Western New York Childrens Psychiatric Center - West Seneca (NY)

1 /5 Katheryn Pratt: I went here in 2015, The staff are horribly abusive, They forced me to stay on the "boy side" after another patient suffering psychosis choked me. They manipulated and lied to my legal guardian forcing me to move in with my abuser. They falsely diagnosed me and put me on medications that did more harm then good, Use physical and chemical restraints and the staff bully patients like its a game. Also they weaponize "privileges" to make you more compliant. I have PTSD from my time here and you should not send your child here.

1 /5 Katrina Mount: I was looking at others reviews and clearly I can see this place has not changed a bit . I was in there back in 2007 and the rooms were just as bad as they are now you may as well been thrown in a jail cell. I remember anytime I was just having a bad day whether emotional or whatever not even any aggression the staff would grab me up and gave me an injection of something In my arm to calm me down and would send me to my room all day. I got put on assault alerts multiple times just for accidents one time we were somewhere and a kid tripped over me and got hurt and had to get medical attention for a bloody nose and because of that I got put on assault alerts I had to learn to master eating salad with a spoon. The staff used to always try and find a way to get under your skin just to put you on some kind of alert . I was there for 3 months and while I was there my cat that meant everything to me died and that took a toll on me and because I was upset they immediately put me on a suicide watch and self harm alert. They are not there to help they want to break you to your core. I would never recommend anyone sending their children there!

2 /5 Yuri / Bones: Okay okay so I spent about 5 1/2 months here through our spring till the end of school break. It was really hard for me to adjust due to the very strict and humiliating rules. It was even harder not being able to see my family. I was allowed only 1 visitor to see once a week. I was allowed less than 15 minutes a call every day that the staff would sometimes tell me I couldnt call because its too late even tho they make a list of people going first than last. The rooms are horrible. Gross dirty, full of bugs, and overall smell pretty bad. I could barely sleep due to the staff yelling and talking extremely loud. They would let people stay up all night screaming (like on the top of their lungs.) Staff are pretty rude and some male staff are really creepy. You would get into trouble for even playing with Barbies and dolls. The one good thing that came out of the many months I had their was them getting me an official autism diagnosis.

1 /5 Maddie C: I would give negative stars to this place. I was admitted here 3 separate times 5-6 years ago adding up to 10 months altogether. They start with a sit down and tour with pamphlets with how therapeutic it is with the pool, and the sappy speech about how it is such a great place to get better with a structured, positive atmosphere. The first thing that is wrong is the neglect of basic human rights. One of the many examples was I was getting raging UTIs all the time from the lack of cleanliness in the entire facility. I did not raise my hand to ask for one of the 3-4 staff members including my nurse and therapist who were chatting near the bathroom to please open it so I can go and I was told "raise my hand" and that ultimately ended up with me having an accident and then getting into trouble for having the accident to begin with. Many neurodivergent children and teens have issues with food whether its texture or taste or both, etc. I have seen plenty of times where other teens on 805 including myself asked for a diet change to receive food I actually wouldnt mind eating (note: most of the food was intolerable) so there were plenty of times I could not get myself to eat and would not be able to eat all day until snack time even tho we were forced to portion out snacks even if we brought our own snacks from home. Obviously it is not a fib since many of these reviews STILL are referring to staff as "Mr" and "Mrs" when they enforced a point system that gave level 3s the right to sit on a couch. We all walked in straight lines and were not allowed to speak to other patients about anything they deemed "triggering" which included but was not limited to: dx, past traumas, past hospitalizations, symptoms, how we were feeling.If we were caught speaking about these things we would get into trouble and have a "positive Correction" which basically meant that at card review, you would have to discuss with staff about what you did wrong and how you can change for the future. Patients who want to discuss should be able to in an appropriate manner I certainly understand how speaking on extremely graphic or non negotiable language should be kept to a minimum but to basically have to sit there and not be allowed to talk and have some form of normal interaction for 3-4 months at a time is not right. We will do it anyway im sure thats not a hard concept to professionals in psychology...its useless rules.If your child is going here for the 2nd time in 1 year or even 2, unless there has been some major update to how children are being "educated" in this facility I have news for you. They have a teacher who will get all the paperwork and homework from the home district and give it to your child and wish them the best of luck and any questions I had were not answered and the teachers I had were clueless. Days in class were spent reading books and having vague discussions that they would count as english credit. In between we would go to RT/OT and lunch. Other than that I spent the remaining 4 ish hours staring at paperwork I either sat in frustration unable to teach myself everything or doodling or just sitting. As stated previously I spent 10 months in this facility in a short amount of time and I was high honors student, smart, etc and I fell so behind that I gave up thinking I was just becoming stupid but truth is I had no education at WNYCPC for 10 months and any of the other placements I was at and thats what is wrong with this system. You place kids in these systems for years and years with staff and doctors who cant just do their job and listen without a big ego getting in the way. A system where parents feel they have no other choice in order to get the child help or to stay safe and they receive little to no education even in 3 months there or 10. There are literally no places in WNY where a child can get sufficient help AND proper education. WNY does not have a good enough system for kids who are in and out of facilities for over 5 years like I was. NYS do better.