I’ve been to Renfrew in Florida, i was there for 4 months late last year. It is okay, however as other people have said there is a lot of drama. I felt like most of the patients there didn’t actually want recovery and weren’t trying hard, they were rebelling a lot and there were some fights about food and weight. However my therapist was really good and nice and caring, she really helped me a lot, my nutritionist was good as was all the staff there, i felt like the staff were really nice. some of the girls there were a bit mean, as you know anorexics get competitive about weight and how ‘sick you are’, etc, and I felt a lot of competitiveness going on in the clinic. Also my room-mate purged like every night, and she said if I told anyone she would kill herself and it would be all my fault. I didn’t know what to do, I wanted to help her but her threat held me back. We had bathrooms attatched to the rooms so you could purge which she did, I tried talking to her about it but it didn’t change.
Also when I was there this girl who had been there for just over a month, she has gained back to a normal healthy BMI, and as soon as she did she was discharged, she wasn’t even ready to go home, she may have been okay physichally but emotionally she was still in her eating disorder. So yeah, once you reach your target weight, from then on your on your own.
When were you there –> June 16, 2008 to July 31, 2008
Describe the average day –> you wake up and get in line for weights
and vitals, which have to be done from 5:00-7:30 A.M. Then most ppl
got back in bed until breakfast, which is at 8. Group from
9:00-10:15ish and another from about 10:45-11:45. Lunch at 12, more
groups and appointments blahblahblah, dinner at 6, groups (whooo…)
and then you have to go to bed.
What were meals like? –> they worked on an exchange system. there was
three meal plans, A, B, and C, but they were hardly different. B was
just a little more than A and C a little more than B. They give you an
hour for lunch and dinner but most ppl finish before the time is up
and then you just have to get a staff member to check your tray and
then you can throw it out. then people usually fill out their food
journals; we loved to play games at the table while I was there.
What sorts of food were available or served? –> surprisingly good
stuff in my opinion. if you’re a vegetarian you’ll be good here.
breakfast was always cereal or bagels which was kinda boring but for
lunch and dinner they had like portobello mushroom sandwiches and
hummus and stuff. they also had pizza and lots of salads, etc.
Did they supplement? How did that system work? –> yup. a <50%
finished meal was punished with two boost pluses, and >50% you had to
drink one. if you were on a weight gain plan then your nutritionist
might add more boost pluses at supplement times, which were at 10:15
A.M, 2:00, and 8:00 and 10:00 P.M. I think
What priveleges are allowed? –> see the level system. also you can
use the phone if you’re not in a group or session. uh, if your an
adolescent you can have your parents come visit you at night. adults
can too after level 2.
Does it work on a level system? –> yup. you start out on level 1. if
you’re bad, you go down to partial when you have to sit in a room from
8:00 in the morning-9:30 at night unless you have to go to a group and
then someone has to escort you. if you’re even worse, you’ll be on
full. you can’t even leave the room with an escort. if you’re good
though, you can go to level 2 and then you can swim! and level 3 you
can leave campus to go to the beach or the movies or the mall! level 4
which no one gets to i think you can use the internet or order from a
restaurant or whatever.
What sort of groups do they have? –> these gay pointless ones like
emotion regulation and self-esteem and mother-daughter relationships
blah. then there were anorexic and bulimic eating patterns; also
psychodrama and movement. yoga. sexuality. community. after-meal
support. they have special track groups. if your therapist decides you
should go to emotional eating, substance abuse, or survivor tracks,
she’ll send ya there.
What was your favorite group? –> mostly they were all pretty boring.
but psychodrama or the movement therapy probably if I had to choose.
What did you like the most? –> uhh, the food? lol and my therapist
What did you like the least? –> the fact that they made working out
seem like a capital offense
Would you recommend this program? –> maybe for some people. not for me though.
What level of activity or exercise was allowed? –> NOT SHIT!!! this
was the biggest issue I had with Renfrew was there NAZI policy on
exercise. it just so happens that I am a very hyper person by nature
and I have severe ADHD and hate sitting still; I am very active and
energetic. Besides, I don’t have exercise problems nor am I
underweight. But Renfrew didn’t take that into account. They refused
to look at my particular situation and basically punished me for the
most ridiculous things. stretching, sitting too tall in my chair,
fidgeting, lifting my leg…NO! YOUR TRYING TO BURN CALORIES!
seriously? FML
What did people do on weekends? –> uhhh, for me, sit on my ass and
watch TV. If you were on level 3, you could go out on pass, maybe have
lunch group at a restaurant or go to the beach or movies for an
excursion. and then the rest of the time you could sit on your ass and
watch TV.
Do you get to know your weight? –> Some people do but a lot of us
were put on blind weight.
How fast is the weight gain process? –> I didn’t have to gain weight.
But I think that if you do, they like a minimum of +1 lb. per week,
right?
What was the average length of stay? –> 1-3 months
What was the average age range? –> For a long time I was the youngest
person in residential! (I was 15) but then they started having 14 year
olds which I think was the youngest. I would say the bulk of the girls
were college or just-out-of-college aged, maybe 19-24ish. But they
were older women there too.
What kind of aftercare do they provide? Do they help you set up an OP
treatment team? –> they have an aftercare provider who sets up all
your appointments for when you get home.
How many IP beds? How many patients in PHP or IOP? –> when I was
there I think there was about 55 girls most of the time.
Individual therapy was 3x/week, nutrition once/week, psychiatrist once/week. Group therapy is daily and there are usually about 5-6 groups each day, during the week. Therapy sessions are usually 45minutes – 1 hour. Group size depends upon the size of the community…and different people attend different groups so it can range anywhere from 3 or 4 to 35 or more (like in community group where everyone attends).
Examples of meals are like veggie burger with cheese or turkey burger or grilled chicken sandwich, eggplant or chicken parmesan with pasta, beans with cheese and cous cous, meat or tofu stir-fry, taco salad with meat or beans, veggie cheese or grilled chicken pizza, grilled cheese with tomato soup, meat loaf or vegetarian loaf, pasta with beef sauce or TVP sauce, broccoli/cheese quiche or roast beef sandwich, stuffed peppers with rice and beef or TVP, etc. With lunch you will have to a dairy, a fruit, a vegetable, and two fats in addition to an entree (and an additional starch if you are on Menu C). With dinner, you have to have a vegetable, two fats, and a dairy in addition to that (and an extra fruit if you’re on Menu C). Breakfast is always either pancakes or french toast, cereal with toast or a bran or blueberry muffin, a bagel which you can either get a dairy with or get scrambled eggs instead of the dairy. And with breakfast you always need a dairy and a fruit in addition to that, and one fat (two fats if you are on Menu C). All their food is pretty good, I only really disliked a couple of things. If you don’t like something, you can sub out three times a week but only on independent eating.
There is still a trauma track.
Desserts are mandatory. You have to have three a week, or two a week if you’re on Menu A. You can get more desserts if you want by adding them on, or if you’re on independent eating you can use them as a fat as often as you want until the nutritionist yells at you for eating too many desserts (wtf?) If you’re on independent eating, you can choose to have your mandatory two or three desserts any time you want and choose what they can be, but if you’re on trays, you have to have them on certain days and they will be certain things.
If you don’t finish, you have to do a Boost. You have to do two Boosts if you finish under a certain percent, which I think is 50% but I’m not totally sure. I’m not quite sure what happens if you refuse to do a Boost after not finishing a meal…I’m sure the repercussion vary widely depending on if you’ve done it before or have done other things wrong (and probably also, quite honestly, on how much the staff likes you.) I’m sure that the most standard punishment for not finishing a meal and refusing the supplement is dropping you a level.
They say the average weight gain is 1-2 pounds per week, but I gained faster than that at the beginning. Probably depends on your body. And if you are a purger, your body will hang onto a lot of water right after you start eating again and are not purging, so you will probably gain more than 2 lbs the first week you are there.
3 comments
C
May 10, 2013 at 1:55 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Renfrew Florida
When were you there:
2012
What were meals like?
Meals operated on an exchange system, and there were three meal plans: A, B, and C (A was the lowest intake and C was the highest; B is the what most patients were on). Breakfast on meal plan B consists of three exchanges of starch, one of dairy protein, one of fruit and one of fat. Lunch was three starches, three proteins, one dairy protein, one fruit, one vegetable, and two fats. Patients were allowed to substitute two meals a week for either peanut butter and jelly, tuna salad, egg salad, or chicken salad. Twice a week hummus was also available. Desserts were required three times a week.
Average Day:
5:30-7:30am Weights and vitals
8-8:45am Breakfast
9:15-10am Group
11am-12pm Group
12-1pm Lunch
1-2pm After meal group
3-4pm Group
5-6pm Group
6-7pm Dinner
7-8pm Evening Wrap Up
9-9:30pm Cope (optional group)
9:30pm Dayroom closes
What sorts of food were available or served?
Breakfast was the same every week- a croissant on Monday (cheese and butter were the required dairy protein and fat), cereal and toast on Tuesday, french toast or pancakes on Wednesday, cereal and a blueberry muffin on Thursday, bagels on Friday, french toast or pancakes on Saturday, and cereal and a bran muffin on Sunday (as well as dairy protein, fruit, and fat). Some examples of lunches are hamburgers/turkey burgers/garden burgers, salads, wraps, and pizza. Dinner exchanges were the same as lunch exchanges, minus the fruit. Some dinners were chili, baked potatoes, eggplant parmesan, and shepherd’s pie. Menus are on a four-week rotation, however there are certain items that repeat themselves more frequently (shepherd’s pie twice a month and pizza once a week, for example).
Did they supplement? How did that system work?
They supplement using Boost Plus. If you finished anything less than 100% of your meal you had to drink two boosts, and anything less than 50% is one boost. Patients on weight gain were given a boost if they lost a half a pound or more. Patients on weight gain are also often put on supplements in addition to meals.
What privileges are allowed?
There are certain times in the day when patients are allowed to use the phones, which is a given thing you’re allowed to do unless it is otherwise specified (I’ve only seen it happen a couple of times). Visitors are allowed on weekends and holidays for adults (at 2-4pm and 8-9:3-pm, I think) and adolescents are allowed visitors during the evening on weekdays as well. Level one allows pet passes (although I’d been given them on lower levels so this may be inaccurate), level two allows you to sit in the sun and go to the pool, level three allows you on excursion (Sunday afternoons with a staff member) and on pass, as well as the opportunity to sign up for a massage. Level four allowed you use of your cell phone in the building and access to the level four recovery lounge (which I’ve never been in, but apparently it has diet coke and apparently that’s a big deal). Yoga and morning walks for exercise are also a thing but I’m not sure who gets to do that.
Does it work on a level system?
Yes. There are levels 1-4, and three levels below that: bed rest, partial day room, and full day room. On bed rest, patients must stay in bed all day and are taken in a wheel chair to the dining room for meals. Most of the time they are also on therapy restriction (which can also occur on full). Full day room means the patient must stay in the day room all day (from right after breakfast at 8:45 to 9:30pm when the day room closes), must be escorted by staff if leaving the room for any reason, and must attend all groups in the day room with the exception of a couple of groups that they are allowed to attend in other parts of the campus. Partial day room is basically the same as full except you are allowed to go to groups outside the day room, but must still be escorted by staff. Patients on full and partial must also count or otherwise display their voices while using the bathroom. Level one allows you to pretty much walk around the property as you please (within reason, of course), and the privileges for levels 2-4 are explained in the question above.
What sort of groups do they have?
Most were here’s-a-handout-let’s-talk-about-it kind of groups. They’re also pretty big on DBT. Twice a week we had a group called “building a healthy community” in which patients presented Stage Ones (written assignments given as punishment basically but they try to pass it off as it being helpful to you, it’s not) and issues in the community were discussed. There are also what they call tracks: trauma, drugs and alcohol, young adult (under 21) and 30s and beyond. Art groups, for example, are divided into tracks, but there are also things like trauma process and drug and alcohol education and things like that. The tracks also kind of have levels within them- you start out on the first level of the track, and as you make progress they move you up to groups that are a bit more intense within the track.
What was your favorite group?
Art was always fun, community was usually dumb but has the potential to be really entertaining. A woman named Regina came in one day a week to run Anorexic Eating Patterns, which was a favorite for anyone who was in it (because she’s brilliant, not because anorexic eating patterns are particularly interesting).
What did you like the most?
The three staff members who were actually competent.
What did you like the least?
The corrupt way in which the place is managed.
Would you recommend this program?
Absolutely not.
What level of activity or exercise was allowed?
I know there is a minimal amount of exercise allowed, but I never quite got there so I’m not sure of the specifics.
What did people do on weekends?
Weekends were basically the same in structure, but somehow managed to drag on so much slowly than weekdays. The only main difference is that visitors are allowed at 2-4pm and that groups are a bit more light (Team Building is an example).
Do you get to know your weight?
Most people are on blind weights, but rarely there’ll be someone who is allowed to see theirs.
How fast is the weight gain process?
2 pounds a week
What was the average length of stay?
I think most patients stay residential for about 30 days.
What was the average age range?
14 is the youngest they take, and the oldest I’ve seen I think has been early 60s.
What kind of aftercare do they provide? Do they help you set up an OP treatment team?
They have a day program and IOP program which some patients step down to. They have aftercare staff who you meet with once a week (kind of useless but whatever, gets you out of group) who help you find an outpatient therapist, psychiatrist, and dietitian.
How many IP beds? How many patients in PHP or IOP?
40 beds, and I’m not sure what the limit is for PHP and IOP, but I’ve seen each have like 15 patients. IOP don’t really interact much with residential patients and start program after day patients leave.
Sarah
February 22, 2013 at 12:06 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
is renfrew big about putting patients on meds? do they let you stay on the meds you’re on if you say you think they’re working ok or do they try to change it? or does anyone not end up on meds at all?
L
March 17, 2013 at 6:25 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
It was my choice to try to go off meds while I was there due to the medical support I would have, Renfrew did support me in this desicion and by the time I left I was med free. i have to say it made my stay very difficult due to all the withdrawals and side effects, and of course once I left within a couple of months I realized I needed meds mostly to control my anxiety and depression, so while I was on day treatment with Renfrew back home I was put back on meds, again my choice. I do think it depends which psychiatrist you get how much your desicions are supported.