McLean SouthEast

I feel weird making it public information that I was here, but I’m hoping this information is valuable to somebody.
If you have a choice about where to go, I would recommend McLean in Belmont over this place. You’re going to be better off if you can get into a program that corresponds to your specific problems. McLean SouthEast (in my experience) is more like a general holding place for the mentally ill. They also have to drive patients to Belmont for certain treatments, like ECT, which is lame.
For rules, it’s fairly high security. No cords, no cellphones, no smoking. The outdoor space was pretty much a cement courtyard with some chairs and a couple trees. There was nowhere to walk around or exercise. The food was basically lower end college dining hall food, but that’s to be expected.
On the plus side, everything was very clean and not gross. The nurses seemed to genuinely care about patients for the most part. When I got there I had a panic attack and threw up (#glamorous) and the staff had empathy for me and took time to talk to me. They also never made light of my ridiculous behaviors. That was awesome.
Being here was especially difficult for a few reasons:
1. The specific doctor I met with did not appear to take me seriously when I asked for things or tried to get an estimate on when I could leave. She just kept saying I could leave when I felt better (which I read as not having an answer). When I told her being there was upsetting me and making me feel way worse, she also had no answer for that. As far as I knew, I was stuck there until my insurance ran out.
2. Zero of my medications were changed, and they were unclear about how they were planning to help me.
3. There were two therapy groups: one for those with substance issues and one for those without. The woman who ran the non-​substance issue therapy group spoke to patients like children (even when it was not beneficial) and all of her reading material was 15 – 20 years old.
4. As a patient, my decisions were not respected much. For example: I chose to do a «family therapy» session outpatient rather than with the social worker there. They seemed to take that as me resisting treatment, when really I just trusted my outpatient therapist more than them.
5. It’s a mixed bag of patients which makes the treatments somewhat generalized. This is true in any hospital for non-​specific issues (I assume it’s true at the short term unit in Belmont as well), but it sucks. Most other patients were easy to get along with, but some were intimidating. It’s hard to be comfortable when you don’t understand or relate to what other patients are experiencing.
Basically, this place is fine if you have no choice or limited choices about where to go. I have no regrets about going. But if you’re planning ahead, this place shouldn’t be your first choice.
In Belmont, I had a much better experience. I was on a unit relevant to my issues and found it more helpful. It was also easier to cope with being there because there was more space to walk around, my specific unit had more freedoms, and the doctors I met with understood me better.