Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute - Marion, Virginia

Blizzle M.

My apologies in advance for the horrible punctuation or grammar for this review & know that this is solely based on my short duration here as a depressed teenager.

I had the unfortunate experience of being sent here a few weeks after my best friend had passed away due to an accidental o/d. The experience of this place in general would not have been completely horrible except for a moment when I witnessed a mentally challenged African-American female teen be mistreated by a nurse for not wanting to immediately take her medicine. Her name I do believe was Rashawnda & I will refer to her as R going forward for reference. The first day I met R she told me how beautiful my blue eyes were & continued to do so each day after which I always thanked her for & returned the compliment. Most days I would ask her if she wanted to go color in the coloring books with me which she always said yes to & enjoyed. One day the nursing staff came by to give everyone their medicine & when it was R's turn to take it she quietly said she didn't want to but the nurse immediately became irritated with her disobedience & started raising her voice where everyone else could hear it demanding her to "take it now!" which in return started to trigger R. Before it began to escalate any further I walked up to R & said it's okay to take your medicine, I just took mine & after you take yours we can go color in the coloring books & she calmly looked at me & said okay Nataniel & as R began to reach for the medicine the nurse yanked it away & yelled No! She is not taking it for you, she has to take it for me which immediately re-triggered R where she then began to flail her arms which led the nurse to call security demanding all the other kids including myself to the kitchen while R was being manhandled to the ground by the security officers. All throughout the night, we could hear R in the padded room pleading, screaming & crying for her mom & wanting to go home. That memory has been burned in my mind for almost 20 years now & I'd say she probably doesn't even remember me tbh but despite it, I just hope and pray that R is happy & living her best life far away from this place. All children & especially special needs children should be handled with care, kindness & patience, not the other way around.

In my honest opinion I believe that nurse knew exactly what she was doing when she started making a scene by yelling in R's face knowing good & well that it would trigger anyone with special needs. The nurse was either racist, sick & tired of working there day in & day out, having a bad day, or likely just wanted to make an example out of R so that all the other kids knew better than not to respect her authority at any point in time.

Anywho, I just thought I'd share this experience & hopefully save some kid out there from unnecessary trauma. I'd highly suggest trying counseling or a psychiatrist or any other place for that matter before this one.

Jalynn E.

If you love your family do NOT send them here. My mother had to be sent here for post partum depression and psychosis, with schizophrenia and she is bipolar. She was here for 4 days and all they done was put her on her meds she already took and sent her back home. We had to send her back because they NEVER HELPED HER they literally treat them like children in kindergarten. they never gave her anything that would help her out of the terrible illness after her son me told them that she isn't only bipolar as that is the ONLY THING THAT THEY ARE TREATING HER FOR, for about two weeks now, that she has post partum depression and psychosis with schizophrenia, and all they did differently was up her meds for being bipolar they do not listen or pick up the phone to hardly anyone and if they do you'll be put on hold and then they will hang up. I would just love my mother back home as they won't do anything to help her and our family

CoidrinFerruse A.

I have been a most excellently behaved patient within this institute as well as called in and treated other patients with my kindness thereabouts without. As I see it those employed by this institute will sheckle you, interrupt peaceful times, provoke unnecessary responses, hang up on you without any remorse, and even go so far as to disengage patients concerning your calls without at all permitting them to ever even know you called in the long term wards. The food however is excellent, and the lodging is suitable. They can be the most inconcisive deceitful servants I have ever had the dishonor of meeting. With of course the honest exceptions of a few dearful few good people under employ who will take the time to speak with you thoroughly about your treatment as requested.

Dwayne ?. S.

The treatment facility is serving all of S.W. Virginia. With a professional staff and quiet environment, the detox program, will begin the process of healing the body and mind. I am in a better place now and continue on the path to a better life.

Matthew D.

One of the worst if not actually the worst mental health hospitals I've ever been to. They for some reason(s) changed my diagnosis when I feel I fit the previous one better. The higher ups/main doctors made me feel as if what I thought and felt was irrelevant and nothing much to them and acted as if getting to actually know the patient is unheard of I took from my personal experience while there 2 different times. They (mainly one lady doctor) kept asking me about my episode(s) and to tell the truth I was uncomfortable talking about it/them. Thats really the main thing she kept asking about... I understand she/they can better treat knowing more but she wanted details and I feel she was too caught up in the small(er) details and wasn't listening to me or acknowledging much about me and what I was saying. I tried telling the doctors staff members that yes I've had issues before with schizophrenia/schizo- effective related issues but had been living a holistic approach to treating myself and actually felt great most of the time and that my self confidence increased greatly bc the medication(s) weren't causing weight gain bc there weren't any medications at the time. I've done the holistic approach at least twice and honestly have done really well doing so and truthfully think its better for myself, like it could be for other but thats not the point. The fact that the one lady was caught up on little details of hallucinations and delusions lead others to be and its like they didn't even hear me say that or that I had been drinking rather heavily and for some time considering. I'm about positive that the drinking triggered my schizo whatever and that when the alcohol wore off and things went back to normal that the hallucinations and delusions would stop... which they did. Near the end of stay and after the issues ended they court ordered an injection. I was upset with this and felt once again I wasn't being heard as a patient and the fact that the one ring leader that wanted to question me the most but only talk about some details they Presisted on talking about which lead the most part of the doctors team to quite frankly ignore what I was truly saying and only seemed to hear that I WAS hallucinating and also had some delusional thinking and ideas. They only wanted to hear the bad part it seemed and nothing about where I had been drinking and believed to trigger the episode.

Caleb M.

I had a mixed experience. Good and bad. A male staff member pushed me and I fell. I have Cerebral Palsy. The food was Ok. Some staff members were very rude. Others were very kind. I hope I never go back though.

Tabby J.

If you care and love yur family member or friend DO NOT send them here. My husband was here over a week and it was the MOST unprofessional place I’ve EVER seen, the staff was just horrible, especially a nurse name ROXANNE. I was visiting my husband and he was just asking about his belongings to see if they would let me have them and she was rude to him for no reason whatsoever and veeery unprofessional, people like her shouldn’t be working with patients like him or anyone for that matter. They gave him no help, no kinda counseling until his last day there, they didn’t feed him good, the portions was barely enough for a child. I WILL NEVER SEND ANOTHER LOVED ONE HERE.

Joetta S. (.

Wow this place seems horrible. My little brother is in here in need of SERIOUS MENTAL HELP. Yet they are making him think nothing is wrong with him. I thought they were suppose to be professionals honestly but apparently not. They go tell him every concern we have mentioned to them, only making him more upset with the ones that truly love him. Wow just wow. Yall should be totally ashamed of what you're doing up there.