Children's Hospital New Orleans Behavioral Health Center 210 State Street, New Orleans, LA 70118

"This was an absolutely horrible institution! I was a patient for 3 years, subjected to unspeakable abuse, it still haunts me.I tried to take legal action once I was of age and by some screw up actually ended up with copies of my medical records from the place. Statute of limitations keeps me from pursuing charges. Parents PLEASE do your research before confining your child and trusting others to care for them. I want to vomit at the sight of the place."

"I was very sad because I was away from my Papa. But on the bright side, they took good care of me. They fed me well 3 times a day, they were very sweet to me, I got a 1 hour phone call and 1 hour visiting time, and I had a pleasant experience aside from me missing my Papa. Thanks CHNOLA! (hopefully no one else ends up back in CHNOLA. But at least they will be taken good care of)"

"i was admitted September 28th, around 2 in the morning after a failed attempt. i never thought things would get better but this facility was the beginning of good things to come for me. every patient is kept on a schedule, from 7 am - 10 pm (i believe) and throughout the day, i attended group therapy, music/art therapy, went outside, and watched my favorite disney movie. my stay was 9 days and throughout these 9 days, i progressively found myself getting happier. huge shoutout to connor, kaitlin, and mark for making my stay more enjoyable too. on my last day, i had everyone sign a paper, and it’s now hanging up framed in my room so i can remember a time i was truly happy, which relates to something mark taught us in group."

"I was a patient at this facility on December of 2022, I got admitted because of suicidal thoughts and being through a stage of depression, I’ll start of by giving a big shoutout to Connor (I believe thats his name) he was one of the nurses that actually helped through all of my process he didn’t judge me, he gave really good advices that I’m now following. Yet I don’t give it 5 stars because of some nurses specifically the old one were pretty rude and didn’t care about our mental state at all. This place helped me a lot finding who I’m really am, all the young staff is amazing and even tho I don’t remember any names they were great, after everything that happened with my mental state last year i can proudly say that I just graduated from high school with a 3.7 gpa and heading into college soon. If there is any way I could talk to Connor one more time I will just give him a big hug for being so supportive and for being such a great person that cares about mental health "

"Warning: BEWARE!!! Also be highly concerned that this facility is considered the absolute best in Louisiana which is really upsetting. I want to begin by saying that I understand that pediatric/adolescent hospitalization resources in the New Orleans area (actually, in the entire State) are very limited. With that being said, the level of care provided should not be in such a complete state of disarray. My son was admitted twice in February 2023 and again in March of this same year. Being involved with this institution TWICE over a two month period has only proven this to me: It's a revolving door to collect insurance money where no real help is provided, children and parents' thoughts, feelings, opinions, and concerns DO NOT matter. They want to get them in, pretend to care, discharge them when the insurance coverage stops with ZERO outpatient plans (yet they feel comfortable prescribing medications with potentially terrifying side effects which I find alarming, dangerous, and incredibly irresponsible) and a lot of false information is provided to try and appease the parents. Yet this is the only option when you need emergency mental health care! People need to know the truth about this place. I was too complacent the first time he was in and chalked it up to having one bad experience. Having gone through this twice now I know that was not the case; this entire unit needs a complete overhaul, and that's an understatement! To be clear, I was not misguided in that I thought a hospital stay would immediately cure him of what is going on. I just never thought it was going to be a total nightmare. NOT that it should matter, but my son is not a child with whom I've ever had behavioral issues. He's 15, cares about school and makes fantastic grades. We have a communicative, happy home environment. He's creative, empathetic, and incredibly thoughtful. He's not on drugs, he's not sneaking out. He's just a kid living in a scary time going through adolescence and trying to figure out his place in the world. Life was completely turned upside down when I discovered he was depressed, anxious, self-harming, and having thoughts of suicide in February. We went to the psych holding area in the ER where no one told us what was going on, we were simply whisked away and the next thing we know we're going through metal detector wands with police and ushered into a waiting room with a door that locked us in. I understand now and it was quickly obvious then that these are standard procedures and protocol, but wouldn't one expect ESPECIALLY WHEN IT INVOLVES A CHILD that someone would maybe explain what was going on? When you're going to the hospital in the first place terrified for your child you'd think someone might consider that the entire process could be a really jarring experience, for the child and the parent?!? I won't dive into the rest of our almost 20 hour ER experience, but the lack of communication was quite shocking. I do need to give credit to the staff that I interacted with in the Behavioral Health Unit, some of whom genuinely seemed to care and at least tried to make a concerted effort to pass along information and listen to concerns. Unfortunately, there were an overwhelming amount who didn't care at all, including doctors. AGAIN, the lack of communication was atrocious. Almost non-existent. Your child is locked in a facility where their symptoms seem to be worsening, and no one listens. The social workers seemed to care and I think the first one did and the second one didn't. They discharged him BOTH times when he was still telling me he was suicidal and still wanted and planned on self-harming, yet NO ONE LISTENED.That's criteria for entering that unit in the first place! Both times we were told we were set up with talk therapy/medication management only to go and find out there was no appointment at all. None of this is hyperbole. I'm a concerned parent who wants the best for my child and all children and no one should have to go through or continue going through what has been happening with us."