One of my greatest challenges I have had has been explaining to people how I left a rehab center that wasn't actually a rehab center at all.
The first thing people think is "Yeah right. You left a rehab center because you didn't want to stop doing drugs."
It doesn't get easier when I explain that I only took medications my doctor prescribed.
Scientology/Narconon knows that nobody is going to believe someone who left a rehab. They use this to their advantage by further discrediting the "student". My family still is trapped in the intervention believing that helping me will harm me. They risked their relationship with me, my profession, my rental history, my credit score, and my ability to live in safety, indoors. Instead I had to live with drug addicts in dangerous conditions for years.
It gets worse. Trying to explain how a rehab center actually harmed me by having me do drills (TR's or Training Routines is what they are called at Narconon/Scientology) that are designed to teach people how to manipulate others never goes well. I am not sure anyone believes me besides those who were in ‘the program’. The only thing I am certain of is that my family refuses to tell me any of the details they shared with Dan Carmichael, Intake Coordinator at Narconon Fresh Start. I continued to ask until one by one they all quit responding to me and started filing restraining orders.
Because they are a large organization with a website that boasts a 75% success rate, my family still chooses to not believe anything I have said about the compound and trusts that which is on the Narconon.org website instead of what I say about my experience there.
Despite working the jobs of both my parents (admin & grocery clerk) and also several contracts at Microsoft as a Financial Analyst, they still side with the interventionist and the Narconon employee they spoke with over the phone 6 years ago.
Not only do I pay my own bills, I give over 10 percent of my income to my church and have excellent church attendance.
Despite this commitment to doing good and living my life the best I can, they still believe my diagnosis of ADHD and the corresponding medication is a lie. They still believe something had to be done and they did the right thing.
They have been able to rationalize the lies they told me to get me to Narconon and still hold me responsible for the their choice to trick me into going to the middle of Mohave Desert to learn ‘life skills’. I had no interest in learning these life skills or leaving my apartment. I left because my Grandmother (a multi-millionaire) promised to pay off my credit card debt.
I escaped the compound and had to rebuild my life at 38 years old. It was not intentional, but during this struggle I used tactics that are used by Scientologists and those who work at Narconon. One of the major problems in my family, aside from drug use and drug dealing is nagging. Many of the people in my family believe the actions of the spouse in their life warrants gossip and nagging, and even lying in my case.
I used to get emails from my mom that were critical of my decisions and my circumstance--some of which was caused by her intervention and resulting homelessness. As soon as I started posting and forwarding emails she sent me, they stopped. That is when the restraining orders started. People don't realize that a person who nags will do more harm than dangerous and illegal drugs. While at Narconon I was introduced to a term called an Oppressive Person. This how I view my family members. Part of what I learned in Scientology was right. They were holding me back.
Scientology is not a turn the other cheek religion. They take action against those who speak against them as do I. I took my free-agency back by force. Nothing could have been uglier but it resulted in my freedom. I used my freedom to finally follow my religious beliefs, make the risky investments I always dreamed of, and to buy a car that is completely impractical and extraordinarily fast and loud.
The danger of Narconon and Scientology is the allure of selfishness (Intention Without Reservation is what they call it) and pursuit of results without concern for what is truly right.
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