Bob Meehan Pathways Crossroads Icecap Pdap mind washing drug abuse Tempe Arizona, Saint Louis Missouri, Atlanta Georgia, Colorado

 May When my children were in high school, I noticed the kids today “party” much more than when I was a kid. For a while, I thought their actions were those of ‘normal’ teens, having fun, blowing off steam, etc..After all, they were teens, and mine were enrolled in a tough private school. I tried to justify the pressure not to rock the boat at home. Well, it started getting out of hand; failing grades, disrespect, lies, rudeness, and no concern for each other, and certainly not for my husband or myself. We tried a few licensed therapists who my children had snowed. An education counselor strongly recommended a wilderness program in Utah for approximately 3 months only to follow up with a therapeutic boarding school for the following year. Parents will do anything for their child, especially when you feel helpless, don’t know where to turn, and you feel them slipping away emotionally. Wilderness may be great for some, but it was a very temporary band aid for mine barely scratching the surface. The so called therapeutic boarding school was the scariest place I had ever visited. I wasn’t one bit surprised when I realized my child regressed at that school, but my intention here isn’t to bash the schools as they may help with other issues, but they don’t address addiction. I’ll get to the point…Crossroads Recovery Program.. I made the call, and it was the best decision I have ever made. As a mother, I knew it was the perfect program for my daughter, and later, my son. My husband, however, took his time doing due his diligence.

A week later, our daughter was enrolled, and months after that, our son joined the group. After my initial jitters, I found myself absolutely adoring this program and all it had to offer. I have to say I was weary of my kid hanging out with former addicts, and then I thought, ‘wait, these kids are now sober, no one is forcing them to be here, and helping the new kids in turn helps them. Crossroads is based on the twelve step program. It’s a strong, solid program, for addicts and non addicts. It strengthens relationships and enriches lives, and it can be incorporated in all areas of one’s life. Let me tell you just a few things I have learned from Crossroads; it’s not a short fix-meaning you don’t just go to a 30 day program and you’re miraculously cured! It takes your teen, or twenty something child to want to change his/her life, and it takes at least a couple of years before they are ready to move on from the program…after all, they are young! They have unbelievable second-to-none support from the peers in the group, counselors and group and graduates as well. They have a blast in this program, and come to realize sobriety is much more fun than their previous lifestyles. They have learned real life lessons, and I am still amazed at how grateful, kind, caring, and honest my children are because of Crossroads. Just in the past three plus years we have been involved, several grads are now in college, working, or both, and two that I know of headed off to med school.

I am very grateful to have gotten to know the participants in Crossroads; they are the sweetest, most caring, non judgmental and fun group of teens/twenties I have ever known. For the first several months I was involved with the parent meetings because I would do anything to support my children. Over time I have come to realize that those meetings are for me & for my own healing, after all, addiction is a family disease. I am continually learning from the parent education meetings. It’s an unexpected bonus that I feel that I have grown as a person as well, (always a work in progress).These counselors give their time and talents more than any other. A big part of the success of Crossroads is because the counselors have all been there, and the kids can totally relate to them. They get it, and they are totally dedicated. Is it perfect? I would have to say no but I don’t know what I would change! I do know there is no better support out there, I can’t say enough good things about Crossroads. Forever grateful.

Elaine, I need you to see this. You know who this is.. Please contact me as soon as possibe on any social media. You can respond on here too since I have notificaitons turned on for any rebuttle. Im so sorry for being sent to the Colorado site after our 2 years together. This place took that from us and I just want to hear your voice again. I need to know you're ok.. I love you a lot and I left this place in November 2015 too. I think about you every day and I cant help having so much anxiety after reading what you posted here.

Yours forever and always.

I started outpatient with the Crossroads Program when I was only 15 because I got in trouble for drinking.  I had only abused alcohol for a year, I was not an alcoholic but they convinced me I was.  During the seven months I was there I learned about almost every drug there is by listening to other clients' "life stories".  I was convinced that ALL of my "old friends" were bad, even though most of them were completely sober and making straight A's in high school.  I was told that they would not understand me because they did not have an alcohol problem.  I felt so alone.  I did not feel like I fit in with the people attending Crossroads at the time because they were all older than me, had done alot more drugs, and had done worse things than me like stealing, sleeping around, etc.  I also felt alone because Crossroads made me feel like I did not fit in with "normal people" in high school.  A guy I was in outpatient with liked me and I liked him and people commented in front of both of us that we were "gaming".  They made me feel less than them and that hanging out with guys were bad unless they had a long time sober.  All of the guys that had a long time sober were WAY older than me and my mom felt uncomfortable with me hanging out with them.  The events that really pushed me over the edge is that the two counslers running the program suddenly left with very little notice.  One quit and started getting drunk, the other one was forced to move to the other Crossroads location in Columbia.  I decided to leave the group and try new drugs and get drunk more often so maybe I would feel like I fit in.  I did this for a couple months- getting drunk all the time, trying pills, having one night stands, smoking weed, drinking Nyquil every night and not acting like myself at all.  I went back to Crossroads after about two months.  

My second time in Crossroads, people helped convince me that being in highschool was my problem because I was around all of my old friends( the friends making great grades and having fun without using).  I was made to feel like I needed to hang out very late every night in order to be sober and have fun.  We would trespass and do stupid things just to have fun.  I had more run ins with the cops in this group than I did when I was not in it.  (I had never even had a run in with a cop before Crossroads).  I only stayed in the group for four months this time.  I was no longer in school so that I would have more time for the group.  I now see how messed up that is.  I was robbed of my highschool years.  It was looked down upon to attend school events such as prom or be apart of a sports team.  There were only two other girls in the program at the time and the guys were all being jerks so I decided to leave again.  Since I was not in school anymore, I just got drunk every day, all day.  It was too late in the semester to go back.  I ended up wrecking my car while drunk and decided it was time to get sober again.

At this point, I was so brainwashed that Crossroads was the only way to get sober and stay sober and so I went back through outpatient again.  Another 8000 dollars down the drain.  I stayed sober for 2 and a half years this time.  I got sponsees, I got put on steering committee and all that "cool stuff".  I had an amazing boyfriend for almost two years and we both started struggling with working the steps.  I felt happy when I was with him. but struggled most of the other times.  We decided to break up to work on ourselves.  So one moment I had an amazing guy and then the next moment, it was looked down upon if we even talked because that would make us just get good feelings off of each other.  A couple weeks later it was announced that both of our counslers were getting transferred to St Louis(one of them was my sponsor).  We were only given a few days notice!  

I relapsed and came back after a week and then my ex boyfriend relapsed on heroin only one time (and I thank God for that) because I would not be okay if something would to happen to him!  He was moved to St Louis to go through outpatient again in that group and I was moved to Columbia for outpatient.  We were told not to talk or text anymore.  It was one of the hardest things that Ive had to go through.  I still think about him every day and it has almost been a year.  Anyways, I moved back to KC after outpatient and continued going to meetings and functions in the group.  Since the senior counselor and outpatient counselor both left, we had two new ones to take their place.  The new outpatient counselor had just got out of training and was only 21 years old.  I had been in the group with her(for longer than her too) before she was a counselor.  She was horrible, and most of the girls and parents would agree with that.  What drove me over the edge is that we had a girls meeting.  She told us what kind of underwear to wear(everyone had seen her thong hanging out on multiple occasions and that was one of the types we could not wear because it came from the porn industry).  She also told us what we could and could not shave on our bodies.  We were looked down upon if we were two piece swimsuits, most of us just got used to wearing tshirts and shorts to swim! We werent allowed to talk about our sex lives and periods with the girls, are we supposed to just keep that to ourselves??? Seriously, shouldnt a counselor know better than to try and control us??  We could not hold hands with girls(we would do that playfully, none of us were even lesbians but apparently it is inappropriate).  At one point we did have a l*****n in our group and we were not allowed to hang out in two pieces around her! It is all so ridiculous, and I cant believe we all just went along with it! At some points I even agreed with it because I believed that they knew what they were doing!  I was definitely brainwashed.  I got scorned at for feeding my best friend(a girl) a teddy graham because it was inappropriate and sexual.  Are we not allowed to have some innocent fun??  I could not stay any longer!

So I left the group at age 20, about 3 months ago.  The day I left, nobody would talk to me anymore, even though I was staying sober!! I had been isolated from the outside world for so long so I had no friends anymore.  People that I had been SO close with in the program ignored me.  My bestfriends would not respond to my texts.  I went from having so many amazing friends to none just because I left.  I stayed sober on my own for almost two months before I tried to kill myself.  I was just so angry and lonely and hurt that I just wanted it all to go away.  I took some pills, drank, and did airduster until I started having seizures and was taken to the hospital.  Guess what, NOW they wanted to be there for me while I spent a week in a psych ward! After a week of being out of the hospital, NOBODY will talk to me again.  I have so much hurt and resentments towards the group that I sometimes do not think I will be able to move on.  I so badly wish I never met any of those people or counselors because in the long run, all they gave to me was a broken heart.  Right now I do not how to make it in life, I dont know how to function as a normal person in society because I was involved in this cult during the major years of when people discover who they are and what their passions are.  

I could have gone through high school just like my "old friends", gone away to college, and been normal.  The group made me worse, it made me have a drug problem.  Sure this place is probably good for people with real addictions but it will only make things worse for people like me who barely had a problem when I started.

Hi there. 

I am a parent.  My son, well, I told him he was going to change because he was addicted and he planned on dying and he planned on hurting others.  I told him he could go to the resources available to him or I could drag him through the system kicking and screaming.  I have very mixed feelings about the comments on Cornerstone, Loveland.  I wasn't impressed with Bob Meehan, I thought he was very puffed up about himself.... but, my son did get clean and sober there.  There were other kids that got clean and sober there.  My son is doing well in life now.  I told him that over my dead body was I going to let him continue on the way he was because I loved him too much.  Okay, I admit that Cornerstone did some things that were not great.  I admit that they wanted to stick me, a single mother with no money, with a huge bill.  But, my son did finish his high school education and he graduated.  He is clean and sober and I hope he still is.  He holds it against me for sending him there, however, he has a beautiful wife who hates me and they met at Cornerstone.  He has a good job that he has had for years and for the most part he makes more money than I have in the past.  Me, I am a certified drug and alcohol counselor and I work in a private prison as the Manager there.  I don't agree with everything that Cornerstone did and still does, they are all about money and they did try to rip me off.  I was working as a AOD counselor professionally and they tried to make me feel like a piece of dirt.  Parents and people involved there made me feel like I was dirt because I was overweight and poor.  I think they treated my son that way, also, but he was a member of the steering commitee and so was his wife.  His wife's sister also went there.  The story posted previous could have been about my daughter in law and her sister.  One was prettier and one was not.  My son did well.  The program moved to Denver because they wanted to grow and to bring in more kids.  There were kids driving from Denver to Loveland to attend and one winter a car full of kids had a bad wreck trying to make it to the functions.  After that, the program moved to Denver.  I was treated like crap by the "owner" director even though I told them I would support them.  The reason why I did that was because I also worked in Probation in two counties around that community and the only kids I had and saw on probation that were "making it" were the kids that were going to Cornerstone.  Wow... I have such mixed up feelings about all of this.  I am sorry for those who were harmed.  But.. I am grateful for the life of my son.  They gave him something I could not which was a will to want to live and mentorship and a sponsor like the young man who was also the best man at my son's wedding.  I was grateful for his sponsor.  That connection I think was the one thing that saved him when I could not reach him.  I am grateful he is alive and doing well, even though he hates me for what I did to try to save his life.  What more can I say? 

 Hey what you said rings so many bells , and I was wondering if I knew you in the Tempe pathways? my name was Dave and I was from Seattle. I made so many good friends at that place and lost contact with all of them because once I left everybody kinda got scared to talk to me anymore. Anyways my email is (((Redacted))) and would love to know who you were and if we knew each other, I'm thinking there is a great chance we were friends

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

I spent years in the Bob Meehan programs in both Texas and Arizona in the 1990s.  This article describes many of the behaviors that I witnessed.  From the complete control over all aspects of your life and the blatant embracing of ethnic and religious intolerance while simultaneously preaching unconditional love for everyone.

 When I entered a now closed rehab facility ran by a Meehan program I was immediately pulled out of school. My parents were told that a teacher came five days a week for two hours to teach the kids so we would not fall behind.  I was never given any school instruction in the facility. I had just began ninth grade I never went back to high-school and was encouraged not to.  I was not a bad looking girl and I remember my first night in rehab I was told by a councilor that I would be, "Perfect for Steering Commity"  The counselors were all young to young looking back on it now. They were all only 18 to 20 years old.  I remember days when we did not get to go on outings because they did not have anyone that was 21 to drive the van so the insurance would not cover it if something happened.  We went on outings almost everyday. They consisted of going to the programs meetings and the after parties at members houses followed by coffee at a 24 hour diner or bowling.

The AA big book was a required purchase but then were told not to read it at all. Instead we were kept up by the staff for 24 to 48 hours at a time and made to read the same few pages out of different literature over and over till we could recite it from memory. We were banned from reading any other pages in the mandatory books outside of the ones they told us to read. I remember one night sitting in the hallway of the hospital with all the other patients after dinner at 7:30 pm and having to read the same few pages out loud till well past 4:00 am.  On another occasion we were driven to the middle of nowhere in the van and preceded to do the same thing till the sun started to come up.

After my three weeks in the hospital I was placed in their out patient program and again encouraged not to return to school.  I was told that college was for people that had not lived their life and me as a recovering drug addict had already been there and lived that more than most adults. I was a middle class 15 year old from the berbs with no real life experience. I was also encouraged to tell my friends about the fact that as long as I went to the program I would not have to go to school and they could get out of it too. As a matter a fact I spent most of my time sitting around smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee at one of the group centers playing video games, going to group parties, and on out of town trips.

 The councilors told me what they were telling my parents and told me what to say to them so they would, "Stay off my back" They told my parents that it was not their fault I did drugs and turned around and told me it was my parents fault but go along to, "Shut them up."  I was told that if my parents became to much of a problem that it was no big deal because they would just move me someplace else.  It was a common practice to send kids to other states to live with families that were completely dependent on the program.  If another family was not available you would go live with one of the councilors or in one of their group homes. I was encouraged to to cut ties with all old friends regardless of there drug use or lack there of. I was told to cut ties with all of my family. I got sent to live in Arizona and I was told that I should no longer talk to my Mom or Dad as they were bad for me.  After arriving there my parents were told that I was not doing well and it was in my best interest to cut me off from them.  I remember calling home to talk to my mom and she told me that the councilors had called her and that she was supposed to tell me to not call her anymore. I was told by councilors that my family had given me away legally to the program.  This was a flat out lie later admitted to me by the councilor who had told me that after she herself was preparing to leave the program for an outside life.  She said she had been instructed to tell me that as well as to call my parents and tell them not to talk to me. 

Bob Meehan and the staff openly bashed AA and he told me that it was a place for drunk hicks and that only coke head snobs went to NA to brag about the 80s.  We were told to never talk to the media. That he had been completely misrepresented in the news. We were told to hide our medallions or fists in our shirts if the police were around. We were told to not trust the Straights/Squares/Normies because they were not capable of "getting us" and they were scared of us anyway so they would just lash out at us to destroy what we had going on. So basically if they weren't in the program they were not to be trusted and wanted to harm us.

I began to notice that the kids who did not have the money to go to Bob's "Talks" or whos parents could not cough up the cash to pay for in or out treatment were banned from the group after a year or less.  Unless they were really attractive. I saw one sister told to never comeback and her other prettier sister was told to stay but no long speak to the band one.  If it was going to be a problem at home with her mom then she should move in with a group member.  I new both of them and the banned one had been staying with me all week. I was given no explanation why someone I was with nonstop had to go away. Banning was brutal if we were out someplace and a banned kid came in we would all turn our back on them (literally)and leave or pick a spokesperson to tell them to get out. If you said hi you risked instant banishment.

Long and short of it..You joined the group, you dropped out of school, you became a member of "Steering", You became a councilor.  If you did not become a councilor and got two years of sobriety or turned 18 you were, "Graduated" from the program and not allowed to come around anymore. Not banned but not welcome around. We were told how most of the people that did not stay part if the program were out smoking crack or they died. If they were not dead they were miserable trying to live out there.

I decided it was a cult. I left. My group friends were banned from talking to me or they would be kicked out. I had lost most of the contact I had with my family and we did not talk to each other for years. I did see my parents the day I quit and Bob Meehan saw them too before I did. My parents said and still say to this day that he told them to put me on the streets. As a matter of fact my Mom handed me the number to the local Houston homeless shelter and walked off.

I had an 8th grade education and no real world skills. I floundered for a few years trying to get my life together. I was homeless for a short bit then couch surfed on old friends couches that had left before me. I had to learn how do things like find a job and mail letters to pay bills. I was essentially that same girl that had just turned 15 years old in all of my social skills.  I got a GED, a drivers license, and went to college and paid cash for the education that I did not get.  The community college I first enrolled in really helped me out.  I had no school records because I had moved around so much in the "Program"  An administrator at the college sent me to the people that they sent foreign nationals to who had no education documents. They got me tested so the school could know what classes I should start in.  Needless to say I started out in classes three levels or more below college level. I had a special tutor assigned to me to get me up to speed in areas just so I could start some of the lowest classed they offered. 

The only reason I am alive today is because 22 yrs ago I was sent to crossroads in St. louis. I stayed involved in thier program for 3 yrs and moved on to AA.
Unfortunately I relapsed after 51/2 yrs Sober. But because of my involvement in this program, when I hit a real bottom. Lost 160,000 a year job and was divoriced.
Lost my house, became very ill and ended up in a state run nursing home.
Because of my early involvement with crossroads a seed was planted. Unlike a lot of people I knew where to go. Back to AA. I have been Sober for many a 24hours now. I need a heart transplant and because of my sobriety I qualify for one.
AA's success rate with teens is about 4%. It sounds to me like maybey you need to work on your 4th step. My 16 year son is now in need of help and I wish I had the resourses to send him to one of those programs. Unfortunatly I am on SSI
and cannot afford it. To all my old friends Jack Rogers says hello.
jackgrogers@comcast.net

OMG - I cannot believe this man is still shaping the lives of today's youths. I ran into Mr. Meehan back in the early 1970s when I was but a young girl (11 or 12 at the time) and he had just started PDAP in Houston, Texas. I had never used drugs, but went to PDAP with a cousin out of boredom. By the time I left PDAP at around 17 or 18, I had been indoctrinated about how worthless I truly was. They are not a support group. Control group is more like it. They tell you who you can like, be in a relationship with, associate with, etc. The whole thing is a joke. Even as a teen, I would see that it was not quite right. Most of the teens there were truly not addicted to drugs. Most had experimented and gotten in trouble at home. It really was more of a popularity clique-type thing throughout the mid 1970s. I mean, really, Carol Burnett's daughter went to PDAP and made the cover of People Magazine. At that time, PDAP hardliners thought that PDAP had arrived and would change the world. Nothing could touch them.

Of course, drugs were looked at totally differently then too. It was "cool" to be in PDAP. The bigwigs at PDAD were feeding teens with good health insurance into the local psychiatric hospitals for months on end and then into halfway houses. Apparently there lots of kick backs going on, but I did not know that at that time.

Any normal adolescent behavior (which I know a little about as I have teenage children now) was viewed as "gaming", negative, or generally not tolerated. I remember being 15 years old and liking a boy in the program. We were told we could not like each other and if we persisted we would be kicked out of the program. I had a "counselor" who was a grown man tell me that I was "worthless and would never amount to anything." I guess I got the last laugh on that one. Apparently the rule was supposed to be a desire to live a chemically free life. The reality was let us control your life.

To show you the degree of training people had, my little sister (also a virgin to drug experimentation) was on their steering committee and later went to work as a counselor in one of the PDAP scamming hospital programs in another state!!!

Bob Meehan needs to be removed from the rehabilitation business. As a parent I now understand the "quiet desparation" all parents have and the degree to which a parent will go to protect their children.

I did not do well in PDAP in my youth despite the fact that I had been sober my entire life and had never taken a mind-altering substance. Apparently those who do not become complete zeolots and still question the status quo will never survive in that environment.

After reading the original post, I wished I could run into "Archer" the counselor that told me I was worthless, never going to amount to anything, and would probably end up dead. Duh, we all are gonna end up dead!!!! But I have managed to add another 32 years to my life which turned out to be quite nice, success, and drug free!!!

It was interesting to see what happened to those con men. I gave up my entire adolescence to what was obviously a long con.

I spent two years in this so called "treatment program" and I was alienated from friends, even those who were not drug users I was told could be damaging to my sobriety. Also I had various other mental health concerns that were unaddressed and could have been very harmful. The staff were very young, some were 18 or 19 years old, and had no training in the mental health concerns that go along with substance abuse. I am skeptical that they even had any knowledge about how drugs and alcohol works and impacts the brain.

The group that I was in was called Cornerstone in Loveland Colorado. The Loveland location has since closed, no doubt because of some violation. The group in Loveland had some very disturbing practices. There was an elite group of clients called "Steering Committee" You were supposed to be very strong in your sobriety in order to get on steering committee, this committee played a big role in planning events and recruiting new members. What was so disturbing, I was told by a staff member who had very low morale that staff were instructed to put the most physically attractive and popular clients on steering committee (keep in mind that these are children ranging from age 13-17) and that steering committee was instructed to flirt potential new clients in order to recruit them.

I am also gay. By the time I was in the Cornerstone program I knew my sexual orientation. I was told by "counselors" that occasionally gay people come into the program, but just as soon as they are strong in their sobriety they realize that they are not gay.

A friend of mine who was in the program was later diagnosed with personality disorders. This went totally unrecognized and untreated for years as a result of this "recovery program".

I attended one of Meehan's seminars. It was strange how the other clients and the staff got really excited, like Jesus was coming. He stepped out of the limo, and no one could peel their eyes off of him.

At the Loveland location there were times that I saw my peers discouraged from going to school, or discouraged from getting employment. Kids at the Loveland location were actually discouraged from seeking employment or schooling. I would say 80% of the clients had dropped out of school, and did not have plans to go back. I dropped out of school in 7th grade, just months before joining this program and I was discouraged from returning to school. I was 14 years old!