Recovery Centers of America Reviews

My husband told me that it was his fifth day and he would call his kids. Which they needed. No call, no call from staff. The counselor he was on the phone with told me when I said I was clueless of what to do that I just wanted him to recover for his kids. As I had learned some disturbing things when he left. Another addiction. I was told someone would call me. Nothing. I’m paying this bill, I’m his wife, he didn’t even have to talk to me but his kids stayed up late in hopes to talk to their Dad. I was the one who pushed this as my stepkids deserved stability more than just me, even though I love them like my own. I informed the Greenville location of what the kids had been through. Hell, I didn’t know what to say to him when and if he called because I didn’t know if revealing what I found would help or hinder his recovery.

Another reason I wanted to talk to the counselor. Zero communication. Now I have kids who are so worried about their father and expected to talk to him and I have zero information. Sean has given them permission to speak to me. I get that loved ones can be crazy when this happens. But nothing seems to be well communicated other than admissions and financial. After that, they seem done even telling the family what to expect. I have zero information. No one will call me back. If he shouldn’t speak to me that’s fine: I said that to him with the counselor on the phone because again I didn’t know how to handle it and had zero advice. I didn’t want to hurt his recovery with saying something wrong about what I had found out. So I told him to contact his daughter. His counselor heard this all and said, "Would you like me to call you later today?" Again nothing.

We are supposed to be his support center when he returns. I’ve got two children who have been through absolute hell that are worried about their father and one would think that would be important. I understand if they didn’t feel he was ready. But contact the family for the kids' sake so they don’t wait up late thinking they might hear from their Dad. You can’t get through to anyone but admissions it seems. They are definitely organized with that. I do not know if this will help my husband.

I’m praying for our kids even if our marriage doesn’t survive all of this. They need their Dad the hero back. But I won’t say I’m not concerned about the quality of care being that none of this makes sense, from mailing a razor that I provided that was there, to not returning my calls to add money for him if he wanted to buy anything. To being told the counselor would call me twice before when I informed him that with what I learned I didn’t know how to handle communication. Then they said they would call me while my husband called for that razor already there.

I sent his bipolar meds too and I have no idea if he was given them. Family support is webinars? Nothing written to help answer what seems to be bad communication with family with this company. So I’ve got crushed kids who have been hurt enough. I have zero idea of what to expect, what treatment plan is like, nada. No help to know how to communicate to him knowing an even bigger betrayal without knowing if I should just avoid that for now. I was exhausted before this.

I’ve been carrying the weight even though I need surgery and am having a brain MRI before he gets out for MS. I’ve gone to the groups of addicts. But that hasn’t helped me with any answers to what to do while he’s in rehab. Jail is easier to get answers when you call them. I hope the treatment is better than we’ve been treated, because it’s a copay that for him being out of work and I’m not able to work to pull off. But I knew it had to be done for our family. I get keeping the spouse away or in the dark somewhat if they feel that won’t help. But to not communicate to me that he wouldn’t be able to call the kids or call me back about anything is to say beyond frustrating.

I hope he’s okay. I hope he’s getting great treatment. But I wouldn’t know. I did the work and put my credit on the line to get him there I’m authorized by him. But it seems the family isn’t important at all. Even to tell me how to handle when he does call. I don’t see how that will help us once he gets back. Since I'm his major support. I’ve had to watch youtube videos instead. They’ve given me great tips. But none tell you what to do about finding out something major after they enter rehab. No matter how it ends with us, his kids deserve more. I don’t want to set him back. I guess I’ll just be in the dark until God knows when. I told the kids that I’m sorry but with how this was going we should just expect to not hear from their father and maybe we would eventually. I’ve read some great reviews on here and some awful ones.

This is my husband's big chance for his kids who he truly loves. I hope his care is far better than how I’ve been treated. I guess I figure out on my in through YouTube how to handle him when he gets home. I guess I’m just going to act like I don’t know about seemingly a ** and possible infidelity. The stealing of money from me and my expensive possessions was plenty. Then a betrayal even worse. I just needed someone to tell me what to say and what not to say. A five-minute phone call. I pray I didn’t make a mistake sending him here. Because it’s me on the line for this 4,000 dollars. Not him. Here’s hoping he’s getting the help he needs.

As someone who has been seriously active in the recovery community, I am appalled with this. Not only was this treatment NOT worth $5,000 I have already paid off my agreed amount! Their IOP is NOT medical treatment, no matter how much they would like to charge for that. Most times, I was alone in the room since everyone else was on Zoom. Come on now, I have gotten more out of an AA meeting than I did through the entire RCA IOP… The billing department's recommendation? “We will send you an itemized bill to help you understand.” Help me understand what? I specifically made my concerns over price on day 0, before signing anything, to ensure this did not happen! Recovery Centers of America is predatory, unethical, and inhumane. Seek treatment, but do it elsewhere.

The intake process was better and I wish I remembered the gentleman who did it (James maybe?) because he really helped settle my nerves. I was pretty stunned to learn next that they would be removing ALL of my clothing (underwear, bra, socks, and flip flops included), and that I would be forced to wear flannel pants, a t shirt and socks for THREE DAYS while they “ensured my belongings didn’t have bed bugs.” I had no underwear or shoes for 3 days. I was also under the impression I would be seeing a licensed clinician once per week but only saw mine twice in the 29 days I was there.

But what was most appalling was the medication error that occurred—the nurses were giving me 5 times the amount of one of my medications that was prescribed. I brought this up to staff members (most of whom blew me off, except for one of the top nurses who was wonderful and assured me they would order/pay for more meds that I now needed since they overdosed me and ran out so quickly). I even attempted to talk to the CEO Marcus, who repeatedly told us about his “open door policy” but never had time to meet.

The Director of Nursing, Kent **, did meet with me (after many days of attempts), was dismissive of me and how serious of a problem this was, and then proceeded to blame me for not having an impromptu meeting with him when he was in the building I stayed in for a meeting. When I was finally at my wit's end, I asked to have my phone to call my attorney and was told no. I had to push back HARD to get it. And my attorney did have to speak with RCA’s legal counsel.

Possibly the worst part is that after I got home, I began receiving bills for the medication (that was only necessary due to their medication error—I had provided enough for a 30 day stay, and they had gone through that AND more). I left messages at the front desk, as well as 3 messages on Kent Alford’s direct voicemail, asking that he just pay the pharmacy for this bill. He never even returned my call (nor did the front desk), much less take care of the meds they promised to cover.

Did they take accountability and try to do anything to help fix this? (Even just validate my feelings?) No. But did they acknowledge how big of a mess up it was to their staff? They sure did. They held an inservice for all nurses, specifically about my medication overdosing incidents, and how to prevent it in the future. I only know this because the night nurses attended it during their shift…10 feet away from all of the residents. There are a few staff there who very clearly want to help (Leslie is a gem) but I’m sad to say most of the staff care more about liability than patient care or outcomes.

As of this writing I have contacted them on several occasions to resolve the matter and obtain a refund. Calls are either not returned or when they are staff tell me how the company is reassessing and reorganizing departments. Frankly, I don’t care. What I do care about is working with a reputable company. It has been 6 1/2 months and I’m still waiting. If I had to chose a treatment center in the future I would not chose Recovery Centers of America.

Original Review: Dec. 4, 2020

Unfortunately my son is a frequent flyer at RCA. In these times of Covid, mental health and substance abuse issues are out of control. My son had a wonderful experience at Bracebridge in September. He just relapsed again, and wanted to go to Bracebridge again for treatment. He agreed to call for help, after a 5 day drug binge. He and I called late in the evening and set up a pick up time for the next day. That is always a big help to the addicts and the family, that RCA will pick you up.

Well, pick up was supposed to be at 3:30 pm. They called my son in the morning to let him know that they had a busy day, and they would get him at 8:30. To him, that meant more time to get and do more drugs. At 8:30 they called to say it would be 9:30-9:45. When they arrived, my son was severely intoxicated. He walked out to the vehicle and the driver and I could see he was pretty messed up. I understand that they didn't have enough drivers that day. I should have driven him myself. My son was so messed up that the driver thought it best he go to the ER at Union Hospital. And that's fine, except no one notified me. I am the emergency contact. That was verbally verified (again) on the phone when we made arrangements for my son to get treatment. My son has been to various RCA campuses this year, at least 6 times. I am always the emergency contact.

I called Bracebridge the next morning to make sure he got there ok. They said someone would call me back. No one did. My son calls me at 12:30 pm and tells me he's in the hospital. He doesn't know what hospital and he's getting discharged. He is still not thinking clearly and sounds groggy on the phone. I ask him why RCA isn't coming to get him. He says he doesn't know what's going on. Of course he is mentally incoherent and wants me to pick him up at a pizza place that he found on his phone. I found him down the street from the hospital at a sandwich shop. We got in the car and called Bracebridge. I wanted to let them know that I had him and I was told that he had to go back to the hospital ER. They needed his discharge papers to admit him. I am a complete mess over what my son's been putting me through for the last 5 days.

We go back to the ER and a nurse comes out to let me know that they faxed the paperwork to Bracebridge 3 times, they didn't get the first 2 faxes. The nurse who took care of my son comes by to let me know that she verified Bracebridge got the 3rd fax and they said it would take 45 minutes to review the paperwork. His nurse also told me that she spoke to the nurse at Bracebridge after she sent it the first time (around 12:30 pm) and the Bracebridge nurse acknowledged receipt at that time, saying it would be a 45 minute review. The nurse at Union hospital was confused as to why Bracebridge said they never received the first 2 faxes, when in fact, the first fax was verbally acknowledged on the phone by the Bracebridge nurse.

Since Bracebridge is about 40 minute drive from the hospital, I decided to drive there. If they weren't going to admit my son, I still had to pick up his belongings. We get there and the nurse won't admit him as he is falling asleep, etc. I ask what should I do. I'm told to take him back to the hospital. I get really upset, it's 4:30, getting dark, my cell phone is dying and I don't know how to get out of there. The nurse doesn't want to deal with the situation and hands me off to someone who knows where his belongings are located on the property. The medical staff handled me and the situation so unprofessional. No compassion. No understanding. The young ladies in the barn where I picked up his belongings, were very understanding and helpful. We found our way out of there. It is so remote and dark. Thank God my phone had enough power to get me to where I could navigate myself.

We stopped to eat and called RCA Devon. They cleared my son to be admitted. They explained to me that Bracebridge is too far from a hospital and are reluctant to admit someone who looks so intoxicated. Why the hell couldn't they tell me that? Or call Devon for me to admit him there? So cold and cruel. Why didn't anyone let me know he went to the ER? SO UNPROFESSIONAL!

They brought me in there and I saw in the living room a whole group of women clustered together. They were all younger. But I was assigned to a woman about 10 years younger than me who was wonderful. She was an educated lady, so I had nice conversations with her. She and I bonded right away. She was wonderful and she gave me privacy. She really didn't put her television on, so I felt very secure. There was a lot of swearing and one girl that was really over the limit but I adjusted to it. And slowly, we started bonding one by one. I felt accepted right away. When I would go to the living room, I was very quiet. They had crayons there and gel pens and I started drawing, which I never knew that I liked to draw. I started drawing to keep my mind busy. I talked during the sharing moments. I talked a lot about my granddaughter who I adore and I'm very close with. And when I shared her age, we all bonded.

It was an awesome experience and I would recommend it highly to anybody. It is exactly what I needed. I got my five-month coin yesterday. I go to as many meetings as I can, including the Early Nooners, the Happy Hour, and I go to the AWOL. I went to as many AA Meetings with Friends of Bill W meeting from the cruise. I met lovely ladies, one was an entertainer on the cruise ship. Another woman was my age and we bonded again. I'm even friends with them still today. I'm trying to do my 12 Steps. I have a sponsor, so I'm really dedicated.

The only negative I can say is that I'm in Medicare and I have a supplement, the RCA did not accept that. In order to get accepted in, I had to get two credit cards with a net charge of $5,000 each. I left there with a balance of $12,500. It was upsetting because out of 25 ladies, I was the only self-pay. A lot of them were on welfare cases because the majority of them had been in prison and were there because it was either stay in prison or do a treatment program. The night I gave the two $5000 payments, I was told that there were scholarships being offered at RCA to help me to pay for the remaining balance. That really made me feel secure that night that I literally begged for RCA. Once I went to RCA, I asked right away for help with the scholarship and I was kinda given the runaround.

Finally, I went to the account manager, Anthony, and he said there was no such thing as a scholarship. Then, I talked to another accounting person and she said she was gonna see what she could do to help me. This was all done the first week that I was in. I said I didn't wanna leave there a month and not have any resolution to my request. I had one from Mike who is still there. I had very wonderful conversations with him. He seemed sincere that he was willing to get me help. I called him the week after I left and he took my call. He said he was still working on it and that nobody that he knew had ever gotten any scholarships.

One night, we were in our AA Meetings and one guy spoke and said how he had gotten a scholarship at RCA the year before. So, I had proof that other people had gotten scholarships. But ultimately, I never got any help. I ended up talking to somebody in Chicago and they said whatever scholarship amount of money that was available was used up the month of August. I said I was there half of August and half of September. He looked into the money for September and said they had no money for September either. So, I really got the runaround. And $22,500 when you're 73 years old is a lot of money. I had to empty out my bank account.

They wanted me to pay $550 a month and I told them I could not afford that. They brought the payment down to 100. With the surgery I just went through and the two cancer surgeries my husband had had since May, I told them I can't pay the 100. So, they brought my payment down to 55. But, ultimately, I said I'll never get to pay this off. It was gonna take 12 and a half years to pay the $100 and now down to 55, it's gonna take 24 years to pay them. It's ridiculous. I asked if they couldn't give me help while I'm alive and nobody is listening to me. That is my only negative thing. If somebody that was my age group wanted to go to RCA, I would tell them it's a good place to go but to be prepared to pay $22,500 out of pocket.

Furthermore, I was expecting a bit more of the therapy in there, rather than just a once-a-week “How you doing?” It wasn’t in-depth, like the core issues as to why we have it and why we’re there. Sometimes, it would be great to dig into it a bit more, but they said, “You could do that after.” And I thought that in a controlled environment, that would have been a good thing for a start. But that’s all right.

The girls there and I were all in the same boat when we were talking. When they were doing the discussion, it’s sometimes very repetitive. I know that we’re trying to instate some type of routine. But sometimes it’s good for the people that have gone through it and absorbed it, and they’re good to go for the next step to have that kind of next step ready for them to take, instead of lingering on things that they already had done and are okay. Recovery Centers of America has the first responders group and that was what saved my stay. Had it not been for Tony and that group, I probably would have left because of the clothing and the meds, and things that were piling on that were just very frustrating.

If it wasn't for one of the other patients, who I actually did become friends with, I wouldn't even have known where to go to eat dinner. She basically showed me around since none of the staff did that. That was a little troubling because if somebody didn't befriend me and showed me around, I wouldn't have known what to do. I brought that to human resources' attention and she was really great at it. She made an appointment with me right away, came to my room, and I told her my concerns. Communication was mainly the biggest problem. Maybe RSS didn't know what they were supposed to do versus the nursing staff. And of course, I'm in the middle, in the dark, not knowing what to do. In the end, they let me know that they understood my concerns and I was happy with that.

All the tools that I got from Recovery Centers, especially the Big Book, have equipped me to be successful on my post-treatment. I've been attending on all the encouragement that the group leaders gave and the importance of attending AA meetings when one gets out. I was lucky enough that I didn't need an outpatient recovery and they helped me. Along with the help of the therapist, Lisa, I had in there, Sarafina, who works there, was my liaison with the outside and she helped me find a therapist. She was really great, so it made my transition out easy. Also, Dana, who was in-charge of the medical part of my stay, was great in setting up so that I could get medication and then tracking with my doctor to make sure he was licensed for the insurance information. That went really well and I like Dana a lot. She also gave me the shot before I left. I was in Recovery Centers for the 30-day program and I was happy with it.

Other than that, there was an issue there for a while. When I came in, there were about 40 guys and 15 girls. And within halfway through my stay, it went up to 80 guys and they weren’t prepared for that at all. As far as meal times, we got 45 minutes for meals and we were waiting in line for 45 minutes to get served. Then, we had to hurry up and eat really quickly. They did something about it after I left, but it went on far too long without them taking some course of action. They’d have speakers come in at night and we’d all be in one room. Towards the end, there wasn’t even enough chairs for everybody and people were leaning up against the back of the room.

1. Not only is everything on your website either wrong or outdated, but your staff has absolutely no idea of the correct information and has absolutely no idea about the seeds to recovery program or ANYTHING else that I asked them about. Everything I needed answered I had to call several times to finally get someone on the phone who could somewhat answer my questions.

2. I left several messages for his case manager Matt ** to call me back, and not once did he call me back. I called RCA 4 times and all 4 times the receptionist sent him an email with my message and saying to call me back. He then proceeded to tell my loved one that he never received any of the emails and messages I had left for him, and claimed we went behind his back to talk to the insurance company to see when they were cutting the insurance which we only did so we could schedule a pick up day. After hearing that I then called for a final time because I tried to get in touch with him multiple times to include him in this, and the guy in the call center that I talked to sent him yet another email directly to his email and confirmed that each time I called an email was sent. And once again he did not call me back.

3. No one had an answer for my loved one of the date he was leaving and no one knew anything about anything! They didn’t even have answers for me, so I am on the outside with absolutely no knowledge of anything because no one was able to tell me anything.

4. You should improve your communication and knowledge of your staff and make sure your case managers call and communicate with the family because it is very upsetting when you can not get any information because your staff is uninformed and do not return calls.

5. I am very dissatisfied with this facility.

The staff there is very unprofessional and do not even follow their own guidelines in the orientation policy presented to the patients upon arrival from the detox ward to residential. The daily schedules are hit or miss in there made up to some degree as they go along throughout the day. The staff has little to no control over the group meetings when held (the inmates run the asylum so to speak) and nothing is done. Group sessions are repetitive with the same material being repeated over and over if you stay for 30 days you’re here the same material three times. The staff did not even know when they were speak of a 12 Step program, smart recovery, or teaching mindfulness exercises. An if the did it was explained to the Patients so they can make an educated decision as to which program they may wish to follow.

The staff there was disrespectful to patients on many occasions and singling them out amongst their peers, speaking about or to them in front of a large group of patients. Confidentiality between residential staff members and patience was broken as the matter was discussed it with other residential staff, an confirmed when speaking to management. The female staff in the residential treatment program appeared to be more concerned with flirting with the male patients, then actually teaching them about recovery, their dress code at times is less than professional. It is this client's belief that men should be helping men and women should be helping woman at this early stage of recovery.

I have seen it firsthand that a person can enter this facility stay in their room all day except to come out for smoke breaks and meals and still walk out with a 30 day certificate of participation. RCA is nothing more than a moneymaking machine for the Board of Directors of this company. It was even stated by my counselor that this is what happens when you attend a for profit rehab rehabilitation center. The list could go on and on with the concerns and matters that affect recovery at the Westminster RCA facility. In closing I would not recommend this facility or RCA in Mass, in general, to anyone looking for recovery help beyond learning the 12 steps .

They told me I was gonna meet with a doctor or a nurse practitioner to talk about medications, etc. It was like diagnosing any mental health problems or anything like that. The only thing that I had any negative feeling about was the nurse practitioner that I had. She was kinda rushing through the whole process with me. She didn’t really seemed like she cared as much. She just seemed like she just wanted to get done with the process that I was doing with her. She seemed like she was sort of empathetic but she just was almost impatient. She didn’t come off as rude, but it was like I was taking up her time. A couple of times, I was interrupted ‘cause she was telling me what I was feeling when I was trying to explain to her. So, I was a little confused.

I had a month of sobriety there to kinda clear my thoughts. Giving me time of sobriety, alone, is great, ‘cause I was kept away from anything that might’ve triggered me or caused me to wanna go out and drink. They were good at getting me to think more as opposed to just reacting so quickly negatively. They were well at equipping me with the tools that I needed to think more. Recovery Centers of America definitely helped me and I think that they could help a lot of people too.

They taught me a lot of different strategies to cope with cravings that I really didn’t have before. I’ve heard them before but they were explained differently there. And I’ve been able to stay sober since I’ve been out and been attending meetings. When I’m not and I get a craving, I know how to deal with it more effectively. We also did the art and the music programs at Recovery Centers of America. The karaoke night was great and really cool. The food was awesome, too.