The Treatment Program of Absurdity: 1

Chelsea Lake

In May 2010, Chelsea came to Great Ascendency for mild marijuana use, but felt like in the 3 months that she had been there, all that the place had done was diminish her intelligence. Chelsea felt that her parents had already paid $30,000 for her to sit around and play board games in a program that was cerebral deficient.
When she arrived for her intake, three months earlier, she had gone on a tour of the program, which had been facilitated by Elizabeth. Elizabeth was showing her the girls’ core house, and knocked on Lily’s door, in order to show Chelsea the bedroom. The room was a pig style, and Chelsea would attest to the fact that the room smelled like a dog defecated and then barfed on it. Lily was asked by Elizabeth to sit up and greet Chelsea, but she just said “f*** OFF,” in which Elizabeth shouted “LILY!” Chelsea was about to cry, since she did not want to be at this abysmal place, but had been forced there by her parents.
Before we go any further, it is important to convey how students get participation credit. As you know, students are not allowed to have outside money, so they need to participate in order to get money; 20% of participation is from participating in program activities; 20% if for compliance with taking medication; 20% is from doing your chore; 20% is for completing daily goals that were set forth by your clinician; and the final 20% is for household maintenance. For every percentage that you had above 60%, is a dollar that you earned for the week. Money would be subtracted for a savings and contingency fund, which would leave students with a maximum of $33. The money could only be subtracted from savings if the student had a reason. The contingency fund money would be given to a student after they left Great Ascendency.
Chelsea hated being with Lily, since one of the requirements to get into transition was household maintenance, and Lily was a malefactor when it came to being a housemate. What would happen with Chelsea is she would clean her room, which counted for 2/3 of the score, but the other 1/3 was for the entire house. Lily never cleaned the kitchen, did her chores or flushed the toilet; she would eat buffalo wings in the living room and throw them on the floor; she would clip her nails on the couch; she would throw her dirty clothes in the hallway when her room became full. Chelsea constantly cleaned up after Lilly in order to keep up her HHM scores. Chelsea always confronted Lily during house groups, in which Lily was told to change, but was never forced to do so.
Chelsea hated living in the house with Lily, but not nearly as much as she hated living with Sara England. Chelsea was very self sufficient in terms of meeting her commitments in the program, along with attending classes at ONCC - which Great Ascendency made nearly impossible. Chelsea never received any commemoration for meeting her commitments, where as Sara was commended everyday by Dr. Steed for getting out of bed, which would take her three hours. Lily always tried to do her homework, but Sara used to spend the whole day crying and whining, so Chelsea had to go to find another location. While many staff members go fed up with Sara, there were others, like Tori and Priscilla, who took pity upon her, but at the same time, realized that her behavior was having a negative affect on the other housemates. Everyone in core house took turns making dinner, and Chelsea always had to make dinner when it came time for Sara’s night, since Sara never agreed to do anything. One time, Sara asked Chelsea to go to the movies with her and Chelsea didn’t want to hang out with her, but made up a nice excuse; Sara felt like she was being bullied, so she reported Chelsea.
Chelsea’s long struggles would eventually end. After three months, she got out of the house and got to go to transition with the other girls. She was actually promoted the day the story began. She wouldn’t have to live with the stupidity in her house, but would still have to deal with it.
On August 5th, 2010, I had my first community group. I was sitting in the attic – which was used as the building’s group room - of the OPO, along with the other Great Ascendency students, not knowing what to expect, when, all of the sudden, Sara walked into the group. Dr. Butler was the facilitator, and he commended her for showing up, since it had been the first time in a month. Before the group started, Sara asked Dr. Butler about when she would be getting the SpongeBob puzzle that she was promised in order to attend the group. He told her that she would be getting it later in the day, and the group was postponed for 10 minutes, since it took that long to convey assurance to Sara. I was smirking the entire time, where as Chelsea was dreading how she wasn’t completely away from Sara. During the group, I had to remind myself that I would be kicked out of Great Ascendency, in order to keep myself from cyberbullying Sara to death.