Fashion Valley Comprehensive Treatment Center

It feels more like a correctional facility. Extremely antiquated addiction treatment where paying clients are criminalized and dehumanized. Punished for the very thing with which we come in for help. Very little compassion is practiced here. It is a cold, condescending atmosphere where you are given a number and you will never be referred to by your name again. White noise machines are everywhere to keep the animals calm. Clients are held to extremely tight high standards in regards to state requirements, yet the clinic itself performs the bare minimum, if that. Stepping down clients is used as a tool for punishment, not as its intended purpose to prevent/minimize diversion of medication. The clinic draws more funds for daily dosing, which explains why so few receive take home medication. Punitive actions are incentivized and make for borderline predatory practices. If you read SAMSHA guidelines and CA code of regulations title 9, you will see the requirements are much more realistic and lenient than what is practiced by this clinic. The rhetoric used by the staff portrays patients as untrustworthy and morally depraved, which conveniently justifies the punitive practices. Also, COVID take home medication requirement exceptions were extended into 2024, so if this clinic really cares about our health, why did they end it almost 2 years early, forcing us to wait everyday in overcrowded waiting rooms, unnecessarily exposing us to a deadly disease? The bottom line is they don’t care about our well being. Ever increasing profits are the focus and resisting the inevitable move from clinics like these, towards a more self regulated methadone program that can be facilitated by the corner store pharmacy. Very sad and disturbing that healthcare like this still exists. Step into the 21st century. Stop treating addiction as a moral shortcoming. Thankfully these methadone clinics’ days are numbered. The US is waking up to the fact that they are unnecessary and frankly blocking access to life saving drugs while profiting off of our misery. Good riddance.

I first arrived at fashion valley comprehensive treatment center somewhere in mid 2018. Checked myself in for a heroin problem. Was medicated at 100mg of methadone. Luckily I had Med-ical cover my costs so nothing was out of pocket. Plus I got free rides to and from the clinic.The clinic itself is typical. What you would expect from a bureaucratic agency. Lots and lots of red tape protocols. But I knew that going in because I'm no dummy. That being said dealing with the injustice is bothersome and often times leaves you mentally drained. My mindset was I got myself into this mess; and these are the consequences for my actions. I don't trust anyone; especially a bureaucratic agency run by psychopaths. I knew this whole experience was going to be hell. And it was. In essence I was mentally prepared to go to battle. If you have take home medication you must take the medication that's labeled for that specific day. Otherwise when the clinic would call you at a random time for a bottle check inspection you would fail. For instance if you took Wednesday's medication on Tuesday or vise versa you would fail. Usually resulting in losing take home privileges. When your sick and have bad eye sight you just grab a bottle in the morning and drink it. The medication is all the same. So in theory it shouldn't matter. All the bottles contain the same amount of methadone. If you miss a counselor appointment the next time you dose you can't receive medication until you talk with a counselor. Imagine being sick waiting hours to see a counselor. Having to call off work. Obviously those are the rules and people must take personal responsibility. Which I did. And I accepted the consequences. But that being said the rules are to rigid; the rules don't really help drug addicts; it almost encourages them to say f it I'm gonna go back to using; screw this. Like setting them up to eventually fail. When I left the clinic after dosing you weren't allowed to wait on the sidewalk or outside the building for your ride to pick you up. The methadone clinic views the patients as a disease; and wants nothing to do with them once they leave the facility. We were considered an eye sore to the surrounding businesses. I understand though. It's just the reality. We were drug addicts loitering around; not a good look. But at least we were making a serious effort to get our lives back together so that we could be a contributing member of society. That has to mean something and certainly doesn't warrant being treated like a cockroach. Where's the compassion? Where's the love? Unless you've walked a mile in someone's shoes it's wise to not judge them based off the little information you have to go off of. But I was content with being judged. We as people are being judged 24/7. I'm used to it. I chose to not be offended. As everything in life is a choice. Being on methadone and all that it entails is a series grind. Hellish. I tapered down to 0mg. From start to finish it took roughly three years. Mid 2018- November of 2021. My brain has been rewired. I trained myself to appreciate the little things in life; such as dirt, rocks, trees, waterfalls, weeds. I shifted my mind. I've grown tremendously over the years; especially while taking methadone; I used that time to work. I walked dogs for a living. Very therapeutic. I used that time to research and study the truth about reality. Working, studying, and nature was my life for the entire duration of the methadone program. I did not relapse once. Of course once you get off methadone you need to further work on repairing your brains reward system as you've been doped up on methadone for years. I've been off the medication for just about three years. No relapses. No urge to use anything. I can drink socially without any fear of relapse. I changed my brain's reward system. I changed the way I perceive life. The only vise I have is tobacco. It's something I enjoy in moderation. Back playing poker professionally. At 21 I had 100k. Had zero dollars when I entered the clinic. I'm 31 and have 100k again. Kinda sad but proud

So far so good nothing to complaint about but by the looks of things there's gonna be problems dozing cause there's only two nurses and hundred clients ,you do the math