Center for Discovery – Montverde

Center of Discovery is a very wonderful place to send your loved ones with eating disorders. They took care of my daughter very well.. I am truly grateful to them.

This place was the worst for me as a Black kid. I suffer from racism. I've spoken about it many times and nothing ever changes. The staff is poorly trained, they yell at you and treat you badly, they don't support you,… you're held for weeks, you can't talk to your parents if they don't want you to, and the lack of respect is immense. Don't leave your children there.

This is an updated review because I noticed there were many grammatic errors in my last post. It’s been around five years since my time at center for discovery and I’m sure things have changed since. The day I arrived,… I said goodbye to my parents and spent Christmas up until February at CFD. There were some questionable moments where girls would talk poorly about other people just because they weren’t pro recovery. I think the main reason why I struggled so much during my time here was learning from the girls the calories in the supplement drinks that we were given if we didn’t complete meals. One of the nurses that we had at the time were not very nice, and she really didn’t know how to say the right things. One thing that I hope doesn’t continue to be a practice is not allowing girls to go outside when meals are not finished. I was one of those girls that did not get to go outside, but maybe once my entire time there. This was a common practice in two places that I was sent to for treatment and I don’t understand why this was an acceptable punishment. There were wheelchair that they made us use to wheel us five steps to the dining table, so why not use it outside? It was not only depressing when not being allowed to get off the couch, but unmotivating. There were I believe three staff that I enjoyed being around, and that I felt comfortable with, you can tell some had favorites. One of the nurses we had in the mornings wore a waist trainer and made it very obvious when she came in each room to take our vitals. While I was getting my blood pressure, she felt around her waist to make sure I knew. Fast forward to February. The only reason I was able to leave is because they kicked me out for not being able to “fix” me.

I was at this residential for 11 weeks, and i have quite a few stories to tell from it. Yes this residential saved my life, but that doesnt mean that i dont still have trauma from it today. there were fights and… bullying between patients, and i saw 4 kids get kicked out for behavioral problems. i also have a friend who was in there with me with a chronic disease, and they made her drink/eat things that she was extremely alergic to. but, other than that, the staff here are amazing. i love love love riley and yadi and all of the nurses, and everyone is very supportive. i would recommend this place for anorexia, bulimia, or BED, but NOT afrid. also, this place focus mainly on eds, NOT self harm or other issues.

This was such a helpful place for me, i really found it healing. this was my second time in res and i was in such an awful place in my life but i was able to be saved by the team. The staff at this location are really… amazing and they are all here for you at any time you need!! i met some great friends, had some memorable experiences and truly, honestly enjoyed my time here and i couldn’t be more grateful!

For lack of a better analogy, this facility utilizes Pavlovian condition reponse treatment modalities for eating disorders; and focuses on eating disorders only. Red flags raised during our experience: 1. There was a… lack of crisis intervention for our child when having anxiety issues. 2. Psychiatry does not work weekends and was not available onsite for appropriate patient assessment of medication needs and/or to adjust therapy during the admission process. We assumed this meant psychiatry was consulted remotely; but feel this was done so to the detriment of our child’s health and well-being. 3. Food was used as punishment for behavioral modification purposes on multiple occasions. During the facility tour, it was also revealed to us that the dietician is not onsite but functions remotely. Meals are prepared by patients and staff. They are not professionally prepared. 4. Vitamins were administered to our child when she did not eat, on an empty stomach, resulting in nausea; thus worsening the desire to not eat eat. So not only does our child still have eating disorder, she could not eat if she tried due to the nausea. Not eating because of the nausea resulted in more punishment. 5. Anxiety attacks were addressed by offering over-ther counter medications such as Benadryl even though nursing staff were advised it would have the opposite effect (e.g. hyperactivity). Despite this admonition, the nursing staff response was ‘can we just try it anyway?” 6. Antidepressants used for sleep were used to try to control more complicated medical conditions and remained ineffective. No changes were made to our child’s preadmission medications to try to better manage mental health crisis during the stay. 7. Nursing staff asked us (the parents) “What has worked well in the past for anxiety that you suggest we give” in the case of worsening anxiety symptoms. Our response “Isn’t this something you should consult with your Psychiatrist about?” 8. Phone conversation with after hours nursing staff in the early morning hours the following day after admission confirmed our worse fears - (paraphrasing) - ‘we do not have the staff to be nuturing; nor do we focus on the other mental health issues - only the eating disroders’. 9. During the same early morning converstation with staff, the day after admission, we (the parents) can hear our child screaming and crying in the background in terror; while being told by the nursing staff they cannot speak with their parent(s) until the once daily phone call allowance from 7-8 pm nightly. 10. After we arrived the day after the admission to remove our child from this facility, we were contacted by nursing staff, who were unaware we’d already left for home; to inform us ‘the team’ had recommended a 72 hour hospital admission. This determination, we felt was totally in appropriate and was based more on convenience due to weekend staffing than it was based on any onsite evaluation by the psychiatrist. Indeed, our child confirmed she was not once seen by psychiatry. We’re assuming the psychiatrist would not be onsite until at least Monday of the following week (day 4 post admission). In our humble opinion, this facility failed to provide safe and effective treatment for our child. We are actively engaged with seeking more appropriate, professional care elsewhere. We encourage other parents to do the same!

To be honest I don’t recommend this place at all, I had come from another residential in Las Vegas Nevada and I had been there for months created so many bonds with clients and staff, so as I was switched to another… residential across the country, I was really sad and distraught to leave those people behind. We always woke up at 5:30 in the morning and did nothing till around 10am there was no reason at all to be waking up that early, I remember that I would just sit on the couch doing nothing till around 10am. They weren’t helpful when someone wasn’t eating, like one day I didn’t finish all of my food but finished more than 70% and they were always saying “we will send you to the mental hospital if you don’t finish your food” one day I literally had one cashew left on my plate at snack and since I didn’t finish it they made me drink a glass of ensure. It was one cashew. They aren’t helpful at all, when someone’s having a really hard time they are rude and threaten clients. When I first got there I slept for over 24 hours non stop because I was so depressed, they wouldn’t stop asking me to do this or that and it just made everything worse. I was 16 when I was there I am now 19 years old and I still would never recommend this place. The program director is especially rude. There’s good things about this place but the bad outweigh the good. There’s a lot more I could say about this place but I don’t feel like droning on forever

I am very disappointed with this residential. When my daughter came home she was the most depressed I've ever seen her and it took months to get her acclimated to life again. When I went to visit her she looked like she… lost her spark completely. My daughter tells me stories of what happened here and I'm absolutely disgusted. I will never send my child to a place like this again. This place is a horrible environment to try and help a child. They do the complete opposite. My daughter calls this place the worst time of her life. Do not send your child here where they do nothing to help them.

If don't want your kid to end up in the mental hospital then stay far far away from here. I will never be the same after coming here. I have been to 4 residentials and this one was by far the absolute worst. I still… have to talk to my therapist about my experience. I spiraled while I was there, my mental health was at an all-time low and they did nothing to help. I only started to recover months after I got back home and had my therapist back home. The therapists there are unqualified and completely unhelpful. You get no free time at all and while I was there for the first two weeks I was never let outside. I was forced to take cold showers at 5:30am because they refused to fix the broken shower. The undertrained staff cooks the meals that I couldn't usually eat because of how badly they were cooked. I am fully recovered and I look back on this place with pain and hurt. It truly saddens me to see some people completely invalidating the honest low reviews. If you truly love your child and want what's best for them then pick clementine. I went there for my first residential and it was wonderful. They truly help and have an actual chef prepare the meals. Don't damage your child by sending them to center for discovery.

I went here about a year ago and I’ll just say it was one of the best things that could happen to me. I met amazing people that helped me get to where I am now. I got back to my happy self with lots of energy it was… amazing .

this was the worst experience of my life, my initial experience was alright at best but as the weeks progressed the horror unvailed, they on multiple occasions straight up denied help to those who were mentally… unstable, and force fed the most ammount of food to the male clients and claimed we needed it bc we were male at the only excuse they had. never send a kid who is genuinely struggling to a place like this unless you want them to hate their lives afterwards

I've been in recovery for 5 months and 9 days now and i can't even begin to express my gratitude towards Center for Discovery and my overall treatment from all staff, therapists, dietitians, etc. Everyone i've met in… the past 5 months has genuinely changed my life. Going to Center for Discovery in Monteverde was the best decision my mom and I have ever made, they saved my life. I'll keep it real, these bad reviews did scare me too, but I couldn't stress enough that the people who wrote them are probably struggling themselves and can't bring themselves to see the good in this place. Obviously, recovery is hard and it takes time to accept that. Yes, sometimes it can be hard and you'll have to do things that you never thought you'd do like be in a house with 7 other strangers who are also struggling but in the end it really is worth it. I mean this in the most genuine way, this place has changed the way I see things and I couldn't be more thankful. I'm happy waking up every morning in my body and i've learned to appreciate it and overcome things I never thought i'd overcome. I love my treatment team and everyone i've met along the way.

The staff was very professional, compassionate and supportive.

The location is beautiful and offers a quiet and comfortable space. They offer a collaborative team to support the individuals with their recovery process. The staff works to hold a calm and supportive space while also… holding boundaries and ensuring that the individuals are safe and working towards their recovery goals.

i wish i could give no stars at all, from what my friends tell me you arent allowed to stand (literally, they force you to sit wont let you stand) this place is hell. they arent allowed outside, my friend just went… outside for half and hour for the first time in weeks and only was allowed for 29 minutes. they take away all the fun activities, force feed you, and not one person knows what theyre doing. i recognized when i was reading the reviews they only replied to the nice ones saying “thank you for being genuine” believe me this is the most genuine review ive ever written.. THIS PLACE IS HORRIBLE!! they have to wake up at 5:30 AM EVERYDAY!! the time when you wake up has NOTHING with an eating disorder. i understand im probably missing some other horrible unhumane things they do but these were just off the top of my head. ive never been good at writing these things so im sorry if something doesn’t make sense but PLEASE take this review into consideration when reading.. DO NOT SEND ANYONE HERE!! THIS PLACE IS HELL ON EARTH!!

Lovely facility with kind staff. Highly recommend as a peaceful place to recover.

an amazing place I miss everyone here so much💗

I wish i could give no stars.Lets get real here at least in the place I was in, it is for people who got an ed from wanting to lose a bit of weight and started dieting then they started restricting, not for anyone with… any other mental or emotional baggage. This place only has a small percent success rate and makes most who go there worse. Yes there were good things like meeting the great patients but other than that this place was hell and not just because we had to eat. This place over fed everyone honestly, there were kids here that were bone and they did NOT send them to a hospital and tried to fix them because money. I saw kids there with tiny stomachs and they were forced to eat meals 5x their body weight, seriously (re-feeding is supposed to be slow in a medical environment). The staff there not even just the dietitians and the therapists were horrible. Starting problems with the kids, mixing up rules and making their own, not knowing how to handle serious situations and overall not doing what they were hired to do. I know that kids because I did it were able to hide and dispose of food and supplements (food I hid under the couch in a zipper right in front of them and the supplements I dumped on the rug they had under the table and rubbed it in).I was also able to hide things to harm myself with around the property and on outings, able to weigh myself and see my weight again when nobody was watching. And don't get me started on the rest of the staff ex: the dietician. She did not know what she was doing honestly, she over fed kids and when they begged and cried to lower exchanges she refused even thought you are not supposed to go to 20 exchanges total to 48 exchanges total within a day of being there. She also made kids gain way more weight than they needed to for me I already went through re feeding and yes, I was at the low side of healthy but I did not need to gain 30 more pounds after I was already eating normally for months with no problems ( I went into this place because I had other problems and impatient just wanted to send me off and said this place cause it happened to have people with ed like i used to have and this place made it worse). And I cannot stress this enough they did not care about any of us they were in it for the money thats why in the few severe cases they had they didn’t send us to the hospital. They held kids who where doing great and recovered there for months because insurance said that they had more money that they can give up and the kids who insurances said no more because they were the same or getting worse like mine, they rushed everything and then threw them out. And now about the severe cases, there was a girl who refused all supplements and she should have never gone there she should have gone to the hospital but, money but i digress, she didn't go on couch rest until TWO WEEKS later and they decided that it was a great idea to not send her to the hospital when she fainted. And they said when she faints the second time then they will send her in and even one of the nurses argued that this was ridiculous. Then there was my case I said I would play along with their game in the facility but once I get home in a few weeks I will kill myself with the first thing I see and they didn't do anything which I lucked out but they aren't supposed to do this. Anyways there is soooo much more that went on but I CANNOT SAY THIS ENOUGH DO NOT SEND YOUR LOVED ONES!!!! Yes some of reviews are good but take my word and do not torture your kids in this place. It is not worth their life. P.S I keep in touch with the kids from there and they are going back after just a few weeks of their outpatient (which is also horrible) and some aren't going back but are worse because of this place and need help. So yeah think twice before going here.