BrightQuest Treatment Centers – La Mesa

During my early 20's (2021), my parents were desperate to help me get better, and placed their trust in Brightquest. I was told many things that were incorrect during my stay. The primary problem I had was that I was… told I was going to receive psychiatric care in a certain way-- that my medicine would be administered to me personally by a staff, because I have a disability that requires medical attention, and because it wasn't being treated correctly, I was unable to manage my life at all. Staff delivered the medicine maybe 5 times altogether and repeatedly blamed me for missing it, with unclear instructions as to how to obtain it and what was promised/expected with my medicine. In addition, staff would consistently not follow interventions properly and took out their bias about what they thought the client needed on the client. For instance, I was seen as "stubborn", and so therapeutic interventions like giving me my medicine and abiding by certain de-escalation techniques were not adhered to. There would be lists made for staff to follow and staff would repeatedly do very different, harmful things. The team of therapists I had repeatedly changed, were not licensed, and made interventions that were harmful. It was reactive therapy as a result, rather than thoughtful and well-placed advice and help. I didn't understand what therapists were trying to accomplish. With my current therapist at my new treatment center, even if I don't understand the details, I understand the end goal, which is important in therapy. The therapy was not evidence based. I received feedback from my peers constantly, and tried to find a way to follow directions, but felt very lost and without guidance. As a result, I was misplaced and ignored in the program. There was constant staff turnover. The place was very scary for me and the staff didn't understand my fear. It felt like the staff were administering punitive interventions rather than trying to talk to me about my fears. I was never able to receive the care I needed because I could not communicate with any staff member honestly and openly and establish trust. The key issue I found was that I was misdiagnosed, was not given the proper medication, and the problems I had were mistreated and left to fester without assistance and any trusting relationships. I did not have consistent, appropriate psychiatric or medical treatment the entire time. Moral of the story: I left and went to another treatment center and was able to regain control of my life. The many thousands of dollars wasted at Brightquest is awful, but after 3 years of evidence-based treatment from the place I went on to graduate successfully helped me understand that the true evil that Brightquest did was promise help when what they seemed to want was righteous and justifiable praise, and money. I wish Brightquest could see the turn around I did, and realize how wrong their treatment of me was. I am now happy, successful, and stable. I do not have any of the disorders they thought were accurate and important to treat. I have friends, family, and a life. Please, please reconsider attending Brightquest. Look for evidence based treatment centers. I needed space and I needed the opportunity to start trusting and build a happy life, and when I was offered that elsewhere, that was the beginning of my road to getting better.

The people that make up the team at Brightquest are some of the most compassionate, patient and caring people you’ll come across. Simon in admissions takes the time to understand what’s going on with your loved one and… how to get them from point A to point B. He really cares and takes the time to understand the whole picture. Rey is one of the client care coordinators at Brightquest and he takes the time to build rapport with each and every one of the clients. You will be able to quickly tell Rey has a huge love for simply helping people.

**Veterans, Please Read Before Considering Bright Quest San Diego** I am currently a patient at Bright Quest San Diego and the first admitted under a VA Community Care referral. I feel it is important to share my… ongoing experience, particularly for other veterans considering this facility. **1. Violations of Basic Patient Rights and Freedom:** Bright Quest claims to uphold certain personal rights for clients, as per California regulations. However, I was told I could not possess or control my own money, a clear violation of my rights. This is explicitly stated in their policy on the wall, which says clients have the right to manage their own cash resources. Despite this, when I requested my credit and debit cards back, they refused. It wasn’t until I filed a formal complaint with an outside patient advocate that my cards were returned. This experience made me feel trapped, and I do not believe the facility is respecting basic patient freedoms. **2. Financial and Medication Mismanagement:** Bright Quest operates a financial system called "True Link," which controls clients' money. This system seems to work for people whose families manage their finances but is impractical for those, like myself, who are self-sufficient. I had to request my own funds weekly and was not informed about how or when withdrawals were being made from my accounts. After a month of asking, I was told I would receive a bill, which is not transparent and undermines financial independence. Additionally, there were several serious issues with my medications: - I was told I had to pay out of pocket for my Adderall prescription because the facility couldn’t transfer it from the VA. - They ran out of my Vilazodone (a mood stabilizer) and didn’t order it in time, forcing them to go to a local pharmacy to pick it up. This caused me to be told I would have to pay out of pocket again. - My muscle relaxer prescription ran out and wasn’t reordered for days, leading to unnecessary delays. - They also refused to provide Excedrin for my migraines, suggesting I go to the emergency room instead. **3. Unlawful $2,000 Service Animal Deposit:** Bright Quest required a $2,000 deposit for my service animal, which was clearly outlined in their *Policy for Service Animals* document. The policy listed this deposit as a “damages deposit” for any potential harm caused by my dog. After confirming with the ADA that this charge was not legally required, I requested my deposit back. However, they insisted it was just a "damages deposit," despite the document clearly labeling it as a "service animal deposit." This inconsistency with their own policy raises serious concerns. **4. Freedom to Leave the Facility:** I was also told this was an "open door" facility where I could leave whenever I chose. However, when I decided to leave at one point, I requested my belongings and was only given some of them—not even my money. They also threatened to call the police and report me as a missing person, which is extremely alarming, especially as someone with a history of police trauma. This made me feel extremely unsafe and trapped. **5. Doctor Change Requests Denied:** I have asked for a doctor change multiple times, which is my legal right under patient rights laws (including *Title 42, U.S.C. Section 1395cc*), but my requests have been denied without explanation. --- **Conclusion:** I want to stress that while I understand the True Link system may work for private-pay clients who rely on family support, it doesn’t work for someone like me who manages their own finances. It seems Bright Quest was unprepared to handle patients with insurance, and the lack of assessment before opening to insured clients is problematic. These issues have made my experience at Bright Quest extremely difficult, and I feel my rights have not been respected. I plan to continue updating this review as my situation progresses. I hope this information helps other veterans make an informed decision when considering Bright Quest San Diego.

Overall, Brightquest seems to have the potential to be a beautiful place if you make it one and if all those involved (parent, client, referrant, etc) fall under-- to each's own capacity-- a conjoined understanding of… what enrolling into the facility truly entails before onboarding. Top of the Line professionals in terms of medical, psychiatric, directorial staff, and coordinators. In the San Diego office, administrative advision and onboarding facilitators seemed to be - at a minimum - understaffed, underprepared, rushed... disjointed, disoriented - retaining inconsistent speech and tonal behaviors. First day, as most everyone will tell you, is definitely whiplashy; so be prepared. Most, if not all therapists are pretty fantastic, though there's a healthy sprinkling that will likely benefit from more seasoning or better balance when it comes to working with the clientele that comes through the facility--especially considering the severity of what Brightquest's treatment plans offer. Resolution could see steps towards improvement with a simple forum on situational and environmental threats, could addtly. benefit from the inclusion of more proactive superiors. (aside from weekly staff meetings which seem to not be too productive, I really just believe there should be a massive overhaul/addition to supervising faculty, or an increase in physical foot traction of prior mentioned superiors, wherever they're holding these mystery figures. Yes, it is true from what I've read in other reviews that plenty key players are conveniently often on vacation. Website also needs an update.) I definitely think that clients should have a say in who they work with throughout their time in treatment, if afforded the luxury-- e.g. building or altering their own teams. The option of choice and communication does so much for clients in a space with inconsistent, often seemingly unclear boundaries and assistance. Also, on the DEI note, not very accommodating in terms of practicing religion. Last and certainly MOST important. If at this point you have any retainer hesitations-- great resources, work study programming, activities, group sessions, and residential function is a very intelligent, strategic layout. Each individual playing a hand in house management, whether that be house managers themselves, night staff, or especially nurse Theresa (who is working 24/7!) are diamonds in the rough of it all. At the end of a long day, throughout any level, at Brightquest (with the right treatment and mentality) you can fall on the network you've built for yourself within the community there. I truly do hope to see the team at BQ San Diego weed out some of the bad parts, as there is so much light and an outpouring of love and friendship in the work done there.

Beware!! I’m surprised they get 3 stars I wouldn’t give them one! They are extortionist who will lie to your face and take your money and you get left homeless on the street! I spent a little over a year with BQ and I… wouldn’t leave my dog there to be treated not alone a human being. The therapist are all incompetent and tell your family lies about you just so they can keep you there as long as they can and suck you dry of your money! I was put into alternative placement back in 2020 and one of the facilities they placed me in for paying 10k a month was literally a converted motel in a compound with no running water little to no food inhumane accommodation including a bathroom that didn’t work and no clean sheets to sleep. BQ also took my phone from me for over a year which is a violation of my rights as a client and only allowed me to call my family once a week for 5 minutes. If I tried calling my family without their permission I was knocked down in the program or threatened with other means of punishment. When I filled multiple violations with San Diego County Mental Health department they found several of my complaints valid and that I had my rights violated there. I only wish I would have had the money and resources to use legal action against BQ for the treatment I endured during my time there

I only came here to get rid of the side effects that this certain drug was giving me. I was being forced this medication that made my nerves worse and it was so strong that I couldn't just stop taking it cold turkey or… I would have severe and permanent nerve damage. I was chemically held hostage here for a year until they finally took me off of my meds despite never showing any symptoms of what I was being 'treated' for. I may have had slight anxiety/depression but I was forced meds that had known side effects of anxiety and depression??? It really ripped my family apart. 'Therapists' here aren't bright enough to know that they aren't bright enough, which also makes them *extremely* pretentious and condescending. They really have a way with manipulating families to make them believe they are helping though.

Avoid at all costs. This place lies and leads clients on with false promises. The "therapist" twist everything you say around and use it against you. They generalize all of the clients when there is no need to. Many are… at different places in their lives and different levels of competency but are all treated the same demeaning way. The groups are a complete waste of time. About half of the time the facilitator had nothing prepared and we played board games. Complete waste of money. The therapeutic community model is a scam, it's fake and doesn't work ..or at least not the way brightquest works. In 9 months I've seen 9 therapist leave and countless other staff members leave as well. They keep you there as long as possible so they can get as much money as possible. The only way people actually leave is when their families become fed up. They also lie and misled you when trying to convince you to attend.

We had a family member here for 7 months beginning in October 2021. Strengths: For the most part, the staff are kind and well-intentioned. The directors in particular made time to listen to us and try to respond to our… problems. The facility is clean. During family programming, a number of clients and their families who appeared successful with the program shared their stories. Weaknesses: 1. Insurance reimbursement concern #1: The policy when we were involved was that insurance is only reimbursed after all funds are re-couped from insurance AND the client has been discharged. Brightquest and their holding company wound up holding 10’s of thousands of dollars of our money for many months. Based on discussions with our insurance company this policy is highly unusual in the industry. 2. Insurance reimbursement concern #2: If insurance is willing to pay but the client does not attend the sessions, the responsible party pays $800 per day (2021 rates). When this happened, Brightquest took over a month to let us know. 3. Lack of objective evidence for ‘milieu-based’ therapy. Brightquest’s website suggests they have deep expertise in multiple mental health conditions. In fact, it is a small program with an emphasis on milieu therapy. Their key philosophy is that the ‘milieu’ helps their clients get better. I cannot find peer-reviewed evidence-based findings suggesting support for the claim. Having seen milieu-based therapy in action I am skeptical that it is appropriate for the range of mental health diagnoses Brightquest admits. 4. Size of program. The program is small—clients live in small houses. This seems appealing because it should allow clients to make close connections. Unfortunately, if you put clients with a variety of serious mental health conditions in close quarters, some may not do well together. In contrast, in a larger facility, if a couple of clients are not doing well together, they have more space to go their own way. 5. Reactivity. The therapists are highly reactive. Interventions abound. This may be exactly what is counter-indicated for your loved one’s condition. 6. Staffing. Staff turnover was significant. Our loved one received two ‘therapy’ sessions per week but one of the sessions was administered by an intern in a degree program but without a license to practice. It took 3 months for our ‘final report’ to arrive. 7. Suspension from the program. While charging $150 per day, our contact (family therapist) did not answer the phone or return email messages for about a week during a period of suspension and readmission. 8. ‘Family Therapy’. We were assigned a staff member who was away for 20% of our sessions for a variety of vacations and other activities at the center, e.g., camping trips. This aspect of the program was ineffective for us. 9. Group Family Programming. Unstructured. Therapist unable to redirect conversations that wandered off topic. 10. Problems keeping track of client belongs. We had problems upon discharge with lost belongings. The director and overseeing staff worked hard to rectify it. I greatly appreciate the efforts, but it was many hours of our time. Important mail was delivered to Brighquest after discharge that we never received.

For the reviews this place has and them to straight faced ask for 15K to 30K per month for a nine month treatment seems at a juxtaposition for what they are trying to achieve. Mental health is only for the privately… funded wealthy.

My therapist was very kind but ultimately didn’t offer much help or actual “therapy,” just would basically give me the floor to talk the whole time while she just sat and listened. There was very little feedback and… when there was, mostly just generalized comments. I would have loved and likely benefitted much more of the therapist actually asked probing questions or displayed an inquisitive attitude at any point. Honestly seemed like she was just nodding yes to whatever I said and once when I stopped and asked her thoughts on what I was saying, she kinda snapped out of her daydreaming and was caught off guard. At one point I just began buying self-help books for myself so that I’d be getting some modicum of psychological help. That and literally being gaslighted constantly by her and other staff…I’d bring up a previous discussion we’d had and she’d claim to never have said [whatever], that I was mistaken or didn’t remember correctly. Basically calling me delusional. Either there was some major gaslighting going on or they were experiencing constant amnesia, it was absolutely bizarre. I’d also advise against opting for any involvement with the nutrition program there, and just to give fair warning: they will NOT help u lose/modify ur weight, if anything the idea is having u gain weight (me and multiple other clients, when staying at one of the residential (supervised) houses, gained about 30+ pounds in less than a month, which is apparently quite a normal occurrence. I had (and still have) pre-diabetes and insulin resistance plus another metabolic disorder, which incidentally were *never* considered relevant or worth discussing. Mealtimes at this residential house amounted to little more than forced eating very BIG portions. The nutrition program also does nothing to explore any psychological or emotional issues relating to food, eating, weight, etc, but rather consists of sitting in nutrition group sessions doing basic arts and crafts activities and discussing favorite snack ideas. The staff do mean well, but are all very wrapped up in the facility’s unique “culture” which inherently causes it to be a one size fits all general theme. I did glean some benefits but ultimately did most of the work on my own.

Staff is stretched too thin, horrible communication, lack of support, and they’re obviously just trying to make money more then actually help clients. Send your kids anywhere else, because this place won’t get them the… help they say they will. Could go into more detail, but overall I’m just amazed this place is still in business.

Was a patient. For about 5years

We transferred my father to this treatment center and I was absolutely impressed with the amount of detail and time they put into getting to know him and all the issues he is having. His history and making it very… family-centered with his care. A three-day comprehensive in-processing. Never found a place like it, definitely a gem as far as residential psychiatric treatment center goes. They go the extra mile. Thanks!

We felt that this program did much more harm than help, and many of the families we spoke to sadly had similar experiences. The treatment team claims to offer a genuinely unique approach for each client- whether they… deal with addiction issues, schizophrenia, OCD, depression, or a dual diagnosis combination of mental health issues. This WAS NOT our experience. The program is in reality very “one size fits all” and is incapable of genuinely catering to your loved one’s case, and doesn’t focus on showing patients they are being treated as more than just part of a large milieu. Most employees (doctors and therapists especially) are concerned with keeping patients in the program as long as possible, often holding onto people only UNTIL THEIR FAMILIES CAN NO LONGER PAY. (One patient had literally stayed several decades and only transitioned to a retirement home because of financial complications.) I feel that the worrisome facet that I cannot stress enough is that rather than attending to the individual client's issues, the program's energy is first and foremost invested in clients obeying the culture around their "Milieu Therapy"- which from what I saw (as well as speaking to other clients) yielded very little benefit towards individual growth. For example, there were clients who traveled across the country upon being told the program had specialized outlets for OCD- only to find out that it was only addressed loosely in individual therapy, with a therapist who had no specific prior history of working with the condition. I personally was reassured repeatedly over the phone before leaving a program in another state that there were several parts of the program to help with social anxiety and more specifically, performance anxiety dealing with musicianship. Upon arriving at the program this was all written off as a baffling miscommunication that could not be traced back to any specific employee my family and I had spoken to over the phone. I tried the program out anyway. This was not worth traveling across the country for, and did nothing to aid my performance anxiety or social anxiety. FINAL NOTE: If you are not from the San Diego area, and if your loved one does not plan on transitioning to the area, do NOT pick this program. I can not explain to you how much of Hanbleceya's process revolves around moving into the San Diego area. The ultimate goal being to find a steady job or integrating into school in pursuit of a degree in the city. As someone who was not from the area and did not wish to stay in San Diego, the program’s transitionary process was not able to help me. When a client moves to the point of finding a job or being accepted to a school, things become very impractical in attempting to solidify a timeline between Hanbleceya's treatment team and your employer/schoolboard.

Nice facility very professional staff!

BEWARE OF THIS MONEY MILL!!!

Hanbleceya is a residential recovery program designed for adults experiencing schizophrenia and mood disorders. My experience has been as a parent, and our son was in the program for about a year. My wife and I can't… say enough good things about it, and we couldn't be more proud of the progress our son has made over the course of his time at Hanbleceya. The staff and peers at Hanbleceya were a huge part of our son's recovery and really "partnered" with us all the way. I love the way that Hanbleceya involves the whole family. The place is a sort of community where lifelong friendships can be formed. Personal accountability and responsibility are encouraged by staff and peers alike, and promoted within the context of trusting personal relationships. Tough love is exercised. Bi-monthly Family Support Group weekends are a great resource because the whole family (we the parents, our son and his siblings) could be together and meet his friends in the program and their families. There was an initial "no contact" period of about 2-3 months where we weren't allowed to communicate directly. This was difficult but turned out to be extremely helpful in the long run toward developing improved communication patterns. The adults and their families who are in the program have invariably been through extremely difficult and stressful experiences as a result of mental illness, and Hanbleceya does an amazing job of helping everyone navigate through this difficult time of life and equipping families to live in mutual harmony and support for the long-term. The focus throughout the program is equipping young adults to "launch" into the real world and in my experience this is one of the program's real strengths. Hanbleceya has helped give our son the confidence and personal management skills necessary to succeed at whatever he does next. For him, this involves resuming his college undergraduate studies. And he's been "coached" how to handle all sorts of challenges that might come his way. The "Google SGK" review from about a year ago echoes my sentiments very closely so please read that one as well.

At age 17 I was diagnosed with schizophrenia then ended up spending a year in a hospital as a result. Nothing really changed, I was still really sick when I was discharged. I was given an anti-psychotic, which had… really negative side effects. And eventhough I was able to graduate from college and work full-time for 3.5 years, I was living an over-adapted life, not in touch with myself and not able to be in any healthy type of relationship. Clearly I was still quite ill. When I moved to California from Georgia at age 27 I had a very severe psychotic break and ended up in a hospital for 2 years. Years later, after struggling with my illness, which included lying in bed for hours at a time, so depressed I couldn’t move, for months at a time, and bouncing in and out of a Crisis Unit, I was divinely guided to Hanbleceya. At Hanbleceya, I finally started working on my issues and was able to take in the terrific support they offered, although it took a while because I was stubborn and didn't want to be in an institutional setting (which Hanbleceya is not). Hanbleceya is the first place I had ever been where they truly understood serious mental illness and how to work with it. They taught me how to express my feelings in an appropriate manner, how to connect with others, while being in a relationship with them. I also learned about integrity, responsibility, follow through, and how to love myself and others. I am very close to my family today after being alienated from them for years. I blamed them for my issues and was very angry. Today however I live a blessed life in my own condo, have a meaningful job doing marketing and public speaking, hold fundraisers in my home, collect art, travel, do fun things with my boyfriend, and sponsor a child in Africa! My life has been transformed and I am so grateful to the amazing staff at Hanbleceya.

If schizophrenia hits them in their face, this place will not recognize it. If your loved one has dual diagnostic issues, good luck. They throw your loved one when he/she needs the most help. Instead of placing them in… addiction care, their solution is the street or some flee bitten ILF in El Cajon or National City. Kerry Paulson is very happy to take your money. He has a toll booth operation, if the patient is good, he collects money; if the patient is kicked out, he collects money. Try to get a refund from him and he would give you any number of excuses. Talk of help with insurance, you get lofty promises, but no help. Tanya Lutz is trained by Mr. Paulson to give you smoke screens. Diane Wroley, long on talk and short on delivery. They brain wash the parents about no contact period. But, they don't want to take inputs from parents. This is a mental illness facility. Is the patient going to give you full input about himself or herself? There are a bunch of 20 somethings running the show. The do not know who Xavier Amador is: he comes highly recommended by NAMI. They conduct a so called evaluation on the patient, for which they collect money. Then they kick the patient out so that they can collect money at the first sign of trouble. If your loved one is seriously ill, their one size fits all recipe is harmful to you, your family and serious consequences for your loved one. Please consider and get inputs from others before you approach this place. I will be writing more about rip-offs in the names of addiction treatment and handling mentally ill patients in Yelp and making my complaints to BBB and state consumer protection agencies.

First and foremost, what one should be aware of is that Hanbleceya cuts off the communication between the clients and their relatives during the time when they need each other the most. The program is very strict about… this. I was thrown out on the streets for simply calling my dad-Yes, simply calling him on the phone. There are actually far worse stories than that. As far as the program is concerned, NO "client" really likes this place. The ones that pay for it are reassured that the client has made great strides, when in actuality they have just been scared into getting a job, or something along those lines. Please do not invest in this place. The therapy is brainwashing. The program is chaos. The staff is irrational. It is a cult. It is a whole other world. A confusing, superficial world. Try to find a place where you can actually breathe. And again, they do kick clients out on the streets and they do also tell the other clients not to help them. This was the case when I was a client about four and a half years ago.

My son has been in Hanbleceya for about 6 months and the change in both his life and ours has been almost miraculus. We struggled with his negative symptoms for a long time, tried other drug programs but didn't realize… till recently that he really has a more significant mental illness. Hanbleceya helped us see this and for the first time since his childhood we think he will be able to have a normal healthy life. We're very happy with this program and would absolutely recommend it!

Our son left Hanbleceya last year after a one year stay. Today he is proudly living independently, going to college full time, enjoying a part time job and working to build his social community. This is a giant leap… from where he and our family were just a short time ago. Saying the past several years have been difficult is an understatement as we’ve watched our once amazingly competent son increasingly struggle with success of daily life. This was exaggerated once substance abuse was added. Prior to Hanbelceya, he had been to other treatment centers, each time leaving with the highest hopes and expectations of success, but fairly quickly he was back to square one with the same set of issues. We knew our criteria search this time had to focus more carefully on both mental health as well as substance abuse. While each prior stay technically offered a “dual-diagnosis” program, we wanted a more comprehensive, long term approach. We reached out in every direction we could think of to find a place that we thought would be best. We stumbled upon Hanbelceya when two independent contacts, both in the mental health fields at the national level gave a strong recommendation. Then we did our own homework and with the guidance of the intake staff our son reluctantly joined the community. We found the Hanbleceya program to be even more than what we were hoping for. There was a thoughtful, complete and collaborative approach at every stage of our son’s stay. It most definitely was not all smooth sailing, as real change is seldom ever easy. We felt the staff genuinely cared about our family’s growth and improvement. They went above and beyond to learn everything possible about our son, from birth to arriving to the center. They actually read and questioned all the written material provided to them. We came to totally trust and lean on them. It wasn’t long into our son’s stay that we came to appreciate their approach, philosophy, experience and success working with this community of people. They were able to peg my son’s “MO” and craft a plan specific for his needs that provided him the hope and encouragement for his future while holding him fully accountable for his actions. They helped the family at large, both immediate and extended to understand our part in his sustained recovery. We know it has not been very long since our son left Hanbleceya, but there is no question that this time is different from the others. We are optimistic for his future, but at the same time we know that regardless of the choices he makes, our family now has the skill set to handle our future. Without the help from the Hanbleceya program, we can't bare to think of where our son and family would be today. We feel we made a wise investment and are so very thankful. Mom and Dad

Our child has been at Hanbleceya for almost a year and the growth he has made has been tremendous. He had struggled for several years with increasingly troubling issues which were aggravated by substance abuse and an… inability to see the relationship between self-medication and the worsening of his problems. He had alienated nearly everyone in our family, and our relationship with him was in a shambles. Things continued to worsen for him, until we finally convinced him to get help. We were very thorough in searching for the right program for him, and researched many options and references. It finally boiled down to two, one of which was Hanbleceya (the other one was on the other side of the country). It had been recommended to us by a nationally renowned hospital, and the kudos were verified by a full investigation by us. We had been down this road before, without much lasting success, and so were very cautious. I can say now that Hanbleceya has truly been the best treatment program we have run across for our child. The therapists are carefully chosen, and we have been very happy with all the staff. While they do have a medical component to deal with meds and such, their philosophy is that those with mental illness are capable of living happy and good, independent lives, and they strive to move their clients in this direction, with the goal of ultimately living a meaningful life in all its permutations (emotional, relational social, work/education. independence, insight, etc.). To that end, they provide a plethora of help and support, including personal and targeted group therapy, parental support and family therapy, medical intervention if necessary, individualized treatment plans, job and education support, as well as transition aid. It is not a walk in the park though - family participation is essential, and it is not a good fit for everyone. Also, it is a costly undertaking, but well worth it, in our opinion. Everyone on staff there is familiar with every patient, and it truly is a community. The clients are first and foremost treated as intact people, rather than as sick individuals. The actual diagnostic label is de-emphasized in favor of dealing with the issues at hand, and helping the client to have insight and take responsibility, which is really the only way to live in the world in a successful way. There are various components for substance abuse issues as well as equine therapy, fitness programs, etc. A year ago I thought we had lost our child forever, and now I can honestly say that our family relationships have mostly healed and we can enjoy one another again. He has been free of substance abuse, and has made great strides. He sees this too, and is able to feel good about the work he has done. He is about to move to their transition program, and expects to have a job in the next month or two. He feels good about his progress and is hopeful of the future, as are we. None of this would have been possible with the help Hanbleceya, and I highly recommend this program.

After almost two years and a half with Hanbleceya, my daughter transitioned out the program six months ago or so, remaining in the area to complete a Paralegal Certificate program at UCSD. She then returned where we… live less than two months ago and a few weeks ago started Law School. Now she is looking for part time jobs at law firms. Her biggest challenge so far has been trying to replicate the quality of support (doctors/therapists) that she enjoyed in La Mesa ... and we are in L.A. County! My daughter's illness "exploded" a couple of months before finding Hanbleceya through the research done by some dear friends on the east coast. In fact, no doctors or hospitals, or therapists we had come in contact with had any clue on where to provide for a structured, professional, effective, consistent, balanced recovery program. In many respects, we were lucky. Our experience with Hanbleceya, as a family, has been incredibly positive. Besides the measurably successful outcome of her recovery efforts, the most important aspect for all of us is that we have learned how to deal with my daughter's illness. This concept applies to each of us, albeit with different nuances. For my daughter it means that she has learned how to manage her life under her circumstances. For me as a father, it means how to behave and conduct myself not to be a codependent. For the other siblings it means how to be together and have their sister back without fears or pain. Hanbleceya's recovery program was very comprehensive and tailored for my daughter specifically. It evolved over time and while she did most of the work required, the whole family was involved in the process. While my daughter behavior was "de-programmed" and "rebuilt" to be able to "re-enter" society, each of us has to do his/her part for ourselves and her. She could not work on her recovery independent of ours – a counter-intuitive concept that we learned at Hanbleceya. Hanbleceya was, and in some respects still is, with us all the way with tough love. I found the staff to be extremely professional, sincerely caring but also very clear and firm in their dealing with our situation -- and particularly with my daughter. We felt that second guessing or going around their program would have been counterproductive and would have undermined what they were set to accomplish. Hence, we complied with everything was expected of us. Hanbleceya is not the place where you drop off a loved one and life goes back to normal. The overall experience is a long journey with ups and downs and that involves everyone. Hanbleceya made sure we were involved with a variety of initiatives and contacts -- it was expected and absolutely necessary. Like many aspects of life our overall “return” on the “investment” depends on how much we “invested” – and I am not referring to the monetary aspect. The one who invested the most is my daughter and she is the one, in my opinion, with the highest return: she has a great chance at life. She would tell you that it was very hard and long work. She would not want to do it again and she does not have all fond memories of Hanbleceya; however, she would always recognize that she felt safe and that the staff she dealt with truly cared about her. She may not have liked the uncompromising and firm approach adopted by the program. She was always made accountable for her actions, behavior and consequences – something that, along the way we, as a family, had “forgotten” as a way to cope with her illness. We had to re-learn as well. We were fortunate to “stumble across” Hanbleceya. Their program is the best we could have done for my daughter and for this I am forever grateful to Hanbleceya and their staff.

After my first conversation with Kerry Paulson, I knew that we were in good hands with Hanbleceya. My daughter was extremely ill and I didn’t know what to do. I knew she was in terrible danger and I was afraid for her… life. Mr. Paulson patiently helped me through their process, and now my daughter is learning to live her life again. She’s going to meetings, doing volunteer work, interacting with friends, and learning life management skills. They have done such a good job, and I highly recommend them without hesitation. I’m very grateful for their knowledge, understanding, and compassion. Not only have they helped my daughter, they have helped me to change my co-dependent behavior. I have learned to let go of the outcome and to take care of myself. I wish we had found Hanbleceya years ago!