StoryDiscussion

The Creepiest Place in Rural Montana…😨

Shawn Ryan Show

A former participant describes her experience at Chrysalis, a small therapeutic program in rural Montana where 10 girls lived with a married couple acting as therapists in an isolated log cabin. The program used cult-like tactics including isolation, brainwashing techniques, and inappropriate boundaries between staff and participants.

Summary

The speaker recounts her time at Chrysalis, a therapeutic program located in an extremely remote area of rural Montana near the Canadian border. The program housed only 10 girls who lived together with a married couple serving as their therapists in a single log cabin in the woods. The isolation was complete, with participants living in the middle of nowhere with no outside contact. The program employed what the speaker describes as brainwashing techniques, creating an artificial family structure where staff were treated as parental figures and other participants were referred to as 'Chrysalis sisters.' The boundaries between therapeutic staff and participants were highly inappropriate, with everyone sharing living spaces including bathrooms in the same log cabin. The speaker's father visited the facility and observed concerning dynamics, including what appeared to be inappropriate physical contact between Kenny (the male therapist) and female participants, such as girls sitting on his lap. When her father noticed these red flags, he would look to Kenny's wife Mary to gauge whether his concerns were valid, using her reactions as a barometer for the appropriateness of the situations he witnessed.

Key Insights

  • Chrysalis used complete isolation as a control mechanism, housing only 10 girls in a log cabin in rural Montana next to the Canadian border with no outside contact
  • The program deliberately blurred professional boundaries by having therapists live in the same cabin and share bathrooms with their teenage clients
  • Chrysalis employed family manipulation tactics by reframing the therapeutic relationship as a family structure with 'Chrysalis sisters' and parental figures
  • The speaker's father witnessed inappropriate physical contact between the male therapist Kenny and female participants, including girls sitting on his lap
  • When the father observed concerning dynamics, he would look to the therapist's wife Mary for social cues to validate whether his instincts about inappropriate behavior were correct

Topics

therapeutic programscult-like behaviorisolation tacticsinappropriate boundariesparental concerns

Transcript

[0:00] They completely brainwash you. >> Yeah, it's very odd. So, Chrysalis is at least at that time a very small program. There was only like 10 girls and you all live together in the middle of nowhere in rural Montana next to the Canadian border in a log cabin in the middle of the woods. The two people are married. They're your therapists. You share a bathroom with them. You live in the same log cabin with them. Yeah. They've instilled in you that Chrysis is a family. They talk about the other girls in Chrysis. Those are your Chrysis sisters. >> What are your parents thinking? a camp in the woods in a log cabin in Montana [0:32]…

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