Daytop Village

Least therapeutic community!!

I just spent 5months on Swan Lake and don't really have anything positive to say about it. The facility is extremely understaffed, lacks structure and theirs nothing therapeutic to help with recovery here. Daytop lacks care and concern for their clients and is only interested in profits and not their clients best interest because of that some people stay upstate for as long as 15months before rotating.

Let me start out by telling you a little about my self and my experience at Swan Lake Daytop so you know what to expect from this dump. I was up there from Jan-May 2012 during which time they declared Chapter11 bankruptcy, got rid of about a dozen staff members that have been there for years and replaced them with only a couple of less qualified/ experienced councilors to lower salary expenses. When I first got there before the lack of staff there was about 12clients on each councilors case load, (OASIS suggests a maximum of 13) but when I left 5months later there was at least 25clients for each staff (good luck trying to get any kind of individual session or even a chance to talk during group lol). The lack of clinical staff also shows in the lack and inconsistency of all the different groups because there simply isn't enough staff and even the director and assistant director were forced by OASIS to take on caseloads of their own.

The facility consist of several buildings scattered over a few acres of property . There are 3 separate buildings for dorms, a gym, main facility and a warehouse. The dorms are defiantly pretty old and aren't in the best shape (need painting, holes in walls, broken lights and doors) plus have dry electric heat and run out of hot water. The gym is very primitive and is definitely not the multi million dollar gym that people claimed it to be but has the basics for weight training but no tread mills or card equipment.

The food sucked and was the worst that I have seen in a program like this. It might have been due to the financial situation of Daytop but there were several occasions where the food delivery didn't come and staff would go to the supermarket because there would be nothing to eat. The entire time I was there they always claimed to be having a food shortage. There was also a similar problem with linens and a lack of clean sheets.

Another issue I have with Swan Lake Daytop is the fact that their Director by the name James Rizzo was just recently a client only 3 years back. He went through the staff internship program and became a counselor. Due to all the budget cuts and lay offs he managed to slip in to the top spot at the facility but clearly lacks knowledge, experience or education for the position, in which his predecessor was for over a decade. The assistant director Sarah Etter is also new to the field and it shows in her inability to run encounter groups or make proper clinical decisions without letting her feeling get involved or favoritism.

If you are looking for help and trying to get your life back on track I would not recommend this place. Majority of the people there are court mandated and aren't looking for help but just trying to beet a bid. They insist on lengthy stays of 6months or more but most days are a waste of time consisting of boredom, free time, TV, card/board games and not groups, seminars or therapeutic functions from which you could benefit and learn something. There is a great deal of jail house mentality due to the fact of most clients criminal backgrounds and the environment didn't exactly feel safe as it should. I witnessed several fist fights and verbal altercations occur on a daily basis and usually theirs no one to stop or break them up due to the lack of staff. There was also a major problem with sneak thieving and steeling things from peoples rooms when every one is up at the main facility during the day.