My son had a terrible experience here with an overzealous psychiatrist who I understand is not on McClean staff but visiting. Despite our vehement objections, he was held much longer than he should have been given the nature of his issues. The nursing and other staff were fabulous, however. read more

This place completely changed my life. I am so grateful for the week that I spent there back in 2017. I had a serious spell of depression from 2013-2017 after a major life upheaval that I thought I'd never get out of (I'd had a pretty happy and blessed life before that), and tried a few different things during those years to get help including at least two other hospitalizations, but this was the magic place where I found a fresh start - depression retreated finally, and this place also helped me quit drinking. Life's been great since! It's so funny, one of the other reviews I see for this place written by Ashley she had the exact opposite of my experience -- we both tried McLean Belmont and McLean SouthEast, but for, me this place was the winner while Belmont was a total clunker for me, and for her it was the other way around. Anyway, I spent 7-8 days at McLean SouthEast, and I was really impressed with the treatment they offered. Specifically: a) The staff are GREAT, and the system they have really works -- at all hours of the day, you're assigned to a nurse and also to a mental health specialist, which means that if you're having a problem or need to talk to someone you almost never to have to wait, and usually you can pick which of the two you feel more of a rapport with. (Both the nurses and MH specialists are people you'll get to know anyway -- MH specialists teach the classes, lead activities, stuff like that, and the nurses you interact with when getting meds and stuff like that.) Whether it's a panic attack or you just have something logistical you need help with, it's really great when you ask for help and it magically appears, sometimes immediately (and waits aren't long when they happen). The staff are really caring and well-trained -- and there's enough of them that you're bound to find a few you really feel a connection with, and who will be influential in making sure your hospitalization is successful. b) Great "curriculum"/programming. Weekends are sort of a holding pattern until the week starts, but: Each weekday, you have 2-3 little classes where they lead activities and teach you mental health coping skills and big-picture life management stuff, and in my experience usually 1 out of the 2-3 that I took every day were FABULOUS (there's a guy there named Larry Bosco who taught a class I always got a ton out of, he rocks!); the others were mostly fine, with one or two boring ones now and again, but overall I was impressed with the "curriculum." It was like mental health middle school. You do a group "check-in" each morning to set goals for the day, and a "check-out" in the late afternoon to reflect on them, often with some goofy icebreaker get-to-know-you aspect. So each weekday basically goes (it's been over a year so I might be slightly off on some of this): 8amish - Check-in 9am-10:30ish Class 1 10:30-11 Daily doc appointment 11am-12: Break 12-1:30: Lunch 1:30-3:00 Class 2 3:00-3:30 Break 3:30-4:30 Pick one out of three activities (arts class, trivia, or walk as a group to the foosball table down the hall) 4:30-5 Check-out 5-6:30 Break 6:30-7:30 Dinner 8:00-10:00 Free time, you can hang out on your own, watch TV in the communal TV room, and there's usually some activity option if you want, like walking outside or trivia or something) c) I was very happy with the nuts-and-bolts medical care. You get a doc appointment every weekday (Mon-Fri), and I really liked my doctor -- if I hadn't, they had 2 other docs you could try out instead. They really paid attention to what was working and not working, and respected my preferences when I had them, and by the end of my stay I had two medication changes that really made a huge difference to my life (an antidepressant I'd never tried that worked wonders, and a less powerful anti-anxiety medication than the one I'd been taking) and made me feel waaay happier and calmer. d) The facilities are...exactly fine. Not amazing, but not gross or bad. It's like a middle school combined with a college dorm. It's very clean and well-maintained but still institutional and unassuming. Almost everyone was sleeping 2 to a room, and the bathrooms in between each bedroom were split between 2 rooms/4 people. The reason I'm putting 4 out of 5 stars is just because of a few really minimal logistical downsides -- like the mediocre hospital/cafeteria food (most meals were fine and edible, but once or twice I couldn't even bring myself to eat what was being served), the fact that one or two of the staff I met treated me rudely (but that was out of like, 50 staff members I met, and all the rest were REALLY wonderful), and I mean, it's not like a vacation or something. You're in a psych hospital! No privacy, you have a roommate who is ALSO by definition not at their most stable, you don't get to play on your phone or use the Internet. But that's all minor gripes. Cuz yeah, this place gave me my life back - Thanks McLean SouthEast! read more

Note: this review is of the adolescent OCD unit. My son recently left this facility after a 7 week stay. This is the most unprofessional, heartless, and poorly staffed hospital I have ever come across. My son's therapist Caitlin was lacking in experience, indifferent, ill natured, and generally incompetent. Caitlin is a social worker, and while there are many truly skilled social workers, they are not psychologists. She seemed to have no specific focus nor education regarding the hospital's specialty, OCD. The staff, in general, including the CRCs, were frighteningly blasé and lacking in compassion. I don't say these words lightly but I feel they must be said as perhaps they can help others make a more educated choice before coming to this facility. The hospital was more focused on their liability issues and general rules, then they were on the clients's recovery. Secondarily, the building/campus is dated, ugly, and quite depressing. In closing, I wish this review could have been more positive but I just don't have any positive words to say. read more

I feel weird making it public information that I was here, but I'm hoping this information is valuable to somebody. If you have a choice about where to go, I would recommend McLean in Belmont over this place. You're going to be better off if you can get into a program that corresponds to your specific problems. McLean SouthEast (in my experience) is more like a general holding place for the mentally ill. They also have to drive patients to Belmont for certain treatments, like ECT, which is lame. For rules, it's fairly high security. No cords, no cellphones, no smoking. The outdoor space was pretty much a cement courtyard with some chairs and a couple trees. There was nowhere to walk around or exercise. The food was basically lower end college dining hall food, but that's to be expected. On the plus side, everything was very clean and not gross. The nurses seemed to genuinely care about patients for the most part. When I got there I had a panic attack and threw up (#glamorous) and the staff had empathy for me and took time to talk to me. They also never made light of my ridiculous behaviors. That was awesome. Being here was especially difficult for a few reasons: 1. The specific doctor I met with did not appear to take me seriously when I asked for things or tried to get an estimate on when I could leave. She just kept saying I could leave when I felt better (which I read as not having an answer). When I told her being there was upsetting me and making me feel way worse, she also had no answer for that. As far as I knew, I was stuck there until my insurance ran out. 2. Zero of my medications were changed, and they were unclear about how they were planning to help me. 3. There were two therapy groups: one for those with substance issues and one for those without. The woman who ran the non-substance issue therapy group spoke to patients like children (even when it was not beneficial) and all of her reading material was 15-20 years old. 4. As a patient, my decisions were not respected much. For example: I chose to do a "family therapy" session outpatient rather than with the social worker there. They seemed to take that as me resisting treatment, when really I just trusted my outpatient therapist more than them. 5. It's a mixed bag of patients which makes the treatments somewhat generalized. This is true in any hospital for non-specific issues (I assume it's true at the short term unit in Belmont as well), but it sucks. Most other patients were easy to get along with, but some were intimidating. It's hard to be comfortable when you don't understand or relate to what other patients are experiencing. Basically, this place is fine if you have no choice or limited choices about where to go. I have no regrets about going. But if you're planning ahead, this place shouldn't be your first choice. In Belmont, I had a much better experience. I was on a unit relevant to my issues and found it more helpful. It was also easier to cope with being there because there was more space to walk around, my specific unit had more freedoms, and the doctors I met with understood me better. read more

All the staff are very rude very bad experience. They didnt help at all. The food had a long blonde hair in it. Absolutley disgusting and when I asked for another meal they refused. read more

Most of the staff were very professional and caring, there is always a few people who are not caring which is very unfortunate. Everyone seemingly worked together to give my sister the help she needed while she was there. My sister was discharged with a plan to have nursing go to her house daily and witness her taking her medication, there was a court order for my sister to take her medication in order to help my sister. This NEVER happened! Very disappointed that they dropped the ball on this. My sister has once again stopped taking her meds and is slowly slipping backwards to a "bad" place, which this wouldn't be happening if these health professionals had followed through and the needs of my sister. I am hoping by writing this review, their follow through with patient needs after discharging becomes just as important as getting patients on track while hospitalized. read more

My husband was a patient at this facility and I was horrified by what was occurring but mostly by the incompetent medical staff and "social worker" that were treating him. I am in the medical profession so I will leave out all the medical jargon. All I can tell you is if a family member of friend is inpatient, try to get them to call you daily and keep a log as I did, and visit! After a face to face with the practitioners there once my husband was released I filed a complaint with DMH (Department of Mental Health) I was told my language was harsh and accusatory. I said being in my profession for 40+ years I document the truth be it harsh or not. To be brief a thorough investigation was done by the Department of Mental Health and his admission to this hospital was determined to be DANGEROUS. Meaning someone who is mentally compromised was in danger by decisions made during this I believe 2 week admission. So you judge if you want your loved one going to this facility. My purpose in filing my complaint with DMH was to ensure that not one more patient/family had to go through what my husband did and that consequences would follow for this facility. I cried with relief when I got the Department of Mental Health's determination of my complaint. read more

I was at McLean twice this year once in January and at the end of July beginning of August and both times the staff was nice the patients where nice and the nurse I had when I was there in July /August was awesome I would recommend this hospital to friends and family read more