Hidden River is a residential eating disorder treatment in the state of New Jersey. It treats girls and young women aged 11-20. Any reviews or updates? Please post in the comments below! You can check out the FAQ and Guidelines for suggested questions. Thank you!
?Full Recent Review?
i just got discharged after almost 3 months after being told i would only be there for 3-6 weeks. some of the RAs are awesome and i feel like have helped so much in my recovery, others not so much. a few in particular caused many problems and caused me to be incomplete multiple times. one night i finished all of my meal but one of the RAs pulled me to the side and told me since i left ONE crumb, i was being marked incomplete. this same RA had done similar things to many patients. we are on a very strict schedule, but every day she was working our meals would always be late. there was one night she asked me a question witch triggered me, and then instead of apologizing, she accused me of getting violent with her. i barley raised my voice. RAs are supposed to help us, not cause more issues. the communication level at hidden river sucked. there would be changes to my treatment which no one told me, and none of the other staff knew. there was also one nurse who recently just left, but there was multiple times when she left everyone’s weights out in the open for people to see. she also tried to give me the wrong meds multiple times. all of the other nurses were very accommodating and you could tell they really cared about you. about a month ago we got a few hours notice that our rules would be changing. we were all going to be classified in “phases” and depending on what phase you were on, have you more “rights.” you now had to get on a certain level in order to use sharps (razers, tweezers. EYLASH CURLER, ect.) and to go on the weekly outings, which were all things we all had the ability to do when we first arrived. i noticed ever since these changes people started to struggle more. also depending on what “phase” you were gave you how much time you got to call your family at night. before phases we would all split up the time each day so we got to go whenever we wanted between 6:30 – 8:30. a little while before the new rules, we were at about 10 girls so we were struggling getting enough time each night. we brought it up to leadership and instead of giving us the time we were promised upon arrival and hearing what we had to say, we got told the phone rules were changing. the standard was 3-4, 15 minute phone calls a week. girls with eating disorders already compare themselves, but now they are trying to make us compare ourselves to whichever phase we fit into? we also had a women come into help us with school. she had made multiple comments that were not appropriate considering the environment we were being put into. she would also do things that historically people with eating disorders would do, which upset many people. she would make her own rules and restricted us from using our emails which was crucial in order for kids to make up their work. nearing the end of my stay i notices many people leaving before me, so i started asking for a date. i got promised that i would get an estimate at a certain date but that promise was never fulfilled. they kept on promising that on certain days they would tell me my estimated time left, but every time it would be pushed back. adventually i was able to get my date. i was told i would be started a pho the day after. almost 3 days before the day i was set to leave hidden river, i was informed that 1 week was going to be added to my stay, because of me not completing my meals fully. i later found out that it was mostly on the fact that the plans they set up with php wasn’t legit. my therapist claimed that usually she has a backup php just in case the first choice doesn’t work out, but she never did that for me. she told me i was the first on on the waiting list for the php i was supposed to go to, but the date to start php that she promised wasn’t an option. i fought and got my original date back for discharge. i later found out that they kept my mom extremely out of the loop. since i am a minor they said they had to ask my mom for permission several things. they told me that they always got her consent for things, but my mom told me most of the time they never even contacted her. she always struggled to get in touch with my “team.” she requested to be informed about more information about my meal plan and my weight, but they refused to tell us both. there were still staff in hidden river that i really thought we’re caring and knew what they were doing, and that’s one of the reasons i am not completely upset with my stay. one of my favorite RAs (vkf) became one of my biggest motivators. the information they tell you and the information on the website is inaccurate and difficult to work with. i just wish they worked more on communicating throughout the other staff and my treatment team.
—past patient
?Full Recent Review?
Sad to share our horrific experience under this new leadership to save anyone considering sending their child here. I have everything documented. The place is a disorganized mess. Upon admission the intake coordinator sold us hard on how wonderful Hidden River is. She told us that our daughter would be going to town on the weekends, going out for meals and getting her nails done on the expense of Hidden River. They walked my daughter around the garden and brought us fresh mint and a radish back. The property is beautiful and lovely and the images on their website will initially lure you in. Contrary to this, all the above is based on 100 percent meal completion at every meal. Barely anyone ever did any of those things. Because even if you left 1 almond, you were marked as incomplete. You also can’t walk or go outside the first 7 days and they do an ekg and Dexascan after admission instead of before. I asked the nursing staff to please let me know when my daughter arrived for the procedure and arrived back at Hidden River, and they ignored my request. My daughter is a minor and left the facility in a car for 20-30 min drive with a stranger. We received a handbook before we dropped off our daughter. We looked it over briefly and, then again after the first couple of days, when immediately things seemed off. We were told from the intake coordinator that our daughter would be able to use her cell phone during tech time and she also said that we could call the nurses station whenever we wanted and our daughter could call us if she needed to. However, this immediately proved differently. When I questioned the tech use, they told me that this rule had been changed recently. I was not overly bothered by it because I thought a break from cell phones was a good thing. However, as we started to peruse the handbook further, we noticed that the former clinical Director was named in the handbook rather than the new clinical Director, who had joined the team in late August. So seven months later, the handbook had yet to be updated. There were a number of things in that handbook that were very different than what was actually happening. For example, the handbook said family would be involved, we barely had any involvement. It also says in the handbook that discharge starts upon admission. Totally not true. I started asking about discharge the first week because I was aware of the lengthy wait lists at php program. I continuously reached out over the course of three weeks and all of my requests were ignored to be put on a wait list for aftercare. After week one we had a team meeting where the executive Director sat in for the clinical Director and scolded us because we were asking questions to the nursing staff instead of our leader who was my daughter’s therapist. We were told that she should be our point person for all questions. When I mentioned that I had heard from staff that the program was changing and how the handbook was outdated, we were told that nothing was changing unless we were informed and to trust the process. Soon we became aware that the head nurse had left and we never received any notification of this. At week 1 we met with the dietician who would not discuss what my daughter’s incoming weight was, what her weight goal was, how many calories she would be eating or what the expected weight gain from week to week would be. She gave no explanation of why we couldn’t know these things, she just said we don’t discuss that. The only thing she told me was that my daughter was trending upward and she was happy with the progress. However, when I met the psychiatrist, a few days later, she told me she was very alarmed by the lack of weight gain my daughter had. When I questioned my team leader on why these two team members had completely different opinions, my team leader said it was because the psychiatrist is thinking about it from a medical perspective.
The psychiatrist recommended medication for my daughter and I said I would consider it, however, many of my emails to the therapist were going unanswered, and when I reached out to the clinical Director to introduce myself since she wasn’t in the first team meeting, she did not respond to either of my two emails nor my two voice messages. Instead, she showed up into one of our therapy sessions and introduced herself sending a clear message that I should not have reached out to her. At one point we did consider the medication, yet I did not hear back from the psychiatrist for five days from the day when I shared with my daughter’s therapist we were are open to it. This reversed our decision, having us question why we would ever put our daughter on medication under the supervision of somebody who would take five days to get back to us. As the weeks continued, there was a lack of answers to emails from our therapist. We were limited to conversations twice per week. We were allowed a 10 minute call on Tuesdays in which pretty much everything we asked we were told could not be answered and then our therapy session on Thursdays, which we had to spend a good part of getting answers to questions that were pending. There was never any discussion about strategies on how we could help support our daughter other than to not talk about anything when we were on the phone with her or during our weekly visit. The therapy sessions were unstructured and filled with closed ended questions. Having a master’s degree in counseling, yet never having practiced, the basic 101 of counseling is not to ask closed ended questions. One night when I called to check in on my daughter because she was very upset when we spoke, I left a message with the nurse station and didn’t hear back for three hours. I called again, and there was still no answer so I texted a number I had. This was the text I received back.
“Hello please reach out to sxxxxxxx (therapist) for any inquiries. We have your daughters best interest at heart and we would never do anything to cause her harm. Have a good nite. ”
I was stunned. Of course they wouldn’t hurt my daughter… right? An extremely creepy text.
By the end of week 3, my daughter was relapsing. I insisted on an intake with a php at the point, stating it is my daughter and we want the intake. The intake coordinator at this other place told me our daughter’s therapist tried to cancel it behind our back. Thank god we did the intake, it was here I learned my daughter [had been using ED behaviors]. I contacted the therapist immediately. When I brought up what she had eaten the day before the therapist told me she didn’t know what she has eaten. I then questioned if she has a file open on my daughter when she speaks to us. Suddenly she pulled something up and was able to see what she had eaten. That was a Saturday and then the next two days she had off and I heard nothing.
At this point I hired our own therapist who worked at a php for 13 plus years and told her what was going on. I also spoke with the assistant clinical director at another residential program. They both encouraged me to reach out to the clinical Director and request a one on one call. They said this is standard and assured me the clinical director is who you contact with concerns. I was apprehensive to do this based on my initial interaction with her. However, I did. Her response was for me to reach out to the therapist. The very person we had major concerns about, which we outlined in our email.
Our response was if she wouldn’t speak to us, we were going to pull her from the program. Next day we get a call from her and the therapist together. They said they were going to take our daughter to the hospital the next day if she continued not drinking. She is dehydrated. I had no idea.
When I speak to my daughter that night and asked her if she she had not been drinking water, she said she has been drinking all of her water. Just not [redacted]. At this point, we tell her we’re taking her home in two days from then. We told her to drink all the liquids they give her, and she agrees. Our daughter typically tells us the truth whether she does something or doesn’t. The next day we get a call and they say they’re taking her to the hospital because she’s not drinking. I asked to speak to her and they said they would not let me. We ask what hospital they’re taking her to and they tell us they’ll get back to us once they know. I then send an email and say to take her to Overlook. An hour later my husband calls back to find out a plan and they say they’re no longer taking her. The nursing staff says she has been drinking. They completely lied to us. I was already on my way to meet her. I then informed them I would be picking my daughter up that day.
When I arrived I am asked to sign a form saying, my daughter is being taken out of the program against medical advice. They also discharge her without a discharge plan, putting her at great risk for refeeding syndrome. They wrote that they are suggesting inpatient with no explanation why.
Therapist shared at discharge for the first time that our daughter was back down to around the weight she came in at. When I responded by asking who should have told me that, she said the team, and when I asked who specifically on the team she said she didn’t know. I then shared again for the 3rd time with her that our daughter’s dietician never contacted us last week after she (therapist) said she would and she said OK. When I asked for an explanation, she said, “ I don’t have one”.
I then clarified that she was our leader and she clarified she was and when I asked again why I wasn’t informed and why I didn’t hear from her she said “I am not sure”. I then question if she has followed up with the dietician to see why she hadn’t and she said no. 6 days later none of the 3 facilities I had requested medical records for receive her full records nor had I. 3 days after discharge we questioned why these facilities only were sent limited info and she said they only requested limited info. I confronted all 3 facilities and this was not the case.
These are the worst things that the program did there were many others more minor.
Lastly, in our daughter’s last week. 2 days before she left they informed the girls they were going to be overriding the entire program and all the rules that they had learned were changing as of that day. We were informed of this the Friday before and were asked not to tell our daughter. One of the rules under the new plan would be they would not get to speak to the parents every night which our daughter explained was one of the many reasons she was relapsing. She said how could you take the only support I have away from me? My family is the only one I feel comfortable confiding in, she did not trust her therapist at all, and at that point was not open or sharing with her any further. Contrary to what the executive Director told us, the entire time my daughter was there they were working to revamp the program rather than telling us this ahead of time so that we could make a decision whether we wanted to sign up to a program that was in flux. They simply told us that nothing was changing unless we heard otherwise, and to trust the process. Sadly, I did trust the process for four weeks and my daughter came out worse than she went in. She is now completing 100% of the meals I give her, we are slowly working our way back up to walking and calorie restoration. [description of calories redacted].
***descriptions of ED symptoms and a sentence with calorie numbers redacted by admin per site policy
**a few typos fixed by admin at request of author
Hi Rachel, just a heads up that the end of this post has specific calories listed for restriction and had a feeling you may not have seen that since you normally redact those.
Ack!! Thank you so much! I just redacted them. I am so sorry.
Sorry about that I had written in to edit a couple things on the post. Is there a way to do this?
Absolutely, Anonymous. I’m not sure why the edit didn’t take. That’s good to know, I’ll have our tech guy look into it. If you reply to this comment with the updated/edited review, I will just update the original post myself. Your and your daughter’s experience at Hidden River is gut wrenching. I definitely want the review to include your edits
I think my emails might be going into spam. Was just going to edit at the top when I wrote happy to share. I think I used the wrong word choice. Please change to sad to share. There are a couple of typos as well if you would like to correct. Update: another patient was pulled from the program this week as well.
Hi – would you be willing to DM – we are experiencing a similar scenario for our DD.
Yes the administrator can give you my email address.
EDA, please email me at admin@edtreatmentreview.com and I will give you Anonymous’s email address.
?Full Recent Review?
When i went to hidden river i was expecting an amazing place that would help me, but it was completely the opposite. Before I arrived at HR, I looked at the website filled with multiple false statements about the environment and how they went about recovery. My first few days were ok, but the longer I stayed the more I saw the place for what it truly is. Some staff there were amazing, but others were horrible and discouraging!! I talked to my therapist about an argument I had with my
mom and she went on to say that in order to leave HR i had to deal with the “abuse” at home. Note, this was a normal argument with my mom. Nothing I said indicated abuse. I felt like I couldnt open up to my therapist because everything I said was going to keep me there longer. The RA’s are extremely disorganized, i was hearing different things left and right and never knew what to expect. Most staff also had no idea how to care for child in distress, they would just sit there in silence. This applies for the RA’s, therapists, and most nurses. Out of all the staff there were 3 who knew how to do their job and 1 ended up leaving HR, leaving now 2 good staff. I was also expecting meals outside and contributing to decisions involving treatment. No meals were outside. we had milieu meetings where we would request simple things (this was a HR group) and the clinical director would write it down and it would either take weeks to get a simple thing or just never heard anything again. The patients completely had no say in their treatment other then choosing meals. When i would express something that wasnt working for me, all they would do is say “its the treatment plan” i never got any explanation. Im going to end off with bullet points of more things this place did wrong.
1: would not allow us to leave the place for an outing if we didnt finish a single almond or ate it 2 seconds after time was up
2: after requesting more phone time to talk to our parents, they took it away and came up with a whole new hellish schedule
3: My therapist would laugh at me when I was talking to her about a serious issue
4: this place caused me to relapse
PLEASE DONT SEND YOUR KIDS HERE! It seems like a beautiful place, but its not. This place is filled with awful workers. My only non regret of coming here is that I made an amazing friend, but spare yourself and your child from this awful awful residential program.
from, a former patient
Hi – would you be willing to connect via DM – same experience for DD.
Any recent info on Hidden River? I’m told they’ve expanded and have an 8 bed cottage for women over age 21.
They do have an adult program now, I know someone who just admitted there
Do you know if it’s all ages adult or “young adult” only? I know they had a young adult program, at least as of last fall, but I think the upper limit for that was 25ish?
Not currently seeking HLOC but could be (again) soon and had heard promising things second hand. But am in my 40s so…
The person I know who went is mid-30s
They expanded it from emerging young adult to include “mid-life adult” women. I asked twice if they treat women in their 40’s and was told yes. While it would be very convenient for me to go there, I’m getting weird vibes (the site reminds me of a facility with questionable methods my parents had me in in my early 20’s with a main house and carriage house for the more acutely ill residents).
There is no longer an age limit!
Any recent reviews?
I’ve been here twice and can answer any questions you have!
Thank you so much!
My questions are specifically for the 21+ program.
What is the room set up? (Singles/doubles/etc.) Does each room have a bathroom?
What is the typical milieu size?
What are meals like? Is there a chef? What is their approach to meal plans (do they use exchanges?)
Do they provide opportunities for movement like walks/yoga?
Would you recommend?
Appreciate any feedback you can provide!
Also interested in feedback!
me too!!! am looking into coming here and would love an updated review for the adult side!
The 21+ program recently expanded. There can now be up to 9 patients in the milieu.
There are two beds per room, with the exception of one triple. Two bedrooms have a bathroom inside the room while the other two share a bathroom. Bathrooms remain locked until designated shower times. There is a bathroom in the common area for access during the day.
The program has three wonderful chefs and there is a 5-week rotating meal schedule. Supplements are offered to patients when they do not complete their meal or snack. There are accommodations for vegetarian and kosher diets, as well as allergies.
Patients are allowed up to two walks each day, weather permitting, once they have received medical clearance.
We recently had our daughter admitted to Hidden River. I am curious if anyone has a more recent review. I am also curious what the average length of stay is for a child. It has only been a few days but so far so good.
Describe the average day:
*Possible TW: They do NG tubes at Hidden River?*
I called yesterday and as of 2025 they now accept young adult women ages 21-28. I’m hopefully going to be going soon. Has anyone been there as a 21-28 year old? What’s the program like?
Any information for the young adult program at Hidden River? Thank you
I am going to the young adult program soon. The only info I have is that the 21-26 year old program has five beds. I trust the people sending me there, but these reviews are not comforting!
I think it is better now with the new staff. Please keep me posted.
My daughter was here from 3/—/24-4/24. It was by far the best experience we have had with an Ed treatment provider. They were attentive, communicative and supportive.
There are frequent check-ins, had good groups and wonderful nutrition support. They even have one on one meal supper which was what our daughter needed.
The excellent staff, great staff and beautiful setting make it easy to recommend Hidden River.
Would you be willing to do a full review with the questions/prompts on this site? There hasn’t been one in over a year, and I’m sure it would be very helpful for other parents and adolescents
Hi!
We are in the process of looking at Hidden River for our 11 year old who has Arfid. I am truly nervous now reading the posts. Can anyone share an updated or recent experience? Has it gotten better?
Thanks!
Hmm, do you have any other options for your kiddo? Hospital stabilization, inpatient, day treatment (PHP), afternoon/evening treatment (IOP), etc? Residential eating disorder treatment, no matter which program, exposes preteens to symptoms/thought processes they didn’t have upon admission, and being in a 24/7 longterm treatment program surrounded by much older teens with different eating disorder and mental health/behavioral health symptoms than them for weeks/months is often more detrimental than beneficial. This is especially the case for preteens with ARFID, because even at places that specialize in ARFID (which Hidden River doesn’t) most staff won’t know each patient’s individual diagnosis and will treat them/talk to them like they have a body-image based eating disorder and fear of food for calorie/weight related reasons. Incentives for complying/punishments for not complying will not take into account the fact that ARFID is very different than the other eating disorders (even though it may present similarly). If residential treatment is your only realistic option for your 11-year-old, I would not recommend Hidden River. Their system of rewards/punishments is very strict, and privileges (including getting to talk to your parents or go outside) are based on complete compliance. Patients with ARFID may be challenged to prove they don’t have anorexia or bulimia, or flat-out not believed. Hidden River also makes it extremely difficult for parents to pick up or discharge their children and sometimes makes them jump through many hoops (from simply not answering the phone or voicemails/emails to being lied to about what symptoms their kid is having, to
withholding discharge paperwork to potentially being reported to child services for neglect) before they can get their kid back. A program like Clementine will be a much better fit.
Thanks so much Rachel! That was my fear for Hidden River:( She is in a PHP program in The Center for Discovery in NJ. Unfortunately she hasn’t been progressing there and they are suggesting residential care for her now. They actually are the ones who were pushing Hidden River more. The place wasn’t sitting well for me. I completely feel the same way you do about her going into residential. We are so scared and nervous to send her but don’t know what else to do. I have spoken to Clementine/Cherry Hill and feel better about them. Any insight or guidance for them? Is it just as strict and stuff as Hidden? Thank you for all your help!!!
Hi Anonymous,
Im not sure how comfortable you’d be with this, but I live in NJ and now work in the eating disorder world semi-professionally. I know the programs here pretty well. I’d be happy to speak with you if you’d like to discuss the differences among the programs. If you’d prefer to remain anonymous, I can write a list on this thread, but it will be rather lengthy! My email address is esti@ayeleth.org if you’d like to reach out
Not the OP, but would LOVE to have this as a resource here. I know some things are appropriate for offline, but I would be interested and then it would be here for everyone as a resource. Thank you!
Sure.
Hidden River:
Positives:
Negatives:
Clementine:
Positives:
I would strongly recommend Laureate’s adolescent program. They take girls as young as 11 and their dietitians are very knowledgeable with ARFID. From my own experience, they also are very well equipped at handling non-compliance
Thank you! I will look into them.
Center for Change in Utah also has experience treating ARFID! I knew several patients whose primary diagnosis was ARFID when I was there. They accept patients as young as 13.
Good Morning,
Thinking of sending my daughter to Hidden River Healing. I have tried to read through all these comments and it is really difficult to decipher which reviews are real or not. If any parent has had negative or positive experiences I would love feedback. I can be reached at zyukna@gmail.com
Thank you,
Zena (Mom)
To whoever is posting the fake reviews of Hidden River: please stop.
Submitted 2023/06/01 at 8:19 pm
I highly recommend Hidden River for ED treatment. The psychiatrist and CMO is very knowledgeable and has great bedside manner. She did a phenomenal job treating my family member and I would highly recommend this facility because of her. She really advocates for patients and has immense experience in treating adolescents. I have recommended several people to this place just because of her.
Submitted 2023/05/30 at 8:17 pm
I have previously worked with the CMO in another facility and she is an extremely knowledgeable psychiatrist with great bedside manner and administrative skills. She really cares about her patients and gives them the utmost attention. In fact, I will be recommending my ED patients to Hidden Rivers because of her.
Rachel, I really appreciate you weeding out garbage like this so people aren’t getting skewed perspectives from people who haven’t actually gone to a program for treatment. Thank you for all you do!
My daughter recently completed treatment at Hidden River. As a family, our experience was more than we expected. Actually my husband and i did not know what to expect. She had been in put patient therapy and had been in and out of a local hospital. Leaving her was hard. We had read other reviews and were concerned but my daughter’s therapist highly reccommended the program. We trusted her and are happy we took her advice. Our daughter is so much better now. We know she needs ongoing therapy, but she seems to be able to do this from home now, when before going to Hidden River she could not. On the day she entered the program the staff were helpful and calming. The director gave us a tour of the facility showing us the house, the bedrooms and emphasized how the staff would keep our daughter safe. We were introduced to many of the staff who would be treating her. From the day of admitting our daughter we were kept informed of her progress. We had a call from one of the staff on a daily basis. When i called, the staff were always kind and answered my questions. I had never been away from my daughter before this and the regular contacts from the staff was helpful. We were told that she would have groups everyday, see a therapist two or three times a week, a dietitian one to two times a week and the medical doctor one and likley more times a week. Our daughter ended up meeting with her team more than we had been told. Our daughter was in the center when the director changed the education program and the schedule. She called us before the change and educated us on what to expect. I was worried that this would set my daughter back. The director showed us a schedule and the education programs. I asked my daughter about these while she was at the center and she really liked what they were teaching her. She was busy eveyday in the program just like we were told. My daughter showed me her program binders. She actually did the assingments and what she learned seems to have helped her. My daughters therapist really cared for her. My daughter had never opened up about her fears like she did here. Her biggest fears were talking about some events at school and how our family treated each other. The weekly family sessions were difficult because of the issues our daughter and my husband and i had to talk about. Her therapist helped us all through these difficult issues. My daughter told us about the nurses and RA staff. They were always helpful to the girls. She said there was one ra who she did not like but she did not see that person for her last few weeks. My daughter thinks she is not working there anymore. My daughters eating disorder has been terrifying and knowing what to do has been confusing. I am greatful that her therapist sent us to this program. As as family, we have more therapy to do. My husband and i have learned that to help her get through the eating disorder our family therapy is as important as her therapy alone.
I have read many other comments about other treatment centers. There seems to be more bad experiences being posted than good experiences. My daughter needed residential treatment. She was getting worse doing treatment at home. I am glad we followed her therapist’s advice. This treatment program was good for her and our family.
❗️Note to EDTR community:❗️
This review is suspicious as to whether it was actually written by and posted here on EDTR by an actual parent whose daughter was an actual patient at Hidden River, per the site purpose of “treatment center reviews from people who have actually been there.”
See site guidelines: “The only comments that are seen as “biased” tend to be either… b) glowing reviews that are written like a marketing brochure, which usually appear after a program has received negative reviews as if to directly counter those reviews but without actually refuting any or most of the facts stated in the negative review(s). These posts just seem suspicious and create doubts as to whether they are written by actual former clients or just someone who works for the treatment center.”
I agree that this review is suspicious. Most facilities wouldn’t give tours of the bedrooms especially if clients are in residence because it could be a HIPPA violation. An even in the best treatment centers, every staff person isn’t always helpful all of the time.
I was a patient there recently and thought I got excellent care. I was not sure how this experience would be since I have been to IP and RTC plenty of times. I was relieved when I saw **** **** the Clinical Director. I knew her from a previous program. I know she care about the clients.
****clinical director’s name redacted by admin per site policy, but it is available on their site
Can you do a full review?
The Clinical director does not care about the patients at all. My daughter came out worse than she went in. After I was advised from a former employee from Overlook and the current asst director at a Clementine facility that it was totally acceptable to reach out to the clinical director if we were concerned about our daughter’s progress. I reached out to her multiple times and she refused to communicate with me.If you read the last few months of posts you will see the comments are all similar about the experiences,
Was it the current clinical director or the former clinical director? They have completely new management.
AJ – Anonymous’s daughter was a patient there under the current clinical director.
Current and many of the other girls that were in with my daughter said they had a similar experience. Another family pulled their daughter out AMA right after we did. When my multiple requests to schedule an intake with a php provider were ignored, I picked up the phone insisted to the therapist it be done. The PHP place that did the intake told me the therapist tried to cancel it behind my back, It was during this intake I became aware of my daughter’s food intake, which was near nothing. I would be leary of some of these posts, they seem completely opposite of what we experienced, Businesses can create email accounts and post to counter the negative reviews. And at least 2 of the therapists treating these girls had no prior eating disorder experience before working at Hidden River. You can look it up on their Linkedin profile. Perhaps some people have had positive experiences, but most of the girls who were there during our stay reported very similar experiences, It’s sad people cannot trust what they are reading. I encourage anyone thinking about sending their child here to speak to someone directly who has had their child go through the program in the last few months. I had done this, but the person I spoke to had their child there before the change in staff.
Thank you so much for your help Anonymous, your contributions and feedback have been absolutely invaluable! I just added a flag to a suspicious review posted at the same time as this one, and am reviewing old reviews for suspicious behavior too.
Thank you! P.s. in the post from the person Mom, she said they gave her a tour of the facility and showed her the bedrooms. Unless something has changed in the last 8 weeks, this wasn’t allowed. You weren’t allowed to see anything in the facility, other than a holding room where weekly visits happened and the nearest bathroom, out of protection for the patients. Thank you for being on top of the site.
When my daughter was admitted (April 2023), I was given a tour of the main building and did see a bedroom, living room, kitchen, etc. Subsequent visits have been limited to the visiting room. However, I have never on any occasion (including the initial tour) seen any other patient. Perhaps it just depends on the timing.
I certainly look forward to my daughter’s eventual discharge. Maybe I can write a full review then (and/or she can!) – now it is too early. But so far things seem to be going ok.
Specifically regarding communication (eg with primary therapist, and nursing staff), I’ve felt it’s been good.
This is my first time writing on this site but I want to say thank you for providing it as a resource to those of us looking for information on these places. It’s scary territory to be in as a parent 🙁 I would prefer to be anonymous but if Rachel/admin wants to contact me to clarify anything please feel free.
I’m glad y’all are finding it helpful.
Hidden River is now under new leadership! Thank you to our lovely community members for sharing this wonderful update. The new director is actually credentialed by the International Association of Eating Disorder Specialists (IAEDP) as a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Supervisor (CEDSS). Press Release here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hidden-river-announces-new-leadership-team-members-301784929.html
Under this new leadership, Hidden River also finally received their Joint Commission Accreditation on September 25, 2022: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-jersey-eating-disorder-program-awarded-joint-commission-accreditation-301757201.html
I’m not sure how great this update is. The new staff don’t have the best reputations in the Ed world.
Ugh, I just read it and the guy who’s the executive director lists that he was in private practice with patients who sought bariatric surgery. Massive red flags that someone who was a proponent of bariatric surgery is now in a position of power for adolescent clients struggling with eating disorders….
Yup. The new psychiatrist also has no eating disorders experience. Their new clinical director has been running a very subpar inpatient and PHP eating disorders program in New Jersey for the last 20 years, so I’m not sure how she’s going to benefit Hidden River in any way.
AJ, do you know anything about what RWJ’s ED unit is like now that the director has moved to Hidden River? Do you get the sense it might improve? I don’t know much about the doctor who is currently listed as RWJ’s director, but it sounds like they did add more beds: https://www.tapinto.net/towns/somerville/articles/rwjuh-somerset-opens-renovated-eating-disorders-center-in-somerville
Hi! I saw this comment, and I was inpatient on the ED unit at RWJ from August, 2022-September 2022, and at the time the entire unit was under construction because they were adding 10 more beds, and turning it from a 10 bed program it into a 20 bed program. I think they said the construction would be done and the new beds would be added by November or December 2022, so they should have 20 beds by now, if their estimated time frame was correct. I don’t know what the program is like now, but at least as of August-September 2022 I didn’t think it was that bad. I actually liked it pretty well, and thought it was a pretty good program. I did sign myself out AMA after a month, but it wasn’t because the program was bad. It was because I had lots of issues with the staff there. Lots of the staff were just extremely unprofessional, and very rude. I was verbally assaulted and harrassed and screamed at by staff a lot, and I have very severe Complex PTSD with psychotic features, and just being shouted and screamed at and verbally abused by staff on a fairly regular basis was extremely triggering and extremely traumatizing for my C-PTSD, and was causing really severe meltdowns and flashbacks and dissociation, and there were two incidents in which staff were verbally abusive towards me, and it was so triggering for me that it caused psychotic episodes, and I had to be transferred to their general psych unit, and then come back to the ED unit once the psyhcosis was stabilized. So if they still have the same staff, I wouldn’t recommend the program, but mental health facitlies in general tend to have pretty high staff turnover, so it may be better staff now. If you didn’t take the staff into account, I thought the program itself was fine. I did a review on their page a while ago. I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone with trauma though because they handled my trauma very poorly and did not know how to deal with trauma at all, and my therapist outright refused to work on my trauma with me.
My friend was just at their PHP and said that things were a bit crazy because of the lack of staff. I’ll ask her to write a full review.
Ayyyy. Thank you AJ! Time to do some digging.
My daughter has been at HR for nine weeks now, and she is still there. ED recovery is physically and mentally HARD, and you have to be open to the approaches and exposures even if they don’t make sense at the time.
My 19 year-old found HR while she was hospitalized. It wasn’t the first choice for her father and I, but she liked the approach, and her father and I thought it was important that she have some say in her treatment. We are so glad we sent her to HR. Their approach to treatment is much more comprehensive and cutting edge than we possibly could have hoped. The important factor at HR is that the members of her team really got to know her and try to figure out how best to treat HER. It is very individualized and it is based on the idea that the patient, through treatment and exposures, will come to realize what she should be doing in order to heal and grow. There is not restraint, and there is no tubing. My daughter has not only been working on her ED behaviors, but also on co-existing conditions that have contributed to her ED. Her team knows her, discusses her, and guides and implements her treatment. Has it been a smooth journey at HR for my daughter?- No. Has she threatened to sign herself out at various times when it has gotten really hard? – Yes. But ultimately, she has made incredible progress towards becoming a healthy young lady who is ready to move to the next step in her treatment, and that is because of her treatment team at HR.
Wubbie,
I am glad to hear your daughter is making progress.
Would you be open to s conversation? We are considering Hidden River for our daughter.
Hi MV, did you decide to go ahead with it? We are looking at it as well. Would love to connect.
My daughter is there now with the new management – I’d be happy to share my experience so far. Feel free to reach out.
Hi MS, my daughter is there now as well. Happy to connect. I don’t believe i can reach out directly. Please feel free to contact me at bovada9004@dogemn.com .
Can you post about it here so we can all get the feedback?
My daughter (15) has been at HR for almost a month now. So far, we are happy with our decision to send her there. The program is very structured and the day is full with group therapy sessions (DBT, CBT), a lot of art therapy, process groups. The girls get 3 individual sessions with a therapist a week, including 1 family session. They also meet weekly with a nutritionist to plan their menu. There is a weekly meeting with a psychiatrist as well. They get homework at their therapy sessions that they are expected to complete.
HR has two very experienced psychiatrists on staff. I see that they have been criticized for pushing medications. In the case of our daughter medication was necessary to help her gain sufficient cognitive flexibility to engage with therapy. She now finds therapy sessions very helpful, both individual, and group. My husband and I, as well as our daughter, find the family sessions very helpful as well.
Our daughter likes most RAs (Recovery Assistants), and she really likes her therapist as well as most others. The therapists run the group sessions so she got to know most of them. In the beginning of our daughter’s stay the dynamics in the milieu were quite challenging. The staff, therapists and RAs, helped the girls process the situation and change it. When relationships were tough with other girls, our daughter was able to get the support she needed from the RAs. I got the feeling that the staff really care for the patients and the culture in the place is positive.
Vast majority of eating disorder places have very rigid rules and enforce them almost mercilessly. It was very hard to hear our daughter cry and complain about their rigidity in the beginning and plead to take her home. Seeing her now, a few weeks away from discharge, helps me understand why these rules make sense. She needed this structure to face her worst fears and to work through them. Our daughter really did not want to go a residential program. Then her attitude changed to “I will just get through this and go back to my old ways.” Now she feels that this program has been absolutely necessary for her to start turning her life around. She seems committed to recovery and is willing to work for it. She also feels that this has been one of the hardest things she has ever done and she never wants to do this again.
I found the therapist, the psychiatrist, and the nutritionist, and the nursing staff very responsive to our questions and concerns through this difficult time. The learning specialist has been helpful in coordinating with our daughter’s school after we connected her with the guidance counselor from our daughter’s school.
The facility is going through changes still. They have recently introduced new phase system that gives the patients more ownership over their recovery goals. I find that they work very hard to equip girls and young women with the skills they need to move away from their eating disorder, substance use, and other maladaptive behaviors, and that their hearts are in the right place.
To summarize, I would recommend HR.
Hi Luba. Are you able to connect? We’re in the process of making a decision about my daughter’s residential care and Hidden River is on our list. After seeing these reviews, I’m a bit shaken. I’ll send a note to the email provided. Thank you!
Yes, I am that was a temporary email and it no longer works. Please try this:finowew756@glumark.com. If I don’t write back in 24 hours, please post again here.
Rachel… the review below also seems suspicious. Email has changed etc. and it’s the opposite of the recent reviews posted.
it’s a shame that just because this review is positive for HR it makes it suspicious. I do not post my real email address to avoid spam. Temporary/disposable email addresses are made for this reason. Please feel free to google it. My daughter had a very positive experience at HR.
I can confirm to the community that Luba’s review is real! There is no doubt on my end, Luba. But thanks for following up, I know it is appreciated, and I also appreciate your explaining how temp/disposable email addresses work. Many people don’t know about their existence but they are useful in many situations, including on EDTR. There are definitely other people on EDTR who use them here too, either to prevent spam too or to protect their privacy while still making themselves available for questions and help with treatment centers! For community members who have to worry about receiving triggering emails too, the nice thing is that it allows them to deactivate if that happens. Many use icloud ones or duckduck ones. I use them myself when signing up for store websites that require membership to browse/purchase. ?
Glad to hear. Your post is the very opposite of the girls that were there when my daughter was. Perhaps they have begun to address things.
I see HR has changed leadership and cannot comment on current approach/ culture. However, if the approach is anywhere similar to what it was and / or certain therapists are still there, do yourself a favor and spare yourself the agony I went through with my daughter. And the additional agony my daughter needed to experience due to incompetence and arrogance. Already better off that the scumbag doctor is gone who should have his license revoked permanently. Blaming parents and child’s experience is an easy way for them to get patients to eat and prescribing dangerously potent medication is a way to get them out. My daughter’s journey has given me the unfortunate opportunity to converse with various professionals and institutions, all I needed to do was convey facts and they would pretty much say this place is terrible. We had a therapist that had no skills at all much less to treat troubled girls. Her ceiling from a skill set perspective is to be a receptionist in an office that no one calls.
I have lots and lots more to say all I want is others to be aware: unless a complete makeover occurred at HR you will be worse off at discharge than upon admission and keep away from the former “Doctor “ as far away as you can. Arrogance and incompetence should not be the first thing that comes to mind when describing a doctor. Enough said.
I’m not going to rail road anyone under the bus but I will say there are places in ED world who will not recommend HR. I’m just upset that I didn’t look into them more closely prior to considering them. You have to advocate for your child most of these doctors in their 50’s and 60’s will recommend Zyprexa and other antipsychotic medications. How do you give a 10 year old malnourished child who is under weight that? I can’t emphasize enough do your research the climate we live in is full of gaslighting professionals who push medications. I have a lot of personal experience as I previously worked n the mental health field and I know the decent psychiatric staff will not diagnosis Bipolar Disorder to a 12 year old or a 6 year old. Some professional will throw UCLA out there and they have diagnosed 6 years old and that they do but in all honesty a kid who exhibits these behaviors more likely experienced trauma, parenting deficits; may be a father is out of the picture or inconsistently in a kids life sometimes its a mother as well and the dad takes on full responsibility. Talk to your kids manage social media and teach kids empathy at a young age so they are not so egocentric and self-centered.
I do not recommend Hidden River. In fact, I would recommend running as fast as you can in the other direction. My child was much worse when she left their facility. I wish I would have found these reviews before I sent my child there. The facility is beautiful and the food is, apparently, delicious, however that’s where the positives stop. The doctor is arrogant and condescending. He actually yelled at us for questioning a medication. The therapists and dieticians sound like a broken record of “it’s not about the food” and they, along with the doctor, push the narrative that it’s the family’s fault, specifically the mother. They set their calories and their goal weight way too low. It’s typical for them to drop calories by almost 1000 calories a day when arriving from inpatient. During our discharge session, the therapist continuously made comments like “You are going from 24 hour care here to home, where you will not have that” and “for the period of time you are home ….”.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND Hidden River.!.
The facility is beautiful which gives you a false sense of trust and security.
I got a call saying my daughter was being disruptive in group and recruiting girls to question rules, and rude and belligerent to staff.. And I needed to pick her up immediately or by 6 that night at the latest.
The staff was ordered to collect her stuff and she was kicked out abruptly WITHOUT the correct medication and only enough of her main meds to last a couple days with no refills. . What meds they did send home had incorrect dosage information on the actual medication sheets. They did send home a medication printout with different dosage info, but again not enough medication and no refills. TOTALLY UNPROFESSIONAL and VERY HAZARDOUS for my daughter. What kind of Psychiatrist does this when they know being without certain meds could cause suicide, self harm resulting in death.
I will say the staff was excellent and very caring.. However, the Dr. And the Therapist were not and should NOT be practicing. The only reason he is in control is because he bought the place. He was not hired because of his excellent professional history or recommendations.
I was warned about him and his right hand woman, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I was desperate because my daughter needed help immediately, and I made a judgment call. I will regret that decision for the rest of my life.
FYI, the reason she got kicked out was because she stuck up for another patient that had to use the bathroom in the middle of group and they would not let her leave. My daughter suggested they should let her go and other patients agreed.There were plenty of staff to watch her & run group. I realize there are rules, but you can’t always schedule these things. There should be allowances in place.
THIS IS WHY SHE WAS KICKED OUT!
We also just received an email notifying us that my daughter was exposed to COVID during her appointment with the Dr.. who was just diagnosed.
Again, I do not recommend.
I have a daughter who was diagnosed as a preadolescent with anorexia. We dealt with multiple hospitalizations for malnourishment since 2020 and again just 2 weeks ago she is hospitalized again after being discharged less than 2 months from Hidden River. My daughter went to Hidden River immediately doctors within 3 days thought she was bipolar they pushed medications but I declined as they their justification was not reliable as they only based the assessment in the facility not looking at previous therapist, school and other providers who have worked closely with my daughter. The facility looks nice but that is deception. My daughter did like her nutritionist and some of the staff however everyone else there were shady. However my daughter’s weight was never restored and even at discharged she was under weight. Please do your research the clinician SJ is not to be trusted she lied when I was trying to have my daughter go to another facility but she was slow to with getting information over there and the place wanted updates which is always something they will ask for she stated that they had never done this before and more likely she wouldn’t get in. That was just for the money they didn’t care about my daughter they saw dollar signs. She is very manipulating SJ and I’m not sure how she even graduated or can be an LSW. Most if not all the historical information was incorrect and she has all so much misinformation. These doctors are not good they are med pushers and there go to diagnoses is BI POLAR. PLEASE STAY AWAY! My daughter is worse now then ever.
I am so sorry this was your experience- this is due to their medical director…KW, he has been pulling this bipolar stuff for YEARS- I was a victim of this in 2005 at the age of 14. My parents weren’t strong enough to say no- so please give yourself so much credit for standing up for your daughter! I have been trying to have this program investigated because he should not be running it.
Hello,
When was your daughter at the facility. It seems they changed leadership in August,
Thanks
My DD was at HR for several months last summer. I believe that it saved her life and that of our families. Recovery is not a straight line but HR provided the skeleton and the tools for my daughter’s recovery. It is not an “easy” place for families and requires our participation and some very difficult sessions which required us to look at ourselves too. This was the first place to work on WHY she wanted to hold onto her ED and WHAT she was getting from it. I would send her back there in a minute if she needed to and I know that she would go if she needed it. Since discharging there hasn’t been a straight line and there have been steps back but then there have been steps forward. I too am in recovery for addiction so I have more in common with my DD than I would like, but we also get to share the road to recovery.
First, the good. The facility is very nice and the chef and dietitian is wonderful. My daughter was there for 5 weeks and actually was worse when discharged. The Dr. *** set her weight too low and is really arrogant and full of himself. Her therapist was terrible- rude, secretive, and manipulative, the worst she has ever had in any facility besides Renfrew. I would not recommend HR.
100% my daughter should have been at XXX lbs. Horrible discharge planning.
I don’t have a whole lot of information because I wasn’t there for very long, but Hidden River is amazing! They only just opened but their staff is incredible. Everyone is really experienced and knows what their doing so much. Their medical director is from Monte Nido and their clinical manager and nursing managers were previously managers in ERC Denver. All of their therapists have experience in eating disorders and their RAs (recovery assistants) have had amazing training.
They don’t work with exchanges which I loved and their facilities are GORGEOUS. Check out the pictures on their website. It’s even nicer in real life.
If you have any specific questions ask away and I’ll see if I can answer it.
Hi Marie – curious about a few things.
1) What was the age range when you were there?
2) How do they handle supplementation? Do they tube?
3) Roughly how many beds are there/how many people can the program accomodate?
Thanks!
Hey Marie. I have some questions regarding the program
-What types of foods do they have?
-When were you there and how many patients were there?
Thank you so much
What does a typical day look like?
They have all ages from 12-22. It really varies.
They don’t tube there but they do do Ensure if you don’t complete
I think they can hold up to 15 patients at time
The nursing management from ERC is no longer working there
I was wondering how many girls were there? What does a typical day look like? Thanks
Hi Marie – If they don’t use exchanges, then what do they use for meals?
There are currently 12 girls. Wake up is at 6:15 with vitals and weights. Breakfast is at 7:30, followed by a walk, and then a group. Snack is at 10, followed by a process group. Lunch at 12. Schooltime is from 1-3, with snack at 3:15. There’s another group, and then free time until 5:30, which is dinner. At night there is tech time from 6:30-8:30, snack, and then bedtime.
Patients are not allowed in their room throughout the day. They stay in a central room with chairs and a TV.
How involved is the director- Dr. *** with the patients? He is a horrible person who should have never been allowed to open a facility (let alone continue treating people). I don’t doubt there are other good professionals there but I just hope he isn’t the final say on things because if so, I would NEVER send my child there.
* Name removed by admin per site guidelines
I agree with H…the medical director should have his license revoked.
I have trauma from many years of ‘treatment’ by him at Princeton.
Unprofessional. Unethical. Abusive.
First, the good. The facility is very nice and the chef and dietitian is wonderful. My daughter was there for 5 weeks and actually was worse when discharged. The Dr. *** set her weight too low and is really arrogant and full if himself. Her therapist was horrible-rude, secretive, and manipulative, the worst she has ever had in any facility besides Renfrew. I would not recommend HR.
Hi. They allow you to choose from a menu with two options for each meal, and a list of snacks. The meal plans are increased by adding juices, milk, desserts, and then actually adding more in your portion of food.
Beautiful facility. some very kind and caring staff. Unfortunately they aren’t able to do their job without constantly being questioned and micromanaged by two of the sickest most narcissist people i’ve ever come across in my 17 years as a nurse. The doctor :owner has a god complex and his timid wimp of a clinical director just follows him around making zero decisions on her own. Sadly for the patients the relapse rate is about 85% at least. Few patients get better. The patients spend most of their time sitting around.
hidden river is horrible they make it seem like a nice a welcoming place on their website but they dont know when to discharge people they keep you here for too long even when ur doing well with your eating disorder it makes u more depressed and then they keep you bec of ur mood and the doctor doesnt tell u anything he just changes,increase meds and dosn’t even tell u. i do not recommend
Hidden river gives you a false sense of hope and security with all “it’s not about the food”, “friendly” faces, and even just looking at how nice the place is. Although in reality, this is one of the most manipulative treatment places I’ve ever been. This treatment center made me feel close to the most trapped I’ve ever felt in my life. You can’t leave one room for the majority of the day, there is no where you can go to be alone. You have to sit in one room for 14 hours a day(with the exception of groups, eating, walks, and the bathroom) surrounded by at most 12 other people, some of whom you probably can’t stand. If you had to cry you did it in front of everyone. If you had to talk about something anyone could hear you. If you did anything that you had to do to release the pain or anything else you were feeling it was for everyone else to see. Don’t even get me started on my therapist she was the most condescending and aggravating therapists I’ve ever had. She didn’t believe me when I said things weren’t related to the ed and she and the dr tried to keep me longer for mental illnesses that were increased because of the institution, I could go on and on about therapist c and doctor w. Hidden river was the most dehumanizing, humiliating, and all around traumatic treatment centers I’ve ever set foot in. Please do not send your kid here. It’s not worth it.