I can't really speak on the quality of the IOP or PHP programs…read more
My experience just... was not what I expected at all and I had since found better sober livings (which is saying a lot, because those were still inherently stressful but I at least stayed long-term. La Jolla Recovery set the bar very low).
I've been in sober living for a year now, and I am now leaving. Never any relapses, graduated a program, did all the things. I'm at least in a better place from it.
La Jolla Recovery was NOT that place for me.
I began in April 2025. I stayed for a total of two nights before I had to leave to go to the emergency room, back to the inpatient.
I was inpatient for about two weeks before I came to La Jolla Recovery. I had recently quit cannabis and was seeking mental health treatment.
At first glance, it seemed chill. I had friends who had gone here and apparently had a positive experience.
The groups were decent, staff were friendly, there was available snacks, etc. They had outings at the cove, etc.
However, the sober living was......... awful!
I stayed at a sober living house where I was immediately prescribed medication I had not taken while inpatient, but was forced to take it. One of these medications were entirely new to me, Trazodone. There was a delay in getting my mood stabilizers, anti-psychotic, and anti-anxiety medicine.
I had never taken Trazodone before, but having nothing else available to me, I took it as prescribed/was pressured into taking it by the sober living manager who organized medications.
The first night, I had stayed up ALL night. I was hyper vigilant, no need for sleep, and a little paranoid. During the day, it was... okay. I didn't really know what was impacting me considering how vulnerable my mental health was and the chaotic nature of being in sober living for the first time.
The second night, I took the medication again. Again, I was feeling overstimulated, overwhelmed and restless/anxious. The sober living manager gave me a 2nd one, and I felt pressured to take it/was told "it would help me calm down and sleep"; that's when the shit show began. Immediately, I started hallucinating visual shapes and became scared. The best way I could describe it was "my brain was on fire." I have a history of epilepsy in childhood, and my first thought was "Oh my god, am I going to have a seizure?" My mind began severely racing and I asked her if I could call my parents and I thought I needed to go to the hospital.
Coincidentally, my aunt called during this time. She, and another house manager, told her I had gone to sleep and didn't let her talk to me. This was a lie. I sat on the sofa, feeling severely anxious and panicked. I was not aggressive, overly disruptive, anything of the sort. Everyone was in their rooms at that point, as it was time for bed. I did, however, kept asking for them to call my parents because I was afraid I was having a medical emergency (I definitely was) and asked to go to the hospital. I had never hallucinated like that EVER, I had no previous history of psychosis.
Initially, she told me "I am NOT going to let you ruin this house for the other girls," meanwhile, I had gotten along with the roommates and even knew some of them from having been in recovery before. I was clean, kind, and tried my best to be considerate. I introduced myself to people, wrote a note explaining my situation, and tried to be as mindful as I could be considering I was already in a vulnerable state, having experienced a death in my family, a sexual assault, and other traumatic occurrences within the few months prior to me seeking support and help. Then, she and the other woman (a fellow house manager?) threatened to call the police and have me taken away in handcuffs. I had done NOTHING illegal; I had no substances on my person, I respected everyone's space and items, I broke no laws. Holy hell, I was there for 2 days and was trying to get acclimated to a new environment. What was the crime, having a mental health episode as a result of a new medication mishap?
Eventually, I was able to get my parents on the phone. They spoke to her directly and said that if I could leave the sober living in an ambulance, they would meet me at the hospital. I waited patiently for the ambulance and went to the emergency room, where I waited all night and was placed back in inpatient in the ICU at Sharp Mesa Vista. There, I was restabilized and put in a different sober living.
The aggression from the house manager, the lack of empathy, the lying, and the arbitrary difficulty to even get into communication with my support system was actually insane. She felt like a wolf in sheep's clothing; fronted as a kind and caring person, but then would switch and be quite scary once I was in crisis.
I was told by one of my friends who works in recovery that she has since left/been replaced, but oh my god, I pray that they thoroughly vet their housing managers at this point if they want retention. 0/5 stars. Avoid.
