their website on "What We Believe about Addictions:

• Addiction by one definition is “to cause to become physiologically or psychologically dependent on a habit-forming substance.”

That's a good definition which would incorporate  ten of the 15 topics covered by RU.

• Addiction by another definition is “to occupy oneself or involve oneself in something habitually or compulsively.”

This definition is missing a key point; the activity has to be negatively affecting the person's life in a major way.  When that point is added, the remaining four listed topics could be incorporated under this definition.

Logically, since they've defined 14 out of 15 topics - and my guess is that the 15th topic is alcohol - they don't need any more definitions.  Yet, the list continues.

• Addiction is an unnatural obsession with anything other than God.

Under this definition, my love of cheetahs when I was seven was an addiction.  Plus, what is an unnatural obsession with God called?  (This is why someone should proof-read websites for public consumption, IMHO. Sloppy construction undermines messages.)

• Addiction is any appetite on a binge.

Too vague for actual use.  Although..... this definition does allow outsiders to label Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's attempts to have a twentieth living child after Michelle had had a micro- preemie due to preeclampsia and a stillborn baby an addiction.  

• Addiction is anything you continue to do knowing it is harmful for you.

Overly broad categorization.  For example, people working in high stress jobs with lots of sad outcomes - police, firefighters, certain medical professions, certain teachers, CPS workers - can be emotionally harmed by their jobs.  That's not considered an addiction anywhere else.

• Addiction is a disorder caused by sin.

Partial credit for this one.  Addictions are a disorder - generally a medical disorder that affects brain chemistry.  To treat addictions, the person with the addiction must choose to behave in ways that separate them from the addictive substance or action.   I have a problem labeling failure to follow those choices as sins because my understanding of sin requires conscious choices.  Since addiction often coexists with other mental illnesses, labeling failure to comply with treatment a sin feels like a bridge too far.

• Addiction is anything that brings you into spiritual bondage.

Well, according to one whack-a-doodle blogger, Anne of Green Gables drags girls into spiritual bondage so that's another addiction.

• Addiction is being under the rule of anything other than the Holy Spirit.

That's why we're called "Spirited" not "Christians".  That's also why the Rule of Law is completely pointless and addicting.

• Addiction is anything to which I run to meet my needs apart from God.
  What does that even mean?  I need to stay warm during the winter so I use indoor heating and put on a coat when I go outside.  Under this statement, both indoor heating and wearing a coat are addictions.
• Addiction is any coping mechanism I use to deal with disappointments.

Apparently, including prayer or reading the Bible are now addictions according to this definition.  I've been disappointed recently that a car accident injury dragged my graduate school career to a temporary halt.  To deal, I've been trimming blackberry bushes, winterizing the garden and cleaning out my poultry shed.   Those now addictions as well.

• Addiction is any sin, because all sin is addictive.

RU really needs to add a definition of sin to their theological statement of beliefs because I don't know what they mean by sin anymore.  I've heard that sin is attractive - but not addicting.

Just wait until we meet their staff.