WOW! BEWARE!!! Where to start? I\'m taking a long bus ride home after 2 of the most miserable weeks of my life at Michaels house. Although my insurance paid approximately $1,274/ day, if you leave \"against clinical advice\", MH will not assist patients in returning home, even if they paid for the flight there. After becoming increasingly depressed, dealing with incompetent staff, and realizing that this place is a money racket ill-equipped to work with addiction (& most certainly co-occurring /dual diagnosis ) I prayed on & weighed my options on whether I should tolerate another 15 days of my life, or take a leap of faith (& some SERIOUS) balls!) See, I already didn\'t have much money, and after incurring unexpected costs at the airport (expect to pay for baggage) cigarettes if you\'re a smoker, (& bring extra for the nearly 29 women who will bum them. After paying to turn my phone back on, I had an entire $69. MY POINT YOU ASK? I walked out those doors on a hope & a prayer with only $69 (I LIVE 2,240 MILES AWAY) because as God himself as my witness, I decided to risk life or limb, ride or die, to either get home or die trying rather than spend one more minute of my precious life in that miserable 115 degree, full sun, fly infested place surrounded by mostly 20-something\'s making their 1st half attempt at getting clean, and sadly they would\'ve had a better opportunity elsewhere. I\'m not going to vent excessively, tell you things that aren\'t true or exaggerate, nor am I\'m resentful. The foods good, it\'s the desert so there are flies, plenty of flies. READ EVERYTHING! (& then ask questions: qualifications of the staff, positions, etc. THESE ARE RECOVERING ADDICTS WHO ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR CARE, MEDICATIONS, AND DETOXIFICATION. The outdoor adventures only become available to patients only once moving to the women\'s house following an approximate 7-10 day stay at the UNISEX detox, reading literally a couple hundred pages of literature from MH book, completely numerous assignments on aftercare plans, relapse prevention, sharing your 10 most personal & painful consequences of your using/drinking (referred to as \"your 10 C\'s) with a group of 5-6 patients and your therapist. After completing these readings, papers, \"10 C\'s\", all while attending mandatory group sessions from 6:30 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. , yes, last group starts at 8:00 p.m. and from group the medication line forms and patients are sent individually into the very, VERY slow nurses station as group continues until the community room eventually dwindles down & the patient responsible for cleaning the community room can finally complete her chore before retiring after an already 15 hour day. After \"leveling up from a level 1 to a level 2 patient\" the OUTDOOR ADVENTURES are available to only 12 patients, of these 12 slots, many will be filled by patients with seniority whom are \"level 2\", church is no exception. JOSHUA TREE is overrated, I\'m telling as someone who hasn\'t gone,but judging by the 115 degree, full sun, heat radiating off the rock mountains which are much like Arizona, and after learning that each time MH takes a group hiking there, someone has to leave, I have no desire to walk through the desert, God knows how far, (& I heard its far) in 115 scorching heat to see a tree. The Equestrian therapy? I was told the patients only got to brush the horses. The gym? You need to be a level 2 as well & it\'s not onsite so, again, only 12 patients & only a few days a week. The pictures are of various locations including the outpatient treatment center so be certain you know which pictures are of the location you plan to attend; frankly I only recognize about 3 accurate photos. THE POOL? Okay, get ready, in detox patients may utilize the pool at quarter after each hour for 15 minutes (if groups are not in session) (and said hours of 6-9 p.m. when groups aren\'t in session) HOWEVER, dinner is at 5:00 & there\'s usually a group at 7:00, there\'s also \"wrap up\" group at 8:00 which is a short 20-ish minutes of \"how was your day? Did you have/meet a goal?\" around a circle of your drooling / detoxing peers, followed by a \"sleep group\" at 9:00 so, basically? They have a pool you will rarely use which is unfortunate because it may actually offer some therapeutic benefits in the otherwise unrelenting & counterproductive environment. Plan on changing your own bed at the women\'s center where you\'ll spend most of your time because while they have A housekeeper there, she\'s overworked, underpaid, and doing everything that the patients aren\'t. The patients chores include stocking the liquid drinks in the kitchen, the food, the paper towel & napkin dispensers, cups, paper products, watering the plants, cleaning the tables & counters, basically everything that needs to be done is handled by the patients. And yes, not anything out of hand, but it is the desert and there are a few cochroaches. The linen is hospital grade, in fact I believe it\'s exactly the same. The ACCOMMODATIONS are NOT THE ROOMS I saw in the photos I was sent by the call center \"who is by the way making a commission on each patient whose life he or she causes the month-long ,temporary & painful inconvenience of an ill-equipped center with these unpleasant surprises if you will. There IS ONE COMPETENT & CARING, REAL STAFF MEMBER AND ONE. (1) THANKS, YOU! Their is a very serious lack of communication amongst staff, and quite honestly, I never knew who was responsible for ANYTHING BECAUSE EVERY STAFF MEMBER passes the buck and in turn, nothing, and I mean NOTHING gets done. If you\'re taking a leave of abscense from work, do NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO HANDLE ANYTHING. They will attempt to have you agree to what \"everyone signs\", I suggest you READ WHAT YOU\'RE SIGNING because that form is giving them permission to share your information with your selected \"EMERGENCY CONTACT\" I strongly suggest considering other options before trying to get clean & sober here. The environment is NOT WHAT YOU SEE IN THE ONLINE REPRESENTATION. Oh, the beds are not 2 to a room with the exception of two rooms with two beds in each room, the others are (4) to a women. I wish you the best of luck with your recovery and hope this helps some of you to avoid the suffering I endured. Thanks for reading.
