COUNTLESS programs exist aimed at combatting "troubled teens," but the multi-billion dollar industry's controversial tactics often hurt more adolescents than they help.

Established by Steve Cartisano in the late 1980s, the Challenger Foundation was a wilderness therapy camp geared towards teenagers labeled as rebellious, delinquent, or worse.

What was the Challenger Foundation?

In 1988, Steve Cartisano created the Challenger Foundation.

The organization centered around a wilderness survival program for troubled teens and adolescents.

As part of the Challenger program, teenagers were taken out of their beds in the middle of the night, and transported to the wilderness of Utah.

While it sounds like a kidnapping, the teen's parents were not only privy to the experience, but they also shelled out big bucks to pay for it.

Read More About Hell Camp

The average cost of the program was upwards of $15,900.

Parents would temporarily sign away their parental rights to their "troubled" teen, allowing Challenger staff members to come into their homes and whisk their child away for 63 days.

As described in the Netflix documentary, Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare, the Challenger Foundation was founded to "transform bad kids through ordeal."

Teenagers would face "brutal conditions" during the camp, which claimed that "the kids are worn down until they're good again."