Complaint Review: Narconon Vista Bay - Watsonville California

We brought X to Vista Bay for rehabilitation and recovery for a drug addiction. After having several conversations over the phone at the end of June 2007, I was convinced that I finally found the right place, where X would get the help needed to recover from a drug addiction. I described in length the present and past condition, the addiction to prescription drugs, the deteriorated mental health, the anger, attempts to end a life, carelessness about being, the failure of recovery in other places, the experience with various sober living houses, a stay at a homeless shelter, one night, the hardship on the family and more.

The intake person described to me the program as one that does not fail where other do, that the staff to patient ratio was high and that each patient was assigned a personal counselor, qualified to work and help drug addicts and that if one counselor wasn't able to get any positive results, a group of counselors would work with the patient in order to reach and help. He further explained that the rate of success was at 96% and that the program was guaranteed that patients in general stay at Vista Bay until they were completely rehabilitated.

He said that it takes every patient a different period of time to recover, that some patients need as little as 3-4 months and others might stay as long as a year, that if there was a relapse, the individual was been accepted back for free. I brought up the importance of therapy, emphasizing how psychotherapy was desperately needed , to help with the state of mind.

The intake person explained that psychotherapy is provided as part of the program. Patients learn how to deal with life after drugs. I told him that X had to leave various rehabilitation places because of non-compliance and he in return assured me that at Vista Bay patients are being helped until their full recovery. When I challenged him saying that X is a very difficult case, his response was that Vista Bay has the experience dealing with difficult cases and that everyparent thinks that their child is the most difficult.

What the intake person completely neglected to tell me and I only found out days after dropping X off, was that at Vista Bay if a patient did not comply, he would be removed from the program. Unfortunately that was after the fact, when I browsed through your brochure that was handed to me, when X was already at Vista Bat and after having taken out a loan in order to pay the $29,000 for his guaranteed recovery.

I was never made aware of the fact that he could face a suspension, information that would have been essential to my decision making. I also did not bring X to Vista Bay, paid $29,000, to have him removed from the place I chose to send him to, to be sent to a homeless shelter in Sacramento nor to have him come back home and continue to wreck his and his family's life. Tom completely misrepresented your program when he assured me that Vista Bay was the place for X.

We entrusted him with them but no one at Vista Bay made any effort to help X as promised and guaranteed. If he didn't fit with the rest, X became an outcast. X didn't get personal help. He was punished for minor disciplinary issues that in the big picture are insignificant in the recovery of an addict. They are not set up for helping addicts who act out, and which I would expect are common behavior with addicts. At no time did they make an effort to find out why X was acting up or how to help X. X had to go by rules and if X didn't, X had to be removed. The answer they had problems was to send him to a homeless shelter, to reach a point where X would ask to be let back into the program. Only this doesn't work with every addict. We feared that if left in a shelter, X would leave and go back to the danger of drugs.

We completely disagree with their decision to suspend him. A disciplinary action for a drug addict who broke minor rules such as disruption in class, being late, or not cleaning up a room cannot be a suspension. We are talking about drug addicts who have reached rock bottom, not children in school! A homeless shelter is a dangerous place for addicts and if we thought that it would help and get rid of X's addiction, we could have sent X there ourselves, saving us the $29,000. What did they expect to accomplish by sending X to a shelter, where X wouldn't have stayed anyway, to wander the streets penniless, and be vulnerable to the dangers of a big city, gangs, drugs, and crime, to break X'S spirit even further? This is completely unacceptable!

Again, had this been disclosed prior to sending x up, I would have not chosen Vista Bay. It is plainly deceitful not to disclose such vital information when inquiring about the program. We flew X back home within hours, and before giving us a chance to make arrangements for a different place, took X back home only to find out that X went back to being on drugs a day later. Since dropping off X, the process of recovery has been very questionable. X was moved from the main Vista Bay quarters to a home off the mountain only shortly after starting the program, where X didn't get enough close supervision, only to be moved back to the main area. X was put on ethics and had to work a way back to be on program.

I got conflicting reports where one day X was showing signs of improvement and the level of responsibility was better and the next day I got phone calls complaining about behavior. Then it was decided to send X to Placerville where he didn't do any better and again I got confusing reports, where one counselor said that he was doing great, opening up, making friends, being back on the program etc. only to hear a few days later that it was decided to suspend X.

After pleading , X was allowed to stay on unless X misbehaved again. Then I got a call complaining about X bad behavior, X was late for role call, didn't make a bed, was given a chance to work off a chit, which X did, but then got 2 more and it was decided to send X away. They misrepresented themselves. We were lied to. Their recovery completely failed, and their methods didn't work, and they didn't help X in the least bit. Their so called guarantee is just a way to lure families who are trying to find help. It cost us more than we could afford, desperate to find X help and X is back on drugs. We wrote a letter requesting a full refund of $29,000 and never got a response.

Ana

Thousand Oaks, California

U.S.A.