Formally known as a residential behavior modification program and therapeutic community, Élan specialized in treating troubled youths with severe emotional and behavioral problems through an extreme mix of military, public humiliation, heavy surveillance, thought reform, group psychotherapy and milieu therapy tactics.

It was hailed by many to have been a last resort saving grace for incorrigible delinquent teens in crisis. Supporters of Élan ranged from thousands of former students and parents to hundreds of psychologists, social workers, educational officials and national associations, many of whom have praised its tough love tactics. However, for every riveting success story that credits Élan with saving their life, there is a broken adult unable to recover from the harrowing trauma they faced there as a youth.

The film’s title, “The Last Stop,” alludes to the program’s frequently repeated mantra, “This is your last stop. Without Élan, it’s either jail or death.” Failure to assimilate could give rise to residents facing isolation for months, compulsory resident-on-resident boxing matches, being yelled at and degraded by dozens of peers simultaneously, the use of straightjackets, forced ditch digging, mandated donning of degrading costumes and signs, or the use of “electric sauce,” a mixture of garbage and feces poured over the heads of residents who needed discipline. These tactics and others were known as “attack therapy.” The concept was, “That which doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.” A philosophically sound concept, that went dangerously awry.

 

 

We were delinquents, yet we were tasked with running the program, providing the therapy, restraining our peers, and surveilling one another. The staff members acted as checks and balances to make sure nothing got too out of hand. However, if we dial it back to what happened there in the ‘80s and ‘70s, that’s where things get really dicey. Many of the events that transpired over those two decades were unfathomable.

Élan was admittedly a different beast post-90s than in it’s preceding decades. Over time, the program made attempts to realign itself with better practices. What I went through was harsh and certainly not for the faint-hearted. There was lots of confrontation, but there was also an abundance of affirmation. I was helped by some of the program’s unconventional tactics, but I also know many others who were not and are still suffering lasting psychological harm from their experiences there.

There are masses who will credit Élan as the tour de force that saved them from a path of self-destruction, while the opposing majority equates it to hell on earth. George Posner, an educational consultant and a faculty member at Cornell University who is familiar with Élan, said such strongly conflicting claims about behavioral modification programs are not unusual. ''There isn't a place out there -- including prisons -- where you wouldn't get testimonials saying that the place saved their lives,'' he said. (John, “Skeletons in the Classroom”, The New York Times. June 02, 2002)