Lately, I’ve been what my therapist calls an “automatic investigator”. This is a normal thing during the grieving process so good to know I’m not a total weirdo. However, some days I fixate on things. I go back through doctor’s notes and pages of questions and comments. Like, did I miss something? Could I have done more? Should I have fought harder? And the answer is simple, No. We did everything in our power that we could.
I know people are wondering, when is she going to be angry? Often anger at our loved one who chose death by suicide is a very common emotion. Most feel mad that they left, mad they couldn’t say goodbye, mad they left them with whatever situation. I’m here to tell you, don’t get it twisted… I’m angry. I’m really fucking angry but I am NOT angry at my husband. I am angry at how many people, doctor’s and institutions failed him. Made promises after promises that they didn’t keep. Treated Tim like another number and never gave him the real help he desperately needed. Our mental health system is beyond broken, you don’t need me to tell you that but I will tell you, speak your truth and never stop trying.
Over the next several months, I’ll be sharing with you the MANY failed institutions we attended and why we feel they failed us. Tim isn’t here to share his side anymore so I’ll do my best to raise awareness and share the TRUTH about these establishments. We all have a voice and whether they want to hear it or not, they are going to. I was Tim’s biggest advocate, biggest supporter and that is something that will not change now that he is gone.
As I went through one of Tim’s notebook’s today, it all rushed back and enraged me. I felt my insides get hot and I literally had rage run through my body, I wanted to rip things off the walls, punch someone, scream at these assholes who take our money and don’t help us at all. Tim’s last attempt at help was through a program called Casa Recovery/Capo Canyon down in San Juan Capistrano. They failed us beyond belief. I made call after call and was basically disregarded, too bad so sad and even belittled by the Director on a regular basis. As much as we were fighting, writing reviews (that they removed from Google by the way… guess the truth hurts) we just weren’t going to win. At that point, Tim and I didn’t have the money or resources to get a lawyer or try to fight them (because we gave all of our money to this terrible establishment). We decided we had to just chalk it up and move on. It was hard. We were both angry. Not only for the way Tim (and others) were treated while he was there but for how I was treated as his wife.
Side Note: Shortly after Tim left the program (after 60 days), the entire facility went under investigation due to many patient complaints, several staff were let go (including that rude Director) and some staff made the choice to leave because they agreed with the patients and knew the way Casa was running their business was not OK. The owner of Casa Recovery refused to answer our questions and avoided and diverted each time we brought it up.
If you look on Google AND Yelp, there are several one-star reviews regarding Casa Recovery. I picked certain ones to share because they either were there during the same time frame as Tim or had very similar experiences.
They advertise as a dual diagnosis center which means they not only focus on addiction but promise they are equipped for mental health… lie detector test determined that was a lie.
Below are just a few of the ONE STAR reviews regarding Casa Recovery and WHY they were giving them one star. My heart broke all over again as I read them. So many suffered, so many were failed, so many were poorly treated and this company will never be held accountable.
Casa Recovery/Capo Canyon One Star Reviews: (Mind you, I have not altered these in any way, they are public record if you go to their review section on Google or Yelp)
Tim’s One Star Google Review: First things first, Casa Recovery is not a place to help with your mental health! They swear they are well-versed in depression and other diagnoses, but everything there is extremely elementary and their classes consist of handouts from mostly outdated workbooks!!! Their main focus is drug and alcohol abuse, but their "team" is stretched so thin they can hardly keep up with patient names. If you call and ask direct questions, they will be intentionally vague and tell you everything is "individualized and customized" to each patient, but it couldn't be further from the truth! It's billed as a 30/60/90 program, but once there You WILL BE told You need to stay longer; everyone is told that!!! Their program director, initials S.F., is unbelievably unprofessional, condescending and literally verbally abusive to patients!!! She's egregiously inappropriate and takes no responsibility for their actions (or inaction for that matter). Covid protocols are atrocious and nothing short of negligent! "Minimize, deny, gaslight" should be their motto. I will say that a few of their therapists are great, but the atmosphere is toxic and they like to say "no program is perfect". There's so much more I can say, but in summary please feel free to contact me if you've experienced similar or before making the same horrible decision I made to go and waste $20k+... I may not have all the answers, but I know that they definitely do not!!!
Another One Star Google Review from someone there during the time Tim was:
I did almost 50 days at Casa. I give this place positivity for the three wonderful counselors: Eric, Chanel, and Diana. Unfortunately, this place as a whole created road bumps in my recovery, and did not serve me as I thought. The most disappointing thing was the belittling from the main person in charge, Sandi. If she had to interact with clients 1-on-1, many of us received a cold, condescending attitude. It is very apparent she just likes to be in control of things, and scolds and belittles others when she doesn't feel in control. You'll get told you're going to be a failure if you don't stay more than 60 days. The weeks and the group therapies are always the same. Nothing for me regarding addiction was changed. I did get my needed break from alcohol, however, I wound up smoking cigarettes (it had been a decade), and I was given no tools to control or help my addictive tendencies. I also only received one family session in that time, expecting more. No one had told me switching to IOP takes away a therapy day. There is no mental health care or help in the live-in portion. The houses essentially have a babysitter. Don't get me wrong, some of them are very nice, but they are not at all educated in mental health or addiction. They charge an awful lot for giving false promises. You'd think it would go into clients getting proper care, but it seems to go to their nice Mercedes vans.
Another One Star Google Review on behalf of her mother in the program:
I helped my mom decide on this facility, and they made so many promises that never came to fruition. I honestly can’t say enough terrible things about this facility, but here are a few: the clinical director makes things more difficult for the patients, most (not all) of the staff gaslights & belittles the people they’re supposed to be helping, and the only goal that the staff has is to make more money by getting you to stay there longer. After a staff member (couldn’t find out if he even has a degree, so I highly doubt he’s a therapist) filled in for one of my mom’s groups and made a defaming comment about my father to her, he tried lying about it and saying he either “didn’t recall” or “didn’t say” anything. The clinical director failed to take action for my mom, and actively went against us and argued with us about the incident ever happening. If you take away one thing from this review, let it be this — DO NOT COME HERE. If you heard the way the staff (Sandi and Kevin) talked to my mom, you would seriously doubt those two people would be equipped or competent enough to help ANYONE. They were supposed to be there to help and did the complete opposite, causing more trauma and feeding into the patients’ anxiety. What addiction facility argues with its patients? Are you joking? Thank you Shanel for helping my mom and Diane, Eric and Ian for the support. Sandi and Kevin, I hope you find a way to live with yourself and all of the damage you have caused your patients, especially my mother. Thank you for nothing.
Another One Star Google Review:
If you struggle with dissociation, do not consider CR for treatment. As someone with diagnosed Dissociative Identity Disorder, I was promised this facility could help me. The psychiatrist I saw here compared D.I.D. to alcoholism and suggested I work the twelve steps and get a sponsor to cure my dissociations. In addition, the clinical director told my family I have a “conscious addiction” to dissociating. Clearly she is not trauma informed and has no education regarding dissociation and should not be advising anyone on the subject. When I dissociated in front of her, she put her hands on me and was yelling at me to “stop shaking,” as my nervous system was causing me to shake. You never put your hands on a trauma patient! Not only did the safety plan I had given them ask for no one to touch me, this should have been a no brainer. When this director grabbed my forearms and firmly held them together I was triggered and did not feel safe. A few days later, I was told I needed to leave, even though I had already paid to stay longer and transition from PHP to IOP. I was pushed out the door without a sturdy plan for moving forward. I am grateful for the experiences I had with the three therapists on board, Eric, Shanelle and Diana. They are all well versed in trauma. I believe Eric is an expert in his field. I wish I had more time with them. I would strongly encourage you to look elsewhere though if you deal with dissociation on any level and BEWARE of the clinical director.
Another One Star Google Review:
Posted as screen shots because I have a lot to say. I took the time to write this much because I don't want other people to have to go through what I did. (you can access them here, too: imgur.com/a/crpOtPr). This is not quality healthcare. (Also: when you go there they practically BEG you to do Yelp reviews...like from the second I got there the billing guy was asking me to) TLDR: What I've shared in the screenshots is just the tip of the iceberg. Overall my time there caused some trauma. In many circumstances I felt my boundaries were violated; they broke my trust multiple times as well. I did not feel well supported. If I could describe their employees in a word, it would be inexperienced. There were countless times that they were highly unprofessional. They also do not have enough therapists to go around; way more people attend than 3 therapists can handle. I feel strongly that they made choices guiding my care that were not in my best interest and at one point, put my life at risk. When I was admitted I was emotionally vulnerable and had far less experience or education on mental health than I do know. If I was there in a different head space or with the knowledge I have now, shit--I would have RUN, not walked, out of that place. In sum: attend at your own risk. The only good thing I can say is my therapist, although she didn't have a lot of experience and wasn't the most helpful counselor I've ever had, at least seemed to genuinely care about me and treated me with kindness. **Just wanted to add because I forgot to in my pics: the "dietician" was an anti vaxxer and just pushed vitamins. I learned nothing about actual nutrition in her class** **ALSO: the doctor they gave "overseeing" the program comes in once a month to answer questions. When I asked him about how he tells the difference between bipolar disorder and borderline, he told me he likes to "give people a borderline diagnosis because that is something you can work out of, while bipolar is a chemical issue that's chronic." So I asked why he would do it if if was, bipolar though...and he just shrugged**
Another One Star Review from Yelp:
I left CR on Friday, June 24th. Let me preface this post by saying that all three therapists there are amazing! That is where the pros end and the cons begin. My family and I were misled in several different ways when making our decision of which recovery facility would be best suited for me. One of the most reckless incidents occurred when a staff member (who was filling in for our process group therapist/leader) made a defaming and hurtful comment to me about my husband. It was SO egregious that it set me back and caused more trauma for me. You should also know there were at least four witnesses to this event. The lies and coverup that ensued following that incident are scary and very disheartening. To think that the clinical director of CR would rather lie than stand up for what is right for the patient is one of many reasons that my family and I feel like we have to take action. if you are in need of any type of help, please look elsewhere.
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