Galen Hope opened in 2021 in Florida and is an eating disorder treatment center that combines residential, partial hospitalization, and community-based treatment to differing levels depending on the client’s individual needs. They say they specialize in treating people who have additional diagnoses outside of the eating disorder that significantly impact their lives, especially emerging adults who also have ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, personality disorders, depression or psychosis that needs to be addressed simultaneously to their ED.
They also claim to tailor their programs for those who do not “fit in” with the traditional services provided by the majority of institutions and programs that currently treat eating disorders, or whose life circumstances require a more individualized approach than can be managed under their standardized protocols. These individuals include those with:
- ARFID
- Binge Eating Disorder
- Primary OCD that impacts eating behavior
- Children under 14 with AN, BN, or BED
- A history of treatment for eating disorders at the residential or outpatient level of care and have plateaued
- A desire to experience treatment with individuals who have diagnoses other than eating disorders exclusively
- A desire to integrate their treatment with work or school
Galen Hope / Galen Mental Health was started by the Dr. Wendy Oliver-Pyatt who over the past 25 years also founded Center for Hope of the Sierras, Oliver-Pyatt Centers, and Clementine, and who currently also helps run the Within virtual treatment program.
Any reviews or information? Please post in comments below. You can check out the FAQ and Guidelines for suggested questions to answer in reviews. Thank you!
Can someone provide a review of doing 12 hour and not living in 6000$ month housing
Current patient. Day one. Couple of questions! If anyone could help me, much appreciated ! Can someone tell me the food situation. I know they don’t supplement . What do they serve, etc. Also how easy is it to leave? Don’t like feeling trapped and it feels like people stay forever. Has anyone left after two weeks?
Can you go on outings if you’re level zero and don’t complete?
how fast do you move up? And again, is it easy to leave etc. any intel would be appreciated!!
Hi! I am not a current patient, but I may be coming soon, and def also have some questions. If you find anything out I would love to ask you some. Anything would be appreciated. I can give you my email or just ask for some review questions. Thank you!
Hi thinking of sending a family member here
any advice
May-August 2024
PHP12 and PHP8
I don’t think so, some of the doorways are probably too narrow but feel free to check with them. It’s on the 6th floor accessible by elevator though.
It’s hard to tell, all levels of care are combined and mental health and ED clients are mixed. Average might be 8 or so PHP12 eating disorder clients.
All genders, and yes. The bathrooms are all gender but if you’re AFAB they take you to the “women’s” restroom (they can’t change the signs). The “men’s” restroom has urinals without stalls/dividers so restroom use tends to be based on gender assigned at birth/biological sex.
Doctor, psychiatrist, dietitian weekly. Therapy 3x a week, one can be a family session. You decrease frequency as you step down. Also phlebotomy 2x a week, reduced as able. Weights are 3x a week.
It felt well staffed during the week and understaffed at weekends. During the week there are lots of staff floating around and available.
They do CBT, DBT, ACT, art therapy, drama therapy, narrative therapy. Trauma therapy is only done in individual sessions.
ED patients eat separate from MH clients. Table is set with your plate portioned (as you move up levels you can self portion). Sit, go around and check in with hunger/fullness, how you’re feeling about the meal, and intentions. There’s a therapist and care partner on lunch and dinner, but only care partners at breakfast. Conversation usually flows. When the time is up you go back around and rate hunger/fullness, if you met your intention, and whatever else came up and then self clear your stuff into the kitchen.
For snacks they have a snack list with lots of options and weekly specials. They took snack orders right before so you could pick at the time and also just look in the kitchen to see what they had. Snacks were not very structured and people ate staggered. You had to stay at the table until you finished but aside from that people would come and go. People were often pulled and would have snack in 1:1 therapy, RD, or psych sessions. Evening snack is at the houses with the care partner, or on your own if you’re not in housing.
Breakfast rotation: toaster waffles, yogurt & granola, premade frozen omelette with cheese and toast, cereal, oatmeal, breakfast burritos, bagels
Lunches and dinners: An 8 week menu rotation with lots of variety. A lot of salads, grain bowls, sandwiches, pastas, stir fry, stuffed peppers, soup, mac and cheese, burgers, hot dogs. I ate so many vegetarian chicken tenders. Every Saturday was pizza dinner and every Sunday after the recreational outing everyone went to eat at a restaurant. You could order off of the menu and they helped you figure it out. Monday lunch was ordered in from a restaurant. Both Sunday dinner and Monday lunch were self regulate meals. Self regulate meant you weren’t served your exact portion to your meal plan, you just ate until you felt you met your meal plan and then confirmed with staff. They’re big on working towards intuitive eating. They have a “sub meal” if you don’t like what is served and can ask for it within the first 5 minutes of the meal. For PHP it’s mac and cheese, for IOP it’s a PB&J sandwich.
They don’t supplement at all.
You need to have 24 hour 100% completion to do movement and have one cup of coffee with breakfast. If you have 3+ incompletes in the week you can’t go on the recreational outing on Sunday.
Vegetarian, yes.
Movement, coffee in the morning, leveling up. All earned with meal plan compliance.
Yes but in a very different way from other treatment centers. They separate levels into therapeutic, movement, and food related. I’m just going to copy and paste from an email I have because it’s complicated.
“You will start with 1. Staff portioned which is the starting level for all clients beginning at Galen Hope who are coming into treatment with an ED. The 2nd phase is self portioning/completion – where some of the meals and snacks are portioned by the client prior to sitting down. The 3rd phase is self portioning / self regulating – all meals and snacks are portioned by the client prior to sitting down and you are expected to portion within your range. And the last phase is food freedom and flexibility – where you show a much greater range in your flexibility and range of portioning skills and generally speaking, there is no feedback given. There are also 4 stages in Movement. 1. Stretching (not yet cleared by MD) . 2. Stretching/strengthening (cleared by MD and your treatment team). 3. Aerobic (Cleared by MD and by our treatment team as well as participating in all movement groups) and 4. Exposures (to be developed with your entire team.)”
ACT, DBT, CBT, narrative, body image, process, life skills, movement, yoga, mindfulness, self-compassion, art, shame & resilience, psychodrama, conscious recovery, recovery stories, special topics, community, skills review, treatment team. They had family day once a month and had a multi-family group then.
DBT and life skills.
Yes
Care partners (behavioral techs), some of them were very good and supportive and you could tell how much they cared about us as clients. I also liked their food approach in general. You progress to portioning your own snacks and meals gradually but at a much faster rate than any other program I’ve been in. Also the opportunity to practice self-regulating twice a week was really helpful in developing the skills to transfer out in your normal life. They also do frequent exposures individually which is great. I didn’t do a lot of them but others did them generally weekly.
The communication is really bad overall. Due to this there was a several week gap in my ability to receive vital medication. They aren’t clear about expectations and stuff with passes which resulted in frustration. It also led to inconsistencies in meal outing rules.
I think it’s absurd to call themselves a neurodivergent affirming program and not offer supplements. And re-feeding without supplements, so entirely with food, was hell. I felt the dietitian I had was quite bad: lacked empathy, accused me of resisting treatment from the start, refused sensory accommodations, and also set up far fewer exposures for me. I experienced medical neglect from my team that I’m still facing repercussions from. I was repeatedly told by medical, psychiatry, and dietitian that my symptoms were anxiety and from “my mind.”
ALSO they allow clients who need much more support, which is a disservice. They have accepted people who were referred to ACUTE or who need the structure of inpatient or residential care. It was triggering for something supposed to be a PHP. I also felt the restrictions were too high for being a PHP. On 12 hour when you live in housing you aren’t allowed to leave the house unless it’s to visit another Galen house and you have to be escorted by a care partner.
Finally the psychiatrist completely messed up my meds and then he and my therapist continually suggested getting off of the only medication that works for my chronic SI.
Someone going to treatment for the first time and does not have co-occurring PTSD.
Weekends were slower so less staff, fewer groups. care partners led most of the groups and there was no therapist present on Sunday. We’d watch a movie On Sunday we had outings like painting pottery, escape room, bookstores, crystal shops (lol), or just walking around shopping in Coral Gables.
No
They have four tiers: PHP 12, PHP 8, and IOP 4, and IOP 3. Typically for PHP level of care, 3-4 months and for IOP level of care 2-3 months. They keep people for a very long time.
There was an adolescent side for under 18. Other than that a lot of people in their early 20’s. Mostly under age 40 I’d say.
You can request passes from your treatment team
You can have your devices all the times except in groups, sessions, and meals. My therapist and care partner texted me a lot and the CPs have Galen phones they use to text you about transportation and stuff.
In housing there’s an overnight care partner, you can text your therapist and individual care partner after hours and they have a therapist on call too so you can call or text them.
They help you set up a team or for me, they helped arrange my step down to IOP back in my home state.
Supported housing
Nothing, I got sick twice and it took them all day to send me home.
Housing- they have 3 separate houses that house 5-6 clients at a time. You will either have a roommate or be in a single (all dependent on what is available when you admit) Staff is there all night long with you and will take you to and from the center daily and to pick up meds from the pharmacy. You either share a bathroom or have your own depending on the room situation. Housing is $6,00 a month and they refused to let me move out.
Does anyone have any current info on Gaken Hope? I’m curious about the miliue size and also there policy for incomplete meals. I heard they do not offer supplements, is this true? How do they support clients who struggle to complete meals?
I am planning on going there in a couple of weeks, but I am nervous that they don’t have supplements. Additionally, how trauma informed is this program? I have CPTSD and heard that this is one of the best programs for that. If anyone has had experience there, what are your thoughts?
In August the milieu size in Coral Gables was ~12 for ED clients, I heard from someone at Del Ray that the milieu there is currently 5 or 6.
Incomplete meals- you can’t do movement, drink coffee the next day, and if you have 3 incompletes you can’t go on the Sunday outing. They don’t supplement. They try to coach you through meals to finish them.
I have cPTSD too and I didn’t find them to do anything trauma related outside of individual therapy sessions. Like, maybe narrative therapy group but otherwise not really. I had frequent trauma responses and I didn’t feel that supported through them, but it was dissociation. They’re better at overt distress intervention.
Haven of hope and River Oaks are both very trauma focused. So is Skyway
What is the max age they take can any one do a full 2024 review?
just posted a full review.
So if you wanted to leave you can’t? That’s what your review sounded like I’m just curious? And did you do the adult php? Also was there different protocols for the adult eating disorder php and mental health php?
They make it incredibly difficulty to leave their housing situation once you’re already in it. I did adult PHP. I’m not sure entirely the MH protocol because I wasn’t on it but I know as long as you didn’t display ED symptoms for like, the first two weeks then you weren’t required to finish your meal/ you could portion for yourself.
They don’t let you go out on your own after hours for adults? Its php
Do they support vegans?
Coffee/Tea allowed?
Good Staff?
Phone policy?
I’m not sure. They allowed a mental health client to be vegan but I don’t know if they’d let an ED client. They allow Vegetarians.
You can have one cup of coffee with breakfast if you complete all your meals the previous day.
Mixed staff. Some really good therapists, some average ones. Some amazing techs/care partners, some mediocre, some just straight up bad.
You can have your phone on you at all times, except meals. You’re expected to not use it during groups.
Has anyone had luck getting a single case agreement for this program? There aren’t many insurances currently accepted. And if so how does housing work if you aren’t around there? Just looking for more info or to talk to anyone who has recently been.
I have Regence and was told it’s almost impossible for them to get a SCA with them for Galen Hope (that’s what the admissions person told me)
housing: they have 3 houses all very close to the treatment center. 5-6 clients max per house, mixed gender. i know for 12 hour PHP you get picked up and dropped off to and from program. there is a staff member that stays overnight in the house. housing is $6,000/month.
I’m hoping this is a typo. $6000/mo for just housing?!
yeah, not a typo unfortunately. i’m sure you could ask about scholarships for housing, if that is the route you go.
$6000.00 per month= $200 per day.
That’s insane.
Does this apply to adolescent as well? We live in Massachusetts and can’t really up and move to Florida to provide housing….
they don’t do housing for adolescents. the out of state ones i know have had one of their parents rent a condo and live with them.
Is the housing cost covered by insurance?
Housing isn’t. When I called for information they said they had supported housing but from what I remember it wasn’t. That’s a big aspect for me, is if I can’t get insurance to cover in network, there’s no way I can afford a hotel or Airbnb since I’m out of state.
I know this probably isn’t possible for you either, but would be able to rent a really cheap apartment in the area for just a month or two while you’re there? Renting an apartment might be cheaper than a hotel or airbnb
i’ve known some to get apartments and/or sign a month to month lease
it’s not
Any recent experiences? Looking at this program and Hoping it could be a good fit but cannot find reviews anywhere!
I do not have a personal review however I know people who work there and they are fabulous. I was at Within Health which is owned by the same person as Galen Hope and it was a wonderful program. I say this as someone who has been to ALOT of different places, I would refer one of my clients to Galen. (I do not work for them). I will ask around to see if I can find someone to write a review on here!
Alot of former OPC (Oliver Pyatt center) staff work at Galen hope now.
I would love that as well! The only reviews I’ve found are super vague and I would love some details…I’ve been in treatment so many times before and I want to be hopeful that their unique approach could work
Anon1 – This is really helpful! I’m especially interested in the fact that many of the staff that left OPC now work at Galen Hope. Galen Hope was known for, well, not having talented staff/qualified clinicians when they first opened. Oliver-Pyatt Center, on the other hand, was one of the programs most known for having talented staff/qualified clinicians up until the last year or two before being officially rebranded as Monte Nido Miami. Do you know if they left once OPC became Monte Nido Miami? Fyi you can use Wendy Oliver-Pyatt’s name on here! There is an exception to the “no name” policy when the person’s name is the name of a program. (Same with Dr. Gaudiani of Gaudiani Clinic, Kitty Westin who started Anna Westin House, etc.) With how many programs Dr. Oliver-Pyatt has started over the past three decades, it conveniently makes it much easier. ?
So I was at OPC back in 2015-2016 and it was wonderful. Since its buy out staff started to trickle out. From my understanding when Wendy started Within and Galen alot of the staff who either had recently left OPC or were still there followed Wendy to these two companies. When I look at the leadership of Galen there are a lot of OPC people. There are also care partners from OPC working at both Galen and Within. I know Galen had some growing pains but it sounds like they really got their feet on the ground in the past year or so. I would love some recent reviews to share with my clients.
Could you do a full review that answers all the questions in the template?
Oliver pyatt is the worst nightmare.
Do not go
there. Read the reviews and believe them.
Did you go to Galen Hope? If so, you could provide a review of your time there. If not, this type of comment is not helpful to anyone. It’s fear-mongering and not objectively based. It’s merely your opinion with zero facts or information backing it up. It’s emotionally driven. People are seeking factual information about the program, that’s all.
Oliver-Pyatt Centers no longer exists, unfortunately. Their greatest issue imo was billing. But their treatment was stellar across the board. I wish they still existed. Fantastic program.
I am going to be there in about 2 weeks, I can let you know how it is if you’re still looking for feedback by then.
Hey, any update? How are you doing?
hi! i’m doing ok! i’ve been here for just over 2 weeks. there are some things i like and ways that i feel more freedom than a typical res. there are also things that felt a little unexpected and feel restrictive in ways i don’t like. if you have more questions lmk and i can share specifics.
Please share more!
Hey y’all! I left GH so I’m not there anymore but I’ll do a full review soon. Just gotta get the energy to do it (plus I promised a review of 2 renfrew programs so I gotta get on that too, ha)!
Hey there! I’m wondering if you see this if you’d be willing to message with me privately.. have a family member going to GH in a few weeks (coming from Princeton IP). Thanks1
yeah, you can email me rjm2@bu edu
Sent you an email! Ty!
i’m here now and can answer any questions to the best of my ability, if you want to email me too we can figure out a way to connect that way as well.
That would be amazing if you don’t mind!
my email is [redacted] (rachel @admin, after anon sees this/replies could you redact my email? happy to share with others, just don’t want to keep it out here.)
All set- thank you!
Redacted!
I would love to find out more about Galen Hope! I’ll post my questions here so hopefully someone else can benefit from the discussion. And this is geared towards their highest LOC.
1) Are they trauma-informed? I have c-ptsd that’s at the core of my struggle (alongside my ED), so I want to make sure they are trained to handle flashbacks, dissociation, etc.
2) How many individual sessions do you have per week?
3) What is the policy with technology? I am a student and would love to be able to continue one of my classes at night while there.
4) What do the meals look like in terms of meal planning, use of exchanges vs intuitive eating, portion control, etc. When you step down through the phases, do you prepare/bring your own food or do they have a chef?
5) Do they incorporate outings and exposures to the world to help you transition before leaving? Do they incorporate movement?
6) What do weekends look like? Is it a continuation of during the week programming or do they have less clinical staff available?
7) What is the typical length of stay at each phase? And which location did you go to?
Ok, geared towards their higher LOC which is PHP12
1) Are they trauma-informed? I have c-ptsd that’s at the core of my struggle (alongside my ED), so I want to make sure they are trained to handle flashbacks, dissociation, etc.
The therapists are trauma informed. There is only one trauma specialized therapist. The care partners and at least my dietitian (there’s 2) are not. The MD is neutral, the RN has been a great advocate for me with the doctor.
2) How many individual sessions do you have per week?
3 therapy (one can be a family session), 1 RD, 1 psych, 1 MD, 1 personal care partner check-in
3) What is the policy with technology? I am a student and would love to be able to continue one of my classes at night while there.
You can use tech during free time
4) What do the meals look like in terms of meal planning, use of exchanges vs intuitive eating, portion control, etc. When you step down through the phases, do you prepare/bring your own food or do they have a chef?
You don’t plan/there’s no menu for you to see ahead of time. Until you’re on self-portion you don’t know what it is until your plate is on the table. You can choose snacks off of the snack list, you pick at the time. When you get to portion you go based on look/what you think you need. Step down transitions to intuitive eating at a very graduated pace with safeguards. Unsure what you mean by portion control but you can always request more food, they ask a lot about hunger/fullness. They have a chef, I’m still PHP8 but once you get to IOP the weekly lunch restaurant order in changes and you bring in a lunch instead and do a meal outing a different day.
5) Do they incorporate outings and exposures to the world to help you transition before leaving? Do they incorporate movement?
Lots of outings/exposures. Weekly dinner outings and lunch order in. Both are “self regulate” and you practice meeting your nutritional needs by paying attention to portion, fullness, etc. but you are guided by staff. Your dietitian plans exposures, I’ve done a couple but I know the longer you stay, the more you get them added. They have movement 4x a week (must complete 24 hours before and meals the day of movement to participate).
6) What do weekends look like? Is it a continuation of during the week programming or do they have less clinical staff available?
They only have one therapist on Saturdays; none Sunday. Less groups, less staff.
7) What is the typical length of stay at each phase? And which location did you go to?
I’m at Coral Gables. It truly depends. I was in 12 hour/7 day PHP for about 3 months.
Can you do a full review? I’ve been hearing such mixed feedback about the program.
Yes I will, I promise!
The program sounds good, but it seems the reviews on here are negative…I’ve love more info. Any recent experience here?
I just wondered if anyone has recent experience here? Also, are people referring to their 12-hour, 7 days/wk PHP? I know that’s the highest level of care they have (no true “residential”).
They have 4 “tiers.” Tier 4 is 12 hour/7 day partial, tier 3 8 hour/5-7 day partial, tier 2 is 4 hour/3-5 day IOP, tier 1 is 3 hour/3-5 day IOP. They recommend 30 days per tier.
Would love to hear a full review!!!
also would love a full review
Past client here- terrible program. I would not recommend sending yourself or someone you care about here, unless you deliberately hate them and want to cause lasting harm. In my time here I saw different clients who clearly would have benefited from lower or higher levels of care, but were instead kept at Galen hope for extended periods of time. Their desire to keep the program afloat and suck desperate people of their money causes them to keep people who are evidently not progressing. Unorganized and staff clearly has no idea what they are doing. Please do your research on other options before making the mistake I did.
Hi, do you have any more info? I am here now and would love to collect data on the same things happening now, while trying to have them address why none of this was taken into account and changed. It is still the same environment and is becoming very harmful.
Hi- I am so so sorry, I am not seeing this until now! It is a shame to hear that, but unfortunately I believe it. What info can I help you with?
If you look up one of the cofounders of Galen Hope on Google Reviews, all of her positive reviews are written by other people in the field (mentioning things like “I’ve worked with her for 20 years”) and not actual clients. All the reviews from actual clients are negative, and I’ve been noticing that she’s been having negative reviews from clients deleted (probably through similar threatening emails like the one posted in this thread).
There was a review from a client posted on her Google reviews page that discussed how, during the client’s session, Dr. Cofounder did not pay attention to her at all and only typed on her Mac the entire time. It’s clear that these people who founded Galen Hope are taking advantage of the scarcity of eating disorder treatment, cornering the market, and charging absurd amounts of money in order to suck desperate parents and patients dry.
Anyone have any other experiences here to share please? Looking for the best treatment for my teen with Orthorexia/ARFID -OCD which manifested during covid and VERY hard find intense appropriate therapy/treatment.
Could anyone give a comprehensive review please? Thank you!
it’s a disappointing program. could not recommend less.
Hi, would you be willing to share more info/specifics about why you were disappointed and wouldn’t recommend this program so as to help others who may be considering it in the future?
Hi, do you have any more info? I am here now and would love to collect data on disappointing things happening here currently, while trying to have them address why none of this was taken into account and changed. It is still the same environment and is becoming very harmful.
its so bad. alot of the staff are mean. plz try a diff program.
This is a HORRIBLE treatment center. I’ve been to multiple treatment centers and this is by far the worst. It costs so so much (more than $1500 a day) and you get very little out of it. The therapists do not know how to treat anything more than mild anxiety and depression. The director of the program, ***, picks favorites to see individually — and asks them to keep it a secret. The staff can be very, very rude when you are distressed. There are clients who stay for over a year. I made very little progress. Go. Somewhere. Else.
Would you be able to do a full comprehensive review? Or at least let me know do you think Galen Hope would be bad for someone with really severe trauma induced psychosis and Complex PTSD, as well as Anorexia? Thanks!!!
Hi, do you have any more info? I am here now and would love to collect data on disappointing things happening here currently, while trying to have them address why none of this was taken into account and changed. It is still the same environment and is becoming very harmful.
New treatment program located in Florida, that lets you work, volunteer, or go to school while still receiving intensive treatment. Any reviews or information?
The program is falling apart due to low census. I would not recommend it.