Alsana is a national treatment center with a number of IOP and PHP locations across the country. For reviews of their California locations, please click here. For reviews of their Missouri locations, please click here. For reviews of their Birmingham location, please click here. For general Alsana discussion, including reviews of virtual IOP and PHP, please click here.
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 psychiatrist. This place is understaffed, incompetent, and unethical. I cannot recommend this facility at this given time. I hope things change for the better for them.
[cross-posted by admin from Alsana Birmingham page]
Can someone give information about the virtual iop program? How do they do meals and meal plans? What does a typical day look like?
Did you end up doing this? Can you provide your experience?
Location: Alsana St. Louis
I recently did PHP at Alsana St. Louis. PHP/IOP programming is in the basement of the Hawthorne house and the housing is at Honeybee. Residential is on the upper floors of the Hawthorne house. PHP is from 8am-4pm. They say the capacity is 15, but 12 was the most we had while I was there and even that felt crowded. The “dining room/kitchen” downstairs was converted from a bedroom and you can definitely tell. They’re supposed to be opening a new dining room sometime though.
They’re having staffing issues in both res and PHP/IOP. Several therapists and dietitians quit while I was there, and there aren’t enough direct care staff. The staff that they do have are generally pretty good, with a couple exceptions. Rules are pretty lax and it’s easy to get away with behaviors. I can’t say this is the best program I’ve been to, but if you’re highly motivated it can work for you.
Would you mind doing a full review? What happen to the office building where PHP and IOP was housed?
Can someone please tell me how accountability works for meals for virtual PHP? How does Alsana keep you accountable? Does the dietician tell the other staff what you should be having?
I’m doing virtual IOP at Alsana. Program isn’t great. 3 tracks/time slots to choose from: for IOP you do 1 and for PHP you do 2. You need to hold yourself accountable a lot because you don’t really need to eat all the food and there are a lot of people who don’t eat all of their food and behaviors go unnoticed for sure. The groups tend to be pretty boring and feels like babysitting but the staff is very helpful. Body image group is great though. I wouldn’t recommend but it’s better than nothing
what location were you @ ??
Has anyone done in-person PHP at any location? I’m geographically flexible, but looking for a good program/staff.
I would not recommend in-person PHP/IOP at Birmingham. I’ve written about it here already if you scroll down and read comments.
I may be missing it, but I can’t find the review. Is it on their IP/res page?
Alsana has a separate page for PHP and IOP. For a while the Birmingham location was called Castlewood at the Highlands during the transition to Alsana.
No location provides IP care. If you need that, you’d want to begin at a different facility and work towards transferring to Residential at Alsana if that is your preferred program. I have not used Residential care at Alsana, so I don’t have a review or opinion to offer. I attended residential treatment when it was Castlewood.
I wasn’t saying that I need IP care. I was just trying to find your review of the PHP/IOP.
my review is not current nor is it with the current staff. I attended in 2014. It might be hard to find because there was a page called The Highlands (which is what the Birmingham PHP/IOP was called when it first opened). I’m sure more current reviews will be more useful. When I attended there was no residential program in Birmingham. It was not officially called Alsana yet. The director and many of the staff that worked there during my stay do not work there anymore.
I’d have to google the place to see if they are using the same office space for PHP/IOP now as then. Are clients staying in the same apartment complex across hwy 280? Idk. I do know it was a waste of my time, my parents out of pocket money, it caused thousands of dollars of medical bills for me due to the staff saying everything is just my ED thoughts, and that I regret going across the country on a medical leave from college for ineffective and damaging treatment.
The original Castlewood program was wonderful at treating ED and co-occurring issues at the same time. I attended during the transition to Alsana and it became much more cookie-cutter, we only treat ED, there is no medical care, and basically was just a money grab since my insurance wasn’t paying. It was unethical of them to keep telling my parent that I needed to be there and it was necessary for me when I was developing irreversible medical issues from their care and worsened psychological health from lack of attention to co-occurring mental illness. I discharged in a mentally and physically worse condition than I admitted in to a different facility since they could not help. So they took private pay for almost 5 months then abruptly told my family to come get me from halfway across the country and admit to another facility. My family had no idea that I wasn’t well and was very angry with the center and staff. My father pressed the director about why were they accepting $500 a day telling him I was improving which was clearly a lie because if I’d improved there’s be no need to admit me to another facility right away. They did not accept fault or pay back a cent. Then my family paid $15k of medical bills for health problems directly caused by staff at the Birmingham facility ignoring my concerns until needing surgery and threatening to toss me out of the street because it affected my ability to complete my meal plan (until I had surgery) and then pay another facility that didn’t take my insurance because I had to admit near where my family l lived somewhere without a waiting list and the Birmingham program gave 2 days notice for my family to put that together and come get me. They didn’t wait for my family to arrive before discharging me. They gave me an address for a hotel with no way to store any food and no food besides continental breakfast and sent me away 2 days before my family arrived.
that’s not a review. If your insurance is paying, great. If you hope to get help with anything besides your ED, find somewhere else. If you have any medical issues, this is the absolute worst choice of facility and you could get better care through a virtual program staying home and maintaining your own treatment team.
the other thing I’ll say about PHP/IOP in Birmingham is there are a lot of mandatory out of pocket costs to participate in the program. Housing back in 2014 $20 a day. One time fee for parking pass at the apartment as well. You must bring or rent your own car to drive to/from programming, for grocery shopping, etc. no carpooling with other clients. You will have gas costs. You must attend multiple meal outings each week at your own expense (2-3 per week). You are responsible for purchasing your own groceries once weekly at Publix, not to be shared between roommates. The amount you need depends on your program level 12 hour PHP is 2 weekend dinners and they will encourage you to go out to eat for one of those in addition to the 2-3 you’re already paying for during the week. Once you’re in IOP, that’s a pretty regular amount of groceries as you eat a few meals a week in program. There are also costs for outings if you are in weekend programming every other weekend.
that’s a lot for people taking time off work who have to pay bills for living expenses back home. When I was there, they kick people out for not being able to afford all of that. They call it non-compliance even if the person is extremely recovery oriented and simply can’t afford $60 dollars of meals out a week, $140 for housing per week, plus groceries plus gas plus outings plus medication plus personal care items and whatever else. Your expenses are $200+ per week to participate during PHP, much higher for IOP. At a certain point, they also push recreation passes and exercise passes at your expense, suggesting certain fitness classes depending on the person. I was suggested to spend $60 a week for those things and didn’t do it because I didn’t have the money. I tend wasn’t meeting treatment goals and was non-compliant because I couldn’t spend $240 more a month.
when I was there, this place was run by wealthy white women very privileged with the expectation that everyone coming through the doors for treatment has the same financial ability to toss around hundreds of dollars a week while not even working and paying bills back home. There was zero understanding for not being able to afford an outing, 3-4 meals out a week, or $20 fitness classes or things like sign up for an art course for fun during IOP (right where are the few hundred dollars for that coming from the back of the director’s Mercedes?).
Does in-person PHP/IOP in Birmingham still not have staff in the apartment housing?
I don’t think they ever had staff in housing. I was there a few years ago. There are apartments in 2 seperate complexes and clients live independently with other clients in an apartment (4 people per apartment) . they do offer transport to the center from the apartments. There wasn’t even an after hour on call number in case of an emergency when I was there you call 911 in an emergency.
Yes, Alsana/Castlewood has never had staff in PHP/IOP housing as far as I know (not that I think they should).
They do need to have a number to call besides 911. They did in 2014. I disagree and believe there should be more staff involvement like room search/inspection type stuff and not allowing clients with repeated self harm incident and active drug and/or alcohol use to stay in the apartments. When people are bingeing and purging in the apartments, yes they also probably need more staff oversight or at least roommates need ability to call staff rather than 911. I found it to be an unsafe environment that was not conducive to recovery.
A client wanted to go listen to music, lied and drove up to bar. Being stranded on the highway sucks. Do not ride anywhere with another client. The no carpooling rule is for your safety. That same client would apologize and pressure me to give them another chance, say I’m no fun because I didn’t think going to a bar was a good idea and could I just give them a ride. They’d say I’m not giving them a chance to get to know them and it’s like we’ll see you all day and I don’t need to go to a bar to get to know someone, so the only place I’d give you a ride is an AA meeting.
at the same time, when a housemate had issue with me, they go complain to the center instead of leaving a note or saying something first. Childish and not recovery oriented. That’s not learning to solve your own problems or manage a conflict. It’s a waste of group time to discuss someone’s personal issue about when laundry is done or fridge organization or whatever other issues that have nothing to do with ED treatment or the other 10-12 people in the program.
great that they offer transportation now. I’d never stay in a group unsupervised “recovery”
living environment i or my family has to pay for ever again.
Any reviews on any of the in person PHP? with living if possible too 🙂
Alsana varies significantly by location! Do you have a particular state or region you are looking at?
I suppose it would be helpful if I actually included the locations! Alsana currently has in-person PHP with a supportive housing options at Birmingham, St. Louis, Monterey, Santa Barbara, and Westlake Village.
The housing is independent not supported. You live there with other people in the program. There is not after hours support by phone/text and staff do not come to the apartments. If you have co-occurring issues that put your safety at risk (SI, substance abuse) or believe you will struggle without support for night snack or out of program meals, this is not a good fit. You do need your own car to get back and forth to the center, purchase your groceries, drive yourself to mandatory meal and rec outings during program hours, etc. Insurance does not cover apartment costs. I do not recommend the apartments at the Birmingham location as far as overall safety and availability of support goes. There are hundreds or a thousand or more apartments in the location. I personally did not feel safe there. Alsana varies a lot between locations, so certainly check out what other locations offer.
Before the change to Alsana, I stayed in the stepdown housing in St. Louis and while it was quite rundown, it was very supportive and very safe. Staff came over for a few meals a week and we did have the ability to call if needed. It was Castlewood back then, not Alsana. For me, I received much better care when it was Castlewood than Alsana. I recovered from bulimia with the Castlewood program and did not recover at all with Alsana.
Alsana’s virtual IOP (V-IOP) and virtual PHP (V-PHP) programs are currently licensed in the following states: AL, AZ, CA, CO, FL, IN, MO, TX
Wondering if anyone has done Alsana’s virtual IOP? I have an assessment/evaluation tomorrow and want to know what I can potentially expect in the program. I’m in the Central time zone. Thanks!
February 2022 – Two Federal Lawsuit filed against Alsana Castlewood Treatment Center and Parent Company Riverside Co. These actions are for substantial and irreparable physical, emotional, and psychological harm inflicted upon Plaintiff by direct care staff members, through sexual, mental and emotional abuse and other reprehensible conduct – and the employer, Alsana Castlewood – during the course of what was to have been life-saving treatment for an eating disorder and other co-occurring issues. Plaintiff’s claims are predicated on theories of negligent hiring, supervision, and retention, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional
distress, professional and common law negligence, and fraud by non-disclosure. Also revealed in the lawsuit is that Alsana is not a new/distinct entity, but merely a fictitious name permit filed with the State of Missouri to distance Castlewood Treatment Center LLC from its involvement in day-to-day operations. This is what lead to the shutdown of several locations in the St. Louis area by Alsana Castlewood’s CEO, Gayle Devlin. You may find out more information and download a copy of the entire lawsuits on http://www.alsana.org or http://www.castlewoodvictimsunite.org
I have participated at Alsana PHP virtually as recently as August 2020.
I am in Central Standard Time Zone, so I went from 11:45 am until 6pm CDT. For meals you would mute your sound and your camera and have 25 minutes to prepare your meal or snack (depending on your time zone). This takes absolute accountability on your part. If you elect not to eat or not what’s in your meal plan, you will not be held accountable in any meaningful way. You may be taken to task in a private session, but certainly not in group. If you don’t finish, same thing applies. It’s all on you. If you are struggling way more and can’t achieve finishing meals more than say, 75 percent of the time right now, I would recommend a brick and mortar treatment location at this time. The one thing that makes meals difficult is that – depending on the time zone – a person in California might be on snack while you’re eating a huge lunch. Then an hour and a half later, vice versa. It can kind of mess with you a bit. But you get used to it.
You can’t ever be off camera during group. This is a good thing. The groups are still typical and vary depending on the day (core, ED, relapse prevention, CBT, DBT). All appointments are via zoom with your treatment team, as well. I don’t find that to be an issue.
My major complaint isn’t with my treatment team or the programming at all. It was the admissions process and then the virtual programming director. They yanked me around. A lot. I’m not sure how I could have prevented that. The admissions counselors didn’t seem to know what the heck was going on.