Some of you who know my story already know that when I was younger I spent a good portion of my teenage years inside a residential treatment facility called Southern Peaks Regional Treatment Center. What you may not know is that my two-and-a-half-year stay there made such an impact on me that to this day I still find myself thinking about that place. Some people may not understand how a treatment facility could have such a profound impact on my life, but in this blog, I shall explain exactly how my stay in that place has made me into the man that I am today. I will also talk about some lessons that I have learned from my experience there too. However, before I get into all that I think it would be helpful if I gave a little back story about how I ended up in such a place. I will like to forewarn you that my story may cause you some discomfort so if you are easily triggered maybe it would be wise if you did not read this. If you are not easily triggered then please continue reading.
My story begins when I was sixteen years old. I have just returned to my foster parents after my stay with my biological father failed. My caseworker decided to try to give my sister, Virginia, custody over me. However, my caseworker did not want the same thing that happened with my experience with my father to happen with my experience with my sister and her husband. As a result, my caseworker decided to send me to their house for a two-week trial period. The purpose of this was to see how things would go between myself and my sister and her husband. I thought everything went fine and I was looking forward to eventually moving in with them soon. Unfortunately, I was only deceiving myself because at the time I was a pathological liar and manipulator too. I was also addicted to pornography and I was extremely lazy. In retrospect, I understand why my sister and her husband had to tell my caseworker that they could not take me in. At the time they had two children they had to be concerned for. However, back then I felt really betrayed by my own family and I felt as if no one loved me. It was for this reason that I concocted a bright idea to start my foster home on fire. I thought that if I could perform an act of heroism then people would appreciate me. So, I found some matches and came into my room, and started my bed on fire. As the flames grew, I became mesmerized. It was almost like the flames had me hypnotized, but eventually, I snapped out of it and ran to wake everyone up. Eventually, I was hospitalized at Pueblo State Hospital in the psychiatric ward and then later I was locked up in a detention center called Spring Creek Youth Services Center for about two months. Afterward, my public defender fought for me to be transferred to Southern Peaks Regional Treatment Center. This program was a six-to-nine-month program, but I somehow managed to turn it into a two-and-a-half-year program because any time they would discuss discharging me I would get scared and end up doing something to sabotage my discharge date.
What Being Bullied Taught Me:
Before my time in the treatment center, I was never bullied at all. However, at this time I was someone who believed strongly in nonviolence to an almost legalistic fault. It was for this reason that the other teenage boys decided to take advantage of me. They would do anything from taking my books from me to trapping me inside the broom closet for fun. This experience has really shown me the depravity of man because I got to witness firsthand just how much people are willing to hurt another individual. After all, they genuinely enjoy it. This experience has also taught me to never mistreat an individual who may be less fortunate than I am because a lot of those kids would bully me because they could tell I was different from them and even weaker than them. I never want to make another person feel the way that those kids made me feel.
What Being Forced To Read Scripture Taught Me:
When I was there, I remember there was a staff member by the name of Mr. Jerome Perkins. This man became a mentor to me and I immediately took a liking to him. I think I literally looked up to him as sort of a father figure and I like to think that he thought of me as a son. I remember whenever I started acting up he would grab me by my shirt and take me to my room. Then, he would tell me to sit at my desk or on my bed and open my Bible to a specific chapter and verse. Then, he would tell me to read that chapter and verse out loud. At the time, I hated it whenever he would make me do this. However, it was because of his making me do this that it instilled in me a love for the Holy Scriptures. He really taught me to value the Scriptures especially whenever I am going through some kind of trial. I often think back to this experience and wonder if I would still have a passion for the Scriptures if he was never in my life.
What Being Anti-Christian Taught Me:
At some point during my stay in this treatment center, my hatred for Jesus Christ developed. It all began one day when I was thinking about how God gave me a mentally ill mother and even gave me mental illness too. I thought to myself that the Lord must hate me and as a result, I decided He was my literal enemy. I began to hate Him back. However, I knew that I could not do anything to Him, but I realized that I could do something to His followers. As a result, I started going out of my way to harass Christians. At this time, I even had a delusional episode where I believed I was the literal Antichrist. Throughout this whole experience, the Lord was very patient and kind towards me, even when I was blaspheming Him. This experience has really taught me that even when we are being unfaithful to Him, He is still faithful to us. It also taught me exactly how deep God's love is for His elect and to this day I am completely in awe of His mercy in my life.
What My Experience With Betrayal Taught Me:
During this time, I had a male therapist named Dr. Robert Bell. Now, I do not normally trust men very well and I have always naturally trusted women better. However, I did eventually grow to trust this man to the point where there was not anything I would not tell him about myself. Everyone thought this man was a bit strange but I greatly admired him. One day he did not show up to work and we later found out it was because he was arrested. What we found out next caused everyone to be shocked. Dr. Rob Bell had over a thousand images of child pornography on his MySpace page and he even attempted to solicit sex from a mother's daughter. While I understand he did not actually betray me, I still felt like this was a major betrayal in my life because I trusted him so deeply. This experience has really shown me the frailty of human beings. I have realized that human beings are deeply flawed and that they will let you down. It is because of this reason we should never allow ourselves to completely trust any human being no matter how much we think we know them. However, there is a Person who will never let us down because He is perfect. That Person is the God-Man Jesus Christ. Jesus can sympathize with us because He was tempted in every way that we are, yet He was without sin.
What My Experience With Being Restrained Taught Me:
While I was in that treatment center, there was a day I was particularly acting up. I do not remember why I was so angry, but I do remember the staff isolated me in a time-out room called the Orientation Room. As I grew more irate about being in there, I decided to assault one of the staff members. As a result of this action, multiple staff members came in and restrained me. Normally when a kid is strained in that place, the staff can only hold them for 59 minutes. Then, they are supposed to let the kid back up after he or she commits to being safe. However, this time was different because every time they would let me back up, I would assault the staff again. This is why in one day I was literally seven hours worth of being restrained by the staff, which was a new record at the time. This experience has taught me that there are real consequences to every action that a person does. No one gets away with something for long and even if they get away with it in this life, they will not get away with it when they face God. I also learned that authority is there for my protection and that I should not only submit to them (as Romans 13 tells me) but I should also respect them too. The only reason that I am to ever disobey an authority over me is if that authority tells me to sin against God.
I hope that this blog really helps you to see how our experiences work together to shape us into the people we are today. No matter how big or small our experiences may seem to us, they really are significant. We do not realize just how something we are going through will affect us later, but I believe when we look back on our experiences we can see how they did change us. It is very much like how a beautiful tapestry is made up of tiny individual squares that seem insignificant on their own. Romans 8:28 tells us that God works out *all* things for our good and it is because of this that we can trust in His sovereignty. The Lord is always good to us because He is always good. Thank you very much for reading my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!!!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
Check out the other Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
Before my time in the treatment center, I was never bullied at all. However, at this time I was someone who believed strongly in nonviolence to an almost legalistic fault. It was for this reason that the other teenage boys decided to take advantage of me. They would do anything from taking my books from me to trapping me inside the broom closet for fun. This experience has really shown me the depravity of man because I got to witness firsthand just how much people are willing to hurt another individual. After all, they genuinely enjoy it. This experience has also taught me to never mistreat an individual who may be less fortunate than I am because a lot of those kids would bully me because they could tell I was different from them and even weaker than them. I never want to make another person feel the way that those kids made me feel.
What Being Forced To Read Scripture Taught Me:
When I was there, I remember there was a staff member by the name of Mr. Jerome Perkins. This man became a mentor to me and I immediately took a liking to him. I think I literally looked up to him as sort of a father figure and I like to think that he thought of me as a son. I remember whenever I started acting up he would grab me by my shirt and take me to my room. Then, he would tell me to sit at my desk or on my bed and open my Bible to a specific chapter and verse. Then, he would tell me to read that chapter and verse out loud. At the time, I hated it whenever he would make me do this. However, it was because of his making me do this that it instilled in me a love for the Holy Scriptures. He really taught me to value the Scriptures especially whenever I am going through some kind of trial. I often think back to this experience and wonder if I would still have a passion for the Scriptures if he was never in my life.
What Being Anti-Christian Taught Me:
At some point during my stay in this treatment center, my hatred for Jesus Christ developed. It all began one day when I was thinking about how God gave me a mentally ill mother and even gave me mental illness too. I thought to myself that the Lord must hate me and as a result, I decided He was my literal enemy. I began to hate Him back. However, I knew that I could not do anything to Him, but I realized that I could do something to His followers. As a result, I started going out of my way to harass Christians. At this time, I even had a delusional episode where I believed I was the literal Antichrist. Throughout this whole experience, the Lord was very patient and kind towards me, even when I was blaspheming Him. This experience has really taught me that even when we are being unfaithful to Him, He is still faithful to us. It also taught me exactly how deep God's love is for His elect and to this day I am completely in awe of His mercy in my life.
What My Experience With Betrayal Taught Me:
During this time, I had a male therapist named Dr. Robert Bell. Now, I do not normally trust men very well and I have always naturally trusted women better. However, I did eventually grow to trust this man to the point where there was not anything I would not tell him about myself. Everyone thought this man was a bit strange but I greatly admired him. One day he did not show up to work and we later found out it was because he was arrested. What we found out next caused everyone to be shocked. Dr. Rob Bell had over a thousand images of child pornography on his MySpace page and he even attempted to solicit sex from a mother's daughter. While I understand he did not actually betray me, I still felt like this was a major betrayal in my life because I trusted him so deeply. This experience has really shown me the frailty of human beings. I have realized that human beings are deeply flawed and that they will let you down. It is because of this reason we should never allow ourselves to completely trust any human being no matter how much we think we know them. However, there is a Person who will never let us down because He is perfect. That Person is the God-Man Jesus Christ. Jesus can sympathize with us because He was tempted in every way that we are, yet He was without sin.
What My Experience With Being Restrained Taught Me:
While I was in that treatment center, there was a day I was particularly acting up. I do not remember why I was so angry, but I do remember the staff isolated me in a time-out room called the Orientation Room. As I grew more irate about being in there, I decided to assault one of the staff members. As a result of this action, multiple staff members came in and restrained me. Normally when a kid is strained in that place, the staff can only hold them for 59 minutes. Then, they are supposed to let the kid back up after he or she commits to being safe. However, this time was different because every time they would let me back up, I would assault the staff again. This is why in one day I was literally seven hours worth of being restrained by the staff, which was a new record at the time. This experience has taught me that there are real consequences to every action that a person does. No one gets away with something for long and even if they get away with it in this life, they will not get away with it when they face God. I also learned that authority is there for my protection and that I should not only submit to them (as Romans 13 tells me) but I should also respect them too. The only reason that I am to ever disobey an authority over me is if that authority tells me to sin against God.
I hope that this blog really helps you to see how our experiences work together to shape us into the people we are today. No matter how big or small our experiences may seem to us, they really are significant. We do not realize just how something we are going through will affect us later, but I believe when we look back on our experiences we can see how they did change us. It is very much like how a beautiful tapestry is made up of tiny individual squares that seem insignificant on their own. Romans 8:28 tells us that God works out *all* things for our good and it is because of this that we can trust in His sovereignty. The Lord is always good to us because He is always good. Thank you very much for reading my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!!!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
Check out the other Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website
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