Caron Treatment Centers — Local services in South Heidelberg Township

I contacted Caron while enrolled in college. With two weeks left in the semester and all classes on zoom, my previous clinician decided that taking a medical leave would not be necessary since I was ready and willing to go to a program over spring break. The admissions staff told us that PA would be the best place since the young adult program is where people who enrolled in school go. They said there is a full time collegiate advisor as well a "collegiate success program". Being enrolled in a rigorous engineering curriculum, I double checked to make sure I would have reasonable access to my computer during lecture times as well as my phone as needed to communicate with students for a term project.

Upon arriving at Caron PA, I found out that there were no other college students there. I was expected to get all of my work with just my laptop for 1 hour every day. I could not sign in to my school email or google drive because I needed my phone for a verification pin. I also was not allowed to have my computer during scheduled lecture times.

I let my "collegiate success councilor" know that my class schedule required attendance to lectures as well as communication with other students. He told me he did not have the power to grant me computer or phone access outside of the 1 hour window and that it would be up to my primary councilor. After asking my primary he said he would speak to the clinical staff and see what he could do. I trusted that Caron would work this out and waited painfully through a few days of unexcused absences and "we're working on it's" for a real answer. Then I found out my counselor was on "vacation" and there was nothing to do since it was up to him. Since taking a medical leave would mean paying for the classes again, I approached staff to let them know that my parents must be made aware of this situation. They refused to tell them so I asked to sign out. They said they would not return my personal wallet, phone, or credit cards. I demanded a call with my father. He previously made it clear that his expectation was that I had access to school. The staff supervising the call said I was working with a collegiate success councilor and your son is lying about not having access to school so that you support him in leaving.

Caron does not allow contact home unless their is a staff present and I now understand that this is done so that they can control the line of communication and only let details get to loved ones that will deceive them into not switching the patient to a more fitting treatment center.

It is disgusting that they would lie and deceive about the services offered so that my family... A) Wouldn't support paying for other more fitting treatment. B) Thought I was lying to them and needed more help and a longer stay at Caron.

I contacted compliance as per the instructions for anyone who writes a bad review here, the response was as follows:

They said there is nothing to be done because I did not enroll in or pay for collegiate services.

(This was infuriating considering there was not a single extra service offered my family declined. Additionally every inquiry about school was met with an answer along the lines of "we have a full time collegiate coordinator who was working with me")

Additionally, compliance responded saying that I did have access to school and it was my fault I failed the classes.

(This was false considering I did not have access to my computer to attend a single mandatory lecture)

Upon requesting my medical records from PA, they excluded all but one vague collegiate service note my records. It is Caron's policy and procedure to document a description of all formal meetings with special staff as well as anything clinically significant. After multiple meetings with the college advisor where I was in severe emotional distress, there was a single vague, one sentence note. There was also no ROI or documentation in my records regarding his communication with my professors. This lack of records is against Caron policy yet, compliance will not respond...

Don't go here w/ ANY dependency plus chronic pain , THEY MAKE IT WORSE & I'M IN PAIN W/ NO HELP mY c6 & 7 are crushing together -or if you have anxiety. I was judged & made fun of for my anxiety. My disability was ignored- literally. I couldn't get a wheelchair when I needed one, and they seemed irritated when I needed meds throughout the day due to chronic pain. They disregarded my chronic pain as if it didn't matter. I was told to take alleve and Tylenol which doesn't help. My pain is severe & they did nothing for it. Wang shared info he promised not to-he needs help.

I had a severely painful bed sore once I got there due to a short hospital stay (pneumonia), and it was barely treated. The pain I suffered was almost unbearable. They didn't care.

When Dr. Wang couldn't help he made fun of my anxiety, blaming my issues on that. I went there because they said I'd be safe if I had panic attacks, etc.

Dr. Wang also shared personal information that HE PROMISED NOT TO SHARE with my doctor, and it's made my life hell. He is arrogant. It's negatively impacting my life to THIS day.

I have an abdominal injury that causes me severe pain. One nite I asked if the nurse would call the doctor because I was hurting badly & needed permission to take some over the counter medication. She refused to call him because she thought I would be fine until the morning. I was up all nite in pain.

This whole place is made mostly for alcoholics & people that pay cash- the very wealthy go there and are treated much better. You get treated differently if you pay by insurance, and it's awful. I was trying to talk with Dr Wang one day when he was on the floor, and a nurse said to step away because he was with another patient. I just needed to ask him to see me after. It was humiliating, plus I was so sleep deprived I could barely function. They acted like it was my fault.

The RA was fine at first but then acted like I was a nuisance - I'd go to her office at times to sit because my bed was SEVERELY uncomfortable. They never offered me a room with a regular bed (vs hospital). The hospital bed was painful.

They therapists looked at me without blinking an eye when I tried to explain my insomnia and anxiety. They 100% ignored how sick I am and tried to ship me off to another place for further care when I was about to go to the hospital for beyond severe pain and exhaustion. They did not care. My medications are very messed up now due to the doctor shared info that he swore not to share about me. The therapists there don't have time to sit down and listen to you. When they do, it doesn't matter what you say as they have their minds made up

I am not okay and don't suggest this place for anyone with chronic pain or depression/anxiety. Dr. Wang was a huge disappointment and made me feel inferior to him. I was so sleep deprived towards the end that I couldn't think and was not able to stick up for myself. The counselors told anyone who called that I was doing great. That was a lie.

The doctor does a cookie cutter method for pain - suboxones his fix. He appears to treat everyone the same based on what I heard. Because I couldn't pay cash, I truly believe I got less than adequate treatment and attention. He will promise you he can make you feel much better - it's a lie.

I had made an appointment 1 morning to talk to him. He said it must be a mistake and acted irritated, but I was so exhausted I didn't have the energy to say I needed to talk to him for help- he wouldn't have helped regardless. He doesn't listen - he talks over you. He didn't want a complex case for someone he could not fix, so he blamed me. He cut my appointment & told me to leave. I needed his help. I was also made fun of when my hands were shaking. Verbatim, he said,'I know, I know, your hands are always shaking. You showed me this before, "which I did because I was overwhelmed, in pain, and felt like I was going to have a breakdown.

I was mistreated by 1 therapist who said things to me as if I were a child....

These people are con artists plain and simple. If you are looking for a rehab that actually cares about patients rather than money, I would recommend Glenbeigh in Rock Creek, Ohio. They do better in 28 days than this place can do in 90.

I went there in 2014. The quality of the therapy was sub-par, but honestly that wasn't the worst part. The therapy generally was highly aggressive, suggesting any time that a patient disagreed with a counselor that the patient's concerns were illegitimate and "that was just the patient's addiction talking".

My main problem wasn't with the therapists there, it was the fact that they recommended that everyone who could afford it go to their aftercare facility, Caron Renaissance in Boca Raton, FL. Furthermore, they used highly unethical sales tactics, telling patients and their families that the patient would relapse and die unless they enrolled in Caron Rennaisance, and telling many lies to the families of patients. The program cost a fortune, and they lied tremendously to get people into it. Most of my fellow patients I stayed in touch with are now dead to the disease of addiction.

I was told before enrolling that the program would involve about 1-2 months of additional inpatient treatment, following which the patient would continue to live on site and attend groups while being assisted in finding a job locally. Upon arriving there and paying all of the money up front, I was told that no patient completed the inpatient portion of the treatment in less than 6 months. Furthermore, they declined to mention that patients would not be permitted to make any phone calls to friends or family for the entirety of the treatment, which was substantially longer than they advertised. Given that trust is the foundation of therapy, this is not a good foot to get off on.

Realizing that I had been sold a giant pile of dung, I left against medical advice from their facility after a month and a half, following which I got 2 jobs, worked hard, and got my life back together. Once they realized that I was leaving, they told a number of lies to my mother, with the intention of sabotaging our relationship to increase the chances that she pressure me to return to treatment.

I was a functional addict for the next 8 years, stringing together a few months of recovery, relapsing for a few months, and repeating the process. I enrolled in treatment again this year, at Glenbeigh for 30 days, and they actually worked on my trauma, rather than telling me I was just an idiot. I have been clean since and my life is better than it has ever been.

I know multiple patients from Glenbeigh who have completely turned their lives around and been clean since. The majority of the patients I knew from Caron are dead, either from suicide or overdose. One other patient I was quite close with struggled severely after leaving Caron, although he is now clean and sober. Of the two success stories with which I am familiar, one of them agrees with me that Caron Renaissance was a nightmare and she was clean in spite of it rather...