Southwood Psychiatric Hospital

"when I was here staff put a girl in a hold with she was seizing, staff stole my Percy Jackson books out of lock up, and staff also pushed their political ideals on us even regarding mental health when the ideals have been scientificly proven wrong for some time. they also rarely allowed us to call our families unless they called us. if i could do 0 stars I would."

"My preferred name was never used despite me telling them that I don’t like my birth name. My diet wasn’t respected, and if I didn’t eat what they served I was told I’d have to stay longer. I was denied everything; I asked for eczema lotion and never retrieved it. The staff said they would tell the nurse but they never did. I had to scream and cry into the phone while talking to my mom for the nurse to listen to me. I was hardly ever allowed to talk to my mom. I was yelled at for “lying” about my veganism. I have a specific diet because of how sick I get easily. I was never given tylenol for my migraine or laxatives for my constipation (gross. I know. But the food never helped). The staff is very rude. There’s maybe two that are kind. One of them being a black lady, I don’t remember her name. I don’t think it was Deja, though. But she was the sweetest lady ever, and walked me out to my mother on the day of my discharge. The place is disgusting, and filthy. There were mold in the showers and the seats we were forced to sit in was uncomfortable. A patient with PTSD and schizophrenia was restrained and put into the CDR only because she was having a flashback on the bed in the morning. The staff also never provided pads, and “ran out.” Luckily I never had my period, but we were forced to use cheap tampons. We had to stay in a cramp room for hours in a day. There were bugs on the floor and the filth triggered my OCD. I’m not sure why this place is still opened. It has to be closed, soon."

"I spent a week here a while ago. I got the help that I needed and am bettering myself now, but therapy aside, it was quite a disturbing stay. The most important thing with mental patients is to make them feel human. Like the homeless, without the sense of humanity they lose themselves. The staff were ok to me but I wasn't on anyones bad side yet. I was in boys 2 and I feel like there shouldn't have been 2 violent kids one being 15 and the other 9 in the same room for 12 hours. Food was good though."

"Parent review- If I could rate 0 starts I would. My 9 year old went here for 5 days to get some help, and was more terrified of the place than the thoughts inside her own head! She witnessed staff dragging kids by their feet into their rooms (not combative kids, just screaming kids). She witness staff screaming at kids for not moving or working fast enough. When she started to cry from all the screaming she was told that if she cried it would go on her permanent record and she would have to stay longer. The night before she was being picked up to come home, she was crying because she was anxious and missed home. Staff told her they would take her bed and make her sleep in a room without a bed if she didn’t stop crying. Also told her that if that happened, she would not be allowed to go home even if someone showed up to get her. This place is an absolute disgrace! Doctors and nurses either turn a blind eye or are completely negligent in seeing how these children are treated. Trust me, nothing they are going through is going to be helped by this place. They will just be too scared to go back! Child review- I was here for 5 days and this absolutely disgusting I saw kids get DRAGGED in rooms for doing absolutely NOTHING and the fact that these are not there kids and also NOT EVEN RELATED TO THEM there was a saying that was myob mind ur own business and also they used it when the kids were DOING NOTHING WRONG! This place was horrible and dirty I never saw them clean ever in my 5 days there! If u look at the photo below that is where I spent 5 days! I don’t recommend this and if u don’t want ur child to have horrible experiences then find another place."

"I stayed here a two years ago, my first time being put in a psychiatric hospital. I was terrified. Some of the staff were horrible. One staff would put her middle finger up and would curse at the patients there. They would bang on your beds, shake them, kick them to wake you up. I reacted to some girls panic attack one night. I was crying and hyperventilating in a ball in my chair and was told “Oh not this again, stop your fine”. Found razors in windowsills. psychiatrist hospitals aren't supposed to be five stars but south-wood could have been so much better. Safety was horrible there. I will never put myself through that ever again. Luckily i am so much better now. That place did not help. I just wanted to get out! Physical fights broke out, constantly yelling. I was put down on children's unit no explanation, I saw two grown men dragging a 2-4 year old to the isolation room because she wanted her dad. Please dont send your children or loved ones here. I was told i was going home on a Wednesday but instead i waited another week till i was finally taken home, my mom said the communication with the doctor was horrible. I will never forget how traumatic this place was. They never even let you have your comfort items, even if you had to wait days to weeks to get them from what i heard from my roomate. I was so relieved to be home."