Seeds of Hope is an adolescent and adult outpatient eating disorder treatment center with three locations in Southeastern Pennsylvania. In addition to outpatient therapy, they also offer Adult PHP & IOP and Teen PHP & IOP. All locations and programs treat all genders.
- Partial Hospitalization: PHP runs Monday-Friday for 6 hours per day. (As of 12/8/21, this program is currently in person with COVID precautions in place)
- Intensive Outpatient: IOP runs Monday-Thursday for 2 hours and 15 minutes per day. (As of 12/8/21, this program is currently virtual)
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I was in Seeds of Hope PHP, IOP, and for 5 weeks when their adult Residential treatment in Lake Ariel was still open. They were the only program that my insurance would cover so if I needed help, they were my only resource.
I want to start off by saying that EDs are complex and I know that some programs are helpful for some people and not helpful for others. In 2019, I stepped down from IP to their PHP and was not ready for recovery. That being said, I was the only client for 5 whole weeks. Each of the therapists, the dietitian, the holistic guide, and the physician grew increasingly hostile with me and fought me at every turn. I couldn’t do a single thing without them saying it was a behavior. At one point, I would make a decision about a snack and the dietitian would immediately give me the opposite because she said I was using behaviors. Keep in mind I was a full adult. The holistic coach was not nice or welcoming. She would force the conversation in sessions towards things that were very out there. I am very confident in my faith and wanted to use that in my treatment but she diminished that and made it seem like I was being exclusive. The main doctor was also incredibly unprofessional and even suggested that I had made up one of my allergies. I ended up leaving that program ACA.
Unfortunately, I had to return a few months later in December. A new dietitian was there which I thought would help but didn’t. I will say I had an amazing therapist who was interning there for a few months. They kept me for 5 weeks and bumped me up to Residential only because they had the program. They never gave me any indication that I would need a higher level of care until they gave me the ultimatum of “go up to res or you will be discharged”.
The residential program was interesting and I am not shocked at all that it closed. The cook gave me an allergen multiple times (it is an anaphylactic reaction allergen btw). I recently requested my notes and even though I truly loved the therapists (most at least) and the nurse practitioner, I saw how inappropriately my stay was handled. I’ll just say none of my stats changed and yet they had no problem letting me leave.
I went back to PHP and had a terrible time. The staff treated me horribly and made jokes about how little I had changed, even though I felt that I had made a lot of progress. The dietitian banned me from eating certain foods and the holistic coach told me “sometimes it’s just not your time to recover” in the middle of a group. Then COVID came around and everything got worse. I was let go from the program. I ended up finding an outpatient team and did substantially better after leaving the program.
Even though I have struggled again since leaving SOH, I have not thought to return. I wouldn’t not recommend it though. Again, the program works if you work it the way you need. Sometimes it’s hard to do that when you are already in a hard place. They use exchanges, which is common in treatment but never worked for me. It kept me in the process of counting. Some people really resonate with this though.
Back in 2020, this was offered M-F from 8am-3pm. There was breakfast, snack, and lunch. Sometimes they would require a second snack before leaving but not always. Food was provided and you created your own plates based on what you wanted or if they had specific challenges or themes for the meal. Requests for challenges were welcomed. Individual therapy sessions were once or twice a week but not regularly upheld. Yoga was offered Tuesday and Thursday, Holistic therapies I think happened twice a week. They also sometimes did art therapy and music therapy.
This place is the absolute worst. I am in a larger body but have a restrictive eating disorder and their dietitian was actively telling me to restrict my food intake. They weren’t feeding me enough during the day while I was at the practice and when I went home they told me to limit snacks even if I was hungry. They would give me three pretzel rods for a snack and expected that to be enough. The therapist never made time for me and was cold and judgmental. Everyone was supposed to meet with her weekly (more if requested) and sometimes she wouldn’t meet with me at all. After a month of being there the therapist called me into her office and said that insurance wasn’t going to cover my care anymore and I was upset because I felt that this program was my last resort. I called my insurance company when I got home and they had no record of anyone from Seeds of Hope calling to request more time or simply speaking to them about the ending of my care. When I asked SOH why they told me I wasn’t going to be covered by insurance anymore despite having no contact with my insurance, they refused to speak to me. I never heard back from anyone and the therapist wouldn’t take my calls. My eating disorder got significantly worse after leaving the program and I have been in and out of treatment since. Please do not go here. It will cause more harm to you than no treatment at all.
I was at their php in Paoli,Pa for like three weeks.DO NOT GO HERE.1/5 stars ,the therapist was unhelpful,as well as dietitian.They say “holistic “ but that means they like new age practices like Rekki and crystals which whatever except I don’t believe in it and I’m a Christian.That shouldn’t be a problem but it was ,the teacher leading the group asked us to “ask the universe a question and let it guide us to write down the answer “. this against my beliefs so I politely asked to opt out of this exercise to which she irritatedly asked”well don’t you have a god?!ask him!” I told her that I don’t believe in that sort of prayer in which God is my Ouija board(okay I didn’t say it like that)and she then said “fine” and continued on.She then ignored me for the 30 minutes that was left of the group. Nice .When they decided I needed a higher level of care they simply discharged me without any help for the next step .
This place is awful. I went as a teen and adult. The residential is closed of course and I hope this entire program closes.
****, ****, **** and especially **** are awful at their jobs and should not be working with eating disorders. They at one point even had a therapist on staff who had an eating disorder, **** and ****. What a joke! Don’t come here
*names removed by admin per site policy
What location was this at?
Any update on their adult res in lake Ariel pa?
Our daughter was there for five weeks. Our daughter said her therapist was great. However, we would never send her back. 1). We had a death in our family and I left several messages about the death, and no one responded. 2). As discharge date approach our daughter’s therapist told us she was not ready for discharge. Two days later they discharged her without any communication with family. We called three times and there’s was no return. They finally said that too much drama with all of the clients… really? Our daughter arrived home without any discharge plans, no documentation and no family meeting. This is so far outside of best practice. I would never send my daughter there again. Pathetic! Seeds of Hope residential was much more attentive and available before admission compared to during and after admission. It is a business . It is not about your loved one. Never again. !
*name removed by admin per site policy
Can someone do a full review?
Where is this located at?
They have locations in Center City (Philadelphia), Exton, and Lancaster.
Shayn, have you been to any of the locations? any input?
Center City, Exton and Paoli***