Palms Behavioral Health — Attraction in Harlingen

My daughter was admitted to Palms Behavioral Health & I had to take her out. My daughter was traumatized despite only being there for 2 days. On her first day, Monday, she witnessed fights and other patients having drugs and getting high, my daughter had never been around an environment like this before and was extremely terrified. On Tuesday they had visitations later that evening so I was able to see my daughter with her god mother. My daughter said she had panic attacks all day on Tuesday and nobody did anything, she wasn’t able to talk to anyone until it was group time and a therapist finally came to her unit. My daughter told us everything that had happen, including things like patients planning on doing Code Purples to get injected, Staff saying bad words to the patients and mistreating them, Patients sneaking drugs in and getting high, and how she was terrified because she did not belong there. I spoke to staff regarding her safety and everything she told me. On Wednesday, I continued to call the staff regarding her safety and wellbeing and seeing if I’d be able to take her out early. My daughter already has a therapist and psychiatrist that she has been seeing since she was 14 and has improved significantly and had never tried to harm herself. She was terrified that being there in that horrible place and environment would erase all the progress she had made and worked hard on. I was able to get her discharged on Wednesday. The staff were all nice to her that day and the people watching over the patients changed due to rotations and they were a lot nicer than the ones she had on Monday & Tuesday. Overall only three staff members were nice and did not mistreat the patients or my daughter. My daughter is severely traumatized still yet has been home for 3 days now. She still looks around for cameras, feels scared closing the bathroom door or locking it, terrified that she’ll get in trouble for being on her devices, and more. My daughter also said they would watch 911 or forensic files or law & order which would have heavy triggering topics like sexual abuse, overdosing, death, and more. I don’t understand why they were allowed to watch those things as those topics can be very triggering for people. After my daughter was discharged we drove home and visited her psychiatrist so she could see her because she was traumatized. Her psychiatrist said Palms Behavioral Health is one of the worst places in the valley and did not understand why my daughter had been sent there. Her psychiatrist was glad that I had taken her out and fought for her. Overall horrible place. I do not understand how this place is supposed to help people get better or get stabilized. The environment is horrible and dangerous, my daughter was exposed to things she had never witnessed or been around (drugs and fights) My daughter would like to thank Stefanie, Drew, and Sam, one female and two male staff that were nice towards my daughter and were understanding and made her feel comfortable and safe. Palms gave my daughter more trauma than help and she was there for 2 days. I am glad to have my daughter back and continue her usual treatment with her psychiatrist and therapist. Horrible place, I don’t understand how a place like this can be considered safe. If I could I would absolutely give this...

was a female in this facility keep in mind that i was a patient there for only 5? days. For starters, the “techs” or the staff that is there to watch you all day or all night. Specific techs don’t understand or just try not to understand one’s issues. A good example would be when a female in our unit was having an episode and was acting out by via self harm by scratching I was made aware of this as well as the other females there and someone went up to go inform a tech in hopes they’d assist the female in proper order. That’s not what the two techs during their day shift did. All they did was yell at her and tell her to stop and proceeded to send her to her room to be by herself and kept it that way for the remainder of the day. You’re only making it worse by making them feel less than by yelling at them instead of helping them? Nothing about witnessing that made me feel comfortable enough to tell the techs when something negative is going on. If you’re gonna work at a place full of mentally unstable people and don’t know how to comfort someone in a vulnerable state DONT WORK THERE. You’re only making it worse and it’s very dehumanizing. Not to mention some of the techs were very rude at assisting people especially one of the female techs. Some techs were very nice and good at what they did but others just shouldn’t have even gotten the job in the first place. I feel like being in there nobody truly cares about ones mental health until it becomes a serious issue that they start to act out upon others. That’s all i have to say about the techs some of the techs were truly good people and made my experience there very memorable, but for the ones who are very harsh on the patients I truly hope someone points out ur wrong doings.

Secondly, if you’re going into this place voluntarily I genuinely hope you find somewhere else to go. This place isn’t terrible but it’s not at all good either. If you truly want help mentally this place isn’t where you wanna be. It’ll only make it worse if it isn’t the techs it’s the patients in there as well. not much more to say about this segment i just hope you chose a better facility.

• i truly hope that those who go and spectate this place truly realize how terrible it is to be a patient in there nobody will ever truly understand how horrible it is being in there until you’re truly there. went in there involuntarily and i had no other choice. The whole skin checking thing for scars is so humiliating and very traumatizing for a minor. YOU don’t wanna be in here, being in here made me realize i literally have nobody else but myself at the end of the day. i’ve never felt more alone whilst being in there. thank you for the...

been here two times and id like to thank Felix for his listening skills, Francua for the JBL speaker😭🙏, and Drew for his humor. this is sam btw :3 Mariam is an excellent group therapist shes a lovely person who genuinely cares abt what u have to say. Alla and krystal were my fav nurses i miss babooshka a lot. Okay so the firdt time i went i wasn't aware i was going to be strip sesrched and it was v uncomfortable it def left me feeling hella weird but like oh well i get it cuz like ppl wanna sneak drugs or weapons in. The food was hit or miss but oh my gosh let me tell u abt their enchiladas and panchos theyre soo bomb. The beds are rlly hard and noisy so its tough to get sleep especially w how quiet it is u hear every noise from the staff amplified yk also the pillows are so flat. its also very cold i have anemia and basically most lf the time i would be hugging myself or my teeth would be chattering even w a jacket on. They moved me from my roommates room for braiding her hair and i think its so dumb they think im gay for that😭 Theres a lot of fights and commotion i swear there was a code purple one time at abt 2am like damn brah someone's cranky. Also theres like lowk a lil bullying amongst the patients since its like diff personalities they clash and start drama js to fight and move to the 600 unit like 🤦‍♀️ but i also met a diverse group of people and made good friends in there that understand me & can comfort. I like the point sheet system for snacks but i wish they had more activities instead of repeating the same schedule everyday it gets very boring trying to pass time in there like all u can really do is color/draw, watch tv, or talk. When we tried to play card games we would get after at for beinf too loud but they also wouldnt let us go into rhe group room alone to play😣 I couldnt shower for long and the body towels were icky for me to use idk. also the courtyard literally has nothing but grass, sidewalk, and benches its VERY boring but its the only way to get some sun😒 Giving a 3 because i miss the staff, i made good friends, and the food would hit...