Laurel Heights Hospital

DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD HERE, PLEASE! We placed our daughter here, and within one month, I walked in and pulled her. She had a black eye, claw marks on her face, her glasses were broken, and her tooth broke. She was 13, and she is now 19. She's still in therapy from this trauma.

I went there abt a year ago n honestly the staff was really nice and understanding they had a great therapist but they had these blow up beds on a wood box n they where deflated and the rooms where 40degrees I had to steal sb jacket bc we got 2 thin blankets n I was freezing everything els was fine we got to go out side and color everyday but there was a few people who had been in there for 6-9 months and they where following the rules and I didn’t understand why they where kept there and they didn’t give me my cloths n shii my mom sent n the mail they provided my cloths the food was ok but we had to eat almost all of it or we wouldn’t b going home once your in this place it’s hard to leave n we got 6 dif activities everyday like different therapist and tv and music

This was genuinely one of the worst experiences of my life. Not only was the cleanliness of this place unbelievable, the environment was awful. The girls there would constantly scream and cry and the staff would scream back or do nothing at all. They would pick at their skin and the staff would tell us to ignore it because they were only looking for attention and there was nothing they could do. They would even get upset with us when we took it upon ourselves to stop them. The kids there already almost always have severe psychological problems and being here will only worsen them. Please NEVER let your children come.

DO NOT TAKE YOUR CHILD HERE!!!
This place will try to punish your child's mental health problems out of them.

They will be belittled and treated like criminals.
I have never left a review before for any establishment but this place haunts me years later til this day from what i saw & lived through at Laurel Heights. I wanted to just share my experience if it helps anyone.

I was a patient here for about half a year. i am now 19 & was kept in this facility for major depression.
It felt like i was stuck in the same four walls everyday, like i was in jail or an extremely long time out.
Me and a couple of girls on my unit were there for christmas, halloween, my 17th birthday, thanksgiving, and new years.
Sooo i definetley saw a lot here, but this one memory from Laurel Heights has stuck with me the most.

One of my roomates who was like 13 at the time had an anger outburst and the nurse dosed her up on so much lithium that she would just sleep ALL DAY for like a week. while this was happening the staff would come into our room and rip the blankets off and literally harrass her at 7 a.m and just yell at her like a dog her for not waking up to go to "school" as she was clearly drugged up and not going to get up. Instead of having someone there to help her process those negative feelings and angry thoughts (like umm.. the whole point of their job right? ). The staff just punished & isolated that poor chid.

That is just one of many bad memories here too.
Children & teens suffering from trauma or depression etc. need love, patience and real attention in those dark times in a residential mental health hospital not to feel like a burden all the time or forgotten about.

My daughter really did not have many complaints while being here. We have to remember there are a lot of kids receiving help at one time and sometimes there will be moments when your child may feel it is unfair. The only two things I did not like but understood why is the limits on visits per month and it is hard to get in contact with the doctors until they call you.