Submitted by steadyfiction t3_xtox76 in springfieldMO
I am a student doing investigative journalism on Lakeland Behavioral Health. If you or someone you know has had any experiences, positive or negative, please reach out in the comments or to my email, paigehorton21@yahoo.com.
I just sent your email to my sister, the way they treated my nephew was unacceptable.
Screw that place.
Screw Burrell in general.
Lakeland is in no way affiliated with Burrell. Are you unhappy with both?
Last i checked Burrell owned them. They own a lot of the mental health care around here.
Still i am definitely not happy with either of them separate or not.
My therapist has mentioned (without breaking HIPPA or client privacy) im not the only one whos has a bad run in with Burrell. I believe we chattered about lakeland being affiliated with them but my memory, to be quite honest, isnt the best.
They are not and have never been owned by Burrell. They are not affiliated.
I may very well be wrong.
Either way. Neither should be in buisness.
Agreed.. they are terrible
[deleted]
Do one on eustasis and I’ll give you some real horror stories.
Eustasis is a butcher shop
I looked it up on Google Maps and it’s blurred on street view with all the reviews not showing. Any idea why?
Because they really do suck that bad
Well, I’m curious to read some horror stories now. I know a few people who have gone there (mostly for ADHD meds).
Omg please tell me why? I was honestly thinking Of going there
A bit late but I’d like to hear a bit about this. Just had an employee take a potential pay cut to go work there doing something I know they don’t like.
I work for Burrell as a caseworker and while I absolutely openly criticize certain policies and ways things operate (including the disregard for employee's mental health), this is a very ignorant statement.
Burrell provides services to so many people in our region that would otherwise fall thru the cracks. There's transitional housing programs that teach people how to live independently, who would otherwise be destined to remain in residential care facilities while their court-appointed guardian would otherwise happily leave them for the rest of their lives.
There is very much needed homeless support services in our area. I bet you're one of the same users who complains that we need more social support for our homeless population, yet here you are saying that the largest provider of homeless outreach should cease to exist.
While Burrell makes a sickening amount of money and I'm underpaid by them, they are a nonprofit and put so much back into our community.
Burrell is a huge organization, and with that comes failures, poor practice, and valid criticisms. But even as a bitter and resentful employee, seeing the common over-the-top criticisms in this sub is just absurd.
Burrell objectively makes our community a better place with so many mental health and social programs that otherwise wouldn't exist. I know for a fact that I have made significant positive impacts in the lives of my clients over the years.
There is plenty to complain about, but this level of criticism is unrealistic and just tells me that you do not comprehend the variety of services offered by Burrell, nor what truly rampant bad practices look like.
I am not dismissing a likely bad experience you've had, but rather what you're extrapolating from it and using to make such sweeping generalizations from a place of bias and ignorance. I've witnessed bad practices at times, namely in satellite locations. I've made internal reports and complaints about providers and departments before. Scheduling is a nightmare too right now, and wait times for people entering services is a lot longer than it history has been.
These are valid criticisms. Provide your own rather than inaccurate sweeping generalizations. Because as it stands, you're telling me I should be out of a job; my clients should be left high and dry; multiple substance use treatment centers should be closed; our rapid access unit for people in crisis for mental health/substance use should be shut down; no more children's/autism center/treatment; we should end the largest homeless outreach services in our area; terminate medication management, counseling, DBT, EMDR, case management, and other programs for thousands of people in need of help.
Burrell is far from perfect and I have been very outspoken about that in this sub. But I'm so sick and tired of the outrageous criticism in this sub, usually without any specific substantive examples. It's become a circle-jerk in this sub, and it only detracts from legitimate complaints.
Look at my reply to the user you responded to, because if you agree with their statement then you're just as ignorant and my comment is just as relevant for you.
I knew a minor from another family who claimed he was kidnapped from school by Lakeland and held there for several weeks while his family had to scrape together what he called "ransom," but from what little I could gather it sounds like maybe his family arranged for him to be taken from school and admitted to Lakeland, and changed their minds, hqe trouble getting him discharged, and were being hassled about a very large bill for services. I still don't know the truth, not in contact with that family anymore, but either way it sounded shady as hell and I've heard of places like these all over the country extorting money from kids' families but they don't seem to be targeting RICH families so I'd love to get some clarity on the whole system here.
You're right. I'm a former homeless person in services with Burrell. I do have MAJOR complaints about my attempt to stay in therapy with a provider who will work at Burrell long enough to cover at least one year's treatment plan. But my case workers and their assistance helping me apply for and stay on benefits, medicaid, and get into housing? Invaluable. Even if I still haven't been able to keep the same case managers, they do a lot more to transfer me to a new case manager than the therapists did to get me into mental health sessions with someone new, so we're still trying to start on a plan that we came up with in 2019, but ....yeah. Better than none of that for damn sure!
I would love to hear your stories if you're willing to share!
See, now that sounds exactly like a level-headed valid criticism! And there are plenty of them to go around, don't get me wrong.
The turnover rate is pretty wild, and it's only gotten worse in this industry after covid. I've been at it for over 5 years, and still have some OG clients. But I've gotten some transferred to my caseload that have complained of having in the upwards of 5 different caseworkers in a period of 6 months. That is unacceptable to me... No way to build rapport and have an adequate therapeutic relationship with that kind of turnover rate. Must feel like having the rug pulled out from under you every time you regain your balance..
And the turnover rate for therapists and psychiatric providers is too high too, imo. Doesn't help that the demand and application for services continues to swamp the people who handle intakes. Unfortunately the wait time right now for entering those services is ridiculous.
Oof. They do not "kidnap" children. They do not demand "ransom". They would like for people to pay their bills, but that's pretty standard everywhere.
Its a 1 size fits all.mainly after state n fed money. I was treated like cattle. Dont go there
Do they give you meds or no? The building popped up outta no where and Looks hella expensive
They will drug test U 1st. U would be better off finding a free standing clinic or individual practitioner
If you need outpatient med management you should consider Bibi Health, it has much better reviews than Eustasis.
I would love to read your piece once you're finished!
Would you be willing to share those stories with me?
[deleted]
O shit
Punnchy t1_iqri7l2 wrote
Be prepared for some stories for sure!