Del Amo Behavioral Health System

"I agree with the vast majority of these reviews. Absolutely do not let your loved ones be admitted to this place. Our adult daughter was sent here after signing what she thought were release papers without notifying her family. It took us hours to discover where she was and then we spent 14 hours calling two/three times an hour and could not get anyone to talk to us to let us know how she was doing or why she was there. We kept getting transferred to phones that rang for 10 minutes without being answered and left messages that were not returned. Finally the receptionist told us the best thing would be to come to the facility to get more information. We drive two hours, only to be told we couldn’t see her as Adult visitation was Tuesdays and Thursdays only and it is Monday. We still can get no information on why our daughter is here or how long they will keep here. She is in a ward where she has been threatened with physical violence and worse. Stay away from this facility at all costs. They do not care about patients or there family in the slightest."

"As a parent of a child who was admitted “voluntarily”, it was an extremely disappointing experience at DelAmo Hospital. Unresponsive and completely uncompassionate. They will almost NEVER answer your phone calls in the youth services department, they’re aware of it, and they just don’t care. Even staff in other departments told me it was a very common and frequent complaint but nothing has been done to address the ongoing issue. I knew my child needed professional help and I depended on this service to provide it but my experience with the unresponsiveness, lack of professionalism, lack of communication (especially with a minor!), and complete negligence by the psych Dr and his nurse practitioner forced me to remove my son from that facility earlier than he was ready. The Dr was the psychiatrist who was assigned to my child for care; however he spoke to him only once for a few minutes, prescribed him meds that his nurse practitioner was reportedly supposed to followup with, and then discharged him 2 days later with zero meds prescribed or sent home with him. One full day went by with zero communication from ANYONE despite my multiple and continuous phone calls that went unanswered. I had no idea when my child was going to be discharged and had no idea if he was even alive and well. The next day I was told he would go home with a 30-day supply of meds. The nurse practitioner finally saw my child and when my child asked for the next dose, he rudely told him “it doesn’t matter because you leave tomorrow!”, and slammed the door behind him. When I went to pick him up the Dr decided my child wouldnt get ANY meds unless I left him at the facility. My child went all day at home the next day unstable, extremely anxious and irritable because of the negligence of this Dr. I give it one star just for the kindness and compassion of “Freddy” but overall I would never recommend this facility to anyone . If you have a loved one, avoid youth services at this facility at all costs!"

"Never let anyone you love and care about be sent here!! I wish I didn't have my friend come here. Dr. Freinhar is a joke for a doctor. He doesn't care about his patients. If he did, he would of done more for my friend then what he did He was willing to try a medication that Freinhar wanted him to try, I even went through the insurance and got it all covered. He didn't want my friend to leave the hospital till he been on this certain medication and all this never happened. To call me and to say have a conversation with him, instead being the doctor and actually try to help him instead of disregarding him. The nurses there was calling a code blue when my friend was NOT CODING. He had a dystonia storm and it pulls him to the ground. Instead helping they did some sort of tickle response I was trying to take care of something and he calls me upset that they wouldn't even listen to him. And Klonopin is NOT A DETOX PILL!!!! That was the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. Please evaluate what you do before you get anymore people in this facility. The dates and time for visitors was terribly misleading. A friend who was driving me there we got stuck in traffic the facility was like an hour away. No where on the website does it say you have to be there before 6 and sign in and everything. How it was sounded as if you can show up between 6-7 and visit. The social worker Julianna is a complete joke as well. She didn't listen to anything I had to say. I don't know why in her mind she think it was ok to send him to a rehab place when he wasn't an addict. You think he wanted to be on these medications? No he didn't. Instead of getting to know the patients lets just throw medications at them and look at them as if they are crazy. It's the exact treatment he had gotten. They would say one thing to my friend and one thing at me that was the complete opposite. I couldn't ever talk to anyone I couldn't know anything and my friend had a hard time remembering all to tell me. And when some would walk past him while on the phone with me they refused. I don't understand how this place is still running. I don't understand how someone can be a doctor and make a claim that " he is milking this" when he never spent more than 10 mins at a time with him. Why they have phones in the hall and you can hear all the screaming and everything, so why does it matter if someone can't go to the patients room to visit? I was terrified every single day he was there. I felt if he was never going to get out of there. Instead of talking ot him they kept throwing stuff at him to take. Having fears that the worst was going to happen. They need better social workers because when I found out where he was going I was absolutely appauled. And they said they didn't want to give him any medications so " we didn't get any prescriptions to him" Again didn't really even listen to him. So you're a facility to help people to feel better... You released them and don't give them any medication so they'll be cold turkey and in danger once again. The only person in the entire facility I will give credit to is Abby. She is the only one that showed true compassionate to my friend. And tried to help motivate him instead looking at him if he was a crazy person. Thankyou Abby for being a wonderful friend to him durning his almost month visit there. As for the rest this place should be ashamed how they run a business.He didn't have his phone, no ID or anything. I asked them to let me know about when so that he would have his phone when he is released. Their response was, " Well she was here, she should of left the phone here." Why would I have done that when previous places lost and stolen from him? Maybe you guys should of let me know like I asked and handle business properly. I wish I could give this place a negative star. Disgraceful. Even other people in this facility don't know how to run their job! Why would I leave anything when NO ONE would talk to me? Why would I do anything when I was not told about anything. How was I suppose to know when he would be released!"

"your staff are just in it to make money no real empathy or regard to mental health struggles at all. i remember being told that i had no reason to be depressed and suicidal. seems to me your staff are just as unhappy as us but their therapy is looking down on the patients to make themselves feel better"

"If you can avoid yourself or your loved one going there PLEASE DON'T GO! They are completely pathetic and somehow lost my loved one's clothes. They barely allow you to communicate with them once they're in there and it's like pulling teeth trying to get any information or updates on their condition and progress. GO ANYWHERE ELSE BUT HERE!!! I'd have put negative stars if maps allowed it."