Cornerstone Behavioral Health... 40 Watchung Way, Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922

"I want to Thank Cornerstone for taking good care of my son for 5 months. Especially, his social worker Angel G. She was so helpful with my son’s aftercare plan. I can’t thank her enough. She truly is an Angel!"

"Cornerstone Behavioral Health has been nothing more than superior. They took care of my 25 year old son who was struggling with severe mental health issues. I highly recommend Cornerstone. I realize that it takes a process to get there, but everything was addressed in the most caring, professional way. From the Dr, ,nurses, social worker ,Angel worked tirelessly. They are saving his life."

"Food was okay, experience is forgettable but do-able, my case worker Elizabeth was horrible, didn’t listen to anything I said and only cared about her paycheck.."

"Well I’m not typically one to be able to give above 1 star rating to any psych ward I’ve been in, but cornerstone was one of the better, but for sure needs improvement. I’m an advocate due to past experiences in psych wards and I will say this ward was more humane with treatment then others I’ve been in. The staff primarily showed they cared for the patients which isn’t the norm when I’m in psych wards, they had helpful groups throughout the day, even things offered at night and weekends. The groups were informative and generally helpful. From art, to music, nursing educational groups, groups run by drs, trivia groups, bingo. Many of the staff were very kind. Here comes my but or why I had trouble choosing a proper rating. I’m not sure the staff at night or whomever was in charge of movie options cared or understood triggers. Primarily the unit was men with less women so they voted on what to watch and typically the movies were more violent or aggressive. I wouldn’t watch never found them appropriate for the setting we were in and I noticed some women’s behavior changes due to the chosen movies. When I commented on this I was asked to leave the room so I did. My psychiatrist will remain nameless, but he really wasn’t very knowledgeable or caring and was basically ignoring anything I said. I’m thankful for my charge nurse “W” who honesty was the reason my psychiatrist ever listened. How he chooses to medicate in my experience is lethal seeing his idea to stabilize a person is to drastically raise a medication which I informed him was causing me hallucinations similar to when I attempted to overdose on psych meds to end my life. As I said this this psych dr simply asked if I wanted a glass of water and walked out. This specific medication can have serious health issues and negative implications on a persons health due to improperly raising the dose how he chose to. Thanks to my charge nurse I was able to take an outside necessary supplement to stabilize me which at first my psych drs refused and ignored for multiple team meetings I had. Looking back I am shocked of how much he didn’t care to listen. Also when I went to court the lead psychiatrist actual chose to lie which is very typical and of course the psych patient can’t be taken seriously due to that whole stigma thing. So out of most psych wards this was better. Improvements like any psych ward would be better dietary choices for people such as myself with gluten and dairy sensitivities, which would mean having a more qualified and compassionate dietician who chooses to take her job seriously when she is responsible for that and yes she chose to not fully listen to the severity of exactly what the foods she pushes patients to eat actually in fact destroy gut health which impacts mental health and stability. She at one point ran a group and stated she doesn’t eat this way and taught us how to shop for food. Clearly the food options should be adjusted, but obviously that’s a huge change I never see happening. I cringe thinking about what I had to endure eating there seeing my typical everyday dietary restrictions that as a patient with supposed rights clearly the right to eat how my body thrives wasn’t an option. I pray for a day that psychiatrist learn empathy which I understand isn’t apart of most psych ward psych drs resumes, but please medicate wisely, listen to the patient, because the 3rd leading cause of death in America is hospital malpractice and legally prescribed prescription overdose of a patient. But overall this is one of the better hospitals I’ve been in, but needs improving."

"When my son was there in Feb 2016 the two weeks he was there the place had know heat they also didn't want to give them there 15 minutes a day of fresh air until he insisted on it since its in there rule book the people that worked there. said it was to cold to go out but the people that are there 24/7 it s not to cold they wanted fresh air. Needless to say my son reported Cornerstone to the state for not having heat and the state came out the next day and heat was fixed but the said part about the whole thing was two days after that they released my son when he was know where ready to be released and my son past away not even a week after they released him. I wouldn't recommend my worst enemy to that place"