La Cheim Behavioral Health Services

Emily K. _{on Yelp}

Jun 9th, 2022

Two years ago, heard great things bout this program. I heard it was a truly trustworthy and caring environment. I cannot imagine that has changed. A brilliant, well-educated friend of mine has severe chronic depression. She in many ways seems normal, but the agony she has shared with me (and I have some of it myself!) was touching--and even more so, was her description of  the balm to her illness provided simply by having a community she could count on! I hope that it is receiving the funding it needs. I hope it can serve as a model, and that more like it can crop up. I bless you La Cheim. Thanks for me, my friend, and anyone with "sensitivities".

Jace P. _{on Yelp}

May 4th, 2022

I am currently a graduate student in a counseling program so I came into the La Cheim telehealth PHP program with admittedly high expectations. The initial intake was great - Dr. Beckerman was wonderful, compassionate, and non-stigmatizing. Unfortunately, my experience of the program itself was fairly negative. The groups cover very basic coping skills and are taught in a fairly disorganized manner - for example, reading out from handouts without screen sharing, which made it hard for me to take the info in as a visual learner. I've had a lot of therapy in the past so I wasn't able to learn much from the groups. I know other clients were able to get much more out of the groups than I was and had positive things to say about La Cheim. I was disappointed that the staff of la Cheim is almost all associate therapists, meaning therapists who just got out of grad school and had very little experience. Many were not good at leading groups and one even told someone with depression to "feel better soon." The program's protocols around ppl experiencing suicidality seemed controlling and made me uncomfortable and unsafe expressing how I actually felt. The intake process with my therapist and psychiatrist was very repetitive, meaning I'd answered some of the same questions 4 times by the time I was done - in the initial intake with Dr. Beckerman, in intake forms, with my psychiatrist, and with my individual therapist. I don't understand why they couldn't just read the notes from previous providers. Repeating the information over and over was activating and re-traumatizing. I was assigned a psychiatric nurse practitioner STUDENT as my psychiatrist which I was very unhappy about. I felt he was clinical and uncompassionate in the intake process. I wish I had the chance to opt out of having a student psychiatrist. Both my psychiatrist and my therapist were very vague when I asked them about when they would hospitalize someone, which made me feel unsafe about sharing my suicidal thoughts with them. Overall, it was a pretty stigmatizing experience. I did interact with some clinicians who were helpful including Joan, the peer support specialist, who was wonderful and Ed. I also know that some clients had very positive experiences there and feel it helped them a lot. Another pro is that they accept many types of insurance.

Christy L. _{on Yelp}

Nov 5th, 2021

I have mixed feelings about La Cheim. One thing I'm really grateful for is that they allowed me to attend their program. I had done intakes with all the other programs in the area and they wouldn't take me for one reason or another. La Cheim can be a little loose with some boundaries, which can be good in some ways, but not so great as well. They encourage patients to be friends and do things together outside of program. Some people I met there, one patient in particular, I had very traumatic experiences with. On the bright side, I did end up making a couple of good friends there that I'm still friends with years later. The food isn't very good or healthy and doesn't cater to people with food allergies. La Cheim, like most PHPs and IOPs, have A LOT of DBT and CBT groups. It can get really repetitive. I personally have never found DBT or CBT very helpful. I am glad they do offer a couple of other types of groups. In some ways it really did help me to be there. I felt super welcome and some of the staff would go out of their way to spend extra time with me if I was having an especially hard time. They had a phone line patients could call after hours when they're struggling and need someone to talk to. The structure helped me a lot. It was very helpful to have somewhere to go everyday and be in a supportive environment. Most of the patients I did not care for, a lot of the groups I didn't care for, but it was the structure, a few good staff members and some of the patients that I did like that made it worth it to me. The staff is mixed. Some good, some terrible...Natasha Gintel is the worst. So is just AWFUL! So inappropriate in private and talks about herself  and her personal life a lot. She shares a lot of TMI that is not relevant to anything and not appropriate. Some of what she shares can also be triggering. I'm very shocked that no one has reported her to the licensing board (yet). I'm also surprised any place would hire her. She seemed more like a patient with a lot of issues and not a therapist. As far as groups she runs, she is just so so. Seems bored and uninterested in the material she's sharing and what people are saying. Doesn't give good insight or feedback. David Beckerman is amazing! He's the admissions coordinator. I really wish he could be my individual therapist. He's extremely kind, patient and validating. I would pay good money to be able to have him as a therapist. Frances Raeside is so nice. She's the program director and I haven't had a ton of interactions with her, but each time I have it's been very pleasant. Lorna Hall is a PA there and I adore her. She's fun to talk to, is super easy going, funny and I felt comfortable sharing pretty much anything with her. I don't know how she is with managing medications because I didn't have much experience with that. I was on a medication regimen that I didn't want to mess with. Ed Harris is someone I really enjoyed as a group leader and just having him around in general. He has a great sense of humor, is entertaining, he's kind and has a lot of wisdom. Only downside I can think of is that he lets some group members dominate the groups. Noam Salpeter is an amazing therapist. He helped me get through a lot of hard times and introduced me to a type of therapy that was way more helpful than any DBT or CBT therapy I tried. He's also someone I would pay good money to see as a therapist. Lenore Schuh is a therapist there that I didn't really care for. I felt like she didn't give very good insight or feedback. She also seemed to share a lot of the same materials in group each time. It would have been nice for her to mix it up a little. Antoinette Gaggero is a peer specialist there and is really, really bad. She's so full of herself and I've never once had a positive encounter with her. I've tried, more than once. She's not someone I would look up to, go to for advice or want to talk to when I'm having a hard time. When she was there she kind of dominated the groups, interrupted people and made everything all about her. I just started avoiding her presence at all costs whenever she was around. She is so loud and obnoxious. No matter how far away I went from her, I could still hear her. It was like fingernails on a chalkboard. So I think the program is great for some people and it's not for everyone. I'd consider going again if I found myself in a bad place, although it's likely I would likely look into other programs first that aren't so CBT and DBT focussed. If I could, I would go back just to be able to see Ed, Noam, Dr. Beckerman and Lorna on a regular basis. One thing I would say about La Cheim, compared to other programs I've been to is that I felt relaxed and cared for. It didn't feel super strict or rigid. A lot of the staff really seemed to care a lot more than most programs. I was super sad to leave because I got so comfortable and I felt a sense of community.