Anon
Shoddy Financial Methods
It is a difficult decision to admit yourself or a loved one into residential treatment. There are so many factors to consider. We admitted our 15-year-old to Paradigm in Malibu in May of 2021 and our teenager was discharged in June. I will break my review into three parts: treatment, facility, financial experience. The most difficult part was wondering if Paradigm was capable of helping our child. There were two benefits our child received while at Paradigm; containment from self-harming and getting on the right medicine that has helped. It remains to be determined if another program would have helped in the same way. The therapists that worked with our kid were just ok. The primary therapist was better at talking than listening. Our family therapist was very sweet but not strong enough to manage our teenager. Our teenager benefited from the group therapy at Paradigm. One thing I would like to caution parents about is the whole “troubled teen” industry that Paradigm is a part of. Many of the teens that go through Paradigm do not come home. Many discharge to therapeutic boarding schools or wilderness programs. Sometimes this happens after hours and they come to Paradigm to take unknowing kids away to their next program. This was very traumatic for our child to witness. Indeed, Paradigm very strongly recommended that our teenager go to a therapeutic boarding school. We listened to our instincts, though, and brought our kid home and did a few weeks at PHP. This was six months ago. Our child is happy, back at in-person public school, playing competitive sports, getting excellent grades, spending time with friends, and thriving with individual and group therapy sessions. Next, the property/facilities. I did not personally visit Paradigm since my husband admitted and discharged our child. And he was not allowed into the building due to Covid protocol. Our teenager seemed to be comfortable at the facility, enjoyed many of the activities, and liked the food that was provided. Finally, I would like to address the horrific financial and accounting practices at Paradigm. As if having a child in residential treatment isn’t hard enough, the shoddy financial methods at Paradigm will absolutely bring you to your knees. Paradigm required us to pre-pay for services and insisted they would submit claims to both of our insurance companies. Paradigm promised to refund our money based on insurance reimbursement. Prior to admitting our child, we had read a few reviews complaining about the financial process at Paradigm. When we brought this up before admitting our teenager, the financial manager, Debora Garcia, swore up and down that these complaints had been addressed, there was a new owner of the company, and she “gave us her word” that all financial matters would be above board and dealt with in a timely manner. Let me say, that this was a complete and utter lie. Once Paradigm collected our money, we never heard from them. If we had a question about insurance claims or payments, we would have to call and email a minimum of 3 times to get a response. Most of the times we received a response, it was because we begged, pleaded, and sometimes even threatened in an effort to get them to respond to our calls or emails. Getting our refund has been a miserable process. Paradigm has come up with constant smoke and mirrors as to why they can not provide the correct refund. We have received only a partial refund and are in an ugly disagreement with Paradigm regarding the remainder of the refund that is due. The bottom line: if you are concerned about the money and cost of Paradigm, and I mean A LOT of money, do not choose Paradigm. There are plenty of other residential programs to choose from.