Windsor-Laurelwood Center Info
Amenities
Accessibility
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Wheelchair accessible entrance
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Wheelchair accessible parking lot
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Wheelchair accessible restroom
Amenities
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Restroom
Planning
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Accepts new patients
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Appointments recommended
Best WLM Reviews
I was hospitalized here in February of 2019 and it was a nightmare. They violated my patient rights by not informing my parents (I was a minor at the time) they would forfeit their parental rights when admitting me here. I met with a therapist one-on-one maybe two times while there, and met with the doctor for less than 5 minutes once right before being discharged. They told me if I didn’t participate in group I would get out even longer from then, after I was admitted at 3 in the morning and group started at 7. Staff did not assist with any mental health crisis, such as my roommate having a panic attack. We were forced to help each other and work through these heavy subjects on our own as adolescents. Staff was unsympathetic and unhelpful. One patient screamed she was going to kill everyone and was not even restrained, another patient who was white was found standing over one of the black girls at night telling her she was a n-word, and she faced no action, instead being placed with a different black patient and making that girl fear for her life. This place re-traumatized me and I’ve never forgotten it. Please do not admit yourself or family here. The reviews speak for themselves. And for the staff that is reading this, if you go to reply with a link to “contact you”, don’t even bother. You should all be so ashamed of yourselves. You ruin lives.
There was no therapy or counseling. The only groups were art and music. There was a fist fight between staff members. There was a fist fight between patients. Most of the staff are inattentive. A few were really great. It's like prison except no cell door. You are allowed no personal belongings except clothing that has no strings. Phone calls are allowed during certain times of the day and there are several cigarette breaks. I was there for 6 of the longest days of my life.
This place traumatized my child just by witnessing all of the violence. Some of the staff was nice , some had a chip on their shoulders. The doctor was not well educated on the medication she prescribed my kid and we were advised to immediately take her off when we got home and saw her psychiatrist. I never actually got to meet the doctor or social worker involved in my child’s care and it felt like they were more interested in an insurance quota than actually helping her. Even ‘discharging’ was done by a nurse in the lobby surrounded by people who were now hearing our personal business.
If anything, this was a great example of what NOT to do.
My family has had two experiences here. The first, they overdosed the family member and made him catatonic. The entire experience was traumatizing.
The second, they were transferred without a choice where to go. The clinical care received was COMPLETELY different. The therapies were wonderful and actually cared for the patient. The administration though? Horrendous. First, no communication home. Not even to confirm discharge and safety precautions at home . The best part? The patients phone, wallet, keys, smartwatch all "disappeared" from their "locked and secured" area. There's supposedly an active investigation, but minimal communication as to what's going on. After being told the first day that I would be told daily an update, now it's a different story "I never said that." I was also told the first day that this is not the first time a patients personal belongings have "disappeared." I was also told if they can't find the belongings we would receive a check for the items, but at the rate of the lies who knows if that will happen either.
They knowingly employee a thief.
The food is pretty good and they let you smoke. Those were the main positives. Also, some of the staff are pretty cool: Jordan, Nikki, Jen, Teresa, and a few others. Furthermore, the patients all seemed to look out for each other, share, and were pretty much normally kind to each other, at least while I was there. However, I didn't feel like my psych or social worker were particularly helpful. Also, I didn't get much out of the groups which they make you attend in order to get discharged. In addition, there are night checks every 10 or 15 minutes that wake you up. They open up your door to a super well lit hallway and shine a flashlight on you. The respectful techs then at least close your door back, so if you're lucky you can fall asleep before the next check and hope you don't wake back up. However, some will take a shut door and leave it completely wide open so you get all the hallway light and can't sleep. I even asked one tech if she could please shut my door when she was finished. She lied and said the doors had to stay open at night. I then explained to her that others shut the door back and that if she kept leaving it open, I would get no sleep, to which she replied, "ok." So, she obviously didn't give a care about patient health. I then asked for her name about 5 or 6 times, politely, but more insistent with each request, walking towards her. She just turned and looked at me then smiled and kept walking without giving her name. Her name tag was flipped so I couldn't see. I wanted her name so I could complain to my psych the next day because they want us up during the day, but if I can't get any sleep at night, that's hard. Also, they won't let you smoke if you don't go to groups. So, the last time I asked her, I was standing right in front of her and she attacked me and threw me up against a door and clawed my arm. I have a huge bruise. I struggled in return. Several more workers then pulled me out of her grasp and restrained me physically. They then forced me to get 2 shots to sedate me, even though I had been attacked. It was an outrage. The only saving graces for this situation was that the patient rights advocate did question me and open up an investigation on my behalf 2 days later when I finally awoke from my drug-induced stupor and the incident did not push back my freedom date. Overall, I hope I never have to ever be a patient again.
You have the choice to make this a good experience. Professionals changed my medication slowly and listen to me. They have many services available for people who need mental health help. When the staff sees you trying to help yourself they do more to try to help you. It was clean, professional, structured, helpful and these people actually care.
One star is too many. My teenage daughter spent 4 days here in November 2024 due to Akron Children's Behavioral Health Unit not having any open beds. It was awful. Mental health admissions are not new to us, but this is the first time she sobbed and begged us to take her home. It's the first time I felt my child was not being cared for or in a safe environment.
My first concern about the facility is the extremly restrictive visiting hours - 30 minutes, 3 times a week. Additionally, the visiting hours for the adolescent unit are from 11:15am - 11:45am. I'm not sure how parents are supposed to be involved in their child's treatment and see their child if the only visiting hours offered are in the middle of the work day.
I was also informed the facility does not routinely offer family counseling sessions. Between the restrictive visiting hours, lack of staff response to phone calls and concerns, and no family sessions, it does not seem the facility wants parents to participate in their child's treatment.
During our first visit (very short - about 20 minutes) our daughter told us she was left alone in an intake lobby/room for an hour with a male, adult patient who was talking to her about ODing. When I made a complaint to the treating physician (the only time in 4 days I was able to speak with anyone on her treatment team), it was brushed off because it was another patient and not a staff member. I don't understand why adolescents/children and adults are in the same areas of the facility, especially unsupervised.
After this and having our daughter sob and beg us to pick her up after spending less than 12 hours in this facility, we asked to have her transferred and were told "We don't do that." We then asked to have her discharged so we could take her to a different facility and were again told no. At that point we asked to sign her out so we could get treatment elsewhere and were threatened that CPS would be contacted, they would put a hold on her, and suspend our parental rights. At no point did we express issues or reluctance to having our daughter hospitalized or receiving treatment, we just didn't want her in *this* facility.
Our daughter did not receive any therapy during her four day stay. She also did not receive any schooling. When I asked the social worker about meeting school attendance requirements I was told they don't worry about academics unless the patient is there multiple weeks. My daughter stated they did nothing all day except watch TV and draw, and spend a short amount of time in the gymnasium.
There did not seem to by any safety measures in place. My daughter stated the staff often left the nurses' station unlocked and unattended. Patients were not checked on when left along with curtains, sheets, etc. Additionally, patients were permitted to bring plastic utensils back to the unit from the cafeteria. My daughter was informed by several patients that there was an attempted stabbing the previous week, after a patient kept a plastic fork and attacked her roommate overnight.
During her stay my daughter witnessed staff members tell patients to "Either fight or leave each other alone." She also witnessed a patient tell a staff member she was going to hang herself with one of the bedsheets. The staff member replied "I'd like to see you try" and then proceeded to watch the patient knot a sheet around her neck.
In addition to the complete lack of concern for safety, the staff also did not seem to have any concern for protecting patient privacy. My daughter stated the staff frequently discussed patients, their reasons for admission, and specific medical items within ear shot of other patients. While waiting an hour for my daughter to be discharged to me, I overheard several staff members discuss patients in the main lobby of the building. The conversations included named, treatment programs, discharge plans, etc.
Overall, I would never recommend this facility to anyone. It breaks my heart to think of people who need help and treatment stuck in this place.
There were a few of the staff (mostly the MHS staff and the activities/groups team) that were wonderful the MHS staff often went above and beyond their duties during my stay, I had to wait almost a while week before someone found me scrubs. (I went in on a Sunday evening 4:30 and left ona Saturday afternoon, didn't get requested scrubs until Thursday or Friday thanks to a MHS named Nikki) when I got there I had to wait until Monday morning between 12 am and 1 am to receive a pillow, the first unit I was in was terrible they had me in the unit with high risk people who needed more attention then I needed to put it nicely, I was deprived of an important medication for 2 days because the pharmacy team wanted to review it AFTER demanding that I bring it with me that was the only way they would accept me. There was so many more issues there. I will be filing a grievance with the state agencies soon.
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