Forest House - Radlett

Ana

Don’t be scared about the other reviews it’s not all bad. I just came out of a 4 month admission here. Most of the staff are lovely people, in all wards you will most definitely get the odd staff member that aren’t really that nice, that’s normal for any ward. Yes, it will be boring a lot of the time if I’m going to be honest but theirs some activities you can do whilst being there. Theirs many groups on throughout the day such as DBT Skills Group, Art Therapy, Problem Solving Group, and more.
Theirs weekly therapy there but if you ever need somebody to talk to just ask.( I know it’s not that easy to just “ask” for help) but there will always be somebody there to talk to you day or night.
Yes it’s pretty restrictive if I’m going to be honest but it’s there for your own safety. Just follow the rules and be respectful as best as you can.
The food isn’t great (no offence 👍) it’s not all horrible but not great.
The therapy team and social work are a great start there for getting better so don’t ever be afraid to open up to any of them.
Anyways that’s all I have to say
Don’t ever be afraid to speak to someone because you are very worthy of living and I am so proud of anyone that reads this. Don't ever give up on life because you have so much to live for ❤️
Thank you Forest House for everything you have done.
And to the people who weren’t nice I hope karma gets you!!😜

user N.

my experience at forest house was horrific, i was sent here for year 11 to get my gcse’s done due to me not being able to go to mainstream school due to mental health. most of the teachers here did not help at all. when me or the other students were having a off day or were clearly upset they didn’t help at all instead made us seem like a inconvenience to their work day. they would often belittle us and make our mental health seem like a joke to them as if we were having a panic attack and struggling to actually come into the building they would come out to our cars and not leave until we go with them into the building which this just made 100 times worse since they honestly had to clue what to do or what we needed when we were feeling like this. if we asked to go home they would tell us we will be fine in an hour and would make us feel like we are just being dramatic or that are mental health isn’t important and we just need to shut up and get on with what we should be doing. if we messaged our parents asking them to pick us up early the heads of forest house would take us into a room and tell us we are just being dramatic and we are fine to stay and we are just being a burden to our parents since they have to come all this way and pick us up which isn’t fair on them. they quite obviously had favourites as in my group the two of us that clearly struggled the most coming in where often singled out and made to feel like a burden to them as the other people where able to come in regularly and they treated them so much differently to how they treated the two of us. if you are thinking about sending your child here i recommend you don’t. this place only made my mental health worse as they only cared about their reputation not our mental healths or how we feel. one time me and two others were expressing how we feel about the school to two other teacher who promised they would keep it to themselves but instead they went and told the two heads and they came in and sent the other student out the class and kept us in there and explained that this isn’t something we should be saying and we should be great full and basically just completely ignored us trying to communicate and instead told us we shouldn’t be acting like this and should keep all this to ourselves and not speak up. they could not care less about us they just used us too feel better about themselves and make them feel like hero’s for helping teens get out of a difficult time, when really all they did was make our mental health so much worse.

personal E.

if youre coming here for the first time and reading up the google reviews (i did too), DONT PANIC!!! the reviews are bad for different reasons (and dont trust Maisie's review cause i was there when she was and her review is definitely NOT how it went down). usually, the people that have good experiences dont leave reviews. im going to be your guide okayy dont worry ill give you my honest opinion. i owe them nothing, so if im saying they're not bad, TRUST ME, and also theyve improved LOADS from the reviews 2 years ago. this is going to be a really long introduction to the place, but it's worth it if you read down because the place is going to feel a lot less scary. if you wont keep reading, at least take it from me that this place is DEFINITELY not as bad as you think it is.

honestly, the place is boring, you cant use your phone in schooltimes, but the staff care and whether you like them kind of determines how good your stay will be. food is either disgusting or pretty decent theres not really a middle ground (sorry wendy), its pretty restrictive, you get really tired of the corridors after a while. you have art and music group therapy as well as skills and problem solving groups. they really like DBT over there, which is a therapy that teaches you to see more than one side of things. its not for everyone, but give it a shot!!! other patients having incidents and lots of alarms is probably going to be unusual and a bit distressing for you but you'll get used to it and manage with time.

ill give you a rundown of the staff, im not gonna say names in case youre reading this like years down the line.

the dieticians are nice (ish) but if youre here for an ed the meal plan is going to annoy you

the social workers are always empathetic and good at their social worky bits, jade is really funny and direct but in a good way

the therapy team listens to you and validates you and teach you pretty useful skills, they're made up of YIPPs (Youth Intensive Psychological Practitioners), art and music and family and occupational therapists, psychologists and trainee psychologists. the YIPPs tend to have pretty regular meetings with everyone, but the other therapists will only engage with you outside of group sessions if its part of your treatment.

the two consultant doctors are okay, like i get the sense that theyre TRYING but also they're not very good at their jobs and you'll find that everyone hates them (most of the girls think dr joffe is a creep because he winks at people but he seems like a silly funny guy if he's not your consultant)

nursing staff are a bit of a hit or miss, some are AAAMAAZING and some suck balls, people's favourites tend to depend on the person. the nurse in charge is going to either be really nice or really strict, night shift staff tend to be stricter.

okayyy moving on, your "ward round" is going to be what decides a lot of your treatment. a lot of people sit through them and dont ask for stuff, but id say, remember what the nurses dont allow you to do throughout the week and ask your consultant in ward round about whether they can approve it and put it in your care plan. it also decides whether you're stuck on the ward or if you get "leave" to go on walks or outings.

overall, this isnt a holiday home by any means, the furniture is glued to the floor, it's going to feel pretty crap being there for a bit, but they ARE going to help you, whether you want them to or not, and i sincerely sincerely hope that they can give you the help you need in your admission. (if you've made it this far, i drew the koi fish in the TV lounge, check it out when you get there!!)

Anastasia

i went there for 2 months when i was 15 and it was amazing despite the bad reviews. i ate good food, they managed my physical disability well and there was an education centre. there were a couple of dishes i didnt like but thats the same for any type of food at home. in the education centre they taught us GCSE subjects even though i didnt take them due to being there along with me being in Lister Hospital beforehand. i was under section 2 and 3 of the mental health act by the way. in our free time, we could go on our phones, go in the yard or watch netflix on the tv. we were only allowed to watch films and shows up to a rating of 12 due to this being an adolescent ward. i understand why we couldnt watch 15 or 18 films to the graphic nature of some shows and films, but i digress. of course, they gave me medication of risperidone and then later on olanzapine (i now take aripiprazole) for my psychosis and it was pretty effective. once i got slightly better they allowed me to go on leave whilst accompanied by a nurse as well as 15 minute checks. i was on 1-to-1 observation beforehand in case i were to harm myself or try to commit suicide, but during my stay i only self-harmed once due to my intrusive thoughts. i luckily didnt self-harm again. after i got released from the psychiatric hospital in may i was referred to camhs and now have weekly sessions with a counsellor. im not exactly sure why my stay was better compared to the others on here. maybe its because of different staff or management but im not exactly sure.

Maisie F.

My mental health became alot worse being in there and they made me feel so much worse , there was this one staff member,Stephen, he tried helping me so much he could tell I was struggling he would help me and come and comfort me when I needed it he was the best staff member there and I will miss him, thank you Stephen for everything ,as for the other staff they were disgusting, unprofessional and disappointing, one of the staff members I won't say names told me way to self harm and told me to self harm multiple different occasions, also I had phoned my mum in tears everyday and she would hear them down the end of the phone shouting at me to shutup while I was having a panic attack, shaking, struggling to breathe, crying my eyes out , thank you so much Stephen for everything, I don't know how else to tell U and show U Stephen how thankful I am , keep up the AMAZING work and effort you put into your job to help others Stephen, thank you so much Stephen (no other staff members

Erin L.

I was there back in January due to being put on a 136 and the room was freezing they hadn’t given me a blanket or pillow they took my hoodie (which had no strings) off me so I was freezing, and they never answer the call button 0/10 would never advise going there

GHOULLUV

Genuinely miserable, made me feel worse as I was sectioned for an attempted suicide. Staff are decent but part of my bedsheet was wet, toilet was disgusting and i had nothing to wipe with , there is a camera pointing at the toilet aswell which is just gross aswell.

Leonie H.

Horrible place. Horrible staff, who love to lie on patients and treat them horribly. Absolutely disgraceful. Even allow patients to s/h but then belittle them and insult them for doing so. Very wicked place full of terrible staff members who clearly don’t care if their patients die. that’s why numerous have died on the ward