The Horsham Clinic — Local services in Horsham Township

I appreciate that taking care of adolescent children is difficult task and that worried parents probably never get all the information they want. I also appreciate that mental illness is not easy to treat. I certainly appreciate that mental health is under funded, under regulated, under insured and understaffed as a whole. But all these considerations do not give a free pass to Horsham Clinic (or any other provider of health care) in their responsibilities as human beings. The lack of communication by the staff at Horsham is mind bending. They take your child, and maybe you'll get a phone call once in a week by a psychiatrist. We found that the psychiatrist who called us was extremely poor in communicating to us even when she did call. We found that if we wanted to reach her, that days might pass before we would get a return call. It certainly felt that the psychiatrist was only calling because there was an obligation to call anytime there was a change in medication plan. But there really was no update on our child beyond that. The time the psychiatrist spent with our child is minimal (according to our child, who admittedly might be biased in their reporting). The therapist, a LCSW, was pleasant and tried to schedule weekly family meetings. These meetings were not helpful. I found the therapist not particularly up to date with our child's history. I was not even sure the purpose of the family meeting. It was not for family therapy. It was not for them to give us recommendations. The therapist would say "so has dr. X suggested a date of discharge to you?" or... "where do you think your child should go after leaving here?" From my perspective, those are answers they should be providing to us. The times we could call our child was 12-1 or 6-9 every day. Calling into the clinic is TORTURE. You first call the main number - that takes usually 2-3 minutes to get to a human. Then they transfer you to the unit. The phone often rings for 2-5 minutes. Then you get someone on the phone that leaves you hangin a moment just to tell you all the lines are busy. They only have two phones for 30 kids. They might tell you that they will have your child call back, but that never happens. So the only report really I have of what is going on is from our mentally stressed and ill child - that i can sometimes get on the phone for a few minutes a day. All therapy is group therapy. There is no individual therapy (I'm guess the main reason is that there is not enough resources). My child complains about the food - hot pockets are the best. fish sticks are soggy, etc. Of course, that can be a 14yo just complaining. There is also the feeling that kids can easily go into the clinic to hid from reality and develop a peer relationship with like-minded depressed or outcast kids. This has the potential to be a positive feedback loop for either returning to the clinic or normalizing unhealthy behaviors. While there is group therapy, there is also just a lot of monitoring to prevent self harm. Mental health crises do not get fixed overnight. Do not send your kid here to think they will come up with their head on straight. The entire point is just so they can be watched. While they require a plan after discharge, that is easier said than one. I am lucky to have resources, but it was still difficult to find an outpatient therapist. Partial hospitalization at Horsham also was not anything amazing. There was group therapy and babysitting. Of course, the costs are incredible. Luckily my insurance covered everything (so far as I know). Every two weeks my insurance was billed about $30K and there was an $18K deduction. Multiple that out by 30 kids...they make quite a bit of money. I do not understand why they are not interested in communicating with parents better. If my child was in the hospital i would get daily updates from physicians (and often more than daily). And I could ask a nurse for an update at anytime. It is a very strange feeling to drop your kid off at a "hospital" and then not see them for weeks potentially with...

I'll start by saying The Horsham Clinic is overall a wonderful place to go when you are really going thru it and need a place to reset. It takes a lot of strength to be able to admit you need help and more than plenty of the staff working there understand that and so often give their hearts out to help you, despite that situations that occur on a daily basis can be just as overwhelming at times for them as much as us during our stay. More patients could be mindful of that, but I certainly understand it can be difficult to feel empathetic for others when you are at your lowest (no ones fault, sometimes your brain can get in that headspace when you are overloaded with your own life struggles).

There are of course plenty of things that can be improved. Nationally we still have a long way to go in figuring out the best strategies and environments for people suffering with challenging mental health issues. I've put myself into The Horsham Clinic (THC lol) 6 times over the past decade+ and I've noticed a decline in quality in certain areas, and from what I've learned during conversations with staff members that have been their for decades, this has been going on for quite a long time.

In the 80's people could walk around the entire campus and enjoy the beautiful scenery that surrounds the clinic, now just places like a little area with abandoned benches in a lovely little spot that has been forgotten I guess. they used to take people on trips to Dorney Park and a night at the movies. Slowly those privelages eroded for a variety of reasons, for reasons that are understandble at times but in my opinion short sighted and more harmful than good. My first stay in my unit in 2012 (STAT 1, the place I usually end up which always brings me great memories and deep bonding experiences) we had a decent sized field in the back we could walk around in and several different rooms to chill out in during our down time. Now theres only one room everyone gets to hang out in while the others stay locked for the most part, and that field is no longer accessable. The best we get is occasionally a caring staff member will have the free time to let us into this little area outside for a few minutes (James who works nights was the kind soul who was the one willing to during my most recent stay). It is a roughly 10x10 foot square area with a huge fence to keep us from eloping (we nickname it The Birdcage). It feels a bit dehumanizing in all honesty, but I still end up enjoying it none the less. Plenty of other things could use improving, but its certainly not the staffs fault. Like many businesses in this country, the higher ups try to find a way to get the most work out of the least amount of staff possible. Staff that are likely highly underpaid for the work they do.

As an aside, every one of my fellow patients ive talked to that ended up serving/surviving time in jail at some point, has said that there is much more things to do in jail than there is at THC.

Yet, at the end of the day, The Horsham Clinic is likely the best place to go for hundreds of miles (maybe even more), many people even come from out of state to get in. I've made plenty of friends, the occasional crush ("Horsham Romances Never Last" though, c'est la vie), and many great and wild memories. I will always recommend this place to the people that feel like their mental health and lives needs a serious reset. I'm thankful for the staff that are in it because they love to help others. Trent, Daniel, Deseray to name a few (unfortunately I'm not great with remembering names, but there are many many others who I remember fondly who I wish I could credit. If any of the staff that remembers having as lovely a time with me as I have with them just know I do remember you too and respect you to the highest degree), and I wish them all the best.

Thanks for everthing you all do, and yes you all deserve to get paid more.

Ryan S of The Three...

ive been here as a adolescent inpatient at the depressive department last year in july. here is my honest review. The staff is 50/50. some staff are mean to kids that out-right freak out like for example this one boy was saying he wanted to commit because he could be with his friends and started yelling at the staff saying they dont care, one guy tried to talk it down but he lost his cool and just yelled out he doesnt care. That worker did shock me for saying that to a kid that obviously needed help. But other then that the workers were really nice. Some workers treated us like their own kids. I personally have a stutter and a lisp so when the worker corrected me it was really sweet. They even wait for certain workers to go on their shift. We have 3 meals a day and snacks like popsicles and stuff! now this is a big thing, i was in the depressed unit and the kids there were EXTREMELY NICE. I'm not even kidding no bullying no nothing. I was expecting to be bullied because of my stuff but no they treated me the same. Except for one kid, he was necessarily mean to every kid, but he has severe anger issues. He would talk abt ppl behind their backs but he was in quiet so it was any disrespect. There was a few fights but it was small and they handled it correctly by separating everybody into 2 groups. But this is the most important thing please listen. My case of depression wasnt super severe when i got there, but if yours or your kids is please watch out for this!! There were so many time i could of self harmed and relapse. They weren't really watching fully on that. PLEASE WATCH OUT FOR THAT! I did not relapse because i was focusing on getting better but if your kid is involuntary sent here please watch out. And for the reviews talking about how "its only one call a day" is a lie!!! Its actually 2 calls a day but the 1st one the kid cant contact the adult the adult has to contact the child. To say with overall help in patient (AND I WAS HERE WITHOUT MEDS!! I GOT PRESCRIBED THEM IN OUTPAITENT) It wasnt really alot of actual straight up help, but it helped in different ways. like the social interaction and the fun activities, it was really amazing. When i left the hospital i genuinely wanted to go back. I really miss that place and the people in it. And outpatient was amazing too! There were some freakouts that were handled properly and nothing went bad. again in outpatient, EVERYBODY WAS SO NICEE!! It really was a good vibe and they even have a bus you can go on! The teachers were nice and very thoughtful! but i have something else, THI SPLACE WAS NOT A 5 STAR HOTEL!! It wasnt really cleaned that good but it was mildly clean. Nothing too crazy but some spot were dirty like under the toilet. and there was a roach in the gym which we played with. Overall this place was truly wonderful. Seriously judging by the other options this was the best place to be. There were many traumatized kids in there that was from other mental hospitals that talks about how bad it was. outpatient helped me more then inpatient i would say! but both were very socially fulfilling-; as someone who doesn't interact to people much it was amazing to actually come out of my shell and talk to ppl! OH AND ONE MORE THING!! THE FOOD WAS SO AMAZING BRO!!!! LITERALLY THEY HAD ALL TYPES OF SODAS, ALLOWED 2 CUPS AND HAD AMAZING FOOD TO CHOOSE FROM!!! THE YEVEN FED YOUR KID LUNCH IN OUTPAITENT! AMAZINGNGNGNG!! overall, PLEASE SEND YOUR KID HERE!!! it was the best risk my parents could take❤️💗 (if you know me from when i was in there...