Giovanna Swarts

Review of Sunrise RTC

Positively not a good place to be when you re deal...

Positively not a good place to be when you re dealing with your own problems, weather it be medical or mental. Without a doubt I left with way more trauma and issues than I came with. I was there for thirteen months and nearly a level 5. I was on the path to graduation and due to some financial problems with my parents I was not able to stay to graduate my program. The program, while it has a good idea, the execution of said idea is awful. The laws in utah are vague and protect very little of the rights every human should have. I was telling the staff there for months, three months exactly, that I needed to be in an inpatient hospital. With my own concerns ignored I was kept isolated in my room for those three months with no contact with peers or my family. The isolation in and of itself is enough to drive most anyone to insanity and it nearly did to me. I hadn t self harmed for nearly 3 months before my admit to sunrise and it lead me to that. I was then transported to a hospital six or so hours away from the campus and brought back a week later. I came back strictly because my parents told me I would go to wilderness (an outdoors/camping based 3 month intensive therapy camp). I came back determined to go home, I couldn t be there for much longer at all. I had to hide so ,much, fake so many vulnerable moments and share so much and elaborate into things that believe it or not had not too much behind it. One of the programs many unethical punishments would have to be Reflection. When you are in trouble (to put it simply) you are placed on reflection where you may not talk for 12 hours unless for an EXTREMELY basic need. If I needed support or someone to process with, I was not allowed to process any of those emotions. At that point with being silenced and not allowed to get support, I would get in trouble again and have my twelve hours completely started over. Those twelve hours also do not continue when you sleep. Sunrise also has the full ability to put a resident into a hold, a restraint. I was put in restraints for decent reasons for the most part, but there were students while I was there who would be placed into a hold and dragged up stairs for not moving from the couch. I had bruises and a popped blood vessel after one of the holds, and reported symptoms of a concussion. None of those concerns were met with the appropriate medical care. I was placed on two medications while I was there that seriously interacted with each other. They were zyprexa and seroquel, I began passing out and feeling weak to the point I could not move. I did not get a single dentist appointment in the year I was there, and neither did I get a standard checkup. In my opinion, the (barely) medical staff are completely incompetent.The therapists overly push the residents, past the point of breaking. If I could only explain my experience fully, people could understand so much more. Sadly, and experience like the one I lived at sunrise is one you have to go through to understand, and it s something I hope not many people are forced to understand.