Clarity Child Guidance Center - San Antonio, Texas

Jolene O

They denied to keep my daughter inpatient hospitalized after being suicidal and having depression at school and home . They said for the day program yet Xmas break they are close and i will have to come back in 2 weeks to do another assessment to do the day program. If i may add the lady at the crisis center front desk is so rude.

Dynette Erbe

Dr Hough has been seeing my Daughter for 3 years, he has been very helpful for her and explains everything to her to help her understand.
The facility is nice and the food is great.

Bella McDonnell

I was admitted in April and I had a bad experience.
The staff didn't seem to care for me or the other patients quite at all. The rules were so strict that I was afraid to even move or say anything. There was not guidance and I didn't know what or where to do things. The environment was very triggering and I felt so lonely and even more depressed. They solved nothing putting me here, My horrible thoughts and urges did not stop.The beds were what I expected of course, uncomfortable and stiff. The food was fine, nothing too memorable.
This place is at least better than Laurel Ridge. And you get to visit your parents everyday luckily and watch movies. If you are in a crisis situation, and you absolutely cannot be alone. I would agree that this place is for you. It is not long term. But if you had the option, you might want to avoid trauma that develops here.

Yvette

If anyone has their children here, I would definitely look into the kind of care that is being provided. This place simply just wants to charge your insurance and be paid without providing proper diagnosis and therapeutic care. My son is currently under their supervision for assaulting me, and attempting to push me down a flight of stairs, I have not received one phone call from a physician or a licensed medical doctor or provider from this facility. I’ve got one phone call from a nurse asking to give my son melatonin to sleep one call from a lady asking for my email and that was it .I am now receiving a phone call to come and pick my child up , even though we have not had a family counseling session which is scheduled for the following Day at 4 pm . they are requesting that I pick up my child who assaulted me attempted to push me down a flight of stairs, basically attempting to kill me without conducting a family counseling session prior to his release. without making contact with me to provide me an official diagnosis or let me know the status of his mental state and behavior, while in the facility. they just want me to pick up the person who assaulted me attempted to kill me without giving me any information on his mental state .Shannon is being told by the care coordinator Elva that they cannot provide me the medical directors or licensed physicians information so they are refusing to give me the name of the doctors the name of the medical Director information that should be public record and should be provided to parents with no issue . Before leaving your child here, you should ask for the medical directors, information, physicians information, and what licenses they carry to provide mental health Before leaving anyone here!!!

Christy

My son spent almost 2 wks there for suicidal ideations. They were so caring with him, and very helpful to us as a family.

Daisy Laparra

We had to take our daughter to the crisis center at around 8pm one night. Throughout the evaluation, where we could stay with her, we discussed her recent medication change due to it causing abnormal EKGs. After the evaluation, they decided she needed to be admitted but didn't have beds immediately available, so they placed her in the observation unit, telling us one parent could stay with her. I ended up staying, making sure to read all the paperwork carefully before signing.

Settling into the observation room took until about 10pm. They mentioned she needed a physical check before she could sleep, which ended up pushing sleep time way past 11:30pm, way later than ideal for her state. The room was super cold, and we weren't allowed to bring blankets or anything. The "pillows" were just thin cotton blankets stuffed into pillowcases, which was far from comfortable. We initially asked for more pillows, only to be told they were all out due to being full. It felt odd, but after insisting, they somehow found some extra pillows within 30 mins.

Come morning, there was a bit of a mix-up with the rules about shoelaces. My daughter needed to use the restroom, so she put her shoes on (we were initially asked to keep them outside of the room b/c they had laces) and accidentally brought them back into the room, forgetting the rule against it. Oddly enough, this and her keeping a silicone fidget toy with her all night went unnoticed by staff, even though it seemed to go against their safety policies.

A major hiccup occurred when a nurse brought in medication, including the one that caused the EKG issues. I was quick to point out she shouldn't be on that medication anymore. It turned out, my signature had been photocopied onto consent forms for medications I hadn't agreed to when signing. This raised a huge red flag for us, clearly showing a mishandling of consent and a serious breach of trust. After discovering this, we decided it was best to take our daughter home, feeling the facility's shortcuts on something so critical made it unsafe.

There was also a bit of confusion over phone use rules. My husband was told differently about being able to use his phone, which contradicted what we were told the night before.

The Director of Nursing later called, apologizing profusely for the mix-up with the medication and acknowledging the seriousness of altering consent forms. His willingness to take responsibility and ensure it wouldn’t happen again was a good step, but the whole ordeal had us thinking hard about the level of care and safety at the facility.

Despite the apology and the talk of changes, we were left considering legal action but ultimately decided against it due to the continued stress it would cause. I'd advise anyone thinking of using this center to weigh these experiences carefully. It's a tough call, but being informed and vigilant is key in these situations.

Alana Gazaway

This place is terrible and the lack of communication between them all is terrible. My son has been coming here for over a year. For a while everything was good he was on medication and getting better. Now it has been MONTHS that my son has been off medication because of lack of communication at this place. The last appointment my son had prescription was sent out and when i called to see if it was ready they stated the insurance needed for the doctor to sign off on it so it would be covered and that they sent the paperwork to them through email and all i had to do was wait. I waited a few days and called again and they say theres no answer from docs office. I call the office and they claim they haven't gotten anything from the pharmacy. Alright back and forth of this between pharmacy and doctor for weeks. I call the office and they finally say they got it after i tell them i got a physical copy from the pharmacy that i can bring by. They assure me itll get to the doctor. I wait a few days and nothing still. When i get to my sons appointment hoping to speak with the doctor to clear this up i get shamed for going so long without his medication when ive been trying. Sends out the prescription and the same thing happens again. You cannot leave a message directly for the doctor its so hard to get ahold of anyone besides the front office lady. Any emails to doctor are forwarded to her i guess because she calls back when i try. This place will let your child slip through the cracks without a second thought. I am finding my son a new doctor.

dizzy fizzy

Worst, most miserable hospital I’ve been to. San Antonio Behavioral Health was better and even that place is beyond miserable.

The worst part about Clarity is the staff - they work in a CHILD GUIDANCE CENTER yet seem to despise children, and get off on exerting power on them, setting useless, unnecessary rules and then acting surprised when a child snaps and argues back. They seem to consider themselves prison guards, and they do their best to resemble them. These staff are to correctional officers what a pug is to a wolf; sad, inbred mockeries of what they try so, so hard to mimic. They essentially want the children to behave like trained dogs; sit down, don’t move, don’t speak, and most importantly, never think for yourself, or you’ll find out that their “guidance” is absolute bull.

The therapists aren’t trained to do much except repeat empty platitudes; “I’m sorry, that seems difficult,” or if they’re feeling adventurous, they may recommend that you try GOING OUTSIDE and TRYING NEW THINGS to cure your crippling OCD and MDD. Genius! Why didn’t I think of that!?

The doctors are emotionless husks of people: no matter what you say to them while repeating symptoms you’ve described to them a hundred times prior, you’re met with a blank stare, without fail, only to find out the following day that they’ve put you on a new medicine without informing you — AGAIN. These doctors also seem to think they’re above ever contacting the parents of the children they’re drugging for a paycheck. I was here for 3 weeks and not once did my doctor bother contacting my mother despite her numerous attempts to do so.

Calling this place a hospital would be the equivalent to calling McDonalds a gourmet restaurant. They do not care about your mental health, they do not care about your problems, and they do not care about you, nor do they even bother pretending to; why would they? They get a paycheck regardless - may as well take out their anger on young children for $12 an hour.

Some of the staff are not just rude to the children, though. Some of them are so insatiable in their desire to ruin the days of others that they extend their nasty behavior to the parents of the children, too — Carly (I believe she’s an RN?) being the worst of the (many) examples of this. Upon my mother asking, over the phone, why the staff neglect to inform her of incidents which occurred in the “hospital” regarding me (for example, ripping my hair out, having breakdowns, etc.), Nurse Carly decided to respond huffily. She sneered, “well, if you WANT us to tell you EVERY LITTLE THING…”

It was also not uncommon to hear staff bad-mouthing patients: Lydia was the worst of all, though, and largely hated by the majority of the patients as a result. She would insult patients, calling them “stupid” and calling one young boy an “idiot” (IF it wasn’t that, it was an insult with similar weight — my memory is foggy). Later, she would lie and claim to have never said that. Imagine being tasked to treat traumatized children, many having dealt with gaslighting and emotional abuse, only to FURTHER GASLIGHT THEM.

While I’m name-dropping, I will note that all of the weekend staff and nurses were spectacular, and I never once ran into issues with a single one of them. Carlos was also nice. Felicia (I think that was her name? I believe she was a nurse) was also very kind to me. I will not forget the compassion they showed me. There were a plethora of other staff that showed me similar kindness, and there were others who showed similar cruelty to what was mentioned above. I cannot name them all, but if you were in the former group, thank you, and if you were in the latter… Please, get it together.