UNM Children's Psychiatric Center — Psychiatric hospital in Albuquerque, NM
Address1001 Yale Blvd NE NM, Albuquerque, NM 87106
Phone+1505-272-2890
Websiteunmhealth.org
UNM Children's Psychiatric Center is a psychiatric hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Reviews indicate a mixed patient experience, with some patients reporting life-saving care, kindness, and support from staff, including help with panic attacks and gender-affirming respect. Others describe negative experiences with front desk staff, unprofessionalism, and concerns about patient treatment, including forceful actions by nurses and alleged lying to parents. Some patients found the environment better than other facilities and appreciated privacy measures like no cameras in bedrooms, while others felt staff were young, potentially abusive of power, and triggered patients. Communication barriers for families with disabilities were also noted. The facility offers opportunities for physical touch and socialization, though some found activities boring and seclusion rooms uncomfortable. Some staff are described as kind and caring, while others are perceived as rude, entitled, or gossiping.
Best for
- Adolescents needing psychiatric hospitalization
- Patients seeking supportive staff interactions
- Individuals needing help with panic attacks
| Key services | Psychiatric hospitalization, Inpatient psychiatric care, Panic attack support, Gender-affirming care, Coping skill development |
| Tags | psychiatric hospital, inpatient care, adolescent mental health, albuquerque, new mexico, trauma support, panic attacks, gender affirming, mental health services, child psychiatry |
Reviews on Google3.3 · 30 reviews
This place saved my life. When I was admitted, they were very kind, called me not only by how I look (masculine) but respected my preferred name. There was lots of outside time. The staff were amazing, if needed you could get a hug, and helped me with everything! Just absolute saints. Even when I started my period, they staff were amazing, supplied me with plenty of spare pants + pads, and were absolutely amazing. The night staff I got for about half of my stay was very strict, and I very much appreciated it, as it can get chaotic, but it was just absolutely amazing, they helped me through panic attacks and everything, I just can't express how much they helped me!!! I will always consider this place as a home ❤️
Terrible service. Front desk agents have attitudes and are more concerned with their side conversations than the well being of the patients. Unprofessional and a terrible environment to be sick in.
Worst place for children. Staff here are mostly horrible. For my intake two female nurses tried to take my clothes off forcefully until I screamed(sus) they sedate you if yell or kick a leaf. No real treatment and they lie to the parents. Seen it. Totally traumatizing and don't send your kids here. Only 4 nice ppl out of a hundred I met there.
its not the best but its okay?? i feel like this hospital tends to hire alot of young staff members and they abuse their power. they are super young (19-30) there was a gossip problem with staffs talking and rating how mental these kids are.. which is honestly disgusting, i feel like they should hire people with more patience because what ive seen is they hire whoever wants to work here more experienced people would help. theres just alot of injustice that happens here to the kids more respect would be great. most kids freak out here because the staff are triggering them. i was disgusted by all the injustice here. some of the teens in the cottage are more mature than the own staff.
this place is nicer than others, (presbyterian) and i appreciate that they dont have cameras in the bedrooms for privacy. You can also ask techs for hugs if you would like, this really helped me as one of my coping skills in physical touch and helps from my derealization. I wish we got to go outside more though, and the seclusion room is a bit less comforting than it should be. but overall, it was okay and it helped.
This place does help in the time of crisis. It is not meant for treatments or more than one week. My son was there for 72 hours which has helped for what we needed. The security guard Martin is very rude disrespectful and unprofessional he does not know how and will not be courteous to people's emotions in their time of crisis. He thinks he's an actual police officer and will use his badge to push you around.
Hello i (17, female) went here back in early may 2023. This place helped me a lot but during my time there they made it impossible for my deaf mom to communicate with me because they don't allow phones with screens. my brother went there back in 2019 and they had the exact same issue. i find it odd that they didn't try to fix that as it should be accessible to not only people who cant walk but people with other physical disabilities. my mom cried a lot and she had a hard time sleeping that whole week. The only time we got to socialize it was overshadowed because the therapist wanted to talk. The only time we actually got to genuinely talk was when i went to the dentist with staff who took me there. I met up with my mom and we finally got to speak. I wanted to cry when the appointment was over cause i wanted to see my mom more. I was lucky enough to have extremely kind staff in my cottage but there was times where i heard them say the "R-word" and it was just odd how some of them would have a unprovoked attitude towards us. It seems like thats been a consistent issue here judging off the reviews. It was somewhat easy to adapt to the schedule but i felt like i was dissociating for most of the time because of how boring most of the activities were during my time there. (chess, cards, basketball, etc.) There was this one specific "activity" that i found just unnecessary for me which was turtle time. (sit in your room for like 15 minutes to maybe even an hour.) I didn't speak much to anyone in there and the only times i did it was initiated by the other person. If anything i probably could've used more socialization since it was my first time being around other kids since 2018. I heard they are working on the accessibility aspect and hopefully that is true. This place isnt too bad if you are a quiet person. if you start talking too much they'll start getting angry and threaten to do turtle time which is basically the equivalent of getting along with your sibling then your parents start yelling at you to stop arguing. 3/5 work on actually trying to actively listen to the kids you are taking care of and respect us. (specifically when we aren't arguing but trying to communicate.)
My experience at this place wasnt the worst, nor the best. Some of the staff were rude and entitled, even when i tried to reason with them. I understand there are protocalls, but kids deserve respect as well. But also there were some staff that were really nice, and i wish i couldve seen more of them. They were able to be nice, and do their job. Some staff members triggered me though, because they were rude, and they would always talk over me before i was finished asking a question with respect, and there was another one that would mess with the thermostat because she was the only one in the room that was hot and refused to take her jacket off, and despute what the rest of us said, She still decided to mess with the thermostat. The food is okay, but the cooks have no idea what their doing when it comes to certain allergies. They should let the kid read and see whats in the food. One time i was there, and the chef fed me one of my allergy foods. The only one i had listed so i dont trust them with food, and they would always make some wierd iceberg salad when i could have the sandwich, so i ate the sandwich and no reaction, so they dont know when it comes to allergies. I would prefer to read ingredients myself. In the end, it was okay. Its a place to keep you safe from yourself i guess.
This place taught me coping skills to calm my suicidal thoughts. It really helped. The staffs were very caring and supportive. I really missed my family while being in that place. I thought it was a horrible idea being there at first. But now my suicidal thoughts are over thanks to them and my therapist Destiny W.
I liked this place. When I first arrived, it was the only place I really felt secure and loved in. Not all staff is loving and caring, but I was lucky enough to get staff members who really cared and tried to connect with their patients. I made several friends here which really helped. I enjoyed my stay even though I was cut off connection with the outside world, and even though there wasn't a lot of things to do (due to it being fall season and it gets cold) I still enjoyed the atmosphere and environment. Yesterday marked a year after I was admitted to the hospital. I attempted overdose on pills while in school, I was rushed to the UNM hospital and after taken here. This place really cares, after I was dismissed after being 12 days in there (November 17, 2016-November 29, 2016) I was put into counseling which has had it's advantages and disadvantages. This place cares in my opinion. This is sometimes still considered my home at times...I do wish to return, but I cannot as I signed a contract when I was dismissed..
Location
Also in Albuquerque
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