Sierra Tuscon is located in Tuscon, Arizona and treats substance use disorder, mental health disorders, trauma-related issues, mood and anxiety, and co-occurring eating disorders. It offers residential and outpatient treatment for adults of all genders.
Any current reviews or updates? Please post in comments below. You can check out the FAQ and Guidelines for suggested questions. Thank you!
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I highly recommend going elsewhere for ED treatment. Sierra Tucson (ST) claims to treat ED’s, but they are not a primary facility. During my time at ST I went to groups that centered around addictions, but there wasn’t really any options centered on ED. I continued purging and restricting without any intervention. Bathroom access is unmonitored, and my nutritionist did not work with me to build a meal plan.
• When were you there? 2023
• What level(s) of care did you do (e.g., inpatient, residential, PHP, IOP)? Residential
• If applicable: Is it wheelchair accessible? Yes, very – there were quite a few elderly patients in motorized scooters / wheelchairs
• What genders does it treat? All
• If applicable: Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people? Yes
• How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, nurse, etc? Primary therapist: 1 – 2 x / week, Psychiatrist: 1x weekly, Dietician: 1x weekly, Vitals: Daily
• What is the staff-to-patient ratio? Unsure, but patients vastly outnumber staff
• What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, ACT, exposure therapy, somatic experiencing, etc.)? DBT, CBT, EMDR (depending on the therapist), somatic experiencing
Describe the average day:
• What were meals like? Meals here are actually quite good, wide variety with a salad bar. Patients choose their meals, and show them to the ED team prior to sitting down
• What sorts of food were available or served? All kinds, mostly American but each day the menu changes and there is always a salad bar.
• Did they supplement? How did that system work? They did not, there was no punishment for not eating and no correction if eating too much
• What is the policy of not complying with meals? Do most people complete their meals/snacks? I didn’t really encounter this, and actively restricted throughout my time in treatment
• If applicable: Do they treat ARFID? If so, do they have a separate approach to meals for ARFID? Unknown
• Are you able to eat vegetarian? Vegan? Yes
• What privileges are allowed? Phones, laptops, visitation
• Does it work on a level system? Wristbands indicate how much exercise you can have
• How do you earn privileges? Time, and your weight has to be reasonable
• What sort of groups do they have? ED patients are in groups with all the rest of the patients (alcohol, trauma, etc.). None specific to ED
• What was the average length of stay? 30-60 days
• What was the average age range? 25 – 40
• How do visits/phone calls work? Evenings are free for phone calls, and visits take place on Sundays
• What is the electronics policy (e.g., cell phones, iPods, Kindles, laptops, tablets)? See above.
Has anyone been here recently?
My options have been reduced to only Arizona and I’m feeling lost.
I’ve been to Monte Nido Rivertowns 5 years ago.. that was the “best” treatment experience- if you could call it that.
Renfrew PA – trauma
Denver ERC – trauma
Princeton hospital (wish this was an option)
Brandywine Hospital – trauma
Thank you everyone.
I don’t have any info about ST, though reviews here say it’s not a primary ED program.
If you’re looking for ED programs in Arizona, check out reviews of Rosewood Ranch, the Meadows, and Mirasol.
Isn’t Mirasol closed?
I read reviews on both ranches and it doesn’t look very good..
There’s one I just found doing a search called Virtue Recovery Center in Sun City West AZ. Their website is virtuerecoverycenter.com
Thank you but I don’t think they’re actually covered by my insurance unfortunately- I wish there were reviews on here for them!
It means a lot to me though that you went out of your way to look!!
Sometimes if you can’t find appropriate treatment in a given state, insurance will cover treatment in a nearby state. It’s not something they will usually approve without a clinical reason but for example I have DID and there were no facilities in my state that were able to treat the DID and ED so I was able to make my insurance pay for an out of state facility that could accommodate me. There is a little more flexibility with insurance than they want you to know about. I read through the provider manuals of my insurance co. to find the specifics of what they would cover and then wrote them with documentation explaining why I needed out of state treatment. I hope you find a facility that works for you.
Brandywine is closed
Can you do a single case agreement with Within Health for virtual PHP?
To anyone reading this: let me give it to you straight from the perspective of a person who has extensively done their due diligence… I consider myself to be a self appointed “expert” in treatment centers for substance abuse and/or eating disorders. If you or a loved one are considering going to Sierra Tucson, PLEASE do yourself a favor, save the money and STAY AWAY FROM THIS HELLHOLE. This place is run by money hungry, incompetent monkeys.
My sister has been battling eating disorders for over 10 years and has recently developed alcohol dependency. She has been to numerous facilities, recently being in ERC (Eating Recovery Center in CO) and CFC (Center For Change in UT). These places are MUCH MUCH more conducive to a healing process. But because she had finished treatment at both these facilities, we decided it was time for her to start tackling her substance abuse (these aforementioned facilities focus on eating disorders only). After countless hours researching online and deliberating with her treatment team, we decided on Sierra Tucson. Boy what a mistake we made. Here is the rundown and my personal experience with ST:
1. All they want is your $$$. I certainly got a glimpse of this when I asked my intake coordinator if he could come up with a financial plan so that I could make payments instead of paying everything upfront (paying $40,000-$50,000 upfront is not easy). Not only did he make it sound like I was asking for something ridiculous but he also told me blatantly “if you don’t have money then we are the wrong place for you.. we are a FOR- PROFIT organization and are here TO MAKE MONEY.” After arguing with him he finally conceded and agreed to work with me but only AFTER THEY RUN A CREDIT CHECK. Ridiculous.
Also, do not get fooled by thinking that since you’re paying over $1,000/day every aspect of her/his treatment will be included (certainly not the meds, but that’s the case in most treatment centers). Everything is what they call an ancillary charge. You want to visit your psychiatrist and you don’t have it on your schedule? Ancillary charge. You want to get a massage? Ancillary charge. You need extra support for your trauma? Ancillary charge. I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw 50 ancillary charges labelled “bathroom visits.” They certainly are trying to milk you of your money.
2. The treatment team DOES NOT care about your well-being. If a patient is struggling and asks for help and additional support, you don’t blow them off telling them that they are extremely sick and that it’s their eating disorder talking. I don’t care how many medical degrees you have or how recognized you are on your field, you should never speak to a patient like that. That is not part of the healing process, and would only lead to more depression and hopelessness. Now challenging them, giving them responsibilities and showing them that they have the power to make their own decisions is a different thing. But treating them as if they are crazy? I don’t think so. But please do your own homework. Run a search on “sierra tucson complaints” and you’ll find proof- including a patient that has DIED while being there.
3. If you are the kind of family/friend that needs to stay in touch and wants to be engaged and be part of your significant other’s treatment process, good luck with this place. Getting in touch with any therapist, psychiatrist, ED specialist, even family therapist is not only nearly impossible, but it’s actually frowned upon. They don’t have direct access phone numbers. Every time you want to get in touch with anybody you have to go through the front desk. When my sister admitted I asked if I could speak with her therapist, they gave me a straight “NO” followed with a “why would you want to do that?” When I spoke with her ED specialist I asked her if I could email her with any questions I had. She told me I certainly could, but that she wasn’t going to reply to it because she’s “extremely busy with her patients.” If you want to get any kind of update they tell you to wait until family week, which is 2-3 weeks into treatment. I found out through my sister that she had her program changed from substance abuse to eating disorder (something that should’ve been informed to me as soon as it happened by her treatment team). I had to send a very angry email expressing my dissatisfaction to finally get a phone call from her ED specialist. Even then she sounded extremely annoyed.
Family therapy is ESSENTIAL for treating these kinds of illnesses. ST completely ignored this component. 4 days of family week is NOT ENOUGH, no matter how intensive it is. Other treatment programs have WEEKLY family therapy sessions AND a family week.
4. The facility looks nice, but this can be a bad thing. ST certainly looks nice on the outside, from its gated entrance welcoming you with a sign that reads “expect a miracle” to its luscious desert grounds filled with cacti and fountains. But a quick tour of the facility will make you wonder how they actually keep an eye out on patients. This place is so vast it would be impossible to assure the security of patients (something the intake coordinator tried to sugarcoat and explained very briefly and vaguely). My sister actually raised her concern that she doesn’t feel safe walking around by herself. Again do your homework and search for sierra tucson complaints. This man that died while in treatment was found 2 WEEKS after he had gone missing.
You might have heard good things about ST. I certainly did. But please do not get fooled by their stellar reviews. ST was actually bought and sold several times and is now owned and operated by a company called CRC Health. I am planning on filing a complaint to the joint commission and the Arizona department of health.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE. It’s hard enough battling this illness, don’t waste your precious time and hard earned money with this place. I’ll be more than happy to give you recommendations of other facilities that have been extremely helpful for my sister and my family.
What did you think about the other facilities? How was the eating recovery center in Colorado?
Are phones and computers allowed here?
Ella,
Sierra Tuscon is owned by Bain Capitol, a company that is said to be an Israeli Mossad front. Reports have come in that people who check in there sometimes find on check out that the valuables put in the high security safe are nowhere to be found, including any ID or passports, which of coarse can be used by the Mossad or some other rogue group to assume somebody else’s identity, etc. You are right on about this being run by a money hungry group of mad dogs.
John