Oceans Behavioral Hospital — Abilene

“I put a lot of thought into what I think is important for a parent to know before sending their child here. I think it's important to share my experience as a parent. My son was admitted to Oceans August 9th. The nurse that came out to do all the entrance stuff was kind and very good. Shee knew that we had driven along ways and it was 4 am and we had driven on no sleep and had to drive back. So she got everything done in a decent time. Once my son was there and in the care of Oceans the only communication I had was when the provider wanted to change his medicine that his Psychiatrist at home had him on for ADHD. My only request was communicate with our doctor before changing things. I guess the provider which was at elcom doctor didn't want to do that, because he had the nurse call back and say that he reordered the medicine back to normal. My reason is because our doctor has seen my son longer that a couple of days and knows why his medics are the strength they are and we have had doctors put him on meds that he didn't need. BTW the meds nurse was understanding and agreed with me as a parent. During my son's week stay we never had a call from him. When I called for a update on my son I got we don't do those but we can have the therapist call you. The only call from the Therapist was to schedule a Family Therapy meeting and to ask who would be picking my son up. The whole time there was no call saying we expect to release him on this date. On Friday the day we are suppose to have our Family Therapy session we get a call saying we are discharging him tomorrow. We live four hours away and I work, we have one vehicle and I have already missed a lot of work because of Er visits and having to have our son go to short term facilities. So I asked if we could pick him up on Sunday because I have to work on Saturday and we are four hours away. I can't just call in at work that I have a job that I need a couple of days to request time and find a fill in. I spoke with the Supervisor Chris and at first he was talking over me. I ask him to please let me talk. I explained my situation and why we couldn't be there is on Saturday. He told me they couldn't keep him until Sunday the Provider was releasing him on Saturday. That our doctor wouldn't let the Provider change his meds and there was nothing more they could do. I told Chris that calling the day before and letting us know if his discharge put me in a spot and I could not be there. Had they had communicated better I probably could have done something to be there. He claims they did tell us. The truth is there was never a conversation about a release day. So he called the provider and told us to come get our son yesterday which was Friday. I'm learning that some of these hospital don't care about the family and these are a place to put your loved one to get care from the nurses( which they get) but all other staff except maybe the Therapist. They don't care about the family and the communication is not there. They forget how stressful it is to get your child help and leave them with people you don't know to get them help and make sure they are safe let alone having to take time from your source of income that provides for your family.”

“My sister is there and the tac Benjamin keeps sexually harassing her and administrators or any of the nurses ain’t doing anything about it. They’re just like she’s being dramatic they keep asking her what she’s wearing and all of this and all of that they’re not doing anything no protocols no nothing they’re just allowing him to get away with it. She’s Has called me five different times crying bawling her eyes out saying that she does not feel safe there and she’s been there for almost 2 weeks”

“I spent 11 days at Oceans in Dec 2025. It was the most horrible experience one could ever have, even for a psych ward. People are lab rats made to be zombies while there. The majority of the staff could have cared less about patient care. Mental, physical or emotional. It is NOT the place to for you or your loved ones if you’re wanting actual help. Take the time and drive whatever distance to a facility that is concerned with treatment. It will not be appropriately addressed at this facility.”

“As a individual who's battled mental health issues for a while oceans is by far the worse hospital treatment facility I have ever experienced. It's a mandatory for individuals to be placed on whatever medication a doctor decides to place you on disregarding the patients request or know about of there condition. I've battled with PTSD since I was 7 years old due to sexual assault. The staff gave no warning as to why I was being forced to strip my clothing. When I refused they pretended to tear my clothes off anyways. When I asked for help with grounding techincies and coping mechanisms to calm my thought and manage my stress I was denied. I had to go to court so that they could then force me to be able to take medicine for schizophrenia and bi-polar. This hospital hasn't not changed since I first attended in 2013.”