Discovery Mood and Anxiety Program – Fairfax Station

If you're thinking of sending your child to this facility, I strongly advise against it. If you just need a break from your child and don’t expect treatment, then this may be the place for you. But if you’re seeking… real help, look elsewhere. From my experience and what my child has shared, kids are either hospitalized or discharged without completing their treatment. Several children went AWOL, which raises serious concerns about safety; and makes you wonder what happens to cause this. As one review mentioned, a staff member gave off a “pedophilia vibe.” I can honestly say I felt that same sense of unease after observing one staff member who was staring at my child. A former staff member from another facility told me this location at Fairfax Station is not a true residential facility but a PHP (Partial Hospitalization Program) with live-in care. If I had known that upfront, I would have never sent my child there. That alone should be a red flag. If your child struggles with emotional regulation, this place will not help. I witnessed firsthand how unqualified the staff are in handling kids with mental health issues, especially those on the spectrum. I was told my child needed higher-level care, which residential treatment is supposed to provide. If they admit kids with known issues and then discharge them for the same reasons, you have to ask why they’re even operating. When I asked for a medication refill, I was ignored. Communication was unprofessional—if you try to return calls, no one answers. They expect you to be available, but they won’t answer when you reach out. My daughter is severely allergic to dairy, which I mentioned several times. Yet, she had constant access to it because she was told to make her own food. They’d call me nonstop when she consumed dairy, even though they knew about her allergy. This facility seems more interested in filling beds to make money than actually helping kids. They don’t keep children for more than 30 days, and they quickly hospitalize, threaten to hospitalize, or discharge them. I’ve never encountered so many unqualified staff members. To make matters worse, they charge upfront fees even when insurance covers 100%, and getting clinical documentation from them is nearly impossible. When I dropped my daughter off after a family visit, she cried and didn’t want me to leave—yet not one staff member acknowledged her or showed any concern. The environment was cold and unfeeling. These places should not be run with profit as the main goal, especially when kids' well-being is at stake. I’m filing a formal complaint with my insurance and sharing my experience on social media to warn other parents. The 2.0 reviews are for a reason—this place needs to be shut down.

Whilst I was a patient at this facility, I got the tools I needed to regulate myself and use the skills in real world interactions to better myself, but there are A LOT of cons. First, this facility is COMPLETELY… understaffed. I feel some sort of remorse for the staff here because there would be about 1-2 staff juggling 8 girls for a span of an 8 hour shift each. Us, patients, would be struggling and needing to talk to someone or even ask to use the bathroom but we would be put to a halt due to the extreme understaffing. Secondly, we would always run out of the basic necessities to eat, including: bread, milk, eggs, and cheese if you could count that. We would go from a span of a few days to around 2 weeks without ever getting some of these items - even all of them at once, and no one would get it for us. AHEM (TABATHA whose job is buying groceries). We would run out of all food items and Tessa, a morning staff made a concoction of rice and sugar for us to eat. Thank you so much Tessa for that; while she would get judged by Tabatha, even though it was her JOB to buy the groceries. Next, because of the complete overworking of the staff, at one point, FOUR STAFF quit in one week. Including a therapist who just randomly walked out one day and never returned without an explanation from higher ups. This place is also a madhouse. It is completely underly disgusting. This place leaves the kids up to clean - who do a horrible job, and get a maid once a week. This place is not a clean environment to put your children. It is icky, sticky, grimey and all things gross. We would be living with mold all in the house including the showers, shower curtains, ceilings, and walls to name a few. At some point someone got sick then spread it to a few others. This child did not go to urgent care or a doctor to get any antibiotics to help with this cold. This place can also be a very toxic environment when drama goes through the roof, which this also led to a patient having a crisis and having to go BACK to the mental hospital because they felt unsafe when drama arose, fights broke out, and patients were being very hostile torwards one another. Honestly, only send you child here if they desperately WANT and THRIVE to want to change, if not, this place will be pointless and they will end up going back - like I’ve seen THREE people do during my treatment. Also, while I was here, some of the patients, including ME got to get our hands on a THC - cannabis vape, so just an fyi if you want to send you child here. It was very easy to get our hands on. And lastly there was a male staff who would make inappropriate remarks, be completely creepy, and made us feel unsafe in our own “home”. The entirety of the patients would bring him up to higher up and they would not listen to us. When he was called into a shift at our residential we were told to “be on our best behavior “ which was completely unacceptable of the staff. so please, whatever you do - take a quick read at this review and warn yourself of the possibilities that could arise and what you or your child will be put through. A big shoutout to Desiree, Devorah, Tessa, Tito (even though you quit), ester the nurse, and OF COURSE MY ALL TIME FAVORITE SHARITA. you guys did wonders to my treatment and I have you guys in my heart forever. And someone who will NEVER get a shoutout - except a negative one would be Tabatha. Throughout my whole treatment she would play favorites with a fellow patient and was VERY mean to others. Her job was to buy groceries for us, amongst other things, and we would run out of our necessities and food for a while, and she even KNEW and did nothing but sit in her chair all day and focus on other things, even though she new she had hungry teenagers wondering what our next meal would be because we ran out of food. Tabatha, if you treat your job and patients so poorly, find somewhere else to work besides being hostile and degrading towards mentally ill girls who are trying their absolute best to be nice to you just so they can get out of being there. Tysm

My name is Avery, and I discharged from this facility on October 21st, 2025. I believe a lot of the reviews on the Fairfax location are due to the patient's determination to comply with treatment rules and progress. I… came into this program unsure of my ability to succeed, but I pushed myself because I wanted recovery. During my stay (one month) I repeatedly told my peers that they could not phase up/earn privileges if they didn't want sobriety. My therapist, Tracey, was amazing. She made an effort to personally connect with me and was patient with me on my worst days. Tessa, a BHT, showed consistent faith in me and went out of her way to support my peers and me. She balanced respecting program rules and treating us like humans very well. Other staff I value for their assistance towards me would be Mo, Luis, Antonio, and Esther (nurse). Whilst my stay wasn't perfect, it was mostly due to the other patients I lived with. Ex. triggering language, outbursts, and maladaptive behavior. I encourage future residents to take these reviews with a grain of salt. I didn't always agree/like every staff member - but that is human experience. If you have an issue with the facility, talk directly to staff instead of criticizing them via reviews. Special thanks to Discovery for helping me begin my sobriety journey and build new skills to manage my depression/anxiety.

food was pretty fire I liked the mushrooms, they took the cornstarch though

WHATS UP GUYS ITS ME YOU ALREADY KNOW! This place was meh but mr Darren OH DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED BRO he made weird comments about all the girls there talking weird things it’s giving pedophilia like no! Also they… wouldn’t even let my friend talk about her trauma because they claimed that it made other people feel uncomfortable and that it wasn’t her place to say things. I had a bit of beef with this one girl there that literally cried in my arms when I tried to set boundaries with her. Like girl what! I’m a boy btw but I’m trans so I had to go there. BUT BRO THE AMOUNT OF MISGENDERING IS CRAZY BROOO LIKE MR D IM TALKING TO YOU. THE END BAI GUYS! love youuu 😚 -love SHV

My daughter went into this facility optimistic but soon change the week she got there it was perfect good food and good help. Then soon after staff started leaving and he therapist left at a crucial time in her… treatment.

This place ruined me. My therapist was incredibly unprofessional, she would make jokes about other patients and their struggles and she was very invalidating. They wouldn't listen to you and if you were upset they would… say that you were "too overwhelming to be listened to" and they'd "only listen when you calm down". One of the nurses would lie and say I was throwing up in the bathroom so that I would be put on 1 to 1. I have a fear of being nauseous and throwing up, but she lied multiple times to say I was making myself throw up. The therapists would barely meet with you and when you actually got a meeting it just made you feel like your were crazy and make you stay longer. They claimed that having a bad day didn't make your stay longer but they said to my face "we might extend your stay" when I was crying because we watched "the notebook". I still have nightmares about this place. They were awful, and treated us like animals. I hope this place is shut down.

Honestly it’s kinda meh. Some staff are good some barely do their job. The therapist I had wasn’t all that good. It felt like my feelings weren’t valid. Always making new and useless rules every weekend. No consequences… to anybody’s actions.

It's such a shame this program is so different depending on the location. The Long Beach location was a wonderful program, but this location seemed to lack competent management, staff and programming (except for the… therapist here-- she seemed very qualified). Child left with more traumatic experiences. We still don't know the extent of them. This program could have so much potential if it was managed more like the Long Beach location. I would not recommend sending a child to this location unless significant changes are made.

Please dont’t EVER send your children here. Worst experience of my life. Came back with even more trauma. Literally made my PTSD depression and anxiety worse. Staff do not pay attention. They don’t listen. Cops were… called once. Toxic environment. They don’t respect freedom of religion and took away my bible because it was “inappropriate”

Worst treatment place I've ever been to. So many traumatizing experiences.

House was way dirtier than in any of the photos, I don’t even wanna talk about my experience there.