Walden Behavioral Care has inpatient, residential, and day eating disorder treatment at multiple locations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Georgia. They treat children, adolescents, and adults, including a specialized program for children ages eight to 11 and their families.
In February 2021 Walden opened a new 82-bed facility in Massachusetts called Walden Behavioral Care Center for Recovery, which is the largest 24-hour inpatient and residential care facility for adolescents and adults with eating disorders in the United States. It is located right outside of Boston, and provided residential care and inpatient hospitalization to teens (11 years old and up) and adults of all genders.
Walden is now owned by Monte Nido.
For reviews of Walden’s PHP and IOP programs, please click here.
Any reviews? Please post in comments below. You can check out the FAQ and Guidelines for suggested questions. Thank you!
When were you there?
August 2025
What level(s) of care did you do (e.g., inpatient, residential, PHP, IOP)?
Inpatient on the adolescent/young adult floor which is floor 2
If applicable: Is it wheelchair accessible?
yes but they never use them even though there were situations where patients clearly could’ve benefited from using one.
How many patients are there on average?
They keep this place full, the floor holds 27 people but they split us up into two “villages” A is 11-17 years old and B is 18-30? Not sure what they cap as young adult because I was 26 when i was there (the oldest on the unit) and turned 27 on my discharge day actually.
What genders does it treat?
All
If applicable: Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people?
Yes, while not myself i heard mostly positive things from peers and that they felt respected most of the time.
How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, nurse, etc?
Psych- daily, therapist- 2 to 3 times a week, nutritionist- 2 to 3 times a week, nurse- daily 24-7 there’s nurses. You can always grab someone from your treatment team during business hours on weekdays and there is always support from a MHT or nurse when there is no clinical staff on duty
What is the staff-to-patient ratio?
No clue but i think there were 6 MHTs at all times and 2-4 nurses, 4 or 5 different psychiatrists and psychologists + dietitians
What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, ACT, exposure therapy, somatic experiencing, etc.)?
Groups aren’t mandatory on inpatient so they were pretty lame and repetitive. Also groups would straight up just not happen and the person who was supposed to be running it wouldn’t show up or just wouldn’t do it lol.
Heavy on DBT, processing group, goals group at morning and night, a couple different yoga groups, horticulture, and business group for 18+ to use their tech
What were meals like?
You ate 6 times a day, 3 meals and 3 snacks. Times varied depending on what village you’re in since we shared a dinning room.
What sorts of food were available or served?
meals were served on a 3 week rotating basis and snacks were on a rotating weekly basis which kinda sucked because variety was limited. Breakfast was also a weekly rotation so it was boring having the same thing every week. I do appreciate how much you can edit the menu and tweak it to make it things you like to eat while meeting exchanges. We did menus on tuesdays. This sucked because if you got admitted on a Thursday or weekend you had to wait all the way til the upcoming Tuesday to pick your menu so until then you got the basic meal plan with no modifications.
Did they supplement? How did that system work?
Yes they are supposed to offer a supplement half way thru all meals and snacks then a supplement at the end of all meals/snacks but really only half of the staff follow this. Most just don’t even offer a supplement which is hard because supplementing is not the norm here and no one on the adult village even completes supplements. It’s very wasteful and it made my head spin how much money they must waste on supplements here a year. lol.
What is the policy of not complying with meals? Do most people complete their meals/snacks?
There are no punitive punishments for noncompliance which i appreciate as an adult but this is a catch 22. You are not required to show up for meals and snacks. You can also leave the dinning room at any point during the meal, staying til duration isn’t required. They are quick to tube here, especially if you ask for one. It took me about a week to get a tube when i was dealing with gastrointestinal issues with completion of meals/snacks before my dietician bought it up with me, and this was also my first time having a Ng so maybe that’s why they were slower to bring it up with me vs what I’ve seen with others.
If applicable: Do they treat ARFID? If so, do they have a separate approach to meals for ARFID?
They say they do but idk personally
Are you able to eat vegetarian? Vegan?
Yes to both. They always have a vegetarian option for all meals
What privileges are allowed?
None really besides phone time from 7-8, unit phones are available 24:7, as long as you’re safe you will be off unit restriction which is nice when you’re in inpatient since you’re not allowed to leave the building. So you can go outside in the beautiful garden or the art room + yoga room.
Does it work on a level system?
For adults, no. Pretty much be nice, be respectful, and don’t be violent. I know that children have a level system but i don’t remember it.
How do you earn privileges?
See above
What sort of groups do they have?
DBT, processing, art of coping, healing movement, gentle yoga, horticulture group, biofeedback, goals group morning + night, community meeting. Groups were not mandatory for adults here so groups were sparsely attended or just straight up didn’t happen.
What was your favorite group?
Night goals group because you get an extra hot beverage for going to this group. You can pick from decaf, hot cocoa, and like 10 different kinds of tea
If applicable: Is the program trauma-informed?
Yes, but *TW: restraints* they still use restraints with children here. I’ll give them credit that they only used them like 4 times in two weeks. They make everyone go to their rooms when there is a restraint. *END TW*
What did you like the most?
Nothing, my roommate made my time here as enjoyable as possible and kept me from ama’ing early than i did
What did you like the least?
Everything. MHTs had a huge power struggle with me. A lot of them were my age or younger and struggled with me getting extra tech time since I’m a parent. They constantly gave me a hard time whenever i asked for my phone, some were belittling and would say stuff like why would you get your phone, you’re in Group A (aka they thought i was a child) and give me attitude. Everything was an inconvenience to them. Like asking to go to the bathroom would always result in eye rolls and sighs from MHTs. Like I’m sorry that you hate your job but at least you’re getting paid to be here and I’m not!
Would you recommend this program?
No, only if this is your only option due to insurance, financial or situational limitations
What level of activity or exercise was allowed?
None really besides light yoga and stretching. People paced the hallways and their rooms all day though. No redirection there from staff either.
What did people do on weekends?
Nothing, same as every other day but there’s no clinical staff on the floor, just MHTs and nurses
Do you get to know your weight?
No
If applicable: How fast is the weight gain process?
No clue, they told me i didn’t gain an ounce when i was there even though weight restoration was needed personally.
What was the average length of stay?
Totally depends on a million factors like insurance, weight, medical stability, ability to keep self safe, etc. some people would be there for a few days, or a few weeks, others 3 plus months and some even over a year. Truly mind blowing. They are professionals at creating revolving door patients. They start on inpatient, stabilize and get sent downstairs to resi, stay there for a month, start to struggle and get sent back to inpatient, stay there for a few weeks and repeat then before you know it, 6 months have gone by.
What was the average age range?
It’s the adolescent and young adult floor so 11-27? Not sure the age cap.
How do visits/phone calls work?
Patients have access to phones 24/7 at the nurses station. Visits can happen whenever, you just have to make sure it doesn’t interfere with meals or snacks.
What is the electronics policy (e.g., cell phones, iPods, Kindles, laptops, tablets)?
7-8 phones, you can get a doctors order for more personal phone time.
For adolescents: Did they provide time to do schoolwork or offer academic support?
Yes, they are supposed to have school time m-f from 10:15 to 12:30
For inpatient/residential: Are you able to go on outings/passes?
No for inpatient
For PHP/IOP: What support do they provide outside of programming hours?
N/a
What kind of aftercare do they provide? Do they help you set up an outpatient treatment team?
I discharged AMA but i already had a op team prior to admission so i just personally set up my appointments with my therapist, dietician, and pcp before discharge.
Are there any resources for people who come from out of state/country?
Yes there were quite a few out of state people. They have insurance navigation and social workers who can help with aftercare.
Thank you so much, Allie!!!
Thanks for such a detailed review!
I have a few additional questions, if you don’t mind!
**TW only for first two paragraphs: involuntary treatment, SI, tubes**
1.) no i was not forced. I was a voluntary patient. I transferred from a different behavioral hospital to Walden from a SI attempt. I wasn’t on a section or anything. Tw i pulled my own tube because it was painful and the nurse wouldn’t place a new one for me after complaining. They asked to put another one in after but i said no because i was discharging ama in a few days. My dietician had asked me if i wanted a tube after struggling with completion for 7 days. I have delayed gastric emptying so i agreed on overnight continuous feeds to replace what i missed during the day.
2.) you have to sign a 3 day notice, this only includes business days so no weekends or holidays. Your team will have those 3 days to “accept” your discharge. You will have an issues trying to ama if you are actively suicidal or super super medically unstable. Having a tube doesn’t make it harder to ama surprisingly.
**END TW**
3.) my therapist was fine but she said she could tell I’m self aware and i have an op therapist who i have history with and have been working with so we didn’t do any deep work inpatient. The therapist there mostly gave me journal prompts to work on. And we spoke about harm reduction.
4.) since its impatient level it’s more focused on medical stability. But you get what you put into the program. They have the tools available, you have to apply them yourself though. No one here will force you.
5.) no, i didn’t get those vibes but i was also very straight up and honest. I think my age and the fact that I’m a mother also played into the providers perceptions of me and my honesty.
6.) yes to a degree, like you can ask for orders for certain things like more phone time, headphone usage during the day, mattress toppers, therapists ask what works for u and what doesn’t.
7.) no, they always open the bathrooms for you. I’ve had staff give me attitude or roll their eyes when asking because it’s suchhh an inconvenience for them but I’ve literally said to them, i will piss on the floor and that gets them up quicker.
8.) showers are open for everyone from 6:30 to 8am. There are 3 shower rooms which are literally just a shower and 3 shower/bathroom combos with toilet/shower/sink, and 2 half baths with sink/toliet. I would usually wait until village a was in breakfast to take a shower because the kids are usually in the bathrooms during the first hour. You can also ask your providers for an order for night showers.
*TW: involuntary treatment*
Do they take you to court if you try to ama and they don’t think you are ready or will they let you go as long as you sign
*TW: involuntary treatment*
Do they threaten to take you to court if you ama and they disagree or can you just go.
You have the right to ask if they will commit you when you fill out your three day notice. If they say yes they will pursue commitment then retract the 3 day. I have been able to ama in the past without issues but it’s a case by case and depends on who your provider is.
When were you there? May-July 5 2025
• What level(s) of care did you do? Inpatient
• How many patients are there on average? 24.(split into two groups of 12 they call villages) your schedule is based on which village you’re in
• Does it treat both males and females? Yes
If so, is treatment separate or combined? combined.
• If applicable: Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people? yes there were a variety of genders and tran
• How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, etc? Medical doctor once a week hands-down one of the best doctors I’ve met; psychiatrist daily Monday through Friday, therapist alternating weeks of hour long sessions three times and then two times the following week, nutritionist, two times a week, half hour sessions
• What is the staff-to-patient ratio? Supposed to be 1:4 but often they were shorthanded.
• What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, etc.)? DBT, CBT, CBTE, CPT a few others are used too just depends on the patient.
• Describe the average day: vitals are between 5:30 and 6 AM patients are split between two villages A and B, Village A has until 8 AM for showers, village B has until 9 AM. Typical day is finals, shower/hygiene, meds, breakfast, goal group, half hour of fresh air, snack, two more groups, lunch, groups, snack, groups, dinner, Tech time from 7 to 8 PM, snack then wrap up group at 9 PM.
• What sorts of food were available or served? Sad thing the food is absolutely disgusting and staff knows it. Snacks are prepackaged like small bags of chips, fig newtons, Oreo packs, pretzel, pack with hummus, pita chips etc. They have a schedule of what is given for every snack and are very rigid about whether you can have anything different. It has to be put on your meal plan. They won’t even give you condiments if they’re not on your plan. The food has no seasoning. I did have a hair in my food more than once.
• Did they supplement? Yes ensure plus or boost breeze. They do have Kate Farms. Supplements are based on percentage 50% or more supplement 50% or less 2 supplements
What kind of meals do they have? Meals are very bland variety of cafeteria foods that are already preplanned. You have menu group on Monday. They will give you the scheduled items and you can go through and make some changes to what you would want. Basically for me, the food was disgusting so I subbed a lot of the time. They let you sub a meal five times I think. There’s not very many things offered though.
What kind of snacks? snack bag of Doritos, lays, pita chips, pretzels, fig newtons, Lorna doones, ice cream sandwich, vanilla, or strawberry, peanut butter, banana, prepackaged banana bread, or pumpkin bread. Everything is prepackaged and decided ahead of time.
Are you able to pick and plate your own snacks? You do not pick your plate or your snacks they’re already planned out. You do have a little bit of flexibility on menu group, but for the most part, there’s no flexibility. They’re very rigid. meal plans are exchanges the dietitian decides.
Are walks allowed? They do not redirect any behaviors. People were pacing the hallways all day long.
• What is the policy of not complying with meals? There’s not a policy on complying with meals. Most of the time they ask if you want to do a supplement to let them know and the majority of people just walk out. You pretty much have to hold your own self accountable.
• Are you able to eat vegetarian? They do accommodate vegetarian and vegan.
• What privileges are allowed? If you’re approved to go off the ward you can go for half hour fresh air with staff three times a day. There is opportunity for tech time and an additional hot beverage once your team approves it.
• Does it work on a level system? there is not a level system.
• How do you earn privileges? The only privilege is a program called Be Strong be free. You have to commit to going into five groups a day, staying for duration of all meals and snack, compliance with meds and tubes, courteous to staff, attending sessions, setting up two goals that your team would approve. Once you have that signed off by psychiatrist/np, therapist, dietitian, nursing staff you get approval to have one extra hour of tech time and an additional hot beverage during the afternoon snack.
• What sort of groups do they have? Yoga, Thai Chi, art, skills, body image, nutrition, horticulture, bingo, or karaoke on the weekends, process group. Unfortunately, most groups were not very helpful. Sometimes they would show up with pages to color, elementary crafts, not show up at all. Some groups it was obvious that they had no preparation and just decided to fill something in like coloring pages. Nutrition group was pointless. They bring a fill in the blank sheet in and basically read the sheet and fill the blanks in and that’s it.
• What was your favorite group? Skills, tai chi, art of coping, processing. These groups were very well thought out and beneficial.
• What did you like the most? Tai chi, my therapist, my nurse practitioner, the doctor, skills groups.
• What did you like the least? The rigidity, food quality, lack of care by much of the staff, behaviors, not being redirected
• Would you recommend this program? Absolutely not unless you only want to go there to be institutionalized. This is not an eating disorder facility. it is a psych ward first and eating disorder secondary. more than one staff member said the only reason they are there is to medically stabilize, but they do not redirect behaviors so it’s impossible. Several talked about the fact that it does not treat eating disorders, but they are becoming more of a psych ward. If you do not want to recover from your eating disorder, this is the place to go. There is an incredible amount of neglect that was happening on the floor. Multiple times people were sent to the emergency room after being allowed to pace the floors for over five hours. They accepted many acute patients without the ability to care for them. Almost everybody was tubed at one point, but even being on the tube, they let them continue to do the same behaviors. They were constantly exercising, purging, restricting, self harming. *TW: self harm* People walking around with open wounds from self harming. *end TW*
• What level of activity or exercise was allowed? You could whatever exercise you wanted nobody would stop you. There were only about two or three people on staff that would actually approach people and tell them to quit walking.
• What did people do on weekends? They are supposed to be groups sometimes they happened and sometimes they did it but most of the time at least one or two groups on the weekend did not happen and nobody said anything. A lot of times people either stay in their room or sit in the common area which there’s only one and either do puzzles, diamond art read they play bingo and have karaoke on the weekend as a filler group.
• Do you get to know your weight? Not unless you ask.
• How fast is the weight gain process? they expect you to weight restore quickly. If you are not doing it quickly enough, they will put you on the tube.
• What was the average length of stay? It seems like most people stayed 6 to 8 weeks. Some people stayed a little bit longer.
• How do visits/phone calls work? There are three portable patient phones at the nurses station that can be signed out anytime. Your personal phone is only allowed from 7 to 8 PM or if you have be strong, be free you get an additional hour after lunch or before dinner depending on what village you’re in. Visits are allowed on Sundays for one hour. You can get authorization from your team to have visits outside of that or possibly longer if somebody’s coming a long distance
• For inpatient/residential: Are you able to go out on passes? Inpatient does not have passes. I think Residential does.
• What kind of aftercare do they provide? In my case, none my insurance would not cover anything except inpatient.
This hands-down was the worst facility I’ve ever had treatment in. Never in my life did I expect to see hear or experience what I did at this facility. There is a lot of neglect and many of the staff are just there for a paycheck. Much of the time you would hear some of the more vocal staff sitting at the nurses desk, complaining about their job and patients in full view of patients in the common area. They’re very good at gaslighting, dismissing and shaming patients. More than once, I saw a patient being mocked as they made them clean up their own vomit on the floor. *TW: self harm* They seem to have no concern if people came out with injuries from self harm. Many times none of them had none of their wounds covered up so it could be triggering for a lot of people that struggled with that. *end TW* I personally don’t know how this place calls itself an Eating Disorder Treatment Center and is still in business. With the exception of a handful of staff, the lack of care is very obvious. I left in a worse spot than when I started. I’ve never felt so ill prepared to step down. All I can say is if you’re considering this place RUN AWAY
If you dont mind me asking Were you on the 3rd floor?
*TW: restraints/involuntary treatment* Do they restrain and/or can they keep people there against their will? *END TW*
My daughter spent 3 days at Walden resi adolescent(before getting sent back to inpatient psych). She was kind of disappointed in the quality of the groups (making wildflower bombs, making stain glass – while wearing the biofeedback monitors, lack of pre/post meal processing or processing opportunities. There were no written materials (DBT-type) provided. She said there was no meal coaching beyond someone walking by and saying “how is it going?” The facility was a little dingier than my husband expected based on the representation in the videos. Most annoying was that they told us they were sending her to the hospital and that the ambulance would going to be there to take her in 20 minutes. They then had her pack up all her belongings — which they did not send with her. My husband had to travel there then loop to where she was in the hospital (another hour away) to get her property…only to then discover that they had failed to give us her school-issued Chromebook…So, all of that was pretty annoying. Cambridge Eating Disorder Center is supposed to suck, so Walden is the only game in Mass, unfortunately…
Hey there – I know you said adolescent, but I just wanted to offer for the future – not sure how old your daughter is – is Klarman at McLean. Right now they’re 18-28 but they have made exceptions for 16-17 occasionally. I found it to be much more helpful than either Walden or CEDC. Though if I had to choose either Walden or CEDC I would go CEDC. One of the lesser of two evils in *my specific scenario and experience* (not everyone’s). It’s such a rough situation
Location:
• When were you there?
• What level(s) of care did you do?
• How many patients are there on average?
• Does it treat both males and females? If so, is treatment separate or combined?
• If applicable: Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people?
• How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, etc?
• What is the staff-to-patient ratio?
• What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, etc.)?
• Describe the average day:
• What sorts of food were available or served?
• Did they supplement?
What kind of meals do they have?What kind of snacks? Are you able to pick and plate your own snacks?Are walks allowed?• What is the policy of not complying with meals?
• Are you able to eat vegetarian?
• What privileges are allowed?
• Does it work on a level system?
• How do you earn privileges?
• What sort of groups do they have?
• What was your favorite group?
• What did you like the most?
• What did you like the least?
• Would you recommend this program?
• What level of activity or exercise was allowed?
• What did people do on weekends?
• Do you get to know your weight?
• How fast is the weight gain process?
• What was the average length of stay?
• How do visits/phone calls work?
• For inpatient/residential: Are you able to go out on passes?
• What kind of aftercare do they provide?
Location:
• When were you there?
I was there 2 times once in 2020-2021 and again in 2022
• What level(s) of care did you do?
IP, RES. Both adolescent
• How many patients are there on average?
about 20
• Does it treat both males and females? If so, is treatment separate or combined?
Both and combined
• If applicable: Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people?
yes
• How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, etc?
I saw my therapist 3x a week my dietitian 1x and np 1x at least but they would stop by the unit often to check in quick
• What is the staff-to-patient ratio?
im not sure exactly but like 4 MHCs and 3 nurses maybe
• What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, etc.)?
DBT,CBT
• Describe the average day:
vitals cart goes around from room to room and wakes you up for ortho vitals then you get on the John and go get weighed and 1x a week get labs unless extra are ordered then shower if you want to 3 meals and 3 snacks a day with groups school and fresh air in between
• What sorts of food were available or served?
a lot of random food I had never had before like from different countries like Asia and stuff and snacks we’re usually pre packaged but the packaged was removed cause of cals and all the meals come up on a cart and the condiments like butter and dressing and spreads are put on for you but they wore gloves
• Did they supplement?
yes ensure,ensure plus, boost breeze, boost glucose control
• What kind of meals do they have?
lots of Italian and Asian food but also sandwiches and burgers but no salad entrees it’s on a two week rotation and some girls I knew figured it out and made a list of it so everyone always knew what it was going to be
• What kind of snacks?
more packeted ones like chips, popcorn, cookies, bars, pudding, crackers
• Are you able to pick and plate your own snacks?
No but I worked with my dietitian because it’s all individualized so at the beginning I got easier snacks to complete then went to all snacks after a bit but you do get to put like 5 dislikes and if they serve it to you you get the replacement meal which is a pb and grape jelly uncrustable a fruit that’s either a Apple banana or orange and a cheese stick or yogurt
• Are walks allowed? Not in IP but in res
*TW: involuntary tube feeding, restraints* • What is the policy of not complying with meals? You would be tubed I was tubed and had to be restrained every day so instead of needing to be bolused 6x they use vital 2 cal so I would only have to be restrained 2x instead but they also give you a lot of sedatives when they restrain you usually it’s a chair but sometimes they use a board and then either keep you in the doctor’s office room or the quiet room or wheel you back to your room and then you just go to sleep *END TW*
• Are you able to eat vegetarian?
I think so I wasn’t though like if you weren’t already I don’t think you would be able to
• What privileges are allowed?
you get your phone and go outside if not on elopement protocol which I was so I also didn’t get my shoes but everyone else can have their shoes just like no strings
• Does it work on a level system?
yes red yellow green
• How do you earn privileges?
meeting goals set by you and your team and completing meals and snacks
• What sort of groups do they have?
process group, art therapy, school, goals, idk what it’s called but like a wrap up group at night, but since it’s individualized my team let me do the young adult groups so I got to go to all of those just not the meal planning one cause I was still not allowed to do that *TW: involuntary tube feeding* but also I was getting bolused so there would not have been a point *END TW*
• What was your favorite group?
nutrition group!
• What did you like the most?
my team especially my therapist she was my favorite therapist ever and I’ve had a lot when I moved down to res she still met with me 1x a week just to check in
• What did you like the least? *TW*
being restrained *END TW* and the adolescent groups because I thought they were boring and unhelpful “sorry doctor bob!”
• Would you recommend this program?
yes it was way better than ERC juniper in Denver that’s the only other one I’ve been to and have to compare it to
• What level of activity or exercise was allowed?
You could go to yoga but your supposed to sit down but they can’t do anything about compulsive exercise they just check in more often *TW: SH, restraints* but if your not harming yourself then they can’t restrain you to stop you *end TW*
• What did people do on weekends?
there were weekend groups where you did art projects but I colored a lot and sometimes played card games and you meet with the doctor on call for a few minutes every weekend and you get your phone for more time and an extra fresh air
• Do you get to know your weight?
no but a couple of times I was able to peak at it maybe like 3 times
• How fast is the weight gain process?
mine was pretty slow I didn’t gain any weight for the first month I was there but they kept me stable, by about a month and a half three I was up like 3lbs a lot of weight gain is done in res and stabilizing in IP but also I was [using ED behaviors] so that’s why too
• What was the average length of stay? I was there for 3 months the first time and 5 months the second but I would say like 1-2 months is normaler
• How do visits/phone calls work?
you get your phone for a good amount of time depending on what level your on like 30m-3hrs but there’s also a phone at the nurses station and to visit your parents have to set it up with your therapist but you can bust downstairs but if your on elopement then they can come on the unit and go in a meeting or group room also I got my phone to talk to my family during boluses if I accepted them so it’s individualized
• For inpatient/residential: Are you able to go out on passes? For res yes there’s snack and meal passes and also of campus visit passes they are normally towards the end of res care to prepare you to eat with family and stuff
• What kind of aftercare do they provide? I was set up with IOP program back in my state when I left
• When were you there?
I first got here in December 2022 and was here until June 2023, then bounced back and forth between IP and Res for a few months. My most recent admission is from the end of September up until now.
• What level(s) of care did you do (e.g., inpatient, residential, PHP, IOP)?
This review is for inpatient only, however I have shifted between IP, Res, and PHP (in-person).
• If applicable: Is it wheelchair accessible?
Yes, it is wheelchair accessible. There have been patients who come using wheelchairs all of the time and also sometimes patients are put on wheelchair rest if medically necessary, but it’s not very often.
• How many patients are there on average?
I believe there are 27 on the second floor (adolescents and young adults up to age 25) and more like 22 on the third floor which is for adults. It is usually completely full.
• Does it treat both males and females? If so, is treatment separate or combined?
Walden treats people of all genders. You sign a form when you admit saying if you are okay rooming with people of certain genders, but usually men/boys are either in their own room or with other men, but sometimes if they say they are open to it, it is mixed genders. Most of the time you are rooming with someone of your own gender identity.
• If applicable: Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people?
Yes. Pronouns are asked along with names at the beginning of basically every group and the majority of staff are respectful. If someone is not being respectful, it is brought up and addressed/fixed quickly.
• How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, nurse, etc?
You see your assigned psych NP or doctor every day for around 15-20 mins. There is a fill in doctor on weekends that usually only meets with you for a minute or two. You meet with the medical doctor upon arrival and to address anything physical that comes up that is beyond the scope of your psych NP. You meet with your therapist (they call them clinicians here) 3x per week one week and then 2x per week the next week, so every other weekday. Dietitians meet with you 2x per week.
• What is the staff-to-patient ratio?
There are usually 4 nurses on at any time during the day/evening and about 4 MHC’s too. Usually 1 nurse is on medications, 2 nurses are on tubes and the other is a float.
• What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, ACT, exposure therapy, somatic experiencing, etc.)?
There are DBT groups, otherwise there’s art therapy, movement therapy, yoga, processing groups, biofeedback groups, horticultural therapy and others vary.
• Describe the average day:What were meals like?
All meals are 30 minutes, snacks are 15 minutes. It depends on the milieu, but sometimes there’s games during meals or trivia or music or just conversation. At the inpatient level of care there is little to no meal coaching. The second floor has no meal coaching and there is one diet tech on the third floor that does some meal coaching when she’s working, but mostly for people who are visibly struggling with their food. It really varies if people are working on completing or just sitting with their meals and not eating.
• What sorts of food were available or served?
There’s a decent variety in the meals offered, it’s on a 3 week schedule rotation, except for breakfast which is on a weekly rotation. The food isn’t great, but it’s also not the worst in the world. They are accommodating to food allergies and they always have a vegetarian option. You fill out menus every week and you don’t have much choice, it’s mostly just regular or vegetarian version of the same thing but then if you have extra exchanges, you have a little more freedom to add in other things like sides and desserts. For inpatient you get up to 5 substitute meals each week and those can be chosen from sandwiches, quesadillas, burgers, chicken & a starch, etc. Definitely try your hardest not to end up on the finger foods only menu, as I have been stuck on that for a while and there are very limited meal options that are any good on there.
• Did they supplement? How did that system work?
They supplement with either Ensure, Ensure Plus, or Boost Breeze, depending on what your dietician chooses for you. Most people have a certain amount given if you eat 0-49% and half that given if you eat 50+%, but sometimes you are able to argue for smaller steps in supplement with your dietician. You can only supplement once it is over halfway through the meal and then staff will ask if you want to supplement if you are on your way to leave. They ask you to sit with supplement until duration. You aren’t forced to get supplement though, so they won’t waste the Ensure if you aren’t planning on at least sitting with it.
• What is the policy of not complying with meals?
If you don’t comply with meals, they will first have you try to supplement. If it continues for a while, your team will talk to you about other options. Some people are put on a regimen where they are given the Ensure they missed after each meal for them to drink on their own time. They will eventually suggest a feeding tube and how quickly this happens is completely dependent on your medical status and how much you are restricting. If you refuse the tube feeds, you’ll eventually get put on restraint feeds which means that the nurses legally have to give you your feeds so if you don’t accept it on the pump or as a bolus, they will use the restraint chair and force feed you. This usually takes a while to be put in place, but it can happen fast if you’re medically unstable. When I first got there, it only took 36 hours for them to put restraint feeds on me because of me not being able to comply right away and a hypo that got me sent out to the hospital. So be careful and always try to accept the feeds if you can, because restraint feeds are horrible and traumatizing and to be avoided if at all possible.
• Are you able to eat vegetarian? Vegan?
You are able to eat vegetarian and I have seen a few people manage to eat (mostly) vegan, but this is more likely to be accepted at a lower level of care like residential or PHP.
• What privileges are allowed?
There are 2 fresh air breaks every day for 30 minutes each. On the second floor, you get your phone from 5:30-9pm (if you’re over 18) and on the third floor I believe it is 7-10pm. There are off-unit groups like art and yoga that you can go to unless you’re on unit-restrict. You can ask your NP for night showers (behavior dependent) and you can get it approved to have a kindle and wireless headphones out not during tech time.
• Does it work on a level system?
It only works on a level system for adolescents under 18. For young adults and adults, there is no level system, but you can have certain privileges taken away if you are unsafe, run away or are using certain behaviors.
• How do you earn privileges?
As long as you stay safe and aren’t using certain eating disorder behaviors, you should have all of the privileges available.
• What sort of groups do they have?
DBT, process groups, horticulture/garden group, goals group (every morning), wrap up group (every night), movement group, yoga, art, the art of coping (basically another art group, but the guy who runs it plays the guitar and sings while you work).
• What was your favorite group?
My favorite group is probably horticulture/garden group. This only happens in the late spring to early fall, but you get to plant stuff in the garden, care for the plants and pick veggies and eat them if you want. The other group I like a lot is processing group, but it is pretty limited in what you can talk about because they heavily avoid anything that could be even the slightest bit triggering.
• What did you like the most?
I liked my whole team so much, they really made a difference in getting better for me. The highs of my week are usually getting to meet with my therapist and dietician. Another thing I liked a lot was that they are super accommodating for those who have physical health conditions too. I got diagnosed with a new diagnosis while here and they have been great working with other doctors/providers to get me the care and treatment that I need all while still treating the eating disorder and other mental health conditions.
• What did you like the least?
I really dislike that when you sign yourself in on an inpatient floor, you can’t just easily leave when you want to. If you want to leave or even AMA, you have to sign a form called a 3-day. This gives your team 3 business days to decide if they will let you go home or if they want to pursue sectioning you and legally forcing you to stay in treatment against your will. If they decide to try to section you, it is then another week or so minimum before the trial in front of a judge. When this was happening to me, they didn’t even let me talk to my lawyer before the trial and my lawyer had never met me or anything beforehand. And be warned that if you sign a 3-day and they decide to section you, it is very likely that they will win and you are committed for the next 6 months. I will admit that looking back, my nurse practitioner sectioning me did save my life, but I think this information is important for people to know before admitting to Walden.
• Would you recommend this program?
I would recommend this program if you are in need of an inpatient level of care and are either very desensitized to triggering things (the sound of restraints, yelling, self harm) or are in need of someone to make you “recover”. If you don’t think you’ll be able to accept tube feedings on your own or stop self harming, this place will save you. But if you think you can either manage food or accepting NG feeds and can mostly keep yourself safe without needing restraints, then I would recommend that you try someplace different that is less acute in nature. This place is truly traumatizing, but sometimes some people need a place like this to keep them safe and medically stable for a while.
• What level of activity or exercise was allowed?
Right from the start, you are allowed to go to movement groups and yoga groups. I almost wish that there were more restrictions on movement for while you’re still medically unstable because at the beginning of my time here I found yoga to be almost dangerous.
• What did people do on weekends?
There is a lot of down time on weekends and the groups that are held are more boring than during the week. People usually watch TV, read, crochet, nap, etc.
• Do you get to know your weight?
It completely depends on your situation and your team. For the most part, people didn’t get to know their weights during the beginning of weight restoration. Once you get to a point where your team thinks you can handle it, it is possible to get an informed weight once a week when you meet with your dietitian. For other people, they never got to know their weights so it really depends on you and your situation.
• If applicable: How fast is the weight gain process?
This is super variable.
• What was the average length of stay?
I would say the average length of stay is about a month. Some people are only there for 2 weeks and there are very few people who have been there 6+ months.
• What was the average age range?
The age range on the second floor is 11-25, but lately there have been very few young adults admitted to this floor because there are so many children. On the third floor it ranges from 18 to people in their 70s and 80s. I’d say probably half of the patients were under 30 though.
• How do visits/phone calls work?
You are allowed to have visitors twice per week I believe, although because I’m from out of state, when my parents flew in to visit me, we were allowed 2 visits per day for the 2 ½ days they were here. There is a really nice visiting area where you can make coffee/tea and go outside to visit if you want to. If you are on unit-restrict, you have to have your visitors come upstairs and meet on the unit in a consult room. Visits are typically one hour long.
• What is the electronics policy (e.g., cell phones, iPods, Kindles, laptops, tablets)?
Already addressed above 🙂
• For inpatient/residential Are you able to go on outings/passes?
There are no passes for inpatient level of care.
• What kind of aftercare do they provide? Do they help you set up an outpatient treatment team?
Walden is really good at coordinating your care to wherever your next step may be. They often recommend their own residential downstairs for patients to go to as a next step in treatment, but are very open if you want to go to another facility. Some people step down to PHP (I did and was able to transition smoothly).
• Are there any resources for people who come from out of state/country?
Like I said earlier, if you’re from out of state and have people visit you, you can negotiate more visiting time. Besides that, care is the same regardless of where you are from.
• If applicable: How is the program responding to COVID? (Less patients, virtual programming, no visitors, masks, social distancing, etc)
Everyone gets their temperature taken with their vital 3x/day and if someone has a fever they will be tested for COVID. If you have any symptoms, you will also be tested. We did have a few outbreaks on the ward and if that happens, everyone is mandated to wear a mask and those who test positive must stay in their rooms and have everything brought to them and anyone who enters the room is in full droplet precaution medical gear. Otherwise, masks are optional, including for staff (around ½ of staff wear masks).
• Other?
There is pet therapy almost every day of the week here!! There are mostly dogs, but also a cat that comes once per week and even a miniature horse named Peaches that comes very occasionally (once or twice per year). This really helps bring up the mood of the unit and was really helpful for me with being away from my dog for so long.
Was wondering if you can have coffee or tea at meals/snacks? If not, do they make you have juice or something with meals/snacks?
At breakfast, you can get one cup of either coffee (regular or decaf) or tea. The tea options are all without caffeine and are very limited by what is in stock. You used to be able to bring in your own tea packets, but not anymore. At night snack if you’re on the adult floor, you can have tea or decaf coffee. On the second floor you request your hot bev at night snack and they are given out during wrap up group. On the adult floor, there’s an incentive thing called Be Strong Be Free and one of the rewards you get is an additional hot bev at afternoon snack. Besides that, everyone has either milk or juice at breakfast and night snack and at other meals, the default is water. However a lot of people when dealing with meal plan increases choose to add in caloric beverages to their other meals/snacks.
can you choose non dairy milk? I absolutely hate milk and won’t drink juice either. It makes my teeth hurt [due to a chronic illness that isn’t ED related*]
*note added by admin, to ensure that Anon gets appropriate replies
what is the finger foods thing you were talking about?
*TW: SH*
Occasionally if you can’t be safe with the plastic silverware from the dining room, you can be put on finger foods only. This means that you choose from a separate menu that is only foods that can be eaten with your hands/without utensils. The food options aren’t great and usually include things like burgers, quesadillas, and pb&j sandwiches. If you get put on finger food precautions, it can be hard to convince your team to take you off of them and can take a while to get back to the normal menu.
Were you in the adolescent inpatient or adult inpatient?
I have been in both units. The 3rd floor is all adult and the 2nd floor is a mix of young adult and adolescent.
I was planning to go to adult inpatient soon. As a trans man, I was wondering how they work with people like me. Do they have a male side and a female side? Would it be a problem? Thanks!
Have you found anything out yet? I think it is most common for places to give you a single room, however I’ve heard recently of some places rooming based on pronouns. Let us know what you find out!
When you admit to inpatient, there is a form that you fill out and it says which gender identities you are okay with rooming with. It’s basically a check box saying if you are comfortable rooming with people with the same gender identity as you as well as transgender people of both genders. I believe they will never put a cis woman with a cis man, but I have seen trans men with cis women, cis women with nb folks, and of course there are limited single rooms that sometimes will be used. I have never seen it be an issue before and usually there’s a discussion about rooming situations if someone feels uncomfortable.
Recent Review Below in Replies
I have an assessment with Walden on Wednesday but I need more immediate answers to questions and I was hoping to ask past/current patients for the adult side.
Is inpatient helpful?
what are the groups like? (Inpatient and res)
how long were you there?
are the staff nice?
Is the community supportive?
would you recommend Walden adult?
how do they handle SH urges and behaviors?
what is aftercare like?
are the groups helpful?
is the food ok?
what do they serve?
if you were on the list for inpatient and they said it was a long wait, did you get in sooner then what they originally said?
what should i bring if i go to Walden?
Are men and women separate? They don’t share rooms do they? (I know this is probably illegal but my anxiety is just making me worry lol)
If someone is struggling to eat do they make them feel bad for that?
if someone could please answer my questions it would be most appreciated!
thank you!
Hey! I was in adult resi, so I can answer some questions you have…..
Hope this helped!!
Thank you!!
Hi, the substitute meals concept is new to me. Is this in lieu of having a dislikes list like many programs have had in past?
Can you have or designate a “sub meal” for breakfast?
Do you have to choose the meal components from a list or will they stock what you request for the meals?
Is this only for MA or just it apply to Georgia as well?
?Full Recent Review Below?
can anyone tell me the schedule for inpatient?
I’m here right now. On the older adult floor, you are split into Village A and Village B. They are essentially the same schedule, but A eats earlier than B and that changes some of the group times.
The general weekday schedule for Village B is:
6:30is: they come into your room and take your vitals laying and standing
before 7: you need to get into a gown and get weighed in the exam room
7:30-9: shower time, get ready, get medications, blood draw on Monday and Thursday
9: breakfast
10: goals group
10:30: fresh air break
11: morning snack
11:30-12:15: first group
12:30-1:15: second group
1:30: lunch
2:45-3:30: third group
3:30: fresh air break
4: afternoon snack
either 4:30-5:15 or 5:15-6: fourth/final real group of the day
6:30: dinner
7pm: electronics are given out for the night
7:15: wrap up group
8:30: night snack
10pm: electronics are turned in for the night and night meds must be taken before then
11: “lights out” which means the tv in the dayroom turns off and noise level should be low (most people are in bed long before this)
Groups rotate and you are given a different schedule for each week/weekend with the specific groups that will be held. On weekends, electronics are given out at 3:30, but otherwise the schedule stays pretty much the same.
I willing to answer any other questions you or anyone else has about Walden, as I know I relied on this website when trying to find a treatment center that would take me.
Can you tell us any info about meal noncompliance/incompletes? How quick are they to tube, currently? Do they tube? How are meals run? How is food? How many people in the milieu are one time? Sorry for a lot, just curious about all current info. 🙂 whatever you can share that you wish you knew before going!
Review
Yes, I will answer your questions the best I can. However, I just want to give a possible trigger warning for those reading as the content deals with tubes, non-compliance and the consequences of that.
Meal attendance is not “required” but highly encouraged. You can leave at any time, but it is encouraged you stay at least until duration (30 mins for meals, 15 mins for snacks), although if you need an additional 15 minutes to finish or supplement, you are always able to stay longer. There is supposed to be meal coaching, however right now there are only one or two staff that actually help in that way. They’re incredible at it, but the others just stand around staring at you or on their phones giving no redirection/guidance/help. I will say though that of the other treatment centers I’ve been to, Walden is the best at meal-time support. If you can’t complete all of a meal/snack, they will offer you your supplement (usually Ensure or Ensure Plus) and you work on it the best you can and are given some extra time.
They are decently quick to tube and don’t discriminate based on weight, but the general rule is at least 48 hours before tubing. You have the ability to try to eat on your own and put off getting a tube and hopefully be successful and not need one, however they will tube if it is needed. If you are tubed, compliance is of course the goal, but it is possible to refuse feeds, unless you get put on involuntary feeds (physical/mechanical restraints). This normally doesn’t happen for weeks/months as it is a legal process, but in my case the order for involuntary feeds was within 36 hours of me getting there. I had no idea that this was even a possibility before coming to Walden, so I think everyone should be informed that they will not sit by and watch you get sicker/more medically unstable. Once you are on this protocol, you do not have the option to refuse tube feedings and you have to eat your way through it to get off of it.
Food wise, I can’t comment a lot on quality, but it is definitely more appetizing than other treatment centers I’ve been to (Roger’s and ERC), but not as nice as the food I had experience with at CFD. Snacks are a mixture of packaged foods, baked items, and sometimes fruits.
There are up to 24 people in the milieu although I think there’s more like 22 here now. Like I said before, it is split up for meals/snacks and some groups into 2 “villages”, but everyone has access to the common area. There are areas to get away to though if that many people is overwhelming for you (I know it is for me). There is a quiet lounge, consult rooms, and a comfort room and you can always be in your own room.
One thing that I wish I knew before admitting to Walden was that it is unlike some other inpatient facilities in that when you sign admission paperwork, you sign something called a “conditional voluntary” form. This means that you are an informal/voluntary patient, but in order to leave, you must either okay the discharge plan with your treatment team ahead of time or sign a “3-day” form. This gives Walden 3 business days to decide if they are okay with you discharging or if they will go to the courts to try to hold you there involuntarily due to medical concerns about safety. During this whole process you must stay at Walden until the doctors give you the okay to go. This is different from AMA forms or 24 hours notice forms I’ve experienced at other facilities. And like I mentioned before, it is possible to be a voluntary patient and still be put on involuntary feeds if enough doctors deem it medically necessary. All of this was not explained to me well when I did my admissions paperwork or before flying out to Massachusetts so I just want people to be informed. I’m not trying to deter anyone from getting treatment at Walden as I believe that my team (psychiatrist, therapist, dietician) are wonderful at their jobs and groups are really great, but I know I would have liked to have known what I was getting myself into.
I will do a full review on Walden either when I leave or have been here longer, but I hope this info has helped a bit!
This is an incredible level of detail and I am very grateful that you took so much time to write to me! The info is going to help a lot of others, here!
A lot of what you have written actually sounds very promising. I may be reaching out to them to try for admission again, even though I am highly irritated by their sneaky Assessment Call charge.
And thank you for the TW. I didn’t find anything problematic, but that is me.
Amazing “mini” review right here!
Hi! Since you were at adult I had a few questions if you don’t mind me asking,
1. how long were you there?
2. is inpatient only for people medically unstable?
3. how is aftercare?
4. are staff supportive?
5. what was the age range of people there?
6. was res and inpatient together?
7. is it all one building?
8. do you like the program?
9. did the program help you?
can you smoke / vape in adult if you’re 21+?=
I’m currently seeking a res treatment center.
My concern is I would not be accepted due to a high BMI. I have AN but an trying hard to maintain the meal plan my current RD has for me. But my AN thoughts, behaviors, and compulsive exercise habits are ones I feel I cannot break on my own. I don’t know how to plate my food. I do a set intake but put what I want on it and it looks odd to the ‘normal’ eye.
I’m looking for a place that will teach me how to make a plate on my own, better coping skills for anxiety, exercise addiction, and cessation of restrictive behaviors ([description of behaviors redacted]). If they would guide me into intuitive eating and a healthy relationship with exercise that would be best.
Please let me know if you have any information.
Did they help you build the foundation for a lasting recovery?
Do they phase you through levels of treatment?
Did you have trouble with insurance?
Veritas will help with plating!!
I was at the inpatient and residential level 4 times at a high BMI and never had any trouble being accepted or getting insurance to cover it. It was about my behaviors and my mindset.
Every place I have gone has done exchanges, so over time I guess you learn what the exchanges look like in order to serve yourself. Residential levels of care you eventually learn to eyeball it and do not have to measure.
Most everything else “every” place does, or purports to. I would encourage you to see what your insurance may cover and then read about those places on here.
I did have a decent experience, but that was in 2017 and staff changes make everything different so I won’t recommend anything.
I will say that residential is designed to do more therapy and experiential work so if your insurance covers that and you are medically stable enough to do it, it is better than IP in that regard.
?Full Review?
Location: Dedham, MA (Fall 2022)
2nd Floor (Adolescent/Young Adult) Inpatient
• When were you there? Recently dischargedInpatient
• What level(s) of care did you do? Inpatient (2nd floor – young adult program)
• If applicable: Is it wheelchair accessible? Yes
• How many patients are there on average? I think it’s something like 20 young adults and 20 teens on the inpatient floor
• Does it treat both males and females? If so, is treatment separate or combined? Both genders, during my time there were 5(?) males. The boys have single rooms on a separate wing/same floor, but treatment is together
• If applicable: Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people? From what I could tell, yes. Staff always asked pronouns and respected/supported gender identities.
• How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, etc? You see your NP daily (and a random NP on the weekend), therapist/clinician every other day (so 2x one week, the next week 3x), dietitian 1-2x/wk. If you needed a quick check in with your team, you could usually ask.
• What is the staff-to-patient ratio? I honestly have no idea… there were usually 7 nurses on the floor if I recall correctly, and like 5-7 MHCs? I think if more than 3 or 4 patients were leaving the unit (i.e., for group or outside time), 2 staff were needed.
• What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, etc.)? I think CBT and DBT primarily
• Describe the average day:
Ortho vitals at 5:30ish every day and weights. You can shower or go back to bed. Bathrooms are unlocked from 9:30P – 7:30A. Meds 8A. Breakfast 9A. Goals group 10A. Fresh air time 10:30. Snack 11. Group 11:30-12:15. Group 12:30-1:15. Lunch 1:15. Group 2-2:45. Group 3-3:45. Snack 4. Fresh air 4:30. Down time until dinner at 6:15. Snack 8:15. Wrap up group 9. Lights out 10.
• What were meals like? 3 meals and 3 snacks. For young adults (generally 17ish – 24ish), breakfast was at 9, snack 11, lunch 1:15, snack 4:15, dinner 6:15, snack 8:15.
• What sorts of food were available or served? You could pick your meals with your RD/diet tech the week before. You could be vegetarian but not vegan. You got 2 or 3 sub meals each week, if you didn’t like what was being served. Generally, breakfast was either cereal/yogurt/fruit or pancakes/toast and eggs with fruit. Lunch and dinner rotated between sandwiches, quesadillas, pasta/chicken/tofu dishes, burrito bowls, etc.
• Did they supplement? How did that system work? If you ate less than 50%, you had 2 supplements. More than 50%, you had 1. At snacks if you didn’t finish, you had 1. They use Ensure but have Kate Farms and Boost breeze available if needed for allergies etc (the RD decided what supplement)
• What is the policy of not complying with meals? If you don’t comply, you get offered a supplement. If you are continuously not supplementing, they will place an NG. Depending on the individual and what the preference is, they would sometimes drop/pull (if pt wanted) or they would leave it in until pt is compliant for several days.
• Are you able to eat vegetarian? Yes
• What privileges are allowed? Tech time was from 5:30 – 9P. No sharps/strings allowed really ever. Staff can cut things (i.e., paper or tape) if you need.
• Does it work on a level system? For adolescents, yes. For young adults, no.
• How do you earn privileges? Not a level system, but by talking to your team (i.e., to get craft supplies during the day, to be able to shower at night instead of in the morning)
• What sort of groups do they have? Groups include DBT, CBT, biofeedback, garden group, art therapy, yoga, music, nutrition, meal planning, life in recovery.
• What was your favorite group? Biofeedback or art therapy!
• What did you like the most? How supportive some of the other patients were. I also really liked my RD and a couple of the nurses.
• What did you like the least? It was more of a psych ward and medical/psych stabilization unit than anything. Patients were restrained daily, lots of screaming and head banging, a couple elopement incidents. It was kind of scary and we were in our rooms a lot.
• Would you recommend this program? Yes and no. It isn’t a bad inpatient program, but if residential is possible, I’d definitely recommend that more. If you have severe allergies or Celiac, I do NOT recommend this program. It was a constant issue that people with allergies would be served their allergen…
• What level of activity or exercise was allowed? Technically none, but they didn’t really monitor it. I would [redacted] a lot and staff never redirected me or called it out.
• What did people do on weekends? We still had groups, so that. Sometimes they would let us watch a movie. We had bingo and tea (hot bevs). Sleep.
• Do you get to know your weight? Yes. Once your treatment team decides you are ready (you have to fill out a sheet on what weight means to you), they will do informed weights and support you in hearing the number.
• How fast is the weight gain process? Hard to say and depends patient to patient, but probs 1-4lbs/wk (a lot depends on compliance, necessity, etc)
• What was the average length of stay? A nurse told me it was about a month, but I’m not sure. I saw patients there for as little as a few days/week, and patients there for a few months.
• What was the average age range? On the second floor, 11 – 24ish. If there are more young patients, then the older young adults get bumped to the third floor.
• How do visits/phone calls work? There are 2 patient phones that are always available. You can call anytime. Tech time is from 5:30-9p. Visits are an hour and are planned with your clinician.
• What is the electronics policy (e.g., cell phones, iPods, Kindles, laptops, tablets)? You can have whatever tech you want during tech time. Then it gets locked up.
• For inpatient/residential: Are you able to go out on passes? Not sure…
• What kind of aftercare do they provide? Do they help you set up an outpatient treatment team? Yes, but it is usually with their own network. I wanted to go to a different residential and felt kind of pressured to stay within their system and just go downstairs to resi. They also seem to discharge prematurely sometimes, especially if a patient is non-compliant for a couple months — they will just drop. I was discharged for a different reason (not going to state to stay anonymous, but it was due to something that they weren’t able to handle medically/nutritionally unrelated to an ED, kind of) into virtual PHP, and felt my send off was kind of a “we know you aren’t ready, it’s your choice whether or not you eat, and if you don’t, see ya back here!” It definitely seemed like a revolving door of patients.
• Are there any resources for people who come from out of state/country? I’m not sure. I came from out of state but I was within driving distance. A few patients flew here, so Im sure there are resources!
• If applicable: How is the program responding to COVID? (Less patients, virtual programming, no visitors, masks, social distancing, etc) PHP and IOP are mostly virtual (some are going back in person). Visits are still allowed. You are COVID tested on admission. Masks are supposed to be worn but patients Never wore them. Staff did.
• Other?
anon – thank you SO much for posting this! How many floors are there, and what units/ages are on each floor?
Also curious what types of things you did in the biofeedback group – I did biofeedback in treatment a few years ago and absolutely loved it. I still use many of those skills to this day.
Rachel, sorry, I thought I had replied earlier. Apologies!
There are three floors at the Center for Recovery Dedham Location. Floor 1: residential (adolescent and adult, separated by doors) unlocked
Floor 2: adolescent and young adult inpatient, locked unit
Floor 3: adult inpatient, locked unit
Whether a young adult goes to floor 2 or 3 depends on availability, behaviors, risk, etc. I.e., I saw 17 year olds on the third floor either because that was the bed that was available, or the individual was higher acuity. I saw many patients in their early 20s on the young adult floor, typically they are more compliant and such, but again, that depends.
Biofeedback was super fun. Each group was different — some weeks we did a meditation, other weeks we would do an activity or journal entry. A patient fav was when they had us scroll through social media, it was cool to see that most went into the “red” zone, it was a tangible example of how social media can be harmful to our mental health. The actual device was a little thing that clipped to your ear and connected to your phone.
Hope that answers your questions! Lmk if you have any other ones 🙂
Was there any RO-DBT? Was ACT or 12 step work supported if you wanted to use a sponsor over the phone? What is biofeedback?
Did anyone do meals orally and use supplements or an NG tube for snacks because of stomach issues? Did they talk to people’s PCP, GI doc if needed (like if someone takes GI meds would they continue them)?
Were psych meds forced? Were psych meds you’re on changed or would they discuss with your outpatient psych if that’s not good for someone?
Walden can and will force psychiatric meds, and they like to push medications such as lithium and zyprexa. They have taken many people to court to be put under a Rogers order, which allows them to force psychiatric medications — including using restraint. Many people get ng tubes, for most of their stay, and Walden will sometimes discharge someone and pull their ng tube on the same day. As the above commenter says, the unit is very much like a psych ward.
Does family have any say in this? How recent is your experience? What about adults in IOP or PHP? Are they using their own psychiatrist and not subject to this? Can they leave AMA if they don’t like how Walden is treating them? Or does Walden court order medication and treatment at PHP and IOP levels also, or if they want someone to step up to IP who is at PHP or IOP and refuses, will they try to court order and prevent the person from AMAing the program? Are restraints used in PHP and IOP?
I thought using restraints was more limited to if a person were behaving violently and putting others in danger…this is 2022. I’ve not heard of restraints used since the early 2000s beyond the reason I listed. Yeah, based on what you’re saying, where I have institutional trauma and abuse, have relapsed from forced medication…Walden is a no.
Does anyone know if CEDC does this stuff, too? Or if this is limited to Walden.
Walden will only court order in inpatient. They cannot do this in any other level of care. My experience dates back to 2019, I have friends who are experiencing this as recently as right now, currently ongoing.
I’ve known adults with families that have fought to get them out, but from their experience it was a lengthy process, especially if that person has been put under a 6-month court order to be detained in treatment.
If you attempt to AMA from Walden’s IP, it is possible they will let you. It is also possible they will take you to court and put you under the above 6 month commitment. Who it happens to can be seemingly arbitrary — some people will be committed and others will be allowed to leave. It can depend on your treatment team.
I am unsure if Walden could section you directly from their PHP/IOP to their program. They could order a section 12 if you were expressing SI or were medically unwell, which would result in you being taken to the ER and if you have an ED most ER’s will recommend you get a bed at Walden inpatient.
Restraints are only used in inpatient. Walden restrains people a lot, and they do it frequently. Most people restrained at Walden are self-injuring or dysregulated, not a danger to others. The issue is that Walden staff are not restraint trained well, and they jump to restraint incredibly quickly. They have a long standing issue of not following the laws around restraint and do not attempt to de escalate as they should according to the law. Male staff will restrain female patients, including when nudity is involved — such as when injections are given or when patients are not fully covered up.
CEDC is a residential program, so no, they cannot do many of the things Walden does. They will sometimes send their patients to Walden, but I don’t have enough knowledge of CEDC to make an accurate statement about their program.
A good resource for details on Walden is the instagram page @waldenbehavioralcare.thetruth, it has recent information about Walden and their history.
CEDC does not use restraints and is a voluntary program, so they don’t court order people (at least as far as I know/I ever saw when I was there). They also don’t tube.
Was the Roger’s Orders mainly for adult inpatients or adolescent inpatients?
We had a teenager on the 2nd floor of Walden for over 4 months. Walden is good at putting nutrition into people with NG tubes. But they are not good with the therapy part. Our teen said that everyone knows that the therapy is a “joke” at Walden. Perhaps this has something to do with the patient “revolving door” at Walden.
Yes I agree with this. They are fairly good at medical stabilization, from what I can tell (forcing nutrition via tube feed). Therapy was a joke and it seemed like they had a tendency to discharge patients early, telling us that they knew we would need to go back. I think I had one actual therapy session in two weeks there (lots of “therapy” that wasn’t really therapy, more like walking the unit, check ins) before I discharged because it was dramatically worsening my MH
?Full Review?
Location: Georgia – Adult Residential
REVIEW FOR WALDEN BEHAVIORAL CARE GEORGIA LOCATION
* When were you there? Nov-Dec of 2021
* What level(s) of care did you do (e.g., inpatient, residential, PHP, IOP)? The Georgia location only has residential down, so I did res and php before my insurance changed and I could no longer use them
* If applicable: Is it wheelchair accessible? Yes and no. The house is 2 stories, but they have a ramp to get inside and 1 bedroom downstairs. It may just feel isolating.
* How many patients are there on average? The maximum is 5 at a time, and depending on the season it’s usually full. I was there at a weird time and we never had more than 3 at a time.
* Does it treat both males and females? If so, is treatment separate or combined? Yup they’ll treat both! Males will just have to have the bedroom downstairs and use a separate bathroom.
* If applicable: Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people? They do! They were very good about it with one of the other patients I stayed with.
* How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, etc? God this was one of the most annoying parts for me because it really depended. They also didnt warn you half of the time before you had an appointment with one of them so you easily could have been pulled out of a group you enjoyed ):. Generally though, you see a medical doctor weekly, nutritionist weekly, and your therapist 2-3 times a week. But that may change based off of needs, and if they forget or not /: . Their dietitian was really REALLY scatterbrained so missing appointments with her was often.
* What is the staff-to-patient ratio? Usually 3:2. There are 2 MHCs in the house with you at all times. Sometimes when staffing is worse there is only 1 which sucks.
* What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, etc.)? DBT and CBT mostly.
Describe the average day:
* What were meals like? 3 meals 3 snacks every day. You prepare EVERYTHING yourself in their kitchen. This has its pros and cons obviously, but it can (and will be) VERY overwhelming at first.
* What sorts of food were available or served? You decide pretty much. They’re going to have staple / commonly eaten foods already stocked but if there are things you like to eat, make sure to put them on the grocery list.
* Did they supplement? How did that system work? Yes. If you don’t finish a meal or snack, you will have to supplement with a boost. Sometimes boosts may be added into your meal plan too depending case by case.
* What is the policy of not complying with meals? Supplement pretty much. If you refuse that for a certain amount of time, they will send you to the ER.
* Are you able to eat vegetarian? Yes, but not vegan.
* What privileges are allowed? Quite a few! You have electronics 6am-10:30pm, visitations daily, passes (once you reach a certain level) and everything is pretty lax.
* Does it work on a level system? Yup!
* How do you earn privileges? Your team will level you up and eventually you earn more privileges.
* What sort of groups do they have? CBT, DBT, body neutrality, nutrition, music therapy, and a bunch of others I cant remember lol!
* What was your favorite group? I really liked the music therapy and the “my story” group.
* What did you like the most? The MHCs and other patients. I definitely have lifelong bonds with the people I met
* What did you like the least? The medical staff. They were definitely incompetent and did NOT know how to treat eating disorders. One of the nurses told another patient (ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS) that she was “so tiny” and during her intake told her about Karen Carpenter for some reason. Another nurse told me the exact amount of calories I was eating and that i was “still gaining weight” despite it. I also came in with severe laxative abuse and I do not think they were equip to deal with that.
* Would you recommend this program? I’m honestly not sure. It has its pros and cons, and if you’re looking for something more lax then yes. But that was not good for me. They also let be discharge before I was weight restored and thats probably why I ended up relapsing so bad.
* What level of activity or exercise was allowed? We had to walk across the street to another medical building for meetings and groups, so more than most places.
* What did people do on weekends? We had 1 group and Saturdays we went on outings. Other than that, it was a lot of watching movies, hanging out with MHCs, playing games, etc.
* Do you get to know your weight? They will tell you eventually, yes. Not a good idea, since it sent me into an awful panic and I almost got sent to the ER because i stopped eating.
* How fast is the weight gain process? Depends on the person but on average I would say 2-4 lbs/week.
* What was the average length of stay? Usually 6-8 weeks.
* What was the average age range? When I was there, it was 18-30, but when I was in PHP/IOP they had people 50+. So a pretty good range!
* How do visits/phone calls work? Daily visitations are allowed and you can call whenever you have down time.
* What is the electronics policy (e.g., cell phones, iPods, Kindles, laptops, tablets)? You have them 6am-10:30pm.
* For inpatient/residential: Are you able to go out on passes? Yes!
* For PHP/IOP: What support do they provide outside of programming hours? Not much. We met on zoom and after it was over at ~3 from what i recall, that was that. Not the best for me imo.
* What kind of aftercare do they provide? Do they help you set up an outpatient treatment team? They gave me a list of possible options for therapists and dietitians but most of them didn’t work with insurance so I was kinda SOL. I was able to find providers on my own though!
* Are there any resources for people who come from out of state/country? Not sure, but Im sure there are!
* If applicable: How is the program responding to COVID? (Less patients, virtual programming, no visitors, masks, social distancing, etc). Virtual programming for PHP/IOP and masks for outings are required.
* Other? Cant think of anything off of the top of my head, but if anyone has any questions i’d love to answer!
Hi, were you allowed to have beverages other than water outside of meals?
Can you ever have coffee?
Did they allow crystal light, stevia, or any diet sodas?
Were they pretty lenient about what you could request from the grocery store to make your meals?
Were you responsible for your own meals in PHP since it was by zoom?
I’m sorry you didn’t have the best outcome with the program. Don’t give up on yourself though!
?Full Review Below (in replies)?
Hi!! I went to Walden for residential in Nov of 2021 and would be happy to answer any questions anyone has about the program 🙂
could you please provide a comprehensive review: sample schedule, meal plans, rules etc.
Yes absolutely!!
So this is for the residential in Dunwoody, so it may be a little bit different than the ones up north.
SCHEDULE:
You are woken up around 6 am for showers, vitals / weights, getting ready for the day, etc.
7:45 you have morning group which is a very short goal setting group.
8ish you have a short break, and if you have morning meds you take them now.
8:15-8:30 is prep for breakfast. One thing about the Dunwoody location is you prepare ALL of your own food. MHCs will watch and make sure you’re meeting all of your exchanges (and there is a book with the exchanges for each food. its a bit overwhelming at first but you get used to it quick) and if no one knows what the exchange is for a food, the MHC will just call the dietitian.
8:30-9ish is breakfast, and then there is a small break before the first group.
First group is around 9:30 am, and there is a rotation for groups during the week.
Morning snack is at 10:15.
Second group is around 11.
Prep for lunch begins around 12ish, and lunch is 12:30-1.
There is a longer break before the next group at 2:30.
Afternoon snack is at 3:30.
Then there is down time until dinner, so you can either hang out in your room or with the other patients / MHCs. Honestly depending on the MHC it was really fun to hang out with them!! They will play games with you or do some fun crafts. Some MHCs kinda sucked though lol, but usually the morning shift were worse from what I experienced. The afternoon ones usually were much better.
Anyways!! Dinner prep starts ~5:45-6, and dinner will be ~6:15-6:30.
Then there is downtime / visitation until night snack at 8:30.
Once night snack ends, there is 1 last short group thats like the goal setting group in the morning. Basically just to see if you achieved your daily goals and your highs / lows of the day.
Lights out is 10:30, so between 9-10:30, you have time to get ready for bed and wind down.
MEAL PLAN:
They did a meal plan based off of an exchange system. So for breakfast you may need 2 starch, 2 fat, 2 protein, 1 milk/dairy, and 1 fruit for example. This is determined by the dietitian obviously, and you will have a meal plan within the first week of coming in. Before then, there is a baseline meal plan you will follow which is pretty low im ngl.
Like I previously mentioned, you prepare ALL of your food. So if there are specific foods you like, put them on the grocery list. Obviously they wont buy diet foods, but if there is a specific brand of bread you like or snack food you eat a lot, they will buy it for you. And the dietitian can figure out the exchanges if it isn’t already in the exchange book.
RULES:
Honestly, the Dunwoody location was very lax compared to other treatment facilities. They really only had rules around completion of food (the usual “if you don’t finish, you need to have a boost” kinda deal) and not engaging in ED behaviors. And the usual bathroom checking rules too. This may be helpful for some, but for someone who is REALLY suffering from their ED, the need for more rules and strictness is necessary.
I hope this helped!! Let me know if you have more questions!!
How long did people typically stay? Did anyone come to the house for PHP? What groups did they have throughout the day? Could you put supplements other than Boost on the grocery list?
1) Most people will stay 6-8 weeks for the residential program.
2) PHP / IOP is all virtual still as far as I am aware, so you would not go to the house for this.
3) It was on a rotational schedule and they had quite a few! Some that I remember were body neutrality, “my story”, music therapy, trauma, process, and other CBT / DBT based ones.
4) I’m not actually sure! I wouldn’t think so, but I’m sure if you talked to the dietitian there could be something worked out
Do the residents have private bedrooms at the Dunwoody location?
Do they ever give exercise privileges?
Do they have yoga or art?
Do they have restaurant outings?
Do they have cooking groups or shared food-related challenges?
Thanks.
1) they have 4 bedrooms and a max capacity of 6 residents. when i was there we all had our own bedrooms because there wasn’t 6 people, but there is a small chance you’ll have a roomie.
2) not really, you do have to walk across the street to get to your groups but that’s about the most they’ll let you do.
3) there is both, but yoga isn’t done super often. it’ll depend on who the MHC is for the day because only some of them will lead yoga groups. art though is done a lot in different groups so that’s almost a given that you’ll do it at LEAST 3 times a week
4) yup! they’re usually done weekly on either friday or saturday
5) you have a group with the dietitian and you’ll work with them on food exposures. there arent SHARED food challenges as you’ll go at your own pace with challenging food rules/fears
hope this helps!!
Thank you so much!
It’s very helpful! I’ve been skeptical of contained treatment after several detrimental experiences, so I’ve been leaning more toward scoping out PHP options.
However, this program seems like the most tolerable RESI I’ve come across, especially with the self-select meal prep, their small size, allowance of technology use, and the proximity of location.
Plus, there isn’t the hassle or cost of locating and paying for housing.
I’m trying to hold out for Within Health to become approved to treat clients in my state, but this could be a good fall back for me.
We’re you able to dig into any real underlying issues in therapy?
I’ve never gotten a good vibe from Walden’s New England locations, so this is refreshing!
It sounds like there aren’t really a lot of groups during the day.
Were there consequences for not completing supplements?
Could you have extra time to complete the meal rather than take a supplement since there is usually free time after meals?
I saw a review that groups were at an office building across the street. Did you have to pack your lunch and snacks each day?
Could you stretch or have any movement? Did they ever take you on walks outside?
Were the PHP zoom clients integrated into the residential groups or was the programming separate?
?Review?
Regarding the Walden Dunwoody house (it is indeed a house in a residential neighborhood)… First, let me acknowledge that this may be a great facility for adults who need emotional and meal prep support during their ED recovery journey. It is not, however, a facility for a young adult who is medically unstable — or potentially unstable with any level of weight drop. Furthermore, it is not a facility for families who are supporting a young adult who are seeking a modern approach to ED treatment (i.e., that an ED is a neuropsychological disease, food is medicine, and that it is not a state that was created and fostered by the family environment). From personal experience, I would urge you to visit the facility and do your research before agreeing to this treatment center. Having experienced this firsthand for our daughter in recent months, I would not recommend this facility for a young adult.
Thanks for posting this, I have been desperate to find someone who has been there. I am kind of confused, though. I am 39 and have been to multiple places over the years without long term success. Do you mind me asking how old your daughter is and when she was there?
?Recent Review?
Location: Georgia (Adult Residential)
Come here. Do it.
Never before have I felt like I was in a place where I could heal before, that I would be cared for, advocated for.
The program director is the one who does the intake assessments and he is a perfect angel. Literal angel sent to save my life, I’m not even kidding. I don’t normally feel comfortable with male staff but him and the rest of the male staff are amazing. On day two when I was emotionally and physically crashed, he sat next to me on a bathroom floor for hours. After this he switched things around to be my personal therapist, since we’d developed a very good rapport.
I have been here for three days and they have figured out I have spent 20 years being misdiagnosed with AN when my real problem is ARFID. This goes to the root of my relapses, why I never felt like I was getting the support and skills I need to succeed.
This is the first place where I have been treated like an adult. A struggling adult, but a peer. For example, a staff member was talking about a recent loss he experienced and the residents were able to provide support. The relationships are reciprocal.
Come here and be safe, supported, and treated like a person.
Thank you for this. If the admin will, help, I wonder if we could get in touch?
Hi there!
Which Georgia location did you go to? I see there are multiple options?
?Full Review?
So i was on the inpatient unit as an adolescent in January 2021, and all I can say is that it was horrific. There were too many incidents to count, ranging from physical abuse to ignoring significant medical needs to restraining whenever they had the chance. Don’t let the nice physical appearance of the unit fool you, while it was just moved to Dedham and re-done, it is still terrible. They do this thing called drop and pull where if you need an NG tube they will take it in and out three times a day if on a lower meal plan and six times a day if on a higher one. They would then put in the feeds all at once in through a syringe, not minding if the patient wasn’t keeping it down because it was too hard on their stomach, and pull it out after that was done. This would repeat 3-6 times a day to the point where me and my fellow patients were developing sinus infections and nose bleeds; my throat even became inflamed and they could barely even put it in anymore. They also sent me home to their virtual PHP when I was obviously not ready (another thing they would do is randomly kick patients out even if they hadn’t eaten by mouth in weeks and were medically unstable with the excuse that they “can’t help them anymore”) and then two or three days later their PHP dropped me saying that the inpatient never should’ve discharged me to this level of care. They were very bad with discharge planning. In terms of meals, they do generally honor vegetarian diets but are very bad with allergies and intolerances. You can have a few “dislikes” that you don’t have to eat but your dietitian might randomly decide to make you eat them again. The food was mostly not too bad, they had a lot of variety. A lot of the staff are untrained and unprofessional, but I’m not going to say that was all of them because there were many MHC’s and nurses who were very kind and helped me a lot along the way. I also made a lot of good friends who I still keep in touch with today. Also because of covid they didn’t allow visitors so we were allowed to have our cell phones for a few hours at night, but I’m not sure if that changed since covid restrictions have gone down. Otherwise we were always allowed to use a landline to call anyone we wanted. At the beginning of your stay you are assigned a therapist, who you meet with three times a week, a dietitian, who you meet with twice a week, and a nurse practitioner, who you meet with once a day. They accept people of all gender identities and while they claim to be supportive of the LGBTQ+ community, there were many many incidents where staff were very insensitive to transgender patients. Most of the rooms were doubles, so you will likely have a roommate, and adolescents and young adults were kept on the same unit. They do supplements, usually ensure or ensure plus but they do have a larger variety of supplements than most places so if you have any special dietary needs they might be willing to work with you. There are three meals and three snacks a day, and a limited amount of groups a day. They were also implementing a level system right as I was leaving. While it may sound like a good program in theory, it is not, at least it wasn’t for most of the people I’ve talked to, so if you have any better options please take them.
?Full Review?
Location: Adult Inpatient & Residential in Dedham, MA, right outside Boston
* Note that this is Walden’s new 82-bed Inpatient and Residential Facility in Massachusetts. It opened recently and is called Walden Behavioral Care Center for Recovery.
I was in Adult inpatient and residential May-June 2021 at their (new) location outside of Boston. The facility is new to Walden and some parts are nice, others aren’t. I was in inpatient for 2 weeks, residential for 3-4. The building has 3 floors, plus a basement (where the kitchen is). The 3rd floor is adult inpatient, 2nd is adolescent inpatient (plus the art therapy room and yoga studio), and the 1st floor is adult and adolescent residential (which is split by doors).
Inpatient was where I struggled. I didn’t feel I needed to be there at that level of care, but eventually found my groove. There are 24 patients in inpatient, 3 meals, 3 snacks a day. There are 3-4 groups a day. You get your technology weekdays from 6-10pm and on weekends 3-10pm. I’m not sure if this is because of COVID or what. At first it was hard to be away from my phone/laptop, but I adjusted. The staff (MHCs) in inpatient are funny, kind and understanding. Of course not all of them are, but the majority of them are. You are set up with a dietician, clinician (social worker), and nurse praticioner. In inpatient you meet with your nurse every day, dietician 1x a week, and your clinician 3x a day. The struggle is if you don’t click with one member of your team, you are stuck with them. You’re unable to switch. The groups range from nutrition, art therapy, yoga, drama therapy (which is NOT acting- it’s a lot of writing/journaling/drawing, so almost like art?), to skills (DBT, CBT, ACT). These are basic courses because when you are inpatient, you are medically stabilizing. The food in (both) inpatient and residential come from the kitchen downstairs and is cafeteria/camp level food. That means sometimes the food is good, sometimes it is decent, and sometimes it is just awful. I’ve heard MHCs say they would not even eat some of the food because of how it looks or is prepared, but I believe the kitchen food is outsourced through a hospital level company…so it is what it is. You are able to substitute at inpatient level 5 times; you get a menu at the beginning of the week that you can adjust to your liking. (In residential, the substitute ability moves down to 3….why? Who knows)
Both residential and inpatient have 24 patients. The patients are split up into villages (inpatient) and wings (residential) so that not all 24 people are in all of the groups…that would be hard to manage! My fellow patients were, for the most part, supportive, kind, welcoming, etc. I felt really seen by my fellow patients. Of course this depends on your group. I have heard many stories were other patients were toxic / hard to be around / triggering / etc.
What’s the average stay for Walden residential?
*TW: involuntary treatment*
Is there process of involuntary commitment the same as Colorado (acute) is it done often
Was inpatient here. Did not have a good experience overall. Found it to be honestly be unhelpful and unproductive. Not recovery focused at all, they basically just try and find ways to force you to eat without really redirecting most compensatory and table behaviors. Some positives that I will say though is that I thought that both my dietician and clinician were absolutely wonderful and helpful. They are also very good at coordinating step downs and horticulture group slays.
Irvington resi or inpatient Walden. Should I wait for resi? Really need some help and ideally after reading it seems like Walden is awful for people with trauma and don’t like restrictions? Can you smoke at Irvington location and regarding the ama process can you leave after 72 or has anyone at either location been trapped for inpatient at Walden and resi at Irvington. So sorry to posing the same questions just have been abused at the current hospital I’m at so am very nervous and need to make decisions. To stay and go to Irvington or go to Walden inpatient which seems very hostile too. But could you leave Walden at ur free will there. The current place I am you can’t.
Help. Need to know if I should transfer hospitals to Walden or go to resi at Irvington. Which is kinder , can smoke and not court you if you want to leave if you are not getting anything out of it. I have severe trauma from the place I’m at now and need to protect myself. Would really appreciate some advice
Monte Nido Walden inpatient vs irvington resi…please I need answers on if you can smoke/SHOULD I wait to do resi at Irvington and not go inpatient at Walden. Really need some opinions. Need more freedom. Can you smoke in resi at either. What’s the discharges process like. *TW: involuntary treatment* Do you get to ama easy. Can they court you?
I can confirm that Irvington allows smoke breaks (cigarettes only) throughout the day as long as it’s not during meals/snacks or groups
**TW: involuntary treatment, low bmi**
walden ip can court you. IP is conditional voluntary there and family members can also get you sectioned. they aren’t super overly strict about 3 days though and will let you leave *TW* underweight with low bmi, using a tube, as long your vitals are not super super super super trash and you aren’t [experiencing SI]. *TW NUMBERS!!* I signed a 3-day with a BMI in the XXs and only withdrew it because a family member was going to try and get me sectioned, otherwise I was told that I would’ve been approved to leave.* end TW. You can’t smoke there not even outside or in res.
*admin note: number redacted per site policy
Does anyone have any recent reviews for adult inpatient at their Dedham, MA location?
Just posted one!
Thank you!!
Anyone have a recent review for here?
I’m a minor and was considering trying to get help.
I’m a trans guy so can’t go to programs that are women only.
I don’t want outpatient but I’ve never done a residential program before.
What should I know?
Hello,
I am 30 F and am on the waitlist for walden adult residential. I have not been in treatment in 5 years or so, last time was walden inpatient on almost before Monte Nido took over.
What is the average length of stay at resi now?
What constitutes a higher level of care transfer?
Do they tube in resi?
What are meals like?
Daily schedule?
Can you have a kindle and cell phone?
Any advice about what to bring?
Can you wear leggings?
Waitlist for Walden inpatient adult currently?
*TW: tube, but for non-ED needs*
Do they let you have a tube in res? My team thinks I might need one due to gastroparesis that may or may not get better over time. The goal is to primarily eat orally with some of my meal plan off set to tube feeds. I don’t need the full medical stabilization aspect of IP.
Does any one know how inpatient is currently set up here. Like what your allowed to do and not allowed to do etc. If that makes sense. I
Interested in any recent reviews of the MA location adult program
Can someone provide a review of the Walden Dedham Residential program? thank you! D17 currently at In-Patient.*
*admin note: D17 is short for 17-year-old daughter
can you provide a review of Walden Dedham adolescent inpatient facility? What forms did you have to fill out for admission?
We just got a review of adolescent inpatient! Here is the direct link: https://edtreatmentreview.com/walden/#comment-31778
Hi! I was wondering if you get to pick your own snacks on inpatient? What kinds of snacks were available? Thanks!!!!
I don’t know if it is a summer thing, or what, but I wanted to mention that my daughter (who was there for 3 days), said that there was “a lot of downtime” and that they played Smash Bros 2-3x each day.
i’ve read a lot of good reviews but most do not have a location mentioned, does anyone have reviews specifically for the middletown ct location?
i did middletown walden in 2022/23. they’re good, lots of peers really enjoyed the program!
Update – Walden is now called “Monte Nido Walden.”
I’ll hold off for now on changing the name on EDTR though, because it is already confusing enough as is to distinguish between treatment centers, with how many programs have added “Monte Nido” to their names the last few years.
https://www.montenido.com/evolving-with-purpose-monte-nidos-brand-refresh-journey/
Looking for recent Walden ip reviews
I know they currently have a 6 week waiting list and my iop team is encouraging me to get on the list . I’m absolutely terrified . This is the only place my insurance will cover as I don’t have residential coverage only IP benefits and have heard not so great things from friends that have been there
Hello. I have a 16 year old daughter and we live in MA. Our insurance only covers Walden or Cambridge Eating Disorder Center (in NH I think) for inpatient or residential. Does any adolescent or their caregiver have info you can offer about either of these for inpatient or residential? What are the facilities like, how well staffed are they, how are patients treated, what is the schedule like, etc.
Has anyone been ip or res in MA recently that could do a review ?
I’m currently in the process of working with Walden and my insurance to get me into either residential or inpatient in Deadham, and I just have some questions for people who have been before. I am 18 so I am a young adult and am looking for that side of things.
Does anyone have any experience with being treated for ARFID by Walden in res or inpatient? How was it?
Do people recommend bringing anything that’s not on the list? My only 2 thoughts were some type of shower caddy, and bringing my laundry bag for dirty clothes.
How do visits and passes work? Both res and inpatient.
What happens when you don’t complete a meal in residential? What if you don’t finish a supplement? What about inpatient?
What happens if you miss a group?
Is there a levels system or any type of ‘earned’ things for adults? If so how does it work?
Will I be forced to do family therapy as a young adult? (I’ve done so much family therapy and it only creates worse issues with my family dynamic, but clinicians are always like “Yeah that’s why we want to do family therapy!”)
How are co-occurring mental health conditions treated?
How does Walden handle self-harm thoughts and urges?
How does Walden handle physical health conditions (ie: chronic migraines)?
How does Walden approach/accommodate neurodivergent clients? (ex: what if a group is too overwhelming for me on a sensory level?)
How does Walden do with non-binary people?
I don’t think I have any other questions right now, but if anyone has any other suggestions I’d appreciate it. Walden is literally my ONLY option for insurance so don’t suggest other treatment centers because it isn’t an option for me. Thanks! 🙂
What are meals like in IP vs. res? How many patients and staff at a table? Do MHCs eat with you or just awkwardly stare at you? Do most people complete in res? What’s the food like?
Hi, I had a question my parents did an admission intake for me in Walden adolescent inpatient feb 2 2024. I was wondering how long the waitlist for inpatient usually takes.
Hey!
im looking into Walden and im curious if people recommend this place and if you were there was it helpful?
Was inpatient helpful or triggering?
Anyone know how the inpatient is ran now at Walden? I was there when they first open the Dedham location in 2020. Heard the inpatient unit is a lot worse now.
There is a possibility that I will be going IP in 6-8 weeks. I am reading that they do not allow leggings? I am not a fan of jeans but what do people wear?
What else is on the packing list?
sweats primarily. and pajama pants lol
leggings are a strangulation risk. shorts are “triggering,” during the summer they were a little more lenient on the adolescent & young adult inpatient floor but they had to be knee length, and 95% of people wore sweats or pjs.
once you get to resi you can wear leggings
Just for people to know: the waitlist for inpatient is 2-3 weeks, and the waitlist for residential is a week 🙂
Hi, I’ve been reading some of the reviews here, and I want to get some clarification. Is it true they can hold you involuntary here? Thanks. I was also wondering if they provide iv fluids there or do they send you out for the day?
How long is the current wait for inpatient?
Hi! I’m going to be working on posting a full review for Walden inpatient program and was hoping that if anyone had any questions about it, I could answer those too while I’m at it! I’ve been on both the adult and the adolescent/young adult floors for inpatient so I can try to answer some about both experiences. In the last almost year-ish I’ve been between their inpatient, adult residential and in-person PHP, but for now I’m just going to answer questions about inpatient as it is what I have been in longest and know best. I know I was very scared before admitting here last December and answers on this page really helped reassure me, so I hope I can help some others out too!
I have a couple questions for inpatient: do they still do involuntary feeds? Also, if you need fluids do they provide those or do you go out for the day?
Does Walden offer transitional housing for patients in php?
Can anyone give a recent review of inpatient?
Does starting at inpatient at Walden get you ahead of the waitlist for stepping down to their residential afterwards? Thanks!
Yes – it’s a progression in LOC.
Walden and Rosewood are owned by the same people. I have been on the waitlist for Walden and would really like to go there, however I am being told I should consider Rosewood due to Walden’s waitlist not moving. They seem so so so different from each other. Does anyone have a comparison between the two? I was told the only difference is that Walden can provide restraints- this doesn’t apply to me though.
*admin note: thread moved here from client general forum
Walden is not great- has stabilized me but nothing more. Have also heard v bad reviews of Rosewood. I think Laureate and Center for Change are leagues better than both.
can someone comment on the way the meal plan works and foods that the adult inpatient/residential has available?
Current waitlist at Walden IP? Thanks!!
*admin note: post moved to walden’s page from client general forum per site guidelines
10 weeks
Hi,
does anyone know of Walden’s current or most recent wait list at any IP/res location?
thank you
I am at Walden’s IP program and am thinking of stepping down to a residential program.
Does anyone know which program is better: Walden (Dedham, MA) residential vs. CEDC (Cambridge Eating Disorder Center) residential? Pros vs Cons?
Thank you so much.
Right now there are no waitlists for adult residential at Walden’s Massachusetts location! According to their site, Walden’s residential program currently has “Immediate availability for Adults in Massachusetts, open to [both in-state residents] and out-of-state residents.”
hey all!
i was with walden in waltham from july-october of 2020, all levels (started resi, bumped to inpatient, discharged to php, finished out in iop).
currently looking at readmission to either resi/inpatient or php while i wait for resi/inpatient. this is all at the adolescent level.
i was wondering if anyone could speak to the potential changes that have come about from walden becoming a monte nido affiliate and changing locations. my experience at inpatient last time was…rough and i’m just trying to prepare myself for if it’s actually changed enough to be significant.
Do you know which location/s you might be going to? It looks like the adolescent inpatient and residential programs are now in Dedham, MA at their new building, which opened in Nov 2020, so you would at least be going to the new building for IP/Res! Then the adol PHPs are in Waltham like you said and Westborough, MA as well Middletown, CT.
I’m sure others can provide more helpful info, but I can say that overall the general feedback we’ve received on here is that the program has actually improved significantly since affiliating with Monte Nido! It’s been a quite pleasant surprise. This may have to do with the fact that Walden was already a for-profit program with multiple locations, so when it was bought out treatment didn’t have to go through the process of changing from non-profit to for-profit or from local/independently owned program to national corporate one. However, based on recent posts on here (primarily from parents), I think the adolescent inpatient unit is still quite rough around the edges.
sorry for not specifying! i’m going to be in Dedham, yes. thank you so much for your insight!
questions about waltham php adolescents
what’s the schedule like:
What is admissions process like? is it based on weight?
are phones allowed:
Are there group outings?
what causes them to bump you up to resi:
can I do outside sports:
what if you are physically healthy:
what snacks do they have:
anything else?
What’s php Waltham like?
can you smoke or vape in adult?
No, but they do provide nicotine patches
Hello
i was wondering what determines the level of care Walden recommends specifically inpatient vs residential.
Hello!
I was wondering about the deciding factors on whether Walden recommends inpatient or residential. Also how long is the waitlist for inpatient right now?
(possible TRIGGER WARNING)
And how does Walden deal with people who are really struggling and need extra support (meaning not able to complete meal plans but don’t want the tube) do they just turn those people away?
Hello! I’m on the Rogers adult inpatient waiting list but that’s 4-6 weeks. But I’m need help more immediately or rather soon. Does anybody know the waitlist for inpatient adult at Walden?
We were told could be 6 week at Walden in MA.
I was told similar last week and admitted yesterday. Depends on a lot of factors
Does anyone have recent OR semi-recent feedback on the adult residential – GEORGIA LOCATION ?? Recent is ideal but I’ll take any feedback…even if it’s not recent.
Have you gotten any more information on the GA location?
How long does admission take now a days?