It’s been more than 15 years since I was kidnapped in the middle of the night and imprisoned by my parents in a school called Academy at Ivy Ridge, in Ogdensburg, New York. I was there for 19 months.

I know it’s difficult to understand… but I’m currently going through a lot mentally at the moment. It’s difficult but at the same time, I now see the light at the end of the tunnel. At the boarding school I went to, it was incredibly traumatic for me. Now that the industry has been exposed more through Paris Hilton, so many people have come forward with their stories. It has brought forth so many emotions.

Being older, I now understand that what happened to me was something really serious. It paved the way for the course of my life thus far. I never spoke about this school. I put almost all of it deep down in my mind, but the truth is I, along with other girls and boys, was abused, degraded, brainwashed and taken advantage of daily. We were stripped of our basic human rights. They broke us down to nothing, only to build us back up by their standards. We were all trapped there. Like prisoners. but they took away our hygiene privileges. We needed permission to sit, stand, talk, everything. I was no longer allowed to communicate in Spanish with my parents. Everything had to be in English and the only way I could communicate with them for almost a year was through letters we had one hour to write, once a week. These schools spent crucial years stifling our creativity. If we did not oblige, we received our consequences. It’s an experience I can honestly say did much more harm than good.

The generational trauma and toxic conditioning I’ve suffered at the hands of my parents keeps us from having any type of relationship today. At 30 years old I struggle with my identity, as well as depression, and PTSD. I have weekly sessions with a therapist and I’m enrolled in a wellness program. Through this movement, I’ve begun the process of truly healing. Human rights do not begin at 18 years old. Please, sit down and talk with your children. Choose any other course of action available to your family. Do not send your children to these schools. You’ll be risking their future health and happiness.

Metaphorically, my parents got away with murder. They murdered my soul by silencing me 15 years ago and having me falsely imprisoned in an institution that wasn’t accredited, hired local predators without running background checks, brainwashed every student there, taking advantage of and manipulating every single child there…every last one, all because I spoke out and reached out for help over their abuse. For those of you who don’t know, I voluntarily spent three weeks at a youth shelter my freshman year of high school, all to get away from getting beaten by my parents. After that, Child Protective Services (CPS) was involved in our home. I had a case worker and weekly visits with her and with someone else from Catholic Charities. After the abuse continued, becoming more visible and more apparent, my parents hired transporters to forcefully take me, put me in a child-locked van, deny me the right to call the police and my case worker, and ultimately lock me away with absolutely no opportunity to reach anyone from the outside world. This institution assisted in covering up their abuse and even manipulated me into changing my own narrative. I lived in that institution for 20 months. I’ve been silenced, both of my siblings lied under oath about the abuse going on in our home. One of those siblings grew up to be everything my parents raised them to be, and to be honest, that’s not really on them –  It’s on my parents. My parents are both narcissists who raised us all with trauma, not love. Why do I post about #BreakingCodeSilence so much? Why do I do my best to spread awareness about the corruption and the abuse that’s guaranteed by Worldwide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASP) programs? Why? It’s very very simple. I ask all of you this: please take the time to read what I post about this movement. Click the links, watch the videos, educate yourselves, please. Institutionalized child abuse is real. I’ve lived it. It causes life long damage. Being able to advocate for my inner child, the one that was abused and misguided, it means everything to me. Advocating for young children suffering in silence in these institutions right now, that’s my fight. In the past few months, the sense of purpose and the emotions that have compelled me to come forward and stand in solidarity with all survivors of this movement has been triggering, healing, devastating and rewarding.  I’m taking the good with the bad; fighting the good fight. Ultimately my parents failed me. They, along with the State of New Jersey, CPS, and last but certainly not least, Academy at Ivy Ridge, failed me. Having the opportunity to expose these people for a chance at shutting these “schools” down, ensuring the well being of future children, and being able to heal and have closure, I’m taking that and running with it. Full force. I am so grateful to say big things are coming. My survivor family… #iseeyousurvivor. I truly love all of you. Our bond is unbreakable. I’m fighting for you, for those we’ve lost, for all of us. We all deserved so much better than our pasts gave us. I’m looking forward to being able to change that narrative and turn it into something positive. We all deserve that.