Student Advisory Council say they were subjected to a “cult-like” series of counseling sessions in a district-sponsored program that required them to cry, scream, and share deeply traumatic and personal stories in a group setting.for the past fifteen years, the Boston Public School system has hired Jenny Sazama as an outside contractor to run the Advisory Council, which helps advise the superintendent on education policy.
even when he loudly refused. Another former staffer describes a session in which Sazama tried to get a girl to share her experience of sexual assault with the group, despite being reluctant. Sazama also discouraged students from seeking out legitimate mental health treatment and medication, believing that “‘disorders’ are made-up names that describe distresses.”
For leaders of the counsel attending the intense sessions was sometimes mandatory, and even when they were advertised as voluntary students felt they had to go, especially when their full paychecks for their youth advocacy work were predicated on how many hours they worked. Sazama has defended the sessions, and has denied that students were paid or forced to attend them.