Penn Medicine Princeton House Behavioral Health/Hamilton

I learn a lot, from the classes ,felt like I was well treated , very caring staff I will recommend the program for everyone thanks to everyone. And last my therapist was Kelly she is great.,good therapist I nominate her very kind, I give her 10 stars

I attended this HARM REDUCTION intensive outpatient program three separate times over the course of several years. My first two experiences were genuinely positive, and I built trust with the clinicians there. During my second admission, my therapist explicitly told me that I should not skip group simply because I was not in the best shape, and that showing up, even when struggling, was part of recovery. I took that guidance seriously. When I returned a third time, I followed that instruction. I showed up despite not being well. Instead of being supported, I was discharged and told I would need to complete inpatient rehab before being allowed to return. I did not go to rehab. Instead, I achieved three months of sobriety on my own. I then returned voluntarily, sober, asking for support and continuity of care. I was still rejected. The core theme of HARM REDUCTION, is not to treat relapse as a moral failure, but rather accept without shame, that it is part of the experience. A concept that is seemingly far-fetched for professionals capable of such blatant disregard for one’s humanity and desire to recover. That experience caused significant harm. Being turned away after honest engagement, prior successful treatment, and documented sobriety felt like abandonment, not care. It is deeply painful to be told that support is unavailable even when you are doing the very thing recovery programs claim to encourage. Every time a provider abandons a patient who is actively seeking help, it leaves a wound that goes far beyond disappointment. Continuity of care matters. Leave no one behind should mean something in practice, not just in mission statements. I am doing well today without this program’s help, but the impact of this experience has stayed with me.

Useless. Your better off seeing a private therapist once or twice a week than the unqualified people that work here.

I went here multiple times as a child and have lasting trauma from my time there. I was misdiagnosed and heavily medicated for bipolar disorder when I was just 7 years old. I'm unsure if Dr. Khare is still at this place, but she was HORRIBLE. She would ignore everything I would say, told me time and time again that my brain was broken, and gave me every medication under the sun to treat something I didn't even have. Every time she would explain to me what was wrong with me, I would tell her that wasn't right, and she would basically laugh in my face. I would have panic attacks almost every day while I was going there, but she would say that they were angry bipolar outbursts or whatever and the staff would treat me as if I was doing it on purpose and I would just get put on more meds. I am now an adult and finally diagnosed with OCD and getting the treatment I've needed since I was little, but her diagnosis of Bipolar has followed me through life making it impossible to get the help I needed. My parents had no idea what to do with me as a child and relied on Dr. Khares expertise and in the end she made me her guinea pig. Please, if you care about your child please do not send them here.

Lied to my daughter about me. Treated her awfully. Would never go back, and I urge other parents to do their research, in lots of places kids lie about their recovery just to get out of the environment. Don’t just look at the statistics. Staff was rude and unhelpful, seemingly escalating situations instead of helping.

Great place.

Day one I went to the front desk staff and told them it was my first day. The woman I spoke to basically ushered me into the common area and I was not given any other direction. I wrongly assumed there would be someone there running the group that I would at least be introduced to or something but nope. There wasn’t even any differentiation between patients and doctors. So instead I reluctantly asked a girl who looked as lost as me and it was only her second day. If I hadn’t asked her where she was going she would have been in the wrong place herself because the counselors were already sat at their tables in their respective rooms with no regard for their patients. When I did find where I was supposed to be the counselor running it seemed to have no idea and did not even have any materials for me so as per her instruction I was supposed to look along with someone else — which was very uncomfortable given these binders are also filled all the other girls’ personal stuff and notes too. Then after the first couple hours everyone switched up “classes” and I was literally standing there without a clue what to do. I went home after a couple hours because if I were to have to go and speak to whomever at the front desk again, I probably would have been some type of way and I didn’t want to upset or trigger anyone there. I left two stars after this. Today, the following day, the counselor called me about my absence and I told her that I felt as if the program was run like a free for all and I didn’t feel heard at all. She got defensive with me and told me she oriented me during the intake — which by the way is a really overwhelm process that takes three hours, they give you inches worth of paperwork, have you meet minimum of four different people, uncovering layers of trauma right off the bat with the psychiatrist, all before her rapid firing of how things function in the program itself and sending you home. I was not able to retain the five minutes she took to show me the different rooms after an hour of speaking to the psychiatrist about the first fifteen years of my life that I still can’t recall without hyperventilating. It’s unreasonable to expect that. And this is supposed to be a trauma informed facility. Her response? Totally dismissive, saying“Well, I did show you though.” Today, after speaking on the phone with her, I wish I could give it this place zero stars. To just throw people to the wolves in a program like this is bizarre and not friendly to people struggling with mental health issues whatsoever, but the lack of accountability afterwards is frustrating and harmful. After only a couple hours it was easy to see this is not a program where individual needs are even taken into consideration. ** I should also mentioned i’ve called the “patient advocate” phone number that they gave me. So far i’ve called twice and left a message and no one has even called me back or acknowledged me. It’s a shame when people working in mental healthcare truly should not be working in mental healthcare. This is one of those instances IMO. I would avoid this place.

Pros: -Most providers genuinely seem well intentioned -They offer a variety of topics -Structured approach to healing that provides clear treatment goals Cons: -Hyper-focused on symptoms without adequate consideration of root issue -Structured approach to healing that minimizes client focused care