Southwood Psychiatric Hospital Inc – Pittsburgh

I just want to start off saying do not send your kid I was here for like a week and a half and this happened probably 8 months ago when I was there the food was good although after I ate the fish I had terrible stomach… pains 🤮 I threw up that night another thing that happened is you weren't even allowed to go outside I made friends with this one therapy employee and I told her we're not even allowed to go outside and she told me that they have an area that's fencing for the kids to go outside another thing I witnessed is a kid getting dragged into the room and he stuck his hands down his throat and he puked squares everywhere and blood everywhere this kid has constant fights with the staff with the staff we're always vaping listening to music whenever you had your hand up they wouldn't notice it they were always on their phone and whenever you didn't want two dance they would say well if you don't do the activities then you don't get the therapy points to go home or something like that there was this other girl that got pink eye and almost gave it to this other girl there was this one girl that had the flu there and went home that day and she was scheduled to go home that day and I was in the mixed group where it was boys and girls whenever I went home the medication my doctor put me on wake me up at 12:00 in the night and made me do circles in the middle of the highway this is all I had to say your place sucks

I went here in December of 2025 and it was one of the worst experiences ever. I was put on a bunch of unnecessary medications and I ended up having a reaction where all my muscles locked and i started sweating profusely… and I had a fever of 102. And instead of providing me with proper medical care they injected me with a crap ton of Benadryl which helped temporarily but they came right back! I was in agonizing pain and they refused to provide me treatment and I had severe urinary retention while I was there and had my bladder drained 4 times but they couldn’t find a reason why and I guess they started to think i was faking it but I continued to have urinary retention and here’s the kicker! One of the higher ups I think his name was dom claimed I just held my urine so I could have a female shove a tube down my private area right in front of me! They eventually took me again and once I arrived they drained 1.8 liters of urine from my bladder and they finally sent me somewhere else and I had to wear a foley for 3 months and have permanent damage to my bladder!

unless you want your kid to leave more traumatized, do not send them here!! i was only there for 14 days and it was horrible. i was on girls unit b and the staff constantly belittled us, girls physically fought… constantly, and we barely had activities other than group a few times a day (depending on the staff). due to how "bad" our unit was during my stay we only went outside twice and the gym a handful of times. staff wanted us to just sit quietly and watch TV shows that no one ever really even agreed on sometimes the same one multiple times a day. once, i was having a panic bc i was under extreme stress and one of the patients had to walk me over to the nurses station to grab staffs attention (though in the staffs defense there was an active code). i then just got rushed to the comfort room where i never got even checked on while i was on my verge of puking due to how hard i was crying and i couldn't breathe. i would like to state that there was in fact staff walking past the door + staff in front of the comfort room by the hallway and not once did anyone even come to see if i was doing ok even though i was definitely crying loud enough for people outside to hear me even though the door was closed as the place is (obviously) pretty echoly and the walls nor doors are soundproof (at least for the comfort room). obviously it would sound muffled from outside the room though it would still be something you could hear if walking past or in the hallway. i have some good things to say though. the best staff in the building probably was - Ms. Ashleigh, Mr. Eddy, and all the night staff (typically). the nurses also are pretty kind. we did get snack time which was nice and we did have premium channels such as Disney, HBO max, Hulu, Netflix, etc (provided by staff) which was also cool. the food was also fire. (i really hate writing negative reviews it makes me feel like this mean person putting peoples jobs jeopardy though this is simply my experience and someones elses experience could be amazing so please keep that in mind!! thanks for taking time to read my review.)

I have tried to contact Southwood on multiple different occasions due to needing an immediate evaluation and possible intake of my child, and I have received ZERO communication back!!

I LOOOOOVE IT me n the boys were evaluated to Southwood Psychiatric Hospital I had an amazing stay, recommended for mental health treatment and diagnosis! always very supportive staff, I cant thank yall enough peace!

I was here in the beginning of the year to preface this. Ants everywhere, especially in girls b. Staff talked about past patients frequently. Ms.Arielle in particular talked about a specific past patient who left around… an entire month prior to me being admitted so often that I knew their name, hair color, suspected diagnoses, reason for admission, etc. Very understaffed. Staff would instigate arguments with other patients. Groups are very repetitive and tend to repeat the same few things. 3 of the younger staff played Roblox for 2 hours straight. Staff act like needing treatment is always a punishment.

So I grew up in a home that had alot of abuse I was left here by my father at the age of 13 and grew up in the Ann unit spent all of my highschool years here until a family member adopted me. This place really helped me… grow up and we used to go on outings and the staff of the 2010s were really amazing they helped me heal and find myself and it changed me. The staff really became my family Ms Kelly Mr Mike shields Bethany Deanne I can not thank you enough for helping me become the person I am today. I have since left here and went to medical school and got married and have a beautiful life. I couldn’t have done it without the staff here. Thank you Southwood. I’m sure it’s changed alot since I was there but I’ll never forget our glee nights and playing just dance and the outings and the very deep group sessions and amazing Christmas’s you gave us. Thank you for being my family when I had none.

let me tell you, i was a patient there and i was treated badly, girls were always fighting eachother, i was always getting cursed at by staff and also a staff member got jumped by the whole unit because he was cursing… at a bipolar girl. i dont reccomend sending ur kids there at all. it made my mental health way worse and within a week of being discharged i got sent to another hospital. if i could give it 0 stars i would.

My 13yo just left Southwood inpatient and I recognize that it is not the most desirable environment but I have to point out the incredible level of dedication, commitment, and going above and beyond to get him the help… he needed from two specific people. Ms. Athena and Dr. Keener were tremendously helpful, communicative, and obviously cared very deeply about my kiddo and his situation, and despite the challenges they have to deal with every day they remained helpful and upbeat. I can't thank them enough and hopefully they'll get recognized by the hospital for the great work they did

Not the first place i would recommend. I was on girls B and MOST staff did not understand my autism diagnosis with auditory sensory issues and forced me into loud rooms with many people. the people i would like to… commend for their work are ms.brittany, doctor yuna, my social worker sam, and nurse vivian. i feel these are the staff members who actually understood my issues but also did not allow peers to go crazy all the time. i was there for about 2 weeks and witnessed maybe 7 or 8 fights. many peers there did not understand boundries, which is not the facilities fault, but most of these kids belong in detention centers, NOT psychiatric wards.

I honestly wish I could rate this zero stars please please please if you love your child. Do not send them here. There is 100% a reason why they have a 1.9 review on Google. They kept my stepson hostage when his father… showed that he had custody of him and wanted him released. The adult staff constantly swore and yelled at my stepson. He was refused showers and when he was finally allowed to take a shower, he said it was freezing cold. The food there was awful. He said when he would talk, he would get yelled at, and then if he didn’t talk, he also would get yelled at so he didn’t know what to do. He had to suffer from a stomach ache for two days because he was afraid to go to the bathroom because the staff wouldn’t clean his toilet. He was only sent there with one pair of underwear for some odd reason by his mother, and he asked staff for a different pair, a clean pair to change into and they told him yes but he would have to wear girls underwear???? They aren’t allowed to wear their own clothes they barely get to watch TV and when they cause any kind of scenes, they throw them in a room with nothing in it, and they lock them in there for hours at a time. This place is honestly disgusting, foul and I honestly wish this place would get shut down. I’m not sure how it hasn’t yet. Again, the only thing I have to say is please, if you love your child or care about your child in anyway, please do not send them here, no matter what.

I do not recommend this place my son died from being jumped on his birthday stayed to death and t bagged

This place was absolutely disgusting. There were adults there saying they're going to rape kids. I was just discharged March 4th and that place made me worse. Do NOT send your kids there.

i’m just gonna start out by saying do not send your child here. i was here for 11 days. i came out worse than i went in. i was in girls b and it was terrible. the staff. the patients. the docters. all of it. the staff… was the worst. they would constantly yell at us. and tell us we wonder why no staff want to work with us, and whenever one patient made a wrong doing it was everyone’s fault and everyone got blamed for it. the patients were a different story. they would constantly scream, argue, fight, it was never ending. while i was there. one girl drank a bottle of hand sanitizer. one girl strangled another. and one girl got prn every day. the docters try to prescribe medication when not needed. i had a doctor talk to me for about 10 minutes and the next day im getting told i have anxiety and depression and they’re trying to put me on zoloft. the groups were terrible. a few of the groups were “just dance” and if we didn’t get up and dance it would of been non participating but the thing was the staff didn’t choose it. patients did. we sat in the chairs for about 85% of the day staring at the tv doing nothing. the biggest issue was stealing fighting and the constant arguments. if i could just say one thing it would be to NEVER send your child here. it’s terrible. it’s not helping it makes it worse.

This post is specifically about one staff member at this facility, and she deserves 10 stars if I could give it. Athena is a social worker at Southwood, and she is one of the sole reasons for my sanity and my son’s… mental health during his 8 day stay in the older boys teen unit. She was in contact consistently, and I was always kept up to date through her. She helped us navigate making my son as comfortable as possible. My son’s psychiatrist at the facility was not very helpful and not very communicative. He did not have a good rapport with my son, either. Athena had an amazing rapport with my son! She helped communication between me, my son, and the psychiatrist. Above all, she had my son’s back and his best interests in mind, and she pushed until what my son needed (and I agreed with) was accomplished. If it wasn’t for Athena, my son’s stay would’ve been so much worse and possibly not helpful at all. I cannot recommend Athena enough. She was a total God send for us!!!

This place isn’t that bad. I was on girls a an I had a good experience. I only really like one staff members, I think her name was ms. Aerial (I don’t know if I spelled it right). The patients were really the only… problem. I heard about the violence on girls b, thankfully there wasn’t a fight on my unit while I was there. The only problem I had with this place was the communication to my parents and the doctor I had. I didn’t really care about the communication because it wasn’t something I was involved with. I think it was dr. Keerar or something that talked to me every single day about how I was feeling and if the medication was working but he was TERRIBLE. He lied about my discharge date and lied to me about why I was there. Other than that I had a great experience. I managed to make friends and learn healthy coping skills. The only time patients had to be restrained was when they were violent or causing problems with others patients. Don’t recommend though.

I am giving this facility two stars solely because every staff member I spoke with—aside from the night phone operator and Mr. Brian in the adolescent boys unit—was professional. Unfortunately, my experience with Mr.… Brian was deeply concerning. During one of the most vulnerable moments of my son’s life, he was spoken to in a manner that was not only inappropriate but harmful. He told my son, “If your parents beat you more, you wouldn’t be here.” That statement alone is unacceptable from anyone in a position of care, especially toward a child in crisis. Additionally, when my son’s only personal possession was stolen and he reported it while clearly distressed, Mr. Brian responded with, “What do you want me to do about it?” There was no empathy, reassurance, or attempt to address the situation. When I arrived the following morning, I was finally able to speak with someone about my concerns. Both that staff member and the doctor agreed my son needed support, but that this facility was not the right fit for him. Despite that, I waited six hours in the parking lot before he was released AMA. On the drive home, my son shared that he experienced racism and bullying during his five-day stay. As a parent, hearing that was devastating. I spent the entire time he was there worried about his safety and mental well-being. I had expectations that this facility would provide compassionate, trauma-informed care. Sadly, our experience did not reflect that standard. I hope leadership takes these concerns seriously so that other families do not endure the same experience.

I was there for 2 weeks and all the girls did was fight yell say slurs curse steal and bully the staff would complain when we wanted talk and complained about when we didn't and always would yell and curse at us Why did… a staff make fun of us 4 having a stuff animal. I hate this place it needs to be shut down

Overall it was a very nice place. The staff was nice especially NURSE LUKE I loved him he was the best. The peers were okay. Not all of them was great but most of them were nice. The beds was uncomfortable 😂 the food… was good!!

I sadly at the hospital rn and they are about to put me back there Ive been there 6 times and it’s about to be 7 lol if y’all don’t believe me well the people that know there’s a staff I love because Hes very cool Mr… rob Hes my fav lol any good luck well wish me good luck I’ll probably need it im about to be 201 now see yall oh it’s a 4 star bye bye now

When I stayed here it wasn’t good, the food was bad so i ate turkey sandwiches everyday , the staff were rude unprofessional didn’t listen to you, if you’re not gonna be nice you shouldn’t have a job here with these… kids but ms.kel was AMAZING also my social worker mrs. hannah was sweet, however my doctor wasn’t good, the beds don’t even fit the frame some of them are really damaged and ripped aswell , it was a bad experience definitely i think it helped in a way like i would never wanna be there again but in turn also made me never wanna seek help again, there are better hospitals so please do research, if you’re a 14-17yr old girl i hope you get girls unit 2 , girls unit 1 is scary literally feels unsafe, you get 10 minute calls every tuesday-thursday-saturday-sunday , i do have ptsd from this hospital now. it was like a prison , couldn’t even see grass. I wasn’t even able to actually get help and focus on my mental health because this place literally makes it WORSE.

I went to retrieve my medical records, which they refused to provide, and i of course was locked in, and they wouldn't let me leave until i said please. This place needs shut down

Terrible experience there, got in a fight, they said i started it, not worth going western is better

i went there on a suicide risk, got called racial slurs, told staff, was ignored and continued to get harassed and bullied, nurses lost my optical prescriptions, and the staff gave preferential treatment to the more… troubled children who harassed me.

I was very impressed with the place and especially with the staff They were so on top of their jobs always wanting the best 4 all the kids Again staff was great but a few of the staff truly stood out too me and touched… my ❤️ in a very gentle caring way Example Ms Athena Wood took amazing care of my 15 yr old nephew Ms Terri also taught him how to handle certain unhealthy situations These 2 ladies were like bright shining stars Also on the boys floor my nephew was on Supervisor Christian and Nurse Mike were great encouraging amazing men And I definitely can't close out without thanking Dr Keener who took such great care of my nephew Each and everyone of you have definitely impacted our life's in a positive way Made God Bless your whole entire staff for all your kindness 💙 Thank you all

Giving it a 3 because the staff was kinda nice but there was one staff member who wanted me to learn manners because I didn't know how to say something to a staff member. Ms. Darla was wanting me to use manners for… something. The experience was kinda fun tho, one of the staff gave us these beans where it's either a good flavor or a bad flavor. I got a bad flavor and it tasted like either puke or a bandaid

I was here when I was 11-12 through 2020-2021 I was in a bad foster family and I had to lie about having thoughts just to get sent away but they sent me here instead of a different foster family. Im not saying it’s good… now but when I was there. There was a lot of dating between patients Lots of cheating lead to arguments and workers tried to stop it but couldn't. The beds you got roommates I think there were a lot of switching because of the relationship problems but it was fine most of the time.. Lots of booty juice (I was never in a relationship or booty juiced but I’ve seen it) but one thing sometimes you do find friends in there I met many friends. A lot of the memory’s I’ve had in that place are good cause I met a lot of nice people The older kids really helped the younger kids. When I was there I met someone and they helped me through my first day telling me about the place and introduced me to everyone I was shy so I went by a nickname (I like my name but I wanted a nickname like all the other kids had nicknames) I was raised without anyone telling me about what Trans meant or what LGBTQ+ was and the others in there taught me. I’m very supportive till this day and some of the employees were supportive about those things some werent which caused kids to get triggered when a worker would call them by there birth given name but most of the time they respected it. The schooling was nice especially when you had a small “friend” group we also got to watch Percy Jackson that was my first time watching the movies. I liked it and my favorite worker was a girl sometimes we would go outside and she would sing to us. I looked forward to it anytime it was her work schedule she probably doesn’t work there anymore but she was nice she was strict but nice. Some workers would play music for us and put Netflix for us. And the bathroom situation they would usually make us keep the door cracked which I get but sometimes it was a little uncomfortable. And the food was usually good but it was repetitive foods. And while I was there I learned to play cards it was actually cool learning that stuff. The phone situation at first my aunt and the foster family I was with would call but slowly they stopped either no one was picking up their calls or they just stopped calling. And the doctor he was okay I don’t remember him all that much. But the most thing I liked there was talking with peers and going outside and watching tv and the night snack time and I think the most thing that motivates you in there are your peers yea the doctor might be good at helping you but the peers mostly the older ones would set you straight especially when someone was suicidal they would talk them out of it peers were the most supportive in that place. (Sorry if I’m not good with writing I’m not that good of a writer but I tried my best that’s all that counts)