S24 Ep13: How Profoundly Sorry I Am

Something Was Wrong

Broken Cycle Media

True Crime, Documentary, Education, Society & Culture

4.1 • 24.6K Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

*Content warning: substance use disorder, death, distressing and mature topics, drug use, institutional child abuse, emotional, physical and sexual violence of adolescents, childhood abuse, grooming.

*Free + Confidential Resources + Safety Tips:
somethingwaswrong.com/resources

*SWW S23 Theme Song & Artwork:
The S24 cover art is by the Amazing Sara Stewart

Follow Something Was Wrong:

Website: somethingwaswrong.com
IG: instagram.com/somethingwaswrongpodcast
TikTok: tiktok.com/@somethingwaswrongpodcast

Follow Tiffany Reese:

Website: tiffanyreese.me
IG: instagram.com/lookieboo

*Sources
"Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association of Specialty Programs & Schools." PRNewswire, January 1, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20120925185503

Bruening, Lexi, "District Attorney: dozens of Ivy Ridge abuse complaints pour in after documentary." 7 News, WWNY, March 11, 2024 https://www.wwnytv.com/2024/03/11/district-attorney-dozens-ivy-ridge

Chomik, Alexandra, "TORTURE CHAMBER What was the Academy at Ivy Ridge?" The U.S. Sun, Mar 6 2024
https://www.the-sun.com/tv/10592100/what-was-academy-at-ivy-ridge

Editor, Letter to the. “Letter to the Editor: Bob Lichfield Offers Rebuttal to Allegations in Netflix Documentary.” St. George News, 27 Mar. 2024, www.stgeorgeutah.com/opinion/letter-to-the-editor-opinion/letter-to-the-editor-bob-lichfield-offers-rebuttal-to-allegations-in-netflix-documentary/article_c6e27554-f37b-555a-b4be-2c31f617c546.html.

"Former Academy at Ivy Ridge students meet in Ogdensburg, rally outside city hall" 7 News, WWNY, April 27, 2024 https://www.wwnytv.com/2024/04/27/former-academy-ivy-ridge

Hill, Michael, "Netflix docuseries on abuse allegations at New York boarding school prompts fresh investigation." InfoTelNews, April 03, 2024 https://infotel.ca/newsitem/us-boarding-academy-abuse-claims

Kenton, Luke, "'ABUSER UNMASKED' Amy Ritchie is named as the Ivy Ridge ‘predator’ by four alleged victims who claim sexual abuse & sick grooming cycle." The Sun UK, March 23, 2024
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/26880799/academy-ivy-ridge-abuser-amy-ritchie

“Key to His Schools’ Success? It’s God, Founder Says.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 13 July 2003, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jul-13-na-toughbar13-story.html

Kubler, Katherine, creator and director. The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping. Netflix, 2024 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31183637/

Mitchell, Max, "IDirector: Ivy Ridge to close until fall" Watertown Daily Times, MARCH 12, 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20160530232325

“Riot at Cult School Finally Helped Close It after Abused Students Fought Back.” The US Sun, The US Sun, 28 Mar. 2024, www.the-sun.com/news/10623840/academy-ivy-ridge-riot-cult-school-closed-abuse-netflix/.

Rutherford, Diane, "NYS saw serious problems at Ivy Ridge in 2006, says letter obtained by 7 News." 7 News, WWNY, Mar. 12, 2024 https://www.wwnytv.com/2024/03/12/nys-saw-serious-problems-ivy-ridge

Semple, Kirk, "Melee Keeps Spotlight on Hard Life at Academy." The New York Times, June 8, 2005 https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/nyregion

NewsNation. “Teens' Alleged New York Boarding School Sexual Abuser Identified: Report | Banfield.” YouTube, 22 Apr. 2024 www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_oKRuKXdAQ.

“UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, BRUCE DUNGAN, et al., Plaintiffs v. THE ACADEMY AT IVY RIDGE, et al., Defendants.” April 22, 2008 https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-nynd

Warner, Greg, "Riot at Ivy Ridge School for Troubled Teens." NCPR, May 19, 2005 https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story

Winters, David, "Ivy Ridge, home sold for $2.8m." Watertown Daily Times, APRIL 25, 2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20140130123642

7 News. "Former Academy at Ivy Ridge Students Meet in Ogdensburg, Rally Outside City Hall." YouTube, 27 Apr. 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRNMUgnUkNw

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Something was wrong is intended for mature audiences and discusses upsetting topics.
0:05.9	Season 24 survivors discuss violence that they endured as children, which may be triggering for some
0:12.0	listeners. As always, please consume with care. For a full content warning, sources and resources
0:19.1	for each episode, please visit the episode notes.
0:23.2	Opinions shared by the guests of the show are their own, and do not necessarily represent
0:27.7	the views of Broken Cycle Media. All persons are considered innocent until proven guilty
0:33.2	in a court of law. Responses to allegations from individual institutions are included within the season.
0:40.4	Something was wrong and any linked materials should not be misconstrued as a substitution
0:45.1	for legal or medical advice.
0:50.9	In the next chapter of this season, we'll hear from survivors of the Academy at Ivy Ridge.
0:57.6	The Academy at Ivy Ridge operated as a privately owned,
1:01.6	for-profit behavior modification center for adolescents,
1:06.0	marketed to parents as a boarding school for teens struggling with behavioral issues.
1:12.2	The program,
1:19.5	located in Ogdensburg, New York, opened in 2001 and was co-owned in a business partnership between the Jason G. Finlinson Corporation and the Joseph and Alan Mitchell Corporation.
1:27.0	Across the academy's eight years of operation,
1:30.3	student recruitment was driven by various internet promotions,
1:34.4	referrals from parents,
1:36.2	and outreach efforts by marketing companies such as teen help.
1:41.2	Ivy Ridge was initially affiliated with the Worldwide Association of Specialty Programs and
1:46.8	Schools, also known as WASP. Wasp was a for-profit network that provided an operational model
1:54.6	and participant referrals for private behavior modification and therapeutic boarding schools across the U.S., as well as Mexico,
	...

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