Monte Nido Clementine – Briarcliff Manor

My time here was what I needed to turn the corner and start learning how to do better by myself. The staff especially my therapist and the clinical director helped me so much. My dietitian helped me to understand my… meal plan and recovery coaches helped me thru it and my primary therapist and the clinical director gave me extra support. I wouldn’t be here healthy without them. Nothing but love for this place.

All of the staff were incredibly understanding, compassionate, and accommodating. From the very beginning, everything was clearly structured—from the meal plans to the daily expectations—which created a sense of… stability and support. It’s evident that they truly care about each girl’s well-being and recovery.

Clementine Briarcliff saved my daughter's life. Thank you this very experienced and knowledgeable team for supporting my baby during her toughest days. Thank you also to the team for the endless support you gave me and… for having tough but compassionate conversations with me that I needed to hear.

I went to Monte Nido September of 2021 and had to be removed from the program just less than 2 weeks. The program and house was beautiful but it simply seemed like a show to compensate for the awful experience. I’ll… start with the “recovery coaches”. I will admit, one or two of them were genuinely so helpful and I’m grateful for them to this day but the rest had zero understanding of an eating disorder. When I was admitted I was severely mentally and physically sick. Nearly the brink of death. I was often met with comments from the staff like “Are you actually gonna try to eat today” in a a rude sarcastic tone as well as, after I said I feel nauseous, “You can’t possibly be nauseous! You haven’t eaten anything” these comments were not only out of line, but invalidating and made me feel like a freak. The nurse at the time or doctors I don’t even know, would give me a complete cocktail of vitamins and pills. I refused because well I was sick and had a restrictive eating disorder after all. She said something along the lines of, “well if you just ate this wouldn’t be a problem”. This was one of many out of line comments. One night, while using the bathroom, a recovery coach began to yell at me telling me to “back off” repeatedly when I approached her to her to ask to use the bathroom. I was treated like some kind of freak and inhumanly but staff and some fellow patients, that behavior was not corrected and infact seemed encouraged. My therapist was dismissive. She didn’t treat me the same as other paintings and once again treated me with no encouragement like she knew she couldn’t help me so she didn’t even try. Since I was refusing food, I was treated so inhumane. A place ment to help people with not eating treated you awful if you didn’t eat. I had a severe exercise addiction at the time. The made me watch the other girls do yoga despite the fact I expressed how triggering it was. They watched me cry and bed for help with no compassion. I once completed a meal and was questioned but a staff member. She was like “Wow I’m shocked you actually ate for once!” My private coping mechanism I said privately where used and announced during meals as well as my food rules despite me wanting them to be confidential They wouldn’t try to make me eat. They just left me to starve until I cried hard enough saying “I’m going to die” to my parents till they finally let me go and I was hospitalized and then put into ERC Denver where I continued a real journey to recovery.

Briarcliff Manor was very helpful with getting our daughter on the path to recovery. She was there from June through August for 10 weeks. While sending our 14 year old daughter several hours away for treatment was the… hardest thing we had to do, we felt confidence in the Director, Melissa. The therapists and resident counselors were supportive and helpful. The facility was beautiful and well maintained. The food was well-prepared and there was variety (better than what we are able to provide at home). They went out to lunch once per week and went on an outing on Sunday. They were also able to go for a walk or do yoga a few times per week, contingent on meal completion. This made the treatment easier to comply with for our daughter and served as a motivator for completion. Our daughter was able to make connections to other girls experiencing what she was going through and it helped her to not feel so alone with this very misunderstood illness.

Ants in the chips. Disrespectful to those who are trying to recover. My sister went here a while back, and when ants were found in the chips they all ran upstairs to brush their teeth, some girls were even crying. Not a… great place for those trying to recover and avoid eating bugs.

I know everyone has their own experiences in everything they do, but our experience at Clementine Briarcliff Manor was wonderful from start to finish. It’s truly surprising to read some of these negative reviews because… our experience was overwhelmingly positive. My daughter was here for 10 weeks and without a doubt they saved her life. Her therapist Bethany was a blessing, Rebecca, our family therapist was incredible, and Melissa, every RC, and every nurse there contributed to her feeling of safety, security, and ultimately, healing. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I was thankful I could felt confident leaving my daughter in their hands. I will always be grateful for this program and these people.

Penny is the best rc!

they called acs on my family for no reason other than requesting to discharge me. the way in which my care team spoke with my mother left me with the feeling that her not being fluent in english and having a more direct… manner of discussing my case influenced their sentiments towards her. it's not only this aspect of it, as i will write further on the other elements of my time there that made it feel very non-inclusive and western. clementine has absolutely zero cultural awareness and perpetuates a western and whitewashed approach in their programming and in their relations with caregivers and clients. my recommendation for the current directors of this facility is to train your therapists and rcs on cultural and social dynamics across immigrant and third+ generation households, and hire therapists who specialize in the lived experiences of people of color, queer people, and immigrant communities. all of the therapists and almost all of the staff at clementine were white. this being the case in a state as diverse as new york strikes me as immensely problematic. at least try to incorporate foods from the various immigrant communities in new york in your menu rotation; i found the foods I was eating to be completely divorced from the meals I was used to at home. it is unacceptable that your services do not hold space for the unique and underacknowledged struggles of immigrant communities who frequently have insufficient access to eating disorder care and diagnosis. please do better!

I cannot recommend this residential enough! They truly have been so insanely helpful in my recovery. However, the extent to which you benefit from treatment here is 100% on you. To preface, I've recently discharged from… here for the second time (as I was here in the spring of 2024 as well) and my experience this time around was so drastically, incredibly different due to my mindset shift that I experienced throughout the time between my stays there. I was fully ready and open to treatment there, as I decided to return myself. I also really advocated for myself and the specific things I wanted to work on and how I wanted to be involved in my treatment. I'm not saying that this is going to be the reality for everyone if they do the same, as I think it very much depends on maturity and age of the client as well; however, approaching recovery willingly and openly is by far the thing that will ensure an effective stay here. I'm on the older side of clients here (17), so I know that this is difficult for parents of younger girls, but I'm being so serious when I say that forcing your child into treatment here will likely not result in the outcome you want (in the sense that relapse is more likely). Rather, I heavily encourage any parent who's reading this to approach the idea of treatment here with your child in an open and gentle manner- encouraging them to be the one to ultimately decide to go, and ideally, feel open to treatment as well. I say this while also acknowledging that everyone's situation and dynamic is dfferet, and depending on the severity of the situation, you may feel like you can't even give your child a choice; however, I heavily enourage every parent to do so, and to really encourage their child to find their OWN motivations for recovery; to want to do it for THEMSELVES rather than to just leave residential asap, please others, avoid conflict with parents,etc. I want to end this, though, by saying that I truly can't thank clem enough this time around, as my life was positively changed in many ways. My therapist was such a perfect fit, and I felt so understood and taken seriously, and my family therapist as well, was very understanding and helpful. As i'm writing this, some current RC's (recovery coaches) that are truly so amazing are : Alex, Sam, Amber, Anthony, Stefania, Jules, Britt, and Paulette! I can't thank them enough.

This is THE best treatment facility we have used so far. The staffs are very friendly and knowledgeable. They know what they are doing and they are very willing to help. Melissa definitely is the best. She leads an… excellent team. Everyone in her team, including but not limited to Rebecca, Jesse, Bethany, Avery and Lisa and all the RCs, a big THANK YOU to all of you for your fantastic work! My kid definitely has learned a lot from all of you guys. She'll definitely miss you guys. THANK YOU!

Your team and Monte Nido Briarcliff Manor blatantly misrepresented yourselves in order to manipulate my confidence in your team, and you further traumatizing my vulnerable and innocent daughter. Your staff’s negligent… treatment of her and clear violations to her basic patient Mental Health Bill of Right’s has delayed her recovery even further with her eating disorder, and exacerbated her depression and anxiety. My daughter did not receive humane, respectful care while at Briarcliff Manor, and she witnessed verbal abuse by the staff to other girls there that caused her to feel frightened. The communication style of your residential facility was portrayed as open, and family-centered; however, your team exhibited extremely poor collaboration with parents, which diverted our attempts to communicate with our child in a disconcerting way. Had we known of the severe lack of compassion and respect among some of your staff towards her, and the exceedingly false impression you portrayed of the proficiency level and training of your staff, we never would have left her in your care. My daughter witnessed an RC yell, curse, and verbally abuse another young patient there who stated she felt like self-harming, all because that RC did not want to blow up the air mattress to allow the patient to sleep in the common room for the night to safely observe her. How do you expect her, or any patient, to feel comfortable speaking up to ask for help or be honest about how they feel in that kind of detrimental toxic environment? Clearly, your medical team at Briarcliff desperately needs to evolve and implement current evidence-based protocols in order to truly deliver safe and effective levels of patient care. Your staff withheld personal physical hygiene for four days for my daughter which caused her to become extremely uncomfortable, yet we would hear in the daily nursing report that a shower chair had been obtained for her to allow her to shower safely with a staff member’s assistance. This appeared to be either an evasive communication provided to us regarding her basic hygiene, or a lack of internal communication among the staff responsible for her care. That is completely unacceptable and abysmal human care for a vulnerable adolescent who is begging for a shower for physical hygiene and emotional regulation. Most importantly, I want to address your psychiatry provider and the inappropriate usage of the medication Zyprexa at your facility. This medication was deemed a “last resort” treatment by adolescent medicine providers at Golisano Children’s Hospital and was discontinued immediately. While at your facility, my daughter witnessed an emergency incident with another girl there that resulted from a reaction to Zyprexa and this was one of the most traumatizing components of her stay with you. Your own staff, as well as, the girls at your facility warned my daughter against trusting your psychiatrist and told her that she would be put on the same medication as them, the Zyprexa. Predictably, your psychiatry provider felt it was medically necessary to prescribe Zyprexa for her on only Day 2 at your Briarcliff Manor facility. I believe any chance she had at a successful outcome at your facility was destroyed by the fact that there was a complete lack of trust between the girls and your medical/psych staff. The Monte Nido Briarcliff Manor facility and staff should be thoroughly reviewed to investigate all of the concerns I mentioned. Your external institutional review board should be involved in determining how to proceed to implement current evidence-based procedures in order to truly deliver safe and effective levels of patient care. Your mission, knowledge, and resources present extraordinary opportunities for positive patient outcomes and hope for families; however, a thorough review of your facility is a necessity to determine how to improve and become more aligned with your mission and purpose. ***SEE ATTACHMENT***

I can’t say enough good things about Clementine Briarcliff. My daughter was there for 11 weeks. The staff is amazing! They were always supportive, honest, and understanding. We were given weekly reports on her progress… and goals. All of our questions and concerns were immediately addressed. She left there in a much better place than when she entered.

Helpful

changed my life, not perfect but was extremely helpful for the most part.

I went to Clementine Briarcliff Manor in October 2021 for 9 weeks and I can say with absolute confidence that it saved my life. My therapist Kandice was an absolute ANGEL and she was genuinely so helpful. The RC’s like… Britt and Ashley also offered so much support and care. The dietician was very intelligent and although clients dislike her because of the nature of her job I think she did a wonderful job. Clementine was far from perfect and there were definitely inconsistencies but overall the staff was phenomenal and the milieu I was with was so supportive. You definitely get out of treatment what you put into it, but this place works. I recommend Clementine to anyone and everyone and wish you all the best of luck in your recovery!!

Clementine Briarcliff changed my life 6 months ago. What I came to terms with was that I had to let go of every aspect of my ED in order to work towards recovery. This place and everyone there changed my life for the… better and I am forever grateful. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and God bless.

it had some of the best rc’s ever (ashley, brit, stefania, bethany) who were clearly educated on eating disorders. but there was a handful of rcs who were rude and disrespectful. for example we once overheard a rc… talking about a client and making fun of her crying. This same rc was also overheard making fun of someone who was potentially being admitted to a hospital. a lot of the groups that the therapists ran were bad. it felt like the therapist weren’t educated in eating disorders. i wish for more training for the therapist because they truly do not understand the mental aspect of the disorder too well. it wasn’t terrible but i feel like the rc’s had helped me 109373929x more than my therapist.

mallory (primary therapist) saved my life. the family therapist was useless and just sat there while i had panic attacks to my parents. some rc’s were amazing, some were unprofessional and not right for the job. the… night shift wrapped themselves in sheets and slept while they were supposed to be up keeping us safe.

This program is a good program and it does help those who suffer from eating disorders and co-occurring conditions. The reason I only say good is because there was not much communication between treatment team and… parents and treatment team and patient. The therapists were one of the best I've met, and the program schedule is not bad. I would personally recommend this place.

changed my life! so happy to say that I am 100 days eating disorder free. God bless this place!!

I found more helpful than my last program and more helpful than php. I felt very safe, especially from my eating disorder

The staff, especially Natasha, Abbey, Charlotte, and Francesca were awesome, and I got training sessions on nutrtion and exercise which also really helped.