Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center

Our daughter was a resident at TK in the spring of 2020 during the COVID pandemic. We were very nervous about sending her there due to other reviews and incidents that we read about in the news. We are so happy that we sent her! We had an honest conversation, sharing our concerns, and the staff was very reassuring about measures that have been put into place to protect the residents. The staff is very caring, professional, and knowledgable. They very quickly figured our daughter out and were able to help her do the extremely hard work to make progress with her mental health. They also did a great job of coaching us through the process and answering our questions about how to help her. They were honest with us, even when it meant that we had to change our parenting strategy. You will read reviews from adolescent residents that tell you how much they hate TK, and our daughter would probably say that, too, but from a parent\'s perspective it\'s because they are put into a position where they have to follow the rules and do the hard work. And it\'s HARD emotional work. They aren\'t allowed to disappear. And they don\'t like it. Our daughter really wanted us to bring her home. We\'re so happy that we made her stay until she was ready to come \"through the front door.\" She made huge progress that she wouldn\'t have been able to make through weekly therapy sessions at home. The psychiatrist was also able to tweak her medications to make them work better for her. As for COVID, TK did an amazing job keeping the residents safe. They have strict protocols in place and while we were involved there were no reported cases. We found that to be amazing! Visiting came to a screeching halt after about 3 weeks into our daughter\'s program, but TK set up virtual visits every weekend that worked just fine. It wasn\'t quite the same as being there in person, but it reassured us that all was well. They showed great flexibility by getting new systems in place immediately. The only reason that I didn\'t give TK a 5 star review is because they have work to do on communication with the family. It was really frustrating for us at first because we didn\'t understand the system and couldn\'t figure out how to know what was going on. We had to really push to get our daughter a counselor that she connected with and had to push to get feedback on her progress. Once we kicked and screamed enough things were put into place to help us understand. We absolutely loved the individual counselor and the family counselor. Some recommendations for TK would be to have a better orientation process for parents and regular check in times without the resident in attendance so the parents may freely ask questions. Ultimately, this is what we worked out with our family counselor, but it would have been better if that had been automatic from the beginning. Also, we recommend better continuity of care between the psychiatrist/counselor at TK and the professionals at home. There was no communication between TK and home until we insisted on it. We absolutely recommend TK for adolescent care. We hope to never be in the situation of needing them again, but would definitely send our daughter back without hesitation.

Absolutely terrible ineffective place. It’s a farce

I attended the PHP program only, so this isn't based on the lodge. My counselor was the best counselor I have ever had. The groups were great for processing, but there wasn't too much focus on learning skills, as most people learned skills in residential and knew them when they stepped down to PHP. I went straight to the program, so I did not. I think treatment would have been more effective if they were more emphasized. Along with this, when I came in, someone told me that they will not argue or even debate with insurance about keeping you in the program if insurance does not want to, even if you need to stay. I didn't believe it at all, but after 2 weeks, I was pulled in a room with my counselor and told that it was my last day that day. I understand that it isn't as simple as that, but I went straight back to drinking and binging. I think if I had gotten a solid foundation under my feet there, I would have had a better chance. All women. Most people are between 18 and mid-20s, but there are definitely people of all ages who have many different issues and substances of choice. Most people also are really nice; everyone in the PHP program seems to want to get better, with a couple of exceptions, and it makes for a good community and support environment.

I went to timberline in a desperate attempt to heal myself from the symptoms of ptsd, panic disorder, and bipolar that kept resurfacing and corrupting my life. My mom and I put so much trust and faith into them, and all I can say was that they took complete advantage of our (and many other vulnerable individuals) situation. First of all, the “equine” therapy that was listed on the website and is still listed here has not been a thing for over 2 years. In addition to that, they advertised self defense classes that had also been cut from the budget. Equine therapy would have been neat, but I was really looking forward to empowering myself through self defense. Some of the therapists for groups were wonderful, others were straight up condescending and rude. One woman in particular showed up over 20 minutes late to a process group, and told one of the girls who was asking for advice coping with a trigger from her recent suicide attempt that she “just had to make it a good thing” and frequently talked down to residents in the group. The “behavior health specialists” or BHS on staff were both understaffed and lacked training. I witnessed them walking away from self harm, panic attacks, and saying that “there’s nothing I can do” about a girl having a dissociative flashback. There were medical emergencies that stretched on for HOURS (I really wish I was exaggerating) before action was taken. There was active self harming that went unaddressed. I myself am an ex self harmer, and it was very triggering seeing it go on with nothing being done about it. I hadn’t considered it a real option in years and found myself thinking more and more about it. Most of them were my age or younger, I’m in my mid 20’s, and acted more like camp counselors than support staff. While most were overall good people, they were under equipped to handle the situations that they and the residents were put into. The nurses were kind to me, but I heard many negative things. They were also understaffed as well-one nurse working all day dispensing meds to 30+ women. This may not seem like a lot, but it left lots of women waiting a LONG TIME for medication for panic attacks/pain. They also tried to make a woman with asthma who COULDNT BREATH to walk to the nursing line to get her inhaler. She was also having an allergic reaction to the mold that had infested the lodge. Speaking of the mold, the lodge I was initially placed in had BLACK MOLD growing almost everywhere. The women I lodged with and myself had brought it up almost daily and it took someone going to the ER for them to finally take action. The place was so filthy there was even a full on mushroom growing in one of the rooms. When they finally moved us, they let us know the night before and rushed us to pack everything into boxes and it was very rushed. We spent half of the next day in one of the therapy buildings waiting for the new building to be ready. The whole situation caused a lot of stress. By that time I had already signed my paperwork to get myself out, and in the process of the move they misplaced my wallet. So I flew home with no ID and no money. Overall it was a really disheartening experience. I resigned my job and put my life on hold to try and get better, and I truly feel that this place set me back. These are just the big things, there was lots more that went on. It was my first time in residential treatment, and I never expected it to be a fun time, as healing takes a lot of work and is often harder than the events that happened in the first place... but I never expected that a place would put my personal safety and others on the line.

This is a place for girl/ladies who have eating disorders. That is what they focus on 90% of the time. If you have a drug or alcohol addiction this is not the place for you to go. The food here is served in a cafeteria but is is all processed, high fat, sodium and calories. If you lose any weight here you will be put on restrictions. If you smoke you will get 7 smoke breaks during the day.