Searching for 1980's Golden Valley MN Psychiatric Patients (Minneapolis, Anoka: tornado, place to live)

[Christine CTU Survivor]

I attending the children’s treatment unit in the early 90s. The treatment I received at Golden Valley are unspeakable and unimaginable. There were also many other First Nation children placed there from Canada as well as other children from across Ontario.
We were pumped with psychotic medications and placed for extended hours in enclosed rooms. Other horrific acts I can’t mention also took place. I can also say I witnessed inappropriate behaviour with staff and the children who were there at the time.
There were also children as young as 3 that were placed in high chairs and left for hours on end.
When families visited, it became a big deal and staff would put on friendly faces to the parents. Once the family left, our rooms were emptied and our belongings would be locked up again.
I remember a time I was brought to the doctors home on site and placed in an observation room where procedures were done on me, they were horrific and painful.
We were all abruptly sent home over the duration of a couple weeks and I heard the facility closed. There were also many rumours of a Doctor (Dr. Borno?) who was responsible for the death of a child, I’m not quite sure how accurate that it but it is believable.
I still have not spoken to anyone about some of the other atrocities that took place for the duration of my time there and I don’t think I could ever repeat and relive them.
Today after many years of traditional Anishinaabe healing I have managed to have a fairly decent adulthood despite the trauma inflicted on me at Golden Valley...however it still haunts my being from time to time.

[Shannon99]

I was abused also. I was put I. The quiet room with nothing. The padded cell. They claimed I showed no emotion. I also was locked in my room for weeks. No visits or calls to home. Many RPRs called on our unit. I still have nightmares or this place and scars on my wrist fro. Trying to kill myself to get out of there. I was a normal messed up child when I went. I came out of there a different person. I was forever chamged

[tom4161]

Finding this thread has brought tears to my eyes. I went to the CD plus program at Fairview Deaconess in the early 80s. They locked me in the quiet room for over month, and I remember occasional shock treatments and room restrictions and sexual abuse. I never really talked about it with many people because I didn't think anyone would believe me. I am haunted by my experiences there everyday still. It feels good to know that there's other people out there that are like me

[tom4161]

Thank you all for speaking about this. I had the pleasure of being there when I was 13 for 14 months. My parents had sent me there because of the school psychiatrist's recommendation. I was told we were going out to eat and I was dropped off at the airport to police and escorted to Minnesota. I remember being locked in the quiet room for over a month. I remember shock treatments, and the doctors telling me how it was going to be helpful. I remember being on room restriction for weeks with no bed and no human contact. I can remember the sexual abuse by the night staff. I remember I was young and really scared and confused why I was there in the first place. I am almost 50 now and still haunted everyday by the memories of my stay there. I left there a different person. I have never talked about it in detail because I have never thought that anyone would even believe me. When I came back to New Jersey my parents gave me to DYFS (division of family and youth services) and I tried to tell them about what happened but they did not care and did nothing about it.

[Bill Hussman]

I was there, crappy times, bad parents, bad economy,1970s early 80s rampant divorce rate. Unemployment 9 percent. 30 year interest rate almost 15 percent. Our parents shuffled us off to GV, a very bad place, what else could nneglectful abusive parent vessels do in those times. I joined ACA , adult children of alcoholics and dysfunctional families. We meet weekly sort of like AA. Book by the way came out in 1980. Also by the same name. America was a bd3$ging mess . book was is an international best seller. CPTSD surviving to thriving " by Pete Walker lmft. Written by emotional neglected survivor of parental abuse turned therapist. I have wriiten in this 80s blog before. Im at peace knowing that many of you made it thru enough to find this blog and or stumble upon it. No u dont have a chemical brain imbalance, no it wasnt genetic, those were things we were told that let our parents and society off the hook, to ease their guilt. IT was a mess.

[Bill Hussman]

And before it called Glenwood hills reform school to the oerson that wanted to know built on same grounds in 50 and 60s. Thankyou to nurse that wrote in glad the place clised down so abruptly. Fu$@ed up parents and Fu$@ed up times. Nazi genetic bastard "doctors"racist trash beginnings if u ask me, feeding off bad economic times just like the nazis did. Getting the parents to believe that garbage was step one, parents gave up messed up or abandoned the parent ship , that was step two in my opinion . Is that how the nazis started out? Cleaning the children right out of the home with that scientific propaganda of " its genetic" or chemical imbalance in the brain. Science has disproven both of these false theories. But families sweep it under the rug. Akathisia , a side effect or allergic reaction to many psch drugs is making the headlines in a horrible horrible way, just read a little deeper into the gun debate. Sad but true, and the lawyers are at the ready finnally , finding many of these psych drugs old and new too much of a quick fix. I hope you all keep blogging , i think every so often about this site and the amazing bunch off people that survived enough to look back at the past.

[Bill Hussman]

On reading peoples inquiries about records, most medical records by law are kept. 5 to seven years is the max then they are destroyed. Im just glad i went back and saw the fences down and the place closed. That was some healing. What a mees those times were a d im still in talk therapy. Formerly the building next to GVHC juvenille bldg "park bldg" torn down 1960s. Glenwood hills reform school. .Another social failure storehouse for children in the 1960s.more safety nets needed.

[Raerae76]

Sammi

Please contact me, I was at the health center when I was fourteen and pregnant, I was rolled in the burrito and spent some days in the qr, my breasts were fondled by a sicko nurse with ill intentions and also felt quite invaded by and mistreated by the workers there although the counselor John was a helpful one for me, I did hear stories from Charlie the girl, and I spent the most part of my pregnancy there at the request of the local children’s aid society office, in Sault Ste Marie Ontario, Canada. I had horrible experiences prior to my residency and wasn’t treated well afterwards either. It’s enlightening to read your posts, not because of the content, rather the intellect displayed in the wording. It seems that the majority that spent any time here were, as I was coined, “gifted”, perhaps the reason many were in this placement was more about hiding what they’ve been saying yet not believed by those who were in the position to help the children but made more money when they turned their heads thus allowing abuse to continue....

[Alexace]

I was at GVHC when I was 10 probably in 1985-86. I remember horrors and torture I suffered here. I can’t even imagine what happened to me after the forced injections as my mind only remembers the physical restraints and weight of staff smothering me on top of being rolled up in a mat. Thought I was going to die. Remember the urine, being spit on, verbally degraded, inappropriately touched, light torture in that padded stinky foul room, being restrained on bed... list goes on.

[Digger1964]

Digger
1978 January to March roughly

I remember getting a shot of morphine before you go in the QR.

Stumbled on this today and I’m afraid I may have repressed memories.

I’m not sure what to do about this. I already had an appt with my psychiatrist and Brand New therapist.

I had a friend named Paul.