The Ashburn Clinic

Reviews

1. J C ★☆☆☆☆

   I have been an in patient twice at Ashburn. The first time I was too acutely suicidal and should not have been admitted to a place such as Ashburn. I was traumatised by the experience. It was not, is not, equipped to deal with patients who are acutely unwell. The pre admission process is lacking and I do not think referrers know what they are referring their patients to. I do not think ACC or DHB's really understand what happens within the walls of Ashburn. If they did they would stop sending patients there. I left Ashburn before I got to a point where I was institutionalised and completely worn down by the culture, environment and bullying. Unfortunately I decided to give it a second go. Thinking that by having an understanding of the place that going back wouldn't be as hard. That I could focus on me and my treatment and find stability within myself. This didn't happen. I learnt how to shut down. To freeze for hours at a time. To force myself to disassociate while in meetings or groups. To block out the noise and chaos around me. The things that staff do not see. The things they do see and misrepresent. The epic misunderstandings and gaslighting and just plain bullying. Under the guise of 'reality confrontation.'  This is a place where broken people go. And they are bullied into submission. Watching new admissions come in, and have opinions about what was going on around them. And then watching them discharge early or shrink back and stop speaking up. It was painful. I left Ashburn again. Disappointed I couldn't get better there. Knowing if I stayed I would become even more unwell. Stuck, like many patients become. Ashburn has damaged me more than I was before. Added more trauma. Left me with situations and events I need to work through. Incomprehensible situations I found myself in. With disturbing insight into what I can do to myself. And an unwanted knowledge of how much others will manipulate those around them. I believe the Therapeutic Community model of treatment could work. It is not currently working at Ashburn. Some of the staff are amazing. Some are jaded, inexperienced and need a change of scene. Their condescending comments do more damage than they know. Their lack of insight is disturbing. Ashburn could be a place of healing and growth. But the few patients that get all the time run the place. Other patients are too scared, intimidated or overwhelmed to speak up. And if they do there is no back up or support from staff. The bullying amongst patients is insidious and constant. Sometimes staff initiate or encourage it. If you are a quieter patient you will slip into the background until you say you want to discharge. Then, suddenly you will be back on the radar and they will want you to stay. The patients that leave early are the ones with the potential to make Ashburn therapeutic. A lot who stay enjoy living expense free and being able to spend their benefit on whatever they desire. There is a massive gap in education. There is so much possibility to teach patients life skills and educate them about trauma and how to be in the world. The unit based activity space was intended for this. Lack of planning and general lack of interest make this time unbearable. It could be so valuable. Ashburn has potential to do so much good for people who have been through so much. Instead it is causing harm.

   almost 5 months ago
2. Elle Turner ★☆☆☆☆

   I was positioned beside a woman who would regularly attempt to take her own life. Most nights I could not sleep because the nurses would only check half hourly I would stay glued to the wall and check in on this suicidal woman. One night she sprayed blood all over the bathroom walls during an attempt. After six nights of not sleeping due staying awake due to the woman beside me. I broke. I slammed the door to my room. The nurse on staff yelled at me for slamming the door. Also early on in my stay I witnessed a trafficking victim being forced outside of her comfort zone. She was dragged to a beach outing even though she attempted to say she didn’t want to go. The girl wrapped herself in a blanket and totally shut down for hours. She was shivering and crying. What did the Ashburn staff do? They put tables around her and sat down to enjoy their lunch. The poor young girl (I’m not sure of her age but she can’t have been more than 20) was then forced to explain her experience the next day. Self harming is a regular at Ashburn. Bulimia rampant. I spent 3k a week to stay at this place. I would have preferred a shotgun to the mouth. Unless if it’s outside of your own autonomy DO NOT GO HERE!

   almost 6 months ago
3. Amber Dawson ★☆☆☆☆

   It's hard to review Ashburn, which has many terrible aspects & a few good ones. The 2nd half of the review will be in photos Some staff are great & care about patients, especially a few nursing staff, a HCA & the psychotherapists. However, if you go to AB you will be met with a toxic enviro with many unwell patients, many competing to be the sickest. This results in patients acting out at every chance, draining the VERY limited staff & traumatis1ng other patients. Personally, I ended up with months of PTSD from a patients behaviour. These were NOT uncommon acts, it happened on average 1-4 times a week. We had countless pol1ce, search dogs, as well as a police negotiation team, countless fire brigades due to patients barricading doors trying to 3nd themselves on the other side, as well as patients climbing on the roof threatening to jum-p. There were countless ambulances. We had staff quit because they were so traumat1sed over what they had to deal with. I believe this is AB's fault. They take in patients who are very acute into a non-acute facility. AB also only has medical doctors on site 2x a week, yet they take in patients with predominant eating disorders who almost always get worse (no supported meals, if you don’t get your meals no one makes you, & binge/purg1ng occurs without staff intervention. Other patients will bring it up in large meetings of 25+ people & some will be angry as it’s triggering them, but this rarely stops the behaviours). Most get very medically unwell, beyond what AB is capable of dealing with, & then are sent home to hospitals, etc. I strongly do not believe AB has the skills to deal with ED patients. I know maybe 2 people (over 2 years) who actually improved. AB notoriously (as many have pointed out) has blatant favourites. One patient will be discharged for something whereas a favourite will get away with near anything, usually severely traumatising other patients simultaneously. They can literally stay on for years engaging in behaviours due to their fav status. I never saw these patients ever do well, partly because they were so attached to the sickness identity. This favouritism game creates a toxic enviro & resentment, but staff gaslight patients who bring it up. I did see some patients (usually in the addict1on program) do well. These were those who tended to be less complex or chronically unwell. They managed to stay removed or less affected by the toxic enviro. They were also there for much shorter durations. It was certainly a thing that a zero time limit meant many other patients just lived at AB, not improving, & just using it as a way to avoid the real world I can only speak for 2 psychiatrists. One broke profess1onal boundaries when they stopped working at AB with a favourite, staying involved in their care & making sure they weren’t discharged despite their behaviour & lack of progress indicating discharge was well warranted (overheard this myself from the psychiatrist). The other was again one who favourited patients & seemed to have a complete inability to tell when someone was not going to do well at AB. The patients were almost always right in gauging how a patient would do, but this psychiatrist seemed to have no clue. They weren’t rude to patients at all, but they were admitting acute patients under some delus1on they would become non acute once they got to AB. The psychotherapists were amazing they really cared & tried hard to help patients. There was only one who seemed to break this trend. This is what I’d say is the best thing about AB. However, people considering AB have to weigh up whether being traumat1sed by AB in other ways is worth seeing a therapist there, or if you’re better off getting one in the community. There's about 3 meetings a day ranging from about 15 to 55 patients/staff. These often were a waste of time, mundane stuff like where to place a painting could be discussed for half an hour. Self-harming was so common it was just accepted as normal & rarely brought up unless it was serious...

   almost 9 months ago

1. emma duffy ★☆☆☆☆

   Avoid this place at all costs. I was sold Ashburn in a last ditched effort to improve my mental health. While my psychiatrist was amazing (Thanks Ben!) everyone else (staff and the majority of patients) were horrendous and just added to my trauma. I was chronically suicidal as a result of trauma and was told that Ashburn would be a safe environment to work on this. My approved goals were to reduce suicidal behaviour. Despite not having a personality disorder, I was treated as though I did, like I was a naughty attention seeking child. In reality I had OCD (this will become relevant later). Psychodynamic psychotherapy as a stand alone modality was not at all appropriate for my issues and this was reflected in the unprofessional approach taken by my therapist when I struggled with the modality. Despite being years clean from NSSI and an eating disorder, the Ashburn environment quickly triggered these behaviours. When I tried to get help with this, staff and other patients used this to ostracise me (adding to my trauma and shame). As I mentioned, I have OCD that has a suicide theme (leading to awful suicidal thoughts). When I tried to mention these thoughts in a group setting (as we are told to do), I was hounded by other patients and made to feel guilty for my THOUGHTS (and my attempt to not act on them). I was called selfish and one patient in particular told me multiple times a day over a period of weeks that I should go kill myself. I spoke with a staff member about which group would be appropriate to address it in, and I cried on the phone to my family about it. Some other patients twisted this into me talking and joking to other patients about my issues with this patient (which I never did). Staff and many patients began attacking me and defended her, making me feel even more unsafe. Nothing was done to stop her words. TELLING SOMEONE WITH suicideOCD TO GO AND KILL THEMSELVES (with methods) MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY?? On what planet is that therapeutic. Anywhere else and that would be dealt with by police. Because it’s a crime. It was no surprise when I began obsessing again and ended up trying to act. Eventually (in the space of a couple of days) Police were not keen to take me back to Ashburn (given its reputation in the community). They wanted to take me to ED for a psych assessment (as I was incredibly unwell) but Ashburn staff said that if I was taken back to them, they would get the duty psychiatrist to see me- so police agreed. Only when I got back and police had left (assuming I would be looked after) those two staff members decided that the psychiatrist would not see me. So I had zero support. And then I was forcefully discharged from Ashburn (I was not told about this until my family were minutes away from collecting me, I had less than an hour to pack my room). Ashburn just added more trauma. I am only alive now because of hard work I have done IN SPITE of Ashburn. I am only well because I now have a correct diagnosis (never a personality issue) and actually evidence based treatment for that. Ashburn is a wild place. Staff clearly have favourites. Some people are able to self harm and attempt suicide as they please, get all of the medical treatment, be on 1-1 support. They can be like that for years. They can bully others. Yet the people who really want the help get treated like absolute dirt. I am not the only person with a story like this and I hope others are brave enough to share the horrors. Thanks for not getting back to me when I emailed about the ATOM- guess you don’t want hear how rubbish you are.

   almost 11 months ago
2. Liam Sime ★☆☆☆☆

   There is no support in place here. Staff aren't qualified with mental health issues. You can be seen crying and having a break down in your room and they will just shut the door. Staff here are disrespectful, rude, aggressive, controlling, bossy, and confronting. There are 2 main nurses here which I have huge issues with. Both are not understanding of mental health at all. If you feel suicidal, homesick, overwhelmed, anxious, they will pressure you until you get up and they will throw a " Well, this is apart of your treatment " Treatment being a 40 person group talking about farewells, moving houses, who's absent and more. Smaller groups are very toxic, staff and patients bashing other patients. There are some very kind staff here. Unfortunately the majority don't care about you. The ones I have issues with need to be fired. For this reason, I am leaving this nightmare, Ward 9C is a much better place than this and more supportive and understanding. If you come here be prepared to be abused emotionally, become suicidal, potentially self harm, cry, break down, anxiety, panic attacks and so on. I ignored the reviews and wanted to see for myself, and I wish I had gone with my gut feeling. Patients are super friendly and welcoming, at least the ones I have had conversations with. Staff make it patients job to support other patients. Which is wrong. Groups are disgusting. Staff and patients bullying others until they break down. Really disgusting. When you do want to leave, you'll find that the staff become nicer so you stay. Just as when you first come. I've been put backwards mentally so far that it's going to take me weeks to recover from this traumatic experience. Patients are lovely, food is apparently good and night staff are kind. Unfortunately the issues I have with these staff members are making this place toxic for me and overwhelming me to the point of becoming suicidal. I can't wait until I finally leave this nightmare. Do yourself a favor and save yourself the trauma and emotional pain by staying away.

   1 year ago
3. Peter Strang ★★★★★

   Attended for teaching purposes. A centre of excellence for treatment of psyhiatric disorders.

   almost 2 years ago

1. Chloe Mannix ★☆☆☆☆

   I don't understand how this place is still legally open and given govt funding. I agree with the other review. I literally felt like I was in one flew over the cuckoo's nest. After leaving here I got some real help. Te Whare Mahana is a treatment facility with a wealth of compassion that literally saved my life. Please do not even consider this 1950s style asylum.

   almost 2 years ago
2. Nicole ★☆☆☆☆

   Do not go here. There is nothing therapeutic about this place. It is old, dirty, with mixed accommodation and archaic treatment models and very little goes on other that constant group meetings , weekly serious suicide attempts and some are successful. This place tries to treat literally everything under the sun including addictions and it is a hot mess of chaos. You will have zero privacy with other patients wading in on your care and what you can do. I liken it to going back 50 years to the movie of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest - seriously. The tax payer or you will be forking out just over 4k a week for the privilege . I think you are better to spend time in the community with therapist, coming here will actually send you backwards. The food is good.

   almost 3 years ago
3. Kate Jensen ★☆☆☆☆

   FYI here is my review of Ashburn Before my son went to Ashburn clinic (AC)  he had a good relationship with two parents who were kind to him and supportive of him. We gladly went to the family therapy sessions as requested. We accepted that we had something to apologise for and did so. Just to be clear we aren’t and never have been what you would call abusive, so I’m talking about very small stuff on the scale. AC seemed to paint us parents as the problem, this was obvious to both of us when we went to the family therapy sessions. When our son moved out of the clinic he wouldn’t give us his address and told both of us that he didn't want contact while he rebuilt his life. We believe that the ‘therapy’ AC provided convinced our son that he needed to separate himself from his parents. Having healthy connections with others is scientifically proven to increase longevity. One of a person’s most fundamental connections is with their parents. In this case, receiving treatment at AC led to our son going from getting on well with his parents to having no connection at all with us. I am very unimpressed with Ashburn clinic.

   almost 3 years ago

1. New Me ★☆☆☆☆

   All good if you're a good sheeple and do exactly what you're told and don't question anything. If you dare go against the grain and do ask opposing questions, or concerns over treatment, prepare to be labeled argumentive, threatening, and you get written up as a trouble maker... If you're in need of immediate available help, don't hold your breath. Nurses and most other staff have no clue about trauma informed care. Some of them don't even know what you're there for. Could work if they were more tolerable, and explained what you'd done wrong and look at how to do it better next time.eg. going to the dairy without asking and signing out and in again. They just straight away admonish you, despite the action and the cause.... The theraputic community is a joke, more of a witch Hunt and narcing session, very unhelpful, possibly harmful...... Don't rock the boat and you'll be a good Ashburn minion.

   almost 3 years ago

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