We could not be more disappointed in our daughter's treatment at Sierra Tucson in the spring of 2023. A little history, my wife (a licensed therapist) was a client at Sierra Tucson in the early 2000's and gave it glowing reviews as one of the best in the country which was a widely held view (and still erroneously is.)
Our daughter went through the program earlier this year and after hearing about her experience there, (as well as other people in our community who have gone there in the past few years) it is painfully obvious since they were taken over by Acadia Healthcare that the level of care has dropped dramatically.
To be fair, there are staffing shortages all over the country and getting good clinicians has been a challenge in much of healthcare post-pandemic. If Sierra Tucson were a mid-price facility, we'd give them some slack. But mid-priced, they are definitely not. Our daughter's one-month stay was billed at $100,000. For that price point, they should have some of the best services, clinicians and support available. That's what the celebrities you hear about expect when they go there. But, like us, I believe people are enamored with their history of excellence and not seeing Sierra Tucson for who they are today: a mid-level facility that charges premium prices by exploiting its sterling history.
Our daughter was drawn to Sierra Tucson in large part to their use of EMDR treatment. Every day for 30 days, she would ask when the EMDR treatments would commence. And every day one of the overworked and scattered staff would say they're not sure. A couple of days before she was going to be discharged, she asked again, and they said they were so busy and too many people were there for the staff to handle, they weren't sure if she was going to get in. By the last day, they dropped it completely and she left never having done one EMDR session.
In four weeks she saw her counselor precisely four times. Once a week. She requested more sessions but was told her counselor was too busy with so many other patients. She said her days were filled with lectures and handouts in crowded rooms with precious little therapy to enable her healing.
Even on the luxury level, the facility was a mere shadow of what it used to be. We paid for a next-level package of massages and acupuncture but she was only able to access the services a few times since the waiting list was so voluminous.
In closing, if you are considering Sierra Tucson for yourself or a loved one, we'd say do some more research on who they really are now versus what their prior sterling reputation used to be. They are most definitely not that anymore and you could likely do much better at another premium facility. A person only gets up to bat so many times in their healing journey and to have a prime opportunity like this wasted, we feel we need to warn future clients.