Complaint Review: Sovereign Health of California - San Clemente California

Sovereign Hell, as us patients have dubbed it, is by far the worst treatment facility I have ever been to. I've never been to a place where so many people leave after ONE DAY of being there, just to give an indication of what it's like. They take us to the "clinic" which is nothing more than a drab, airless, windowless office building that looks more like an insurance company than a treatment facility. There they subject us to long, boring and redundant groups led by clueless interns who often times provoke patients into outbursts of anger and frustration.

Heidi Cottle, is one of the worst among them. As the only licensed therapist there, she uses that to her advantage. The topics and lectures are recycled every couple of weeks. Even the movies and You Tube clips she shows are viewed over and over again.
The worst offense, though, is the inequality of treatment of Heidi's of patients. Some she will see for the hour that is customary for therapy sessions, others for no more than 15 minutes. She lets her personal feelings dictate her attitude toward her patients. Some she'll allow privileges to be granted, others she'll deny and hold back privileges, despite the patient's compliance of all the rules.

One of the patients here is being so severely mistreated by Heidi that she's been suicidal and has attempted it a few times since she's been here. They've taken away everything that makes her happy like her ipod and musical instrument (I don't want to be too specific to protect confidentiality) and the result has been severe depression and a feeling of total hopelessness. She's a prisoner here because they will not allow her to leave even though this is not a lockdown facility and she is an adult. They've actually physically prevented her from leaving when she tried to discharge out of here and told her that if she runs they'll file a missing persons report and send the police after her. As she is under conservatorship, the police will start their search right
away without waiting the usual 24 hours.

Another patient did attempt suicide by overdose but then asked to be taken to the hospital. He was told to sleep it off in the van they have to transport us. When he tried to call the paramedics on his own, they took the cell phone out of his hands and would not give it back to him. Luckily he awoke the next day after a night in the van. They wouldn't even let him sleep in his bed.
There are many stories like this, but I don't think I need to go through them all for people to get the  picture here. I myself have been a victim of discriminatory practices at their hands. I have been unfairly stripped of certain privileges due to completely false accusations when I have other patients as witnesses who can positively assert my innocence in their claims. But I know my injustices are minor compared to what others here have gone through.

I hope to see this place shut down before someone dies under their "care". With the way medications are mishandled, I certainly see this as an unfortunate, and preventable, consequence to their actions.