Vista at Dimple Dell Canyon

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I was a student at Vista Dimple Dell from July 2012 through June 2013. I then went on to one of Vista's "step down" programs until June 2014.

My experience with Pepper was something I would almost describe as brainwashing. He used his position of power to scare us into being obedient. He made his relationships with his clients such that we were terrified of letting him down or making him angry. When we would fail or experience setbacks, we were punished by not being allowed to speak to staff or peers for days or even weeks on end. In one instance, in which 6 girls and I got in trouble for making "inappropriate" jokes, we weren't allowed to speak for 7 days. Shaming was also a heavily used tactic. One client was told in front of the rest of the group that nobody would love her if she continued to self harm. In another group, each student had to write down all of the judgements they held about everybody else, and then we had to sit in a circle and read our lists out loud. There was no damage control after the lists were read, we just had to end the group and go back to doing school work.

The use of the phase system, something which I've seen implemented well in other programs, was another thing that was used against us at Vista. Instead of being used to show progress in the program, it was an absolute hierarchy and was tied directly to our value as a student. Students on lower phases were treated like dirt while students on higher phases were treated like royalty. When I was at the highest phase, I was allowed to roam out of eyesight, a strictly enforced rule for lower phases.

The Treatment Team at Vista set an impossible standard of success. We were told that we would "slip up" in the real world and that it was okay but whenever they caught wind of a former student slipping up, they would present it to us as if that student was a failure. We were told that if we didn't live up to the standards set at Vista, our lives would forever be spent in turmoil.