Sutter Center for Psychiatry Review

Known to care about helping the mentally ill although better than most facilities in Sacramento

Sgt Aaron Joseph, 55834182, US Army 82nd Airborne Div, B Co 2-505 PIR...I received threats of being held down and medicated after questioning a transfer to the ICU no clear person was put in charge I was surrounded with seven to ten personnel and every question I asked was answered by a different person... I was eventually transferred when my initial request to be lead was answered. Once transferred I received absolutely no toiletries until I request them personally and repetitively. Throughout the duration of my stay there was very little involvement from the staff until they were bothered and it was obviously a bother to them. I requested nutritional information for the food I was being given I was told that I could speak with a dietitian. I never saw a dietitian though I requested multiple times. I was told multiple times that I was prescribed medication and intimidated into taking it. When I requested medical information for the medication they were attempting to give me I was given short answer internet printouts that provided very little information and still did not answer my questions. Sanitation was unacceptable due to poor drainage in the showers which led to dangerous slip hazards. I often found myself cleaning up trash, debris, and spills in the day room because the staff wasn't attentive and I grew tired of asking them to do their job. I did not see a social worker to deal with the issues I am dealing with throughout the entirety of my stay though I was told many times I would have the opportunity. I do not believe this institution should remain in business as it is currently operating. They turn people into batteries and receive paychecks for work they do not do.

As far as mental hospitals in Sacramento go. This is the best in Sac. County.

They've always been open friendly and very helpful actually with the mental health issues I have this is my favorite place in Sacramento to go.

So rude lied about telling my loved one to call me said they were gunna transfer me hung up called back was hella rude to me u guys are a joke

This chick told me I look cute then threw a candy bar at me and ran across the road into the back of a pickup truck and we never saw her again.

Honestly the worst I could imagine. The staff is rude, yeah, just what you need in an inpatient, and overalls crummy. Does nothing to make patients comfortable, and truly makes you feel like a criminal.

Most of the staff here are wonderful. And the only mental health facility that offers ECT therapy which helps with medication resistant depression. One more positive is that the meals are delicious.

Doctor was wonderful she was very caring she just wanted to help everyone that is definitely what you want to see in a doctor

Yes very good place best place. Been to sierra vista tht is worse place ever. Tryna get back into this place. Its a great warm place and helped me but needed to stay longer but social worker said no. Doctor was saying it was ok but not social worker. Just got released from sierra vista. Wanting to go back to Sutter so much. Don't know if they will pick me up on assestment again. Going to try calling and see what they say. Fingers crossed i can attend there again its melissa on my kids google. Maybe thy will email me or call

I want to thank the staff very much I was going through a tremendous hard time and they help me in every way possible I appreciate everybody on the team and staff absolutely wonderful will take care of anybody and everybody whatever your need is they will meet it best last well. Promise

The 5 star rating is for both the hospital and the ECT department. The hospital had great, and helpful staff, and pleasant doctors as well as good groups you could go to. The ECT department has cured my depression! I'm so happy with my experience here.

I have had multiple treatments of ECT in many parts of the county. At Sutter Psychiatric Hospital, I was referred to Dr. Goodman, who was recommended by my my psychiatrist as the closet maintenance ECT. Dr. Goodman at Sutter Psychiatric hospital.

Dr. Goodman was HORRIBLE. He did not listen to my concerns post-treatment (and NOT from anyone teograde or retrograde amnesia, which I ve experienced before.) After Dr. Goodman s treatments, I woke up with gritty teeth and teeth breakage; the treatment did not help, and he dismissed my concerns. I stopped treatment with him after less than 6 treatments.

Every other series of ECT I ve had in PA and LA I felt better; they worked WELL. They lessened my depression so much that they completely eradicated my psychosis (i am diagnosed as Major Depression with Psychosis & earlier as Schizoaffective) I would NEVER allow Dr. Goodman to treat me again.

I don't care for mental hospitals as a rule but the staff here genuinely did their best to help patients and I've never seen them use excessive force. If at all possible they try not to use force at all and I've seen them go to great lengths not to hurt their patients when they have had to use force.

I genuinely enjoyed both of my stays here, and it was the absolute best experience, bar none. I adore MOST of the staff (Shout out to Ulysses and David ) and I enjoyed the environment a lot. The rooms are nice, you're only placed with one roommate, and although a few of the psychiatrists aren't quite ideal, I was lucky enough to be placed under the care of Dr. Blanco, who I consider the best one there. I learned some interesting skills, but most valuable to me was the social atmosphere. I struggle with extreme social anxiety, but I was able to make many friends there, a few of whom I'm still in contact with! I actually miss it sometimes, although I don't plan to return considering I'm 18 now (and admittedly terrified of going to an adult psych facility).

This review is for the outpatient program. I can't speak for every Therapist or Psychiatrist there but I can say this, the ones I had were fantastic. I was in the program for a while before getting at all comfortable talking to them or in the group. They were so supportive, not pushy, easy to talk to, attentive, professional, caring... I can continue with every positive adjective possible but I'm sure my point is clear. I went into this at the beginning of a rough time and had no idea what to expect; I had never been to any psychiatric facilities in that capacity. The first couple days were soooo rough and it later became clear, that was totally normal. The therapist really knew her stuff and knew how to gently encourage me to realize I was in a safe spot, both physically and mentally. Once I was able to get comfortable with the group therapy, I was able to actually focus on the work and tools being taught. By the end, I felt a lot better knowing that I had learned several useful, important tools and methods to help get me through life's bumps and challenges. On my discharge day, I knew there were a million things I wanted to say to my DR and therapist to explain how grateful I was for their time/support. When the time came, I was probably awkward when trying to talk to them because in reality, there are really no words that can be said to people that help others as they do. The staff here cares. I would never consider anywhere else if ever in need of an outpatient program again.

I was treated there. I don't recommend it as much from my experience, the am staff treated us like we were there for some jail time. For the most part all i wanted was to go home and never go back there again.

It's crazy how unhelpful and rude the receptionists are at Sutter. My brother was taken to the hospital earlier today, and my family wanted him to be referred to the psychiatric hospital. When I called Sutter to find out if he was there I found out that they keep no records of when a patient has come to the hospital. If he's not there currently they don't know. Then at the Center for Psychiatry I spoke to a cold/rude receptionist who had no helpful information other than to wait and see if he called. I get that there are some weird laws surrounding psychiatric hospitals, but when the family is trying to help a loved one by getting him into psychiatric care the least you could do is be polite, and give helpful information. Like come on. There's no record of a person being admitted to the hospital and transferred and when a family tries to get a patient admitted to the hospital they can't confirm or deny that they're there. My brother could easily die if he isn't admitted to a hospital and my family needs to know where he is so that we can search for him or file a missing person report. This terrible receptionist could at least help me understand the rules surrounding it, and help me figure out what to do next. It's ridiculous that people can retain their jobs when they're terrible at them.

Was the designated driver for a friend and they have a comfortable waiting area with coffee and tea. Nice staff very friendly atmosphere.

Best pychiatric facility that I have been too. Dr. Arif was awesome along with all the staff. Even the food was delicious.

I was a patient here (as an adolescent) and was treated for depression. It was a decent stay. The nurses were extremely kind, and the therapists and other staff were mostly kind. They do have a pretty big problem with communicating things to their patients, however. Long story short, I wasn't explained anything for a while. I kept asking the staff what the schedule was and they couldn't give me a clear answer. I was finally given a schedule on the 3rd day, which I should've been given on the 1st day. I still don't understand why the staff couldn't help me for so long.

Overall, they did a great job with watching the patients and making sure nothing bad happened, and they never pressured any of us to come to the group therapy sessions when we didn't feel up to it, which I hugely appreciated.

Cleanliness was... decent. When I walked into my room the first thing I noticed was the huge amount of innapropriate writings on the walls, bedframes, bookshelves, and mirror lol, which was fine, i didn't really care. The bathroom area was pretty gross, but it was livable.

Honestly, I would recommend this hospital to anyone who has been to a mental hospital already and knows what to expect somewhat.

Terrible facility. The visiting rules change daily/per person. The staff is cold and rude. Plus they will approve and start administering electroshock brain therapy on a heavily medicated patient without even consulting the spouse or family.

I was there 3 yrs ago, I came in broken but left happier an lighter . Good caring staff , Nice ppl there , food was real good , Good Drs. I think they diagnosed me correctly after 25 yrs of struggling. Place was very clean, an the staff interacted with all the patients. Total plus .

Hi I want to check my self in somewhere but I've been reading these reviews and I'm scared now sometimes I wanna die sometimes I dont and I don't understand what's going on inside me I feel dead but I have a life a job kids I don't want to be stuck in there for weeks like people are saying but I think it's time for me to get some help I need it I don't have family I just left a 20 year marriage and I feel empty lost and I've never felt this alone in my entire life ai fear I might really kill myself one day I just want someone to tell me what's wrong with me and fix me I need to tell someone Everything so they can helpw me

As a nonverbal autistic woman, it's definitely been "interesting". The staff that work directly for the facility was great, the food was good. I'm still questioning the doctor's actions though. If you subtract the doctor, you've got a great place to get help.

I've had family members treated here several times. It is the best psych treatment place I've seen in Sacramento.

I recently went in for an assessment . The nurse was pretty nice and efficient. I am wanting to do the out patient program mon-fri. They took my insurance info and said I should be able to start the program the next day, because they don t want patients that are struggling with depression to have to wait. Here we are 5 days later with NO call back. I called the number that was givin to me and of course, I called the wrong section of the facility...even tho the number I was given was the number the nurse told me to call AND she even circled it! Anyways I was transferred to another person who said I had the wrong department yet again, he gave me two more numbers to call because he wasn t sure of who I needed to talk to..ugh. It s ALL about insurance insurance insurance and here I sit struggling on a daily basis and I can t even receive and help until they know I m good for the money (BTW I have an excellent insurance plan). I m sad and disappointed to know that for people who are genuinely struggling to keep going day by day, one foot in front of the other, are being forced to wait. I m extreamly worried that I m going to start their program only to be disappointed. They are already SO disorganized and SO insurance focused that I fear they will make a killing off of my insurance, but fail to really care about me or care about truely helping and healing me. Life is hard enough and when we ask for help, help comes at a snails pace meanwhile people continue suffering. I will hopefully have a more positive review to report after my treatment, but I just thought I d left folks know how terrible the getting the help you need in a timely manner really has been. If treatment is as bad as my initial impression, then your darn right I will be writing about that too. I just want to add that not everyone is a criminal, or has schizophrenia, some of us are just really depressed for some unexplained reason and we just want to feel better and live the best life possible!

I had to be in this facility for five days, and it's the best experiance I've had regarding my mental health. The staff were great, the daily activities were fun and helpful, and they had the best food I've ever had in a hospital.

Staff were very nice, and patients in the adolescent ward, where I was, were treated kindly. I, personally, recconend this facility.

This review is for the out patient program. My daughter spent several weeks going to this program and overall there were a lot of disappointing experiences. Although normally I love Sutter and have had great results, this facility doesn't meet the expectations.
1. Most importantly, when leaving the program they do not help you transition or set you up for success. As soon as your insurance runs out, they kick you out. No help in getting moved over to long term doctors. No transition plan.
2. Often when I called or talked to the front desk they struggled with understanding English. Often they were confused and gave me the wrong information to simple questions. Put on hold numerous times for simple questions.
3. The Psychiatrists spend very little time with the patients and don't keep track of your needs very well. Often asking the patient what medications they prescribed last week.. As soon as you are out of the program, don't call them looking for direction or if you meds are wrong. Sorry, insurance is out. They may have been your last doctor but they can't help you. Obviously long term care is who should be solving that, but when you call a Dr. in a panic looking for help, you would think you would get some support.

Overall it feels like the facility isn't managed very well. Lots of disorganization. Which is to bad... We were hoping this facility would really help our daughter out. The counselors were good and that helped give her some skills, but it wasn't worth the $22K+

This is THE WORST facility ever!! I went there 5 years ago and these people are still charging me!! My insurance paid them over $20,000 and they are still after me after that long for my co-pay of $1,800.00, which I can't afford to pay. If you feel the need to go to an in-patient facility, please, please, please consider going to Stanford Medical Center. The staff there is so much better and they don't mix you in with criminals.

Sutter literally has inmates from jail stay with people that have willingly admitted themselves. Stanford has two wings, a wing for people who do not want to be there, and people who are voluntarily there. This makes for an environment that is peaceful and an environment where you can heal. The staff is friendly and the doctors are the best in the world. During my stay at Sutter, I wasn't sure if I was going to get assaulted. It was very traumatizing to be there and I felt like I was a criminal myself. Someone else has left a review saying they make you feel like your a criminal and it's true!!

One of the nurses who drew my blood one morning was so mean after she couldn't find my vein. She ultimately left a huge hematoma the size of a half a golf ball on my arm. I urge you, if you are thinking you need help for depression or any other mental disorder, please do not go here!! You will go crazy!! Go to Stanford, they are the best. If you are from the Sacramento area they will admit you through the emergency room if its an emergency. Stanford even wrote off my co-pay because I could not afford it. Please do not go to this hell hole known as Sutter Center for Psychiatry!!

This place has helped quite a few people i know and I recommend them to anyone who thinks they might need mental health assistance of all degree's,, also if at all possible do your best to avoid Sierra Vista in Elk Grove, CA. That place is the exact polar opposite.

Not a fan of the psych thing, but as far as it goes, at least they listen. That's far more than UC Davis, or any of the others.