Struggled between giving CP two or three stars. But "could've been better" (the two-star rating) summed up my three-week stay the best.
Intake was a living nightmare. I arrived via ambulance from Mercy Creve Coeur and was immediately led downstairs and ordered to surrender my street clothes, cell phone, wallet, all personal effects. Dehumanizing.
But it got worse -- much worse. I was then led into the "Intake and Assessment" hallway. Dungeon-like, with people actively going through withdrawal, still drunk, high, etc. in small windowless rooms. Led into my own small, windowless, undecorated room, I was met with harsh lighting, no TV, no magazines or books and two very uncomfortable chairs.
And there I waited patiently for some staff member to "assess" me.
And waited. And waited. And waited... FOR A TOTAL OF SIX ENDLESS HOURS!! Later, I discovered that most in-coming patients wait that long and I never could get an answer "why" from any staff member!
(Oh, at some point a staff member came in and took my vitals and other information, then gave me a plain bologna sandwich, Sun chips and some kind of drink but that was all the "assessment" I ever received.)
Finally, I was brought upstairs to Unit 3, a cramped locked-down detox unit housing 17 poor souls. Why I was brought to a detox unit, I'm not sure because I had already been detoxed in my own luxurious hospital room at Mercy!
Unit 3 was approximately 30 feet long and seemed almost unheated, it was so cold. Asked to give a urine sample, I was then ordered to my room which was also cold and occupied by my roommate who snored so loudly, I barely got any sleep. It didn't help that I had an uncomfortable bed and had to share the "bathroom-shower" with another room.
The next morning I was determined to call my brother and ask him to get me the hell out of there. But something stopped me (maybe I thought I deserved this treatment?) and I had breakfast with the other inmates, uh, patients. Food was tolerable and I would soon discover some of the food at CP was actually good, cafeteria-style, chow.
I was in Unit 3 for two days before somebody realized they had made a mistake and I really should have gone to the far less restricted Residential Unit -- more on that later. But because it was the Thanksgiving weekend (Thursday-Sunday), I had to wait until the following Monday to be transferred.
That was bad enough. But for three days, I had no shoes issued to me, even though I complained, and so had to walk outside in freezing weather in my hospital socks for the three 20-minute smoke breaks. (If you're keeping score at home, that means Unit 3 is a 23 hours in/one hour out, cellblock.)
After I got my shoes, I asked to shave and was told someone would have to watch me do so. Ditto for the fingernails clippers. In Unit 3, you had to ask and wait --sometimes days -- for everything.
That said, most Unit 3 staff did the best they could to keep us occupied with group therapy, art therapy, outside speakers, etc. And they did hand out free smokes to the people (like me) who didn't have any. So there was some compassion there at least. And I did start making friends, which was a godsend in that environment.
Finally, I was transferred to the Residential Units (8 and 9) and the difference was night-and-day. I could wear street clothes, which made me feel somewhat human again. And we had unlimited coffee, tea and snacks, benefits which were unheard of in Unit 3.
Better yet, I finally got my own private room, with a comfortable bed, side table and reading light, amenities that were absent in Unit 3.
But it was still cold in there. Even the staff complained about it. They didn't know why but they thought it might have something to do with the acquisition of CP by Acadia Healthcare in January 2022.
At CP generally, and in the Residential Unit particularly, the nurses, social workers and techs tried their hardest to do the right thing, even though they admitted they were understaffed. But I got the sense that most of them cared about us. And there were techs who were absolutely outstanding in their leadership of group therapy. So kudos to CP for that.
To sum up, CP is not luxurious, like some other substance abuse/psychiatric hospitals. And it has some glaring deficiencies, with a terrible intake process, not enough staff and poor heating.
But I survived and like one counselor advised me "It's not pleasant in here. So remember the pain -- "RTP" -- when you're tempted to start using again."
Oh, I do remember the pain. No alcohol buzz is worth a return visit to CP, believe me. read more