Waco Center for Youth

I went there about a year ago in Oct 2024 I met this really cool staff Named Mr Taylor he play muisc and take you outside and I was on Bosque unit It was a cool unit So I went to school there I met this really cool teacher Named Ms Madison I saw her in 503 down and I said hey what's up and gave her a hug for the first time and she was cool about and she told me to have good day and stay out of trouble And there was one day I was school computer looking up how to get Comanche to Brownwood because I used those towns while back and she told me watch what you look up and I'm over here rolling my eyes and I say what I'm looking up And she says you were looking up Comanche to Brownwood oh but my hometowns and she I know and 3 months later I'm walking the stage and everybody was yelling let's go cityboy I'm over like oh no even Ms Madison was calling me a city boy and I was liked no there is no way and go to the reception and get my belt buckle from horse barn and I got my hab ring and Ms Madison ask let your belt buckle and she says you want be a city boy anymore and I told everyone I'm leaving I literally gave everyone hugs and told everyone goodbye The people I'm gonna miss Is Mr Whitfield Mr Taylor Mr Matt Mr Jamie Ms Tay Moma Keshia Ms Marze even my teachers Ms Madison Mr butcher Mr Ferguson Mr Bardin Mr West even my therapist Ms Liz And Ms Carson They will Be Missed .

DO NOT SEND YOUR KIDS HERE!!!!! Lies lies and more lies this place will only hurt your child more in no way help them not a safe place

I went here in 2024 and i was in san saba just got there in november and it was great well a few weeks later i got sexually harassed and they did nothing about it they let your kids date there and i this place has alot of cool stuff but if i'm being honest this place didn't help me at all they dont do anything if they dont want to deal with you they will send you to jail

I was here in 1/13/25-8/4/25 with a level 4 I did good but there were a lot of weird kids there in the Trinity unit except for 4 kids out of 10 and some kids try to bring your level down all the way to a 1 and being a level 1 sucks but there were good staff like Rick Houston, Bruce Nichols, Shawn donihoo and clement omoh, have staff activities were awesome like a trip to a rangers game for example and a Baylor bears game but the reason I gave it a 3 star is because just too many code whites,ert,yellows or crises in general

Very rude office staff

On their best day they are grossly incompetent. The director fails to lead his staff. They do not do as he says. They were to call weekly to provide updates on our daughter. In over 6 months, they called twi e. Samantha Sexton, a therapist, is incompetent. She has hung up on us during a meeting, roles her eyes, shakes her head and giggles to herself when she speaks with us. She withholds information, lies to us and misreprents us to the other staff. She has blatantly lied during one meeting to her coworker about us. We have made hundreds of calls, emails and texts, only to be lied to. She and others there have undermined our authority. Please NEVER send your child there. They are incompetent and it starts with the director. Samantha Sexton also represented herself as a licensed therapist. After research and asking a final time she admitted to only being a licensed social worker. Our daughters care team consisted of Stephanie Bryant, Monica Lucas, Chellani Outland and Samantha. All of them undermined our parental authority, lied to us, refused to tell us where our daughter was being transferred, and lied about us. These people are incompetent, deceitful and liars. Our daughter has been diagnosed licensed therapists and psychiatrists prior to going here. The staff there ignored them. The entire staffs incompetence at Waco has resulted in our daughter not getting the help the help she needs nor the correct placement. I cannot stress enough, the staff at Waco Center for Youth are incompetent and deceitful.

This place should be shut down and defunded. I was here back in '98 and the treatment the kids receive was absolutely horrible. I remember if you had 4 times misbehaving they would force you to stay in your room for "room restriction". The staff was very rude and disrespectful to the kids and they would write you up for the pettiest things. I remember I got sexually assaulted by another boy there in the middle of the night and the staff did nothing except laugh and tell me to shut up. This is not a rehabilitation place, it is more like a prison. Parents, DO NOT send your children here. They will come out worse . Thankfully, they sent me away because they were not making any progress with me. But the bottom line is it didnt help me at all, it made me very angry and resentful and hateful. And that is what will happen to every child that goes there.

I was a client here for about a year. There's significant ups and downs. Most of the staff are therapeutic and understanding, while others not really. School :10/10. The principals are awesome. I came to the facility almost two years behind due to my frequent hospital stays prior. Within five months I not only caught up but I also graduated a year early. The work is self paced and the teachers are helpful. Therapy: experiences vary between each client. my therapist (Samantha) was awesome. She tells everything how it is and doesn't sugarcoat. She doesn't make decisions for you. She leaves room for you to come up with your own conclusion.she is not judgemental. There are other therapists as well. There are clients that do not like her, but I feel like once you get to a place where you are not completely stuck, communication gets better. I wasn't forced to say anything if I wasn't comfortable. Mrs. Samantha was patient and did not force anything at all. some clients find her bluntness as mean or rude. Like I said, it all depends on the client. Staff: There were often fights between clients but they were quickly ended by staff. When a client jumps the front fence, security and law enforcement are immediately called to bring the client back to safety. I feel that all staff at this facility should get a raise because of what they have to deal with. Often when some clients are mad or bored they will call a rights officer and falsely accuse staff of physical assault. these staff get out on allegations for no reason and the unit if not whole facility becomes short staff because of ongoing investigation. Then the clients complain about staff not being at work. I'm going to tell you right now. Never once, have I seen a staff hit another client. so these staff need a raise. There is a level system incentive for clients which is controversial. I feel that it should not be a thing. It raises more animosity. There have been a few clients who have physically assaulted staff and still got rewarded. The reward system needs to be changed. I have been in and out of hospitals since I was about 13 (which this was my 24th one counting both acute and residential). This place is a mess like most facilities. Nowadays there are many people who go to mental facilities to skip school and there are people who will spaz out just because they are bored. I feel the people who genuinely need help aren't getting what they need especially people constantly trying to take their life. The suicide rate is always getting higher. In order to fully understand what someone needs, you must have Patience and understanding. Because you don't just wake up one day and want to kill yourself for no reason. There is something behind that. Often people who are suicidal have a difficult time being able to open up about their emotions. You can't force them and them going to a facility will not magically fix it. The best thing to do is be there for them. Listen. And let them know how much you love and care about them. As someone who has had really bad suicidal tendencies in my past, being forced or being secluded to a facility just made me want to hide more and made it worse. Taking your child to a facility can sometimes be a good idea. If you do put them in a facility, try to put them near where you live and visit them once or twice a month. Homesickness is very common and can actually make them feel worse. And also mental facilities are worse than you think. There's a lots that happen that people don't know about. Sometimes when they come back from a facility they may be worse than before and have more issues. I feel like a facility should be a last resort. I would recommend having an individual therapist or intensive outpatient (IOP). That way they will still be able to live at home and not have to change schools/environments.