Sandstone Care Teen Center at Chesapeake

Leah Marie

There is a blatant lack of communication from the staff. The website lists program scheduling that is not followed-- everything from the types of groups offered, the outings, the amount of time families and their child can communicate and much more. The website says a 20 minute phone call, but it's only 15 minutes. The program director, Adrienne Washington has ZERO follow through. When sharing my concerns with her, I gave the opportunity for her to follow up with my child and she didn't do that or call back to follow up. Instead passing me off to another staff member, only doing so after I attempted to reach out again since she didn't call when she said she would. My child went almost three weeks without working on school work because there was no access to the classes. Since Maryland was on vacation when we arrived, the teacher did not attempt to reach out to my child's school and then our state went on vacation so there was no one to discuss with on our end. It still took 3 more days after that before the school situation was resolved. The welcome email from the program director said we would get regular updates from the primary therapist. I received none. In fact, the only email I received was a follow up to mine when my child said they had a covid outbreak and my child mentioned concerns around the group schedule. I was looking for more information. Instead, a provider called to let me know of the outbreak and I then requested my child's covid test results, which I never received. I never got a phone call from the therapist even after i explained i was looking for more info about groups. Instead she sent me an explanation of the groups they do. It can be hard to communicate in email, hence why I asked for the call. I felt as though I the emails were meant to pacify me so they wouldn't have to call. I've requested records to be sent to another program and that email has never been responded to, nor have the records been sent to me or the program. That was a week ago. I can't even be certain my email was sent to the right place or forwarded along if thay was necessary. It was sent to Adrienne and she has never responded. I heard from my child that kids were getting substances into the program and it was triggering for everyone. Kids had threatened my child but again, when I questioned that with Adrienne, she never followed up. I know my child appreciated their therapist and I am thankful for that. During the last week of stay, there was no individual therapy for my child because their therapist had an emergency and no one else stepped in. Is that because there wasn't anyone else? Maybe there is another reason but I wouldn't know because there is no communication. My perception is this program is not safe. I have no reason to recommend it or to think it is in any way a therapeutic environment for kids. I decided to pull my child early before program completion. With no communication or followup from the director or primary therapist, it was the best option for our family. With everything that happened, and not getting anyone to communicate, a last resort was me reaching out to Heather, who did outlr intake assessment. She had given me her cell and said I could call or text her with anything. I reached out and asked who to speak with about my concerns and again reached out after Adrienne did not response. She assured me Adrienne would be reaching out. Instead. Adrienne asked the other Staff member to connect. When I told Heather what happened, she didn't respond to me. It only further proved to me that my child leaving the program was the right decision. The only bright spot in the program was the family therapist. Our time with her was merely 1 hour a week so for certain, that was not enough to make the stay worth while. I've worked in a customer service role my entire career. From a service recovery perspective, Sandstone doesn't have it. What a shame for the poor kids and families who are unable to get information on their child. Honestly, what a waste of money. If I could give zero stars, I would.

Tonya M

The staff was unprofessional when dealing with the children. My son witnessed staff cursing at them and man handling one of the children. There were also racist remarks made by said staff members. They are also understaffed, which is a huge problem. Some staff members are not qualified to work with adolescents with addiction and behavioral issues. Their actions proved to be a trigger to these children, making them want to use drugs instead of heal. Everything my son witnessed was confirmed by a responsible staff member. That staff member spoke about the decline in proper care they have witnessed during their tenure. Some staff were very nice. My son came home cutting himself, which was something he didn't do prior to entering your program. I'm highly disappointed. Only one staff member asked why I decided to pull my son out 2 weeks in. He was the intake person. When I explained why, he just said ok and that he understood. He also confirmed that they were short staffed. No one else cared that we were leaving the program. Not even the staff at the Colorado office inquired. They do, however, keep sending me sales emails as if we've never used the services before. 😒

Jessica Frey

Sandstone is always a great resource for us to utilize, as a working professional in the mental/behavioral health field. Ryan, with outreach at Sandstone, is very responsive and knowledgeable! We have referred several patients to Sandstone and vice versa.

Cyrus McCall

Often received conflicting information from staff and felt very in the dark about the happenings here. Received false information about activities and felt that therapy was lacking in group and individually. While there were some good staff many were rude and insensitive. Often felt as though I was being continuously disrespected even though I was self admitted and just looking for help. Many staff seemed wholly unprepared for the job they were doing but to the good ones, thank you. Try actually spending time exhausting options with your children before sending them away, and think twice about sending them to sandstone. Also the food was mid.