Winnebago Mental Health Institute

This place sucks
Mar 31st, 2024

This place is awful. I was starved for 14 hours and I was accused of stealing roomates hat! They are heartless and do not care about patients. Patient bill of rights yeah right! LOL Zero stars
Mar 24th, 2024

Was told by a nurse she would violate all my constitutional and personal rights if she wanted to, and so she did. I got dragged to my room (although I wasnt resisting or violent) and then pinned down to my bed, pants pulled down and sedated. This was their response to me asking for help in contacting disability rights/lawyer. Which states in paperwork given upon arrival to ask for help. I swear, I asked in a polite manner. I was then locked in my room under constant supervision. They wouldnt let me go to the bathroom until my time out was over. I remember thinking this was just a bad dream because how is this a facility with actual medical professionals. I talked to another girl about it and she said that occurs often and sometimes patients will have accidents in their room because they arent let out and then get severely punished for being defiant. Later after I was detained the nurse reluctantly sat down and said well Im here now, what do you need thats so important? At this point I knew I wasnt going to be helped. She had the worst attitude. She also disclosed she was listening to my phone conversations and referenced I should listen to my mom, who told me to do whatever I needed to do to get out, which meant shut up. They know what they are doing is illegal and wrong. They do the bare minimum but the maximum in inflicting damage. Its a power trip. Girls in there have bruises on their arms. I left with one as well. - Theres screaming at night. - the phones hardly work, you have to tilt you head just right to not lose connection. - lots of the staff just sit on their phone and have a cant be bothered attitude. - the staff is sicker than the patients, they should be ashamed of their behavior and never be allowed to work in healthcare. Im still shocked, I have my bachelors in psych and learned about places like this - but thought we grew as a society. Ill be doing everything I can to fight against institutions like this in my career. If someone you love is going through a rough period and is not a risk to others take a week off of work - create a consistent schedule, monitor them, feed them consistently at the same time, schedule therapy and psych appointments. Monitor meds. Or search for a HUMANE place that allows phones.
Mar 30th, 2024

Mar 23rd, 2024

Not allowed to fraternize with other inpatients. Not allowed outside for the first 72 hours. Not allowed any sort of entertainment beyond whichever 20-year-old VHS they put on. No cell phone, no privacy. No windows. Not much to do except stare at the cinderblock walls and listen to the constant security alerts on the intercom. Staff was very serious about security, which was reassuring. But for someone there with non-aggressive mental health issues, like I was, the almost prison-like atmosphere is very damaging. I was sent in October 2023 here because nowhere else had space for me. It was the last resort, and it's no mystery why. It served its function but it was a horrible experience. If you can, admit somewhere else.
Mar 20th, 2024