NekkyoTenshi

Review of The Ridge Behavioral Health

Very poor inpatient care and if you are a therapis...

Very poor inpatient care and if you are a therapist and force someone to come here, that's just negligence on your part. Shame on you.

I was placed here for three days for an overreaction to a suicidal thoughts by a therapist I had just met. I was expecting to get help, not be pushed somewhere else and kept against my will at another place within minutes of introducing myself.

Inpatient care starts with waiting a long time, then you get put in a small room they lock you in and interrogate you about why you are there. Good luck if you are afraid or confused about being there, or the therapist that sent you puts on your sheet to not trust what you say.

Then you are put in a ward with other people who are the same risk as you. I was in the mild, not a clear and present danger to oneself ward with a wide age range of people. Very young high schoolers to nonagenarians. You cannot take your phone, wallet, keys,watch or bag with you. No computers, really old and unreliable phone the front desk people can shut off at any time if they are suspicious of you. You have coloring pages with crayons, puzzles, and a television with restricted access.

The ward has rooms to stay in with a bathroom with a shower. Please realize there are no doors and people will burst in to check on you in the name of safety, even if they can hear if you are taking a shower. Towels are monitored and you have to give them back to the front desk after use. The beds are hard and very cheap, worst than the sleaziest dorm you have slept in. They blame you not sleeping on anxiety, even if you don't have any anxiety or are not even diagnosed with it. No amount of pillows or thin blankets they give you can make that bed comfortable. You also can't wear a bra unless its a sports bra, or anything with zippers or strings.

They take your blood sample as soon as they can (mine was on the second day), and said my cholesterol was up by four points. This I can attest to the food from the day before, which is nothing but fried, buttered, creamed, canned or cheesed. It's not even enjoyable unhealthy food, just gross cafeteria fare. Beware of mold in the milk.

Also there is only group therapy (which isn't good provided cbt, it psychs people up to be more upset and keep you there longer) and the psychiatrists who prescribe medicine come around very rarely. They don't tell you that you have to see them to leave. That could be several days. Otherwise you are waiting. Waiting on nothing. What if I was really suicidal? This place isn't conducive to a non-stressful,healthy environment a person needs. You also cannot have loved ones visit. They only visit for an hour on Thursday. The support of family in trying times? Ha, hope you like phone calls. Which they can shut off anytime.

It's a bad facility. I don't recommend it at all. Please do not force anyone to go there. Unfair treatment, hard beds, bad food, and no actual help that one would need. You are injuring your patient further by sending them there, I assure you.