Hillside Inc.,

690 Courtenay Drive Northeast, Atlanta, GA 30306

"Dear Hillside, I hope you never see another “client” again. I am writing this review to, hopefully, discourage some parents from sending their delicate children here. The sheer amount of mental abuse I faced here was insane. The trauma I experienced leads me to break down at the thought of residential care—ultimately shutting off treatment options that may be beneficial or necessary to improve my health. I have found the only escape to be ketamine, cocaine, alcohol, marijuana, etc. Every time I think of Hillside, all I can think is “I would rather die”. I have ramped up to grams of cocaine and ketamine a day at the young age of 17. I refuse to go to rehab, even though I need it, because of the scars you left on me. Physically and emotionally—as self harming is quite easy at Hillside. In fact, the restraint position they put you in is enough to dislocate your shoulders. They even talked about cases where they dislocated the shoulders of “clients”, due to the restraint they put them in. Your treatment of delicate children is not conducive to their health. I won’t explain it here, as countless reviews explain their process of using restraints, drugs, intimidation, isolation, etc. I will say that the lack of care here is infuriating. Every time I think of Hillside, my heart pounds and I start breathing heavy. Every time I think of hillside, I just want to kill myself. I have no hope anymore. I used to be a bright, young musician. I even went to college at 16 for music, after I got out of Hillside. I had multiple scholarships and research projects. I ultimately had to take an administrative leave due to my mental health and the sheer amount of drugs I was putting in my body. But the fact is, I am living with emotional scars. Emotional scars that Hillside didn’t treat and only added to. When I think of Hillside, my only solution is to snort ketamine and cocaine, and dissociate out of my body. I would use my “DBT” skills, but they just remind me more of Hillside, Embark, and the countless other treatments I’ve gone to. I want to make it clear that I am waiting for the day I turn 18 so I never have to live under your threat. Personally, if I was getting sent back to you guys, I would kill myself first. It’s even worse because I want to live, love, and laugh more than anything. I want to go back to college. I sincerely hope your response to this is meaningful. I hope you don’t respond with “residential treatment is hard for everyone :)”. I hope you understand the emotional scars you have left on me and countless other fragile children. I hope you never see any more clients again. If I do end up killing myself, “Hillside Inc” is going on the top of my suicide note. You may have silenced my happiness, but you will not silence my voice. Note: I understand Hillside is helpful for some. But the majority experience major trauma."

"if u are thiking of sending your child here DO NOT. i have PTSD from it, and everytime anything even REMINDS me of it i feel like im going to throw up. The staff give no cares in the world about the kids. They do unneccessary holds. They yell at them, and degrade and humiliate them. They take your "privs" which are priveleges such as being able to go to the dining hall, do various non therapeutic activities, even be around the other kids for no reason at all, whatever they feel like doing. They do not help at all. This place does not help at all. It may look very appealing on the website, which is what they want to do, but do NOT be fooled, it looks nothing like that. the food is garbage, the school really isnt that great either!! (i fell behind and barely passed freshman year once i got out) theres this one "precaution" which is SS (safety suit) whihc is literally a jumpsuit a prisoner would wear. its supposed to "prevent contraband" and "prevent self harm" like that even does anything? its just humiliation at that point. if you wanted to prevent self harm you could like, you know, actually talk to them and not make them feel like garbage. i could go on and on.....the only good part about this place was my therapist mr Roy. he was great, like actually amazing, and was the only person there who really cared. but other than that, dont go here. the only reason i stayed out after that was the fear of comign back."

"As someone who went to hillside, I am BEGGING, never send your child here. The staff was abusive, mentally exhausting, and horrific. Hillside was not bad because it was a residential program, as they are trying to defend themselves in their replies as, they were bad because they were evil. The food served was disgusting. One person found bugs in their food, and another found a SCREW. There were no other options for people with ARFID, like myself. Staff would threaten kids with eating disorders that if they did not eat, they would be in trouble and they would get "a feeding tube shoved down your throat". Phone calls with parents lasted once a day. If Hillside did not like what you were speaking about on the phone, they would give you a script. Therefore, you CANNOT speak about issues or anything happening to you unless you want the phone taken from you. They take away your right to express yourself to your own GUARDIANS. Hillside can try and reply saying they do their best to provide a good environment, etc. etc., however, they are simply not. Good staff was few and far between. My therapist, multiple times, blamed my mental health issues on me as a person, made me feel guilty and disgusting for my trauma responses, and did not know how to handle my mental health at all. She bullied other patients, mocking how sad they were and how horrible they felt. She pushed and pushed until people would have breakdowns. When I was vulnerable to her, she gaslit me and convinced me that I hated my mother and that I would be happier staying at hillside, when I was in fact BEGGING to go home. The cherry on top, is they forced me to talk to my abusive father JUST to get me discharged because if I talked to him "it looked good for insurance purposes." Overall, hillside was the most traumatizing event in my life that I ever had to experience, and I was only there for 3 months. Never, under any circumstances, send your child to hillside. DO NOT LET THEIR REPLIES FOOL YOU. They do NOT care. If they did, they would be fixing the issues that copious amounts of people are talking about."

"i went here for 6 weeks in 2022. i was 14-15. i was in the North 2 cabin. the first day i was there a girl self harmed so bad and the staff sat there and let her. i got upset because nobody was helping this girl and i ended up getting in trouble because i tried to stand up for her. i was told to “focus on myself.” i started noticed the staff would target specific kids even if they weren’t doing anything and restrain them (more like body slamming them into the wall or pulling their arms behind their back so far they could snap). i learned that i wouldn’t get in trouble if i just shut up. so i did. i got my privileges “privs” taken for helping a girl brush her hair. i spent my 15th birthday there. i told them i was being verbally and sometimes physically abused at home and they forced me to patch up the relationship with my parent (it didn’t work). a kid was throwing up in the day room and i plugged my ears and a staff member came up to me and told me i wasn’t allowed to plug my ears. you get 10 minutes to shower, brush your teeth, and change. if you take too long they will walk in on you. i left hillside traumatized and afraid. and definitely not any better. the only reason i am “better” now is because i am afraid of going back there. thank you to the few staff members of my cabin who could make me smile occasionally."

"I thought that I had written a review for this place already, but I am doing this part now. I was mistreated by staff so much, being restrained and given shots for asking reasonable requests. The amount and quality of food given is bare minimum. My therapist also committed perjury to a judge, saying I was planning to commit suicide (which was false) which eventually placed me under a conservatorship. Take your loved ones out of this place for their own safety."