Please read this review!
I recently spend 15 days at one of their 5 houses. The "detox" house I stayed at is the ratty, dirty one they don't show on their website. Yes, it's a 2.6 million dollar house but has not been "deep cleaned " in who knows how long. Most all things in kitchen were rusty, old and filthy. Not enough silverware, plates, etc. Dishwasher was broken, stove was disgusting and the only way I'd sit on the couch was on a comforter, it was filthy and stunk.
The outside patio four chairs had old, torn up cushions that should have been replaced years and years ago.
With the house making 30k/day ($5k/day per client) you'd think the owner would be mindful of her cash cow.
The "original"carpet throughout the house apparently was cleaned a couple days b4 I got there but I always wore my sliders. The master had carpet in bathroom (yuk).
My bed bed was comfortable, after I took off the plastic mattress cover that actually had a huge blood stain on it, NO JOKE.
Now, this was my 5th DETOX place and the ABSOLUTE worse!
It literally took them 10 HOURS to get my medication. In my initial call, they promised me I would receive medication for detox quickly. I literally sat in the office shaking so bad by this time that I couldn't not even hold a cup of water. Their only response was, "we are busy, we have lots of clients, doing the best we can" -10 hours!! Totally unacceptable.
My whole purpose for choosing this place was they ensured me over the phone that I would get meds quick. That was a HUGE lie. I was so desperate, I waited. I did survive so, I am grateful for that.
THE NEXT HUGE DISSAPOINTMENT was this...I went in thinking it was a 30 day residential program at the house I checked into. Never have I experienced or heard of a program that after ~2weeks, they would move clients into one of their other houses which were "sober living" houses. On top of that, they would literally come to the client and tell them they have 30 mins, pack their belongings, they are moving.
For me, that in itself caused more anxiety. I did not check in knowing your forced to move to a sober living environment after just 2 weeks. The only positive, imo, to that, is clients were still required to go to group from 9a-4pm once transferring to SL.
My first 5 days, 3 ladies checked in and left within a day or two due to the facilities inadequacies. One gal was taken to an Urgent Care and left to wait (by herself) for an hour after her appointment was finished.
She literally could have used.
Another gal was "forgotten" at church.
The one PRO about this program was the "groups " Most of the facilitators were quite good but some had absolutely no control over the group. All in all, groups were fair.
The food was fine. They did provide prepared meals Mon-Fri.
Most of the staff were amazing, with a few exceptions but that's anywhere you go, I suppose.
A special shout out to Gregg, Nicole, Ivan and Colin. They were compassionate and kind yet kept us in line, so to speak.
Greg especially was awesome, hard working and professional. I could tell, Gregg really has his heart in this, wanting and helping those who are struggling with addiction.
If you are looking for a treatment center that incorporates the 12 steps of AA, this is not the place. They did not have one AA, NA or any offshoot of AA books. Only one other person, other than me really spoke of AA. THATS OKAY, AA isn't for everyone but IT DOES WORK, if you work it.
The last thing I will say is if you are an alcoholic or struggling with alcohol and want to be with mostly alcoholics, this is NOT the place for you. Most clients are struggling with heroine, meth and fentynal.
I'm not disrespecting, I'm just stating the truth. For me, it was fine as addiction is addiction, no matter what we choose.
I want emphasize, I am not bitter or angry, not the purpose of this review. I simply want to help anyone who, like me, gets what they are told. Any treatments center is better than none but I would never refer anyone to Hope by the Sea.
Good luck to any and all in your road to recovery.
