At 15, Emily was 'taken' from her Sydney bedroom. For the next two years, her life was "hell on earth".

This story includes descriptions of abuse that may be distressing to some readers.

It was three in the morning when two strangers entered Emily's bedroom. 

"[They] switched on my bedside lamp and that's when I was presented with the option - the easy way or the hard way," she told 60 Minutes on Sunday night. 

The 15-year-old was shown paperwork allowing her to be taken from her Sydney home. It was signed by her parents. 

"It's just this sinking feeling of dread knowing there's no way out. The only way out of the house is with them." 

All Emily was told was that her mother was acting out of 'tough love'. 

Watch: Emily speaks to 60 Minutes about being taken from her Sydney home. Post continues below. 

In her mother's eyes, Emily, who had no history of alcohol or drug addiction, was a "troubled teen". 

"I snuck my phone into my room late at night. I dated a boy who was 17 when I was 15 and I think I just had a bit of an attitude in general from the tumultuous childhood," she explained.  

Not knowing where she would be taken, the teenager was flown to the other side of the world to a Utah wilderness facility, where she stayed for 10 weeks. She was then relocated to The Monarch School in Montana, a therapeutic boarding school, which she described as 'hell on earth'.

"I was terrified and even on the plane, it still didn't feel real," she said.

"I kept thinking to myself 'Why am I here?' Which is a question I still wonder to this day, 'Why, why me?'"

During her time at the facilities, Emily said her peers were punished if they "looked at someone the wrong way", food was taken away and boarders weren't allowed to talk to a single person for months at a time. 

She was also subjected to a form of aggressive group counselling known as "attack therapy", where trauma was reportedly re-enacted. 

"It was a snowball effect, so one kid would start yelling at another kid, and more kids would join in," she said. 

"These were torture for me, to have a group of 15 of your peers yelling at you, and what would make matters worse was this rile-up gang mentality would go farther than the walls of that room. And this was encouraged [by the school]."

For Emily, who suffered from anxiety and depression, the worst experience was being told by her headmaster that "I would amount to nothing because I was a wayward youth and that I wasn't worth the college education fee". 

Emily isn't the only person who was shipped off to one America's so-called 'therapeutic boarding schools'. 

Speaking to 60 Minutes, Paris Hilton shared she spent time at four different "troubled teens" facilities, including the Provo Canyon School in Utah. 

"During my time at these places, I was strangled [and] hit," she explained. "Every time I would take a shower, use the bathroom, there'd be male and female staff watching." 

The 41-year-old said she was also subjected to gynaecological examinations which were performed by non-medical staff.

"Late at night, they would come in and take us and do cervical exams, like every couple weeks, which as an adult now I'm realising that they were actually sexually abusing us, because none of them were even trained doctors."

Paris Hilton has become the unlikely face of a movement against the Troubled Teen industry. She says like many other teenagers imprisoned within therapeutic residential care, she suffered emotional, physical and sexual abuse. #60Mins pic.twitter.com/GbwI5p6nt8

— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) November 13, 2022

Just like Emily, Hilton was also taken from her home in New York in the early hours of the morning. She was 16 at the time. 

"These two men came into my room at 4.30 in the morning, holding up handcuffs," she told the program. "[They] said 'Do you want to go the easy way or the hard way?' And I had no idea who they were. I thought I was being kidnapped."

Despite allegations of abuse, these facilities are still allowed to operate in the US, with Caroline Cole, who runs a survivor support group, telling 60 Minutes, "we have reports of horrific abuse still coming out of these facilities as of a week ago... as of yesterday".

According to Channel Nine, it's estimated 86 teenagers died in the facilities between 2000 and 2015. However, the total number of deaths is unknown. 

After being separated from her home for two years, Emily is now back living in Australia. 

However, her time at the facilities have taken a heavy toll, and she still struggles to trust her family.

"I will always have in the back of my mind, am I the problem?" she said. "Am I still a bad kid? Am I inherently evil?"

Now 25, she has gone on to study law at university and endeavours to keep proving her headmaster wrong. 

"Part of me will always mourn my childhood. But there are so many kids who have died, and so many friends I've lost. I try to live my life for them."

If this brings up any issues for you, contact Bravehearts, an organisation dedicated to the prevention and treatment of child sexual abuse, on 1800 272 831.

Feature Image: Channel Nine.