STORIES BY LOU KILZER

A mother's concern

Laura recalls her days in Sterling as a time when both her children were spinning out of control. And she says she was only doing what every mother must — looking out for her kids' wellbeing.

"A lot of people think, 'Oh, yeah, my kid's raised fine, that means I'm a good parent,"' she says. "That's bull. I thought it, too, until I found out both my kids had a lot of trouble. Being a good parent means you find something to try to help them when they're in trouble."

Corey, she says, "never did well in school. He always kept telling me, 'I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it. I'm not smart.' Which wasn't true. He was very smart. He was just very depressed."

Everything came to a head when Corey turned 13 and continued to underachieve in school.

"He was doing like he always did, which was not very well," Laura says.

One day Corey took an overdose of anti-depressants. He spent three nights in intensive care, then returned home.

Laura read an advertisement in Sunset Magazine for Teen Help. She called the company and soon concluded that its tough love was just what Corey needed.

She removed Corey from Sterling Middle School and sent him to Utah.

DESPERATE MEASURES The Series Epilogue: Lost Boy From Sterling to Samoa A mother's concern An international network The state intervenes An Internet support group Stuck in Samoa On to Montana The 'exit plan' Over the edge Epilogue Share your thoughts

Corey landed inside Teen Help's Brightway Adolescent Hospital — a series buildings in St. George that the company leased from the Utah Alcoholism Foundation. Brightway later closed under pressure from the state health department.

Corey received a swift psychological examination at Brightway. As they did with almost every other teen to pass through Brightway, staff members recommended that Corey be sent to a Teen Help compound.

Laura says she did not see a therapist or seek other professional advice in Colorado before sending Corey to Teen Help. She'd had it with traditional therapy.

"Every time I took him to therapists, they would tell me I should give up all my expectations for him," she says. "People didn't hold him to his greatness.

"I tried all of the conventional things. It ended up tearing my family apart. The only thing that did anything, that tried to put my family together again, was Teen Help."

Teen Help arranged for many teens at Brightway to get passports. Soon Corey was off to Western Samoa and Paradise Cove.

Desperate Measures: Home | Epilogue: Lost Boy

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