Selah House — Local services in Pendleton

I honestly don’t think I would still be alive today if it weren’t for Selah. I couldn’t accept the fact that I needed help, even after I was admitted to the hospital, I didn’t want help. To be completely honest, I had thought anorexia would kill me, and I was okay with that, and it almost did. When I was told that I would have died the night I was admitted to the hospital had it not been for my doctor sending me there. I didn’t feel much of anything, but outside of the numbness, I remember feeling anger and frustration. I was so angry because I didn’t die, because my doctor wouldn’t let me. And frustrated at myself because I was so close to dying and it didn’t happen. So needless to say, I was nowhere near ready to accept help. I didn’t believe I deserved it, and Selah changed that. When I was eventually admitted to Selah, it was because of my parents and my doctor, I didn’t really want to go. I planned on going for two weeks, saying "I tried”, and then going back to slowly dying. I’ve spent the majority of my life feeling like I was just a screw up and didn’t deserve to ever feel hope in my life. By the time two weeks had passed I realized I wanted to actually try, I still didn’t feel as though I deserved happiness, help, or recovery. I was in Selah for 3 months, and in those three months the staff and therapists helped me see that it’s okay to have hope and that I don’t need to feel guilty for wanting to find happiness or wanting to be alive. They helped me work through trauma that I’ve carried with me my entire life, and showed me that I deserve kindness and acceptance, especially from myself. The therapists and staff helped me find my voice to speak up for myself and what I believe even though it’s not what the majority of people in my life outside of Selah wanted me to believe or the kind of person they wanted me to be. I didn’t know Selah was a christian facility, but my parents knew, and they raised me to be a christian, a year before I went to Selah I told them I didn’t know what I believed out of fear of their reaction, as well as the rest of the people in my life, if I was honest. While I was at Selah the therapists and staff helped me find the strength to be honest with myself and my parents. They helped me see that I deserve to be myself even if I’m not the person my parents want me to be. I came out as bisexual and told my parents I’m agnostic and don’t believe in god during my family day. I had a hard time because of their reactions to it and the way they changed toward me after that. But the staff was very supportive of me through the entire process. Even though they are a christian facility they are accepting and open to everyone, and they don’t force anything on you. They don’t revolve everything around god or a certain set of beliefs which helped me a lot. I was discharged from Selah at the very end of December 2021, and now I live in an apartment with my dog and the love of my life(who I also met at Selah lol), and I’ve found people that accept me for me with no conditions. My boyfriend(He’s transgender) and I are both very thankful for Selah and how much they helped us make positive steps in our recovery. And I thank my doctor for saving my life every...

Like many others have said in their reviews, my life-changing experience at Selah House began with my very first call to get information and do an intake assessment. As I spoke to the person in admissions, I immediately felt seen, validated, and cared for. Their admissions team was great about communicating with me even up until the morning of my admission, helping to coordinate transportation from a local hotel since I was coming from out of state. Selah House provided very clear and accurate estimated cost/payment information which helped me and my family plan for the financial aspects of my treatment.

Once I arrived at Selah House, I was so well taken care of by staff and knew that I had made the right decision. The clinical staff are incredible and work really well as a team. I really appreciated the home-like setting of Selah House and quickly felt comfortable in my new surroundings. There are so many wonderful things I could say about Selah House - my experience there truly changed my life!

As an adult and parent of small children who was seeking treatment for the very first time, I was nervous about how I might fit in with the other clients at Selah House. But when I arrived, I immediately felt welcomed by everyone, clients and staff alike. There was a wide range in the age, background, and treatment history of the clients there and I was able to connect with so many clients over our shared experiences no matter their age or situation. I made some lasting connections and friendships with other clients that are still a source of encouragement and support.

One particular thing that was so valuable and helpful about Selah’s approach to treatment was their focus on developing intuitive eating habits from the very beginning which means that they don’t utilize an exchange-based nutrition system but something more similar to a plate-by-plate system. While it was a little confusing at first to understand how each meal was determined, since coming home (and experiencing an exchange system in the IOP setting), I have really seen the incredible value of Selah’s approach in helping me move towards true food freedom where all foods fit, there are no “good” or “bad” foods, and I am learning to listen to my body and honor my taste preferences. I am so glad that I chose to go to Selah House!

(I was at Selah house in the fall of 2022 for approximately 12 weeks and completed their residential and PHP programs before returning home to do IOP with a local program in...

The purpose of my review is to simply inform anyone that is contemplating furthering their recovery, or beginning their recovery, within this facility. As described by their staff, this residential facility is “like most other residential facilities”. At their residential level of care you get to meet with your therapist twice a week and your dietician twice per week. Meals are had with, what Selah calls, an “RC”, which is an individual that is not trained on eating disorders or their behaviors. These individuals do not stop behaviors from occurring at the table, except for those behaviors that they have been strictly trained on by staff. That being said, if you are triggered by behaviors in use at meal time, please look for a facility that has trained staff to give you the support level that you will need as they do not offer other eating spaces to accommodate being removed from these environments. If you have a co-occurring diagnosis with trauma and experience trauma based responses such as dissociations or panic attacks, the on-site Selah staff during nights and weekends are not trauma trained/ informed to assist with these responses; the staff on-site are very kind- and they will be the first ones to tell you that they do not know how to best handle the response you are having to the situation. The medical Dr. that serves the facility is an offsite, virtual doctor that sees all of the clients weekly via the computer. Many of the clients, including myself, were giving a different diagnosis than they had when arriving at the facility. If you do not feel comfortable or are triggered by your diagnosis being discussed in terms of “BMI” or “weight loss significance”, please seek the professional help from a facility that does not base a diagnosis on these parameters to someone struggling with an eating disorder. Selah has no option to see a medical provider other than virtually at this time as their doctor sees all of their patients within the Odysee organization, that is a couple hundred patients with varying mental health diagnosis all seen on a computer screen weekly. Again, these are all things that can be said for any facility out there. I simply wish I would have had all of this information prior to my admission process within this...