This is about New Life Lodge in Burns TN, near Nashville.
Be very careful in selecting your treatment. While New Life Lodge has some nice features, most of the key and core services are egregiously deficient.
Before I begin, one sort of humorous dynamic turned up. This rehab place, NLL in Burns TN, is in the South. I'm from northeast WV (West Virginia is pretty South in the minds of most folks), it is country yet in some ways more Atlantic than Southern in culture, but some of both. I was told by the Clinical Director, that I came off as "entitled". It's absolutely preposterous as my style has always been to treat people in a respectful and gentle fashion. While most of the 20-something aged patients were blurting out demands for more granola bars and gatorade, I would only kindly make requests that I thought were important. For example, even though I asked, it took four days to get my clothes washed. I kept saying "whenever you are ready" to the floor technicians. I dealt with stinky withdrawal laundry as well as I could, including washing in the nearest sink. That was extra anxiety that I didn't need. I can name names here, but unless I believe it will do anyone good, there is zero point of it.
I did recognize that my English and writing skills in general seemed to be different than other patients or staff. I lacked a heavy country/southern accent. So, if you are adept at putting together the Queen's English, expressing yourself, don't carry lots of extra weight, and don't have a southern accent, chances are you will be considered an "entitled punk". I mean, I didn't draw any personal conclusions to the fact that well over half the staff is obese or XL, other than the idea that southern food is really good. It is, but I'm just pointing out that if you are smart, you might want to dumb down a bit, or you could be put at the back of most lines.
The general setup works like this. I'm going to emphasize opiate treatment, since that's what I needed, and if I had to guess, over 70% of the entire patient population were also in for opiates as well. You stay in detox where you can rest any time of day till you feel better. If you want to try and make groups, you can. At some point unbeknownst to you, they will change your status to residential. All's that I could tell it was based on patient numbers or room maintenance, but nothing health based. Once moved there, you are locked out of a room from 7:30am till 8:30pm. Pretty ambitious if you are over 45 or 50 and have medical issues. I simply wanted to see the Doctor before being moved. I never did, through many written and verbal requests, 11 days went by, so I left on day 17. I was still having withdrawals and among others things, I wanted to see if I could get a pass to shower multiple times a day, as that was the only time-out I could get from the symptoms. They completely missed or dropped my last appointment I had with the Psychiatrist. I was there 17 days and never spoke to a counselor one on one. I'm not counting the one where they surprised called my wife without first conferring with me and then talked to a supposed counselor who was so taken by her own generosity of letting me use a phone. I did get about 20 minutes with the top counselor, the last day. It was the "don't leave" pitch, and while his seemed very sensere , it was frankly too late for me to trust. The people there are not bad, perhaps overwhelmed and lacking solid framework for process, but not bad.
A little more on Mike's (the Clinical director), his pitch to get me to stay. Tears started to well up from his eyes, he seemed to mention people passing (Perhaps passed away), a specific person, a good person, an honorable person. Did I remember him of this person? I'm thinking, dang, this guy needs more help than I do, and he's in charge of the whole counseling staff here. Ouch, I'm stunned for a moment. Got a little heavy. I thought how odd and heavy you know me now. And didn't know me before. He said "I really like you". I don't know exactly my strengths, but damn, I knew this person had some deep inner issues and was tossing them about in a clinical environment. Not cool, this was not group with the tissues and all. Totally not cool, my resolve to depart became more real. I almost wanted someone so real to talk to. No. Dude needs help himself, it is the wrong environment.
In New Life Lodge advertising and reviews, you are certain to come across something about Dr. "G", the doctor and medical director. He has become somewhat of a facility mascot. And what a wonderful wiz he is. Mostly when you ask where he is, he is whizzing across country to some forum or symposium.
The famous and reportedly much loved Dr. "G", is only there Mon - Wed and even then sporadically, I call him Dr. "Gone". In his absence which is most of the time, you get a Nurse Practitioner of dubious disposition. She will more likely to advise you to "stop living in sin and marry that girl", than to address any medical need. The aforementioned quote was said to my roommate. Another young lady patient was having a bad day of anxiety, she hadn't complained prior, the NP told her to "get over it".
You are not going to get many needs met here, simply because there is far too few staff. If you have any medical problems or mental issues that require a little more than 12 step groups , definitely stay away. Depending on your issues, it's so bad, that your health could be at risk. Also due to the understaffing, they are unable to keep the drama , sex, and skirmishes that occur with the under-30 crowd to at least a reasonably mitigated state. It didn't bother me, I was distantly entertained, but I saw that it did bother other mature people, both young
and old.
Some bright spots about NLL:
The campus is naturally pretty and well kept. The pond offers decent fishing recreation if you feel well enough to try. The cleaning staff is quite good, and the cafeteria staff does have some southern knowhow in food prep. The hardest working folks were the food staff and cafeteria staff. Some of the other staff had such weight issues, I sometimes feared they would'nt make it through the days. As indicated in the NLL advertising, there really are dogs and ducks that are therapeutic. 3 dogs, and 2 ducks, all as sweet as you can imagine. One dog is very old (14 I think), but still enjoying his life. Don't bother worrying if they are fed, watered or medicated from fleas and ticks. They are well handled and taken care of. I enjoyed seeing them.
The staff is generally nice, yet the "entitled" moniker I got, did take me by surprise as I was a "yes mam, yes sir" person the whole way. I have no advice really to counter that. Dr. "G" is so highly lauded in reviews and elsewhere, and while he may be a nice fellow, he isn't often there and I question if he's keeping up with treatment practices. Examine this for example, all of his subutex tapers end with 2mg. Even a layperson with some reading behind them, should know the new best standard is about 0.5mg. This can help diminish symptoms of the "detox" which occurs at NLL when your locked out of your room.
On a ten scale, I give the place a 4. But if you want to get lost in the mix, get good meals and possibly flirt, for you it could be a 10! I have some experience in Process Improvement, trained at Carnegie Mellon institute. Writing SOPs (standard op procedures), would not help this place at this point. There is too few staff, they need third party help. Then get more staff, then a second doctor, let Dr. Gone be a medical staff head/greeter or something. The current Nurse Practioner is not suited for the dynamics of dealing with addicts, especially of varying age and culture origins. Senior home or a military facility would likely be a better fit. I know this seems harsh, but you go in for a visit or two with this person, and lets here what you think.
I'm usually very easy on people that have chosen to work with addicts, I have mad respect. The poor fit is obvious, and it's important because this is your doctor Thu-Sun.
Some of the following paragraph is going to be brutally honest. It is what I observed. I'm 51 and happily married, and even if I was 21 would have second thoughts about being intimate with IV users.....but here is truth:
If you are young and strong, want a chance at getting laid in a chaotic, less structured environment. This may be the place for you. Maybe your on court order and like the idea of a bed and 3 square meals. Also, this might be for you. Getting completely locked out of your room, without any recourse may blow the fun some. But if you don't have arthritis, and don't look like hell, chasing the girls (or guys) around could make the time seem shorter.
The spirit of getting and staying sober is there AT TIMES, if you want it. This is usually controlled by the current contingent of patients. Find some mature people (patients) with leadership skills and you should be ok. For the most part , your access to staff won't cover that. Also note: I overheard a drug arrangement that was apparently being setup, an H dealer was supposed to meet someone near a woods, and the place is surrounded by thick woods. I didn't confirm or follow up on it. I had already learned too much. I didn't see that this was rampant, but between that and a third party discussion, I counted 2 potential incidents. Maybe more disturbing is that I stayed to myself more than anyone, yet still ran into this.
my best bet is private health care. Can anyone refer me to the right fund for this particular treatment?
