Lakeview Behavioral Health

I wish I could give this a 2 ½. Unfortunately, I can’t. I was an inpatient here back in early April for severe anxiety. I was in the adolescent unit. If your like me, you don’t get yelled at. By definition of «me» is calm, quiet, funny, etc. I can understand why they may be strict with the ones who cannot control themselves, but I cannot comprehend with the fact that they make fun of us. It’s unacceptable. Yes, the staff may yell a lot, their interpretation of how to get the point across, but that doesn’t mean you have to flip your shit. The food was reasonably fine. It was edible. I wasn’t a vegetarian at the time when I was there, but it would have been tough. There was this really mean nurse, Anya or something, she looked like a rat. Anyway, yeah. It’s better than peachford, that’s for sure

There are a lot of negative reviews of this place, and I understand where those people are coming from, but I have gotten more help than I ever expected from this place. That being said, I want to be sure that I give a very balanced and informative review.
I was inpatient at Lakeview for 7 days, and have just started their outpatient Women’s DBT program. I was released from inpatient last week. I want to split this review between both programs. Do not get me wrong, they are very different programs.
Let me start with the inpatient portion. It takes a while to be admitted. Know that before you go. You will need at the very least 3 hours just to walk in the door, wait to be seen, and go through the admissions process. Once you have gone through that they will take you to whichever ward they deem appropriate for you. I was admitted to 2 North on a Friday afternoon. The inpatient staff was a mixed bag. About half of the staff are amazing, and by amazing I mean that they really went above and beyond for us patients, truly listened and communicated, ran incredibly therapeutic groups, and obviously cared about their work. The other half of the staff leave a lot to be desired. Fortunately, they have a relatively new CEO, John, who is incredibly hands-​on, patient, and helpful. He has told me that he will be making some changes in the staff, and he is very interested in feedback from the patients. Him and the Patient Coordinator, Mike, are truly amazing people. On the other hand, the staff that are not so great tend to be power tripping, overworked, or just there for the paycheck. Luckily it is easy to tell the difference immediately, so I just went to the people I knew would listen when I needed something. The big downside is that those staff tend not to communicate well not just with the patients, but with each other as well. Like I said though, if you have an issue, it is pretty easy to contact Mike or John to right the situation.
Now the outpatient program. I am in the Women’s RO-​DBT group which is headed by Program Director Minal Shah and Program Coordinator Jania Bailey. These two women have a wealth of knowledge the likes of which I have not seen before. RO-​DBT is a classroom setting which teaches Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion regulation, and Radical Openness, among other very highly useful skills. It is the only thing known scientifically to actually CURE certain mental illnesses. Minal is one of only two therapists on the eastern seaboard qualified to administer it. I have only been three days and I am already seeing a drastic difference in how I view the world and how I communicate with others, as well as a drastic drop in my anxiety. I look forward to going everyday. I have seriously never found anything as helpful as this, and I have been in the mental health system for 26 years. If you are having issues, do yourself a favor and call Lakeview. Ask for Minal or Jania. They will even help you get your insurance company to pay for it. Minal is a pistol, but she truly lives for her work. She tells it like it is, which I truly appreciate. Jania is a sweetheart. I feel like I could tell her absolutely anything. The two of them balance each other out in the most perfect way.
Bottom line, there may be a lot of negative reviews of Lakeview, but take into consideration the fact that a lot of these people were sent there against their will by law enforcement following a drug overdose or a suicide attempt. That is not to say that the patients there aren’t wonderful as well. I made lifelong friendships with several of my fellow patients. Also, keep in mind that they just got a new CEO who is really shaking things up. If you need help, Lakeview is the place to go. They have helped me tremendously.

Run a mile — I wish there was a negative star option. My 73 mother was admitted for treatment and counseling. They kept her doped up on heavy duty drugs in her room. Her Psychiatrist was a joke refusing to meet with us and giving us the run around. We did not receive a call back in two days from social workers, Directors or the CEO. Nothing. We ended up standing in their lobby demanding to speak to somebody. Then they quickly discharged her. This is not a caring facility the owners are running it as a money making company not healthcare facility. There are no full time doctors on staff and minimum wage techs run the place. It’s a liability and very scary to think what happens behind locked doors. Other family members I spoke to had the same bad experience

Awful. They dont take appointments for new patients and instead rely on you to walk in. For those patients that do walk in, you have to wait until a Dr is free. I waited almost 3 hours! Who has time for that?