Seeking Connection: How to Reach a Friend in a Troubled Teen Program

Recently, I encountered an emotionally challenging situation involving a dear friend who was sent to a well-known residential program for troubled teens. After two months of silence, they managed to reach out to me by sharing a three-page Google Document to my email. I was relieved and grateful to hear from them, especially since our last conversation hadn’t ended on the best terms.

However, I soon realized that responding to their message would be much more difficult than anticipated. Unfortunately, the document had not been directly shared with me, and I could only view it as a scanned PDF in my Gmail account. Without access to the original document, I had no way to interact with it or to send any messages back.

I attempted to share my own Google Document with them but quickly discovered that their email, provided by the program, is of the restricted “[email protected]” format which likely has various functionalities disabled. In my frustration, I also tried sending them a direct email, but it never went through. In a moment of desperation, I even clicked “forgot password” in hopes that they might receive a notification, but that was unsuccessful as well, leading to the message “contact domain admin.”

Time is of the essence; they are set to remain in the program for at least another five months, and I really don’t want to risk losing our connection. I find myself reaching out to this community in hopes of gaining any advice or solutions on how to communicate with them. Even something as simple as an “I’m here” message would mean the world to me.

If anyone has navigated similar experiences or has suggestions, please share your insights. Thank you for your support, and if this isn’t the right forum for my post, I would appreciate any guidance on where to turn for help.