Utah Valley Clinic Psychiatry and Counseling

Maralee Nielson

Do not recommend Chaz Colton at all for psychiatry. 0/5 stars. Aside from putting in the visit summaries things you didn’t say at all and putting incorrect “statements”. he will just tear you down after trying you’re absolute hardest to heal and feel better and will break any trust. He doesn’t understand what goes through and how individuals with suicidal idealization feel turns out. His nurses don’t show any compassion or care at all.

Anna Thornley

Great counselors and psychiatrists they've changed my life!

Kelly Mecham

No stars, if I could! DO. NOT. SEND. YOUR. CHILD. HERE! My daughter was having thoughts of suicide, which she often does during her period. She enrolled herself with my wife's assistance and our doctor's recommendation. (She is over 18.). My daughter specifically asked if she could leave anytime she wanted. She and my wife were both told yes. The pamphlet for the Psychiatry ward promises rigorous therapy and counseling to help the patient learn to cope and overcome their thoughts of suicide. She was told it most often lasts 2 or 3 days. Here is what happened. The 1st day was rigorous. Many interviews with doctors and professionals trying to assess her situation and help her. They made adjustments to her antidepressants, changing her from Cymbalta to Prozac. My wife and I visited her that night and she felt very positive and hopeful like finally someone was going to help her feel better. On the visiting room wall is a schedule that the patients supposedly follow which includes times for such things as meals, recreation time and something called "Tech Time". This all sounded good. Keep the person's mind busy and engaged, so they are not concentrating on their depression and thinking about suicide. Unfortunately, if was a farce. On day 2, she talked with a doctor (?) for ten minutes the whole day. The rest the day she sat in her dark room (they have to ask permission to open the blinds and her roommate did not want any light) with no TV, etc., and nothing to do. They allow patients to have three books from home, otherwise they have a library there where the patients can check out books. I like reading, but I could not lay around and read for 16 hours. There was no recreation time--it never happened; there was not "Tech Time"--it never happened. They never happened. My daughter started going bonkers from boredom, not her depression. Day 3 was the same. No rigorous therapy/recreation time/Tech Time and very little contact with anyone. The staff keep themselves locked in a room with monitors. They come out to administer pills and other things, but that's about it. You can see them inside laughing and eating. How does that make the patients feel? My wife and I went for a visit in the evening which is restricted to two people for 1-1/2 hours. (I have no problem with that.) We sat down in the common area where my daughter was sitting with other patients coloring like little children. One patient was in her 40s or 50s. That's the extent of the activities my daughter was allowed to engaged in. And, get this: a Pink Floyd music playlist was playing over the intercom system while they colored. It was so loud that I had a hard time hearing my daughter. Some of the songs that I heard were "Sorrow" (very depressing); a song from The Wall (depressing); and Crazy Diamond--a song about an original member of Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, who overdosed and lost his mind. He basically became a walking vegetable. What a great environment for healing and helping someone with mental issues and thoughts of suicide. On day 3 before my wife and I visited, my daughter expressed to a nurse that she wanted to leave. That very day another patient who had actually attempted suicide and had to have her stomach pumped was released after a day and a half. The nurse told my daughter she could not leave until they said she could, and that if necessary, they would take her to court to get an injunction allowing them to keep her there. So much for you can leave whenever you want like she was told. This freaked my daughter out and made her very anxious. (I thought that was something they were trying to alleviate there???) She would not have enrolled herself if she had known that she would be a prisoner. From the point of view of the person who is paying for her stay, I feel ripped off. They did nothing for her but scare the hell out of her ever coming back if she ever has thoughts of suicide again. My recommendation for anyone reading this is go somewhere else. Research different hospitals and facilities and find one that is not a joke. Pink Floyd?? Really??

Jake

Friendly, clean, well organized, and on the ball. This place has been nothing short of greatness for me. The location is convenient and close by. The Doctors, and NP’s know what they are doing. Aaron Jackman NP has been amazing for me. He has been a Psych nurse for a long time then transitioned I to being a. Psychiatrist. He knows the medications forwards and backwards. He is willing to talk about the issues at hand and work WITH YOU on a solution.