If I've learned anything from playing "rehab roulette" it's that an ideal rehab doesn't exist, you…read morejust have to find one in which the pros outweigh the cons, which is the case with La Amistad.
The pros: The head of substance abuse, Larry, is outstanding. I thoroughly enjoyed his process group and learned a lot from him. Unfortunately, he does no one-on-one therapy outside of an initial intake assessment. There is no attempt to cut you off from the outside world unlike other rehabs, cough cough, Recovery Village, cough cough. Phone and internet privileges are comparatively generous: there are about four hours each day when the phone can be used and the internet can be used for an hour a day for work or business purposes. Television privileges are likewise generous as well, with cable and streaming services, and there are screens in several different rooms so finding something that's appealing to watch isn't difficult and as long as you don't put on something really objectionable, no one is going to complain, at least when I was there. The library also has a decent selection of DVDs as well. I enjoyed the twice weekly yoga classes - it gets you out of having to sit through yet another process group, and it's a habit that's stayed with me. Food is ok. Institutional food is institutional food, and there's always the salad bar if the hot food option is unappealing. If you've been a good little boy or girl and go to most of the stuff you should have been going to all week, you are afforded a weekly trip off campus to a Starbucks, bookstore and an organized outing (equine therapy, movie, candy store etc.). After several weeks of treatment, you are also free to leave campus for a limited amount of time, with a family member. Again, there is no attempt to cut you off from the outside world, and if you haven't played "rehab roulette," trust me, that is a big, big pro. I don't know if smoking can be considered a pro, but they allow it. That got me smoking again after 15 years not smoking, so I have mixed feelings about that.
The cons: If you go for substance abuse, there is ZERO, and I mean ZERO attempt at dual-diagnosis treatment. Sessions with the psychiatrist, Dr. Buchholz, were perfunctorily brief and of little value. In fact, I'm not even sure he is a psychiatrist. The only certification he had on his wall was as a medical examiner, which would make him a pathologist. That's kinda creepy, isn't it, having a doctor whose patients are normally dead? The only saving grace of the doctor was he did not cut me off my benzodiazepine script for panic attacks but he did not recognize my depression and failed to prescribe any antidepressants, which (after being prescribed a SSRI by a subsequent psychiatrist) made all the difference in the world (if you feel good about yourself, you don't need to abuse drugs or alcohol). The individual therapists, Erin and Colette are useless. Both are unpleasant and Erin also has the dubious distinction of being judgmental as well. At first I thought the weekly one-on-one individual therapy was inadequate given that you live there and have all the time in the world for therapy, but once I figured out how unpleasant Erin was, I was glad it was only once a week. The pool (if there is a lifeguard) is only open an hour a day, and if you want to exercise in their limited gym AND use the pool, well, you're going to have to choose one or the other.
In summary, La Amistad gets three stars. It's far from my idea of perfect, but after being in and out of these kind of places, saying that it sucks the least sums up my sentiment about it.
