Alsana is a national treatment center with a number of locations across the country. This page is for their Birmingham, AL location. (For reviews of their California locations, please click here. For reviews of their Missouri locations, please click here. For general Alsana discussion, please click here.)
Alsana Treatment Centers offer many levels of care across their locations. These including residential treatment, PHP (day treatment), IOP (Intensive Outpatient), transitional living/supported living, and virtual treatment. Every location treat adults of all genders aged 18+. They no longer treat adolescents. Some locations also treat Type-1 Diabetes in eating disorders. Most, if not all, locations can accommodate ethical veganism.
Note: Alsana used to be called Castlewood.
Any current reviews of Alsana’s Birmingham location? Please post in comments below. You can check out the FAQ and Guidelines for suggested questions. Thank you!
Alsana’s programs in Alabama include:
- Birmingham, AL: Residential treatment (RTC) for all genders, intensive day treatment (PHP) with off-campus, recovery-oriented apartment living, and intensive outpatient (IOP). They also offer Virtual PHP/IOP.
I just discharged from Alabama Res, and left in worse shape physically and emotionally. It is filthy dirty; the dining room is swarming with fruit flies you need to swat away, and they land on the food. They count on clients to do chores (in res?) including mopping the dining room floors and tables. None were sanitized correctly and it was disgusting. They also don’t have a dishwasher, but a professional sanitizer, counting on the clients to wash dishes. Disgusting. They left out parts of my meal plan all the time and didn’t supplement for that part. Hell, if you skip supplements, there are zero consequences. If you restrict heavily, again, no consequences. Clients can leave the group room at different parts of the day, and it’s a free for all for exercise/walking. All day long. Therpaist and dietitian decent. Althogh lead dietitian green lighted me to do an amount of exercise right out of res thst my outside team thought was unsafe, given my physical deterioration after my stay. You heard that right. I lost weight, had electrolyte imbalances, and am in the worst shape of my life post treatment. Because I came in a normal weight, I was completely medically neglected, with them ignoring major issues that could have been bad. Clients binged at the table (allowed). Clients purged in the dining room. Clients purged outside of the dining room. They admitted clients who honestly should have been inpatient or on a psych ward. The staff does not have control of the clients or environment. The environment was chaotic and not healing,
What are the phone rules
Recent Review of Alsana Birmingham
I admitted to Alsana St. Louis for res it was one of the best facilities that I have been too. I was able to connect with majority of the staff, they helped me alot. Seeing as I have been in multiple stays for my eating disorder at other facilities and ip/res and php/iop. For my eating disorder or for psych. My op team told me that they wouldn’t see me anymore if I didn’t go into treatment this last time so I chose St Louis. But because my history with past admissions to other facilities and I was very worried and was having alot of flashbacks to how I was treated and the other places. At alsana St. Louis I let my team know about how horribly treated I was at the other facilities and my worries/ concerns about this admission they were very respectful about everything I told them. My team was amazing and I miss them alot. I miss all of the staff it really felt like a family there. The staff made it an actual safe place for all of us that were there. I had to be discharged to go on a trip but after that trip I came right back and had the same team. That was a big comfort for me. However after being there from July to the end of September going on my trip then I came back October not knowing what we were about to be told. November 4th all of the staff and the patients got told that St.Louis was going to be shut down by November 15th and that would be that last day anyone would be there.
I was the last one to leave and I wanted it to be that way.
Birmingham was a completely different facility. As soon as I got there I could tell this wasn’t going to be the same environment I was just in. And the panic that I had before going to st.louis the panic that my team worked with me on was all gone. The staff in Birmingham you had a handle full of them that were actually amazing my res therapist in Birmingham was pretty much an exact copy as my therapist in st,louis just this one was a male. The chef was also amazing I would sing in the kitchen with her and she worked with the meal plan that wasn’t with what everyone else was having. The was a dietitian who really did care about her patients even the one that weren’t working with her she cared same goes for the therapist that I had there. And you had a couple of care staff that talked to us like normal people like that did in St.Louis . Everyone else however didn’t for me personally it felt like a prison. It was a three level office building turned into a facility. The top floor was were we slept most rooms had a shared bathroom in the middle so you would have two rooms one with two twin and the with three twin beds and a bathroom in between so five people for that one bathroom. And on the opposite side you had the same layout but both bedrooms had three twin beds and then the bathroom. then you had two rooms with only two twin beds and they both had their own bathrooms. so in total they could hold 15 people at a time. You were only allowed on the third floor when It was bed time you had from about 8:30-10 to do what ever you needed to do because at 10 that’s when the care staff left. It was hard with 5-6 girls sharing one bathroom for anything to get done unless you made a schedule for everyone you shared the bathroom with. You had to have also gotten your meds before the care staff left because when the nurses would do room checks you had to be in them other wise you would get a talking to and written up and questioned from your team or leadership as to why you weren’t in bed. Also the top floor was always cold no matter what I know alot of people had trouble with it.
The second floor was the main floor the one you would enter to do your intake at and its also were they did php/iop. If you were in res you couldn’t be on the second floor unless there was a group for res on the second floor because php/iop would be on the first floor doing their group.
The First floor is where they pretty much housed the people in res sure our bedrooms were up stairs but we did everything on the first floor. We had a “group room” It was a group room, art cove, downtime area, yoga room, nap area ( they never liked you to sleep). You shared couches with one other person so you didn’t get any personal space at all unless you got lucky and no one was by you because they left. You were stuck in this room from 7am- 8:30pm they did let you out back when not in groups for smoking/ vape time. They didn’t like if you needed time out of group to re regulate your self but they also didn’t pay much attention if you did step outside unless one of the good staff was there.
On the first floor you also had the dinning room/ kitchen/ meal prep area.
The dinning room only had three round tables that they had five- six chairs at each one of the chairs would have the care staff if we had enough for the day/ night. But the tables almost always had 5 patients in the chairs so it was always cramped and loud. Some of the care staff wouldn’t even tough their food or not finish it or complain about their food. They would talk about how much or how little they had before coming to work. Patients had to sit there and listen to it and it was triggering. Care staff would be on their phones alot during meals it was crazy. Us the patients sometimes did have rough days and just needed quite in the meal room and staff knew that but they tried to make us have conversations it wasn’t the best environment to be in at all.
When I moved down to php it was hard because everything was the same thing everyday same as res I thought that there would be some change up but no. the only difference was getting to go back to the apartments at night that’s about it. I noticed alot more people engaging in behaviors in the apartments then in res which is kind of normal but at the same time there was alot more bullying and comparing in php/iop. The staff for php/iop were worse then the staff for res in my opion my therapist was one good one in php/iop but the rest not so much. Even the new lead dietitian was awful she never took into account your gi or any other medical issues like if you had a severe allergy to her she thought that the person was faking it even after medical testing proves it. I had this dietitian when she got there then got another new one that works right under the lead. I was being forced to do treatments that didn’t go with my plan or what I felt comfortable doing because of my own medical issues.
I was with Alsana from July 24- April 25 I was there for 9 months I was in St. Louis for 4 months and was getting ready to step down when we got told that it was shutting down and everyone needed to go to Birmingham. My step down was still supposed to happen when I got to Birmingham it was supposed to be November 25th no matter what my team from St. Louis told me that that is what it would be and that they would make sure that Birmingham wouldn’t change it but you know I got to Birmingham and was there for 5 months. I got there and they told me after one week of being in Birmingham that my step down date was going to change to December 2 then it changed again to December 16th only a few days after my brithday would I be able to step down to php. Once I got to php they told me that I would have a short stay there because I have been in treatment for so long already but that wasn’t the case they just kept pushing it back I didn’t step down to iop until March so three months later I was step down to iop and that’s when they said that they wanted to extend even longer I pushed to go home they said the only chance for the to happen was if I did Virtual IOP. So I had to agree to it so I could leave and go home and be with family after 9 months of being gone. If they had gotten their way I would have been in there for another few months. Which wasn’t necessary at all I shouldn’t have even been in Birmingham as long as I was. Overall Alsana Birmingham doesn’t help in any aspect. the select few people that I had on my team made it a little better.
Birmingham isn’t a place I would recommend for anyone to go to at all. They do have a lot new rules that don’t make any sense. They were already pretty hard on the clients when I was there but it’s only gotten worse. The only place I like was Alsana St.Louis and at Birmingham the only people from there are my therapist both res and php then the one nice dietitian and chef and my VIOP team. I honestly have been in recovery now for the longest time that I have ever been and its thanks to my teams. NOT the facility at all the facility made my mental health much worse the people in the Birmingham facility made it worse. The place is based on people competing with each other and making a lot of cliques they would struggle together to be stepped up together it happened all the time in Birmingham staff left clients back slide so much that they had to get put back into res. And also if you were actually doing decent with meal plan and everything they would want to keep you “to make sure you didn’t back slide” so no matter what you had to stay. They don’t court order or anything there which is nice but they do word things where you feel like you have to stay and there isn’t a way out.
After getting out of Birmingham it felt like this cloud wasn’t there any longer and I found it better for my recovery outside of the competition with others in there. I have been able to sustain recovery despite everything thrown at me from what happened there.
I can confirm that the lead dietitian at the PHP/IOP level of Birmingham was really unhelpful to my recovery experience. I was there this past spring (2025) at those levels of care.
I also had a negative experience with my individual dietitian (who was virtual for some reason, despite everyone else having in-person dietitians). I expressed to my team after a few weeks that I didn’t feel like my RD was listening to me, and that we kept missing each other in conversations.
I’m including an example of a real interaction and hopefully avoiding triggering details (if that’s not okay, feel free to edit things):
We had group snack in PHP/IOP with a food that might feel challenging for certain clients. It’s a food that I personally enjoy but that the ED makes me afraid to eat, and the portion size a few of us were given felt under-portioned. The portioning was based on the nutritional equivalent of our regular assigned snack size (I think they do simple and complex there, but some treatment centers will do A/B/C for different snack options — it’s the same concept). Given that this was food that I would want to eat with friends with some sense of normalcy out in public, I ended up processing my experience with my dietitian in a virtual session later.
This was the conversation I had in a session:
Her: “Okay, I hear you saying that you think that one [insert food] is normal for most people if they’re out and about.”
Me: “Yeah, I think so.”
Her: “But maybe for some people half of that is normal.”
Me: “Sure, I guess? Mabe if they’re not feeling hungry?”
Her: “Well, then I’m confused. You just said one full [insert food] is normal. Now you’re saying half that portion is. Which is it?”
I remember feeling a little bit crazy as someone who has been in treatment before and knows what most semi-normal portions with this food would be.
After talking to my team about a number of similarly frustrating conversations with this specific dietitian, the LEAD dietitian ended up finding me later and pulling me aside to ask why I wanted to switch to a new RD. She kept asking what evidence I had of why the RD-client relationship wasn’t working beyond “not feeling heard,” and I couldn’t give her word for word examples. I told her I wish that I could — it was frustrating for me as well that I couldn’t offer concrete, verbatim specifics. I named that I was starting to feel defensive after a few minutes of this conversation. She said she had expected that I would feel that way, and then she kept going. After a few more rounds of questioning, I seemed to piece together that she thought it was just my ED that was “talking” in wanting a new dietitian. While that wouldn’t make sense logically for a number of reasons, I could feel my body becoming dis-regulated at her continued determination to mishear me and misname the situation. I spoke aloud that my body was becoming dis-regulated, and I told her very firmly but calmly that we needed to press pause on the conversation. And she refused. She KEPT pressing in on why I wanted to change.
Those experiences were honestly really discouraging and created more struggle in my recovery. I advocated for myself while I was there. I stayed clear, communicative and calm as I spoke to staff (even though I was firm in pressing for what I needed), and I was still dismissed by providers who had the power report back to my leadership a different version of events and behavior. My recent experience left me with the impression that the staff at that location (particularly dietitians) need extensive training that they do not currently have in order to be working with ED clients.
I actually left because I was actively getting worse there. I left against clinical advice (like one of the people below did). I’m actually doing well now, and in my humble opinion, that is very much connected to being out of this treatment program. My Alsana team tried to tell me that discharging ACA would go terribly, but I’m so glad I trusted myself.
05/25/2025 – I discharged ACA from this location earlier this year, and I will tell you why:
I was admitted to Alsana St. Louis Res in mid-October for AN-restricting type. The adjustment period was difficult as it was my first time in treatment, but as I grew more comfortable, I loved it, and they helped me incredibly. The staff was kind, caring, and supportive- this includes direct care, nurses, and all clinical staff. Anyone was approachable if you needed support, whether that was during mealtimes, groups, or downtime. Come November, we got informed (staff included on the same day) by the CEO that they were closing down that location. Then ensued the process of having to be transferred to another location to continue treatment (I was in no place to discharge safely at the time.)
Alsana Birmingham is honestly a terrible location for recovery. It’s an office building turned into a residential facility, literally. Let me explain:
You spend your entire day when not eating in one room- I mean, LITERALLY your entire day, unless you have an hour session with a therapist in one of the offices. The same place you do groups in, is the same place you do art in, is the same place you do yoga in, is the same place you decompress in. It wasn’t until months later in my stay that they finally allowed for some patients to ‘rent out’ office spaces in the evenings for some peace and quiet. I’m sure this would be fine with a small milieu, sort of, but with one less location, it was a full milieu my entire stay.
The meal room itself was cramped, in a very overstimulating way. It was difficult at times to get to your own seat, at a time where it’s already very difficult for most clients. Direct Care turnover was terrible, and we had people who would comment about their current weight loss attempts, food preferences and how they’d “never eat this much if they weren’t here”. Other Direct Care would straight up sit there on their phones and not engage in meals or snacks.
The rooms are cramped, and 6 people share one bathroom. Furthermore, on the top floor, it was absolutely freezing. The majority of us already had issues with temperature regulation, and often came out of bed shivering or unable to sleep because it was so cold upstairs.
I could appreciate the clinical staff, specifically therapists and dieticians. Many of them were caring, but we would see them so rarely that it didn’t make a deep impact when needing support. Leadership was incredibly bitchy (pardon my unprofessional wording), and would instill needless rules in a space that already felt so similarly to a prison.
Again, I LOVED Alsana St. Louis. It’s important to note, I feel, that I was all-in with recovery and treatment. I didn’t come here against my will, or have some underlying vendetta against the program. I was motivated to continue my treatment journey— In getting to Birmingham, I felt myself forcing to be the ‘perfect client’ so I could get out faster due to all of the above reasons.
I stepped down to PHP, and groups were exactly the same curriculum (I saved all handouts from Res for reference, because I find it helpful to reread information in difficult moments). Groups were utterly silent. It was as helpful as journaling on my own would be.
I ultimately decided that I would be better off continuing my journey at home, so that’s what I did.
Seriously, look for another location. This place isn’t the right one. If you’re sticking to Alsana, maybe consider the California locations, but Birmingham is a shitshow. Alsana STL will forever be regarded highly in my book, and I really wish for future clients’ sakes that it had been kept open.
Recent Review
Just left Alsana res – I would not recommend. I came from Renfrew and wanted to go back as soon as I got there. I was shocked how immensely disorganized it was. I have struggled with severe orthorexia for years and been in a multitude of various treatments. I will say my dietitian was amazing, as well as the clinical director K****. They both wanted to meet me where I was in terms of safe foods and encouraged me to stay long enough to transfer me to ERC or Renfrew.
So, some people are great but I would say it is truly a staffing issue. I’m not leaving because of that – I came from an amazing Renfrew program that was very structured and learned so many skills from and was shocked with how infantile and pointless the groups were here. In terms of meals and snacks, they do accommodate vegan but also after the strict Renfrew meal plans, all I was thinking is that these meals don’t even meet all of the exchanges, aka full nutrition needs. Alsana has something called “direct care staff” who are truly some of the most incompetent people I have ever interacted with. There is NO encouragement or support or processing at meals. If you don’t eat, they don’t care. That is not okay when this is a residential ED treatment center and we need a lot of support with meals. There are no feeding tubes so if you don’t eat anything eventually they will step you to inpatient but only when you have a steady medical decline (likely related to having NO support and encouragement with the food) There are so many issues with the way the program is structured and ways it could be improved but will be going back to Renfrew and I would recommend Renfrew over Alsana 100%. They seem to be going through staff daily, it seems like very high turnover with the exception of the wonderful dietitian I mentioned and director who has been there awhile. But I would go elsewhere if you are struggling with orthorexia.
I was there in March and unfortunately it was exactly like this then too. I’m sad to hear nothing has changed, but I agree that K is wonderful!
Ugh I’m so sorry this was your experience as well. Did you stay or end up going elsewhere?
I left after about 3 1/2 weeks and just went back to outpatient.
Thank you for this… could you share which Renfrew you’re having a positive experience with?
I was at the Charlotte Renfrew but they only have PHP & IOP unfortunately!
I was there in early 2022 and it was the same then as well. K is wonderful but the program has been a mess for a LONG time.
Having had a few really negative experiences with Renfrew, when I first read your comment I was like “no…Birmingham was bad but it wasn’t Renfrew bad!” But as I’ve thought more about it, Renfrew really is the better program, and it’s not even close. The treatment model Renfrew uses was just a really bad fit for me and the BIG milieu was hard—but they actually make sure you’re getting nutrition and some amount of medical care while there. Alsana…not so much (we literally would run out of food and/or supplements for sometimes DAYS).
I’m actually in the process of going this week . Is there any way you can talk about regarding outing or just getting fresh air and how the meals are? And I loved Renfrew too the coconut creek location was amazing I’m still in the process of taking an assessment and so Alsana has a bed ready at this location ….
Hey I’m going tomorrow there . Is it really bad and they don’t fallow food rules and ppl can do whatever. And were we allowed to have phone after dinner . I only been to st Luis 5 times but sadly they close
I was in the Birmingham PHP at the beginning of September ’24 for a 2 week intensive. Another ED facility with a wait list recommended residential, but I just wanted to try the PHP and go from there. I was here a few months ago and had a pretty great experience with the exception of the RD totally missing the fact that I was struggling and not asking the right questions.They did away with the PHP/IOP building and combined everything into their main building, limiting the number of patients they could treat.They only had one in-person dietician and the “others” whom I never heard about were virtual.They were unethically discharging patients who were not ready to discharge so they could get in more patients as they had no room. I passed out and hit my head, and they were still discharging me. I told them I was still struggling with meal prepping and meal plan compliance, and they just turned their heads.Positive things: yoga, nurse for PHP, and the psychiatristThis place is understaffed, incompetent, and unethical. I cannot recommend this facility at this given time. I hope things change for the better for them.
I highly recommend Alsana BHAM to anyone who may be seeking help for their own journey of healing! I can’t say enough great things about my experience and the staff I had the privilege of working with whilst in their care.
I was in PHP June 2–Jul. 4, 2025, and was stepped up to res Jul. 4–Sep. 9, 2025, due to “noncompliance” with meal plan.
I believe the res capacity is 15, but there were no more than six or seven during my time there. PHP/IOP was also smaller than usual, at around 10 clients.
Alsana proudly treats “adults of all genders” and supports gender identities outside the male/female binary.
Res clients see the medical doctor weekly for up to ~10 minutes; see the psychiatrist weekly for up to ~20 minutes; have two one-hour inidividual therapy sessions weekly, plus an additional individual or a family / supportive other session; have two half-hour dietitian sessions weekly; see the nurse daily/nightly for meds; have a weekly nursing assessment that takes ~15 minutes; and can see the nurse as needed (Alsana is unique in that they have 24/7 nursing care; this is one reason they accept very low BMIs).
PHP/IOP clients see the psychiatrist weekly for up to ~20 minutes, but my psychiatrist was very kind and thorough and provided longer sessions. Clients get two one-hour individual therapy sessions weekly, plus an additional individual or a family / supportive other session weekly. Clients see the dietitian for 45 minutes weekly, usually split into a 30-minute session and a 15-minute check-in. Nursing is available to help coordinate meds but is not allowed to administer meds.
At all LOCs, therapists and direct care (DCs) are available for check-ins. There must be one DC per six clients.
Therapists are free to choose therapies beneficial to each client. Groups teach DBT, some CBT, compassion-focused therapy (CFT), some ACT. Especially in PHP/IOP, individual exposures are encouraged and facilitated by therapists and especially dietitians; examples include cooking sessions at the PHP/IOP apartments.
There are three meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and three snacks (AM, PM, and HS), all in a dining area with three round tables, each seating five or six people. One of my favorite parts of treatment was the table games, such as Initials and “I’m Going on a Picnic.” Meals and snacks are strategically spaced to encourage return of hunger cues since many people with restrictive EDs lose these. Meals were 30 minutes, snacks 15 for the first part of my time at Alsana Birmingham, then were decreased to 20 and 10 minutes, respectively, much to most clients’ chagrin (one said the shortened meal time made her feel as though she were bingeing).
Alsana’s nutrition philosophy unnecessarily simplifies general public health nutrition guidelines and ignores nuance. I got the impression that people with EDs aren’t trusted to “handle the truth” of certain nutrition facts such as the relative health benefits of saturated versus unsaturated fats, or refined versus whole grains. Alsana teaches “fuel groups” rather than food groups: carbs, protein, fat, and produce. Fruits and vegetables are treated as nutritionally equivalent.
Alternative units of measurement are used for portioning, and all clients use the same portion sizes at meals: carbs and produce are a baseball (BB) each, protein is a baseball if dairy or the palm of the hand if meat or fish, and fats are a ping-pong ball (PPB). Some clients have meal additions, which are a serving of one fuel group. Meals are four to five fuel groups, snacks two. There are four snack sizes: Simple Plus, Combination (“Combo”), Combo 1.5, and Combo 2.0.
Every week, clients fill out meal and snack menus. There’s no chef for breakfast, so it’s a weekly rotation of no-cook meals:
Res clients are allowed five sub-meals per week, but at most one per day. PHP/IOP clients are allowed just two sub-meals per week. Breakfast sub-meal is:
Breakfast addition options are:
Lunch and dinner follow a four-week rotation. An example lunch menu:
The snack menu is as follows. (The “1.5/2.0” are IIRC.) Clients may not repeat the same snack in one day.
Clients are allowed two caffeinated beverages per day: at breakfast and AM snack. Dietitians can grant soda privileges. Soda is Shasta Sprite or Coke.
Once a week is Community Snack with the dietitian. Everyone has the same snack, which is usually dessert, but clients take turns choosing.
Supplement is Boost Plus, or Boost Breeze or nuts with dietitian permission. Type 1 diabetics get Glucerna. Meal/snack completion is in increments of 25 percent. In general, clients cannot be discharged at below 75 percent meal plan completion. It’s very common to not complete.
If a client has not met their target weight, it’s virtually impossible to decrease a meal plan. I was briefly hypermetabolic, and when that stopped, I experienced severe nausea from the sheer volume of my higher meal plan. The staff who didn’t think I was lying about the nausea attributed it to refeeding symptoms. It wasn’t. I tried to explain that it was just garden-variety overfullness, but staff seemed unwilling to admit that it’s perfectly possible to vomit just from eating too much!
Alsana does treat ARFID, but very few accommodations are made.
Both vegetarianism and veganism are supported. Soy milk is an option.
Weights are blind. Res weighs daily to help with insurance reimbursement. PHP weighs on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and IOP weighs just once a week. Rate of gain is two to four pounds per week, but they of course do not tell clients this. PHP/IOP clients may have “weight exposures” with dietitian permission.
The Alsana website quotes length of res stay at 30–45 days, but the reality is more like six to eight weeks. The total length of stay for res through IOP can be six months.
Alsana provides discounted apartments for PHP/IOP clients. Rates are based on financial need but can be up to $75/day.
Only virtual PHP/IOP is available for adolescents.
The age range skews younger, but there was a 62-year-old client while I was there.
Has anyone been to Birmingham recently that can speak to changes ie in regard to not having access to phones
See I love alsana . I been to st Luis many times and Alabama once . I refuse going to any other place but alsana and believe me I been to over 25 hospitals/residential s and they were hell , I been to renfrew in Philadelphia worse place, acute pure prison, reasons most abusive place , rosewood hell on earth, New York Presbyterian hell, monte mido was alright, center for discovery in ct both my sisters work so i can’t go *** I got more so let me tell be grateful of Alsana is the best and i love it and i need to go back but first got to get my labs better before applying
Would anyone be willing to provide a detailed recent review of the Alsana Birmingham location? Thanks so much!
Hi! A close friend was in PHP/IOP at the Birmingham location recently and something that was concerning was that these levels of care are now completely without on-site dietitians — as of like a week or two ago, the last in-person RD left. She had been juggling every client in that level of care, and because of that, it didn’t sound like they were getting the personalized care and attention they deserved. Birmingham PHP/IOP is bringing in a dietitian virtually to do sessions till they (hopefully) hire new folks. So while I can’t speak to residential currently, based on the description of the chaotic understaffing in PHP/IOP, I would be a little concerned to go if you planned to eventually step down within the program. If you do go, I hope there has been swift resolution to the problems currently going on and that you get a ton out of the program!
Thank you for sharing. Given all I have heard and based on the conversations I have had with various people in Admissions and on location, I do not know if this program is a good fit for me.
I used to work here. I have since become engulfed by disordered thoughts and suffer every day from intense eating disorder behaviors that I did not have prior. The environment this res program creates is not for those who are unwilling to recover. If you have even the slightest hesitancy in recovery programs or on the flip side, are on the cusp of eating disorder behaviors/thoughts becoming your everyday life- do NOT go here. There used to be so much potential in this program and its treatment, but like others have said, the staff simply does not care for your long-term success. They see you as a number, ironically enough. Literally all they look at are your numerical increases and decreases and judge you off of that. They provide 0 care or support when you are acting on behaviors as they feel that if you’re going to do it, then there’s no stopping you. You have to learn to stop on your own. I think that mindset is fine when applied to OUTPATIENT! But not residential!!! So much drama and terrible things happened here with the completely knowing of staff and administration and nothing is ever done. More often than not clients will ACA/AMA instead of leaving on Alsana’s terms due to how terrible the environment and overall treatment is. I wish I never worked here. My ED has taken over my thoughts, movements, my life. The therapy is also a waste of time, you could easily find better or even the same exact therapy lessons online for free. They just hand you silly worksheets or make you watch videos and speak to you as if you’re a child. Have had multiple clients in the past voice to me that this was the biggest waste of their time and money, and that they felt like they were in a kindergarten class.
This was my experience—no redirecting at the table. I did not have to finish my food. Therapy groups and individual sessions were a joke…we would play games in groups. They lied on my records, which I found out when going into VIOP, which is much better.
I’m at Birmingham res now and can try to answer questions if needed. Overall, I would not recommend the program. As other reviewers have said, it’s extremely easy to engage in behaviors. Also a majority of clients do not complete meals/snacks and are rarely even pushed to.
Oh friend! I’m so sorry to hear this, I know how hard you’ve worked to get treatment. I’ve actually been thinking about adding a question to the review template about whether most clients complete, and I think this for me is the straw that broke the camel’s back as far as whether or not to add it. This is such an important thing to know but that is rarely spoken of as something to consider when finding a treatment center. Thank you so much for sharing! Based on a review of Alsana Santa Barbara posted in the last day as well, sounds like the troubles that have plagued Birmingham are now there as well.
One question I have is whether it is still reasonably possible to be successful at Birmingham and/or to at least make solid progress in recovery, and if so, do you have any recommendations on how best to do so?
Thanks, Rachel <3
Yes, it’s so disappointing to be in a community like this. Alsana used to have consequences/incentives to encourage people to complete, but that seems to be no more. It honestly is not even treated like it’s a big deal.
That’s really hard to say as far as whether it’s reasonably possible to be successful at Birmingham. I mean, it’s possible, certainly, but only if you’re extremely self-motivated and not influenced by peers. You have to hold yourself accountable A LOT. There is pretty much zero monitoring by staff of correct portion sizes, etc, for meals and snacks once you’re on self portion. It’s just a free-for-all in the kitchen/dining room of us trying to prepare and portion food while staff runs around doing other things and paying no attention. Some of these issues may change depending on the makeup of the community, but given what others have said too, it may just be the norm here now :/ It’s really frustrating and disappointing. (I’m leaving next week earlier than recommended)
Would you please be more specific? I have been told to go here but am terrified as I have a history of leaving treatment when I freak out. I know Alsana is completely voluntary.
they are telling me that even if I stay for two weeks it is better than nothing. Would this be a good use of their time or mine?
What are you looking for more specifics on? As far as whether you should go, I’m obviously not a professional and don’t know your situation, but I do know that admissions will always tell you things like “two weeks is better than nothing,” but then do everything they can to try to make you stay once you get there. It would almost definitely be an ACA/AMA discharge after just 2 weeks, which I didn’t really care about, but it’s just something to keep in mind.
I have found the reviews on the Birmingham location to be very poor, and I want to know what to really expect. At this point, I think a harm reduction approach is what I am most interested in pursuing, and I do not know that this can be accomplished via any residential setting. However, information is invaluable, and I would appreciate any insight on previous experiences.
I can only speak to how it was in March…I know there were quite a few changes since (remodeling, moving php into same building as res), but not necessarily for the better. I definitely didn’t find them supportive of the harm reduction model. I think the problem with trying to find that in res is that treatment centers make their money from keeping patients longer, and a harm reduction model leans towards shorter stays. Sorry if that isn’t super helpful :/
Thank you. This is actually very helpful.
Very anonymous – brainstorming here ❤️ are you able to do PHP w/ housing? Sol Stone in upper NY supports harm reduction! One of our original members went there recently and to
my knowledge had a good experience doing harm reduction there!
Thanks- please see my comment below. My outpatient team has helped create a very intensive “mock” intensive outpatient program for me.
i appreciate all of the feedback and grateful that I did not listen to the admissions team who swore up and down they did harm reduction at Alsana and would work with me
Alsana res or any res cannot provide a harm reduction approach. Alsana php doesn’t provide that approach either. There are few programs that offer a harm reduction approach. Typically, they are inpatient SEED programs or outpatient working with your treatment team. higher levels of care focus on full recovery not harm reduction. Maybe a medical stabilization program in a general hospital would be helpful.
Just came from stabilization and have an amazing team and other resources ready to help me! Thanks!
Very true. At Alsana specifically, only 1 person with a planned short stay left according to plan, however they had a robust step down plan arranged before they ever arrived to Alsana and they were a minor with parents heavily involved. I went with a planned 21 day stay that became a 4.5 month stay. Many people were there 6-9+ months or more going through levels of care. Those going through res or php only were also pushed to extend even when it put job loss on the line. if you want a certain amount of time for a stay, pick a different program with better outcomes. Alsana doesn’t push people to recover, so keeping them for months or a couple years makes lots of money. It is not a recovery oriented environment. If you’re influenced by peers not completing, don’t go there. There aren’t many consequences and staff let it go on for a longgg time.
Thank you. This is so helpful!
1000% this
Hi to anyone who may come across this review- this one has been a long time coming and I am now comfortable enough to share my experience.
First I’ll begin by stating what direction this review is going in- please do not go, or send a loved one/someone you know who is struggling here. I am going to provide my experience, as well as the experiences I know my friends that I made there went through, so this will be a slightly long review.
*I was here from early January 2023- late February 2023*
When I first started looking into places for residential treatment, I was immediately drawn to Alsana as the facility, their views, and the food, yes I know the food, looked like it was decent per their socials. I didn’t see too many bad things about them either besides the castlewood victims, so I thought that alabama would be different.As dumb as it may sound, I’m sure a lot of you can relate to wanting to be able to have access to your phone/electronics while in treatment, so alsana was one of the few places that allowed it. I talked to an intake person, as well as some people I had found through social media that went there and it seemed like it was a good place to to go, so I went.
I am from a state far from Alabama so my parents were wary of taking me that far, but they believed that throughout all my research, I had picked a place that I thought would help me, and I thought that too.
So we’ll start with what its like- it’s a pretty decent building, the rooms are nice, I loved my roomate (hi if you’re reading this:)), and it seemed like it was going to be okay. There were about 15 or so clients there when I got there so it wasn’t a huge group, but bigger than some other places that only allow 8 or so at a time.
Meals. Well, there was a culinary lead, but only for lunch and dinner, and sometimes they wouldn’t even be there. Breakfasts, like lunches and dinners were weekly menus given at the beginning of the week with only a few options. For example, you would get a week menu, and for the monday column, the main thing for breakfast would be a bagel, so then you would get a choice of your protein, fat, and dairy source. It wasn’t a choice really though, because there was like 2 options unless you were vegan. For lunches and dinners, there was an already planned meal for each day, and if you didn’t like it, you had a choice of a sub meal- which is either a meat or a PB&J sandwich with sides. If you didn’t like the breakfast option- the sub meal was usually poptarts. You only got 3 subs a week too, so if you didn’t like multiple things you didn’t really have a choice. But, here’s the thing.. When I was there- and this just seems to be the standard for Alsana, a LOT of people do not complete their meals, let alone even touch some of them. This was a big struggle for me, because I really honestly relied on peer/social support to push me to do what I needed to do, so I gave into that “peer pressure” pretty quickly. The “EDT”‘s, if you can even call them that, were not properly trained in eating disorders, as was the case when I had attended TEP residential a few years previous. It’s people that I genuinely think they get just for work, maybe put them through a few weeks of training, and then put them in charge of a bunch of young adults who are majorly struggling with an illness. It’s really sad if I’m being honest. Sure there are therapists and dieticians (I’ll get to that topic very shortly) there to “help”, but they are only there for a few hours a day, and not available much even when they are there. Often meal times would be playing games at the tables (theres multiple tables with weekly rotating groups), talking, or the “EDT”‘s just playing their loud music to laugh and joke around while people are genuinely struggling around them. There were multiple meals also where everyone would be silent, staring at the plates, and EDT’s would just be making light of the situation. Now even typing this, it makes me utterly disgusted as this is how I was treated when I was at one of the worst times in my life. Don’t get me wrong though, if there is any EDT’s reading this from when I was there (most of them quit shortly after I left :)) the talks some of them were able to have with us late at night, or during the days for check ins were super helpful, and even if they couldn’t provide the right type of support to help me battle my ED, I did feel like I had a community.
As far as community goes, I met a lot of great friends there. We all bonded over the struggle, and we spent a lot of late nights outside together talking about things past treatment life. I also think that we were all really struggling, and when things are hard, people often just look for a community they can feel even the slightest bit safe in. If any of you are reading this, I’m sorry that Alsana didn’t help us, but I’m glad that our paths crossed.
Now here comes the REAL bad details. The therapist. This therapist has since left alsana, as well as a lot of the staff that was there when I was, only just some months ago at the beginning of this year. (If that doesn’t give you a red flag, I don’t know what does).. Anyways, I really trusted her in the beginning. I am a young adult, typically younger than most people I’ve been with in adult treatments, and I have always just wanted someone who understood me and took me seriously despite my age. I also genuinely wanted to get the help so I didn’t have to spend my adulthood in treatment, and dealing with AN any longer. I’m going to go into detail and I would like to provide a( ****TW**** for talk of abuse- non descriptive, just mentions of the word) So, I thought she was helpful for our first few sessions, but I also was catching on to the fact that she really was emphasizing wanting to see if I had any past abuse/trauma tied to my illness. I had explained that I was lucky enough to be in a loving family, and I had been raised well in a community that I trusted. She just kept pushing though to see what was under my disorder, she didn’t seem to catch the fact that I have ocd, or that my anxiety has been high since childhood, but she did see that as a young adult in the beginning I was frustrated that my parents had sent me to a higher level of care, as I thought I could do it on my own (we’ve all been there, thank god for support people).. anyways, she liked that there was some ED resentment towards them, and boy did she run with that.
As time went on, I was working with the dietician, and her solution to me not being able to complete meals/snacks, was to just increase my meal plan (oh yep, that will work???), so she just kept increasing it. They deal with a lot of non compliance there, so one of their solutions is benecal smoothies and yogurt bowls, which was sometimes all that someone would eat during a day. Anyways, from the beginning, they told me and several of my other friends there that if we didn’t comply/do more of MP, we would get sent elsewhere for IP. They told my parents this for weeks, that I hadn’t been complying fully, but they were “working with me”, aka working with my ED imo, and that I didn’t have to consider IP yet. Well, family sessions came and went, and my parents were understandbly frustrated that I hadn’t been making any progress, and even though my ED was loving it, I was frustrated too. Everyday, I was just getting to live in that house, socialize with other people with similar struggles, and I was basically allowed to not make progress. This is when a few weeks in my therapist and dietician still hadn’t done much of anything to help me, so my parents wanted to look into places that could actually move me in the path to recovery (again thank god for support people). My parents were frustrated, sad, angry that this is how a facility meant to help their daughter was treating her, and I was too sick to see the support then, but I’m glad they stood up for me now. My therapist kept sneaking in that idea of resentment, and she eventually came to the conclusion that my parents were “verbally abusive” towards me, and that if they took me out of alsana (where I was genuinely receiving no help), they were chancing at my recovery, and they didn’t care for my life. After a family session one night, my parents just wanted to take me out of there for good, because I was truly being silenced by Alsana to stay there. The threats of IP were pretty empty, and I hadn’t made any progress in weeks- I was just sinking deeper into my ED’s grasp. My therapist that same night told me, a young, confused, ill, shell of a girl, that when my parents came to pick me up, Alsana could lock the doors, and I could look for shelter in a homeless center. Let me have you process that for a second. ME, a young, confused, ED riddled human being was being told that my parents were crazy for wanting to take me out of Alsana (to get me to a place that would actually help), that they were abusive, and that I could take my ill self to a homeless shelter for solice. FIRST off, she was directly telling me basically that I would be taken out of Alsana anyways, and she was suggesting that I no longer recieve any help, but rather get away from my “crazy parents” and run away from any help. In my brain now, it is such irony that she said that my parents were chancing my recovery and my life by SAVING me from Alsana, when she was recommending that I go to a homeless shelter (not an ED treatment in any way), where I would actually most likely succumb to my illness. I am utterly disgusted even writing that out.
I know this was a long detailed summary of my experience, but I had many other friends there that were constantly threatened with IP until it became a serious health issue, and many of them had to be transfered to other facilities like rosewood to actually help them get the intake they needed.
I am genuinely so grateful that I was taken out of Alsana, my ED had thrived there, and it was no place for recovery.
My parents shortly after picking me up made the trip with me to Laureate, and I spent AMAZING months there truly recieiving some of the best ED treatment I have ever recieved.
There is hope for you to recover, for your loved one, for your person in life, but please just don’t go to Alsana.
This is super helpful! Would you be willing/able to do a review for Laureate as well?
I’m very sorry to hear about your negative experience at Alsana Birmingham, though I am not at all surprised. I also had a very negative and unhelpful experience in the PHP/IOP there in 2014. Alsana told my parent I should move there and stay in treatment for 18 months to truly get better, yet I was there for 5 months and got worse. This is not the first time I’ve heard of Alsana trying to split a client from their family. Alsana tried that with me, too and a couple clients that were there at the same time as me.
Ironically, though some people had very damaging experiences at the original Castlewood center. I had a great experience there and was helped to get into recovery. Alsana was the opposite for me.
I’m glad you’re parents picked you up and got you to Laureate. Hope you are well. Thanks for sharing your story.
Thank you for sharing. I also had a terrible experience at Alsana Birmingham. Therapist made lots of assumptions and misdiagnosed me.
Looks like my team is pushing for Alsana. Does anyone have any recent info on the Alabama houses for Residential?
hey i was there a couple months ago if you wanna message me my snap is sophiagritz 🙂
Hi s! Could you post the info here on the site too so that more people can benefit from your knowledge?
sure!
so there’s only one house as of now because the other one shut down. i can’t remember exactly the capacity but i’d say there was around 12-15? don’t take my word on that though haha. you share a room with 1-2 people but they also have single rooms. it’s a really nice building in my opinion. the chef is really good and i thought they had a lot of variety on the menu. i think it’s like a 4 week rotation. the dietician i had when i was there left but i know that some of the php dietitians were helping out at res. not sure if they got a new one yet. i like the groups because most of them are discussion based. the dcs (techs) are somewhat decent but i wouldn’t expect tons of support from them unfortunately. i had a good community of people when i was there. let me know if there are any other questions!
I think only Birmingham is open. I messaged with a representative on Alsana website a couple of months ago and they said Huntsville was not open.
I am currently at Alsana Fitz. There is a 12 person max. The community is very nice right now. It’s a 4 week menu rotation and the groups, imo, are helpful. I can answer any questions you have.
What is the current age range of clients? Anyone over 30?
Is the program/community accepting of people in all body sizes?
Is there a mix of diagnoses?
Current age range is early to late twenties, we do have over 30. The program and community are accepting and kind, and there is a mix of dx.
Hi all, I will be admitting to Birmingham resi in the next couple of days and I have never been to Alsana before. I had talked to the intake coordinator about them sending me to an affiliated inpatient facility first because at this time, I would not be successful to start out in Res. The intake woman was super confused because she was adamant that the recommendation for me was residential. However, Rogers has me on their ED Inpatient waitlist currently, which is the proper level of care that I need right now. So my question is, once I show up to Birmingham and I am physically and mentally struggling to comply and not engage in behaviors, will they send me to a HLOC then? The intake coordinator is very much aware of where I stand with my needs at this time, but she’s saying I’m ready to admit to Res. I just don’t want to cause drama when I show up and am not ready to do all of the expectations and then the providers being blindsided and annoyed with me.
**I also would like to note that I have called several inpatient treatment centers and have had intakes, just to be told that the waitlist is 9 weeks long. I guess I’m holding onto hope that once admitted, Alsana will know the right thing to do and will hopefully send me to a HLOC until I am stable enough to return to them. My initial fear is that they’ll just kick me out and that would be a complete waste of everyone’s time. Mine especially.
has anyone had any experience with getting sent to a HLOC from Alsana first?
Honestly, I would be very wary. I was there a year ago and they had a LARGE number of clients struggling a LOT with minimal additional support. It was not uncommon for nearly the entire community to be supplementing after any given meal. Supplements were inconsistent and refusing food and/or supplement generally didn’t come with any real consequence. It’s also a fairly large community in a less than ideal setting-it’s very easy to “hide” and not be found if wanting to engage in behaviors. if you are very motivated and not one to be swayed by the behaviors of those around you, it might not be an issue. But I definitely witnessed numerous people spiral into deeper behaviors while there (including myself).
I was also very unimpressed with the nursing and medical oversight while I was there. When I admitted, I had a lot of non-ED related ongoing medical issues. My insurance requires 24/7 RN or above level nursing and, even still, Alsana was the only residential program willing to take me—others had placed me in a res LOC but due to medical stuff, would not admit me without an IP stay first to ensure medical stability. Meanwhile, no ED IP programs would take me because my ED symptoms didn’t require that LOC-so it was kind of hope for the best with Alsana or no treatment at all. I have a background in the medical field so was very well aware of what I needed to be aware of and advocate for—the fact that it wasn’t ED-related made it easier for me to do so—but it was very much like pulling teeth with Alsana and, had my outpatient providers not been as involved as they were, I’m not sure my voice would have been heard at all.
that all being said, my experience was a year ago and maybe things have improved (I was at Alsana St Louis 2 years ago and had a very different, much better experience). My gut instinct however would be to hold out and do IP somewhere first—especially if medical stability is a concern.
I haven’t been to Birmingham Alsana recently, but do want to echo that what this person who was there last year is saying seems to be a long term issue with the Birmingham Alsana program. I was there before the res program opened in both the PHP and IOP, and experienced the same problems. This was during the second half of 2014. The program has people who needed a higher level of care. When someone didn’t try to eat and refused supplements, they were kicked out after a week, not sent elsewhere. People who advocated for themselves needing more support in various ways, usually didn’t get it. The staff has favorite clients and if you weren’t it, then your needs were lesser than the favorites. There were definitely some people who were really recovery focused, but it seemed they had motivation a good amount of motivation and group and accountability was powerful in addition to how badly they wanted recovery. For people who needed more medical help, had more ambivalence, struggled with stopping behaviors (including self harm or substance abuse), there was not enough support if the person wasn’t highly motivated and able to control urges with minimal redirection while others still acted on urges, and peer support from groups.
If you’ve been assessed elsewhere as needing IP care, please try to find another IP program with shorter wait. Since Alsana doesn’t have IP, they often give people a chance and then deem them not ready. There isn’t an IP ED program nearby for them to send you to either. It’d be somewhere out of state.
I am a therapist and have been informed that one of the Birmingham RTCs and the Huntsville RTC are no longer. I’m unsure of the name of the Birmingham RTC that was shut down, but it was the one where clients stayed in an apartment and went to an office building for programming. Just FYI!
I thought Huntsville just opened, wow …
I messaged with admissions today on the Alsana website. They said Huntsville is not open, but Birmingham still is.
Yes, you’re correct that the original residential site in Birmingham is still operating. The second one to open is the one that has closed.
They opened and shut very quickly. I was there toward the end and it was awful. I was one of the last clients and I signed out very quickly. It is a shame because I have had wonderful experiences at other Alsana locations.
I used to be friends with the director of Huntsville. It’s very odd, because she had a lot of experience running ED clinics.
I wonder if it’s an upper management issue because they were bought by whatever Investment co. owns them now. The reviews by staff at any Alsana location on Indeed and Glassdoor say that all the upper management cares about is money.
Update: Most if not all of Alsana’s locations currently have availability (both residential and PHP).
Can anyone get in touch with me if they’ve recently been to Alsana Fitz location for res? I will be admitting next week but have some questions
Hi w- you have a better chance of getting a response if you post your questions on here, and has the additional benefit of providing info for others in the community.
Thank you Anonymous! I was hoping someone would suggest that. W, if you can post your questions on the site please rather than trying to find someone to send you an email, that would be awesome. I can guarantee that there are other people who will want to know the answers too! I am also moving this post to Alsana’s page, because the General Forum is only for discussion not pertaining to a specific center.
If there is anyone that has been here recently could you message me? Am going next week but have some questions, thanks in advance and hopefully I’ll hear smth from someone soon 🙂
Hi, if you want to post your questions I can try to answer them.
I’m considering Alsana, as they’re pretty much the only residential treatment centre which caters to vegans. If you’ve been in the past few months, I was wondering if you might be able to answer some of my questions. Specifically:
-Do they take insurance – medicaid/HealthFirst?
-What kinds of treatment professionals are on the team (doctor, dentist, nurse, therapist, dietician, psychiatrist, coach, etc.)?
-Were the therapists able to do trauma work?
-What kinds of groups are provided, and how valuable did you find them?
-Do patients have to wear masks?
-Do they discriminate against unvaccinated applicants?
-Are there any services provided for Christians, or might a chaplain visit (I’m assuming patients aren’t allowed to leave on Sundays to go to church)?
-What kind of meal support is provided, and what happens if you struggle to complete?
-How much is weight emphasised in recovery (are you weighed regularly, told your weight, given a weight goal to lose/gain a certain amount, etc.) – or is weight not a factor at all?
-How is movement incorporated, if it is at all?
-What are the weekends like?
-Are the staff kind and respectful, while also holding you accountable?
-Did you feel the staff were well versed in eating disorders?
-Do the staff practice HAES?
I am looking into St. Louis and Birmingham for residential – i am open to any of the houses in these locations. Has anyone been to any of these and would you recommend? I really want a nice, clean house with good food and lots of space. What is the food like and how are the houses? And any other info would also be helpful 🙂
As far as the settings in Birmingham, Fitz is more of an office building and not a house. Programming and sleeping is all in one building. They also have Zelda, where programming day (breakfast through dinner) occurs in a separate building and clients are transported to apartments for HS snack and sleeping. Fitz capacity is 20 and Zelda is 10.
Is there staff supervision at the Zelda apartments for HS snack and overnight? Or just for HS snack? Could you share more about the living arrangements for Zelda.
Is Fitz residential and Zelda day/IOP? Do some people go from Fitz to Zelda?
I went to Zelda. When I was there it was a good program but I know they currently struggling to retain clients.
There are 24/7 staff/nurses. So the nurse and staff come to the apartments. THere is always someone awake in the living room.
When were you there? I haven’t been in 2 years but may go back.
I was there from Feb 2022-March 2022 and know someone there currently.
No, Fitz and Zelda are both residential. They are just different locations. Php is a totally separate program. Both Fitz and Zelda are staffed 24/7 by nursing and direct care. Zelda has 2 apartments that hold 5-6 patients each. They are nice.
Thank you. That’s helpful. Does anyone go to Alsana res, then transfer to a local PHP/IOP so they can live at home?
Im currently at Zelda and will be transferring to local PHP when I get out. The community is nice right now and ive had good experience with the staff so far.
Is the programming the same at both as far as groups and how meals/snacks work? Are there levels for privileges?
What is HS snack?
It’s Latin for at bed time – so evening snack
Evening snack. Often at 9:00pm as per facility protocol
I was going to write a full review using the suggested questions, but I feel it would be more beneficial to just write about my experience.
I was at Fitzgerald – 5101 Cyrus Circle in Birmingham.
I was there in December 2021, so it may have changed since then (hopefully!) but I did not have a positive experience at all.
First, if you are in need of medical attention and/or have any medical issues, they are extremely ill-equipped to deal with this. Just one example: when I arrived I was severely hypoglycemic and my glucose level should have warranted immediate action. Instead they told me to walk back to the common area. They never tested my level again. There are always nurses there, but they aren’t keeping tabs on you nor giving appropriate care. I and others were given the wrong medications at times, and overall they simply made careless mistakes far too often. The doctor sees you once and asks you basic questions – he doesn’t seem to be too invested in your care. Both the medical doctor and psychiatrist tried to take me off some medications I have been on for a long time and need to take without even speaking to me about it.
If you are medically stable, you absolutely need to be motivated and able to separate yourself from the ED in order to be there. I went because I could not force myself to eat enough/gain weight at home and knew I needed to be “forced” for a little while in a highly structured environment to get back on track. This is NOT the place if the main goal is refeeding and the ED voice is too loud for you to do it on your own. It was not supportive of 100% completion and improving health. Everyone is served the same meal, same portion (unless you’re on a higher meal plan and you have extras).The meal plans were really not individualized and you could not have any dislikes or preferences in terms of food. Yes, you could substitute a sandwich/cookie or chips/apple for a few meals, but that was not much choice.
I was shocked because almost no one completed their meals. Often people didn’t even start. You are offered a supplement to replace the meal, but many do not even do this and there are not really any consequences. This was extremely triggering for me. If you are easily triggered by others’ behavior or you compare a lot, this is not the place for you. They let a lot of behaviors go, which is not the point of treatment. Some of the things I saw happening were absolutely appalling, and nothing was being done to intervene.
Some of the therapists seemed good and the groups were okay, but other therapists (mine in particular) were a little too close with the clients. My therapist said the clients were her best friends and she came on weekends even when she wasn’t working to “hang out”. She also over-shared…she told me her psychiatric diagnosis, where she went to treatment, and that she attempted suicide within my first 24 hours.
There were positives: I like that you are allowed your electronics much more frequently than other programs, I like that the groups go deep, they are inclusive, etc. I know some individuals who have had good experiences at Alsana. But this particular location was a mess and I wouldn’t recommend to anyone actually trying to get better.
When were you there? February-March 2022What level(s) of care did you do Residential How many patients are there on average? I was in Zelda and we had 10 patients max. We will pretty much always at 8-10. Does it treat both males and females? If so, is treatment separate or combined? Yes, combinedIf applicable: Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people? YesHow often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, etc?Therapy 2x + 1 family or support system session, 2x dietician, 1x psychiatrist and Medical doctor at admission and as needed. But therapist and dieticians are always open to check ins inbetween sessions.What is the staff-to-patient ratio? 1-5What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, etc.)?I liked the groups here because they were more discussion and process based. There weren’t many DBT,CBT,ACT groups. My favorite group was core because people shared assignments. Describe the average day:What were meals like? I was at Zelda which was apartment living and programming in a separate building. So meals were served in the building. We went to the office before breakfast and plated and ate all of our meals there. They didn’t have an oven so all the food was made downstairs and brought up. It was decent. Nothing to write home about, but not awful.Snacks were based on 4 categories simple, combo, combo 1.5 or combo 2.0. If you need more than you get shakes at one or more snack time.What sorts of food were available or served? Breakfast was on a rotation. Bagels, nuts, milk, cream cheese or PB. Oatmeal, yogurt, nuts, fruit. Waffles, sausage, and milk/yogurt. But if you have add ons or 1.5 portions your meal will be bigger or have more components. I honestly don’t remember exactly what we ate for lunch and dinner but pretty typical meals. SAndwiches, salads, etc for lunch. Pizza, pasta, meat and potatoes, etc for dinner. YOu can always sub with a sandwich, cookie, and fruit.Did they supplement? How did that system work? Yes, boost measured to percentage completed.What is the policy of not complying with meals? Eventually being put on a treatment agreement, and after that HLOC.Are you able to eat vegetarian? YesWhat privileges are allowed? Electronics at night, walks, individual meals.Does it work on a level system? YesHow do you earn privileges? Showing progress and building trust.What did you like the most? I liked the staff and the clinicians were great. I liked the individualized care and the trust they put in clients. I did not feel like a patient I felt like a person.What did you like the least? Groups could be boring, It was hard going between the apartments and the office, the psychiatrist and MD were useless. Would you recommend this program? Overall yes. BUT ONLY ZELDA I DO NOT SUGGEST FITZ. What level of activity or exercise was allowed? Walks, individual exercise exposures, and yoga twice a week. We had a movement group but we didn’t really move haha.What did people do on weekends? We still had groups but we had more electronic time and watched alot of movies, and sat outside.Do you get to know your weight? No. How fast is the weight gain process? Average probaby 1-3 lbs a week but its blind so I am not sure.What was the average length of stay? 6-8 weeks average.What was the average age range? We had a good range. 19-60 when I was there. How do visits/phone calls work? No visits since covid and phone calls are anytime during electronics time.For inpatient/residential: Are you able to go out on passes? NoOverall I would definitely recommend the program primarily because of the staff. I like Alsanas philosophy. I hope that Zelda gets a better location so it feels more home like and less chaotic.
Thanks for sharing. Why do you recommend Zelda and not Fitz? Does a person need a car to participate in treatment at Zelda or do client walk from the apartments to the office building? How much does it cost to stay in the apartments?
Can you tell us anything about what it’s like to stay in apartments during treatment? Did you have a roommate? How many people in an apartment? Are apartments staff supported? Do clients work towards having meals/snacks in the apartment alone or with other clients? What’s that like?
For context, I attended Alsana’s Birmingham PHP and IOP when it was off of hwy 280 in an office bldg with apartments across the highway. Can’t tell if this is the same location. That was in 2014.
My first night there I was at fitz and it was a total mess. Very little supervision. The staff were not helpful and there were way too many clients (20). Zelda had really great staff and experienced clinicians. They had 10 max which felt a lot more manageable, and it was overall a way calmer and more recovery oriented environment. There is always a staff and a nurse onsite at the apartments so they drive you back and forth. The apartments are part of RTC so they don’t cost anything. For PHP its $20 or $30 a day I believe but they do alot of scholarships. You can walk or drive in php.
The apartments were fine, not as bad as I thought going back and forth. They are supported well and the small group in each apartment was nice. The only negative is that if you leave something at the apartment you can’t go get it like if you were in a house. They have 3 rooms in each apartment and usually have 5 in each which means one person gets their own room but not always. (male clients) etc.
For context, I attended Alsana’s Birmingham PHP and IOP when it was off of hwy 280 in an office bldg with apartments across the highway. Can’t tell if this is the same location. That was in 2014.
I am not sure.
I am looking at the St. Louis and Birmingham locations for BED. The reviews for many treatment centers are very mixed and I’m torn on where to go. If you don’t recommend Alasana what do you recommend?
I need input about these 3 locations for treatment of BED, SUD (sober 3 months), and trauma:
Zelda in Birmingham,
Hawthorn in St. Louis, and
Huntsville,
please.
I also cannot find specific information about the physical space at Zelda. Please share any details.
Thank you.
Tl;dr: would not recommend Birmingham, especially Fitz, res. Major staffing concerns, food safety issues, rampant ED and self harm behaviors. Medical oversight is minimal at best (nursing was frequently temp/agency nurses with absolutely no ED or even psych experience; medical doctor was rarely on sight and frequently unreachable by phone). Definitely felt more like a paycheck than a patient or client. Emphasis on quick discharge to PHP, even if that meant quick readmission to res.
I’m the anon that asked a few months ago about Huntsville – definitely outing myself to staff/peers by posting this update but it needs to be shared. The day before I was set to admit to Huntsville, I received a call from admissions informing me that on second thought, Huntsville would not be able to accommodate my additional needs (I was medically stable, fully cleared for admission by Alsana at this point but, due to a non-ed medical issue, I needed some very minor changes to my program schedule – until this point, Alsana had given me the impression that it was a total non-issue). For my own reasons (mostly politics and pandemic related), I wasn’t super thrilled about going to treatment in Alabama in the first place but CA wasn’t an option due to insurance and St. Louis was, at the time, closed to new admits (stl was my 1st choice because I’d had a very positive experience in the past) – l was ok with Huntsville because it was a much smaller program. Less than 12 hrs before l was getting on my flight, I was assured by both admissions and the clinical director that Birmingham/Fitz res would be able to accommodate me. Given the timing, it was my only option short of forfeiting a plane ticket and starting the process all over again some where else, l trusted what I was told.
When I arrived, I was surprised to find that there was ~20 people in the program (the Fitz program is set up more like a traditional res unlike the review directly below me for Zelda, the other res “house” in Birmingham). As a whole, Alsana has done away with dislikes – you can use sub meals but otherwise you’re expected to supplement. This led to pretty rampant supplementation. Unlike my experience in STL where clients were all “choose in the moment” (aka select from the snack list at snack time) for snacks and progressed very quickly to self portioning, Birmingham required that snack menus be completed weekly during menu selection and it was common to only move to self portioning within a week of discharge. When I mentioned this discrepancy to my dietitian (as someone that struggles with in the moment decisions, I had found this aspect of treatment challenging but super beneficial previously), it was seen as a ‘huge’ deal to progress me ‘that quickly’ and might ‘send the wrong message’ to my insurance. Fitz had one chef—he was FANTASTIC in terms of the food he made AND as a person, he was the first to check in with you if he saw you were having a tough time and really went above and beyond to make all clients feel supported, safe, and at home (he was SO good with allergies and making sure you knew what you were getting was safe for you to eat)—he was VERY open to meal feedback and ideas and loved engaging in clients creation meals with us. Unfortunately, he modeled a healthy work/life balance so was only there 5 days a week….and the other 2 days were generally a shitshow where you were likely to be served your allergens, food would run out, and meals would run super late. Frankly, this is totally unacceptable for a treatment center. I can give some grace if it happens once—mistakes happen—but when you’re in a res level of care for an eating disorder, food is already hard enough, you don’t need last minute menu changes or to break out in hives because they gave you regular yogurt (that you questioned because it didn’t look dairy free….and it had already happened earlier in the week) but ASSURED you it was “the last” dairy free one so you couldn’t even swap it out. The most egregious food-related offense was the frequency with which they would run out of non-dairy supplements which would mean if you needed to supplement and your dietitian hadn’t signed off to allow you the option of supplementing with nuts, you were automatically marked down as a refusal if you “chose” not to eat your allergen.
Food aside, compared to my STL (Honeybee) experience in 2020, it was a joke. I touched on some of what made that experience so good elsewhere in this comment chain. Client turnover was SUPER high—average length of stay was probably 4 weeks and AS SOON as you were either completing maybe 80% of your meals and/or no longer medically underweight, you could expect to be discharged within a week. Re-admits from PHP were also super common—as someone who has been to other facilities with “revolving door” reputations (Renfrew, ERC) this was by far the worst I’d ever seen in that regard. For reference, I admitted at a similar weight in 2020 to Honeybee. My insurance, though initially difficult in authorizing the admission, covered my 10 week stay without ever going to peer or asking for any additional information. Until this admission, I had remained out of higher levels of care and residential or IP was the clinical recommendation from my outpatient providers as well as several other res programs—ED wise, I was appropriate for res but have other medical stuff going on that most did not feel comfortable handling in res loc. Upon my admission, my therapist asked if I would be ok if they tried for a slightly longer length of stay—I don’t have good PHP or IOP options available locally and cannot afford the cost of their housing (but do not meet the income requirements for financial aid through them). A few days later, I was told my insurance had only given me 2 weeks and more time would probably be hard to get. At some point the 2 weeks turned into 3 but I was told that, while it hadn’t gone to peer, it was a firm “nothing past 3 weeks” from my insurance company. Confused, I asked my therapist for more information—my understanding of insurance is that that’s not at all how it works… they either cut you and if they’re feeling kind, give you a day to gtfo, or they approve more time until your next review. If they start asking for more info or the number of days approved starts dropping, you can kind of predict that they will cut soon but they don’t ever say “here’s a week but after this, NO MORE.” She immediately got defensive and suggested that if I didn’t trust her, I contact my insurance myself. So I did. And, once they got over their initial confusion as to why I was calling them and not Alsana, confirmed that they had approved a third week but had not been asked for anything additional. When I brought this up to my team, they questioned why I would trust my insurance company over them and then insisted that I was ready to step down—any hesitation I was feeling was because I was stepping down to outpatient and not staying in Birmingham to do PHP with them. My weight had been stable, I was complying with my meal plan most of the time but was very much NOT in an ok-headspace. When I’m in a structured treatment setting, I can do a really good job at disconnecting from my feelings and emotions to eat the food and be a perfect patient but as soon as I get an inch of wiggle room, I run wild. My perfect patient facade usually crumbles three weeks in and that’s when I start letting myself struggle and actually start making progress. So, predictably, this happens as I’m being told I’m discharging in a few days. At this point, my team accuses me of intentionally engaging in behaviors so that they will extend my stay—that I am just comfortable in treatment and want to stay in this “safe” environment. I meet with the clinical director to voice my concerns and try to figure out wth I’m supposed to do. She claims to also have no knowledge of the insurance situation—that all she had heard was that it was directly from Alsana’s utilization review team/my insurance. She assures me that she is willing to fight for more time (a 4th week) for me if it goes to peer if I am ok with the potential last minute discharge. My team continues to tell me I am 100% ready to leave res, that there’s no chance it will get approved. In therapy, while having a panic attack because despite YEARS of evidence that yoga is not a good body image experiential (backed by my outpatient team) as well as medical contraindications for me, I was pushed to “give it just one more try to show us that you’re willing to do challenging things.” My therapist ends the session with “I can tell you’re really struggling but you are also ready to discharge.” My insurance review was the next day—so I ask her “are you saying this to encourage me if I am in fact cut tomorrow but will still fight for more time? Or are you saying this because you truly agree with my insurance that I’m ready?” When her response was that she truly thought I was ready, I asked why they encourage us so frequently to use our voices and not behaviors when we need more support but then only seem to pay attention when we are visibly (ie underweight and restricting) struggling? She had no comment. My fourth week was approved by my insurance within 15 minutes of the request being made. There was no peer review. They asked absolutely no questions. There was never any chance I was being cut by my insurance—and Alsana got VERY upset with me when I suggested that a peer in a similar situation give her insurance a call to get a straight answer.
Does the Birmingham location allow personal phone time?
Yes it does. You can have your phone throughout the day. I will restore the most recent Alsana Birmingham reviews today! I will also restore the most recent Alsana California ones, because as you will see, the CA locations get much better reviews lately and in addition those locations have significantly less controversy and no (that I know of) allegations of abuse against them (unlike the St. Louis locations which were shut down for awhile recently due to abuse).
Has anyone been to the Alsana Huntsville location? I know that is fairly new but is close to home for me. Any info would be helpful!
Ive not been to the Huntsville location, but i do know some of the staff currently there. The director has good knowledge of eating disorders and trauma and I know the the Huntsville location is really working on being inclusive to people in all sized bodies and of all genders. They also allow veganism and help clients work toward intuitive eating. https://www.alsana.com/huntsville-alabama-residential/
Birmingham Zelda location
When were you there? Winter of 2022
Clients: all genders, 10 max
Zelda is set up differently so you sleep in apartments and go to an office suite during the day. Rumor is they are building a house for Zelda this summer.
What were meals like? Meals were on a rotating 4-week menu. You get your menus on Thursdays that you can fill out for the following week. When you start off you can choose your snacks off the snack list but you do so in advance.
Typical breakfasts include:
Bagel, cream cheese or PB, nuts, yogurt or milk
Cereal, yogurt or milk, nuts, fruit
Typical lunches:
2 fish tacos with coleslaw
grilled cheese and tomato soup
turkey burger, sweet potato fries, and a veg
Dinners include:
Chicken/ pork,potatoes, veg
Lasgana w/ salad
greek bowls
1 time a week its client creation and 1 time its chef choice (so these can be whatever)
Submeals are
PB&J/ or turkey sanwich with a cookie and fruit and breakfast bagel breakfast above is the submeal
Did they individualize meal plans? Yes, you can have sides added at meals or have 1.5x a meal. Snacks have 4 different levels. you can also have a shake as a snack instead of a large snack.
Did you get to make any meals/snacks or get to portion anything?
At first, you don’t portion but they allow people to start portioning pretty quickly. you get to cook once or twice for clients creation.
What is the supplementing like? Boost. Supplement for only what you don’t complete. sit for 10 minutes and fill out a worksheet.
No short term consequences for not completing.
Are there electronic/phone rules? YEs you can have your computer at all times and in Zelda you got your phones from 7pm-9am
How long do people generally stay? 4-8 weeks would probably be average
Do they allow any type of movement/exercise? haha barely. They do give walking privileges once you are ready. So 10-15 minute walks are allowed everyday once you are given the privilege.
Are visitors allowed? not right now because of covid
Favorite thing: The environment was very calm most of the time. Other clients were supportive and staff were competent for the most part. Lower turn over than other places I have been. The staff actually listened to what I had to say and treated me like a person and not a patient.
Least favorite: going back and forth from the apartments, food quality is mediocre, movement exposures is lacking.
Any info on their newer program in Huntsville? I know there’s a whole lot of stuff happening with Alsana at the moment—I was also in their St Louis program about 18 months ago and found it to be the most beneficial treatment experience I’ve had by far so trying to balance that with knowing the current situation if you know what I mean.
My outpatient team has been urging me to readmit to a res LOC since before the more recent news came out. Alsana is honestly the only program I was willing to consider at the time and I have recently been offered a bed in Huntsville. Obviously I have a lot of ED-logic screaming that there’s no way I can go there given all of this new information and I’m totally fine, probably don’t even need treatment….but I also know that I’m BSing myself and did have a very positive experience with their program not so long ago. Would love any information about Huntsville to help make a more balanced decision, although I know it’s pretty brand new. Thanks so much.
I suggest reading the staff bios for that location as a useful objective tool in making your decision. At a new location of any treatment center that’s often a helpful way to garner the overall level of prior ED treatment experience that will be present in the treatment team! Make sure to bypass the staff bios of those with region-wide or country-wide positions, because while they may have a lot of experience, unless otherwise specified they won’t be on-site at Huntsville providing the treatment themselves. You will also be able to see if there are staff at the location with experience in any specialized needs you have or modalities that you find beneficial.
Thanks Rachel (also thank you for running this site—I’ve been visiting for years and have found the information incredibly helpful!). Unfortunately the Alsana website has minimal info on the local clinical staff (pretty much nothing for Huntsville) and what they do have is frequently outdated. I’ve decided to move forward with the admissions process so will be sure to provide a review when I discharge 🙂
That would be awesome, thank you!! Yeah I tried looking up info on staff, and there wasn’t much – but from what I could gather via Google it looks like at least the dietitian has a lot of experience and has been working in the region for a long time! Looks like maybe used to have a private practice? Also, based on the press releases and news articles about the Huntsville location opening, it sounds like when they designed this location they were intentional about including a wide variety of furniture sizes and giving everyone big beds so that people of all body types/sizes can be actually be comfortable. Which is a serious issue in most treatment centers, really in most medical settings period! Chairs designed for only one size of person, it’s ridiculous. And then they even have to put those arm rests on most of them, so if you are in a larger body, you just can’t sit in a medical setting without discomfort or pain. Anyway, point being both of those facts are great!
Also I’m so glad you’ve found the information so helpful over the years! Before I started editing/moderating, I had been visiting the site for years myself. I’m so grateful we can keep it going for years to come.
Honestly, if I were you, I would not go there. Their program is extremely cult-y. Last time you were there did you notice how many people were there for months and month on end only to go home, relapse and return a month later? It’s because Alsana is structured to make people dependent on them. They allow patients to remain severely malnourished for extremely unsafe amounts of time and during this period, when the patient is unstable due to malnutrition, they pry open their biggest trauma wounds thus instantly trauma bonding them to everyone they’re around. I do think treatment centers should be less punitive about behaviors and restriction, but not to the point where you have an extremely emaciated person in res for months who hasn’t restored anything. It’s also unethical to even try and do trauma work when someone is so actively compromised because it really fucks with their brain. The lack of boundaries and containment ESPECIALLY around trauma work really facilitates severe attachment issues to staff and the program. I will reiterate, it is not NORMAL for someone to spend years with minimal time at home in a treatment center. That in and of itself creates problems with institutionalization. If you’re looking for a place that’s less punitive about meal plan stuff look in to cfd, if you’re looking for a treatment center that’s more holistic look at Monte Nido.
I would also question you as of to why you would only go back to Alsana? is it because they really don’t push meal plan compliance and your ED is trying to hang on?
Omg I can totally see that. They’ve let a girl here not eat anything for now 4 days straight, other than maybe a couple pieces of sandwich ham. It’s so harmful and triggering and fucked up.
Honestly, that was not at all my experience when I was there 18 months ago. They had minimal tolerance for lack of meal plan compliance, stepping several up to inpatient programs for more structured care. At 9 weeks, I was one of the longest admissions at the time and, of my cohort of peers, I believe I’m only the 3rd to re-admit to a res level of care since discharge which, compared to past admissions at ERC and Renfrew, seems pretty good. The biggest concern that I and my outpatient providers have with me returning to Alsana is the rate at which they pushed the refeeding process for me previously—it was NOT slow and my meal plan was astronomically large.
While at Alsana previously, I was hugely impressed by the fact that I was treated, by and large, like an adult by all of the staff there. I was not treated like an eating disorder on legs, I was not infantilized or treated like a child. No, I didn’t always “get my way” or love what I had to do but I generally felt like my voice and opinion were being heard and taken into consideration with the direction of my treatment. In other treatment centers, this has very much not been the case for me and has led me to shut down, grin and bear it, play perfect patient, discharge and relapse instantly. Instead I was able to make substantial sustainable progress. Was it perfect? Not even close but I didn’t leave in a worse place (mentally or physically) than I admitted in—and that was not true anywhere else I’ve been. Did I get lucky and have an awesome milieu and great staff (around the time I discharged was when the current massive turnover started)—maybe. Is it a good fit for everyone—no way. Is there really problematic stuff happening there—definitely.
Apologies for probably being defensive and writing a novel—a big pet peeve of mine is when something is presumed to be an eating disorder-driven choice when it’s anything but. If i wanted to let my ED take the win, I wouldn’t be considering treatment period right now—no one is mandating i go anywhere. I posted looking for any reviews on the Huntsville location, not to have my decision to seek care there called into question. For what it’s worth, CFD is not an option due to insurance restrictions. And Monte Nido left a horrendously bad taste in my mouth when, 18 months ago, they had assessed me into res based on my initial assessment/review of symptoms but, once confirming my weight (a low normal BMI, but well under my historical set point and rapidly declining) said “actually, you’d be a better fit for our PHP…we don’t offer that in your state. Good luck.” and hung up on me—really playing into the “I’m not sick enough, I weigh too much to have a problem” narrative.
I just want to say – This is really helpful info about Alsana, thank you Anon! I’ve had a hard time figuring out what the residential treatment experience there is actually like (at the non-St. Louis locations), because most people don’t write about that part – which is what a review is supposed to be, anyway. I’ve learned more from this about what Alsana residential can be like from your comment here than from any other review. Thank you for writing this out. Also I don’t think you sound defensive – Because it’s true, you didn’t ask for recommendations or feedback, you asked for reviews!
Saying it was your ED picking Alsana was out of line and frankly none of my business. If you feel set on Alsana, I genuinely hope you have a positive experience there and that it’s what you need to heal. I will say, like any program there are positive aspects. There were some staff who knew what they were doing and they are more holistic in there view of recovery than a lot of places. I also agree that they do treat you more like a person and an adult than a lot of other places.
I do want to make it clear though to people reading these reviews that the STL location is not like that anymore. I’ve also heard the Santa Barbra and Birmingham location have some of the problems I’m about to describe but I don’t necessarily know if it’s to this degree. I did not see anyone in my time there get stepped up to IP despite there being multiple people who needed it bc Alsana admitted many many people who should’ve had to go IP before coming to res. To the extent that patients who had been there for several months would have to be taken to the ER several times due to complications of malnutrition. IMO, someone should not be so malnourished after 2+ months of being in residential program that they need ER trips and hospital stays. They really let some people deteriorate in the lower levels of care too before stepping them back up. Also, they let people not show up to meals in PHP. Most of the people there were in res for at least 2 months with it being pretty common for people to be there for 4. Add a a 2-3 PHP stay to that (and a high percentage of the people who stepped down to PHP eventually needed to step back up) and a few months of IOP on to that and that’s an extremely long treatment stay especially considering that a lot of people relapsed directly after they left and went right back. Several people even talked about moving to St Louis. PHP and IOP was especially bad. Half to three quarters of the people in those levels should have been at higher level. Behaviors were RAMPANT. To the extent that meals had between and 1 and 2 thirds of the patients not completing usually. If you drove to php/iop, when you were on your way it wouldn’t be uncommon to see several Alsana patients out jogging during the breaks. Keep in mind this was summer in St Louis and it was very hot and unsafe to be doing that. There were also people actively trying to get stepped up to res and Alsana enabled them to do so. This is on top of Alsana perpetuating the creation of severe attachment issues to its staff and program that I described above.
I have to throw this into the ring, even though it’s not treatment review or resource related:
You folks all rock. If only the rest of the world could have their conversations with such a beautiful interplay of compassion and heart and intelligence and fire and strength and commitment and bravery… We would live in a different society. I am extremely impressed with our community, and this exchange. And am reminded again of how evil eating disorders are, and unfair, and cruel – and why recovery is SO IMPORTANT: because EDs steal wise souls like the two of yours away from a world that needs and deserves you to be a part of it the most, and steal the world away from hurting souls like the two of yours who need and deserve to be a part of the world the most.
Hey em, do you mind if I cross-post the St. Louis information from this comment and the previous one to the Alsana St. Louis page? I’ll post it under my username and say it is on behalf of Anonymous. Because I’ve never been to Alsana, STL or otherwise, it’s not my place to post on a review page to tell anyone what their personal experience might be like, BUT these are the kinds of things that anyone looking at Alsana St. Louis for themselves, their loved ones, or their clients NEED to know. Pardon my language, but it sounds like hell on earth – as if it wasn’t already hell on earth having an eating disorder in the first place. It makes me sick to think of the number of people whose EDs crossed over into the chronic territory while going in and out of STL with it being as you described. And of course, the sicker somebody gets, the less energy, motivation, resources and self esteem they have to do things like start lawsuits about negligence or contact ombudsman. And I think that if I can post this info, it might save some people from having to post any details or information about their assaults in order to make sure people don’t go.
As someone who was part of bringing to light the whole scandal, I truly believe that there are people who care at alsana. Just like anywhere else, there is good, and there is bad. Don’t let the few bad employees ruin your entire experience. And while I’m not trying to dismiss or play down what those employees did, I wholeheartedly believe that those that participated were being stupid, not fully developed adults. A lapse of judgement and feeling invincible. The clinical staff truly are amazing, and have been beneficial in my process as well. The ceo and everyone in compliance are currently in St. Louis to help investigate the situation and come to a solution. Every employee so much as named as part of it has been fired, and all other staff are being investigated to see if they had any prior knowledge or any hand in this, the police and joint commission are also involved. They are doing something truly, and don’t let this information coming to light be the reason you don’t treat your Ed.
Would anyone be able to provide a recent review or answer some of these questions?
When were you there?
What were meals like? Did they individualize meal plans? Like do you get to choose what types of food you eat at each meal? What if you don’t want what is on “menu”?
Did you get to make any meals/snacks or get to portion anything?
What is the supplementing like? Is it just the typical Boost and if you don’t drink it, then you lose privileges?
Are there electronic/phone rules?
How long do people generally stay?
Do they allow any type of movement/exercise?
Are visitors allowed?
Any one know how strict they are with smoke breaks at Alsana Birmingham?
Not strict at all, basically can whenever
We sent my daughter to the Alsana eating disorder center in Birmingham, Alabama as she was not getting enough calories. Her experience was absolutely HORIBBLE! After her being there one week, her mother and I drove down to get her out A.S.A.P. Here’s basically what happened.
Once she arrived she was not able to get a shower for 3 days.
She was not able to get enough bed rest as they made her get up early and go to bed late.
She got less calories there, than when she was living at home.
None of the staff shown on the website for her home were there any longer.
Not enough staff.
She was freezing the entire time she was there both in bed and out of bed. They did not have any extra blankets and did not provide any hot drinks. She said a lot of other people complained about how cold they were.
They used mind control and intimidation tactics to try and get her to stay after she told them repeatedly one week later that she wanted to leave. They did not want to let her go. Obviously they lose a lot of money from the insurance company when a patient leaves.
DO NOT SEND YOUR LOVED ONE TO THIS PLACE!
I’ve written a review a while ago about the Birmingham location as I had had a really positive experiences a few times around. I’m writing this because, at least in Birmingham, and somewhat on the national leadership level, they are undergoing massive turnover of staff. At least five Birmingham PHP/IOP therapists have left in the last few months, and a few higher ups at the company. Something is happening internally, though I’m not sure exactly what. Most of the clinicians who made my time there so meaningful are no longer there, and friends who have been recently have very different experiences than mine, ones that were not trauma informed whatsoever. I hate that, because Alsana had so much potential to be a treatment center that offered care that wasn’t like every other treatment center out there. I guess I’m lucky to have gotten a taste of that while it existed.
Thank you E for mentioning this–it’s so good to know as experienced/capable staff/therapists make or break a program. I had heard Birmingham used to be really good for trauma informed care and that’s critical to know it’s currently not so much the case. Do you have any insight into the current state of STL quality care, particularly at Honeybee vs. Hawthorne house for trauma informed care from residential through PHP/IOP?
Any help, tips, etc. is greatly appreciated!
can anyone give me a review on Alsana Birmingham? I was at the st louis location and want to see how it compares- I liked the program, not so much the location. thank you.
*Thread cross-posted by Admin with St. Louis review page
Hi Anon! I’m between St. Louis and Birmingham and curious as to what you didn’t like location wise? And also if you would recommend St. Louis for BED/trauma? I thought St. Louis location (Fenton) was supposed to be prettier/closer to parks, nature etc which would be nice in PHP after programming.
Thank you!!
I would not at all recommend Alsana Birmingham. They are expanding even through being understaffed for over 8 months. All but two PHP/IOP clinical staff have left Alsana altogether since May 2021 (the two being the clinical supervisor and the lead therapist).
yeah, Birmingham PHP/IOP used to be really solid, but they’ve had huge staff turnover lately (like 5 therapists in a few months time, I think?) and from my friends who have been even more recently, there seems to have been a downward shift in quality in care.
Could anyone provide an updated review of Alsana Birmingham, AL? In particular the food provided, the menu rotation, how fast they typically restore weight for people, etc? Also if they always require full weight restoration in order to discharge and/or if they are willing to work with you on discharging earlier than typical to attend school. Thank you!
*Cross posted by Admin from Client General Forum
Are certain locations better with treating trauma than others?
I can’t answer this based on personal experience, but the people I know who went to Alsana Birmingham went there specifically for their trauma treatment and, compared to the other (non-Alsana) programs they’d been in before, found it’s trauma approach, the frequent individual trauma therapy, and the way the entire program is trauma informed to be amazing. For example, when someone is struggling with food, they are able to help the person distinguish between whether it is their eating disorder making it difficult, or whether it is their trauma history that in some way involved that food. I don’t know about any other of the locations, especially because a couple of the others used to be completely different ED treatment centers that were bought out by Alsana/Castlewood — and I can’t speak to any other aspect of Alsana’s program — but the Birmingham location is ace’s at trauma. I do think though that because you work on trauma simultaneous to ED, sometimes treatment lasts longer, or you may have to do res/PHP more than once before you are stable in ED recovery. But that is versus going to treatment centers that either suck at treating trauma, or that refuse to treat trauma at the IP/Res/PHP level. So maybe you’d be done with their ED treatment program at those other places earlier but overall, the time it takes you to recover from both the ED and the trauma is significantly prolonged.
I second what the commenter above said about Birmingham being solid with trauma, and from friends who had been to their other locations, Birmingham was better.
Honestly I was at Birmingham January 2020-august 2020 and they made my trauma worse. They’re not equipped to treat binge eating disorder at all, and any time I questioned them they threatened to discharge me even though my insurance was still paying. I wouldn’t recommend alsana to my worst enemy. Maybe if you don’t have severe trauma and it’s just the Ed it would be okay? But for me, they didn’t listen to my concerns, they didn’t refer me anywhere that may have been more helpful, and they treated my BED like it was bulimia, and ignored any new behaviors that popped up.
Alsana STL- Hawthorn is good at treating trauma!!
Anyone have a recent review of Alsana Birmingham?
Birmingham site is terrible! Would not recommend to my worst enemy
*Cross-posted by Admin from Client General Forum
I’ve had treatment with Alsana before at their Birmingham, AL location in the PHP & IOP programs. They now also have a residential program in that location as well. They have locations in St. Louis and several in CA as well. I can only speak to the programming and staff from the AL location. I’ve worked with a few of the staff from the STL location on a limited basis as some of those staff with speciality training came to the AL location to provide speciality services to clients at th AL location, such as body image sessions.
Alsana programming is different than other centers. Your therapist will give you assignments to complete (some that All clients need to do and share in group and others that are individualized to you for you to process with your therapist, dietitian). Earning privledges and stepping down your level of care is dependent on following your meal plan, improved health stability, completing these assignments, participating in groups, and other things.
At some centers, groups are interns reading off of worksheets. Alsana does not have interns leading groups. Groups at Alsana are more process-based and experiential. They tend to be more about client’s sharing and processing than getting a worksheet and going over it. Groups like DBT and ACT are in the schedule, but are not the bulk of group programming. They will occur (depending on level of care) 1-2 times a week each of in residential or PHP. The main groups are Core and ED. Family dynamics, art and nutrition are also regular groups.
I believe I’ve posted a review about The Highlands (the name of the AL location) before, so check that out. If you have some specific questions about Alsana, please ask and I’ll follow up.
Hi there. Has anyone been to the Alsana Birmingham location (for any level of care) and able to do a review and/or provide any information on the program? Thanks so much.
Location: Birmingham, AL
I was at the Alsana in Birmingham (previously Castlewood at the Highlands) for both PHP and IOP in March 2019, and lived in the supportive housing. I had a positive overall experience and all of the staff I encountered were extremely compassionate. Also, as someone seeking trauma-informed care (and having experienced some not so great places in the past), this was a beneficial place for me.
How many patients on average?
In PHP there were usually around 10 patients, but PHP and IOP are together for groups and meals.
Does it treat both males and females? If so, is treatment separate or combined?
They treat all genders and it’s combined groups.
How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, etc?
In PHP you see your therapist 3x a week, dietitian 1x a week, psychiatrist 1x a week, nursing check-in 1x a week, and treatment team 1x a week. In IOP it’s therapy 2x a week, dietitian 1x (but 30 min, not an hour), treatment team every other week, and psychiatrist as needed I think?
What were meals like?
There is a chef on-site who cooks all the meals, so it was fairly good quality food. Meals are 30 minutes and snacks 15. A DCS (direct care staff) sits at tables with PHP at meals. IOP usually sits without a DCS. If you don’t finish, you’re offered supplement. If you refuse supplement, no one is going to get mad at you, but if you do it enough times you may not have have special beverage privileges for that week (ie: coffee). They try to emphasize that it’s not punitive, but that there are “natural consequences” to self-destructive behaviors. You are allowed to be vegetarian, but like almost any other treatment center, the dietitians will want to know your motivation.
Does it work on a level system?
Technically yes, but the main things that it effects is your ability to know the codes for the bathrooms, self-portioning, and if you bring in your own meals a couple times during the week. It’s not a big process of trying to earn your way to a different level like it at some places. Honestly, my team just moved me up without even telling me once.
What sort of groups do they have?
The two main groups are CORE and ED group, which happen almost every day. CORE is kind of a process group, but people’s therapists and dietitians will assign “agendas” (a fancy way of saying writing assignments) that align with what they’re working on and you have the chance to share one in group when it’s your turn. A few agendas everyone are given are your timeline, “A Day in the Life of my ED,” Top 10 ED Beliefs etc. But most of mine were really personalized from my therapist. I appreciated that CORE is a really vulnerable group and you get to know people’s stories and their struggles in a really deep way. ED group is basically the same but with a dietitian present and more of a focus on ED behaviors. There are a lot of other groups like movement (only approved stuff), addictive behaviors (only if you need it), art, gender and sexuality, a grocery store outing, and a few others.
What was your favorite group?
I really liked CORE and the gender & sexuality group (they’re also pretty open about being LGBTQ-friendly, so this group was interesting and helpful). Both groups often got to the underlying stuff and touched on hard topics.
Would you recommend this program?
Yes. Aside from the fact that the staff were all knowledgeable and kind, the framing of the eating disorder was super different than at other places I’ve been. They really help you see how it was protective and helped you survive at some point in your life, but just isn’t adaptive anymore — rather than telling you how awful the eating disorder is and how it’s ruining your life. I really appreciated how compassionate they were towards struggles instead of just getting onto you for not being motivated. It’s not as skills-based as other programs, but in my opinion they address things more deeply than just putting a band-aid of coping skills on the eating disorder.
This is really helpful, thank you! Did you live in the supportive housing?