Valley Springs – Holyoke

I did not have a good stay here. I can’t compare this place to other institutes since I’ve only been here TWICE, but I wasn’t provided any therapeutic help here whatsoever. Upon arrival, I was dosed up with… phenobarbital amongst other drugs for withdrawal from substances. (I originally wanted to go to a rehab for addiction but Baystate placed me here)… I was assisted by AMR and nurses for transport (I was basically asleep and unable to move) and when I got to Valley Springs I was signing forms and consent forms while completely nodding out. I could barely hold my head up and definitely could not read the forms but they kept sliding them in my face. They have a daily schedule with groups- but they aren’t held- or it’s just coloring. I spent most of the days in bed staring at a wall waiting for either food time or med time. There was no therapy. You speak with a doctor maybe twice during the stay for 15mins but that’s about it. I’ve never been to jail/prison but I felt like an inmate. Nurses withheld PRN medication from me (I was forced to wait another hour, when the next hour came, it was suddenly “shift change” and I had to wait longer). One night I had a melt down (I do also have a mental health diagnosis) and no staff or nurse checked in on me despite me screaming and crying. My roommate consoled me. Nurses and some staff really made me feel like an inconvenience when I asked for towels, shampoo, snacks etc- you have to ask for basically anything and it seemed like they either tried to avoid patients, pawn off the responsibility to another staff/nurse, or be agitated with your request. They gave my partner a hard time about visiting me, it took them days to approve of my personal items. It really felt like they just knew they could control the situation and did so just because. This place is not beneficial for people with mental illness. I don’t like leaving negative reviews, and I hope this doesn’t come off as rude, but I am speaking the truth about my experience here. Oh- and I’m vegetarian, and there was not a single meal that didn’t have meat in it or alternatives. I had to eat meat here in order to eat. That was a bummer. One positive- there were two overnight staff members who were extremely kind and helpful. I wish they worked during the days or evenings because you could tell that they genuinely cared for the patients here. They were sweethearts.

The staff is terrible. The first time I went the night shift nurse came in and asked me and my roommate, “So you aren’t gonna wash your stinky a**es tonight?” I have trouble showering and doing normal human hygiene… tasks when I’m in a deep depression and I already feel AWFUL about it. Why would you say that to a teenager with MDD? Many other things have happened there. Horrible place.

My loved one came here after spending 7 days in the hospital waiting for a bed to open up (she is 6). After spending that amount of time waiting, we were hopeful she would end up in good care - especially considering… her young age. The experience she received at this facility was quite horrendous. In the 12 days she was attending, there were 3 different psychiatrists assigned to her. The first one, who goes by the name of Chris, a psych NP, failed to put in an order for her recently prescribed medication before he left? To either go to another unit or quit- leaving my daughter without medication for 3 entire days. I contacted DMH regarding this. He had also asked me about adding a medication which was clearly contraindicated with one my daughter was currently taking, and suggested Early Intervention as her best option for DC therapy- lacking the knowledge that EI is actually for babies and toddlers, while questioning Autism which had never been considered in my daughters case. At the 2 care plan meetings, the ONLY person who participated was the social worker, who hadn’t actually met with my daughter until the day before discharge. There was absolute lack of continuity of care and poor communication. Impossible to follow up and professionally evaluate my daughter throughout her stay due to the “lack of staffing” which was an excuse I kept receiving. The only thing this facility was able to do was increase her medication (eventually) to a somewhat therapeutic dosage. I essentially conducted all of the DC planning, finding therapists and making appointments so the facility did nothing of that on their end- and because in my experience, I didn’t trust anyone to do their jobs. The unit itself was a bit volatile- if you have a young child, wait for a bed at another facility. They will be mixed on a co-ed unit with teenagers. This facility itself is new, clean and tidy- but don’t let this fool you. I understand everyone’s experience will be different but I would never recommend this facility.

Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Staff: Rude Food: Terrible Treatment: Non-existent Rooms: gross Worst hospital I have ever been at. 0/10 would NOT recommend.

It’s easy to have a bad experience during the darkest times of your life. But the outpatient program here was nothing but positive for me. I’ve made friends and I’ve made family and group leader Liz is such a special… person. These people care about you. Don’t let the reviews stop you from coming here. Especially for outpatient.

My partner was admitted to this facility during one of the most vulnerable periods of his life, and unfortunately, our experience raised serious concerns about patient safety, communication, and quality of care. The… most alarming issue was medication management. My partner's prescribed psychiatric medication is Geodon (ziprasidone), which should be administered with food for proper absorption. However, the facility repeatedly changed the timing of this medication without explanation and without ensuring it was given with meals. Other medications were also administered without clear communication regarding their purpose, monitoring, or potential risks. Considering my partner had recently experienced kidney complications, this lack of careful medication management was extremely concerning. I was also concerned that medications such as clonidine were administered according to the facility's routine rather than with any explanation of why the schedule had been changed for my partner. Whenever questions were asked, clear answers were difficult to obtain. Another serious concern was the lack of appropriate patient monitoring. Staff documented urine output but failed to properly account for fluid intake. My partner was eventually transferred back to the emergency room because staff believed he was "urinating too much," yet they did not appear to consider how much fluid he had actually consumed. Monitoring output without accurately evaluating intake does not provide a complete picture of a patient's condition. Communication throughout the admission was extremely poor. Staff often could not clearly explain medication decisions, treatment plans, or changes in care. Even more concerning, it was very difficult for my partner to access or speak with a Patient Rights Advocate. Patients in psychiatric facilities are among the most vulnerable individuals and should have a meaningful opportunity to understand their rights, ask questions, and receive independent support when they have concerns. The therapeutic environment was also disappointing. Patients frequently yelled, argued, and behaved aggressively, creating constant stress and making recovery much more difficult. Overall, I left feeling that this facility lacks consistent communication, careful medication oversight, appropriate clinical monitoring, and respect for patient advocacy. Families should not have to fight for basic explanations, safe medication practices, or access to Patient Rights Advocates. Patients deserve competent, compassionate care delivered by professionals who communicate openly, carefully monitor treatment, and respect the rights of those entrusted to them. Unfortunately, that was not our experience. I sincerely hope this facility makes significant improvements in staff education, medication safety, patient monitoring, communication, and protection of patient rights.

Ari and Brian from sunrise are the best they help me be comfortable and calm

I would give a zero if I could. I know someone personally who was here and from the admission to the discharge, it was all a disappointment. Phone numbers you were given to get a hold of people to get information to… find out visiting hours and all of that information no one ever answers. So just show up with your persons items. Also if they don't let them have the items, they keep them for the duration of stay, they do not give back to you, You’re supposed to call ahead to schedule visiting no one ever answers that either. They hounded the patient that was an adult within the first 24 hours for payment no matter how high and demand they pay instantly whether you are in the right state of mind or not. Not just a 50$ copay I am talking 2000$ . These places are supposed to teach people skills on how to deal with their mental health and create a safe place to adjust on and off meds , and instead it’s just a holding cell for mainly drug addicts. That will require for therapy/treatment to heal from. There are no skills taught and the staff do not help anybody when they’re having a mental health breakdown or a panic attack. They just tell them oh poor baby you shouldn’t cry. Other clients have to help clients calm down. Does no one have training anymore? They allow schizophrenic patients to roam the hallways, talking about stabbing people and instead of making them go to a safe place they have clients just stay shut in their rooms all day. With literally nothing to do but sit in their heads. They have groups scheduled, but they don’t actually hold any groups. There are no handouts on skills to learn how to deal with panic attacks or depression or just how difficult life is.. It is literally a pill factory where they try to shove different drugs onto you and they do zero skills training. Also, the food is really crappy. I would not offer my worst enemy this place if you’re waiting in an ER waiting for a bed and Valley Springs comes up stay in the ER.

It was helpful. I definitely had to be proactive in receiving the information, applying it to my own situations and processing it.

Actually NO STARS. Okay....I can't even think, where to start. I just got out today, after over a month. I definitely went to this facility, looking for help. That's NOT what I received. I leave today, WAY worse than… when I went in. Some of the nurses were good. As far as the care techs, . The 7p-7a shift were AMAZING, professional, caring, concerned and friendly. The day shift was OMG SO BEYOND NOT. Very uncaring, unprofessional, mean, rude and abusive. I would NEVER recommend this facility/hospital EVER for ANYONE. PLEASE, if you are looking for help or care or professionalism, do NOT go to this place. You will only end up feeling and being treated worse.

3 stars I was here at Valley Springs for about 3 weeks while I was there the food was kinda bad, the staff were decent (it all depends on who you get/are there) my favorite had to be Tevin I forgot his last name. There… were a couple of instances where I was put in seclusion, this one time I complied with the staffs directive without resisting, and they still gave me an IM. Apparently, they were supposed to ask me if I was willing to take a pill but they didn’t. It was quite a traumatic experience. I was doing stuff that was wrong, but their force was unnecessary. There were two 6-year-old boys on a unit with 17-year-olds (I’m 14) they were getting bullied pretty badly so I stuck up for them, they started hitting me so I stopped. Seriously guys Valley Springs is no place for kids that young. (They were getting beaten by the older kids) It is pretty understaffed, they are spread thin. I get it’s a very stressful job/working environment, but they should always come in with a good attitude. Some of the staff were in my opinion escalating situations. They pulled a kid out of his room when he went there to calm down. (I was told the patients' rooms were their safe space) No procedures should be performed in rooms with no cameras. It’s the staff's word against the patients and the staff always wins. We needed more stuff to do. Because we didn’t have enough stuff to do we came up with our own stuff and it always got taken away for example, we were tossing a flip-flop back and forth and it got taken away. I understand why, but seriously we had nothing to do, which then resulted in us doing worse things like fighting or destroying the place (sorry to the maintenance staff) thank you for your time and understanding. Jayden Faria

This crappy hospital has been refusing to give me my medication, and the nurse verbally abused me because I advocated for myself when I was refused my medication.

Valley Springs PHP program was a wonderful experience... All the staff were comforting, supportive, and caring... They worked with me when it came to my care needs... I would gladly recommend their services to anyone… looking for a place to jumpstart their emotional healing journey

My father was admitted to Valley Springs Behavioral Health Hospital in Holyoke, MA from December 29, 2025 through January 2, 2026. During his admission, our family had serious concerns about whether patient rights were… fully explained prior to signing admission documents, including how the discharge process works under a conditional voluntary admission, which can directly affect how long a patient remains hospitalized. We also had concerns regarding aspects of his care, including room conditions, difficulty obtaining mobility assistance, and how medications were administered and documented. In addition, concerns raised by my father and our family during the during his stay at Valley Springs were not clearly addressed or documented through the facility’s grievance process. After discharge, we experienced ongoing challenges obtaining complete medical and administrative records, and the materials provided appeared limited relative to what was requested. These concerns have been raised through appropriate regulatory channels.

I attended the IOP program and it was one of the best experiences of my life. The staff is wonderful and a shout out to my peeps,I am thankful I had this experience.

(Changing 2 stars to 1 star for their autoreplies to all negative reviews saying they are investigating). WARNING! FOR PROFIT COMPANY ACCORDING TO MY RESEARCH!!! You couldn't talk to a nurse unless you knocked on the… door of the nurse's station. A lot. You get your meds through a glass divider and can't hear the nurse half the time. Also they had almost none of my meds in the system for far too long. I missed doses. Foods generally bad (the food not the kitchen staff) and every other hospital I've been to let's you pick your food. WARNING: I AM NOT GAY BUT THE PASTOR THERE IS HOMPOPHOBIC! IF FOUND THERE DO NOT GO TO CHURCH SERVICES. THE PASTOR WAS TALKED TO BUT WAS NOT FIRED!!! I will say that this is not the worst out there. That title belongs to Arbor in Eastern MA,

Worst place to go my girlfriend is there and in 2 hours they have proven themselves worthless to help and all they did was lie about and to her to get her to stay to do even less help. Mental heath is no joke... unless… your a worker here. Doctors are absolutely a joke and dont even know much English. Asked for me to get consent from my girlfriend that was 2 steps away and wouldnt even let me ask her to talk to us and literally laughed in her face as she was telling her, her problems. Dont go here not today not never

Absolutely worst mental health facility. DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT send someone here that you care about. They do not care about you they only want a check. I was forced into signing documentation while I was having a… severe panic attack, that I would have not signed if I wasn’t forced into it. It was traumatic and a TERRIBLY run program. I was given improper medication basically just to shut me up and stop complaining that they weren’t helping me. Let me repeat DO NOT SENT ANYONE TO THIS FACILITY!!!!!!

My 14 year old son has gone in for a lengthy stay. He has had no complaints so far and it’s been 13 days he was in for Christmas and it was hard on our family however the staff on the adolescent unit pooled $$ together… and went out got kids Fidgets and therapeutic type gifts - that were SAFE!! Very kind 💚 ❤️ my son has adjusted to new medications and BHN has followed up weekly checking on him I’m looking forward to a healthy and stable son coming home this new year Totally can’t thank The adolescent staff enough 💗 🏆 🥰

Is one rude person on the floor that picks on the elderly makes fun of the things they're saying when they're not even knowing it , she's a rotten person and doesn't belong working with people , she's nasty

What an amazing group of people who run Valley Springs! I couldn't have had a better experience. I highly recommend this partial hospitalization program if you need mental health treatment.

BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR RELATIVES IN THIS CLINIC? This has been my first experience with this process, it is the worst clinic I could be, I have been here for 5 days and I have literally been eating only once a day and… they are supporting me with ENSURE which I am already tired of ENSURE, MY STOMACH ASKS ME FOR SOLID FOOD .... My first day was on 10/23/2025 the person who received me was Rebecca who was excellent and described the hospital in a different way, which turned out to be very different, the employees of the floor are not all nice for example Lindsay, which my father contacted her to talk to my social worker and never came back, and in fact she told me that if I thought I was coming for a 5-star resort, the food they give me here they make me Constipated and the farts stink a lot, one of the rules they have is, no food Nor drinks allowed in the building and it is incredible and unfair how workers enter food and drinks into the building (Dunkin donuts, Starbucks, Taco Bell) IF IT IS A RULE IT IS FOR EVERYONE AND IF IT IS FOR SAFETY WITH MORE REASON. They want us to only charge the cell phone from 8:00 pm to 7:30...... WE DON'T ALL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE GOOD CELL PHONES THE NURSES SPEND IT WITH THEIR CELL PHONES THE WHOLE DAY THEY DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO YOU MANY OF THEM AND WHEN YOU ANNOY THEM THEY GET ANGRY, For example my phone doesn't have a good battery and nurse JENNIFER because it can only be charged at 8 at night and it was 12 noon she told me that the only solution is that if I could buy another cell phone, which I replied no Because I don't have money.......Another rule is that patients must have the camera covered supposedly as privacy but employees take pictures, make video calls and in fact here we are for depressions and more no one knows if they take photos of us, another I say if they are rules they must be for everyone and look for a work method that works in accordance with the rules

This is my first ever experience with a mental health institute/ hospital not for me but for a member of my family. This place is not prepared to accommodate the true patients needs, example, A patient with sleep apnea… NEEDS to use CPAP or BPAP, the family supplies the equipment they take it but when the patient is in there they don't give it to the patient claiming hospital rules, you can't have it. She can't sleep flat due to the same health condition, we can't do anything, they say to the patient; water on the floor of the room coming from the bathroom, no one cleans it making that a slip risk, and I can go on and on. This place in unprofessional, Choose another facility is my biggest recommendation. They don't deserve not even one star.

The worst place I can imagine. They don't accommodate medical needs for example if you require a CPAP machine they will tell your love ones that you can use it, them tell you that you can't use it. And if you take… routine medication to treat other medical diagnosis , they will have you suffering, chronically in pain. Rather than continuing your recommended medical medications.They lie to you.. To keep you in there. When a person is in tears crying for help, and they are not helpful. Smh. How can a place like this ensure a persons mental health improvement if they can't ensure their physical safety. In addition having a person sleep on a wheelchair!!! That's not ok. It's unprofessional. The organization will benefit from a training on how to treat their patients like humans. Just because their mental health is suffering does not mean they have the right to disrespect a human being. Allow me to also include the poor ability to attended to a non bilingual client. How can you not even have a bilingual staff in the late night shift??? Where another client in there had to step in to try to assist a Spanish speaking client. Hmmm a place located in a dominant Hispanic community. Please avoid sending your love ones to this place at all cost.

This hospital has zero professionalism. The government and all relevant agencies must take action, as patients are not treated with respect, among many other shortcomings. An urgent investigation is needed.