SunCloud Health in Illinois offers residential, PHP, IOP and outpatient. They specialize in treating co-occurring substance use, eating disorders, mood disorders and related traumas.
Any reviews? Please post in comments below. You can check out the FAQ and Guidelines for suggested questions. Thank you!
Below is my review of SunCloud’s residential program in Northbrook, IL. I recognize that the review is quite lengthy, but I wanted to give as much actionable information (including about several serious concerns) as possible!
When were you there?
2023-2024 for several months (I’m declining to specify exactly when in case SunCloud comes after me :P).
What level(s) of care did you do (e.g., inpatient, residential, PHP, IOP)?
Residential and PHP. I did not review my brief PHP experience below because my residential experience was much more formative. My PHP experience, I will note, was pretty horrendous and I would *never* recommend their Lincoln Park PHP program.
If applicable: Is it wheelchair accessible?
Yes
How many patients are there on average?
When I was in residential (the ED “house,” not the primarily substance use “house”) I would say there were about 15 of us.
What genders does it treat?
All.
If applicable: Do they support the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary people?Depends on the staff member. I feel trans and non-binary folks’ identities were generally well-respected. However, I did witness instances in which residents were deadnamed or misgendered by staff.
How often do you see a medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist (therapist), nutritionist, nurse, etc?
It seemed to vary based on the person, which bothered me! I saw a therapist at *least* once a week, a psychiatrist about once a week, a dietitian a couple times a week, and a nurse multiple times a day. I also saw a medical doctor more frequently than most people (probably a couple of times a week) because she was particularly worried about me due to complex health issues.
What is the staff-to-patient ratio?
I honestly don’t trust myself to remember this accurately, so I’ll pass on answering.
What sort of therapies are used (e.g., DBT, CBT, EMDR, ACT, exposure therapy, somatic experiencing, etc.)?
Primarily DBT. They also do Spravato treatment for those who have been recommended to do so, but it was strange to me that this wasn’t recommended for me/certain others. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to who received Spravato.
Describe the average day:
What were meals like?
Mealtimes were thrice a day with snacks thrice a day as well. Some people were snack-optional, but this, too, seemed arbitrary (for instance, I did not need to weight-restore but was compelled to have three snacks a day regardless). I don’t remember the exact times of snacks and meals, but I believe this information can be located elsewhere in this forum. During mealtimes, one BHS (behavioral health staff member) sat at the table with about 6-8 residents and provided basic support. At the start of meals, you’d say how you were feeling and how hungry you were; at the end of meals, you’d do the same. Often, residents played games during meals to distract from food anxiety. What sorts of food were available or served?
I was surprised to read (elsewhere in this forum) that most meals were catered from local restaurants, because that wasn’t my experience. In my experience, meals were pretty basic and usually did not seem catered out. Breakfast items were standard fare (bagels, peanut butter, cereal, bananas, yogurt); lunches were also pretty standard (sandwiches, soup, salads with sides, etc.). Dinners were the only meals that felt pretty varied — pastas, salads with sides, pizza, etc. See my “dislikes” below for a couple major red flags about meal options. Oh, and you meal prepped once a week — you chose from a couple options for each meal, or chose to substitute with a basic sandwich or quesadilla if you didn’t like the options (along with sides such as fruit, veggies with dip, etc.). You were allowed 1 coffee (with creamer!) in the mornings, as well as tea and water throughout the day.
Did they supplement? How did that system work?
Yes. If you didn’t finish your entire meal, you would receive a full or partial supplement based on how much you’d eaten. Incredibly, you were not allowed to choose what flavor of supplement, because the staff felt that this was too much autonomy for the residents. Thus, you were given whatever the BHS happened to pull out of the fridge.
What is the policy of not complying with meals? Do most people complete their meals/snacks?
Honestly, most people completed during the time I was there. For those who consistently did not complete, they were sent to inpatient until they began completing again. Tubing was not available at this facility.
If applicable: Do they treat ARFID? If so, do they have a separate approach to meals for ARFID?
I don’t think so — not that I saw, anyway. I could be wrong though; no one seemed to be struggling with ARFID while I was there.
Are you able to eat vegetarian? Vegan?
During my intake, I was told that vegetarian (but not vegan) diets were allowed. However, I did not see this preference/lifestyle garner much respect while I was in the program. A vegetarian friend was regularly required to eat meat while there.
What privileges are allowed?
You can’t smoke, take ADHD medications (a huge problem for me), or vape while there. You don’t get to use your phone — pretty much ever. You can use a landline during certain hours, but only if one is available for you. You can also use a SunCloud laptop for emails and such during certain hours, but again, only if one is available.
Does it work on a level system?
Ish, but not really. If you’re regularly not completing meals or generally not being “compliant,” you lose the privilege of taking walks and flushing your own toilet.
How do you earn privileges?
Again, this isn’t really something that happens at SunCloud in my experience.
What sort of groups do they have?
SO many groups. Art therapy, yoga, DBT skills, play therapy/games, and no doubt multiple others I’m forgetting. Most of the day is spent in groups, except for a few hours of unstructured time which you spend in one of the main living areas (bedrooms are locked during the day, which is deeply obnoxious). The primary group I remember was process group, which was — for better or worse — resident-led. Individual residents would share trauma histories, ED histories, etc., with virtually no restrictions on what was allowed to be shared. Then, other residents would respond with feedback, advice, affirmations, etc. Occasionally, a BHS or therapist would step in with further feedback — but mostly, the group operated via the residents. Also, you were compelled to go to 12-step meetings every single night, regardless of whether you found this helpful.
What was your favorite group?
Process group was both a blessing and a curse. While I often found process productive, it could also be profoundly triggering — with little opportunity for staff support during or after. Several residents once fled the room during a protracted discussion on *TW* pedophilia *END TW* and were left sitting in the hallway, crying, while a staff member did nothing nearby.
If applicable: Is the program trauma-informed?
Meh, I don’t know how to answer this one. SunCloud is supposed to provide expert trauma-informed care, but process group could be profoundly triggering (as noted above) with very little support offered.
What did you like the most?
The other residents. I cannot emphasize this enough. It was a deeply supportive, caring, and warm milieu when I was there. I have maintained friendships with several friends I met while at SunCloud. I also loved SunCloud’s “goodbye” rituals: right before you left, everyone would write goodbye notes in your “goodbye book” letting you know how much you deserved recovery and how much you’d meant to them. Even staff members would write little missives! Additionally, on your last night in residential everyone would sit around the dining room tables and say positive things about ya/how much they loved ya — this was referred to as your “72” for some reason. Both the goodbye book and the 72 really, really moved me.
What did you like the least?
Good lord, there’s so much to say here. (1) Meal concern 1: No matter what dietary conditions/restrictions you had (for instance, I have high blood sugar/prediabetes), you had to follow SunCloud’s meal plan to the letter. This meant I and other residents were regularly eating foods that dangerously spiked our blood sugar, or in other instances were not regulating our sugar *enough,* or were not kosher, or were not vegetarian, etc. There was absolute rigidity to the meals in this program. (2) Meal concern 2: If you were diagnosed with food addiction (as MANY people seemed to be), you had to follow a low-sugar and low-carb diet that multiple residents found profoundly triggering. (3) Medications were dispensed at odd times, and often incorrectly. I had to advocate strenuously to be given heart medications and other absolutely crucial meds at the right times, and in the right dosages. (4) Health concerns were not taken seriously overall. You could have severely high blood pressure, blood glucose levels, fainting episodes, etc., and not be taken to the hospital or monitored in any meaningful way. I found this to be egregious and scary. (5) The staff turnover was unbelievable. A friend of mine who went back to SunCloud res after a year of our first discharge said it is already an almost entirely new staff. (6) There is little supervision of whether staff behaviors are appropriate. One staff member disclosed my sexual history and trauma history to the milieu; another time, a staff member shared my weight with another resident. Once, a staff member was given time to tell their “life narrative” to the milieu, and included so many triggering details that two residents [SH’ed] after. (7) If you don’t behave perfectly in the program, you will be told you’re clearly “not committed to recovery.” During my few slip-ups in the program, I was berated by my therapist and dietitian to the point of tears. (8) The center is FREEZING at all hours. Good lord. I quite literally slept in my heavy winter coat every night I was there. (9) Although I was told my stay would be completely covered by insurance, I ended up getting stuck with nearly $2,000 in bills that the facility absolutely and inexplicably would not budge on. I ended up paying just so I wouldn’t ruin my credit through the debt being transferred to a debt collector. (10) This program is obsessed with the fraudulent concept of Food Addiction. I was told I had Food Addiction purely because I was bulimic, and only after much self-advocacy was this label dropped from my list of diagnoses. (11) Every morning, you have to go around the room and literally list off your diagnoses before saying what your goal is for the day (e.g., “My name is Zee, I have X diagnosis and X diagnosis and X diagnosis. My goal is X”). I found this mandatory listing-off of diagnoses bizarre and embarrassing.
Would you recommend this program?
Nope! Not really. Though the other programs I’ve been to weren’t much better!
What level of activity or exercise was allowed?
As long as you were completing meals, you could take walks 1x-2x/day around the strip mall parking lot (yes, oddly, the center is located in a strip mall — lol). Theoretically, some folks were allowed to walk on a treadmill or use an exercise bike in a hallway — but I never saw anyone get permission to do this.
What did people do on weekends?
There were still groups on weekends, though there was also more unstructured time than usual of course. People mostly slept on the couches, talked together, did puzzles, read, or watched TV (there were two TVs available in the main rooms, but only one worked).
Do you get to know your weight?
Nope, except a nurse told me mine at one point (triggering a resurgence in my ED).
If applicable: How fast is the weight gain process?
Depends on the person. This last relapse was bulimia for me instead of the usual anorexia, so this is the first time I haven’t had to weight restore in a program.
What was the average length of stay?
I saw people there anywhere from 1 month to 6 months. I would say the average was perhaps 2 months.
What was the average age range?
Average was probably 25 or so, but I saw people there from 20 up to mid-50s.
How do visits/phone calls work?
Phone calls could happen a couple times a day, but only if the phone was available for you to use. You could have a visit every once in a while, but I was far from family and friends, so I’m not sure how this policy worked.
What is the electronics policy (e.g., cell phones, iPods, Kindles, laptops, tablets)?
Cell phones: Never, unless you had a pressing reason and your therapist could monitor your usage of the phone directly for a few minutes. IPods: Never. Kindles: Never. Laptops: Only SunCloud laptops, and only 1x/per day if you were lucky enough to find one available. Tablets: Never.
For adolescents: Did they provide time to do schoolwork or offer academic support?
NA.
For inpatient/residential: Are you able to go on outings/passes?
You sometimes went on a random excursion to make pottery or see a local sight, but most of the time, you were hunkered down at the center. I did see a couple people get passes to go out with their family for meals or to hang out for a bit, but I have no idea how they did this as I was unable to do so due to being far from family/friends.
For PHP/IOP: What support do they provide outside of programming hours?
NA.
What kind of aftercare do they provide? Do they help you set up an outpatient treatment team?
Yes, they basically force you to go to their PHP (in my experience). I was only allowed to discharge from residential if I went to their Lincoln Park PHP.
Are there any resources for people who come from out of state/country?
Hmm, not sure.
Other?
Overall, this was a deeply stressful and dark period in my life. I wouldn’t say I gained much from being at SunCloud other than having my binging/purging behaviors reduced through being directly monitored at all hours of the day and much of the night. I also feel tremendously grateful for the friends I gained.
Would not recommend. They seem more interested in keeping their program full than considering what is best for patients.
Wanted to know about more recent reviews regarding the Lincoln Park location? I’m either going to do PHP or IOP.
Suncloud does not accept government insurance or medicaid. FYI.
Thanks for the update. They used to, at least for PHP/IOP, so that must have changed.
I was at SunCloud from November of last year to March of this year and they did an SCA with MN Medicaid
Norah,
Would you be willing to provide a review?
I’m about to go back to SunCloud, but I will after this coming treatment stay.
Yes they do. Confirmed with company, joint commission, and my insurance Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO. They do not accept Medicaid.
They have a harm reduction iop just passing it along.
https://suncloudhealth.com/harm-reduction-program/amp
I hope this is the right page I didn’t look into it.
sorry don’t know if I should add the link . I was going to contact you (Rachel)
thanks
Thank you Nik!! Yep this is the exact right page. Thanks for including the link, sometimes links for new programs or services can be hard to find – links are appreciated! I’ll add it to the profile above. Love to see growth of harm reduction programs.
I’m curious if anyone has participated in this or knows exactly what it means?
I went to the Northbrook residential location for three months from June-August 2023 and have ambivalent feelings about the program but I truly believe (and saw firsthand) that it is capable of helping certain people struggling with EDs that are self-motivated and just need additional support from others. If anyone has any questions add me on Snap doespots & Id be happy to answer them 🙂
Can you do a full review?
Hey I used to work at Suncloud Health and would 100% NOT recommend it for the following reasons down below. More so I was running groups (I ran a process group and other CBT, DBT and ACT groups (I’m not licensed btw) I was a BHT*). Luckily I was constantly educating myself but I should not have been doing those groups. My supervisor wasn’t good but [name redacted] who was the clinical supervisor was amazing and did what she could with the resources with what she had. I know recently there was a big amount of people who left the job due to the owners not listening to employees and so much more.
*admin note: BHT stands for Behavioral Health Technician, which is a support/assistance role not a clinical role
Suncloud: Prioritizing Profits Over Patients’ Well-being
My 4-week experience at Suncloud was marred by several disturbing issues:
Medication Errors: Nurses repeatedly attempted to administer the wrong medications, and on occasion, there were significant delays in obtaining essential meds, leaving patients without proper treatment.
Neglected Hygiene/Bioharzards: The shower facilities were left in a deplorable state, with a nicotine patch remaining affixed to the wall throughout my stay. My attempts to address this with staff were dismissed.
Privacy Violations: Certain treatment coordinators irresponsibly shared explicit details of past patients’ traumas, including sensitive information about sexual experiences.
Missed Activities: Due to inadequate staffing, many scheduled activities were routinely canceled, despite Suncloud’s monthly charge of $50,000.
Safety Concerns Ignored: Both staff and fellow patients frequently expressed feelings of insecurity. Shockingly, these concerns were met with indifference and dismissal from upper management.
Ongoing Gaslighting: Throughout my stay at Suncloud, I often felt as though my experiences and emotions were invalidated. When I inquired about other PHP programs upon my discharge, I received a discouraging and unsupportive response.
Fortunately, I have since found a remarkable PHP program where I am finally receiving the help and support I need.
I’m sorry that you had such a challenging experience at sun cloud! Would you be willing to share any more info about the PhP that you’re having a positive experience with?
Could you please tell me where you are now? We are looking for a place for my 25 year old son
Idk if you can post this because its a bit triggering but- R* G* (who commented a year or so ago) was caught grooming two patients (i was one lol) and she’s still working there. this place is evil, evil evil. I’ve done a lot of different treatment so I know the baseline evil that it can be but this is heads and tails above anything else. I do know that the Chicago IOP/PHP has been helpful to some people so I’m not going to sh*t on something that works for others but my experience, as well as many other ppl’s has been horrrrrrid. Okay thanks for all you do <3
R – thank you so much for posting this. I am horrified that you experienced this. I wish I could erase the evil you experienced, and could just scoop you up and carry you across the finish line into recovery, so that you could know safety again, and get the recovery you’ve suffered so much trying to reach. This is absolutely something that needs to be shared. I hope you are comfortable/feel safe with the admin note I put at the end, but if not please let me know and I will edit or fix or redo or shorten or remove (etc) it. (I do have a tendency to be wordy). But just for the record, posts that are triggering solely because the community member’s review/post includes sexual abuse, battery, and assault they endured at the center will always go up here on EDTR. While it’s true that there are sometimes traumatic experiences people have in treatment that also served the purpose of saving their lives, there is NO purpose, NO excuse, NO rationale in existence that ever could justify or even explain how a treatment provider could/should/would do anything remotely sexualized with a patient that actually is in the name of any of our recoveries. This is UNACCEPTABLE and needs to be exposed.
Rachel, I really appreciated the note, and I’m so glad you 1) accepted it and 2) drew the parallels between SunCloud and TK. For a while I just accepted that I would have to carry the knowledge of unethical behavior alone, that no one would believe me, etc. But it feels great to be believed! And despite their best efforts, I am in a tight 2 years of consistent recovery from eating disorder behaviors (as well as other behaviors) so it’s possible to come out of the deep dark hole that some treatment places put us in. 🙂
Horrible place caused more harm than good. AA does not treat eating disorders DUH. Administration is the worst they don’t ever answer a phone and over a week later have no discharge paperwork and cannot go to a more appropriate facility. Close this facility its awful and extremely unprofessional.
I completed residential (Northbrook) and PHP/IOP (Chicago) at Suncloud in 2022. I would not go back or recommend it, though some parts were helpful.
Residential overview:
IOP/PHP
Overall
Any recent reviews with all the basic questions answered?
any recent reviews for residential?
I attended the Chicago location and really enjoyed my time there. I have friends who attended other locations and I would only recommend the Chicago one. The community was very supportive and I’m still in contact with some of the connections I made there so I believe in their model of community support. At first I hated staff but have learned that they do really care and want the best and worked with me with many concerns I brought up. The community group was a highlight of the week and felt so encouraging. I love the open process model and being able to discuss things in more detail which helped me start working on my shame around my experience and eating disorder. Meal support staff was really kind and supportive.
How were meals. What is served. Do you select your meals. What noncompliance? What activities?
I’m set to join the PHP program in northbrook soon would anyone mind explaining to me a few things
Hey Rachel- just want to say thanks so much for the thoughtful, insightful, and honest questions that you asked of the treatment center rep today. I find many of her statements incredibly problematic and alarming, and am so grateful that you run this forum. If I hadn’t been able to read these comments, I may have ended up there, and based off of many things that the rep wrote above, I can see now that if I had gone there, it would have inflicted SO MUCH MORE harm and unnecessary trauma on top of everything else that I am dealing with in addition to my eating disorder. I know that different approaches work for different people, and I hope that there have been individuals who were able to benefit from the suncloud approach, but I know without a doubt that being in this type of environment would send me spiraling in the wrong direction. Thanks for everything you do here!
I agree! I went to a dual diagnosis place that treated a similar scope of things to SunCloud (I’m not going to name it, but it’s on the West Coast) that had restrictions on sugar for reasons to do with treating alcohol dependency, and I think it worked for the people who had alcoholism but not an eating disorder, to help them detox from the alcohol. But for those of us there with EDs, especially ones fueled by either body image or shame or trauma (which was why we went to a dual diagnosis place that specialized in trauma and mental health), it either worsened our eating disorder – it sucked because the group therapy was actually really good, but without the appropriate approach to nutrition, most people ended up worse off afterwards – or for a select few of us who were empowered enough by the group therapy to speak our minds and our truths and not let our ED keep us quiet, we rebelled and started demanding desserts, and when we were repeatedly met with lectures about the facility’s sugar philosophy, we just started an underground candy racket. But I don’t think that was the facility’s goal exactly, for a widespread secret network of sneaking cookies and candy onto the property and then from room to room to develop.
Anyway I’m really thankful as well.
OP, that fills me with gratitude to read this! I too hope that the program works for some people, although I can say with certainty that it wouldn’t be right for me either, and would make things worse. I was a bit startled by some of the rep’s responses, especially the idea of, once someone is diagnosed by their staff with food addiction, that any cravings for sugar/white flour/processed foods will be challenged by the treatment team like they would “any other” addiction, I can’t even imagine being confronted in group or individual or at meals for not wanting to be put on a restricted diet and being told it is my addiction talking. Especially considering there are no restrictions on what can be said in group settings, and few regarding what can be said during meals. I also can’t imagine being treated there for an eating disorder and having to eat all of the challenge foods but seeing people who came there for the same reason as you “getting” to eat safe foods because they got the food addiction diagnosis and you didn’t. It would just be so triggering to me. And then simultaneously comparing being “prescribed” a meal plan with low sugar/white flour/etc to someone who comes to treatment for an eating disorder, as being equivalent to “prescribing” a gluten-free diet to someone with celiac. Okay anyway I won’t go further into my personal feelings, because it is not my place, but I will say two final things:
1) I just think it’s a false equivalency, to equate abstinence from drugs/alcohol with abstinence from gluten with abstinence from ED trigger foods. And it isn’t fair to people with EDs to stuff them into an alternate category, than an eating disorder. An eating disorder is both a physical and a mental illness, and to approach it exclusively as a physical illness (celiac) or a mental illness (addiction) is to play with fire.
2) Rachel Goodwin, please stick to answering questions directed to you on the questions thread, I will not approve comments from you elsewhere. Honestly it is nothing personal! Like I said earlier, treatment providers are almost never allowed to comment on EDTR whatsoever, which is why I explained the reasoning for how I was making the one-time exception so you could answer the direct questions asked of you. It’s not within the purpose or spirit of this site to allow you or any treatment center to reply to other comments. Yelp and Google reviews do allow that, so I understand it may feel weird not to be able to here, but just like how different process groups allow different types of things to be discussed, and SunCloud has a policy without restrictions because it serves your community best, we have a policy of restrictions, because it serves our community best. I do appreciate your understanding. There are questions below that were asked of you that you haven’t answered yet, and I would love it (and those who asked them would love it as well) if you would answer those! Just because your program may not be the right fit for some people doesn’t mean it won’t be a good fit for others. Again, I don’t think there is a need to be defensive.
@Rachel Goodwin
Thank you so much for all the information! I have a couple of questions that i see addressed:
-how do you deal with the balance of patients who struggle with restrictive EDs and the ones who struggle with food addiction? Are they in the same or separate tracks?
– you mentioned the SunCloud philosophy, is that the 12 step modality?
-what would happen if a patient refuses the supplement?
-which mental health diagnosis do the majority of the patients have? For example, substance abuse, food addiction, anorexia etc
-what are the main treatment goals?
-how is trauma treated?
-i don’t know if you could answer this, but which treatment program would you say you’re most similar to and how?
-can you treat self harm and active suicidality or do you send out for that?
-do you involve the family and how?
@Alyssa – thanks so much for your questions!
We don’t have separate tracks for any patients. We have one therapeutic milieu for all patients. The only separation that occurs is ED vs non-ED for meals (meal support with staff for ED pts, peer support for non-ED) and splitting for smaller process groups.
We do suggest engagement in a Recovery Community, be it 12 Step, Dharma Recovery, SMART Recovery, Celebrate Recovery, etc.
If a patient refused supplement we would ask them to discuss in the next group and hope the community could encourage them to complete.
I cant speak to a majority diagnosis – we specialize in the treatment of folks with complex co-occurring disorders and see a wide array.
Trauma is treated in individual and group settings.
I’m not aware of another facility we are similar to – maybe early Timberline Knolls, circa 2014? Before Acadia bought it…
We can treat self-harm in house but are not equipped to manage active suicidality.
We do involve the families, as appropriate, with family sessions – weekly or biweekly.
Thank you Rachel! I just want to say that I think it is great that SunCloud is locally owned. Having been in the ED advocacy community myself for a decade and a half now, watching everywhere get bought out has been hard. Acadia was… is… not the best thing that happened to Timberline Knolls, nor McCallum. Both had been such great programs before. If you haven’t yet, check out the reports on McCallum Place’s page here, specifically from a couple summers ago. As you know, Timberline Knolls was finally held accountable after the Chicago Tribune article/expose, and I still hope that at some point there will be an expose about McCallum Place too. The people who were patients there deserve it. (To the EDTR community, heads up that the Chicago Tribune articles about Timberline Knolls and the McCallum reviews here both document trauma, so very serious trigger warning.)
Hi Alyssa, I’m currently in SunCloud (Chicago) PHP and know people who have gone to their residential. I can speak about how they handle PHP. Personally, I find it beneficial. First, I spent 8 weeks at ERC PHP which I’m thankful I did BEFORE SunCloud. You don’t really get much skills based treatment, especially in regard to EDs. The program is VERY focused on group healing and holding your peers accountable and process heavy. The schedule for PHP is 8:00am, Zoom breakfast support, 9:30am in-person snack and Morning Recovery Action (it’s a 12-step model so every week we discuss and do a reading on a step. It takes 12 weeks to go through all the steps); 10am check-in and process; 12pm lunch (there’s a high needs and low needs support; high needs is smaller and if you’ve been to ERC more like that vibe-mainly games and distraction, if you’re not close to finishing your food by 12:30 you grab a supplement and finish it by 12:45; low needs has more people and is more free to talk about things and has more freedom in that if you finish by 12:30pm you can chill, use your phone go outside, etc….) 12:45pm-skills group, 1:45-break, 2:00pm a different expressive arts group (art, music, adventure therapy, body image, nutrition, spirituality, 12-step, speaker), 3:15pm snack and check-out.
In terms of ED, everyone is kind of treated the same, for morning snack it’s separated by ALL EDs and non-ED folks. You meet with your dietician once a week for 30 minutes, then your treatment coordinator once a week for 45-50 minutes (you’re encouraged to also be seeing your outpatient therapist once a week), you meet with your psychiatrist once a week for 30 minutes. I am choosing to also meet with my outpatient psychiatrist to keep her in the loop once every month.
SunCloud is very 12-step and viewing EDs through an addiction lens.
If you refuse a supplement they write it down and at least from my experience like Rachel Goodwin said, you bring it to the next group and get someone to hold you accountable to finish it. If the dietician is free, they’ll check-in with you and make sure you finish it. I haven’t had to do that because our dietician is very hard core and works with you to finish the food on your plate.
Right now my peers have various mental health concerns-different types of EDs, substance abuse, drugs, process addictions, PTSD/trauma, anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal ideation, etc…
You and your Treatment Coordinator will come up with a treatment plan together. Every week when you meet with your Treatment Coordinator, you update it and then sign it so you can see what exactly is being documented about your treatment and clarify anything that you might not agree with or have questions on.
Trauma is mainly treated in process, like was stated, the 2 hour process group is an anything goes. I’ve been in a few process groups where people have described and talked through their various assaults, rapes, journey in ED recovery/talk about when and how it started. If at any point it’s too triggering you can leave the room, ground, and come back into the space. There’s also DBT twice a week and they have the perspective that addiction and trauma go hand in hand (which again, addiction can mean ED).
They do treat for self harm and suicidal ideation. I’m there for ED, substance, trauma, and some other things but I have peers who are primarily there for depression, self harm, and suicidality.
It’s about the community and realizing that you might have a different flavor of the same underlying or root thing and learning from your peers. Process is a great space to witness similarities between someone with an ED and someone struggling with an addiction. It can also feel at times that people are ganging up on you because if you’re engaging in behaviors, you’ll get called out by your peers. The first time that happened to me was a week into treatment and it was very jarring and I cried and felt really terrible and not supported. The next day, the facilitator noticed that I wasn’t participating as much as yesterday and I was able to voice the discomfort and got some tough love from the peer who made me cry.
If you’re considering SunCloud’s PHP, know that it is community and group based support not skills based.
Thank you so much Sarah! I really appreciate your response!
Would you recommend SunCloud over ERC? Why/why not?
How does it work with the patients that they ask to not eat white flour and sugar? Does it end up being a very unhealthy environment with good foods and bad foods?
What do they do in residential if you don’t finish your supplement? Can they tube? Or is the program set up well enough that everyone finishes their meal or supplement?
Are they weight biased?
Hi Alyssa, of course!
It honestly depends on what you’re looking for/what you want to get out of treatment. Everything is from an addiction lens so a lot of it is going to be about is what’s causing the behaviors? What happened (or didn’t happen) that led you to turn to behaviors rather than face whatever it is. If your ED developed strictly from comparison, diet culture, over exercise, etc.. and you don’t have any co-occurring disorder then I’d choose a different facility that FOCUSED SOLELY on EDs. In fact, if the only thing you’re struggling with is an ED your treatment team will most likely tell you to seek treatment somewhere else (that just happened to two people in my cohort, so now there’s only two of us out of 12 that have an ED; when I first got there, there were like 10 people who struggled with EDs, now those people are either in IOP or have graduated the program).
I personally like my time at SunCloud better than ERC, but that’s because I got what I needed from ERC (eating and skills) first. I never would have been able to do SunCloud if I hadn’t first been to ERC since I didn’t leave with very much support, community, or connection.
At SunCloud emphasis is placed on building relationships with peers and outside supports. They’re heavy on the meeting attendance. You’ll basically be pressured by staff to attend at least one meeting (whether that’s OA, Recovery Dharma, CODA, etc a week…). They want you to start building a community from the beginning of treatment so that when you leave, you feel ready (unlike ERC who will just step you down when you have 100% meal completion or your 6-8 weeks are up). It’s a drastic step-down with ERC. PHP is 7 days a week for 9hrs a day. IOP is 3 days a week for 2.5 hours (I don’t count check-in because that was a joke). It was a MAJOR shock to my system that I wasn’t prepared to handle. SunCloud’s step down is 5 days PHP (9:30am-3:30pm), 5 day IOP they have evening and day time options. You don’t do the expressive arts or body image/nutrition groups when you step down to IOP (those are from 2pm-3:15, then snack and check-out; IOP check out is at 1:45pm). Then you graduate to IOP 4, then 3, then 2. They really take the time to make sure you’re prepared and feel confident in your new skills and recovery.
I have no idea about this white flour and sugar because our dieticians are very focused on being well rounded and unless there’s a medical issue that would prevent you from eating those things, they would highly encourage you to incorporate those food items (and by highly encourage I mean they’re going to ask you to bring those food items in or grab some white bread from the kitchen). And if there’s hesitancy, to bring it to process (literally bring the food with you) and discuss with the group/have the group hold you accountable. They NEVER label food as “good” or “bad” they focus on intuitive eating and all foods are “good” in moderation. They place no attachment or morality. Today during nutrition I brought up the watermelon cleanse from Cheer and the dietician shut it down immediately and talked about how you can’t survive on watermelon alone and then we had a discussion as a group on how we can incorporate proteins, carbs, and sugars and what could be a well balanced meal with watermelon as a side. They’re focused on macronutrients and getting all the fuel your body needs to function optimally. I LOVE my dietician at SunCloud and am going to be sad when I have to go back to outpatient. They’re very no bs (if you still have half your meal with 15 minutes left of the meal, they make you stop eating and grab a supplement and finish it within the time boundary otherwise they’ll have you tell the facilitator of the next group that you need to finish your supplement and at the end of group the facilitator will ask if if you finished and make a note and tell your dietician if you didn’t finish it). If after a couple of weeks in PHP you can’t stop behaviors or you’re not making progress, then they send you to res.
In res, I’ve heard (I haven’t been there, nor would I recommend it) they limit water, don’t provide fresh fruits and veggies-one of the dieticians literally had to use her own money to buy them. Breakfast is a free for all and packaged items and juice boxes. Someone had their mom delivery Kind bars because the meals were terrible and she didn’t want to eat only carbs or cereal with milk (it’s mainly pastry items and shelf stable things for breakfast and snacks) for breakfast. She got 9 boxes delivered and became the most popular person. Lunch and dinner are catered from an entertainment complex nearby. You wouldn’t get any home cooked meals. There was a girl who refused to eat, they don’t tube you, they just encourage you to finish your supplement. If it’s been a few days and you haven’t eaten any meals, they will start suggesting in-patient. If it goes on for much longer, they’ll discharge you and send you in-patient. EDs ARE NOT their primary focus, they provide treatment for it in terms of you have supervised meals, meet with your dietician once a week for 30 minutes, and do recovery record. This is for PHP, but again, I would NEVER consider SunCloud for res because I want freshly prepared not restaurant fast-food type meals and access to water and fresh fruits and veggies. In PHP, I don’t even have an ED treatment coordinator and they sometimes have your dietician come into your session with your treatment coordinator to discuss any ED behaviors that are persisting for more than a few weeks or if you’re struggling at meals/engaging in any behaviors during meals (this happened to me).
Not weight biased! We often talk about and, during body image especially, watch or read articles on how to dismantle fat phobia, how to challenge fat phobia or weight biases within yourself/your immediate circle of people, and they preach body neutrality. There are people of all shapes and sizes and they do a good job at making the space welcoming for all. The physical space is a wide open room and they have chairs with arms and chairs without them so all sizes can sit somewhat comfortably. The individual offices do have low seating which can be challenging/difficult to get up and sit down in them but you can always bring in the chair you were just sitting on into your session (lots of them are office wheel chairs).
Hope that helps!
Sounds like a horrible diet. Is there a registered dietitian on hand?
Can anyone speak to suncloud residential??? The program seems really ideal for me so I’d love to know more.
What are meals/snacks like?
What is weight gain protocol?
Do they allow smoke breaks/vape?
How many people in the unit at a time?
Anything helps, thank you!
Hi Anonymous – I’m the Director @ SunCloud’s Residential and would be happy to speak with you further and answer questions! Feel free to email @ rgoodwin@suncloudhealth.com
Rachel
Rachel can you answer some of the questions the OP asks here so we can all read it and it’s here for others?
Agreed, thank you Beth! Rachel, overwhelmingly we don’t let treatment providers post on EDTR, and currently we don’t even allow sponsored ads, since we are a safe space specifically for “consumers” and by “consumers.” Aka generally the only people who can post here are on the client-side, such as people who are looking for or have been to treatment, as well as parents of people who need treatment. I myself am someone recovered who has been through treatment, and our founder Faith was someone who went through numerous treatment centers as well. I did make an exception here, because SunCloud is new and we have so much interest here on EDTR in learning more, and because of your upfront offer to directly answer questions, which is something sorely needed here right now for SunCloud!
Thank you, Beth and Rachel, so much!
I appreciate the opportunity (and exception!) to speak on behalf of a facility I am passionate about – as both a SunCloud employee and a person in recovery. I have been through a few treatment centers myself and firmly believe in the SunCloud model.
We are locally/female-owned. We specialize in the treatment of complex, co-occurring disorders (eating disorder/substance abuse/process addictions/trauma/mood disorders). We treat people in all size bodies and all genders.
As to the questions from the OP:
– meals are currently catered in daily from various local establishments. We can accommodate Vegetarians. Snacks are pretty typical snack foods!
– any weight restoration that needs to be done will be carefully prescribed, individualized, and monitored by the dietitian, MD, and 24/7 nursing staff
– we are a non-smoking facility; this includes vapes. We do offer nicotine replacement therapy for people who need it
– we have 21 total beds
If there are any other questions or feedback, I’d love to help field, as appropriate for the purposes of this site!
Thank you Rachel! Can you write out a sample schedule from a weekday and a weekend day? Wake-up, weight/vitals, shower times, meals, breaks, downtime, groups (and which ones they usually are at that time), any outings, visitation times, electronic times, pass times, quiet times, bedtimes, etc. Ideally it should reflect what things are currently like on the unit rather than what the goal is or planned schedule is, although feel free to also mention what the goal/ideal plan for the schedule. For example: 1-2pm: currently downtime, but we plan to start having a process group at that time (or: this is supposed to be the time for a community meeting every day, but right now it tends to happen twice a week rather than every day).
Also, given that it is a mixed unit where not everyone has eating disorders, what is the bathroom protocol?
Thanks again Rachel for answering our questions! Can you speak to what the SunCloud model is? From your perspective as a person yourself being in recovery who has been through a few treatment centers, how does the SunCloud model differ from other places, especially based on your own experience with what other treatment centers are like?
Here’s a general schedule rundown:
Weekday:
– wake up/vitals 6-7a
– breakfast 7-745a
– meds/free time/hygiene 745-830a
– check-in – 830
– community – 9a
– snack 945a
– process/psycho-ed group 10-1130
– lunch 12p
– meds 1245p
– process/psycho-ed group – 1-230
– snack – 230
– pyscho-ed group 3 – 445p
– free time – 445 – 530
– dinner – 530
– meds/free time 615 – 7p
– 12 Step meeting – 7p
– snack – 815p
– check-out – 830p
– meds/free time/hygiene – 9
– lights out – 10p
Weekend:
– wake up/vitals 6-7a
– breakfast 7-745a
– meds/free time/hygiene 745-9a
– check-in – 9
– snack 945a
– process/psycho-ed group 10-1130
– lunch 12p
– meds 1245p
– process/psycho-ed group – 1-230
– snack – 230
– Visitation (virtual)/free time – 3p – 530p
– dinner – 530
– meds/free time 615 – 7p
– 12 Step meeting – 7p
– snack – 815p
– check-out – 830p
– meds/free time/hygiene – 9
– lights out – 10p
Groups include: DBT, Understanding Mood disorders, 12 Step Study, Nutrition, Spirituality, Art, Yoga, Medical Aspects, Creative Writing, Family Dynamics.
Bathrooms remain locked at all times. Some patients will be on 1 hour lockout after meals/no flush restriction. Meal support, with staff support, is prescribed for patients with eating disorders (separated from peer/non-ED support). Supplements are utilized if meals aren’t completed. Blind weights, of course.
We have a small amount of exercise equipment that can be used if ordered by treatment team.
We do go on outings, though, unfortunately limited at this time due to Covid. Visitation remains virtual at this time. We do require full Covid vaccination.
One thing that I find again and again that sets SunCloud apart from other facilities is the way we run process groups. We talk about EVERYTHING in process group! Some facilities wont allow various topics to be discussed at the group level – medications, weight, #s, meal plans, specific behaviors, suicide, detailed accounts of trauma, self-harm etc, because they dont want other patients to be triggered. We think this perpetuates the ‘dont talk/stay small and silent’ message many of us have received over the years. We arent afraid of patients being triggered; in fact we think there is no better place to be triggered, and practicing using skills, than in the supportive environment of res! We may ask patients to refrain from some topics at the table and in the general milieu, and we always encourage them to bring to group!
What else??
Hi Rachel,
What is SunCloud’s food philosophy? I saw something about abstinence from sugar. Is that for the whole program?
Great question, Becca!
We believe food addiction exists for some people. We do historical interviewing and administer the YFAS 2.0 to assess for food addiction. For those determined by the treatment team to be suffering with food addiction, a low sugar/white flour/processed meal plan may be prescribed.
We believe all food fits, but not all foods fit for all people!. For example, we would not ask someone with Celiac’s disease to eat gluten ‘in moderation’! We believe some people have a similar ‘intolerance’ for sugar/white flour that can activate an allergy which produces an undesirable reaction.
Meal plans are prescribed by a registered dietitian based on individual needs; we do not ask patients without a food addiction to abstain from sugar.
What is your policy for non compliance with the meal plan and supplement? How long do you have to sit with the supplement?
How do you handle clients you diagnose with food addiction but who don’t want to restrict sugar/white flour, and would rather have a similar meal plan style to the other ED clients not diagnosed by SunCloud with food addiction? Or who believe that all foods can still fit for them? Do you allow that and work with that, or is it mandatory for them to restrict? What are the consequences for people who don’t want to restrict sugar and/or flour? How do you handle it if someone diagnosed with food addiction and placed on a restricted diet begins engaging in ED restriction behaviors as well?
Thanks Sara – meals are 45 minutes total. At 35 min we suggest supplementing. If you’re given a supplement and you’re unable to finish, we will encourage you to go to the group after lunch (often process group) with the supplement. We want to address in that moment what is going on, and let the group support you in finishing the meal/supplement!
Does this apply to people with BED who are working on intuitive eating hunger/fullness principles, too?
Patients who are prescribed low exposure meal plans are not ‘restricting’ sugar any more than someone with a gluten allergy is ‘restricting’ gluten; we do not prescribe restriction.
If a patient is not in agreement with the low exposure meal plan prescribed we would want to therapeutically dig into the resistance, just as we would with any other addiction. If they believe all foods can still fit for them we are willing to let them try, and we are going to ask them to pay attention to urges/cravings that come when they eat sugar/white flour, make speakable what they are experiencing, and reflect on how it all may be related.
We are going to explain why we’re prescribing a low exposure meal plan for them, based on their historical data, assessment results, and clinical/medical research. We are also going to explain that adverse reactions to sugar/white flour do not always look like binges on sugar/white flour – sometimes they present as urges to restrict, urges for substances, other urges for reward center activity.
Everyone is encouraged to follow their individualized meal plan – low exposure or otherwise. Someone with food addiction who is restricting will be supported in the same ways as someone without food addiction!
Thanks Rachel. I don’t think there is a need to be defensive; I use the word “restrict” according to its dictionary definition. Any added meaning or implication is not coming from me. One of my family members has celiac disease and another has lactose intolerance, and they both use the words “restrict” and “restricted” to refer to what they can eat.
I know this is an old review, but I just saw it and felt the need to educate- there is no such thing as “food addiction”. People can not be addicted to something they require for survival. That’s like saying someone who drinks too much water is a “water addict “, or someone who sleeps too much is a “sleep addict”. Most people who think they have a food addiction probably actually have BED, and BED is often fueled by restriction. They restrict, which eventually leads to a binge because they haven’t been eating enough so they re very hungry and binge, then they feel shame for the binge, and restrict some more, which eventually leads to another binge, etc.
putting someone on a no sugar diet is not a treatment for BED, and is unlikely to help, and may actually make things worse. There is no such thing as “sugar addiction”. No ethical ED facility would put someone with an eating disorder on a restrictive diet where they aren’t allowed to eat sugar. That could easily cause someone’s BED to turn into more Anorexic or Orthorexic behaviors. And it goes against HAES philosophy and the “all foods fit” philosophy, which is a much more balanced and ethical approach to ED treatment.
I’m concerned that someone with an ED who goes to treatment with the desire to develop a healthier relationship with food ( which usually includes not fearing sugar and becoming more comfortable eating all types of foods, even those generally viewed as “sweets”)- im worried that someone with an ED being diagnosed with “food addiction” or “sugar addiction” and not allowed to eat sugar would cause lasting harm and damage and only worsen their ED. No ethical ED faculty would put patients on a restrictive diet, unless it was due to a genuine medical condition or allergy. People need sugar for their brains and bodies to function properly, and that includes people with BED. Even Diabetics still need some sugar in their diets, as it can be very dangerous for them if their sugar gets low.
There is actually a lot of research that supports the fact that some ppl process UPF differently than others.
There is no diagnosis in the DSM-5 as “food addiction”, so any eating disorder treatment facility that claims to be treating “food addiction” is treating a condition that doesn’t exist. No ethical ED facility would put someone with an eating disorder on a restrictive diet, including people with BED, unless it was due to a genuine medical condition (i.e. celiac disease, a genuine allergy, etc.). If you look at the websites for all more well known mainstream Ed treatment facilities and hospitals, absolutely none of them claim to treat “food addiction”. They’ll mention Anorexia, Bulimia, ARFID, OSFED, or BED on their websites, but no well known reputable ED facility will claim to treat “food addiction” as it is not a diagnosis that is viewed as existing by the American psychological association or the American psychiatric association, and “food addiction” is not in the DSM-5. I have met people who struggled with BN or BED who went to ED treatment centers for their eating disorders, and were put on low sugar and low processed foods diets, and their ED’s morphed from bingeing into more Anorexic/restrictive behaviors. Lots of people can “symptom swap” in treatment, and putting someone with BED or BN on a restrictive diet in treatment can easily cause their ED to become more restrictive and turn into more Anorexic-like behaviors. It is generally viewed as unethical to put anyone with an ED on a restrictive diet, unless it is due to a genuine medical reason like allergies, celiac, etc. If you read the other reviews for this facility, there are also allegations of other inappropriate, unethical behavior, which would make me hesitant to trust that they are putting patients who believe they have “food addictions” on restrictive diets in a helpful, ethical way when there are also allegations of other inappropriate, unethical behavior on their part. Most reputable ED facilities believe in an “all foods fit” approach, and will not any patients on a restrictive diet unless it’s due to genuine medical reasons.
I am wondering if anyone has any reviews or updates on SunCloud? I have been recommended to their residential after years of struggles with ED and trauma, and would love to have an idea of even what the PHP or IOP schedule is like.
Hi Eli! I have heard from one person so far about what residential is like; this was about a month ago and I don’t know details about the programming, or about how the PHP/IOP program experience is, but they said residential just opened and were having a really bad experience there. I can’t speak to anything further, so hopefully someone else has also been there (or to PHP) and can chime in!