TLDR; do NOT send your children here. I came in for suicidal ideations and self harm, and left with those being significantly worsened + PTSD that effectively ruined my life. I had to drop out of high school and lost all of my honors opportunities because of the trauma of being trapped inside a small, strongly-lit room full of loud, overstimulating people. My full review is over 1300 words long, so I'm unfortunately just going to have to summarize. The latter half of 2024 was ROUGH. My depression got to the degree that I was starting to cut, and early into the morning of October 1st, I was at my wit's end. I wrote a note of all of the things I wanted my parents to know if I passed. I was 16 at the time. I didn't want to commit suicide, but I was at the point where I couldn't even get out of bed. I had missed around 15 days of school in the first QUARTER alone, and knew that my current solutions (i.e. anti-depressants and therapy) were not working. After a long talk with my family they called my psychiatrist, who suggested an acute care (a short-term treatment plan for sudden and severe issues) stay at a Behavioral Center for adolescents. I was absolutely horrified once the three of us found out I'd be alone with no outside contact (besides daily 5 MINUTE calls) with no estimate of when I'd be getting out. All the exits were keycard locked. I ended up locking myself in the bathroom and sobbing until my dad told me that they'll call the police. They took my clothes and phone, leaving me with nothing. There not being many others was nice but we would spend the ENTIRE day in one cramped room, only leaving for meals and gym time for like an hour. We only got fresh air a couple minutes each day. The others kept getting in trouble (fighting, yelling, swearing, etc). The rest of the schedule was mostly free time (in that one room), behavior lessons, "school." They lied about giving me one-on-one therapy. The school was quite literally ELEMENTARY level packets of math and English. The behavior lessons were just basic "be nice to your parents, don't hit others when you're mad, collaborate with others" etc. None of it did anything to help with my suicidal thoughts, obviously. Things got worse with every day, with the bed having an incredibly thin sheet instead of a blanket, being flat and hard, and having ONE pillow. They also kept the lights on outside the rooms and we had to keep our doors open, so there was constant light and noise. I barely slept, since on top of all that, I have severe chronic insomnia. My lack of sleep combined with spending 10 hours every day doing literally nothing with people around me yelling was pretty much hell. There were cameras everywhere so we had no privacy, one of the staff had to WATCH ME whenever I went to the bathroom, which was often because of IBS. The other patients were weird and overtly sexual and the staff made no attempts to discipline that kind of behavior. I had never really had panic attacks before but this changed when I began going back to school. The bright lights, being in a small room with so many people, all the cameras on the ceiling, etc. The breaking point was a sub looking EXACTLY like one of the staff at Kempsville. I got PTSD. That one week-long stay completely destroyed my plans for the future: I had to drop out of highschool and give up all of my opportunities to take AP exams to make my college easier and cheaper, as well as make it more likely to be accepted to my target school with a low rate. As of last week, I was rejected from my target university. My already stunted social growth somehow got even worse, and I went from not talking much to almost never talking around strangers. In all departments, this made things almost doubly as bad as before. I am completely and utterly disgusted that this establishment is allowed to continue treating young, mentally ill individuals like this. It's a hodgepodge of unprofessionalism, blatant ignorance, and failure on every level to a degree of which should be illegal. Kempsville ruined my life and my future.

Forced to do my intake strip search infront of male staff members as a female. Pediatric team ran tests without me or my guardians consent, leaving us with extra medical costs diagnosing a condition i already saw a specialist for. Forced to take medication for said condition despite refusal. Nurses are apathetic and impatient, MHTs are undertrained children with attitude problems. I was repeatedly antagonized by a frequent-flying patient and forced to give up a majority of my time and treatment due to her behavior and the staff’s refusal to “give her what she wants”. I could count on my hands the number of staff members who are truly compassionate, the rest of them are simply in this field for the social status of a caregiver. I left on a double dose of the medication that got me admitted in the first place. Please take your child anywhere else.

Everyone was very respectful, kind and helpful. They addressed my concerns for my child the best they could. However, my child came home with only half her clothes that I sent her with. I also dropped off her school work and found out several days later that no one gave it to her. Then they gave it to her and she left it on a table to go to lunch. When she came back it was missing including the chapter book she borrowed from the school to do her work. No one was able to locate it. Overall, I'm not sure how helpful the experience was for my child. They were exposed to a lot of behaviors, cussing and aggression from other children.

I definitely needed to come here. Yes it wasn’t the best but most times i was able to get away from my issues. The staff had their days and as well as the kids. Though I learned a lot in my visit and I’m glad I came here because I left better than when I arrive. The staff i would like to recognize would definitely be Ms. Toya, Ms. Lashanta, Ms. Aja, Ms. Kim, Ms.Lovely, Ms. Tiffany, & Ms. Armani. I’m probably forgetting some but these were the most memorable! The night nurses would probably be the staff that didn’t always have the best attitude but most remained respectful.

The one star is only for the few friends I made and the handful of genuinely kind staff members. I went to Kempsville a few months ago and left more traumatized than when I arrived. First off, if you’re a parent with a shy or soft-spoken child, this is not the place for them. You’re never alone — which is understandable for a psych hospital — but here, you’re constantly in the day room surrounded by other kids your age. If you don’t talk, you’re either ignored and miserable or made fun of by other patients. Now onto the staff. My biggest issue was how rude many of them were. The only staff who showed real compassion were Ms. Alexis, Ms. Shae, Ms. Aja, Ms. Vernita, Ms. Tatiana, and Nurse Riley. Everyone else made things worse. While I was at Kempsville, I was put in holds more times than I can count. The holds were excruciating—I was screaming and crying in pain. I’ve been to several hospitals before, and while holds are never pleasant, I’ve never been in that much pain. The male staff need serious retraining on how to restrain female patients safely. I still have what feels like nerve damage on the back of my arm from one of those incidents. They also show no concern for patients’ dignity. If someone needs a sedation shot (what they call the “booty juice”), they don’t bother to do it privately. I once saw one of my closest friends get the shot right in the doorway of my room — in front of everyone. That image has stuck with me and honestly traumatized me. The facility is also extremely understaffed. I was supposed to have a one-to-one for safety reasons, but there weren’t enough staff members available because another girl already needed one. At the time I didn’t think much of it, but looking back, that lack of support made everything worse. And finally, there’s Ms. Row. It was painfully obvious she played favorites. If you weren’t one of them, she’d ignore you or talk to you disrespectfully. She even made the whole group do wall sits once just because we did something she didn’t like. And when she played music, she danced inappropriately — even twerking — in the day room around all the kids. I could go on and on about why this place is unsafe and harmful, but honestly, this already feels like too much to relive. Please, think twice before sending your child here.

Love it

If I could do a lower review, I would. This place was the worst one my child has ever gone to. First, I was lied to about being able to accommodate my child's need for ABSOLUTELY NO ELECTRONICS. That was part of the reason he went in in the first place. Second, I only spoke with the psychiatrist once the whole week my child was gone. He added a new medicine then no communication whatsoever after that. Third, when I picked my child up for discharge, I was informed he was not allowed to have his books or read while he was there. What kind of place doesn't allow children to read as a coping skill? I will never recommend this place for anyone's child.

This place really helped my son and was always available when I had any questions. My son enjoyed his stay and his overall experience. I also like how strict there rules are and there tight security. Thanks Kempsville for a better tomorrow.