Siri Vikan threw herself at the chance to become a counselor for the program that she credits for saving her life.

Pathway Drug Abuse in Tucson was a satellite of the same program in Tempe that saved her from booze, drugs and jail. Neither Vikan (now Campbell) nor other former counselors questioned the program’s teachings, even when they were told that African Americans weren’t as good as whites, or that being gay was a symptom of addiction, or that victims of rape and molestation had only themselves to blame. These opinions were the gospel preached by their savior, Bob Meehan, an addiction-recovery guru who founded a complex web of active programs in Arizona, Georgia, Missouri, Colorado and North Carolina.

Pathway Drug Abuse Program operates only in Arizona, with its main office in Tempe, and a satellite at 3450 S. Broadmont Drive on Tucson’s southside.

Vikan’s allegiance began to crack, she said, after she saw a counselor throw a tennis ball at the genitals of a male client in Tucson. Her complaints about the incident were swept under the rug; that’s when she woke up.

Particularly disturbing for Vikan and five other former Pathway employees willing to go on the record–two of whom asked that their names not be used–was the forging of documents that showed counselors with Pathway had the state-required amount of training, even though they did not.

Looking back, Vikan and other several others say that forging documents is just one disturbing element of working in a program founded by Meehan–a man who has repeatedly clashed with authorities and associates through more than three decades of addiction counseling–and his son-in-law, Clint Stonebraker, who technically owns Pathway, according to state records. After putting up with the racism, homophobia, coercion and forgery, Vikan had finally had enough.

“I just realized how fucked up everything was there,” Vikan said.

Pathway Program Director Josh Azevedo said he could not comment on allegations made in this story, because Stonebraker was on vacation and “completely unreachable” for more than a week, until May 7. Tucson Weekly gave Pathway four days to respond.

Two weeks prior to deadline, the Weekly attempted to call the phone number Stonebraker listed on Pathway’s facility license last year. It was disconnected, as was a nearly identical number listed in the QwestDex online phonebook with the same street address.

When asked how to reach Bob Meehan, Azevedo bluntly stated, “He no longer has anything to do with the program.”

There are roughly 160 addiction-treatment programs in the Tucson area licensed by the state of Arizona, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services Division of Licensing Services. These programs range from programs such as state- and county-funded programs like COPE and CODAC for low-income substance abusers, to high-end inpatient programs at facilities such as Sierra Tucson and Cottonwood de Tucson, which can cost more than $40,000 per visit. Pathway charges up to $7,000 for outpatient treatment, and $14,000 for inpatient.

Counselors must file paperwork with the state showing they have had at least 40 hours of training every two years. Former employees Eric Balog, David Larsen, Vikan and others who have left the program confirmed that Pathway staff was instructed by management to regularly forge the forms that are required for license renewal. These forms are checked by the Arizona Board of Medical Examiners.

For instance, Vikan’s final form (known as a CEU sheet), which was obtained from the Board of Medical Examiners, shows Larsen as teaching her 10 hours of coursework over two days in January 2002.

Larsen said he doesn’t recall Vikan ever being in one of his classes. Vikan was more blunt: “They’re all made up.”

Vikan said writing up these sheets was almost a joke in the Tucson office; Vikan and Beau Hintz, another former employee, said forging was underway when they left last year.

“I think they called it, ‘creative educational units,’ whenever they had to do them,” Vikan said.

Other Tucson counselors, who didn’t want to be identified, said CEUs were filled out during staff meetings by passing them around the room.

Larsen said he did teach some courses, and he took some as well, but all were under the supervision of other counselors trained under Meehan’s philosophy.

Balog confirmed that up to his departure in 1996, the forging of these forms was a regular occurrence, especially in the mid-’90s, when the program fell under scrutiny from the state.

As Balog recalls: “They had a bunch of staff come in and paint the rooms inside the office while (two administrators) sat at typewriters and just went away at certificates.”

The Arizona Board of Medical Examiners Executive Director Debra Rinaudo did not return three phone calls for comment. But Board of Medical Examiners administrative services worker Pam Osborn said it’s up to former counselors to bring up discrepancies to the board. The only two parties who know whether the education occurred are the ones hosting and attending, Osborn said.

“It would be up to the person telling you these are false to bring it up to the board before we start an investigation,” she said. “We check to see if an accredited organization or person taught the class. If they did, we accept it.”

By limiting outside influences, Meehan’s program, now owned by Stonebraker, ensures that any ideas on how to treat addicted teens come from them–and no one else, according to Vikan, as well as former employees Balog, Larsen and Hintz.

Meehan himself supports this claim, as shown in a video on an anti-Meehan Web site. During a video on ontheemmis.com, a Web site that on the top of all of its pages reads “for survivors of Meehan-run drug programs,” Meehan tells counselors to disregard anything they learn in other courses.

“Memorize everything he (the instructor who taught material found on the state-mandated test) has to teach you, pass the test, and forget it,” said Meehan.

Counselors were also taught directly by Meehan, with enforcement by Stonebraker, to threaten clients with excommunication from the group if the suggestions weren’t taken, former counselors said. They were also taught to burn in clients’ minds that excommunication from the group meant an imminent relapse into addiction, which would lead to death.

David Larsen, who spent about 12 years in Meehan’s now-closed California programs, as well as Pathway, finds talking to the media about his experiences as the head of Pathway difficult.

“Each time I do it, it’s like I’m standing up in Bob’s face, which is scary,” Larsen said.

Larsen took part in an investigation for a Feb. 28 piece that aired on ABC 15 in Phoenix that received national attention. The report depicted Meehan as a racist cult leader who coerced a client, in one occasion, into forgoing medical treatment in favor of spiritual treatment. On that occasion, famed comedian Carol Burnett’s stepson at first took Meehan’s suggestion to believe his cancer was a spiritual disease. Jeffrey Hamilton eventually sought medical help, but later died.

In response to the report, Meehan’s attorney issued a statement that said Meehan was retiring from the one-man Meehan Institute, where all Pathway counselors received training. Finally, mirroring a statement he made when he got into trouble with California authorities in 1986, Meehan said he would be severing ties with the program. In an interview conducted by the webmaster for ontheemmis.com, Stonebraker said Meehan’s literature would no longer be used as part of the Pathway curriculum.

But according to Larsen and former Pathway Tempe counselor Eric Balog, Meehan kept regular contact with his California staff in 1986, despite the promise he made to the state. Balog described the control that Meehan has over patients and counselors as “blind and absolute.”

A signature of Meehan’s programs is his version of the 12 steps, which have been subtly altered from the design used by Alcoholics Anonymous. For instance, step three of AA states, “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.”

Pathway’s version states, “We realized that a Higher Power, expressed through our love for each other, could help restore us to sanity.”

The key difference: Many members of AA are able to pick any god of their understanding, but Pathway clients come to depend on their peers and counselors, over which Meehan and Stonebraker had absolute control, former counselors and clients said.

David Larsen questioned from the beginning why some of Meehan’s philosophies didn’t mesh with society standards, beginning when he was 16 years old in the San Diego program.

“That kind of mind control works. He felt like he saved people’s lives,” Larsen said. “That’s what he’d always say: ‘I saved your life.'”

In 1996, elders of the group suggested Larsen leave his wife–a fellow counselor–because she had quit the organization. After 10 years of indoctrination of the severe consequences of ignoring these suggestions, he separated from his wife.

He said it was the worst decision he ever made.

From that point, more questions on Meehan’s philosophy began percolating in Larsen’s head, which led to his ultimate banishment to Meehan’s Cornerstone in Denver. There, he quickly resigned.

“I was accused with fucking with the program,” he said, which he compared to, “fucking with the force of the group that was the spiritual aspect of the program.”

“He’d always say ‘You don’t need those people; you have us,'” Larsen said.

Larsen also recalls overt racism in the Pathway program.

“People haven’t been able to capture how blatant the use of the word nigger (was) …” said Larsen. “I’m ashamed I was in it.”

Vikan recalls that on more than two occasions, blacks and “real Mexicans” were turned down to join the program.

“We were taught that they were lesser than whites,” Vikan said. “They wouldn’t get the program like we did.”

Counselors and former clients added that group members who didn’t embrace racist attitudes were eventually banished from the group. In a video clip on ontheemmis.com, Meehan speaks for at least two minutes on how he loves hockey, because no black people play the game.

Meehan also hammered gay clients. On one occasion during Meehan’s California program days, according to Balog, a girl who said she believed she was lesbian was verbally attacked by Meehan, and then asked to leave.

“He told her to come back when she was sucking dicks,” remembers Balog.

Danny Weber had come out to his parents two years before entering Step Two, the inpatient program where some clients are referred to prior to entering Pathway’s outpatient counseling service. His parents were more than accepting, he said.

“My mom always told me, ‘Don’t listen to what anyone else tells you. Just be yourself,'” he said.

Stonebraker, however, was not so forgiving, according to Vikan. She said Weber went through a 45-minute 1-on-1 “bitch out” from Stonebraker on how he wasn’t gay.

“I remember him telling me that me being gay was a figment of my disease (of addiction),” Weber said.

Weber said he and Stonebraker had two other conversations about the issue before he finally gave in.

“I figured, you know, my parents spent $14,000 for me to be here; I might as well go along with it,” he said. “I figured, it’s not the first time I had to act straight for someone.”

Vikan, Larsen and Hintz said this forced baptism into heterosexuality was common practice.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, homosexuality is not a pathological psychiatric condition, and it can not be “treated” with therapy, according to the book, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Like Larsen, Balog was exiled from the group after challenging Meehan’s dictates. Balog said he had put his life under Meehan behind him until hearing of the ABC 15 report.

When he and his wife, who was also a counselor with the group, moved down to Tucson to attempt a launch of its current operation, she became pregnant, which was against the suggestion of the group.

Elders in the group, which included Meehan and Stonebraker “suggested” Balog’s wife get an abortion–or else, because management felt the two weren’t ready to have a child. They decided to have their child and were excommunicated from the group.

Former client Erica Baker said she, too, experienced the same ultimatum. At the age of 17, she became pregnant by her boyfriend, who was also a Pathway client. After he brought it up to his counselor, the decision came back from Stonebraker. After being told repeatedly that leaving the group of peers they got sober with would mean relapse and death, keeping the child was not an option, Baker said.

“You don’t understand: You don’t leave the group,” she said.

Baker said she lived with the guilt and misery of the abortion for years, until at the age of 22, she became pregnant again. She leapt at the opportunity.

“I swore to myself I’d never do that again, ever,” she said.

Meehan was also reportedly unsympathetic to clients who claimed to be sexually assaulted.

“He said we chose our spiritual path to have that happen and we need to change it,” Vikan said.

Counselors were trained to tell clients to take the blame and forget it happened.

Southern Arizona for Sexual Assault spokesman Michael Mandel said the international standard for treating victims is to pull them in the opposite direction of what Meehan reportedly advocated.

“The victim already does a good job of blaming themselves for the incident. It’s very important for them to realize they had no control over this, only their attacker did,” Mandel said. He added that victims normally spiral into depression and drug use because of self-blame.

It should be noted that former client Dan Koslowski said Vikan’s statements about Pathway’s views on sexual assault were taken out of context. While Koslowski never actually was in outpatient treatment, he paid for several seminars, which included Meehan. He said he remembered Meehan’s statement on the issue.

“It all depended on the situation. If you were passed out or held down and it happened, fine. But if you were 16 and walking in a park at 12 o’clock in the morning, did she ask for it?” Koslowski said. “Did she put herself in a situation where she knew it could happen?”

The allegations that Pathway is skirting state regulations reflect a pattern that has followed addiction programs run by Meehan for decades.

Although the history section of Palmer Drug Abuse Program Web site doesn’t mention Meehan’s last name, it, along with Meehan’s book, Beyond the Yellow Brick Road, describes his beginnings.

Meehan, also known as the self-proclaimed “father of intervention,” began his career 33 years ago when he helped found the Palmer Drug Abuse Program in Houston. Just after self-allegedly serving time in both federal and state prisons, and hopping in and out of local jails for smaller offenses, Meehan was hired as a janitor at the Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church in 1971. There, the now-deceased Father Charles Bryant (known as Father Charlie to Pathway clients and counselors) helped Meehan stop using drugs. Father Charlie then asked Meehan to share his experience with a few troubled teens, and by the end of the week, he already had a small following.

A few months later, Meehan was hired as a youth counselor, and the program was formed.

In 1980, the Palmer Drug Abuse Program Board of Directors asked Meehan to step down after a slew of negative publicity depicting Meehan as arrogant and greedy, according to an ABC News transcript.

As early as 1981, Meehan opened the Sober Live-In Center Ranch in San Diego, and over the next few years, opened at least two other facilities in the area.

Heather DiZinno, who entered ranch facility in 1981 as a patient and eventually became an employee, said that although there was no running water at the Escondido location, and food was supplied for the entire facility through the generosity of concerned parents, Meehan’s prescribed way of life avoiding drugs and alcohol seemed perfect.

“You’re 14, and you get to stay up late and smoke cigarettes,” DiZinno told the Weekly. “Who wouldn’t like that?”

California Department of Social Services first visited the two Sober Live-In Center locations in July 1984 and found Meehan’s program was providing care and supervision to children and adults without a license. Meehan responded to the state’s findings with his intention to apply for licensing, which never happened, according to Shirley Washington, deputy director of affairs of the California Department of Social Services. After the San Diego County District Attorney’s office threatened criminal charges against Meehan for operating without a license, Meehan finally applied for the proper certification, but those applications were denied due to concerns over fire safety, the water supply and sanitary conditions, Washington said in an e-mail to Tucson Weekly.

By May 1985, Meehan’s attorney contacted the state to say the facilities were no longer operating, but a visit by state officials five days later found that they were still in business, Washington said.

Meehan was again warned he was in violation of state law. The facility changed hands to one of Meehan’s associates, but eventually closed. DiZinno, Balog and Larsen said Meehan was still training and advising counselors under the state’s radar.

Meehan also opened Freeway in San Diego, which Balog says was “pretty much the same thing as Pathway.” That closed in 1986 after, as DiZinno put it, “a few former members of the group” and community provoked public outcry against the program’s antisocial and cult-like behavior, which also encouraged clients to smoke cigarettes and vandalize property.

The Los Angeles Times reported in a May 1986 article that Meehan allegedly ran programs in Arizona, which were placed under investigation because of the incidents in California. Today, the Arizona Department of Health Services Licensing Division said they have no record of any investigation.

While details of Meehan’s activity in other recovery programs after Sober Live-In Center Ranch and Freeway are sketchy, Balog and DiZinno said he opened and closed a slew of smaller programs in California, Arizona and Texas. The Arizona Department of Health Services has no record of such facilities.

In 1993, Pathway was formed in the Phoenix area, apparently operating under the state licensing radar for its first three years and headed by Dave Larsen. (According to both the Arizona Secretary of State’s office and Department of Health Services, Pathway was licensed in 1996.)

In 1997, Pathway opened up a Tucson office, which runs as a satellite under the same license.

Meehan’s Arizona involvement goes beyond the Pathway offices. Today, according to the Arizona Corporation Commission, Meehan owns Step Two under his corporation, JAD LLC. Step Two treats clients ages 13-17 from Phoenix and Tucson. According to counselors, JAD are the initials of Meehan’s wife, Joy. The facility is licensed with State Department of Health Services as a level-four transitional home–a halfway house–located in a double-wide trailer southeast of Phoenix. There, clients pay $14,000 for at least 45 days of inpatient treatment; this involves being bused to Pathway’s Tempe office for group therapy, similar to outpatient care, along with staffed excursions similar to what outpatient clients do on their own. After completing the inpatient program, clients are referred to Pathway’s outpatient services.

After questions from the Tucson Weekly, city of Tempe officials said they are investigating another halfway house. Former employees and clients told the Weekly that Pathway was operating Step One, for adults up to age 25 who are referred by Pathway’s Tucson and Tempe counselors for inpatient treatment.

Tempe officials had no record of the home being any type of group home, according to Sherri Lesser, senior planner for the city of Tempe, which requires halfway houses to be in multi-family residences. Also, during an informal investigation, Tempe Fire Department Inspector Phil Rohe said while the house had 11 beds, there was no fire safety equipment.

Rohe added that the city was coordinating an inter-department investigation.

The trouble for Step One in Tempe comes on the heels of another recent investigation by the State Department of Health Services that was triggered by the ABC 15 story.

Lead Investigator Scott Tiffany said his team, which is investigating both Step One, Step Two and Pathway, asked the organization to provide the names and contacts of people living in the Step One house, and they randomly picked people to interview. Based on those interviews, state officials determined it is only a sober place for people to live.

However, Vikan–who spent one month working there–and Hintz–who had regular contact with clients who stayed there–said 1-on-1 counseling with the in-house counselor was a regular occurrence. According to Tiffany, such individual counseling could require a license Step One does not have.

Tiffany said his team began the investigation on March 1, and its laundry list of non-compliance to behavioral health policies were delivered on March 16. Included on the list were violations involving procedures when allowing a parent or guardian to have a part in a client’s treatment plan, admission, and job descriptions throughout the organization. Pathway responded with a detailed plan to correct all violations found, which includes acknowledging Step One. According to Hintz, Larsen and Vikan, counselors were told to tell the state it doesn’t exist.

Since Pathway submitted its corrective plan, no sanctions would be placed, Tiffany said.

After the TV report was released, the Department of Health Services was inundated with more than 100 calls, according to Arizona Department of Health Services Division of Licensing Services Deputy Director Lisa Wynn. Within the first two days after the report aired, Wynn said 65 to 75 percent of the calls were positive toward Pathway and Meehan.

Tiffany said he was not aware of any of the allegations clients and counselors brought up in this story. On March 11, he and Wynn said their department had not researched Meehan’s history in California.

Despite Meehan’s announced retirement from of his one-man training institute as a result of the ABC 15 report, all counselors who were in training there at the time of the closure have somehow since been graduated to counselor status, and were in the process of becoming certified by the state.

Meanwhile, in the ontheemmis.com interview, Stonebraker said anyone wishing to become a counselor for Pathways, now that Meehan has retired, would be referred to the Georgia Addiction Counselors Association.

But GACA President Sue Otts said her organization has never provided the type of training required to meet the standards for addiction-treatment certification.

“Training like the Meehan Institute isn’t up to us … that’s always been the responsibility of the trainee,” Otts said.

History has shown that Pathway staffers are adept at skirting state regulations, counselors and clients said.

“There definitely was a whole fuck-the-white-man mentality when I was there,” former counselor Hintz said. “Bob’s motto was, ‘they (the state) don’t know sobriety; we do.'”

Hintz, 24, hadn’t finished the required 4,000 hours of hands-on training when he decided to leave Pathway. Hintz started as a client in Tucson, and after starting the training process, he was assigned to Pathway’s sister program, Insight, in Georgia, then Pathway in Tempe.

It was toward the end of his training that he realized everyone else in the world wasn’t as “fucked up” as Meehan and Stonebraker said.

“I just needed to go,” said Hintz, who has spent more than nine months away from Pathway and has since moved back to Tucson. “Some of those tools we use to label things in life weren’t exactly working anymore. Now I look at it and I’m like, ‘oh my God, I was such a fucking asshole for what I did to kids.'”

This article appears in May 5-11, 2005.

20 replies on “Pathway’s Problematic Preachings”

  1. I was a parent who had her child almost destroyed by this program by Meeham:s insanity.IS IT STILL HAPPENIN TO KIDS TODAY ???IF SO WE MUST STOP THE MADNESS!!I was one of the lucky ones who KNew IN MY HEART This was Wrong/ Evil / INSANE and by the grace of God was able to get my daughter back. THIS HAS BEEN OVER 14 YEARS AGO IN ATALATA.I believe my daughter has permantant damage from this experoence and we need to STOP IT FROM HAPPENING ANY MORE !!!!!!!!!!!

  3. I had known Jeff Hamilton, the makeup man ex stepson of Carol Burnett and just found out about this via this webpage.
    what a horrible thing to go through, I am still stunned;
    R. I. P. Jeff
    From
    lola.garrison@gmail.com

  4. Our daughter has been referred to this prgram. We’ve gone to some initial meetings which were atthe time insipiring. I’ve done some research since and fund this negative media attetion about some of the other meehan run facilities. Seems a bit unorthodox, but not sure that’s all bad. Please let me know why his went horribly wrong with your daughter. We are still in decision mode. PLEASE! I am really “on the fence” with this place.
    kbear72@comcast.net

  5. I’m a survivor of one of the programs in tempe (now Mesa) Arizona. I was the only one to figure out it was a cult, everyone is so blind while they are there, they don’t even understand it’s happening. I didn’t either. And I’ve heard this a thousand times, ” Well if it’s helping [insert name here] it can’t be bad!” – What kind of statement is that? You would choose to brain wash your kids if you could? My own mother said that and it took awhile to convince her I knew what I was talking about. I get it, parents want whats best for their kids. But, are you willing to LITERALLY brainwash your kid so they don’t do drugs? Did you never try drugs yourself? How about alcohol?

    I’m sorry, but kids will die over drugs, and I’ve ODed numerous times, but I am still thankful I had a CHOICE. As Americans I’m sure you understand that people would rather die with freedom then live as slaves.

    In any case, a bit of the subject, but anytime I think back to that place and see people such as yourselves begging for answers…it’s heartbreaking to know people are being taken advantage of, at their weakest moments.

  7. This is all ridiculous. I am currently in one of these groups, and regardless if its a cult or not, I am happy, my parents are happy, I don’t want to kill myself, my life doesn’t revolve around using anymore. There is always going to be debate on whether or not this is cult, I understand why people think that. I definitely agree most teenagers go through stages of experimental using, but most people I come in contact with that are in this group took it much farther than just experimenting. This group gave me a life. “I’m sorry, but kids will die over drugs, and I’ve ODed numerous times, but I am still thankful I had a CHOICE. As Americans I’m sure you understand that people would rather die with freedom then live as slaves.” Yes, kids will die over drugs, but that isn’t acceptable when something can be done to change that. Dying because of overdosing isn’t dying with freedom, you’re dying because a disease has taken control of your life. When I was using, I would do almost anything and everything to make sure I could get high, how is that freedom? Today, I make my own choices. I go to school, I have a job, I ENJOY being with my family, I have the best Sounds like I’m a total nut case.

    Also, I’ve never met Bob Meehan, but none of my counselors have ever made a racist comment, believed that using makes people gay, or that victims of sexual abuse need to just get over it. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, they are very sensitive and compassionate to these things.

  8. I was one of the very first kids involved with PDAP when it came to Denver Colorado in 1975. I spent 5 years in the program and I had a lot of good times. I felt like I was “sticking with winners in order to grow.” I was surrounded by my friends. I lived with PDAPers, hung out every evening with PDAPers. My sponsor told me when it was OK to date someone, and when I was ready for a relationship. I was OK with that, I mean she had been sober a lot longer than me and she had a white fist, so she knew what she was doing. I was told not to go back to high school, there was too much temptation. Once I was sexually assaulted by a counselor, but my sponsor, along with a whole room full of other counselors, convinced me over the course of a four hour long heart to heart discussion that I had set the situation up to sabotage my own sobriety. I was actually encouraged to apologize to my assaulter, something I was unable to do. This was the beginning of the end for me in PDAP. The other problem I was having is I’m really smart. (Who’d a thunk it, after making such bone headed choices?) I wanted to go to college. I was told that if I did, I would end up getting high, and get kicked out of the group. This was a terrifying prospect. This is when I began to understand the depth and breadth of the manipulation. Everyone I knew, everyone I cared about, loved, even lived with, was in the program. I would lose everything. My home, my “family”, my sense of security and safety, even my sobriety. Just so I could go to a community college. I was absolutely terrified, but I jumped. I was homeless and friendless when I started classes at Front Range Community College in the fall of 1980. It took me years to re-learn how to live as an independent human being, and to come to terms with the idea that, smart as I am, I was in a cult. I am still ashamed of what I did to others in my spiritual care as a ‘loving” sponsor and friend. I at least have had the comfort of knowing that PDAP had imploded after the 60 Minutes interview with Bob Meehan. You can’t imagine my absolute horror when I walked into an 8th grade classroom last week and saw a brochure with a large monkey fist on the cover. It’s called The Cornerstone Program and it is a Bob Meehan production.
    Please, please do some research before you put someone you love into anything that can be connected to Bob Meehan or his stepson. In this situation the “cure” will do more damage than the disease.

  9. It’s a cult. I was in for five years. Three trips through outpatient, St. Louis and Atlanta. I “graduated” but was ostracized. Most harmful years of my life. I still try and cope today. It’s all a scam. I can’t believe this crap is still happening. If you are a parent-BEWARE. They know all of the right things to say to you. This is NOT a solution for your kid. Keep them away from this place at all costs.

  10. I was in outpatient and step two. hopefully here to reach out to some former “CULT MATES!” Carolyn from Detroit is here to say hello and I F’N TOLD YA”LL! I hope and wish the best and for any of you that was with me. Bob Meehan going to rot in hell for taking all that money from my grandparents..and all the other familes that worked hard for there buck..while this clown ran a cirus, he sat back reeping all the benifits. Every day I gave them hell! And I STILL don’t regret it! I wanted so bad to save lives by exposing there foney “truth”. They tried to shut me up by throwing me in step 2 after dealing with shannon for a month in outpatient! Then cause I wouldnt comply to say the place wast full of shit, they kickd me out..16 years old on the street. I LIVED IN DETROIT. But that cult made my family turn there back on me..If i ever see that director matt again I’d spit in his face. BOCKMAN IF YOUR OUT THERE YOU ARE THE SHIT! Hope your well. sorry that loser ruined your life. I could tell who knew what was up and who really thought that there was more good then bad in that program..to those who trusted this sham..when something sounds too good to be true..it probibly is..And God brought us all to experience that for a reason. Im glad I met just about everyone..without all the brainwashing..some became close just being themselves.

  11. OH YEAH PARENTS PUPLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT! If you want your child to love a “program” more then themselves or there family send them to Pathway!
    If you want your child to be told that to NEVER LEAVE THE PROGRAM OR DIE, send them to Pathway.
    Oh yeah and if you want the most epensive babysitter in the country call up BOB! Just make sure your not black, fat, listen to rap. Go out in puplic, care about your family. OR HAVE A CLUE! Get real people. With or without that loser bob meehan the show is still being ran the same im sure. And for all you out there that LIKE being in a cult. To each is own but im sure there some cheaper cults out there. Goodluck. to those..just know GOD didnt want us to live in an unrealist world. We hung out all hours of the night. I remember one kid was 13 hanging out with us till 4am. The school they sent me to was a JOKE! Trinnity I think it was called in my day. The councelers were all bob groupies..and Ill prolly have lung cancer from all the underage smoking they allowed to go on. All them kids smokin in one room. I understand parent are desprite. But I promice all these kids are going to get from that place is a babysitter and a chance to meet alot of people. I cant believe its even still open after Bob resigned. What a joke! what a dicgrace to the american dollar..and the american people.

  12. I was in PDAP (later ADAP) in Tempe, AZ, back in the mid-1980s — if you were there, I was the girl with the mohawk. 😉

    There were some good things about the program, and there were good people working for it (our counselor at the Mesa satellite, Rick, was awesome.) But for the most part, many of the counselors were jerks, half the people in the program were nuts, and the steering committee got high together.

    There were a lot of mixed signals and messages, the program spawned zealots who recited the catch phrases with religious-like fervor, and Meehan had some truly crazy ideas. The kids who were quieter or easily swayed were targeted by the staff and usually ended up thoroughly indoctrinated, quickly moving through the program as steering then staff (they also were “allowed” to date quicker, etc.) Those of us who were difficult to manage (brainwash?) were treated much differently.

    I, unfortunately, know first hand that they did in fact tell some kids who were sexually assaulted that they were partially to blame — they would say it to the ones who’d engaged in risky behaviors (but not to the kids who were victimized in other ways). Yes, they did tell the gay kids that being homosexual was part of their disease. I saw both things happen during Round Robins as well as hearing it from other kids. To my knowledge, there was no racism though, ever, and it was highly discouraged.

    Despite the fact that it IS a cult, and that 26 years later I could sit here and chant all kinds of Meehanisms at you, there were many good things that came from it and it did indeed save lives — perhaps even my own. I made friends that I love dearly and who I’ve stayed close with to this day; there are others from the program that I wish I could find now, to see how their lives went (Bill Hooker, Rick Quinlan, and Robert the Counselor from CA, where are you?!).

    Many of us either got sober or saw that there really was hope in our lives and made changes; that was huge considering how many of us had horrendous things happen to us, and some had either no home or lived a hellish existence. For those kids, PDAP was the only sane thing they had to hang on to, and it was the only place with people who actually listened to their pain and understood it first hand.

    We weren’t stupid; we were screwed up and scared. Scared of life, scared of the program, and some were scared of being even more alone if they didn’t conform and were kicked out. In a lot of ways, the program did help, but it also screwed us up even more. I don’t know which is worse.

    Thankfully, many of us saw it for what it was and took what we needed to make our lives better before running as fast and far away from the craziness of it all as we could.

    I kept my fist hanging in my car until it was lost a few years back; I had it for nearly 20 years. I miss the memories it held, but I still carry with me the many, varied lessons I learned.

    -v

  13. It is sad that a few parents or children may have issues with Bob/s Program or way of working with adolescents and parents. Their are other programs out their if you are unhappy. I started off in Bobs Program – which allowed me to have a good foundation and have been Sober since May 5th 1982. I know for a fact that Bob’s Program has done more good then harm. When people start to blame someone or some thing because they can not communicate with their children or the child cannot get Sober you must first take responsibility and ask yourself what part do you play in this disfunction. It really saddens me to see the very few who did not have the courage to stay Sober point and blame other people for their failed responsibility. California/ Mirror Mike

  14. Id like to know….if we got together all of us that have been used and abused by this coward bob that likes to run any time he gets approached by media..(cause he knows he is a con artist) CAN WE GET OUR FUCKIN MONEY BACK! 16,000 my grandparents paid to send me to step two because they convinced them I was that bad! since I was not allowed any contact with my family to tell them any different they believed them and paid! Reality was i was already in outpatient with that bitch shannon omg…another 7,000 my grandparents dished out. And they didnt like the fact that I was outspoken about there racism..and the “meetings” were a joke..it was like the most expensive baby sitter in the world! Yea i came there cause I smoked weed..but even a stonar from Detroit could figure out what that place was about…common..i grew up in Detroit..u dont think I know a con when I see one! My family felt so bad for leaving me on the streets of phoenix at 16 years old cause these assholes told them I was the one skrewed up! But i made it and guess what…my phone didnt stop ringing when that CNN report came out! All my family saying they were soooo sorry they listened to them..My god if anyone gives bob another dollar i dont know how else to spell this out for ya’ll. ITS A JOKE! If they are so wonderful y anytime a camera in there face and its unexpected they run and hide..or NO COMMENT! That evil man bob preys on anyone that loves there child. And little does that parent know by “saving” there child bringing them into the program..they are actually giving up there life to a place that will only except u if you are willing to do whatever they say! Guess what, if they dont like your family..they will make you live wit someone else! Just as example of one of the many things I pointed out there..Im from Detroit..I like rap..I was forbiddin to listen to it cause it talked abouty sex drugs etc…As im in outpatient..it was a common thing for one of the parents to cart us around so everyday I heard this same damn rock song they played..so eventually i started listening to the words and he was talking about getting spun! I didnt even know what the hell that ment so I asked the kid who played the damn song everyday and he told me the song was about getting high!! So lets recap..I cant listen to rap bacause of its content..but I can listen to “white people” singing about getting high! My next point…I noticed all the patients were only middle class white people..I was offended that all the counclers told all the kids that I was coming from Detroit…assumed and told them I was black..like it was o so exciting they were actually going to have a black person in the “group”. Much to there surprise Im not. Something else I found apparent bob obviously a racist! They literally took the damn payphone out of there “coffee house” because of me!!!!! I wouldnt stop tryin to call my family and it at the time was the only phone. But they soon ripped it off the damn wall cause I told them to fuck off Ill call my family if I feel like it! Sad so many people lives are ruined..lost homes, cars, kids, all to bob…and trying to meet his needs. Im going to personaly look into this matter and see why not if its been proven over again this guy is full of shit..Give my granny back her money. Lets add that up 16,000 for step 2 and 7,000 for outpatient..and for what?? A BABYSITTER!!!!!!!! these people are rehearshed robots that cant understand anything other than the word of BOB! If your out there and still defending this place..its because your so damn insicure with yourself and brainwashed that u have been trained to believe any of your own logical thinking is wrong! They even try to tell you who you can date (when your allowed) and of coarse no one outside the group! I remember one time we went to dennys to eat, Im hungry..some other teenagers happened to be there eating as well and they made us leave!!!! Those other teenagers gave two shits about us sitting there but thats how they roll..stay out all hours of the night and when we would get questioned by police the kids would pip up and say we are in a sobar group! Like we can do no wrong out at 4am..with kids age range 13-17! Cause we are SOBAR! Nothing bad can happen to a group of sicluded kids at all hours of the night roaming the streets or playing in the desert..Use your heads people. This kids get away with murder thats Y they like it so much..smoke ciggs..no cerfew..and the trust from there parents that whatever they are doing is okay cause they are all together…more like the blind leading the blind…Kids would brag about getting in trouble with the cops all the time but get let off because of there SOBAR! Now they are using there program to say im going to do what I want when I want..right or wrong..because Im SOBAR! Kids arent taught how to function in the real world. If your child goes in..he will be told never to leave or die! and if anyone says otherwise cut them out your life! Mom, Dad, whoever..Guess what parents..after you paid all that money bob still wants to to drive all the other kids around and if your not BOBS BITCH he will try to turn your kids on you!!!! Bob is the devil in sheeps clothing and since he likes to speak upon God and all that good stuff..NO amount of money will save that man for the special place in hell God has set aside for him when his time is up! Burn Baby Burn! Your day is coming! And if the next time I see that asshole is in the afterlife..i’ll be throwing money down to him so he can watch it burn before his greedy hands can touch it!

  15. All of the survivor stories sound so similar to my experience with PDAP. Sadly there is a female version of Bob Meehan that works in South Teas by the name of Andrea Lacy. She copies all of Meehan’s dirty tricks and attitudes. So glad i was smart enough to get away from this cult before it destroyed me.

  16. Strange as it may sound it is actually a relief to know there are others who had the same experience I had. Another of Bob Meehan’s clones is Jerry Gaither who works in Corpus Christi. I hope as laws change these ppl will no longer be able to abuse and torment children!!!!!!

  17. I regret my time in Palmer Drug Abuse program in McAllen, Texas, when I attended the director was Andrea Lacy, a Bob Meehan clone who hurt and abused many teenagers and young adults. There needs to be more education about the scope of practice for LCDC’s and more oversight by the state. these people should not be allowed around children and families in crisis should be warned about their negativity and toxicity. One of the counselors that used to work under Andrea told me how they thought it was funny to call family members fucked up bitches and make fun of them during case conference.

  18. My daughter is in that program today. November 4, 2015. Insight program in Atlanta. I have been trying to get her out of there for months now and she won’t listen to me. She is so brainwashed by them it’s sickening!! She is hooked on their warped ways! I can’t believe this place is still in business. It has practically ruined our lives. They have turned her against me where she hardly talks to me at all anymore. I started noticing the change in our relationship the day I dropped her off. They never involved me in her treatment and I know they talk against me though my daughter denies it to protect them. I have tried everything. I love my daughter so much and I hate to see her bring abused like this. Brainwashing is a horrible thing!! I have never met Bob Meehan but he Is truly The devil in disguise. He’s a wolf in Sheeps clothing, and so are all the counselors there!! I don’t trust not a one of them! They are all programmed. They are under his authority there. He still runs the program today because they still sell his revised book the yellow brick road, videos, and DVDs. And the place is ran the same way!! These people are going to rot in hell!! For what they are doing to my daughter!!

  19. HA HA HA HA HA AHHH HA HA HA!!!
    Yes, this whole situation is truly creepy by normal societal standards; the program in St Louis was, partially, fed fresh meat (teenagers) by Anheuser B$%*H’s bohemoth culture of encouraging early underage drinking; I’m a five o’clock drunk millionaire, life family partner and grateful member of the Coors family now and I LOVE IT… (Coors Corp has taken great care of my family)…wouldn’t trade it for the world; I did early school in St Louis, because my parents were corporate executives for a brief period there, and all of my classmates warned me that this program “thing” was a “weird cult” that would eventually “try to harm my family;” and in an obfuscated manner the program did try to harm my family albeit subversively in order to avoid culpability; the program elites (counselors) used to confiscate the truly “elite” and “destined” members’ personal property and effects in order to INDUCE gratitude to the cult’s supreme leader through subversive tactics (removal of personal property and identity is a common characteristic of well documented cults especially, from California).
    At one point in their history in St Louis, they had set up a “home-school” situation–basically school at one of their satellites–where they encouraged students and their families to remove the “clients” and/or drop out of their regular school situation; because they (the student/clients) were different and unique and would never succeed at regular school because of their addictions; the students were put on the standard US Military General Equivalency Diploma track–after which, I presume that their careers were matriculated internally within CROSSROADS program; the name of the St Louis program of that time. I get nauseous every time I reflect upon the brief interaction that I had with this program and it’s practitioners because, I almost “really” screwed my life up.
    I graduated high school, unconventionally (home-schooled and HiSET), and now hold two degrees from New Mexico State University in Masters of Science in Engineering, and Statistics (Mathematics) and a Bachelors in Economics and I am about to enter into my Doctoral Research program at another great ACCREDITED university; I did so well that I was accepted to some of the nations top tier elite schools (not that NMSU is not top tier–we are– but these were the $100,000 year tuition private universities); I just hope that everyone who had to tolerate this strange arrangement got good and thorough therapy after they left or separated, permanently. KUDOS…CHEERS!!! 🙂

  20. Oh and BTW; myself and my family carry BIG GUNS now because of this program’s insidious tactics and presence in our beloved city…

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