Complaint Review: Wellington Retreat - west palm beach Florida

I am a Licenced Clinical Social Worker and Senior Substance Abuse Counselor.  I am a therapist, and provide couseling to addicts and alcoholics, many of whom also have mental health concerns.  i have been a counselor for 30 years.

My 22 year old son is an addict who suffers from Major Depressive Disorder.  We put him in treatment to try and save his life. This was very painful for me, of course, but I was willing to do whatever it took to get him help.  We placed him in treatment facily after treatment facility, from California to Florida, all promising to work with dual diagnosis clients.  15 times, our son was discharged when his sobriety triggered a deeper depression. He became suicidal.  We became desperate.

Our son found Wellington Retreat, and placed himself there from his 7th Psych ward, after 15 other treatment programs. 

Finally, finally, we have found a place that is helping him.  Dr. Moran and his team of medical and mental health providers, are actually helping him.  My son is difficult to treat.  But, Wellington is not affraid.  My son is on medication, see's Dr Moran EVERY DAY, for medication evaluation and focus on physical and socail difficulties.  The team is erasing the damage done by the other facililities.  He is starting to come around.  He is smiling again, and is thinking clearly again.  He is clean and sober.

I have hope for the first time in years.  I am profoundly greatful to have found this program. It is one of a kind.

Just..unbelievable! I literally use the EXACT SAME Shutter Island reference to describe my 2 week stay at that nuthatch Hellhole and people DO NOT BELIEVE ME, they think I am exagerrating! Now at least I can show them this post from ANOTHER patient repeating my experience, practically verbatim, word-for-word. It's like you had the exact same experience I did. I was "lucky" enough to have been in there before the move to the motel residence thank God for small miracles, I guess..I heard about the motel situation from someone who came into my subsequent treatment facility who had also left Wellington so I apparently missed that mess by a just couple of weeks. But yeah, when that lying Moran flunkie named Jacqi took me on the tour and I saw the "transitional living facility" in that obviously drug infested Section 8 housing project, I KNEW that I had made a huge, HUGE mistake allowing myself to be admitted to Wellington Retreat, I remember that revelation very clearly because from that point on my life was the nightmare you describe until I finally escaped that nightmare of a so-called treatment facility. Shutter Island, man. Yeah, I stayed in the big, fancy house on the lake but it was still a nightmare from beginning to end. Yes, we were reduced to smoking butts we found in ashtrays and on the GROUND, scrounging like animals with no dignity whatsoever. And our money was deemed worthless since you could only buy the f**king granola bars with those asenine Moran dollars, ego-maniacal little weasel. When I was there this girl actually left, went out and smoked crack and Moran let her right back in because she had drank the Moran Kool-Aid and was/is probably a lifer at that place, I think she had been there like 9 months at that point and obviously had no more a handle on her addiction than someone fresh off the street. I went in there an addict and when I BEGGED to be released to another facility, Moran tried to tell me I was "hallucinating and having a psychotic episode", and I have NO history of hallucinations or mental illness whatsoever, just a drug problem. So one day, after this one particularly bizarre session of that joke confrontational therapy group he runs, where a bunch of psychos basically hurl insults at each other and accomplish nothing, I was so completely horrified I said "that is IT, I am OUT of here NOW, try and stop me." I pretty much demanded at that point, DEMANDED he either release me (and I didn't even care at that point if it was to other place just wanted out of Wellington) or I would sinply walk out the gate and call Social Services on him and report him to whatever Florida licensing board he answers to as a mental health facility because he and his treatment were ABUSIVE, SHADY, absolutely untherapeutic, and in all honesty probably worsening the patients' existing problems! Finally it was over. Within 2 hours I was released, literally just put out onto the street with all my bags (that my crackhead roomate had packed up for me because I wasn't allowed to go back to the house), fully addicted to Suboxonne and Valium with no place to go. I didn't even get a chance to see if anything of mine was stolen or left behind, nor was I allowed to bring with me any of the meds my insurance had PAID FOR, just put OUT onto the SIDEWALK. I had to walk down the road to the sleazy poolhall in the RAIN with all my stuff just to call other treatment facilities out of the freakin phone book, on my cell and I was pretty terrified because I knew I needed to detox from Moran's drugs and hadn't even begun getting treated for my initial addiction at that point. All I did in there was sit in on his effed up and emotionally disturbing therapy group which was/still is a joke. Yup, Moran put me out on the STREET, FULLY HOOKED ON SUBOXONE AND BENZOS because he is just such an awesome and caring doctor! Luckily I got into another REAL treatment facility the next day and when I told them about what happened at Wellington, they didn't believe me...until another Wellington patient came in with the same EXACT story like 2 weeks later. Who would believe it? It's like too over the top to sound true, what actually goes down in that place! It must sound like a fabricated story which is the sad piece. And you are DEAD RIGHT how it is a huge mistake having just addicts in the same group with mental disorders, that is just WRONG on so many levels, bizarre as hell, almost surreal! When I was there, some mentally disturbed kid went into a violent, psychotic rage because I guess greedy Moran wouldn't think to admit he had made a huge error and that the kid really needed a higher level of care. We were all absolutely terrified. I never witnessed such a thing in my LIFE, we all were cowering on one side of a room while this kid smashed his entire body into a glass door until an ambulance came and took him to the psych ward. I felt so bad for this kid, he had just not had proper treatment, another victim of Moran's. Then at one point we all had to go to some soiree at a fancy hotel where Moran and his staff shmoozed patient's families, trying to make it look like their treatment was going swimmimingly. I can't believe anyone actually buys into his lies and deception, I mean the man even LOOKS like a liar, a tiny little flat-out liar and deciever. I am having flashbacks just thinking about all this like post-traumatic stress it was truly horrific, I get the image of short little Moran with his Hollywood white fake smile, little pink shirt with the stupid little yellow tie, and those expensive shoes he likes to wear. I'm just..floored reading your story. It is like we lived the same experience. I hope my seconding your detailed account will help convince others NEVER, EVER send someone you care about, or go yourself to WELLINGTON RETREAT. 

 I would like to retract 2 statements of my oringinal letter. I learned today I had mistakenly believed 2 statements to be true were hearsay. The 2 statements are as follows: 

1. then shortly after he was let go because of his lack of disipline when prescribing Suboxen to the patients Moran was actually known by the patients and staff there as Dr. Suboxen (this statement was hearsay)

2. within a year Moran manipulated a way to get rid of his partner so he could have Wellington Retreat to himself (this statement was hearsay)

All other statements made in the oringinal letter I personally witness or stated (in my opinion).