genuinely horrible. my right to receive mail wasn't respected for no reason, human rights officer…read moresaid he would look into it and then never addressed it again. I was drawing in a public room with two staff in the room when they started talking about how they both knew this girl and one of the staff had sex with her, meanwhile im a victim of sexual assault , and a minor. care was horrible. I was left in my room crying/ having panic attacks often, with no one checking in on me. I was told by the social worker Alfonso he couldn't help me b/c he was off the clock, and he was frustrated. my sink didn't work, my room felt like it was a refrigerator, and there was constant screaming from other patients when I have PTSD with loud noises. staff hardly ever deescalated situations, making patients even more mad, and at only point I witnessed a fight between a patient and staff because a patient was mad and staff instigated it by being rude back. Rather than treating me for PTSD, this place made it so much worse. Anything that even remotely reminds me of here sends me into panic mode. I cannot stress this enough, do not go here. Just about any other option is better, and especially for minors, this place only leads to worse anxiety and depression. My treatment team didn't even know what there were treating half the time, confusing me with other people, and would skip days and use random dates for my birth control, a very simple med to take everyday in order. At one point during my stay another patient started asking me to marry them, and would touch me without my consent (again, I'm a victim of SA so touch is hard for me), and staff would often see this, and how uncomfortable I was, and not do anything. The only saving grace was the occupational therapist Caroline, she is amazing, super sweet, very attentive. Doctor Richard, the school teacher on the unit, was also great. I learned so much, he's a super sweet man, and he looked after my needs (like stress, hunger, and dehydration) more then the nurses and counselors did and that's not even his job. Sharon, one of the counselor, was pretty good though. She was someone I can say definitely helped.
When it came time for discharge Alfonso sent my parents ANOTHER mental hospital I would have to stay at just like this one when I was recovering, fully functional, communicative, and ready to return to school after suffering trauma. He did this without me knowing, and told me that the plan was going to be outpatient afterschool hours with me back home while I finish long term healing. Luckily I have parents who respected my autonomy to decide to go home, otherwise I would be in a cycle of more and more hospitals, when I was NEVER a danger to myself or others, only traumatized and needing to heal. I cannot express this enough, Alfonso has ZERO care in the world about the kids he treats, and shouldn't be in this line of work. To be a social worker you need to care, Alfonso didnt even know what I was being treated for half the time, and was going to go against my wishes and what he told me to put me in a different hospital when I was already healing fast, and not a threat to anyone at all. Metrowest medical center- if you're reading this- genuinely fire Alfonso.
This place didn't respect my rights as a patient, worsened my PTSD, and was just a horrible environment no one deserves to experience. dont come here. And Alfonso i really hope you can one day learn not to size up victims of assult as "crazy teens" who you exclude from communication about their own treatment.
