Riverwoods Behavioral Health

“Any positive review that you see for this place is a fabrication made to persuade you from looking at all of the legitimate horror stories that everyone goes through in this place. If the Devil did indeed went down to Georgia then this place is the 9th circle of Hell. Every single horrible thing you could imagine happening in a mental asylum was occurring in Riverwoods Behavioral Health. Fights would break out nearly every single day, the facility constantly reeked of feces and infection, patients barely got to go outside for more than an hour, patients had to have an ankle monitor to even attend the most basic of things like going to the gym or the lunchroom, faculty members would consistently antagonize or instigate patients to increase their duration of stay via physical altercation, and something as basic as one-on-one therapy sessions were replaced with group therapy sessions in order to save resources. The faculty themselves were terribly disrespectful and uncaring towards patients, so much to the point that they will "lose" your belongings, most likely taking everything of value that they could get away with, and leaving you with nothing but the below bare minimum of necessities. The facility always ran out of simple hygiene products like shampoo and body wash, and the faculty always had a habit of pushing off patient requests such as replacing hand-soap and unclogging toilets. The only other latrine in the men's holding area was held under lock and key. The Patient's Advocate phone-line number was down even during their posted hours. I tried to call the number three times, but they never responded (either out of laziness or indifference to the facility's patient's grievances). It was only through the good graces of a higher power and good behavior (and a metric ton of complaining about the living conditions), that I was able to get out and escape as early as I did. I would never wish anyone to stay here as long as I did or even longer, even to my worst enemy. If you have a loved one or someone that you care about, send them literally anywhere else that has a rating of 3 stars or more. Because this place will not only not give you the care that you need or deserve, but it will rob you blind of everything you hold dear that you bring in with you. In short, Riverwoods Behavioral Health will have you believing in God again, purely from the Hellish conditions and the nightmares you be subjected to.”

“When they told us our loved one was going to be admitted here, we looked at the reviews and were utterly terrified. The psychiatrist had warned us of this—had said that all such places have terrible reviews, as no one wants to be there, and the people who need to be there are not people who are in a very positive state of mind—but that was not much comfort in the face of some of things that are said in these reviews. So for anyone else out there in the same situation, here is more reasoned evaluation. Short verdict-- this place is not terrible. There were unpleasantries, and frustrations, but the staff seemed genuinely invested in taking care of people, and their actions and responses were all reasonable for the circumstance. For a more detailed verdict, read on. This place is tasked with maintaining the safety of a group of people who are all in a crisis of one sort or another. So yes, there are similarities to being a prisoner. You don’t have free access to your belongings, and don’t get shoelaces or drawstrings or hard-backed books, and have to check out bathing products, and many other such annoyances. This can indeed feel dehumanizing, and very much not fun, but there wasn’t anything cruel, and wasn’t anything unreasonable, given their need to keep people safe. There were some minor obstacles to communication. We sometimes had to call more than once to get through—but we did get through, both to staff and to our loved one. When we had concerns about medication, and asked to speak to his prescriber, we were called back the same day, and were satisfied with what the prescriber had to say. As for our loved one getting through to us, they sometimes had to wait a bit for a phone to become available, and sometimes felt pressured to shorten their conversation so that others could use the phone, but they were able to call when they wanted to. Our biggest frustration was in discharge planning. They were told they had to make the request to their provider, and were told they would see their provider later that day, but then didn’t. That’s probably because it was a weekend—but they weren’t told it would have to wait until Monday, they were told they would be seen, and then weren’t. We also felt that there wasn’t much in the way of actual treatment. They had their medication changed, but otherwise were pretty much just kept safe until the worst of the crisis ebbed. Which is not nothing, and is probably all one can expect in this circumstance, any condition bad enough to need admission is not going to magically turn around in the time they have here. So, it was scary—even aside from the reviews, it was scary to not have control over what was happening. Scary for us, to have our loved one taken out of our hands, and even scarier for them, to have their own agency taken from their hands. But there wasn’t anything terrible or even unreasonable, and there was genuine kindness and caring, from fellow patients as well as from staff.”

“The care was not very helpful. It actually made my mental health worse. The staff were horrible. Staff did not care about two people having sex or a fight that somebody's tooth got knocked out. One out of five stars do not recommend plus they have you wear ankle monitors. But the food was good”

“WORST INPATIENT EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE If youre looking to actually get help and sort new medications THIS IS NOT THE PLACE. It is a holding cell. I was transferred to this facility on a 72-hour hold into an adult unit after expressing trouble functioning in my day to day. I specifically told them I havent had intent to even hurt myself in YEARS. While theres a small portion of nurses/techs/doctors that do actually care and do their jobs the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY is absolutely revolting to work with. Rude, mean, ignorant, and borderline neglectful. Patients having to help other patients when having a seizure type bad. One girl so confused she cant tell us her name, undressing and obviously having VISCERAL hallucinations about her very traumatic experiences while the nurses YELL at her to sit down and stop acting up. Showers werent even room temperature, nothing is communicated not just to patients but NURSE TO NURSE as well. Theres 0 consistency between shift changes and even medication times can VARY WILDLY. This place is drowning in HIPAA violations, I saw nurses take pictures of patients vitals with their phones. You also need an ordwr for EVERYTHING, staying in your room, having an extra blanket, EVEN TO DRINK GATORADE. This on top if it being incredibly understaffed made it impossible to get basic needs or wants. Youre better off not getting treatment in the first place, absolutely disgusting”