Written By;
Kristen
Murchie House was a girls group home in Traverse City. It housed 11 girls between the ages of 12-17. The girls were usually wards of the court or state. Intense counseling both individual and group. It worked on a level system as well. Levels were 0-5 and were based on points earned, the more points you earned the higher your level...done on a weekly basis. A zero level was also called a "total" in which you were basically fully "grounded" from everything, early bedtime, no phone privileges, no tv, no music, no outings. Each level higher had more privileges..5 being pretty free....almost impossible to hang onto once achieved. I spent most of my time there at a level 4. When I lived there, we did chores, the girls took care of all the house duties, cooking, cleaning etc. When I worked there..staff did all that. Which I never understood why they didn't have the girls do it anymore as it taught them how to work together, how to clean, cook, basically take care of yourself.
Yes, we went to regular public school. Staff took us all in a van to school and then picked us up after school.
Never any abuse occurred...so there is NO comparison to TCSH at all. Except maybe between the girls...staff was loved and you knew they cared about us. I am in no way comparing Murchie House to TCSH...trust me. Doors were not locked, you were allowed to go outside just about anytime you wanted...far from feeling like any kind of lock up. Some of the girls were to much to handle so they went into more lock down places, such as Arnell or other hospitals. Murchie was open for several, several years through out the 70's 80's and 90's not positive when it closed for sure. It was ran by Child and Family Services of Northwest Michigan. For as long as it was a part of the area I just always find it odd that you can find NOTHING about it on the web...anywhere!
07-20-2010, 03:35 PM
Murchie House Traverse City Michigan
....Time Did Not Heal My Wounds, The Plaster Just Cracked.
HEY kristen; i do remember a Heather in arnell engstrem before i left in sept of 82, long blond Hair. she was very nice, govener ingler shut down everything in 92, lafayette clinic, in Detroit! T.C.S.H. ect.. but there were people still there 10 years after i got out! i dont think theres any words in the english Dictionary to describe how Horrible things were at times! lol
Linear Mode
