I was admitted to Millwood as a 14 year old against my will in 1985 and stayed there for three months before being discharged. The abuses I witnessed while hospitalized there have stayed with me and the passage of time has done nothing to dull their impact on my life.
I am certain that the management of this facility has turned over many times since my stay there, and I can't comment on the hospital's current management.
I would, however, caution anyone considering a facility of this type for their adolescent child to investigate it fully and understand exactly what kind of treatment their child will be receiving, especially when it comes to the areas of physical restraint, the scope of threats that staff can make to patients and the protections that are in place to prevent sexual abuse.
A mental hospital stay can easily take a small problem related to adolescence and turn it into a lifelong problem associated with recovering from trauma and abuse. Protect the ones you love and don't turn over their care to others lightly. My parents believed everything that my psychiatrist told them, which in retrospect is a decision I am certain that they regret.
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