I am now a completely financially + emotionally independent adult, living on my own with a job and going to school in California. When I was in Pennsylvania over the summer of 2025, I found myself in a really awful position just shy of 18. My parents were not people I relied on as a teenager, so I looked up the laws of PA and self-consenting minors in the therapy space. I knew at 17, I could legally check myself in with little interference nor connections to my parents (for personal reasons, they knew I was doing this program. we did not have a good relationship.) I did so, and over the phone the staff was WONDERFUL. They were very understanding and welcoming to me, but also respected me and my position. I went in for an evaluation, loved the partial hospitalization program and counselors + team, signed the papers (and got my mother to sign the medication ones). I was due to start next morning. I was also driving myself 1 1/2 hours there and 1 1/2 hours back, with my own gas money from my savings. When I walked through the door and past the checkpoint, the entire atmosphere completely changed. I personally was spoken to nicely by one of the women counselors (who took a role as a "teacher". I'll explain more later.), and she did seem to have a softer spot for those of us (the patients in the program, all whom of which were younger than me ranging from 10-16.) who were less "difficult", but when she spoke to other children it was very nasty. The man who was a counselor was worse. As I sat there listening to the "DBT groups" and "Processing Skills" lectures, he made very poor jokes/threats about the CHILDREN's self-harm to them. I remember him saying something along the lines of "You don't have a reason for cutting yourself when there are children in Africa dying. You have food, you have water, etc." He said this in a way that made my skin crawl, completely diminishing the personal experiences of many of us in that room. And that wasn't the only thing either, I just have a hard time remembering my full experience. The substance of the DBT/CBT skills and such are not good material on top of that, and the staff is clearly not trained for the mental experiences of minors the facility advertises. My own personal negative experiences happened with the overseer of the program and the man teacher/counselor. While checking myself in and asking questions, I spoke to whoever the head of the department was. I believed her name started with an A. She was very kind to me over the phone. I told them that I struggled with gender dysphoria at my evaluation, and that I used a different name than my legal name. They said it was not a problem at all. I want to continue the rest of this story by saying, I have always been a very respectful kid, even now as a young-adult. I have always been capable and independent, and have always kept myself afloat. I have not had a good life (but things have recently changed for the better :)) and if you're reading this and the fact that I am transgender makes you discredit everything else I am saying, that is not my intention and I hope you reconsider this view. I just am sick of children being taken advantage of by the system and treated poorly. I saw a boy be scolded while I was there, and it hurt my heart. He needed help, not a daycare ran by people who do NOT care about your children. But, returning to my story. The second day I was there, I was bombarded with appointments. I was IMMEDIATELY put on a medium-high dose of Prozac, which I had expressed that I had already tried before and talked with my mom about doing a different plan, since she was in with the medications. The psychiatrist was very quick to respond to everything I said and didn't think things through, and made me feel like I was being listened to despite her not actually at all. I left feeling uneasy. While I was awaiting my first counseling appointment, I was brought into a room by my counselor (the man teacher/counselor). He sat me down and explained that since my parents didn't know that I was going by my preferred name, they NEEDED to let them know since the name was being used on my medical records. I asked if they could just use my legal name on records, and they came up with an excuse to tell me no. Which is what you're supposed to do. Apart from that completely severing the trust (which is needed in a patient/professional relationship.), it also was illegal. I had a right to confidentiality in the state of PA since I signed myself up for that, at the ripe age of 17 and 9 months. I felt cornered, I asked to speak to another person. Someone higher up, but still below the head of the program, came in. He was nicer about the situation, but I asked them if the door was open for me to leave if I signed myself up. They said yes, and then I stood up to get my things. I had my own transportation, so it was not worth my time. When I threatened to leave, that was the ONLY time they tried to work with me. Eventually, they sett read more

Wellspan Philhaven - P2 of the review - Counseling & Mental Health Near Me - York, Pennsylvania