A young mother has described her terror at the “neglect” she endured in the troubled teen industry, including being left with permanent nerve damage and broken ribs at a wilderness therapy camp.
Sabrina James, 23, who lives in Illinois, US, with her husband, Justin, 26, and their two sons, aged four and eight months, struggled with her mental health during puberty and tried to take her life “multiple times”.
This prompted her parents, who did not wish to share their names, to take urgent measures and send her to a wilderness therapy camp – a treatment option for behavioural disorders and mental health issues in adolescents which forms part of the troubled teen industry.
It involves teenagers spending time living outdoors with peers, but has become controversial over reports of abuse and even deaths – inspiring the 2023 Netflix true crime documentary Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare.
Sabrina said she was 16 years old when she was forcibly removed from her home at her parents’ consent and flown across state lines to southern Utah where she would spend three months “survival backpacking” at a wilderness therapy camp located in the desert – which PA Real Life cannot name for legal reasons.
The married mother-of-two said she faced “neglect” at the camp where she became hypothermic due to the winter weather conditions leaving her with nerve damage, while her ribs cracked beneath the weight of her backpack which was too big for her.
Following this, she spent one year at New Haven Residential, a treatment and therapy centre for girls aged 14 to 18 in Spanish Fork, Utah, where she said she was “manipulated” by staff and left with “horrible trust issues” in adulthood.
She now shares her experience of the troubled teen industry on TikTok where she has been viewed by millions and where she and other “survivors” have created a “beautiful” and “healing” community.
“(After leaving the treatment centres) I was delusional, I had no true grasp of reality and I would have these lucid dreams where I would wake up back in Utah,” Sabrina told PA Real Life.
“I was terrified and so scared that at any moment, it could all be ripped away from me and I was going to be sent back.
“(On TikTok) I slowly started finding other survivors who connected me with support groups and suddenly, I was starting to have people messaging me saying ‘you’ve really inspired me’ and ‘I’m going to start talking about this too’.
“It has become a really beautiful and healing community and I’m so grateful for it.”
Sabrina said she struggled with anxiety and depression from a young age which worsened during puberty.
“I ended up struggling with addiction issues, an eating disorder, self-harm issues and I tried to take my life multiple times,” said Sabrina.
“My parents were coming from a place of genuinely wanting to help me, they definitely made their mistakes, but it’s not like they were some evil super villains that just wanted to punish me.
“They were pretty easy to convince that if they did not do something immediately, that I would be dead or in jail within a year.”
At the consent of her parents, Sabrina was flown to Utah in October 2017 by two women from a transport company connected with the wilderness therapy camp she would later join for three months.
“Two women ended up coming (into my bedroom) while my eyes were closed, so I woke up to one of them pulling me out of my bed and telling me that it was time to go,” she said.
“It all happened so fast.”
After arriving in southern Utah, Sabrina was taken to the camp’s head office before being driven for around two hours into the desert.
“That’s when I saw my group, I believe the age range was 13 to 17, just homeless-looking kids survival backpacking through the Utah desert,” she said.
“That’s when I was told that I was going to join them and where I was going to be living indefinitely.
“I was still in complete disbelief, none of it felt real.”
Sabrina said the group, who were led by a handful of staff members, would hike between two and 12 miles most days and camp out in the wilderness, carving spoons from wood to eat with and making fires by hand.
She said she was subject to instances of “neglect” by staff members after becoming hypothermic in January 2018, after wearing wet clothes and sleeping in wet gear, which she said has now left her with nerve damage in her back, hands and fingers.
“The abuse came from the blatant neglect they were putting us through,” she said.
“I went hypothermic, I was turning purple and losing consciousness and I remembered seeing staff members literally yelling, arguing on the phone to convince the main office to send help out.
“I ended up cracking ribs because a staff member incorrectly taught me how to pack my adult men’s pack which was already too big for me.”
After three months at the camp, Sabrina was sent to treatment centre New Haven Residential, where she would spend one year undertaking school lessons, engaging in community meetings and completing chores.
At this stage, Sabrina was 17 and said she knew she would not be going home until she turned 18 and could legally sign herself out of the programme.
She said she was subject to “manipulative” behaviour by staff, who would tell her she was “doing really good” and would be going home soon.
When she would relay this information to her parents, who in turn raised this with her therapist, Sabrina said her parents were told by the staff she was a “master manipulator”.
“I truly felt like I was just going insane and it got to a point where I could not trust myself,” she said.
She said it has left her with “horrible trust issues” – with Justin and another close friend being the only people she feels she can trust in adulthood.
Sabrina signed herself out of the programme when she turned 18, which she described as “surreal” and “relieving”.
She said both her parents are now “very supportive” of her speaking out about her experience.
“I’d be lying if I said there weren’t days that I was still angry but overall, I don’t blame them for what happened out there,” she said.
“All they had to go on was what these professionals, who they thought they could trust, were relaying back to them.
“They have both worked really hard to show up for me today.”
Sabrina’s mother told PA Real Life: “Knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t have sent her to those programmes, but I really don’t know what we would have done.
“We couldn’t keep going the way we were going.
“I’m so proud of the woman she has become despite what she went through, but I know I can’t take any credit for it because I failed her.”
Sabrina’s father said he was “very grateful” his relationship with Sabrina survived and “continues to grow”.
Around a year after her time in the troubled teen industry, Sabrina launched a TikTok to share what she went through which has allowed her to connect with others with similar experiences.
Her account now has more than 180,000 followers and over 20 million likes.
The wilderness therapy camp Sabrina attended closed down in October 2023.
In a statement, New Haven Residential told PA Real Life: “New Haven Residential Centre places safety and healing as our highest priority and has successfully provided care to thousands of students and their families since we opened our facility in 1995.
“Our records are confidential and legal restrictions prevent us from providing information on any individual student.
“We strive to offer the highest levels of quality care and safety standards, and our programme is accredited by The Joint Commission, an independent not-for-profit organisation dedicated to raising the level of safety and quality of healthcare.”
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