BrightQuest Treatment Centers - San Diego

"I only came here to get rid of the side effects that this certain drug was giving me. I was being forced this medication that made my nerves worse and it was so strong that I couldn't just stop taking it cold turkey or I would have severe and permanent nerve damage. I was chemically held hostage here for a year until they finally took me off of my meds despite never showing any symptoms of what I was being 'treated' for. I may have had slight anxiety/depression but I was forced meds that had known side effects of anxiety and depression??? It really ripped my family apart. 'Therapists' here aren't bright enough to know that they aren't bright enough, which also makes them *extremely* pretentious and condescending. They really have a way with manipulating families to make them believe they are helping though."

"Avoid at all costs. This place lies and leads clients on with false promises. The "therapist" twist everything you say around and use it against you. They generalize all of the clients when there is no need to. Many are at different places in their lives and different levels of competency but are all treated the same demeaning way. The groups are a complete waste of time. About half of the time the facilitator had nothing prepared and we played board games. Complete waste of money. The therapeutic community model is a scam, it's fake and doesn't work ..or at least not the way brightquest works. In 9 months I've seen 9 therapist leave and countless other staff members leave as well. They keep you there as long as possible so they can get as much money as possible. The only way people actually leave is when their families become fed up. They also lie and misled you when trying to convince you to attend."

"We had a family member here for 7 months beginning in October 2021. Strengths: For the most part, the staff are kind and well-intentioned. The directors in particular made time to listen to us and try to respond to our problems. The facility is clean. During family programming, a number of clients and their families who appeared successful with the program shared their stories. Weaknesses: 1. Insurance reimbursement concern #1: The policy when we were involved was that insurance is only reimbursed after all funds are re-couped from insurance AND the client has been discharged. Brightquest and their holding company wound up holding 10’s of thousands of dollars of our money for many months. Based on discussions with our insurance company this policy is highly unusual in the industry. 2. Insurance reimbursement concern #2: If insurance is willing to pay but the client does not attend the sessions, the responsible party pays $800 per day (2021 rates). When this happened, Brightquest took over a month to let us know. 3. Lack of objective evidence for ‘milieu-based’ therapy. Brightquest’s website suggests they have deep expertise in multiple mental health conditions. In fact, it is a small program with an emphasis on milieu therapy. Their key philosophy is that the ‘milieu’ helps their clients get better. I cannot find peer-reviewed evidence-based findings suggesting support for the claim. Having seen milieu-based therapy in action I am skeptical that it is appropriate for the range of mental health diagnoses Brightquest admits. 4. Size of program. The program is small—clients live in small houses. This seems appealing because it should allow clients to make close connections. Unfortunately, if you put clients with a variety of serious mental health conditions in close quarters, some may not do well together. In contrast, in a larger facility, if a couple of clients are not doing well together, they have more space to go their own way. 5. Reactivity. The therapists are highly reactive. Interventions abound. This may be exactly what is counter-indicated for your loved one’s condition. 6. Staffing. Staff turnover was significant. Our loved one received two ‘therapy’ sessions per week but one of the sessions was administered by an intern in a degree program but without a license to practice. It took 3 months for our ‘final report’ to arrive. 7. Suspension from the program. While charging $150 per day, our contact (family therapist) did not answer the phone or return email messages for about a week during a period of suspension and readmission. 8. ‘Family Therapy’. We were assigned a staff member who was away for 20% of our sessions for a variety of vacations and other activities at the center, e.g., camping trips. This aspect of the program was ineffective for us. 9. Group Family Programming. Unstructured. Therapist unable to redirect conversations that wandered off topic. 10. Problems keeping track of client belongs. We had problems upon discharge with lost belongings. The director and overseeing staff worked hard to rectify it. I greatly appreciate the efforts, but it was many hours of our time. Important mail was delivered to Brighquest after discharge that we never received."

"Hanbleceya is a residential recovery program designed for adults experiencing schizophrenia and mood disorders. My experience has been as a parent, and our son was in the program for about a year. My wife and I can't say enough good things about it, and we couldn't be more proud of the progress our son has made over the course of his time at Hanbleceya. The staff and peers at Hanbleceya were a huge part of our son's recovery and really "partnered" with us all the way. I love the way that Hanbleceya involves the whole family. The place is a sort of community where lifelong friendships can be formed. Personal accountability and responsibility are encouraged by staff and peers alike, and promoted within the context of trusting personal relationships. Tough love is exercised. Bi-monthly Family Support Group weekends are a great resource because the whole family (we the parents, our son and his siblings) could be together and meet his friends in the program and their families. There was an initial "no contact" period of about 2-3 months where we weren't allowed to communicate directly. This was difficult but turned out to be extremely helpful in the long run toward developing improved communication patterns. The adults and their families who are in the program have invariably been through extremely difficult and stressful experiences as a result of mental illness, and Hanbleceya does an amazing job of helping everyone navigate through this difficult time of life and equipping families to live in mutual harmony and support for the long-term. The focus throughout the program is equipping young adults to "launch" into the real world and in my experience this is one of the program's real strengths. Hanbleceya has helped give our son the confidence and personal management skills necessary to succeed at whatever he does next. For him, this involves resuming his college undergraduate studies. And he's been "coached" how to handle all sorts of challenges that might come his way. The "Google SGK" review from about a year ago echoes my sentiments very closely so please read that one as well."

"We did an intervention with my daughter 5 years ago - to no avail. She chose to continue living a life style that was inappropriate. It was 4 years after that intervention that she was willing to move into Hanbleceya - albeit "kicking and screaming". I find Hanbleceya to be a sacred place - a place that focuses on the activities of daily living -- quiet, serene, peaceful. I have found each one of the staff to be pleasant, courteous, compassionate and firm. Each staff person has a heart for the client, hope for their independence, and shares my vision for my daughter. In the meantime my daughter has grown "leaps and bounds". She has found a home, has quieted herself from within, and is learning volumes about life (that you and I might take for granted). Hanbleceya has been the best investment that I have ever made."