Phoenix House Florida - Residential Treatment Program

I will say this place did help me and the girls there (most of them) treat you like family. If I was ever in need of rehab again I would go back here. I like how they had church on Sunday and NA meetings on Wednesdays.

Poor management . Drugs in facility . Too many relapses . No follow up plans . Changing the rules almost every day . Lots of punishment . Prison mentality .

My son attending the Phoenix House in Citra, Florida. This facility is supposed to be a rehab for individuals who are struggling with substance abuse. I went and visited my son during their days where they allowed visitation. I first noticed that nobody ever searched me or my belongings. I would pack a bag with snacks and drinks for the visit and I walked right through. It would be very easy to bring drugs in there and it wouldn't be caught. The day my son was sentenced to Phoenix House, I was told by a probation officer in the courtroom that this facility is full of drugs and she was right.The Director of this facility is Mr. Ivan White. I had spoken to Mr. White and thought the man seemed to really care about his clients and their wellbeing. I was proven wrong! My son was discharged for "breaking the house rules". That's what was stated on the arrest record. It said nothing about drugs being involved and they never found drugs on him. I reached out to Mr. White via email and asked him if my son could be given another chance to prove himself since they had no proof of him being in possession of drugs. I was told by him that he needed to check with his "clinical team". After a few emails to him he finally responded with a "NO" answer that they wouldn't take him back at this time. After that no answer, Mr. White changed his demeanor with me. I was told that I had 90 days to pick up his belongings and that they needed to be picked up during normal business hours and I needed to make arrangements with staff there. I stated in a few emails that I could not be there during their normal business hours as I work full time. After several times emailing him and being ignored, I sent his counselor, Harry, and email hoping to get a response. Harry forwarded the email to Mr. White who thanked Harry and forwarded the email to another woman who was told to reach out to me. This woman never reached out. At this point, after a while of not hearing from anyone and not being able to make arrangements with anyone, I decided to call Mr. White directly. Once he answered the phone and I told him who I was, he started talking fast as if to get me off the phone. I told him that I would be there before noon on Saturday. He quickly told me that I could pick up his belongings 24/7. Not what I was originally told. I also asked him to check my son's belongings for his iPad, headphones and speaker because he's very concerned about his wallet with ID and his electronics. Again, Mr. White spoke very fast and said "let me go check on that for you real quick and I'll call you right back". He never called me back!! We made the hour and a half drive to Phoenix House that Saturday. We were there for close to two hours. Staff were trying to find his belongings. They didn't find anything of my son's. We were told there were two bags in a room with about "100" bags that weren't labeled. I asked if I could look in the bags to see if one of them happened to be his and I was told no because it's an invasion of privacy. Really??? We were extremely upset. A man by the name of Nick took us to his office and said that he would be a contact person for us and he gave us his card. He told us that he would request to see the cameras and would do everything he could for us. After a few text messages back and forth and being told that he's put in the request to see the cameras, I haven't heard from him and it's been a couple of weeks. My son called and spoke to one of his friends and this friend stated that all of his belongings were thrown away. I do believe that as absolutely nothing as been found. I also want to state that this belongings were locked in his locker so I believe that this was staff negligence. The staff told me that Saturday that my son signed a form stating that the facility was not responsible for lost or stolen items. I get that, but that's while my son is there! As soon as my son was escorted out of the building, his belongings were now the RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PHOENIX HOUSE! My son lost everything he had, which wasn't much to begin with!

My girlfriend is in the program and is doing well despite all the issues we have had with this facility. Most of the problem is whatever the rules are in their handbook are not followed by the facility. They seem to make up the rules to fit their needs instead of the patients needs. My girl needs to go to the social security office and the DMV but hasn\'t been there 120 days even though the handbook states they can before they reach 90 days. They also wouldn\'t let her use her phone to even file her taxes even though she should be allowed after 90 days and she\'s been there over that mark. Other than those issues the only other problem is when you try to reach management concerning any issue it just gets ignored. Even by the CEO which is a poor way to run a treatment facility.

Treatment was pretty effective and connectivity was great.