Adolescent Growth

I was inpatient at this facility in 2016. They require you to spend your first week isolated from the world, no phone calls or visits. The house is decorated to look like a house but it feels wrong. The same paintings and pillows repeated everywhere saying "Live Laugh Love". They locked up our shoes but said "None of the doors are locked, you're free to leave". Even though they had us sign contracts promising to stay and they'd sprint after you if you tried to leave. I informed my therapist of a patient threatening me and she just said it's good exposure (he threatened to stab be because I'm Jewish and he'd loudly read the bible every night). We were all treated like we had the same problems. I have so many bad experiences. The shade of blue on their bedroom walls has become a trigger. I could write so much more, but google has a limit. Eff adolescent growth.

We sent our 12 year old son here due to a long history of being unstable. He had ADHD, anxiety, tic disorder, depression, OCD, mood disorder and high functioning autism. He was out of control and needed intense therapy all the time. The decision to take him was not an easy one at all. In fact was one of the hardest decisions we ever had to make. The enrollment process was very quick and quite easy. He was going to be 2 hours away from us. We arrived and my nerves were shot! Then we met Azadeh. She was the kindest woman. She was understanding and we felt he would be safe and well cared for. She knew it was so hard for us and treated our son with so much love. We met the rest of the staff that included nurses, aids and a chef. After 2 weeks and only 2 visits Covid happened. We’d no longer be allowed to see him weekly and be part of his treatment there. They made sure we got video calls and daily calls twice a day to let us know he was good. We were part of his treatment the whole time. We got to eat the two times we went and the food was great and very healthy. They had an abundance of food and the kids were always offered seconds. They even earned time to help the chef cook. They had an amazing overnight staff that kept an eye on the kids the whole night. Made sure his meds were given and any medical attention that was needed. Our son spent 72 days in this facility and I would recommend it to everyone that needs it. Our son learned so much and came out a completely different kid. We will always be grateful for his time there! If not for the amazing staff we wouldn’t be the family we are today. Thank you for getting our son back!

I was a patient here in 2012, and it was owned by a christian couple who claimed to be doing it 'for the kids'. I suffer from agoraphobia and specifically asked before I signed any forms if I'd have time to sit and be by myself, as there were tons of kids in a cramped little house. They enthusiastically agreed, saying that they had 'alone time' for kids who needed it. So when I actually DID sign away my rights and have to stay there, this is what happened: I was not allowed to be alone or have a moment to myself at any time. I was in a 30x30 room with 15 other kids all day every day, and was not allowed to leave or go to sleep without permission. If I cried or panicked, I was reprimanded and had 'permissions' taken away. They had too many kids and not enough food, so our portions were no more than the size of my fist, 3 times a day. The nurses actually had to pay for our food out of their own pocket sometimes, because they pitied us. They also didn't hire enough nurses, and so the boys, when they were supposed to be sent to another house to sleep at night, often weren't able to return due to lack of nurses to drive them and had to sleep on the couch/floor in the 'living room'. We were forced to go to a christian church every Sunday regardless of our beliefs, where 'pray the gay away' was a common theme. In short: We were in starved, cramped, abusive conditions and I can't even drive by this area now without having a panic attack. If you value your child's well being and recovery, PLEASE do not send them here. Center For Discovery was much better and gave me the help I needed.

I don't know why this program works, but it does. The relationships Gracie built here in combination with the tools she learned here, has afforded us a path forward. The parents here are also given the gift of interaction in which we learned from each other. Thank you to the insightful staff for all they have done for our family.

AGI was a blessing to our family. This program not only allows the child the opportunity to accept and grow from their own problems, but it also allows the parent the opportunities to have tools to be better for their child. The comprehensive and thorough methods used by AGI were helpful in our son becoming whole. Our family feels that the scars of the past are healing and we owe God, Dr. Joy and all of the AGI staff for assisting us in helping our son to heal, recover, and live.