#kouts

Expert local and long-distance moving services serving Kouts and all of Chicagoland.

This place is downright abusive. It's not tough love, it causes more trauma for already traumatized children. I was one of those kids. I was on my best behavior my entire stay yet I still received and encountered cruel punishment. I witnessed staff hold a girls trauma against her because she wasn't paying attention in class, mocking her to the point of a panic attack. If we weren't deemed "safe enough" they would take away our long sleeved clothing, mind you this was Indiana in WINTER. The unit would maybe be around 50 to 55 degrees in the winter when I was under their care. My toes and fingers would go numb on a regular basis due to the cold. I looked forward to our 10 minute shower to keep me warm, mind you the ten minutes started when you got into the bathroom not the shower so our showers were only about 5 minutes long due to the time being spend undressing and dying off and redressing. We spent a lot of time sitting on the floor waiting for meds, and during this time NOBODY could make a noise otherwise they would make us spend extra time sitting on the hardwood floors. Most of the time we all just sat in the dayroom in our assigned seats while a staff member mindlessly led groups they knew nothing about. Occasionally a therapist would lead a group but it was like listening to a record on repeat. I encountered a girl on my unit crying out "I can't breathe" while she was held down in a hold on the floor. three or four staff were holding down this girl. She was only 13 and maybe 130 lbs. Other staff on a separate occasion made sexual comments towards the same girl, the entire unit heard and later made complaints but the staff member was still assigned to our unit after said complaints. We were only allowed to talk to our families for 10 minutes every other day, and if we went over that time limit they would forcefully end the call. Not to mention the biggest red flag is we were forced to have a staff member present for our first few calls to our families so "we wouldn't talk bad about the facility". DO NOT SEND YOUR KIDS HERE.

I spent a month at the South Shore Academy branch of MCYF and I deeply regret choosing this facility over other residential treatment centers. The environment was much more restrictive than an acute crisis stabilization unit(inpatient) and we were often made to feel more like prisoners than patients. There was only one or two groups about actually learning DBT skills each week and they were rarely productive. I ended up having to learn all the skills on my own during free time and school. We were afraid to admit when we were struggling because of the looming threat of being put on degrading precautions(only crayons to write, someone standing in the doorway when you shower/pee, etc.). We weren't allowed to talk about our problems outside of group and we were given very little time on the unit to socialize, giving us few chances to actually apply the skills we were supposed to be learning. The patients themselves are also a huge factor in why you should NOT send your daughter there; many of them have histories of violence and aggression, and would repeatedly start fights and threaten staff members and other patients. If your daughter struggles with mental illness, South Shore is not the place for her. Look into less restrictive RTCs where she can receive attentive treatment in an environment more like the "real world" to practice her skills. I'm even considering going to residential again after wasting a month of my life doing pages from a workbook.

Absolutely the worst place I've ever seen. They have bugs everywhere. The staff will swear at the teens right back. I witnessed two fist fights while there, my roommate cut herself in front of me, and they only serve canned food. This place was absolutely disgusting. I had to stay there for relocation purposes while I was waiting to turn 18 and be on my own and I was treated with so much disrespect. Porcea, a staff member, is absolutely biased in which teens she likes and which teens get treated well and which don't. I was nothing but respectful during my stay and this staff member would pick me out to yell at me for things I was allowed to do and would take my points (in the point system) even when I earned them. She made it so I didn't get incentives for playing a game too hard??? Also Shaney, another staff member, bragged about how she hangs from meat hooks in her free time, brags about how she does her nails so they're pointed for when she has to put a child in a therapeutic hold she can dig her nails in them, and had no problem swearing at the teens and telling them they were worthless. I did not have a personal problem with her, I just feel that this should be noted. The staff member I would to thank is Mary, the recreational therapist. She made my stay bearable by offering music and treating me like an actual human being. Also Peggy the teacher was kind as to bring candy for us. Other than that, the place was hell.

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This place was terrible while I was there it was freezing they wouldn't let you layer because they thought you would be trying to escape the staff would curse back at the children arguing they would constantly put the kids down and constantly be passive aggressive towards the kids they yell at us when we talk about past residents when they talk about them all the time and all the holds they put kids in the therapists would try and change the kids complete personalities there was very few staff that you could actually talk to and know you can trust that not every single word would be used against you there was very few good staff but the good ones there in my opinion was :Candi, Mery, Stashia and nurse Sam

Horrible, horrible place. It's the same as a military boot camp. I witnessed a ten year old being attacked by staff for having a nonviolent panic attack. One male staff member intentionally looked at a patient when she was half-dressed. I have PTSD from this "treatment facility". Well, if treatment is being physically and emotionally abused by staff and peers, then this is the definition of it. Girls were catcalled by male staff who were decades older than them. Staff were self-centered and didn't care if you died. I DEVELOPED an eating disorder here. I still have it. This place made me afraid to seek treatment. I had a panic attack a year and a half after being discharged, over a package of butter by the same brand they used at Midwest. Shantay is awful. Valeria, or "Mrs. V', is worse. Staff are really horrible. Please, please, please... find somewhere else. Anywhere else. Please.

Literally the worst facility I've ever been to in my life. The staff were cruel and abusive and the grievance procedure was crumby. The facility had a regulation where if a adolescent or child was only physically harmful/aggressive toward his or herself they would be put in a physical restraint, but the staff who were there when I was there misused the restraint procedure and used it as a punishment and a threat instead of to protect the child/adolescent. Also, Physical restraint in mental health facilities aren't supposed to painful. These sick people made a 17 year old young male cry and scream like a baby going through circumcision, while restraining him just because a staff member told him to stop singing. That's in no way shape or form acting out aggressively or unsafe.  I was never restrained but I was told that if I "act out aggressively toward staff" I would be restrained out of retaliation not for safety. Also the supervisors were no better. They would literally take the staff's side no matter what, I was even threatened by one of the supervisors. Also the co-founder barely pays any attention to how a client is being treated I've put in so many requests to speak to him because all of the supervisors here suck and throughout my entire time being there I've never gotten a single chance to speak to him. Also the therapists here are absolutely no better. Mine was ok, but I knew that he would never admit that he didn't want to work my case, but there was a female therapist that I've seen that works here who is very condescending and inconsiderate of anyone's feelings and she was a complete hot head who had literally no emotional navigation and wanted people to hear what she had to say more than anything ugh she was terrible. Just a horrible facility that no one should go to....it's so poorly ran and they will not help you or your child. It will only make them worse, I promise you! Please PLEASE do not place your child in this facility it is hell on earth.