A Little Bit Culty

Sarah Edmondson & Anthony “Nippy” Ames

Corey Jentry on Selling Sanity: Inside the Troubled Teen Industry Cult (Part 1)

Jun 22, 202649 min

Summary

In this episode of A Little Bit Culty, hosts Sarah and Nippy welcome guest Dr. Corey Gentry to discuss his experience in the troubled teen industry. As a survivor of a youth treatment program and a former employee within the industry’s business side, Gentry offers a unique, dual-perspective look at how these institutions operate. He explains that these programs often prioritize profit over genuine care, utilizing predatory marketing strategies to recruit affluent teenagers by turning them into peer-to-peer recruiters. Gentry details his own harrowing journey, describing how these high-control environments function more like cults than therapeutic centers. He highlights the use of charismatic leadership, the systematic isolation of youth from their families, and the manipulation of information to maintain power. The conversation explores the troubling lack of clinical standards and the reliance on anecdotal testimonials rather than empirical evidence. By analyzing the intersection of commerce and control, Gentry and the hosts reveal how these facilities successfully gaslight teenagers into believing they are fundamentally broken, ultimately positioning the institution as the only possible solution for their survival.

Updated Jun 25, 2026

Society & Culture Health & Wellness Cults Mental Health Psychology Human Rights Trauma Recovery

Topics

Reflecting on Cultic Dynamics

About This Episode

In Part 1 of our conversation with Dr. Corey Jentry, we dive into a side of the troubled teen industry that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough: the programs that didn’t need to kidnap kids in the middle of the night, because they convinced them to walk in willingly. Corey shares how, as a struggling teenager looking for connection, he was drawn into what would become a five-year stay inside the Insight Substance Abuse program, formerly Palmer Drug Abuse Program (PDAP), a highly controlling treatment program founded by Bob Meehan, the controversial architect behind a network of adolescent rehab programs that many former participants now describe as cult-like.

What starts as a story about teen treatment quickly turns into a masterclass on love bombing, recruitment, and coercive influence. Corey walks us through the carefully crafted world of attractive young counselors, instant belonging, and promises of friendship that made the program feel like the answer to every teenage problem—until it wasn’t. We unpack the origins of Meehan’s treatment empire, the business model behind the industry, and how vulnerable families were sold a solution that often created far more harm than healing. Corey’s story is equal parts fascinating, infuriating, and eye-opening—and this is only the beginning. Stay tuned for Part 2 on Thursday.

Pick up Corey’s book, Selling Sanity: The Troubled-Teen Industry, the Insane Profits, and the Kids Who Pay the Price, and follow him on his website, coreyjentry.com, Substack @drcoreyjentry, or on LinkedIn.

Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of psychological manipulation, coercive control, addiction treatment programs, family dysfunction, emotional abuse, and experiences within the troubled teen industry.

Also…let it be known that:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

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CREDITS:

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Co-Creator: Jess Tardy

Audio production: Will Retherford

Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore

Writer: Sandra Nomoto

Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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More Episodes

Corey Jentry on Selling Sanity: Inside the Troubled Teen Industry Cult (Part 2)

Jun 25, 202658 min

Summary

In the second part of their conversation with Corey Jentry, the hosts of A Little Bit Culty continue their deep dive into the coercive tactics of the troubled teen industry. Building on the previous episode, Jentry details the psychological aftermath of being processed through a program that weaponized his teenage desire for belonging to strip him of his autonomy. A significant portion of the discussion focuses on identity hijacking, where the program pathologized any expression of individuality as a failure of character. Jentry recounts the harrowing environment in which members were pressured to abandon critical thinking and moral conscience, specifically citing instances where the group reacted to tragic events—such as the suicide of a peer—with callousness and victim-blaming. He explains how this emotional manipulation served to solidify dependency on the group’s leaders. The conversation also touches on Jentry’s transition into rigid segments of the recovery world, where he eventually realized that the indoctrination he had suffered was mirrored in other hyper-structured environments. Through his journey of moving abroad and pursuing higher education, Jentry reflects on the slow, often painful process of de-indoctrination and the importance of finding language to describe and overcome the shame associated with his past.

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