Narconon Vista Bay

Oh, how long I’ve waited to leave this review.
This place may get you off of drugs, but it is done in an unhealthy, generalized, and deceitful way. They will tell you this program has nothing to do with Scientology — then why are we following L. Ron Hubbard’s advice on matters that he had no formal training in? I’m not saying that the program is loosely based on his books — they follow them to the letter as if he is so, e demigod or something. It’s all very odd considering he is dead and his texts would be considered extremely out of date if he were an actual scientist.
Let’s start with Training Routines. Sure, they may help teach you to sit still or something, but when they tell me to shout (not yelling, but shouting — there’s a huge difference according to narconon) you start to feel a bit crazy. Not to mention that you are training next to future staff members who are practicing keeping a straight face while they lie to you. I even once heard a staff member say that you could lie, and tell a junkie they would get heroin shots if they came. I don’t know much about medical ethics, but that doesn’t seem right to me.
Then you move to the sauna — or as I like to call it, the heart palpitation machine. I have had an arrhythmia since I left narconon that my doctor says is most likely from sitting in an overheated sauna while eating copious amounts of niacin — another extremely outdated practices. This is done until one of the staff members in some closed room somewhere decides that all of the «toxins» come out of your body. He book is so outdated that it mentions being able to remove Agent Orange (a vietnam war era toxin) from your body.
Then we move into the classroom. Oh, how they accused me of cheating here. The God honest truth is that everything in these courses was stolen by Hubbard from Montessori and rebranded as his own. Clever, L. Ron, clever. However you do get to play with a lot of clay which is fun. Or maybe it is just sad that I found it fun. Either way, they use a technique employed in Scientology as well, called word clearing. This involves looking up random words used by Hubbard, often consisting of an esoteric word combined with some prefix or suffix to make it even more challenging. These words, when used, isolate those who use them, as only a certain group of people have any idea what they are talking about. Granted, you’ll leave with a better, albeit useless vocabulary.
On to objectives, where you do a series of ridiculous exercises to being you into the present. The best thing I can say about this is that the quickest way to get out of them is to say you had an out of body experience and spoke with L. Ron. I shit you not, they will pass you for saying that. Or you can walk between a book and bottle the whole time and try to figure out what «cognitions» they want from you.
Back into the classroom. This is where they accused me of cheating because I refused to acknowledge that L. Ron had helped me at all. They delayed my graduation so that my parents (whom I hadn’t seen in a year) couldn’t come see me. Seems a little vindictive for people who claim they want to help.
A few more things — WHILE I WAS THERE MULTIPLE WOMEN WERE ABUSED BY UNDERTRAINED STAFF MEMBERS. DO NIT SEND YOUR FEMALE FAMILY MEMBERS HERE BECAUSE THERE IS A VERY GOOD CHANCE THEY WILL BE MOLESTED.
The food they give you is extremely fattening — this is for stupid junkies who don’t eat, but I ended up gaining s ton of weight.
Also be warned there is NO PERMANENT MEDICAL STAFF ON SITE. YOU ARE BEING TAUGHT BY FORMER JUNKIES. WHEN I GOT TO SAN FRANCISCO AFTER THE PROGRAM I SAW A STAFF MEMBER BUYING A BAGGIE OF HEROIN ON SIXTH STREET.
Also, when they tell you insurance will reimburse you it is a lie. My poor family and I are still attempting to pay off the 35k my mom was convinced would be reimbursed, but was not, because medical boards WILL NOT ACCREDIT NARCONON BECAUSE IT IS A BUMCH OF
Granted, they got me off drugs, but so would have locking me in a room for four months.

This place is a scam, they charge an upfront fee that is not refundable after 90 days but once you are in you CANT USE A PHONE FOR 90 DAYS to call your family and tell them you want OUT. I had to run away to use a payphone and get taken out. still no 20k refund. they base everything on scientology which is NUTS. they load you up on niacin and throw you in a sauna and make you read alice in wonderland over and over again to another person out loud for days as part of the rehabilitation «treatment». insane. stay away!

This place is a frightening scam. It is a thinly veiled front for Scientology. They are not medically accredited in any sense. They exert an extreme degree of control over «patients» lives, and extort money from their friends and loved ones. Avoid at all costs.

This is a review about the Narconon Emerald Pines location in South Lake Tahoe, CA.
First and foremost I am not a patient but this is my experience with them with one of their patients.
One of their patients left the facility and some how came into my care (a complete stranger) on a Wednesday night. After convincing the patient to go back and calling the facility I spoke to Dylan the manager, he explained that because they were closed that they would not be able to get the patient till the following morning around 8AM. After determining that the patient was in a safe place till they could have been picked up, the rehab proceed to relay that information in the worse way possible to the patient’s emergency contact causing extreme panic and causing police to show up.
The following morning, 8AM arrived and there was no contact, I needed to call the main administrative office in Watsonville to have the manager call me back.
Dylan called back and did not keep to his word and said that they would pick her up around 11AM, not 8AM.
After a very heated discussion he stated «You can drop her off in a park or something where she can wait to get picked up» Where is their obligation and concern for their patients who are paying for this service? This patient did not have a phone or any form of way to get a hold of the facility because all they have is one number that no one seems to answer from my personal experience.
It seemed as if I cared more about this person that I had just met than the facility who is suppose to be in charge of taking care of them.
I have dealt with rehab centers before, but nothing like this. It should not take over 12 hrs to get a patient, and you shouldn’t suggest to ditch them in a park just to be picked up. This does not seem appropriate or prioritizing the well being of their patients and only concerned about gaining the income.
Would not recommend the Emerald Pines/​South Lake Tahoe facility if this is how they treat their patients

I went through 6 other treatment programs, far and wide, and this program surpasses them all. I struggled with an addiction for 5 years and had several failed attempts at getting clean. I have to give it up to Narconon Vista Bay for their different approach to getting off of drugs. I wanted something that could help me resolve some core issues and take more of a holistic approach and that’s exactly what they were able to do. Everything was great there! The rehab is in a beautiful outdoor setting, the food was great (a perk!) and I found all of the counselors to be super helpful and understanding. If this review doesn’t do this program justice, then the fact that I have been clean and sober for 8 years should! I would definitely recommend this place to anybody who needs help with addiction, and especially to the people who have been unsuccessful in other programs, like me.

I have over a decade drug and alcohol free because of my time spent here. I know of many others who I went through the program with that still are doing very well for themselves. It’s a blessing to have such compassionate care when you’re down and out. I am forever grateful!!!

Narconon literally saved my brother life. they gaved him mentally, physically, emotionally, and financially. And not to mention at the time I really wanted to straggle him myself!!! lord help me… he was BADDD .It was impossible for us to get though to him… Not an easy task but 6 month later, he came home clean and sober. And yes he did stay and work there after finishing the program and they treated him very well as an employee too. Now lately he’s been the one helping my family thought some difficult financial times. I am sooo pround of him. There are so many positive story but its alway the few negative ones that get all the attention. To the people complaining about the cost of rehab… they obviously over looked the cost of addition. My brother is the world to me and I have no regrets on sending him though this program .I would highly recommend Narconon to anyone that is serious about sobriety!!! Thank you, Narconon for bringing back my loving brother back to society where he belong!!!