Ascendant Detox Drug & Alcohol Rehab NYC — Local services in New York

BEWARE!!! I agree the 5 star reviews are all written by staff!! This facility runs an illegal, irresponsible, unprofessional, and disorganized operation that deserves to be shut down for medical malpractice and negligence. They DO NOT have a doctor on staff and nearly every single person I was there with had issues with medication. I brought my own, from my heart doctor, among others (no narcotics or controlled substances, but medication for my heart.) It took several days of chest pain and my heart rate being 120 before me figuring out what was going on. I thought I could trust their medical judgement but they do not have actual doctors at this facility. You are not safe here. I was not safe there. It turns out they did not give me, without consultation, explanation or justification, at least four of my medications I am prescribed by my actual doctors. Furthermore I was given the wrong dosage of other medications and got tired of having to dig through and see how many things I had indicated were not being provided as prescribed. Extended release pills were being arbitrarily cut, which turns extended release pills into instant release and can be extremely dangerous. When I confronted them, I was told over the phone (no actual medical professionals with the credentials they may claim actually work there) that I was lying by their COO Charisse Ebro and their CEO Tzvi Herber. They do not have a cardiologist on staff and put my life at risk by taking away medication or trying to override the actual doctors I see. There were multiple instances of this from nearly every patient there. I’ve been to detox facilities that have been nothing but professional and helpful, but this place is the bottom of the barrel by far. They only care about your bank account or insurance money. Not to mention they take away your legal rights. They wanted me to talk to their attorney, Shari Noonan, so I asked to use any phone in the facility to call my attorney to advocate for me and not allow the continued threats and intimidation tactics they were using just for pointing out how they had wronged me and how dangerous it was and how unsafe I felt. I was told for 5-6 hours I was not allowed. I was kind, respectful, cordial, and as patient as I could be. To get me out of their hair, despite me being kind and a concerned patient supposedly under medical care, the CEO, instead of considering the possibility that there were some professional policy changes they could make to improve the facility, threatened to call 911 on me and send me away in an ambulance simply for asking to call my attorney. I decided to call 911 first because the facility would not provide me with my personal items, and the police came and told them that, guess what, I was right and have the right to contact my attorney at any time for any reason. Unfortunately none of the higher ups actually show up to the facility but I have all their cards and now have to go through the headache of going through with my attorney all of the illegal, dangerous and irresponsible actions taken against me from a medical facility with no qualified medical staff on hand that can even administer proper medication. Ascendant has the capacity to do more harm to you than good. It is unsafe at that facility. Don’t let the pictures or any of their used car salesmen, especially Charisse Ebreo, trick you into putting your life at danger. I know you are struggling if you are reading this but there are great facilities with trained medical doctors on site and you deserve to be treated better than anyone will treat you at Ascendant. For your own sake, run from this place and do some more research so you can safely detox or take care of whatever medical needs you have. What an absolute nightmare this place is. Never again, and I wouldn’t wish my worst enemy to deal with any of the monstrous people named here who operate this facility. With the medical malpractice and neglect, it will certainly be shut down soon. The sooner the better, people deserve to get well while being treated with dignity...

I only attended IOP (intensive outpatient program) at Ascendant, I did not go through their detox or inpatient rehab.

After doing some other IOPs in the city, Hazelden and two other ones, I'm coming back to update and add more stars because Ascendant was waaaaay better than them.

It was decent, pretty average, but definitely nothing average about the price. It's expensive. If you're a cash-pay, I would say it's not worth the price.

The IOP is 3 nights per week: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, from 6pm to 8.30pm (on the rare occasion group may last until 9pm).

There are two group sessions per night, usually 6pm to 7.15pm and then 7.30pm to 8.30pm or so.

There are some great counselors leading the group sessions, but the ratio of "patients / addicts" to counselors is poor. I've done a couple of other IOPs, and the groups at Ascendant are the largest that I've witnessed. Sometimes the groups were so large, and the rooms so tiny, that it was physically uncomfortable to be in (Monday nights especially).

Also, one of the group sessions is just an AA/NA meeting. Breaking down Ascendant's fees, each group costs a little over 400$. That's 400$ for a free AA/NA meeting lol.

Aside from the group sessions, you also get a one on one with a counselor every week for 1 hour. I can't say I utilized this very often. I do know that there are some really good counselors (if you can, work with Jason, dude knows his stuff).

There weren't any "bad" counselors, but you do have advocate for yourself heavily to get things done. I.e., I needed my counselor to reach out to my PO, and I had to remind dude 3 times to do it. Not really a huge deal because my PO is super chill, but that's not always the case.

I asked for my counselor for a referral - still waiting on that one lol. I think maybe some counselors are maybe overworked / overscheduled. But advocate for yourself and you'll be straight.

There didn't seem to be any organized sort of treatment curriculum or agenda. It just came down to whatever that particular counselor wanted to do in that group - or sometimes the groups decided what we wanted to speak about that day. That's not always a bad thing, had some great groups, but also had some totally directionless and useless groups.

Also, did you read about Ascendant saying they utilized their unique NYC location by doing "interactive" groups at different places in the city? Yeah that doesn't happen (there was 1 bowling night in the entire two months I was there lol).

I did an IOP at Freedom Institute, and the comparison is night and day. At Freedom Institute, you were given basically a curriculum, a binder full of materials, you would send a couple weeks on CBT, then DBT, then Meditation, there was acupuncture groups, art therapy groups, etc. It was honestly much better, much more organized, and significantly cheaper. Groups were smaller, much smaller.

These other reviews that are like 1 stars screaming how terrible and unethical it is - I didn't see any of that. But, these 5 star reviews proclaiming Ascendant to be radically life-altering, unbelievably amazing rah rah rah, are equally absurd (also a little weird that most of the 5 star reviewers only have 1 or 2 reviews to their profile - that's usually not a good sign lol).

Ascendant wasn't bad by any means, it just wasn't good. When you slap a 5 digit price tag on your program, then you gotta produce. It doesn't.

I don't regret my time at Ascendant, I just can't honestly say it was worth the fees. At the end of the day, unless your insurance is cool with paying for the whole ride, you're better off taking that time and investing it into a 12 step program.

They have some really good snacks. Order pizza once a...

Ascendant detox/rehab. I was a patient here for 35 days. When I arrived there I was broken. Physically,mentally and spiritually. My head so filled with fog I couldn't spell my own name. Hopeless. I was immediately and safely detoxed and my medical needs were attended too. From there I moved on to the rehab section of ascendant. I cannot say enough for what they did for me. I trusted them with my life and they saved it. They gave me all the attention and tools I needed to regain my life and live a clean and sober life. The facilities were modern and clean. The staff from top to bottom was first class. From the techs to the medical staff to the counselors. I was treated with respect and dignity at all times. Business aside these are good people who love their job and care for you and it shows. There are many people there who I consider to be a friend as they do me. They go above and beyond and if I ever needed or need anything they always have time for me. Even now. Four months after I completed inpatient. I am now 5 months into sobriety and have completed all of the outpatient part of my therapy. I still attend the weekly alumni groups because I want all of ascendant to continue to be a part of my journey. I am eternally grateful for ascendant and their great staff of kind and caring people. I would absolutely recommend ascendant to anyone who wants to change their life and is willing to have an open mind. There cannot be anywhere that could possibly be more helpful...