As a teenager in Buffalo, New York, Leslie Koren, became withdrawn, dropped out of high school, and suffered from anxiety and depression. Fearing for their daughter’s emotional health, her parents sought the advice of a consultant who recommended Oakley School, a behavior modification boarding school in Park City, Utah. Leslie graduated from Oakley and in this documentary directed by Leslie, she revisits the school and interviews her parents, former students, and others to tackle the “trauma that I haven’t been confronting.”
While neither Leslie nor the former students she interviews mention any physical or sexual abuse, they all remember harsh educational methods involving strict rules. The interviewed students exhibited some sort of troubling behavior (alcohol abuse, drugs, depression, runaways) that precipitated relocation to Oakley. The film frames former student Megan in shadows while Karen, Denise, and Whitney are in clear focus as they recall being escorted to the school by bodyguards (Leslie’s mother took her to the school). They were often isolated, confined, and forced to engage in lengthy feedback sessions that did little to ease anxieties and fears.
Leslie also interviews two former teachers and the school dean, with none of them offering much insight into their motivations, teaching methods, or goals. Medical experts reveal that therapeutic boarding schools relied on tough love tactics aimed at reforming students’ behaviors and personalities. Leslie’s caring parents felt they were doing the right thing and in fact footage at Leslie’s 2002 graduation shows a confident young lady with a bright future, even though she continued to struggle with depression, flashbacks, nightmares, and PTSD.
The film concludes by updating the lives of the former students and states that although Oakley closed in 2017 due to low enrollment, “residential lockdown treatment facilities are thriving.” Suggested for education and psychology students to raise awareness about mental health treatment procedures and to elicit discussions about the merits and negative aspects of isolating teens in such settings. This might be paired with School Life from Video Project which focuses on a traditional boarding school in Ireland where younger students are thriving. Recommended.