Something Was Wrong

S24 Ep19: Wanted

October 29, 2025

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  • The DeSisto School, attended by survivor Nicole from 1994 to 1996, was characterized by institutional abuse, including forced physical proximity, deprivation of basic needs as punishment, and highly questionable therapeutic practices like confrontational 'attack therapy' led by unqualified staff. 
  • Founder Michael DeSisto cultivated a god-like status among parents and staff, promoting a philosophy that blamed family dysfunction for student issues while simultaneously engaging in inappropriate behavior, such as exposing himself to students during mandatory theater productions. 
  • Nicole's experience highlights the long-term psychological damage from the school, including PTSD, social anxiety, and difficulty forming healthy relationships, stemming from the core feeling of being unwanted by the parents who sent her there. 
  • The hosts of *Something Was Wrong* are promoting a benefit meetup party on November 21st, 2025, in SACTO, with net proceeds going to The Gathering Inn, a nonprofit providing shelter and services in Placer and Sacramento counties. 
  • The Gathering Inn utilizes a trauma-informed well-being approach to offer critical services, including emergency shelter, clinical therapy, and case management, to over 468 individuals and families. 
  • The latter part of the transcript shifts entirely to unrelated advertisements, including an announcement for the World Creo Music Festival in Dominica and promotion for Sienna University. 

Segments

Introduction and Survivor Background
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(00:01:53)
  • Key Takeaway: Survivor Nicole attended the DeSisto School in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, from 1994 to 1996, following a tumultuous adolescence marked by parental divorce and struggles with an undiagnosed learning disability.
  • Summary: Nicole’s early life involved moving between divorced parents, struggling academically in Chicago private school, and engaging in unsupervised teenage rebellion like skipping school. Her body image issues were exacerbated by parental comments upon arrival after visiting either parent. Dyslexia was diagnosed in ninth grade, but she continued to struggle academically and behaviorally, leading to her eventual placement in a boarding school.
DeSisto School History and Legal Issues
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(00:02:04)
  • Key Takeaway: The DeSisto School faced significant legal scrutiny in 1991 regarding Fair Labor Standards Act violations, though the initial judgment for back wages was ultimately vacated.
  • Summary: The school was founded in 1978 by Michael DeSisto, who previously directed Lake Grove School. A Florida campus opened in 1980 but closed in 1988. In 2000, the Massachusetts OCCS began investigating the school for operating without a license, uncovering severe safety and record-keeping failures, including lack of CPR certification and missing background checks. The Stockbridge campus closed in 2004 following these state actions.
Arrival and Initial Impressions
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(00:13:14)
  • Key Takeaway: Nicole’s arrival at the DeSisto School involved immediate separation from her mother, meeting Michael DeSisto who was unnervingly informed about her past misdeeds, and being led away from the main mansion to the student dorms.
  • Summary: The initial view of the mansion suggested a pleasant experience, but upon entry, parents were quickly separated, and Nicole met Michael DeSisto, who was described as thin and ‘wrapped like a pretzel.’ DeSisto immediately confronted her with details of her past behavior, causing her embarrassment and freezing her in place. She was then taken to the cinderblock dorms, which looked like a prison, realizing she would not be living in the mansion.
Dorm Life and Daily Structure
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(00:19:14)
  • Key Takeaway: Dorm life at DeSisto was characterized by constant surveillance, enforced group activity, and severe lack of privacy, including communal showering without stall doors.
  • Summary: Students were required to be in groups of three or more at all times, prohibiting solitary movement even to the bathroom. Personal items like music and band t-shirts were confiscated, and dorms underwent daily cleanliness checks, with failure resulting in the entire dorm being forced to re-clean. The communal shower room, tiled in pink, forced 20 girls to shower naked together simultaneously, which was deeply uncomfortable given Nicole’s existing body image issues.
Therapy and Academic Structure
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(00:21:30)
  • Key Takeaway: The school’s ’therapeutic’ component involved infrequent sessions with contracted professionals, while the daily structure was dominated by mandated physical activity and confrontational group therapy sessions.
  • Summary: Therapy consisted of weekly or monthly sessions with contracted therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Mornings involved mandated active pursuits like yoga or ‘Sweating to the Oldies’ with Richard Simmons. School time frequently morphed into dorm meetings where one person was put ‘in the hot seat’ for constant confrontation and ‘attack therapy’ led by the unqualified dorm parent.
DeSisto’s Philosophy and Control Tactics
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(00:25:48)
  • Key Takeaway: Michael DeSisto preached that student dysfunction resulted from poor parental dynamics, using this narrative to secure high tuition while implementing punitive consequences like manual labor and public shaming.
  • Summary: DeSisto sold parents on fixing their children, promising they would never be kicked out, unlike other wilderness programs. Consequences included ‘handholding’ (chain-linking groups) and being sent to the ‘farm’ dorm in a blue jumpsuit to perform manual labor, such as repaving driveways, instead of hiring outside crews. Extreme shaming involved ‘cheating,’ where a student was forced to wear only a sheet over their underwear in front of peers.
Medicalization and Parental Involvement
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(00:29:47)
  • Key Takeaway: As DeSisto adopted a 12-step focus, students without addictions were pressured to adopt one, and Nicole was misdiagnosed as bipolar and prescribed mood-altering medication without clear parental consent.
  • Summary: The school shifted focus to 12-step programs, requiring students to work on a chosen addiction, leading Nicole to claim overeating. A visiting psychiatrist diagnosed her as bipolar and prescribed Lithium, causing numbness and vomiting due to toxicity, later switched to nortriptyline. Parents were required to attend monthly meetings where intimate family details were exposed, and non-participation resulted in being ’excommunicated’ from their children.
Hierarchy and Performing Arts
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(00:32:41)
  • Key Takeaway: Students navigated a strict hierarchy of dorms, culminating in the ‘steward’ level, which offered privileges like living in the mansion, often achieved by conforming to DeSisto’s expectations.
  • Summary: Students were either conformers or resisters; conformity allowed quicker advancement through dorm levels (New Girls to Regular to Steward). The theater arts dorm provided a temporary escape, allowing participation in productions like ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ and a summer dinner theater where students waited tables for paying customers. Students were told they earned money for a catalog fund, but it went to the school, and DeSisto exposed himself to students during these events.
Exit Strategy and Running Away
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(00:41:32)
  • Key Takeaway: The school offered academic credits via off-campus trips to Mexico and the Florida Keys, where Nicole ran away at age 18, knowing they could no longer legally force her return.
  • Summary: Academic credits could be earned through six-week trips to the school’s properties in San Miguel de Allende or the Florida Keys, where students learned Spanish or marine biology, respectively. Older students and dorm parents participated in ‘hunting’ runaways by tackling them and forcing them back into vans. Nicole fled during a trip to Arizona for a funeral, changing her flight last minute to Boston, and successfully left the school grounds permanently at 18.
Post-School Trauma and Recovery
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(00:48:12)
  • Key Takeaway: The hardest aspects of the DeSisto experience were the persistent feeling of being trapped, leading to recurring nightmares, and the subsequent culture shock that led to unhealthy coping mechanisms like drinking.
  • Summary: Nicole missed out on typical high school experiences like prom, leading to feelings of exclusion at family events where inside jokes were shared. After leaving, she began drinking and entered a toxic, abusive relationship, which she eventually fled. A later therapist correctly diagnosed her with PTSD, contrasting with the school’s misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder, highlighting the danger of unchecked institutional diagnoses.
Parental Relationships and Legacy
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(00:52:11)
  • Key Takeaway: Nicole’s parents remained divided on the school after her departure, with her mother demanding she return to maintain contact, while her father eventually apologized for sending her there.
  • Summary: Nicole’s mother insisted she return to the school to remain in contact, while her father was blocked by his wife from taking Nicole in. Nicole eventually rebuilt a fractured relationship with her mother, who passed away in 2019, but felt her mother was described as a different person by others at the funeral. Her father later apologized, admitting he was sorry they sent her to that unsafe place, illustrating the parents’ delayed realization of the school’s true nature.
Benefit Meetup Party Announcement
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(01:07:15)
  • Key Takeaway: A benefit party for The Gathering Inn is scheduled for Friday, November 21st, 2025, in SACTO.
  • Summary: The event, hosted by Amy B. Chesler and the Broken Cycle Media team, benefits The Gathering Inn, a 501c3 nonprofit serving Placer and Sacramento counties. The Gathering Inn provides shelter, housing, and wraparound services, currently serving over 468 individuals and families. Ticket purchases include entertainment such as trivia, karaoke, cocktails, and a photo booth, with details available at brokencyclemedia.com.
DJ Envy Dominica Festival Promo
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(01:08:51)
  • Key Takeaway: DJ Envy is promoting attendance at the 25th World Creo Music Festival in Dominica from October 24th to 26th.
  • Summary: The festival features soca, dancehall, and afro beats over three nights on the ‘Nature Island.’ Caribbean Airlines offers direct flights from New York to Dominica for attendees. Listeners are encouraged to lock in flights and tickets to attend the music festival.
Sienna University Promotion
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(01:09:20)
  • Key Takeaway: Sienna University emphasizes experiential learning, small classes, and guarantees merit scholarships starting at $64,000 over four years for undergraduates.
  • Summary: Sienna University promotes a ’learn by doing’ approach from day one through client campaigns, research, and clinical labs, ensuring professors know students personally. The institution ranks highly nationally for experience, outcomes, and value by The Wall Street Journal. An Open House is scheduled for November 8th for prospective students.