SJ

Review of Highlands Behavioral Health Sy...

DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD HERE!!!

If I could give them a zero, I would! My teenage daughter was admitted to Highlands Behavioral in Aug. only because no other beds were available at any other hospital. On intake, they asked her if she wanted medical marijuana. Really, on intake? She said no. Let's drug the kid up before we even know what's wrong with her. That makes a lot of sense!

She was under the care of Dr. Vanessa Venezia, who is the Chief Medical Officer at this facility, by the way. This doctor kept trying to push drugs on my daughter, just 15 yrs old. My daughter declined, thankfully. I'm aware of the CO law that states she may consent to receive mental health services to be rendered by a facility or a professional person. She, however, is admitted into a mental health facility. How can she possibly understand & make an educated, informed decision about whether or not to take medication, let alone which medication to take??? This doctor told me NOTHING else about my daughter's health & well-being while she was admitted there. She would only call me to badger me about giving her drugs.

I told this doctor I wanted to do the GeneSight testing to determine which were the better medications for my daughter's genetics. This doctor said she doesn't do this testing & that it's not worth it. She did everything she could to try & convince me NOT to do this testing. I told her I wanted to research it more & that she was NOT to give my daughter any medication whatsoever. She was mad that I would not do as she was telling me to do. She said my daughter was old enough to make her own decisions on her mental health care. I understand that, but she's not going to do something just because you said so. This doctor then threatened me that she was going to call CPS on me for medical neglect. Really? Who do you think had her sent to the hospital for help in the first place? I did confront her on her threat towards me. She didn't like that either, then hung the phone up on me. She then went & told my daughter that she made me mad.

What kind of "professional" doctor, especially a Chief Medical Officer of a hospital, does that? This behavior is absolutely unacceptable & should be dealt with accordingly.

While my daughter was there, she apparently was tested positive for COVID. No one ever called to tell me she was sick. I had to call & demand to talk to her, because they just kept saying she was sleeping in the quiet room.

My daughter told me that another patient there was given too many drugs which made her have seizures. Are these facilities here just to drug up our kids?

During my daughter's stay at this facility, I called to talk to the Patient Advocate due to the doctor's rude behavior. I left a message. No one ever called me back. Thankfully, I got my daughter out of that place!