2011
I can only review the IOP program as I didn’t do their day treatment.
ANJ is basically Rosewood Ranch’s day treatment center. I have not been a fan, at all. Mondays we fill out a goals and commitments sheet and everyone goes around and reads theirs, then you have dinner, process group, HS snack. Tuesdays you hear someone’s life story before dinner then after dinner there’s art therapy (but last week there was a relationships and boundaries group). Wednesday is the meal outing. Before you go out you fill out a form listing your goals, your fears, how you’re going to deal with those feelings, and how ready you feel for the outing. The budget for the outing is 10 dollars. After the outing you process the meal by filling out the back of the form commenting on how different things affected your experience and how well you met your goals. Thursdays start with process group and then there’s body image. Friday is dedicated to the cooking challenge. You fill out a form beforehand saying what your goals are, what your thoughts and feelings are, how you’re going to deal with those thoughts and feelings and your current hunger level. Then everyone participates in the cooking. After eating you fill out the back of the sheet which asks what activity you participated in, what was most difficult, possibly asks how you dealt with the difficulty, what you learned about yourself and how you can incorporate something from the experience into your recovery or meal plan.
Food is strictly exchanges. You bring your own dinner for IOP. They deal with weight gain by just increasing your exchanges. You meet with the dietitian weekly.
I don’t want to totally slam the program because I’m just one person with one experience, but some of my dislikes are that you don’t have an individual therapist unless you pay for one, the monotony of filling out those forms every week and the number of clients. One good thing is that there’s consistency with staff. Two therapists work IOP, the same dietitian always sits at meals, the same dietitian goes on the meal outings, etc.
Hey just wondering the costs and what insurance accepts The soldstone program in newbvv
I did PDT(partial day treatment) and IOP at ANJ and lived in the transitional living houses. My insurance was cutting quickly from php at a different program and anj took me very fast. we agreed on a payment plan for the living of the house, which i paid on time every single week. my insurance covered my treatment while being there and all other co-pays were supposed to be waved. this was not the case and several months after discharge they have come up with an absurd bill and just now telling me i owe this money. be very careful with bills and money at anj.
PDT was 6-7 hours a day and we had am snack, lunch, and pm snack at programming. They provided that food which was catered. There was only 2 good therapists in that entire program. Many of the staff were leaving when i arrived. There was a lot of things that were on the “hush hush” that we were not supposed to know about. The groups just felt like random things to fill time and a lot of people ditched program. PDT was extremely cliquey. My therapist accused me of bruising myself, after my dietitian informed myself and my therapist of my low iron level, which was causing me to bruise.
At one point anj decided i was suicidal and called the psychiatric emergency response team, they came and heard an elaborate story which was all a lie and i was committed to a psych hospital. On saturdays we went on an outing and had eda meetings at the center. I would not recommend PDT or EDT at anj to anyone.
I also did IOP while i was there, we could come in for group, dinner, process, and then hs snack. we had to bring in our own dinner and then on Friday and Saturday we came in for lunch, 2 groups, and afternoon snack. we also had to bring our own meal.
They went strictly by the exchange system and once a person had too many exchanges they would be put on boost plus or a more dense supplement, this could be up to several times a day. I had a very high meal plan and 2 boost plus’s a day. this did not seem to be recovery oriented at all, my dietitian said she didn’t know what to do with me.
ANJ was worried about one thing. Themselves. and also making sure they covered their own ass in any situation.
If local to santa monica and need IOP, this could help. Program starts at 6 days a week, 4 of the 6 at night and 2 in the middle of the day. Sunday is always off. There are house moms in the TL houses, some could be helpful and some would just sit around and watch tv the whole time. When doing IOP it is still possible to work or do school, but completely up to the discretion of the treatment team. IOP helped me.
As for the iop program, it worked while being in it if working the program. However once being discharged, ANJ could care less if you relapse or died as they do not follow up with their clients. They will not take phone calls or visit with former clients. And as being discharged 4 months ago, I am still being charged for services.
I transferred to ANJ from AZ. I had some ups and down with their program. You had your mixed people of the ones who wanted to party LA and the ones who really wanted their recovery. At times I felt like some staff didn’t know what they were doing. I came to ANJ thinking I was only IOP but with insurance somehow I got EDT so in all honesty is was like Capri but boy it was nothing like Capri. Plus I hate the city. Im a redneck country girl. ANJ has no structure compared to Capri. .So the only thing that changed was I sat on my butt bored with lack of structure. I would have went back to Capri in a heartbeat but I was just hoping insurance would knock down after a week for iop. 3 weeks later insurance denied coverage and I decided to returned home. I did gain many positive experiences from my stay at ANJ and will recommend them to others. Thank you.
My daughter spent 6 weeks at ANJ IOP. It was an okay program – not great, not terrible. My major ‘cons’ about the program was (a) the billing – you had to watch them very carefully on this and the billing person at the time was awful to work with (b) the clients had to bring their own dinners, which seemed odd to me (c) the therapists were just okay, but it is hard to find a great therapist anywhere any way. I do think that my daughter benefitted from the program. Some of the groups were good and the food/cooking class on Fridays got her involved in food preparation again. As to discharge plan for finding a team when she was to return home, there was no help there at all. Personally, I think that there are better programs – Reasons and Monte Nido come to mind.
Liked the program and staff overall from iop program. But the discharge process sucks. Program only wanted to hear back from me if I was sick in relapse. Other than that they toss you out and could care less how you end up doing. I could’ve died from relapse or when my depression really kicked in and they wouldn’t of known because they don’t answer emails or take calls to meet with you.
It is up to you to reach out and recover wherever you go. ANJ was s fantastic program with many caring people and strong AA community.
I can only speak for the adult program, but I am surprised at the negative reviews so far regarding A New Journey. I have been in all levels of care at ANJ (Intensive outpatient, partial day treatment and extended day treatment) and while no treatment center is perfect, the experience that I had was extremely positive and I would recommend ANJ to those who are serious about seeking recovery and improving the quality of their life. If you are open (or willing to be open) to the idea of recovery, then ANJ can be an excellent facility for you.
As one of the comments stated, we often get out of treatment what we are willing to put into treatment – many people I have met who end up bashing a program often are those who were not ready or willing to give up their eating disorder. I credit ANJ for helping save my life – I would not be who I am today if it hadn’t been for them. I will admit that the first time time I was at ANJ, I wasn’t ready for recovery and so I did not get much out of the program. That was not their fault. They never gave up on me, no matter how difficult I was at times. Since then I have been back and have had such an incredible and life changing experience. Is it perfect? No. Does it have flaws? Yes. But what program doesn’t? I am not the same person I was when I walked through their doors, and I cannot imagine where I would be had it not been for them. I have learned many skills and tools that I can apply to my life when future situations arise and know that they have my back if I ever need more support.
At the end of the day, the program is not responsible for an individual’s recovery – the individual is. They can give you the tools, be there to support you, help you when you are ready to be helped. No one can heal when they are not ready, and many have a bad experience then. I know many people who have maintained long term recovery after ANJ. They had extremely positive experiences that were life saving and frankly they are not posting reviews on websites because they are off living their lives. Sadly, the negative comments tend to always be the focus 🙁
My therapist and RD at ANJ changed my life. I have never met two people who cared more and were as dedicated to my recovery as they were. All the staff were supportive and truly have the client’s best interest at heart (both in terms of immediate health and longer term recovery). Everyone there has something different to offer which makes ANJ a great place. Just because someone has the word intern behind their license doesn’t mean they care any less or will give you any less than 100 percent – in fact, many MFTI’s that I know there give 150 percent of their time and energy. The dietitian’s are amazing and are willing to work with you to figure out what is best for you (and as someone with a lot of allergies, they were very on board with helping to navigate that). They do use the exchange system.
Group therapy is emphasized at ANJ, and I attribute the groups and the dialogue that went on/support I received as one of the most beneficial things to my recovery. There are family groups, process groups, nutrition groups, DBT/CBT groups, boundaries/relationships, life story, meal experiential and food exposure/mindfulness (amongst others). Sometimes the groups can get a little large depending on the number of clients at ANJ, but they are still beneficial. Individual therapy is not automatically included at the IOP level however if you don’t have an outside therapist you can ask to have individual sessions. In PDT you receive once a week individual therapy and in EDT you receive twice a week individual therapy. Those who don’t use a therapist at ANJ at the IOP level are assigned a case manager (therapist) who does weekly check-in’s. If something comes up that cannot be addressed at the group level or in process all other therapists and staff around are available to help support a client. Everyone sees a dietitian weekly. There is a psychiatrist who comes one day a week but is available for emergencies and is in frequent contact with the rest of the team.
ANJ also has two transitional houses affiliated with the program (I lived in both in 2012, before changes were made to make them more 12-step oriented which I’ve heard is also helpful). One house has a higher level of support and the other is for those closer to transitioning out. The support and accountability of having peers and house moms around was extremely beneficial in my recovery process.
A New Journey is a wonderful, supportive place that I highly recommend. I am forever grateful to this organization for the miracles they work everyday.
I’ve been in and out of A New Journey 3 times over the past 2 years. My last time there I was there for 7 and a half months in the adolescent program. I got home from residential treatment in AZ (Rosewood Ranch) and knew that I would commit myself to relapsing again to get back to weighing a very little amount. I managed to do this, while at A New Journey. My eating disorder was having a field day losing this weight without anyone saying anything. I was shocked as well. My sick mind was saying, “yes! this is great!” while my healthy mind was saying, “these are professionals, why are they letting me sink fully into my disorder?” Next, I’ll discuss the therapy. I had an INCREDIBLE therapist for the first 4 months I was there. She was so relatable and funny and really made me feel normal and that I didn’t have this deadly disorder. I loved her with all my heart. She then left and we got this witch of a “therapist.” This new therapist would talk to us like we were delinquents. Nobody wanted to share in process groups in fear that she would raise her voice and give some insincere feedback. In process groups, the other clients get to give feedback on what other people are saying. She did not let us do this. She thought that her opinion was the only opinion and nobody can top her (she thought every time we disagreed with her, it was personal). There is also a language barrier between her and us adolescents. She has a very thick accent making it hard to connect with her. How she still works there? I have no idea.
I don’t know much about the adult program, so I can’t give any real review on that.
If I were ever in need of an IOP or PDT/PHP again I would definitely go to a more intimate and caring environment, such as EDCC (where I’ve been before- it’s truly great).
Alex—could you possibly do a full review of EDCC (using the questions on the FAQ and Guidelines page)? I know it’s a lot… But it would truly be appreciated. If nothing else, could you speak to what in particular you found so great about EDCC? My team has been trying to get me to stabilize IP and then do PHP at EDCC, and I’m very nervous and would really like a former patient’s perspective.
yes i would love a full review too, alex! thanks!
A New Journey was a nightmare for our teen daughter who was enrolled in a “partial day” program which was 6.5hrs of therepeutic tx – but it felt like it was more like an hour of worthwhile, active treatment. The weekly group “field trip” included a visit to a Hollywood graveyard. The “therapist” was an intern who met with her once a week. The dietician met with her once a week. There is no PhD on staff to provide supervision, no psychiatrist on staff, and no physician on staff despite the fact these are kids with a serious medical and psychiatric/brain problem. The psychiatrist only breezes in for 2 hours once a week to hand out prescriptions and doesn’t participate in any of the team decisions. Imagine that’s a great job for her – essentially gets paid to make their program barely meet the minimum guidelines for insurance billing purposes. They only provide lunch and snack, and despite being provided with paperwork that clearly documented food allergies, continued to give her those allergen foods including bread made with egg – her worst allergy. They don’t provide dinner (despite charging $1000 a day for their “treatment”) and dinner is started at 6:30 and by the time everyone has heated up their food, its 6:40, then pick up is at 7 pm, we are home by 7:30 – and she goes to the bathroom and throws up dinner, then they wonder why she isn’t gaining weight in their program. Worst of all, they have an approach that seems hell bent on blaming parents and alienating teens from their parents – the worst possible thing to do for these teens.
I could not believe the unprofessional and harmful “treatment†I received at this facility. I went in seeking support in recovery from anorexia at the IOP level after a relapse. My hope was to be able to continue work and studies in school (I am currently a straight A student, getting my Masters in Clinical Psychology). I did not want to lose these things to the disorder. However, the “recovery center” actually made me exercise which caused me to get sick, my therapist failed to show up for our appointments (or even inform me she wasn’t showing up) on multiple occasions, and the center did not make food I could eat available to me on many occasions, despite the fact that the meals are catered and claimed to meet all the individual’s dietary needs.
The first week I was put on exercise restriction immediately due to issues such as my severe lack of nutrition, dehydration, low weight and low blood pressure. However, one of the outings was a hike on a dirt trail up hills in the sun in the middle of the day. They called a “meditative walk.” I spent 20 minutes trying to explain to staff that I was too tired to go. The staff, (nearly all of whom are interns with only months or weeks of experience), didn’t believe me! I struggled with over-exercise and told my therapist the only part of me that wanted to go for the walk was my ED because I knew I could burn calories. My therapist told me she thought I was just trying to get out of participating. In the end I regret listening to them, I should have walked out of the center then and never looked back. As it ended up, I went and felt very sick and dizzy and spent the next day so sick I had to spend the day in bed, I struggled to eat because of feeling so ill and was severely dehydrated.
In addition, I have a diagnosed gluten intolerance, which was also in my intake paperwork and confirmed. Eating gluten makes me sick. However, the gluten-free food was in a locked cabinet and nearly half of the time I was there, no one could find the key! Staff repeatedly told me I was required to stay for the whole “treatment” time, even though snack was the last thing we did in the evening and they failed to provide me with snacks I could eat! “Treatment” was sitting and watching everyone else eat their snack for 30 minutes while I, basically, practiced forced restriction! I felt, again, they were not only empowering my disorder, but humiliating and dehumanizing me in the process!
I also was supposed to meet with my therapist four times in 30 days, but she cancelled on me twice without informing me. She was sick, and the other staff knew, but no one at the center had bothered to inform me until after our meeting was supposed to be started! Group therapy mostly consisted of clients discussing ED behaviors and complaining about the way they were treated at ANJ, rarely doing any therapeutic work. Many clients felt they were going backwards in their progress (especially those that had come from a higher level of treatment at Rosewood and Capri before, which had been helpful to them). The treatment team often put them right back up to a higher level of care at A New Journey comparable to the level at Capri, but much less helpful. They seem to see the lack of progress as the client’s fault, not their own inability to help. They told me if I cared about recovery I needed to come more. I refused because no individual struggling with anorexia needs to be required to exercise, denied food, be assigned an intern therapist that is disrespectful and denied therapy they have paid for while in treatment. I stayed the 30 days I pre-paid for and then left both treatment and transitional housing (which, like treatment at A New Journey, was profoundly unhelpful and over-priced).
I am happy, and thankful to say that after leaving this center I have worked hard, gained weight and am now medically stable. I was miraculously able to maintain school and work despite the fact that the “treatment†I received could have sent me spiraling deeper into my disorder. I often worry for others at the center that have not been so lucky. If you are looking for a treatment center, please look out for yourself and get the help you need and deserve. I have not heard one positive report from any of the other clients at A New Journey, and have heard several other terrible stories. I would personally suggest Remuda in Arizona, and have also heard good things about Rosewood and Capri from the girls at ANJ that got treatment from those centers.
We admitted our daughter into A New Journey with high hopes for her treatment.
We knew that she still had full access to t.v., phones, laptop, internet and freedom after her classes. What we didn’t know was that after her all day classes, and on her way walking back to the group home several blocks away, she would stop off at grocery and drug stores to buy binge food every day. After the first month, we began to get phone calls from her begging us to find her a more restrictive environment, as she didn’t have the ability to stop herself from practicing her behaviors. Her “therapist” was aware of the ongoing behaviors, but felt she needed more time. We found out later that her “therapist” was an intern. We checked her out after 6 weeks and moved her into a very restrictive environment where she finally began to progress.
It’s been over 5 months since she was at A New Journey, and we are still fighting to receive a refund for being overcharged. They received their money from us, and from our insurance company and won’t return our calls and have kept more than $1000 that we should have been refunded.
There are much better programs and clinics out there with licensed specialists. This place isn’t it.
ANJ is a partial and IOP program affiliated with Rosewood. They have two transitional living houses where people in the program can live, and a little apartment as well. The houses are staffed with house moms for about half the day, and are within walking distance of the program. The houses aren’t luxurious, but they’re not too bad. Overall, the community has been pretty positive and recovery oriented, which is always nice in lower levels of care. Some shenanigans go on in the houses, but the program does keep an eye on it and moves people out when it’s appropriate.
When were you there:
2012
How many patients on average?
Maybe 6 in partial and 12 in IOP. At one point there were 30 clients total, which was a lot. Partial and IOP don’t really mix too much, except for Friday when they program together. Partial is 10:00 to 4:30 Mon-Sat and IOP can be during the day if necessary, but usually is 5:30 to 9:00 Mon-Fri.
Does it treat both males and females? Yes. The house also takes males, who live in the attached apartment. They program together.
How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, etc?
There’s no MD. In partial you see a therapist once a week, in IOP it’s not included but you can schedule an appointment if you want. You see the dietician weekly for 15 minutes and the psychiatrist for 15 minutes. In IOP you have to ask to see the psychiatrist. She is billed seperatley from the program.
Describe the average day:
For partial: Check in, break, snack, group, lunch, process group, break, meal planning, snack, group. IOP varies but is something like group, dinner, group, snack.
What were meals like?
In IOP you bring your own food, so however you want it! In partial food is pretty um, not delicious. Snacks are okay, just basic fruits, nuts, peanut butter, crackers, yogurt, cottage cheese, milk and soy milk, etc. Meals are catered in and vary. Pasta, lasagna, sandwiches, potatoes, it was all over the map. Fridays are a sandwich bar setup, and Saturdays you get to bring your own lunch. Often times lunches are weird for some reason. One day my meal was soymilk, three pieces of French bread, and a salad with oil and vinegar. Another day was two veggie patties, steamed broccoli, and crackers. It was like they didn’t have enough food and had to scramble for something. Given the number of clients and all the varied diets they allow, it’s got to be tough for the diet techs to put things together.
Everyone has a meal plan with exchanges for each meal. You’re meant to meet your exchanges. Some people have flexible exchanges, meaning they just need a certain number by the end of the day, but most people have specific amounts for each meal. They’re pretty accommodating at first with easing you in if you have a hard time complying, but will eventually expect you to do what you need to get your weight to a good place.
What sorts of food were available or served? All over the map. We had enchiladas, pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, falafel, sloppy joes, Asian noodles, and that stuff.
Did they supplement? How did that system work? Yes. If you don’t finish you can have Boost or Isopure. Some people have supplements as part of their meal plan, usually with snacks.
Are you able to be a vegetarian? Yes, and vegan as well. Several people have celiac, and they accommodate for that. You’re also allowed three “dislikes†so you won’t be served those at lunch. Choose wisely!
What privileges are allowed? They have a level system that’s kind of silly, but on level 1 you have to turn in your phone during the day, but on levels 2 and 3 you can have it. Other than that, only day treatment, so you can do your own thing outside program.
Does it work on a level system? Yes, but the only difference is you can have your phone, and in level 1 you do food exposure group and level 2 and 3 you do mindful eating on Friday.
What sort of groups do they have? Process group almost every day, DBT, relationship group, psychodrama, nutrition group, 12-step group, body image, yoga, narrative therapy, family group, mindful eating/food exposure. In night IOP they do a restaurant outing once a week.
What was your favorite group? 12 step group. I don’t even like the 12 steps or find it useful, but the woman who ran it was awesome.
What did you like the most? Accountability. One of the dieticians was awesome and knew her stuff and just when to challenge you and when to support you.
What did you like the least? The food was pretty bad. One of the therapists was really incompetent and everyone hated her, and then wouldn’t participate, and all her groups got really awkward. Seeing a therapist only once a week didn’t seem like enough for partial, and therapists weren’t really available outside of session. Some of the dieticians said really triggering things and gave questionable advice.
Would you recommend this program? It’s hard to find day treatment with a living component that’s supportive, so if that’s what you need, then yes. However, you better be stable in behaviors, and have a good understanding of yourself and insight into your disorder, because you won’t get that here. What you mostly get is accountability.
What level of activity or exercise was allowed? It’s individualized. Some people get no exercise, other people go to the gym every day and hikes and stuff.
What did people do on weekends? In PDT you have program Saturday. Every other week is equine, then other weeks you do outings, which I liked. We saw a movie, made jewelry, went to lunch, went clothes shopping, got mani/pedis, and did pottery. They paid, so that was pretty sweet too.
Do you get to know your weight? Nope. Usually you don’t get any information whatsoever, even about gaining or trending down or whatever.
How fast is the weight gain process? No clue. I think it totally depends.
What was the average length of stay? Again, it varies. I think they look for about 2 months in partial and 2 months IOP if you’re stepping down from another program.
What was the average age range? Mostly older teens and early twenties, but there is some variety. They have an adolescent program, which is usually really tiny, and I don’t know much about.
How do visits/phone calls work? People can’t really visit the houses, or program, but you can do whatever you want outside of that.