Straight, Inc. (1976-1993) publicly claimed to rehabilitate teenage drug users by using tough love and Alcoholics Anonymous principles. Straight, Inc. provided NO professional counseling: Straight, Inc.'s "treatment model" relied exclusively on "positive peer pressure" from unprofessional staff (program graduates) and from the teenage clients. Straight, Inc. claimed to have an astronomically high success rate and was supported by both the Reagan and Bush administrations. However, Straight, Inc. did not publicly reveal what many survivors will tell you. The REAL Straight, Inc. was a facility that used coercive thought reform (aka mind control, brainwashing), public humiliation, sleep & food deprivation, extremely harsh confrontational tactics, kidnapping, isolation and emotional, mental, psychological, verbal and physical abuse to forcibly break us down then remold us in the Straight, Inc. image. Straight, Inc. also operated in secrecy, just like a cult (Straight, Inc. has been listed on at least 2 cult expert websites). No outsiders were ever permitted to know what really went on. Straight's rules and our fear of harsh punishment prevented us from talking to outsiders or from reporting abuses.

Trying to survive Straight, Inc. devastated many of us. Some former clients have committed suicide. Others have serious disorders as a result of their time in Straight, Inc. For example, some of us suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, panic disorders and severe depression. In addition, many of us have experienced other long-term detrimental effects such as inability to function normally in relationships, fear of therapists or any form of counseling, severe distrust of people, paranoia, nightmares, etc. This is certainly not a complete list but does give one an inkling of the serious long-term adverse effects on survivors caused by Straight Inc.

This website has multiple sources of information - survivor stories, newspaper articles covering Straight Inc., documents from The Ronald Reagan and George Bush Presidential Libraries about Straight, documents on investigations and original Straight program documents. There are also videos of news programs such as 20/20 and 60 Minutes that covered Straight. To the right there is a directory for each type of documentation.

Straight, Inc. - Renamed

Straight utilized "spin off" programs, possibly to avoid the controversy that plagued Straight, Inc. Usually a Straight parent or former executive staff member would leave Straight and reopen an identical program in another location and put a completely different name on it. Straight Inc became Kids Helping Kids, Pathway Family Center, Life, Growing Together, KIDS (of North Jersey, El Paso, etc.), SAFE, Alberta Adolescent Recovery Center (AARC), and others. Most of these spin offs have been shut down. KHK, SAFE and Pathway met their demise in part because survivors protested and spoke out against them. AARC is still open. Although Straight is dead....the legacy of Straight still lives. An enormous troubled teen industry now exists using many of the same abusive tactics that were used by Straight Inc. ﻿And some survivors from more recent/different programs are also walking away with PTSD just like Straight survivors.

Flowchart of the Straights (since the chart was compiled in 2000, some more Straight Spin off programs have finally closed)

More information about these "spin off" programs can be found on other pages on this website.

The books below are written by Straight Survivors about Straight Inc.

"The Dead Inside" ﻿Details One Woman's Struggle To Survive In A Cult-Like, Abusive Treatment Center For Teens (Bustle), November 15, 2016﻿

"The Dead Inside" Notes From The Underground (Book Page), Book review, April 2017



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Germ Magazine Review of "We Can't Be Friends" - Dec 2, 2017﻿

Kirkus Review of "We Can't Be Friends" - Aug 27, 2017

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"Abandoned," nominated 2018 Best Memoir for Georgia Author of the Year Awards. See Memoir section﻿



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