30 years of age now. Wow! It has been a blink of an eye! Time flies. The staff back in 04, 09 were above and beyond. I don't regret being there. I have learned so much about myself fundimentally. I learned how to express myself, open up towards people... Ain't nobody a mind reader on this planet! Lastly, who knew that Following Instructions are the basic skills yet a small portion to fulfill and persevere in life? 100 points,YES! That's the key! I am alive and well! Heeeay! I Iearned from my mistakes. I WILL not forget were I came from!

There’s a senior staff member there named Geoffrey and he body slammed one of your kids. There were witnesses and there are cameras. You all should be outraged. They fire good staff that actually try to take care of and stand up for your kids, while promoting savages that play by renegade rules and hurt your kids. It’s your choice but I wouldn’t take my kids there. Don’t trust them!

i was a patient here as a teen......it was torture/abuse......the man below (Michael Ehrenfeld) and other staff (Jen cologne, Theresa colandra, yasmin gordon, pegay, Charlene Beverly, Barbara, Jeff, Sue veniziano, kurt, Ronald, ram, mr. Green, Cisco...) and nurses (jean maroney, Melissa d'Agostino, Ashley, Sue valentine, Lisa Archer...) and teachers (matsunaye, kesner, cinadre...) and admin (Cathy Stein, Irene Sheppard, Darren, grayson Wallace...) were power hungry and heartless and terrible people......this is the end of the tunnel in psych (bc u cant get transferred no where else) so they say and do whatever and get away with it ALL......if u are a physical bad patient then u will get treated (with loads of meds and butt needles) but if u have a broken heart and hurt emotions then the strong people (like Michael Ehrenfeld below and nurses) will abuse u over and over and take away ur dignity and desire to live and stop u to feel good abt urself or life.....meds aren't the way...being humane is and that is not how it is there bc its a power stunt by the staff and nurses and teachers and admin......uneducated high school graduates are suppose to help the saddest and broken hardest kids??

I was in Sagamore 3 times as a kid in the 90s. First time I tried killing myself at age 9. Think of that age 9 no child should be thinking about doing that. I also went at age 11 and 15.I was on C unit and G unit. I had a really rough childhood and really bad parents. This place helped me get through some tough times and I realize now I had a lot of misplaced anger. They def did go heavy on the meds lol. The staff for the most part was great. Jeannie, Nick, Mike, Sue, Frank and George from activities are some of the people there that treated me with respect and seemed to care. I am 41 now with a business and a family of my own and I try and give my family and my 3 children something I never had!!

After reading some of the reviews on here, and after recently retiring from 36 years of psych, and 25 years at Sagamore children’s psych center, I felt compelled to respond to one of the reviews. I saw a “review”, written by a Ro Reid. If I remember correctly, this was a new hire that was fired while still trying to complete probation in her new position. Mind you, fired from service when there was a drastic staff shortage…….and the bar for passing probation, in all honesty, was at an all time “low”. Just to give context. Anyway, looking back, I find it entertaining, to say the least, that this individual is making assumptions about a present seasoned employee, about a supposed incident (and by incident, anyone who has ever truly worked hands on psych can tell you, there are, and have been some times 15 “incidents” in a day, on an average day). If memory serves, I remember Ro Reid conveniently “ducking” out of potential unfortunate, physical situations on the unit on a consistent basis, which more than likely was a contributing factor in her subsequent termination. It’s funny tho. And curious. The fact that someone, who had been so insignificant, due to job performance as a “trainee”, and terminated quite a while ago, was still somehow privy to recent type false accusations of a present employee and/or incidents. I don’t know about anyone else…….but I find that worthy of an inquiry regardless . Just sayin. In closing, because I was witness to certain things, especially from “Ro Reid”, nastily telling a patient “NO!!”, who was very sweetly asking staff for a second cereal at breakfast, is more suspect than any staff member having to get physical with a patient in an unfortunate incident. “ABUSE”, comes in ALL shapes and sizes……………………..now, doesn’t it???

In 2023, the hospital reopened for children in grades 3 and 4. I can't tell you how much my daughter's behavior has improved! There are 4 kids in a class. My daughter loved her time at Sagamore. The follow-up care was also the best! This is not the old Sagamore. This is a new hospital with top-notch care.

I was here in I want to say 💍 unit (for girls with behavioral problems) I was a run away and stayed here prior to going to the group home. I was 14! My memories aren't bad at all. I was where I needed to be. We earned privileges, I worked briefly at the snack bar. The staff that I can remember were great. Some were not that friendly but as you grew in privilege they loosened up. Janice ran the snack bar xxx tall and beautiful lady. Pete was the counselor everyone crushed on. I am sorry that others had a different experience than I. Maybe because I'm an adult I view things differently. Just wanted to state that my experience some 40 years ago WASN'T horrible.

I was a patient here back when I was 16/17 and my case worker/ therapist sabotaged my discharge and called me crazy. I still think about it to this day. She slept with an underage patient. I was injected with sedatives 3 times bc I was trying to stop a fellow patient bc she was using staples to cut herself. Everyone told me I was delusional for thinking my case worker was sleeping with a patient and delayed my discharge when it was literally true the whole time. I got beat up here and the staff punished me for it and said I started a riot. This place needs to have the better staff stay and the staff that punishes you for nothing should leave. The case workers name was Clarice Thompson and she’s still not in jail. At this point, everyone reading that was in there the same time probably knows who this is and that’s fine. I literally don’t care. There were very few wholesome staff members who did care and I appreciate them and I feel bad bc I think they were definitely over looked. I see Mr mike commented on here and hey!!! He was one of the good ones tho.

This place is the proof that the state government doesn’t care about its residents even with the highest of taxes. I can tell by the reviews. I bet all of the good reviews are botted. New York is a corrupt state with bad services. Let me tell you a personal story. I used to know a person that works here. I believe her name was Lisa Akel. She was an ugly white woman. I was struggling financially and emotionally. I came to her service and it was a dumpster fire: She didn’t care about my troubles and told me if I wasn’t doing good here I can go back to my own country. She was actually that stupid to not understand I was born in the US. How racist can one be? When I complained to the staff, they downplayed the whole situation. It’s like that they believe that Lisa could do no wrong. Is this how they treat Asians, Muslims, Latinos or Black people? This shows that our state government can’t eject bad workers in state-provided services. I hope this place shuts down.

Good, take care and good staff

As a former patient, over 10 years later — if I could have this place shut down I would in a heartbeat. Absolutely horrible treatment of children and teenagers who are already clearly going through enough. These kids need help, not punishment and humiliation and sedation, throwing prescription after prescription and inaccurate diagnoses left and right. Their pockets are clearly lined by pharmaceutical companies, administering meds that hadn’t been approved for children to ingest and blatantly ignoring said childrens’ (and their parents’) concerns that something isn’t right. I still have lifelong physical side effects and PTSD from what I was put through in this hospital. This place is a portal to hell. If you want your children to leave with more issues than they arrive with, by all means, sign your rights away to their incompetent team of doctors and directors. If you love your babies, if you want to advocate for them and see them get the help they need and care they deserve… take them literally anywhere else. Please.

Mr Joe McCarthy and Dr Von Strandtmann at the Waverly office were amazing. Our child has NEVER had as much progress and success as she had while in their care. We moved across the country, but would pay for virtual session if they offered. Our child has said multiple times that he was the best therapist Dr V didn't guess or play guineapig with her meds.

This place has personally been a place that is scary at first and you go there with a mindset that you won’t ever get better but I was at sagamore for a year I have been restrained for self harming fighting and other things. When staff restrain a child it is because there was many situations that have harmed children and staff and I had a problem with it because I was so angry and depressed and I wanted to let it out in a bad way. Yes sometimes staff can be very aggressive but only because some kids are very much capable with hurting people or themselves very bad when I was there on F and E unit it was a little traumatic and triggering. I got discharged from sagamore in December or November of 2020 and now I do feel a lot better and yes your child or u are always gonna get urges or be angry or depressed sagamore is there to try and help u figure out better routes. Now me and my bf are out of sagamore and changing everyday. And Any staff that work on F or E unit expect a call from me and jerson one day thank you for everything 💯

its too bad hell isnt real so these abusive monsters they call staff cant burn in it. unfortunately this is as close as we can get to hell, and the sick freaks making it so will never get to suffer through it

I was in Sagamore a long time ago, 1996. I was abused by staff. They once locked me in a bedroom with a girl they knew didn't like me. As she beat me up, I was begging them to let me out, and all they did was laugh I was hoping they got better over the years, but with a lot of these reviews being similar to my experience, I see it hasn't changed much.

please let my boyfriend out. i miss him so much. I am having withdrawal problems i am going to loose it I will take his place please come collect me from britain so we can do the trade me for him or atleast just give him his phone or let him call me 🙏🙏🙏🙏

I was 15 years old in Sagamore, G unit, I got the help I needed, they were very professional and I appreciate that, now I'm 41 years old, I will never forget the experience.

I remember going there during summer school in 2016. I turned 14 that year, and I admit it was very nostalgic. Miss my old friends, and ashley...

I was at Sagamore most of my formative years. I resided in Unit C, H, and G. I was actually there on many occasions throughout my youth. As a child and preteen I despised the place and, after my final stay there had a massive disdain for many years whenever thoughts of Sagamore conjured up in my minds-eye. Yet in my early thirties I started weekly psychoanalytical sessions and after I resolved the bulk of my childhood and other accumulated trauma I was able to reflect on my time spent at Sagamore. I came to realize that I actually hold very fond memories of the facility, the people I met and spent time with there, and many of the staff that I had direct interpersonal daily contact with. Jeany Lavale, peter Liveronni, Ceaser brooks and Vehlma who ran G Ward, Frank Capparotta who ran activities battled administration for me to join the weight lifting program. So many great staff that I can not actually recall all their names but their faces live on within my minds-eye to this day. I suspect the way the facility runs is probably much different than when I spent my time there but things always change; for better and for worse. I still laugh to this day about myself and the roommate I shared a room with telling a new roommate that had moved in to our three bed room that the reason the staff member Ceaser was "black" was because I and the room mate had evoked the devil and when Ceaser walked in on the summoning the 'devil' burned him when he slapped him. So many other fun and odd memories but one needs not turn a review of their childhood stay at a sanitarium into an epic novel.

My 10 yr old son is currently in the day program and it has been a wonderful placement with excellent support. My son has started to identify his feelings and express his needs. He still has many challenges but I feel they are all being addressed in a supportive environment and he is no longer being faced with trauma from being in a typical school while he is not a typical child!

Sagamore children psychiatric center was the best when I was 11 years old I was a little scared at first but after 18 month at sagamore I felt better great doctor nurses and staff and rec staff I met a lot of people a kids that care about kids and now that I am 24 years old I get to find a job and start working at a real job sagamore is the greatest hospital in the us I love having great staff member care about children thank you sagamore for all your help for making feel better with the hard times good and bad I hope sagamore can stay open for all of the children who needs help with issues with there life

Was a patient in 2019-ish for day treatment when I was about 9. Although the hospital is less abusive now, it still wasn’t a great experience. I was just a suicidal young kid who was self harming constantly and yet we get told that we are crazy. Most of 2019 is a bit of a blur because of how it was a traumatic year for me in general but In the 2 months I spent there I’ve seen kids sedated, restrained, unfairly punished, and isolated. We had no freedom and felt less than human. I know it’s a lot better than in years past, but I just hope no other child has to go through what I or other people with bad experiences went through.

I grew up there way before it was considered a school,I was there in 1971-1974, when there were a lot of autistic and physically disabled gets, I was on f ward, and g ward, back when all the girls were primarily on e ward, I was there was someone from this time that lived see this, my name is david

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