YWCA Women's Journey Chemical Dependency

I just read Judy's review and I have to agree with what she said about the director. I too take lamotrigine for epilepsy. I came up positive for PCP. I've never even seen PCP!! But I provided a note from the pharmacy because she said the same thing. "It's not part of my job to make phone calls. She allowed me to stay. Benadryl can also cause a false PCP drug screen. The rest of the staff was great. I never had any problems getting along with staff. I did, however, have problems with other clients residing there. People were mean to me and made fun of me. They judged me and treated me horribly. I cried often while I was there. The same people who talked about me and judged me were the same people asking me for cigarettes everyday. I felt like I had to give them cigarettes or they would just keep being mean. Bullies!!! And not just one or two. There were many bullies and I wasn't the only victim. I came there to get away from my abusive fiance and to begin recovery for my drinking and drug problems. Only to find I had entered a facility full of abusive women! I really couldn't believe it. Here I was trying to improve myself and get straight and honest about the way I was living. Women should be a support for one another. A powerful force to be reckoned with is a strong group of women. They have each other's back. Not stab you in it. It really hurt. So while I felt like I was in a great recovery facility, I was having a hard time because of all the drama. It stressed me out and triggered my PTSD and I wound up relapsing. They had to put me out! I broke a rule! Luckily my mom was willing to take me in until I could get my own place. I have been really wanting to go back to the Y but I'm scared there will be drama so that's holding me back from getting help. I hope the staff can figure out a no bully policy without being called a snitch because you were being abused. A snitch on the street gets their ass kicked, I know! But the Y is not the street so people need to behave like decent people, act mature, mind their own recovery, be kind and do their best. That's how I hold myself. They were all low lifes with no intention to get and stay clean. They were just dodging jail time. It's really pretty sad.

The director of this facility does NOT take her position seriously nor does she care about the success of those that enter the program. My daughter was FORCED to leave the facility by after five weeks for having a FALSE POSITIVE DRUG SCREEN for PCP. My daughter is prescribed the medication LAMOTRIGINE which is known to cause false positives of PCP. Even with the information provided to her by the FDA to verify this, she was UNWILLING to accept it and stated it was NOT HER JOB to investigate into medications and since the medication Lamotrigine was not on the list of reactive medications provided by the supplier of the drug screens, IT WAS NOT HER PROBLEM AND MY DAUGHTER WAS TO VACATE THE FACILITY IMMEDIATELY!!! She then contacted my daughters probation officer (prior to a written consent) and told her my daughter was removed from their program and disclosed information of an incident that had occurred three weeks prior which had nothing to do with her WRONGFUL removal from the facility and should have been reported when it occurred as opposed to three weeks after the fact if it was relative to her probation. As a result a warrant was issued for my daughters arrest and the five successful weeks she had in the facility gone. My daughter sat with her belongings several hours that day crying and asking them not to force her to leave because the only thing she had done was take the medication she had been prescribed by a physician she had seen AFTER joining their program. My daughter was told everything she was stating was of no importance to her and for her to leave or she would have the police remove her!!! This facility could have far more graduates of the program if it actually had someone in charge that cared about the success of those that enter it...she IS NOT THAT PERSON. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCE should anyone be forced out of a rehabilitation facility unless they are refusing to participate and follow by the rules...My daughter was doing wonderful and followed the reccomendation of her caseworker at the facility to be evaluated by a physician and take all medications as directed by her physician...she was prescribed Lamotrigine, took it as prescribed and as a result she was kicked out of the facility into the streets and a warrant issued for her arrest when it all could have been resolved if they would have taken the time to make a simple phone call to any pharmacy in town or lab..but since it "wasnt her job nor her problem" she refused!!! I wonder how many people that struggled with an addiction to Heroine, and Opiates were thrown out for similar reason and denied treatment by this woman and have lost their lives? I have contacted various News teams and talk shows about this story and hope that the needed changes will be made to find a better director to lead the facility!!!