Discovery Mood & Anxiety Program - Dade City - Dade City, Florida

Sheena W.

i went to discovery a month or two ago. honestly a really good program, especially for like the older kids. this place really works you to get better. i honestly was satisfied with the way this place treated me. the food is alright i guess, most of the techs care about you and will take time out of their day and help. i think the only issue i had here was getting my medication on time, which i blame the pharmacy and not the program. the therapist usually are really helpful. the group of kids i was with were really nice and were always open. i’ve definitely seen so many people change within 30-60 days of being there. the therapist and directors also let you give feedback to things like group suggestions, outings, and things to make the place better for you and everyone, and most of the time they take it into consideration. if you plan to send yourself or your kid here, make sure you or your kid is ready to work the program!

Angelique F.

Horrible experience.
Do not send your kids here .
Medication is there first way of trying to solve any issues with your child. The best part was the therapist. Horrible staff unprofessional. I wouldn’t send my dog here .

Londa K.

Our child went to Discovery Mood and Anxiety in Dade City, FL for 30 days. I wouldn't recommend it from a therapeutic standpoint, but it did give us a break from our child and he was safe. His first therapist quit ½ way through and I don’t think much therapy occurred. Our family therapy sessions were not therapist lead at all. His 2nd therapist was better, but she only had about 10 days with him. I didn’t feel this was a very “intense” program to promote positive changes within 30 days. It felt like they just wanted insurance money because most insurance companies will approve the 30 days, but there is an extremely low chance you’ll see positive change in 30 days with just group sessions that are taught out of a book and weekly one on one therapy. Our child complained of cold showers. I reported this to staff more than once. I think one nurse checked but the fix was temporary, and the issue continued, which was again reported. The “exercise time” was weak. On their website they advertise this is a “holistic” program, so they should know the importance of exercise for mental health. Many days they stayed inside because it might have been too “cold” or a majority of kids wanted to stay inside. The climate in Florida is typically nice and even if it's 40 degrees, I feel kids can put on a sweatshirt and sweatpants and go outside. If they are moving around, they will warm up quickly. When they stayed inside, they could do “Just Dance” on the WII, however they only had 2 controllers. When you have 15 kids and two controllers, you can do the math. They could pop in a DVD and workout to a screen, but unless that’s instructor lead, probably not super effective with teens. There weren’t enough staff to supervise kids inside and outside. When we met with the Executive Director, she stated they were fully staffed. We did discuss all our concerns in this this review with the Executive Director. There were times they couldn’t go to the school building to work on school because if there was an incident with a kid, they’d all have to stay in the residence building, they didn’t have enough staff to have kids in the residence and school buildings. They did a good job to cover their tail on paper and checking boxes, because therapist would say the days they met with your child, but I don’t think that was true. Maybe they saw your kid, but no therapy took place. Medication, they gave my child the wrong dose of medication for 17 days before I (the parent) finally caught it because I was asked to sign some paperwork. They did apologize for this, and I do believe it was a honest mistake, but I don’t think this is acceptable, especially because I filled out all the paperwork in great detail. The medication and doses were listed more than once and there was doctor’s paperwork to back up what I listed. They struggled getting our virtual visits set up. Each week we contacted them over and over for the Zoom call link. Everyone would point the finger at each other. Zoom meetings are extremely easy to set up, yet they just couldn’t get it done for 30 days. It was a headache each time we tried to visit virtually with our child. Last issue for us personally was our child really struggled connecting with the other teens. Our child’s issues were behavior, anxiety, ODD and depression. Over ½ of the kids there were transgender and in our community, we are not exposed to the transgender population. Not having much knowledge, it is confusing to be forced to use pronouns that don’t match up with English class. This review isn’t about if transgender is right or wrong, I would never be ok with my kid being disrespectful and he wasn’t, however when he’s trying to work through his issues and then learn about transgender, that was hard and wasn’t a good fit.

piercetheill

this place saved my life.

if any of the staff here are seeing my review, this is Sofia R, I was here from late December-January. If my insurance could have afforded to cover a longer visit, I would have stayed, no hesitation. The staff make it apparent that they are here not just because its their job, but because they have a genuine care for the facility residents. I was showed so much love and care by not only them but the other residents, too. Scheduling and structure got a bit weird sometimes, but I'm easy with adjusting to my surroundings, and it wasnt a problem for me. Everyone here was so patient and kind, and in all seriousness, the staff deserve a raise. Occasionally I like to call the nurses' office phone line and tell them i say hello and i miss them, and small life updates. With the other places ive been to I never knew that there could be such thing as a good facility with comfortable space (the beds were so spacious and soft and the showers had consistant hot water !! love that, big pretty windows too) and such kind workers with genuine day to day action. Im awful with names, but all of the staff there, the techs especially, are wonderful. When im feeling like im back in the past again i always wish i could be back there, and I know as a fact that if i ever should/have to be put in an institution again, I'd demand to go here. I love you guys, thank you for everything. and all of this is to say the very least. its hard for me to remember how awful i felt knowing the place i was at was so nice. <3

kristian P.

the only reason im even giving this place 2 stars was because of the techs. Nate, Ryan and Neisha deserve a raise(seriously, consider it). they helped more than my actual therapist, and they gave me the help i needed during my panic attacks and made the place seem less scary. they cheered me up and helped me love myself again. Dade city was unorganized/chaotic (the "therapy" groups were not therapeutic, they had more kids than they could handle and they changed the schedule a lot so i never had the structure i needed). due to this being my first res i had a lot of panic attacks, and most of the staff were not trained to help- and if they were, they didnt. In my 6 weeks there not once did i feel heard- causing me to act out (at that time it was the only way i knew how to get my point across since no one helped me to find other solutions.) Overall not the best experience, but since i've left they changed management, so hopefully its better.

dayna D.

Do not send your child to this facility!!! They gave my son multiple medications I didn’t approve of or even know about and he had major side effects from the meds we are still dealing with a month later. They do not have a Dr on site, understaffed, only 1 licensed therapist, the program coordinator is only there to collect a paycheck. My son left the center far worse than when he went in and we’ve not heard one word from them since he left. Beware!!!!

Carmen S.

Wow, just wow!! I came here with no moral compass, loads of trauma, and a mood disorder that was running my life. I stayed here for 7 weeks and it helped me so much. The techs are amazing (shout out to Madison, Nate, Naeesha, and Christi!!). They helped me work through so many issues. All the therapy groups help so much especially if you try and want to help yourself. My therapist (Sathya) worked with me in everything I was struggling with. She would let me sit in her office if I was overwhelmed, she talked to me whenever I needed it, she took me on outings, etc. They also have so many resources you can use to cope (noise canceling headphones, frozen oranges, sour candy). They also have amazing food that helped me beat my eating disorder. Come to Discovery if you’re looking for support or if your child needs help. I love you Discovery!!

Jennifer M.

Discovery and there team from California to Dade City to Tampa have been amazing, informative and supportive. The team here at Dade City really work with the kids, they bond within reason, make the children accountable for their actions, decisions, choices or lack there of. The “phases” can be challenging for the children (like mine) who have issues being told what they can do, when it can happen and for how long. These things are necessary! When the children “phase” up they earn different privileges. My child is the youngest of five, is 12 going on 25 and has always received everything her heart has desired, so understanding that it’s not her God given right to have everything is important, she values the privileges more.
My daughter has had some emotional trauma this year, and she has had a very difficult time working through it. I have a professional background in Behavior and in Intense Behavior, and I thought I could use those skills with her. I believe they helped, but I know that I am too close. There are things that need to be interceded by neutral parties, to break the cycle and implement a new one. I can tell you my daughter was resistant in the beginning (extremely resistant) it took a longer amount of time to phase up, to start taking it seriously and do the work to see and feel the changes. She was discharged and “phased down” she went to a PHP program, my daughter truly was not ready, she recognized it, she said something, she was using skills that she had learned. THIS WAS HUGE! I spoke with her PHP therapist and together with Admissions and the team in Dade City, we were able to put a plan together and get her back into the Residential Program. This maybe round two for us, but I truly believe she is open to learn more coping skills, add more tools to her tool bag for life and really start the healing and work through her anger, learn how to stop hurting herself emotionally, physically and work with her mental health. I want to give some encouragement to the other parents out there struggling, feeling like you are alone on an island fighting for your child’s life; you are not alone! There are SO many of us out here and I know that I was blessed with having someone in my life that was able to point my daughter and me in the direction of Discovery.
I hope this helps you and you family.
By the way, this is a “campus” you can clearly tell (if you have any sense what so ever) that you should not be on the grounds. It does not look like a park or a plaza you can stroll through. So, I want to thank the “rude woman” who was making sure that our children on campus were protected.