CEDU influenced by Synanon
Program
The average time a child spent at a CEDU program before graduating was 2+1⁄2 years. Teenagers were often held beyond their 18th birthday with conservatorship or extended custody, until they completed the full program. The programs were year-round. CEDU had its own language, derived from Synanon. Three times a week, for 3–4 hours, teenagers would attend "raps," pseudo psychology group sessions led by untrained staff based on Synanon's "the game." Children and staff were incentivized to "indict" residents for minor rule infractions, previous traumas, and "disclosures" or items individuals were ashamed of, in the name of emotional growth. This is commonly referred to as attack therapy, where screaming, swearing, and humiliation is appropriate and expected. At night there would be Group touching, called "smooshing", consisted of hand holding, spooning, snuggling, caressing, sitting on laps, petting hair, was expected of both teenagers and staff. It was common for staff to engage in this form of touch with teenagers.In addition to raps, in order to advance in the CEDU program, a resident would have to earn the  privilege to participate in a workshop known as a "propheet" every three months. The propheets were based on Synanon's "trip", and would last from 24 hours to several days at a time. The propheets were led by unlicensed staff along with teenagers at an advanced stage of the program, known as "upper school". They employed sleep-deprivation, humiliation, exposure to large variations in temperature, guided imagery, loud and repetitive music, regression therapy, physical reenactments of trauma, and forced emoting. The propheets were based on the book The Prophet  by Kahlil Gibran, writings of R.W. Emerson, and Thoreau. Each used "tools" from the historic literature, that were later used as stepping stones in the program that teenagers were expected to act upon in everyday life. There were seven propheets (Truth, Children's, Brother's Keeper, Dreams, I Want To Live, Values, and Imagine), and two workshops (I and Me, and Summit)
During intake, which occurred upon a teenager's arrival to a CEDU program, they were strip searched by staff and upper school residents, were placed in generic clothing after their belongings where taken away, and made to sign a contract consenting to CEDU's agreements. The three most emphasized agreements were no sex, no drugs, and no violence, yet there were agreements for every part of life, including timed showers, the way hair was worn, and the way people must speak. Violators would be sent to the Ascent Wilderness Program located in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, which was CEDU's version of a six-week boot camp, or placed on a "restriction", which included emotional growth writing assignments, manual labor, isolation, "bans" or forbidding a teenager to speak to, look at, or be acknowledged by peers, and sometimes "bans" from singing, smiling, reading, learning, drawing, and being touched.