Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion at Nationwide Childrens Hospital

I will forever be thankful for the men and women that helped me here. I was sent here 5 times from age 15-17 and was a very sick child; OCD, PTSD, ADHD/ADD and substance use drove me into phycotic rage and suicide. I remember many nights in the padded room, 4 quarter restraints, yet they still treated with compassion and care. Did they cure me? No. But the seed of recovery was planted within me which grew into what I am today. Things like vulnerability, resiliency, insight, accountability, and hope were planted in my mind and inspired me to change as I got older. Im 2 years and 7 1/2 mo sober and have found the help I needed and the peace which comes with it. I'll never forget where it all started. Looking out the window in the pavillion and watching the cars speed by wondering, will I ever be ok? Ive found my answer. Thank you Nationwide!

World-class facility and staff.

i’ve seen a lot of bad reviews especially reguarding inpatient. i’ve been on nearly every inpatient floor for depression/anxiety and, well, let’s just say i know my way around crisis. here is my full guide on everything inpatient. it’s long, but i tried to put everything you’d need to know along with my honest opinions, so please read it all if you’re going to crisis or are taking your kid there. :) first off, i’ll get the bad stuff out of the way. you may not get into inpatient from crisis. and i know that it can really suck when crisis can’t take you to inpatient. it’s happened to me. but at the very least they’ve been able to help me plan going home and the next steps for keeping safe. they are also all very sweet! i’ve gone all hours of the day/night many days of the week (meaning different staff) and have never really had a bad experience. at the end of the day, they do what’s best for you. as my final “bad part” section, i’ll say this: it can be boring. they do strip you of your clothes if they have drawstrings, zippers, etc. and they do make you use special pens and all that sort of stuff. its for safety. and you can bring your own clothes and some other stuff if they meet the requirements! and sure, sometimes the wait in the crisis center can be long. i’ve had to go to the waiting rooms behind assessment where you may wait for a bed before too, and those do kinda suck. they’re very boring. HOWEVER…my inpatient team on every floor was amazing. i have been multiple times to certain floors, too, so it wasn’t just that i got a certain “lucky staff team”. they made me feel safe and comforted. not just the therapists—but ALL parts of the staff…all AMAZING. the nurses, MHS’ (mental health specialists—aka the staff who run your groups and hangout with you on the upper floors), therapists, and even the security guards are all super friendly and very sweet. on the YCSU the nurses would take the time to take me for walks and some played cards with me. we’d walk and talk and they made me feel beyond appreciated. theres also a super cool music room! Oh, and don’t skip TR (therapeutic recreation)—it’s tons of fun and you learn a lot too. my TR helped me learn new card games while also helping me find things i can do outside of the hospital such as volunteer work. you MAY also have the chance for AAT (animal assisted therapy). THIS IS NOT PROVIDED AT EVERY STAY—it depends! however, if you do get a chance, all the AAT doggos are super cute and tons of fun. and their owners are always THE BEST. (p.s. i love you boltz!) and on the upper floors, it was the same, except i got to meet some great kids up there too (although FYI, you can’t share contact information —but it’s in your best interest). these floors offer group therapy AND really fun group activities alongside your individual therapy. plus, when just hanging around in your hallway, you get to play cards and board games and color and all sorts of fun stuff with the staff and other patients. the lunch hall is super nice too. my therapists made me feel validated while also providing me with helpful feedback and coping mechanisms. i will say, the therapist i met on one of the upper floors wasn’t greattt, but it didn’t effect my stay much because i was primarily doing group work. and you get used to the rooms. i actually grew to like them (for a hospital id say they’re pretty sweet). oh, and the tv isn’t bad either. there’s limited channels but there’s a few good ones. and there’s ad-free movies (they’ll usually have seasonal ones too). plus, i thought the food was actually pretty great. i’d recommend going for the pizza or the grilled cheese with a side of the yogurt parfaits—these always turn out well from my experience (also while i was in PHP, which is also awesome). plus, there’s specials too! throughout my seperate weekly therapy visits, i still say hi to some of the staff i’ve met along the way! obviously, THIS IS JUST MY EXPERIENCE(S), but i’d recommend NCH and know people with similarly positive experiences.

My daughter was an inpatient therapy for a little under a week and I am so deeply grateful to the staff and practitioners that helped her through that hard time. We continued to go to outpatient therapy weekly and it has been a huge benefit! Though life still life us and troubles don't magically disappear we are all gaining so many tools from this experience. Will always recommend it to other parents with kids struggling in any area of mental health, especially anxiety, self harm, and suicidal ideation. Thank you all for what you do every day !!!

I had just got discharged from there today. My second time being there in 5 months and I have got to say. They have the best support there and helped me so much and I don’t know how I’d be here if it wasn’t from getting admitted there 8/26/24 to 8/31/24 and then 1/24/25 to 1/29/25 the nurses are so sweet there and therapists and psychiatrists, coming from a minor, the best nurses, psychiatrists, and therapists for me is Marissa with the long hair, Dr. Lteif, Alex, Valerie (TR), Kwasi, Jay-z, Phill, Daniel, Nick, Eva, and neasia, there so dearly sweet and nice and my top favorite people of help I’ve met. Big thanks to them for all the help with going in and having my discharge around 12 pm today.

Was in here for suicidal ideations and was genuinely so amazing, the staff was great and friendly, the therapy was amazing and they always made sure that I was treated well.

Thank for helping these kids with suicidal thoughts! Without you guys, we don't know where we would be

Just wanted to say THANK YOU to Shruthi and Max who came out to our school from the NCH Crisis team to assist a student in crisis. Their knowledge and expertise helped so much! Appreciate Nationwide Children's for offering this service

amazing care staff and specialists. i understand why a lot of reviewers are so upset, but a lot of the problems mentioned are unavoidable when you're going to a psychiatric facility in the middle of columbus. almost every place i've been to is currently overrun with patients because there are so many children and teenagers struggling with mental health currently. additionally, there are safety measures that have to be followed. just about no psychiatric facility allows shoes or certain types of clothing as they pose a risk. it's a standard. mandatory reporters are legally required to tell parents/caretakers when a patient is having thoughts of harming themselves or others. it is a standard. if you are inpatient or your child is inpatient, they are inpatient at a mental hospital, not a hotel. it's not going to be a fun time but the focus is on keeping them and other patients safe. i was inpatient multiple times here and at other places. this place is honestly the safest to go to or to send your child to in central ohio. i've heard and experienced horror stories from other mental health services/hospitals, genuine mistreatment. i'll emphasize again that the wait times are due to how many patients are currently going through treatment or waiting to go through treatment. every mental health service has wait times. and unfortunately, sometimes there isn't room in the hospital for a patient, which is why some people get sent back home. it's an unavoidable consequence of how much mental health crisises have skyrocketed in the past decade. please do research on psychiatric services before solidifying unrealistic expectations. some of the things people are complaining about here are necessary measures put in place to keep every patient safe and alive while in the building.

Edit 12/29/23: Shout out to all the amazing nurses and staff here. BIG SHOUT OUT to Kat, they’re amazing!