Hanbleceya

Contact Details

My experience has been good and bad, that means either satisfactory or downright horrible. There's different consequences for different people when rules are broken, some clients are above the rules and others aren't, certain clients are held to much higher standards than others are. The therapists and staff openly endorse this and tacitly approve it, and refuse to acknowledge the drama and dissention that ensues. The double standards are frightening, and are justified as simply being practical examples of real-world problems we must get used to, yet we (the clients) are expected at all times to be and act as paragons of virtue. One false word, one wrong move, it's a prodded confession and lengthy public apology. There are inconsistencies in how addiction relapses are dealt with too. If you use drugs (and it shows up in your drug test) you are either [usually] relegated to a drug-ridden, flea-infested boarding/halfway house (I saw someone return with a black eye once) or to a homeless shelter where the probability of staying clean is even less likely (ironically the safest place to be would be brightquest), but you can't stay at brightquest for the 'safety' of everyone else, even though alot of people relapse on alcohol (as opposed to drugs) in their houses and have remained in housing every time. Here it's a many-over-one mentality, yet when someone is missing from a therapy group, sometimes they'll make everyone use the group time to fetch that person, so no one gets any group time, and here it's a one-over-many mentality. You are still charged for the entire group. There are many good aspects of this place too, but they work if you work them to your advantage. A car doesn't drive itself...a car may drive smooth, but you have to drive it for it to perform it's purpose.

I have derived a great deal of helpful and supportive encouragement from this place, and there are certainly very smart minds who work here. As far as treatment centers go, this one is above average and offers certain provisions which are absent from many mainstream centers in the related fields. I will say that when it comes to matters of processing, they are especially thoroughgoing, in that any matter of importance is talked about [by the therapists], discussed, processed, met about and discussed some more and shifts and changes are made and consequences are enacted and imposed, etc. when these aforementioned matters of importance include predictable events in this kind of setting. The ways in which problems are handled and solutions are obtained are cumbersome, unwieldy and more often than not have the prevailing tendency of being punitive, rather than corrective or remedial. This pertains to events occurring with individuals, groups of clients, specific behaviors (such as relapsing), etc. and almost always spawns intense regret of the original action if only because to have caused this exact response! I believe there are and always will be more beneficial methods of problem-solving, and very case is different.

Nice facility very professional staff!

Hanbleceya is a residential recovery program designed for adults experiencing schizophrenia and mood disorders. My experience has been as a parent, and our son was in the program for about a year. My wife and I can't say enough good things about it, and we couldn't be more proud of the progress our son has made over the course of his time at Hanbleceya. The staff and peers at Hanbleceya were a huge part of our son's recovery and really "partnered" with us all the way. I love the way that Hanbleceya involves the whole family. The place is a sort of community where lifelong friendships can be formed. Personal accountability and responsibility are encouraged by staff and peers alike, and promoted within the context of trusting personal relationships. Tough love is exercised. Bi-monthly Family Support Group weekends are a great resource because the whole family (we the parents, our son and his siblings) could be together and meet his friends in the program and their families. There was an initial "no contact" period of about 2-3 months where we weren't allowed to communicate directly. This was difficult but turned out to be extremely helpful in the long run toward developing improved communication patterns. The adults and their families who are in the program have invariably been through extremely difficult and stressful experiences as a result of mental illness, and Hanbleceya does an amazing job of helping everyone navigate through this difficult time of life and equipping families to live in mutual harmony and support for the long-term. The focus throughout the program is equipping young adults to "launch" into the real world and in my experience this is one of the program's real strengths. Hanbleceya has helped give our son the confidence and personal management skills necessary to succeed at whatever he does next. For him, this involves resuming his college undergraduate studies. And he's been "coached" how to handle all sorts of challenges that might come his way. The "Google SGK" review from about a year ago echoes my sentiments very closely so please read that one as well.

At age 17 I was diagnosed with schizophrenia then ended up spending a year in a hospital as a result. Nothing really changed, I was still really sick when I was discharged. I was given an anti-psychotic, which had really negative side effects. And eventhough I was able to graduate from college and work full-time for 3.5 years, I was living an over-adapted life, not in touch with myself and not able to be in any healthy type of relationship. Clearly I was still quite ill. When I moved to California from Georgia at age 27 I had a very severe psychotic break and ended up in a hospital for 2 years. Years later, after struggling with my illness, which included lying in bed for hours at a time, so depressed I couldn’t move, for months at a time, and bouncing in and out of a Crisis Unit, I was divinely guided to Hanbleceya. At Hanbleceya, I finally started working on my issues and was able to take in the terrific support they offered, although it took a while because I was stubborn and didn't want to be in an institutional setting (which Hanbleceya is not). Hanbleceya is the first place I had ever been where they truly understood serious mental illness and how to work with it. They taught me how to express my feelings in an appropriate manner, how to connect with others, while being in a relationship with them. I also learned about integrity, responsibility, follow through, and how to love myself and others. I am very close to my family today after being alienated from them for years. I blamed them for my issues and was very angry. Today however I live a blessed life in my own condo, have a meaningful job doing marketing and public speaking, hold fundraisers in my home, collect art, travel, do fun things with my boyfriend, and sponsor a child in Africa! My life has been transformed and I am so grateful to the amazing staff at Hanbleceya.

My son has been in Hanbleceya for about 6 months and the change in both his life and ours has been almost miraculus. We struggled with his negative symptoms for a long time, tried other drug programs but didn't realize till recently that he really has a more significant mental illness. Hanbleceya helped us see this and for the first time since his childhood we think he will be able to have a normal healthy life. We're very happy with this program and would absolutely recommend it!

Our child has been at Hanbleceya for almost a year and the growth he has made has been tremendous. He had struggled for several years with increasingly troubling issues which were aggravated by substance abuse and an inability to see the relationship between self-medication and the worsening of his problems. He had alienated nearly everyone in our family, and our relationship with him was in a shambles. Things continued to worsen for him, until we finally convinced him to get help. We were very thorough in searching for the right program for him, and researched many options and references. It finally boiled down to two, one of which was Hanbleceya (the other one was on the other side of the country). It had been recommended to us by a nationally renowned hospital, and the kudos were verified by a full investigation by us. We had been down this road before, without much lasting success, and so were very cautious. I can say now that Hanbleceya has truly been the best treatment program we have run across for our child. The therapists are carefully chosen, and we have been very happy with all the staff. While they do have a medical component to deal with meds and such, their philosophy is that those with mental illness are capable of living happy and good, independent lives, and they strive to move their clients in this direction, with the goal of ultimately living a meaningful life in all its permutations (emotional, relational social, work/education. independence, insight, etc.). To that end, they provide a plethora of help and support, including personal and targeted group therapy, parental support and family therapy, medical intervention if necessary, individualized treatment plans, job and education support, as well as transition aid. It is not a walk in the park though - family participation is essential, and it is not a good fit for everyone. Also, it is a costly undertaking, but well worth it, in our opinion. Everyone on staff there is familiar with every patient, and it truly is a community. The clients are first and foremost treated as intact people, rather than as sick individuals. The actual diagnostic label is de-emphasized in favor of dealing with the issues at hand, and helping the client to have insight and take responsibility, which is really the only way to live in the world in a successful way. There are various components for substance abuse issues as well as equine therapy, fitness programs, etc. A year ago I thought we had lost our child forever, and now I can honestly say that our family relationships have mostly healed and we can enjoy one another again. He has been free of substance abuse, and has made great strides. He sees this too, and is able to feel good about the work he has done. He is about to move to their transition program, and expects to have a job in the next month or two. He feels good about his progress and is hopeful of the future, as are we. None of this would have been possible with the help Hanbleceya, and I highly recommend this program.

We did an intervention with my daughter 5 years ago - to no avail. She chose to continue living a life style that was inappropriate. It was 4 years after that intervention that she was willing to move into Hanbleceya - albeit "kicking and screaming". I find Hanbleceya to be a sacred place - a place that focuses on the activities of daily living -- quiet, serene, peaceful. I have found each one of the staff to be pleasant, courteous, compassionate and firm. Each staff person has a heart for the client, hope for their independence, and shares my vision for my daughter. In the meantime my daughter has grown "leaps and bounds". She has found a home, has quieted herself from within, and is learning volumes about life (that you and I might take for granted). Hanbleceya has been the best investment that I have ever made.