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Any updated reviews? Please post in comments below! You can check out the FAQ and Guidelines for suggested questions. Thank you!
POSTED REVIEW FROM ANONYMOUS:
Review of Brookhaven Hospital ED Program (Pathways)
Date of Service: October/November 2018
Length of Stay: 21 days (everyone stays this amount of time; it’s a set 21-day program)
Setting: psychiatric unit with substance abuse, general psych, and ED patients (They do not allow more than four ED patients in the hospital at one time).
Capacity: 25 beds total, 4 allocated for ED patients
I traveled a very long way to go to Brookhaven Hospital’s Pathways ED program and I was sorely disappointed, shocked, and scared by the services I received. I found a severe lack of knowledge about eating disorders from not only the staff but the clinician and dietitian as well. The mildest offense was that groups lacked structure, often spending large portions of time off topic, and were not geared toward the ED population. Meals were not supportive or therapeutic in nature. Most of the time no one sat with us at the table. We dealt with a noisy environment with only a small partition separating us from the general dining room. During meals nurses would sit in our area, loudly calling out to patients, beckoning them to come get their medications. Additionally, staff sat in our area and ate their meals while often discussing food/body/weight issues. Snacks are not routinely part of the meal plan and there is no designated time for them in the daily schedule; I was asked to eat them during group. I had three snacks per day, but the two other patients that were there with me only had evening snack. I often did not receive mine; the kitchen staff failed to prepare them and/or didn’t send them to the unit. The mental health workers did not understand the importance of adhering to a meal plan and did not want to follow up with the kitchen to retrieve the snacks.
One of the worst things about my experience at Brookhaven was the nutrition group led by the dietitian, who only started working at the hospital around August 2018. She has absolutely NO EXPERIENCE TREATING EATING DISORDERS and used her approach from her last job as a guide (she worked in a bariatric surgery weight loss clinic prior to being hired at Brookhaven). The dietitian (name removed) was not only ignorant about how to address ED’s, but she was downright harmful in her approach. She promoted the diet mentality and the use of ED behaviors. In one group she taught us how to properly read nutrition labels, focusing on calories and fat content. I received a handout from her entitled, “Grocery Shopping: Resist Grocery Store Temptations!†It warns the reader to “avoid TEMPTING shopping aisles,†“buy LOW-CALORIE snacks,†and “when home, put food away immediately – out of sight!†I could give more examples, but I’m sure my point is clear. These groups left me feeling discouraged and depressed.
Another scary part of my treatment was interactions with the therapist, J****, who seemed to mean well but who shared other patient’s confidential information in groups. I sometimes wondered what kind of information she shared with other patients about me. The dietitian also had no experience or training in ED’s. She talked about “junk food†as being bad and something to stay away from. She also told me it would fine if I wanted to lose more weight (I have anorexia and was underweight for my body). Yes, that’s right, she actually TOLD ME IT WOULD BE OK TO CONTINUE TO LOSE WEIGHT. I have never come across this level of incompetence in ED treatment. Never.
In conclusion, I feel that any progress I made while at Brookhaven was driven solely by my own volition and fortitude. I would not recommend this program to anyone; in fact, I don’t think Brookhaven should have an ED program at all. The culture, training, and atmosphere of the hospital do not make room for a safe environment in which our ED’s can receive healing.
Who is the counselor now
08.27.16 I just left Brookhaven. The treatment modalities are wonderful. The head therapist is passionate about her job, caring, energetic and fun! It’s an intense 3 week program so if you’re headed here be ready to do the work of recovery. The dietitian knows what she is doing and both the dietitian and the therapist will go to bat for you during treatment teams. They truly have your best interests at heart. The drawbacks are you’re staying on a general psych unit with lots of people who are detoxing. While I was there we had 4 seperate admits urinate or defecate on themselves. Not so great to witness when you’re sitting up front on purge precautions. The techs are mostly wonderful, there are a couple who you know don’t want to be there, you just stay away from them. There are a few really great techs and you’ll figure out quickly who they are, each with their own stories, and compassion to help people. Brookhaven is better for having them there. During meals the pathways patients go first. We always eat lunch with our therapist and dietitian during the week which is both awkward and helpful. You meet with the therapist twice a week, the dietitian once a week, the medical and psych dr’s daily. You end up seeing the therapist nearly daily because she leads a lot of the groups, and the dietitian also leads groups. There’s usually no more than 5 eating disorder patients at a time on the unit. While I was there we hit 5 for a couple of days and that was the most they had seen in a while. It quickly dwindled down to just 2 patients. At the end of the day you’re pretty wiped out from all the groups and therapy you’re doing. It’s a great program, and they’re adding a cooking class too.
Update: First of all. The facility itself is no different than that of any hospital at which I’ve been a patient. I’ve been at programs that were much more posh, with down comforters and fluffy pillows, but with that came along some uptight staff members and an unrealistic environment. It’s a hospital, not a spa! And the food was fine; you even had the ability to choose your own food according to your nutrition plan and your preferences at the time of the meal.
It is 2016 now and apparently things have changed. This was by far the most effective program I’ve ever had the good fortune to be a part of. I say good fortune because my experience on the unit with other patients in other programs and the staff was wonderful. Please note that again, it’s an eating dosorder program at psychiatric hospital program, so there were a few patients who were more critically ill or a bit difficult at times, but PLEASE, let’s be human here.
The ED program itself was very small, with intimate groups led by very competent, caring and lovely clinicians. I learned more here than at all of the facilities I’ve been at combined. The program director is one of the most skilled, compassionate and energetic clinicians I’ve ever known. The dietician was also very skilled and realistic regarding setting goals for each individual patient.
The other clinicians at the hospital were also top notch. Where else do you get to meet with your psychiatrist and general practitioner daily? The admissions staff were kind and gentle and more than competent when it came to dealing with the difficulties that arise when making the commitment to come to an impatient program.
And, finally, the techs were all lovely people. Each had their own story as to why they had come to work at Broookhaven and as a result were quite empathic and helpful, while being professional.
Note: The hospital is Christian based, however patients are never forced to attend any religious activities, the programs are therapy based–not religious seminars and no one pushes religion in your face.
Thank you all at Brookhaven!
Leslie
Do they use ever use ng tubes?
I thought the hospital itself was rather gross. Ants crawled all over the air conditioner/heater, the bathrooms were never cleaned properly, the blankets/pillow cases were in gross shape. The laundry room was a nightmare, with dried laundry powder caked all over the inside of the machine, leaving incredible residue on clothes after being washed. The hospital itself is too small for the number of people that are in it. Staff in the NRI unit were always stressed out, angry, short tempered, and not a joy to communicate with. They housed us in their unit, where there were restraints and yelling often through the night, and when the doors were locked, we had to wait an hour or two for them to open so we could go on with our treatment. The staff themselves were almost always “busy”, as in, on their cell phones. When staff were claiming doing their jobs, they were usually yelling at people instead of talking to them like fellow human beings. When I needed someone to talk to, it felt like there was nobody around, or if there was, nobody wanted to talk to me. I asked for help a few times and would just stay at the desk and say “Okay, what do you want to talk about?” I’d tell them, and they’d just stare at me as though they have no idea as to what it is I’m talking about or what to say in return. I often felt like I was an annoyance to them, as they were too busy keeping an eye on people to afford me a few minutes to talk me through a crisis. Most of my support came from people back home, on the phone… I should not have felt as though I was a hindrance to staff simply because I was having a panic attack or wanted to use eating disordered behaviors. That’s not to say that ALL staff were awful- in fact, there were many good ones. I’d specific which ones were good, but I can’t remember their names. There were too many staff constantly coming in and out for me to remember specific ones. These people WANTED to talk to me, WANTED to help, but the hospital kept getting in the way. Whenever I started talking to them, someone would pull them away and tell them to start looking after other patients. By the time I left, there was actually a circle spray painted onto the ground for staff to stand in. Literally, stand in. And we weren’t allowed to talk to them for any reason. So, for the majority of the weekend and weeknights, I felt totally alone there, with very few people to talk to. V**** and V**** were the programs saving grace. Their hearts were huge and they clearly loved their jobs. They cared very deeply for their patients and always made time for us. V**** was clearly versed in eating disorder treatment and sounded both intelligent and caring. She always smiled, which was infectious for everyone else, even if we were feeling awful. Valerie was on top of our meal plans and listened carefully to us. They both sat with us during meals, which was important since that was often where my panic attacks hit me the most. Having someone so caring and intelligent be with me during those awful times was so important. It was a shame that staff weren’t allowed to sit with us for breakfast or dinner. The reason behind this wasn’t clearly presented, but it was harmful to my treatment overall as patients didn’t really have a good handle on their own eating disorders, and having nobody around to guide our conversations was very difficult. I truly hope this changes as there is no real reason for this to happen. Mealtimes should be guided, always, during treatment. I don’t care what your excuses are for not being there- I’m paying you to guide me through treatment, and I need you there during mealtimes. Period.
I didn’t particularly care for the chaplains there. Most of them were invasive, waking people up for chapel even if we didn’t want to go. After telling them “no”, they’d come back ten minutes later to remind us again. If we didn’t want to go to chapel, there was really no place to go except to stay in our rooms or sit on a chair in front of the nurses station. We weren’t allowed to watch tv or to really be in the group room for any reason during chapel times. And when there are 40+ people on such a tiny unit, one tends to go slightly crazy with boredom. The chaplains were loud, in your face, and obnoxious (Though, one of them was really nice. She made me cry with relief, the thought of someone actually caring for me, of knowing my struggles… that was nice, but I shouldn’t have been penalized for not going). Chapel should be a CHOICE, NOT a requirement, and there should be an alternative activity present for those who don’t believe. Not doing so is wrong… and probably illegal.
I tried to get into this place and basically was told it wasn’t a medical nesessity. I’m not sure here but to me having a severe eating disorder for ten years is nesessary for medical care. I spoke to admissions twice doing everything except for begging and was treated nasty. But reading the review above maybe God had a better place in mind for me because it seems the doctors there feel like you need to be actively trying to kill yourself to get in. And I was just on the borderline I was told….so because I didn’t actually attempt but thought and made a plan that wasn’t enough to get help….this place obviously doesn’t really want to help people.
This was the absolutely worst eating disorder treatment program I have been in. The program is 21 days long. While I was at the program I lost almost as much weight as the program is long. The food is horrible! The exchanges were huge! They did not make you eat, nor did they supplement unless you were severely underweight. You sleep on a general psych ward and you rarely room with someone else in the ED program. The girl that I was sharing a room with was way wacked out and would tell me that she was going to murder the next person that walked through the door. The groups were horrible! They consisted of S reading word for word off a piece of paper which was the topic for the group. S also has some serious control issues. The weekend therapist was so much better and I got so much out of the groups. We had individual twice a week which was also a joke. It consisted of you reading your life story. The odd part about it is that you never even talked about anything that has happened in your life. They are heavy into OA and the 12 steps. But at the same time, they did not explain or guide you through the steps. The staff on the unit sucked except for the night staff. If you were lucky enough to be up at 2am, you could actually have an intelligent conversation for a change. There were too many people on the psych ward and everything was basically general chaos. The dietician that was there when I was there was really good. She was the only good thing about the program. But she was only filling in for another person and is no longer there. I have been to Rader in Cali also, and I was hoping that maybe this program would be a little better. I was so wrong. If you absolutely have to go to Rader, go to the one in Cali. This program at Brookhaven is beyond substandered. But don’t get me wrong, I don’t recommend Rader in Cali either. I wasted a lot of time and money at these 2 program and got absolutely nothing out of it. There are so many better programs out there. Please research them before choosing any Rader program.