East Tennessee Behavioral Health

“I went to ETNBH in October 2025 and December 2025. My first stay was 9 days and second was 5. On the adolescent unit. I would say the average stay is 7-10 days even though they tell you 5-7 on admission. It was extremely nice that I could just walk in and get assessed rather than do the whole ER thing. Im pretty sure they forgot about us though because we were in a waiting room for 4-5 hours and eventually I stuck my head out and then was taken back to the unit. I didn’t get to wear my clothes because they had to go through the “cooker” to kill bugs. I was given 2XL scrubs (Im a large at most) and had to move carefully or I would flash the entire unit. I got my clothes 2-3 days later because the nurses just refused to go get them and on discharge I was given someone else’s underwear. My second stay they gave my clothes to others. None of my stuff was lost but they did lose many other patients clothing. From the start it was incredibly boring. Im aware of how these facilities work because this was my 13th and 14th admissions but seriously we did nothing. We watched movies all day. I think we would do 3 groups a day which all consisted of doodling with broken paint sticks, tossing a beach ball and some card game. Nothing therapeutic. If anything the most therapeutic part was how this place made me realize how much I missed home and didn’t want to go back. I can’t emphasize how we literally did nothing all day. For hours on end we would sit in the day room and were told to entertain ourselves. The staff were extremely detached. They walked around on their iPads doing 15 minutes checks. That was it. You couldn’t even have a conversation with any staff member. The nurses were “busy” as they would say but would be talking or playing on their phones the entire time. I remember they had given a girl laxatives and about 30 minutes later she needed to use the bathroom and they refused to open it for her. Both techs and nurses. This went on for maybe 25 minutes while she begged and cried about how she was going to go on herself if they didn’t open the bathroom and she didn’t want to get in trouble for that. All the girls came out and started asking for the bathroom over and over again until they finally opened it for her. It’s ridiculous that we had to work together in order for her to be able to go. It was always the unit against staff though. The abuse of power is insane to me. One day I was crying because it had been 2 days from admission and they wouldn’t let me call my mom. I begged them even during phone time and the answer was no. They couldn’t tell me why the answer was no but it was a strict no. I remember specifically a nurse named Emma decided to step in and told me to stop crying because I was fine. I’d get over it. As I cried I told her I didn’t want her talking to me like that and wasn’t even talking to her in the first place. Her response: “Im your nurse so I can talk to you however I want. Remember you’re the patient.” I didn’t get to call my mom that day but we were so dehumanized as patients. Emma also refused to get me water because “I didn’t need it”. You had to ask a million times or beg for anything. Even going to meals. They would forget to take you and even when they did cut meals off by 10-15 minutes. Boys and girls were kept so separated we couldn’t even be in the hallway together. The boys got to go to the gym 2-3 times a day and outside whenever they asked. My entire stay we went to the gym once and outside once but had to go in because a physical fight broke out. That was it. “Boys have more energy” was their justification. Dr Khan was nice. He listened for the most part but told literally everyone there they were bipolar. Even if they showed no symptoms. Night staff were inconsiderate and shined lights in our faces or laughed loudly in the middle of the night we would wake up. They did vitals at like 4:30-5am rather than before breakfast and we would get up an hour before breakfast and just have to sit there and do nothing. No showering or tv just sitting, watching the clock.”

“I work with Harmony Recovery and have loved the saff at East TN BH on a working relationship. Yet when my child needed help for her mental health and I was lost, the staff and people I knew helped guide me into the walk in services. My daughter got amazing care with excellent communication. I knew she was safe and getting the help she needs. Im grateful for everyone at East TN BH from the nurses, case management, Angie, even the receptionist was wonderful. Strongly recommend for mental health.”

“This place actually sucked. I go up there via ambulance, was left in the admissions room from 2:30 am to 5:30 am whist being sleep deprived, needing to pee and the office staff being to incredibly rude when I asked for help. I slept on the hardwood floor (I'm 14) just so I wouldn't be in so much mental anguish. I then get back into the intake blue room, we do the screening, they put me in paper scrubs, and I'm left in there until 7:45, when they put an ankle monitor on me and bring me to the pediatric unit. Admissions was the worst part, aside from having to have a doctor's referral for literally everything. You had to have a doctor's referral for an extra pillow man. 😒. The staff on unit is good until night shift, depending on what bunch you get. A lot of people in the peds unit talk shit about everyone and everything so watch your back if you are a minor going to the peds unit. Also Miss Jill if you see this I MISS YOU ♥️♥️”

“I checked myself into this psych facility this spring. I have bipolar disorder and was going through mania due to work and life in general. I needed a place to stabilize myself and relax. I do not recommend anyone child or adult come here for treatment. They were not transparent about many things. One major issue was that people were brought here before being transferred to jail. They first put me on the first floor with much older patients because they had no room. My first night around 4 a.m I had to give up my bed and sit in the hallway for about 30 minutes while nurses struggled to find me another one. The next morning I was trying to socialize when an older man came up to me right in front of the nurses station and told me people call him “Mr. Magic Hands.” As a 19 year old woman that immediately made me uncomfortable. I yelled at him to leave me alone. Because I was the one yelling staff tried to sedate me. I resisted because I didn’t want that to happen and during the struggle my shirt came off. I’m 120 pounds and they had two grown men holding me down while this man stood there watching me get sedated topless. They later moved me to the second floor which was supposed to be for depression and anxiety. Since the third floor was closed they mixed patients with much more severe issues into our unit. Multiple people got into fights or screaming matches. You couldn’t stay in your room so everyone was forced to witness it. The medication culture also bothered me. I only took the medications I was already prescribed because addiction runs in my family. Staff constantly pushed different medications. I’ve been on medication since I was a little girl and know my body better than anyone else. I watched people sleeping or nodding off from how much medication was being handed out. I was originally told I would stay three days but they kept me for five. I saw nurses dismiss patients because they were understaffed. One young man was having a meltdown and instead of showing compassion an older nurse laughed at him. Patients often had to comfort each other because staff wouldn’t. Around day four I met another girl close to my age and they even made us roommates. That hope disappeared on my last full day. Earlier that morning I heard a woman screaming after a man walked into her room with his pants completely down. Staff didn’t even realize what happened until another patient told them and they still let him stay! Later that night my roommate and I were in our room winding down when that same man slowly walked into our doorway and stood there staring at us. I screamed as loud as I could. He became angry and lunged toward my bed. I threw my Pop Tart at him and jumped onto my roommate’s bed. Two other patients were yelling at him while no staff responded even though our room was less than five feet from the nurses station! My roommate (who had just turned 18 and was on the spectrum) had held onto me while he hit her multiple times in the head. She left on a stretcher to the hospital and I locked myself in a staffs room until police arrived. Staff argued with me for wanting to stay in “their”room because I no longer felt safe. The officer told me there was nothing he could do because the man had come from jail. I didn’t even receive a case number. My dad fought with staff to get me released and we finally compromised by having me sleep on a mattress in the quiet room until morning. I also learned the third floor had been closed because of mold and filthy conditions. Even after patients and staff were affected they had kept it open. The insurance process was a mess. I was repeatedly told different things until someone finally said it would be fully covered. It wasn’t. We ended up owing almost $200. Three months later no one has been held accountable. I came here hoping to get better and I left worse than when I arrived. This experience has made me hesitate to seek mental health treatment again. If this facility is going to stay open patient safety has to become the priority.”