Walden Center For Recovery's Online Review Report Card

Not to be dramatic, but Walden’s customs have left many of their patients I know personally with PTSD. Their immediate action of taking complete control out of the hands of their patients and threatening patients into behaving is reverse psychology. This only makes patients crave control even more than they did prior to being there.Patients were given minimal time outside (around 20 minutes per day, which is less than what’s claimed on Walden’s website), and were not allowed to do absolutely anything without asking (including drinking water and standing up).I heard one of the MHC’s tell parents not to trust their children and to assume their children are lying when they say they have eaten. Breaking trust between a parent and child, and insisting that they take control of and feed their fully grown child is exactly the OPPOSITE of what should be taught to families in this situation.A better approach would be to focus more on the mental aspect of the eating disorder, teach them to trust their intuition, and honor their own wants and needs! Not to act out of concern or worry about the reaction of others (as that is that root of most eating disorders).Additionally, the food given to patients was not motivational for recovery. They gave their patients low quality food (for example: Kraft Mac n cheese, a slice of dry toast, and a random two tablespoons of scrambled egg, no joke.) They gave their patients no opportunity to reintroduce themselves to the foods they initially loved before their ED’s, and performed treatment with a “body before mind” mindset, when recovery is actually “mind before body.”I was a patient at Walden’s facility in Dedham MA. The medical providers convinced my mother, right before COVID-19 hit, that I did not have intuition, and that she needed to stop trusting me and take complete control over me. This completely destroyed our relationship over the 2 hardest years of the pandemic, and left me with severe mental and emotional trauma after losing home and entering adulthood.I could go on for a while. I’ll wrap things up, but just in case you’re curious, here’s a couple more incidents from my experience:-When I first arrived at Walden, there was DRY puke in the clothing drawer when I was putting my clothes away.-The woman who drew blood from patients frequently could not find veins or achieve blood flow into the needle. Again, I could go onThank you for your time. I hope one day these facilities will have staff that actually know how to treat eating disorders properly.

I have had friends who go here and say that, overall, Walden is a supportive place. However there is one staff member named Claude who is extremely dangerous. Claude has many complaints filed against them from patients but Walden has done absolutely nothing about the complaints. Claude gaslights patients into thinking people are talking about them behind their backs and will say to the patient's face she hopes they fail. Claude is not honest with a patient's team about what the patient wants or needs but rather withholds information whenever she can. Oh and there are complaints of Claude being physically abusive as well. Why on earth she still works there is beyond me but I am terrified for the safety of the patients because of her. If you are seeking treatment look elsewhere until Claude is gone

i came here when i was at my lowest in my anorexia recovery and it was truly life changing, i wouldn’t be alive today if i didn’t end up going there. There are some things they need to improve like weight inclusivity & staff needing to following hipa more rigidly.

Horrible

i went here transferred from the hospital to impatient for 2 weeks. as soon as i walked in the other patients were so so kind and welcoming. the staff.. not so much. i was just another kid with an ed to them. i guess thats true tho. so meal times were kind of a different story with the patients, many ran out during meals and didn't eat or have supplements, but later i would walk to my room and see them being tube fed with a syringe shaking back and forth. i definitely recommend eating because supplements like make you so gassy and bloated lol. and when you eat you get to go to the green room! in the green room there is like no people refusing to eat and everyone has great conversations. the patients also were fun, pulled fire alarms and did just funny crazy things aha. but hearing people get restrained was a little hard to hear. after i was transferred to residential!! i walked in and it felt overwhelming because i had just gotten use to upstairs. i cried alot but after like 3 days i was completely used to it and comfortable. in resi you become like besties with everyone and get everyones socials. i never laughed as hard as i did in resi like we had a lot of fun. the meals are on a 4 week cycle so i new what every meal coming was. the days went by slow but added up fast. the staff were good, youd get use to them and know all there names and there personalities pretty quick. left after 6 weeks of walden, saw my dogs for the first time in forever, then started php, then iop. but overall walden is a solid 3/5, not the absolute worst place to go, felt like summer camp and made life long friends. :)

Decent Care but Disappointing DischargeI spent a few days adult IP and the rest of my almost 3 weeks adolescent IP.Walden’s IP does a great job addressing the medical piece and weight restoration, but barely addresses the mental health portion because that’s what Walden’s residential is for. Unfortunately not everyone can get into residential because of insurance reasons, so they are kept in inpatient and discharged to virtual PHP/IOP which is a dramatic transition without adequate support. This transition left me feeling lost and depressed.Regarding the actual program itself, the levels system — based on compliance and behavior — in adolescent IP is very bad. Red and yellow goes into the red dining room where most patients don’t eat and stare at those who do. The environment is very tense and triggering, making it nearly impossible for patients to move forward into the green level. If you can make it into the green dining room, you spend time with people who actually eat and who play games at the table. It’s a much better environment.The adult IP does not have a levels system and the dining rooms aren’t divided. It’s a much less triggering environment, especially since we are spread out around the kitchen which limits comparison.Everyone in adolescent IP complains about the levels system and about how unhelpful the groups are. The groups are very light and mostly pointless (Ex: go-around questions lasting 30 mins about your favorite winter activity instead of actually processing the eating disorder thoughts and resulting emotions).It’s sad how much people rave about residential — real beds, actually helpful groups, and more privileges. I really wish I could have gone, but my insurance doesn’t cover it. And here I am, freshly outpatient, and struggling because I have practically no support. While this isn’t Walden’s fault, I’m still upset and angry because I want and need help that I can’t get.Overall, would I recommend Walden’s? Yes. It’s not perfect, and the levels system needs to be fixed, badly. Walden’s IP does what it’s supposed to do — medical stabilization and weight restoration. And the facility is very clean and the yoga and art rooms are nice. But keep in mind that you need Walden’s residential for the mental piece, which is key to success in recovery.

One of my friends was there and with in the first few days they have already forgot to feed them 3 times. Even when you ask to use the bathroom they ignore you most the times. We brought her school laptop and they lost it. They say they provide comforters, pillows and blankets. They did not. We had to drive back there and bring them some. When they lost the laptop they were screaming at the patient say it’s the patients fault for the laptop being lost. Not a good place to send anyone. 10/10 do NOT RECOMMEND

everyone in residential was so so amazing and it was genuinly so so helpful. love all of the mch's they have made my recovery so much better and worthwhile.

Its trash but atleast they gave back my pale fragile lil biter

I was there for the young adult inpatient. the counselors are young and fun, but the doctors are generally condescending and will pressure you, however take this with a grain of salt, they are trying to take away your eating disorder which of course is uncomfy. All in all I was basically left in a room for hours with nothing to do, it’s an extremely disorganized program and I would recommend trying a different place, such as montenido, best of luck! <3