Bayside Center for Behavioral Health

Robert Albanese

Absolutely unbelievable experience. Was lied to by their social worker Victoria Votour and psychiatrist Dr. Bhangoo. Upon my son’s discharge which occurred after six Weeks of a Baker act. Details to follow by Sarasota local news agency

Hannah Thielman

I am a therapist in the area and I needed to find emergency services for a client. One of the social workers, Kim, was extremely kind and so helpful. She was attentive to what I was saying and helped me and the client with the process. I feel reassured to send clients there if needed because of this experience.

Sierra Brown

They locked the bathroom in my room because i “used it too much” and refused to tell me what antidepressant I was being put on when I asked I had to practically beg to finally be told the name. I had an adverse reaction to the medication it made my heart pound extremely fast, made me feel nauseous, lightheaded etc. but I lied and said I felt great and let them give it to me for 3 days just so I could leave this horrible place(if they switch your medication you have to stay for another 3 days) it’s also very parent led if you’re a minor…what I mean by that is they decide your treatment based mostly on what your parents say about you or consent to (for example if your parent consents for you to be given medication you will be forced to take it whether you want to or not) and if your parent doesn’t actively fight to get you out on the date you were promised you will be kept well passed it. The group therapists are horrible, one of them talked about the patients behind their backs including me because I didn’t want to share (I have social anxiety and am just a very private person in general)…another one kept trying to force me to share despite me obviously being uncomfortable and not wanting to. Overall this place made my depression worse and I’d rather go to prison then be put back in here

Ruby Brown

Back in June I spent a week on the adolescent unit when my doctor saw my scars. I had a horrible experience mainly with the nurses. When you first get there they covid test you and make you wait in a room by yourself until the results come back…since there was nothing to do and I have adhd I decided to just walk around the room. A few minutes later a nurse comes in giving me an extremely judgmental look and said “we’ve been watching you pace back and forth on the cameras why would you do that”. When I explained that I had adhd she sighed and left. Group therapy is an absolute joke, I rarely participated because I’m a private person and don’t want everyone to know my business .I gave very vague answers when the therapist would ask me things, despite this she would keep questioning me and trying to force me to share. When other patients shared their stories about things like abusive parents she would interrupt and tell them extremely unhelpful things like “try not to think about it” “think positive”. I was put on antidepressants but whenever I asked which antidepressant I was taking they avoided telling me until the second day i was on it. They also guide your treatment on what your parents say not what’s best for you, if you didn’t want to take medication but your parents signed the consent form you would be forced to take it. The nurse I had over the weekend locked my rooms bathroom because I “used it too much”. She also acted like she knew me even though she had been my nurse for just 3 hours, I was crying because my discharge got pushed back for no reason and she said “you need to stop crying if the doctor sees you can’t control your emotions I don’t know what’s going to happen to you”. They also tried to force anxiety on me when I knew for certain I didn’t have it, anytime i got up and walked around they accused me of being anxious or about to have a panic attack even though it’s again part of my adhd. Basically the goal of this place is to force mental illnesses you dont have on you and to delay your discharge as long as they can