La Amistad Behavorial Health Services

Reviews 3

MO

Monique Winnik

A GRATEFUL MOTHER SPEAKS: I have to say that any parent confronted with a mental health crisis is faced with potentially losing their child to whatever is going on in their troubled minds and that is a very scary place to be with potentially grave long term consequences. We are talking crisis folks; otherwise, we would not be putting our children in a facility such as La Amistad. I am deeply grateful to La Amistad for breaking the cycle of my beautiful sons self-destructive behaviors however difficult it seemed to him at the time. My son, was a mess! I had him in an IOP program and because of his high risk behavior, was left with no options but to drive three hours to bring him to La Amistad. My boy was devastated, never away from home, as his mom and his other therapists, we new that this was the safest place for him. Im sure that sounds crazy based on the negative reviews but it is the honest truth. Please understand that its not the Ritz nor was that personally my expectation, and when you send your child there its not the happiest place on earth either, but it is a place of healing and hope for those like me who had none. As we all know, these are deeply troubled kids in an era of medicine where services are limited and insurance companies are dictating to every sector of medicine and that makes ratios and such extremely challenging for all providers. I believe that La Amistad is a place where our troubled kids have an opportunity to get better as difficult as some of the structure is for them. My son was admitted last summer and was there for 30 days. I was able to speak to him DAILY, never was I not allowed to communicate with him. I visited him every weekend, never missed just to spend time with him. In my packet upon admitting him, I received the numbers of every administrator, therapists, head therapists, including the CEO. I called as I was frightened by the experience and they were very responsive. I can assure you from my personal experience, you will be able to get answers which was very important to me. At first, the visits were so very painful, but it started getting better. My son was medically managed very well. I have been in the medical field for over 20 years and feel La Amistads psychiatrists respected my sons current medication protocol and moved slowly to insure the best outcome. So what was the outcome? My son, now 16, is a happy, healthy 16 year old boy with no residual issues from his crisis. La Amistad made an impact and thats what we needed desperately for my boy to see that his choices where going to really hurt him. My son made good choices while at La Amistad and that was the beginning of his own journey to recovery and wellbeing, allowing them to help him, by helping himself first! Recovery for a teen in these circumstances is a team effort, proper medication, structure, education, and lots of therapy. As the primary parent, I was well instructed by the therapists, and I adjusted my parenting style quickly to protect my son. In my case more structure and consequences were needed, and I was well equipped to frame his world for emotional success when we got him home. We got to know the staff and they cared about my boy, thank you Mr. Leon for listening to him, when he could barely speak, and all we saw were tears and pain. As I said, this was not easy, I gave them four stars because I didnt love any of what happened, loving something so painful just seems weird; however, La Amistad gave me my boy back, and I will be forever grateful and they get FIVE STARS for the enormity of their efforts to help me get my son back! Thank you!

TO

tooty 571

Quite a interesting place indeed. When I first arrived at la amistad, everything seemed alright. Nice food, staff seemed nice at first (boy was I wrong) and the other patients seemed nice. However, up until about a week after I arrived, I experienced powerful side effects from medication I was prescribed, mostly medications that I didnt even need. One medication actually made my hallucinations worse. The staff started talking about me and refused to let me practice my coping skills when things got bad, mainly because it gave them more to "watch over." When I experienced hallucinations, I was repeatedly threatened with a baker act. Not only that, but they started to discuss sending me to a lockdown residential when I told them I was experiencing difficulties. But thats not why this place doesnt deserve five stars. I started to think about suicide so I kept asking to speak to a counselor. The response: "theyll be here soon." Never came. At the time I had a heart issue so the doctor told me I had to go to the hospital for some tests. Turns out, once I arrived at the hospital for the second time, I found out there were no tests. I was being baker acted. No wonder the first hospital seemed confused (they didnt have a baker act facility) But thats not all. They REFUSED to let me back in the facility without any explanation. I had tried and tried to reach out to the counselors with little to no help. When my mom came to pick my stuff up, they gave her no explanation as to what really happened. Apparently the nurse didnt even know I was baker acted. All she knew was that I wasnt allowed back in. But here is where it gets ridiculous. After leaving the facility, still pumped up with like 15 medications (mostly sedatives), I was in the car about 4 hours away from the facility when we get a call from them asking why I wasnt there. They let me go because I was struggling (they were supposed to help which they didnt) and they had the nerve to refuse to let me in which apparently it was all a "misunderstanding" and I was supposed to return to the facility after being picked up. The staff didnt really know how to deal with issues and one kid was baker acted because he refused to move from the girls section (he felt more comfortable talking with the girls). Some of the staff were verbally abusive towards kids who were transgender and one even joked about my weight. They took several hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars afterwards because of all the medications I was prescribed and the fact that they had to escort me to the hospital in an ambulance twice because the first hospital didnt have a baker act facility. They charged my mom a ton because of all these therapies and tests they didnt even do. Its not a good place if you are LGBTQ. Its not a good place if you experience hallucinations or behavior issues, for they very often resort to the baker act when they dont feel like helping you. They may even baker act you for he insurance money, or because they just dont want to deal with you.

DO

Donna Nadeau

I will be describing our familys experience soon. Disturbing. Working on it. I want to make sure I get it right. My son has been struggling for 10 years with mental illness...an imbalance in the brain. Self medicating. Its an awful illness to live with for the person and the entire family. We have been working on helping him for such a long time....lets face it...its not an easy illness to fix. The whole family suffers. The initial interaction on the phone was not warm...friendly....caring. I felt like it was all in a days work for them. I had literally talked to 100 different contacts in the past 6 months, La Amistad was one of the rudest. I kept searching....and I got referrals for this place so I Thought Id give them a chance. It was all downhill from there. First, insurance was fine....then it was fine again. Then when they found out that my son had been in jail for a dui....they really didnt want him. They thought he might have behavioral problems....imagine that...and they are a behavioral center. they wanted to meet him in person now. We drove 8 hrs that day for a 10 min. Meeting. They asked him to blow for alcohol use. He said he had nothing to drink....she said he blew showing he drank. She pretty much convicted him of lieing. He blew a 2nd time...nothing registered. Guess he wasnt lieing. I looked at the reading that time...humm? Do ya think his 1st one.was okay too...I didnt check that reading. She asked him the same questions, again, that she asked him over the phone. Literally a 10 min. Meeting for 8 hr. Drive. Nothing was warm and friendly about it. We were a number...and our number didnt get called. They called me the next day and said insurance said no. That made no sense to me...was approved twice prior to them meeting him. All I can say is, we were judged. Who knows what they didnt like. Are they really interested in helping people? My heart says NO. They pick and choose who they want. That seems discriminatory. Just so wrong. I found another place for my son and they are so nice and genuinely concerned and educated. LA Amistad needs some.training on the illness...the people who come to them are very sick. Their families are begging for help....and its seems just like another day on the job to them. No clue. I Walked out just flabbergasted. I have been letting other facilities Ive contacted know not to refer people there. Im sorry about the negative review but mental health is so important to me. I demand understanding from those in the field. I am excepting of outsiders ignorance and the stigma, because people who arent aware couldnt possibly understand it. I will continue to help educate people and get the stigma removed. Good luck LA Amistad. I hope you can improve because we need educated people and facilities to help us. May GOD bless.