# Inside the Troubled Teen Industry: Wilderness Therapy, Residential Treatment, and the Harm Done to Kids – An Interview with Chelsea Maldonado and Dr. Will Dobud

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-modern-therapist-s-survival-guide-with-curt-widhalm-and-katie-vernoy-410171/inside-the-troubled-teen-industry-wilderness-therapy-residential-treatment-and-the-harm-done-to-kids-an-interview-with-chelsea-maldonado-and-dr-will-dobud
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Podcast: [The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-modern-therapist-s-survival-guide-with-curt-widhalm-and-katie-vernoy-410171)
Published: 2026-05-18T07:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/HEGNI2636327505.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/HEGNI2636327505.mp3
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Duration seconds: 2959

## Resource

Inside the Troubled Teen Industry: Wilderness Therapy, Residential Treatment, and the Harm Done to Kids – An Interview with Chelsea Maldonado and Dr. Will Dobud Dr. Will Dobud and survivor advocate Chelsea Maldonado on wilderness therapy, residential treatment, institutional abuse, and what therapists need to know to support troubled teen industry survivors. Curt and Katie talk with Dr. Will Dobud and Chelsea Maldonado about what actually happens inside the troubled teen industry, why the marketing rarely matches the reality, and how wilderness therapy programs and residential treatment facilities continue to operate despite decades of survivor testimony, documented abuse, and youth deaths. The conversation covers why so many adopted youth and foster youth end up in these facilities, how restraints, isolation, and medical neglect produce lasting trauma, and why power dynamics and institutional structure undermine real therapeutic work. Will and Chelsea also discuss the silence of professional associations after youth deaths, the recent Atlantis Leadership Academy case in Jamaica, and what therapists working with troubled teen industry survivors can do to create safer therapeutic relationships. In this episode, we discuss: What therapists get wrong about wilderness therapy and residential treatment Why "round the clock therapy" marketing rarely matches the reality inside facilities How restraints, isolation, and medical neglect cause lasting harm Why adopted youth and foster youth are disproportionately placed in these programs The role of power dynamics and institutional structure in the troubled teen industry Why survivors are highly traumatized and highly therapy resistant How therapists can work more safely and effectively with survivors The silence of professional…

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