I admitted myself into Timberlawn with the expectation of good care. However, that was not what I received. The facility is filthy to the point of digusting. The councelors all shared office space- they were crowded with several desks and a couple of chairs-not very condusive for a heart to heart therapy session. You are allotted 3 one hour visits per week w/ indiv therapist. The rest of the time is spent in educational group meeting where patients were given info to read. At 5:00 all the therapist would go home-the unit would then be run by underpaid nurses and techs that had very little if any real trauma care experience. If a patient was to have a flashback, the staff would avoid the situation and told us patients to do the same. Pretty much impossible if you had any empathy at all. Therefore, after hours most of the caretaking and comforting and counseling was given by other patients. Not such a good idea. This specific concern was addressed to Dr. Ross and his answer was that he knew the situation was less than ideal but that there were budget issues and it just wasn't possible to have therapist on the floor past working hours. Unfortunately during the evening hours is when most of the chaos (flashbacks, panic attacks, disassociations etc.) took place. I came from out of state and had high expectations. I should have gone back to the airport once I walked in the lobby. The main office was filthy, it smelt, the couches were stained beyond repair (with what? I don't know) ,and the wait was more than 2 hours- just to begin the processing procedures. I stayed for 2 1/2 weeks because the individual therapists were great... but I believe that my stay at Timberlawn set me backwards in my overall therapy. We had to fend for ourselves and often times lost focus on why we were there in the first place. Hopefully, they give the entire Trauma Unit a make over but as Dr. Ross said...its just not in the budget. I urge you to do research before signing any papers.
Pros: great indiv. therapist
Cons: the entire facility and all the time inbetween indiv. therapy
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