Hillcrest Adolescent Treatment Center - Agoura Hills, California

Nellie G.

Without Hillcrest’s compassionate staff, my daughter would not be with me today. They helped her gain the skills she needed to manage her depression and helped me learn to work with her. We still have rough days, but now we can cope with them when they come. Thank you, Hillcrest!

Darlene

My daughter had been suffering from depression and anxiety for some time and earlier this year it became a serious problem. Thank goodness that she agreed to get help. We did our research online and decided on Hillcrest for her treatment. We had a great tour and discussion when we checked it out and the facility is very nice. She was able to focus on her issues and getting better and healthier too. I could see a real difference when she took control over her care and learned copping mechanisms.

Nicole G.

Hillcrest is a wonderful facility for your teen. They helped me help my son with his behavioral issues stemming from several fears. The people that work there are wonderful and the Counselors and Doctors are great. He has learned effective ways to handle situations without getting upset. They really helped us out, I was out of ideas. I am really thrilled watching his progress. I would recommend Hillcrest for anyone who has a young family member in need of help.

April M.

Our daughter was involved in a car accident and soon after we discovered she had become addicted to the pain medication she had been given. It was such a trying time for the whole family. Hillcrest Treatment Center was such a blessing. They have programs geared directly toward teens and were able to support our daughter through recovery.

A.J. M.

If I could give Hillcrest 5 negative stars, I would, as they have most certainly earned it.

I had a child spend roughly 3 weeks at Hillcrest. Over this time, I found the clinicians to be capable; however, Hillcrest failed on the single most important factor in my opinion for selecting a treatment center, that factor being TRUST.

My child was suffering from depression and suicidal ideation. At intake with Hillcrest, I explained to multiple representatives of Hillcrest multiple times that we had a long-standing, successful relationship with another doctor that I wanted to be integrated into a collaborative process with Hillcrest that would provide for a bilateral exchange of information between the identified Dr. and Hillcrest. I explained to Hillcrest that if this arrangement was not agreed to, we would not be selecting them, but I was reassured multiple times from different people at Hillcrest that this arrangement was suitable, no doubt to get us to engage Hillcrest. We therefore arranged to fly out to Los Angeles to move my child to Hillcrest.

After roughly 2 difficult weeks of trying to get Hillcrest to do what they agreed to do at intake, namely permit the bilateral exchange of information between my doctor and Hillcrest, they never did so. For reasons that I cannot go into here, having this Dr. plugged into the proposed collaborative arrangement was critical to my child’s safety. Hillcrest failed to keep its word to me that was repeatedly given to me at intake. We therefore had to incur the additional expense and aggravation of having to fly out to California a second time and move my son to another facility, Newport Academy, one FAR MORE TRUSTWORTHY than Hillcrest and one that agreed to and implemented the bilateral exchange of information between Newport Academy and my doctor.

Unsurprisingly, one thing Hillcrest was very good at was reaching out to seek payment. Hillcrest was told repeatedly that if the agreed to bilateral exchange of information was not provided, payment similarly would not be provided. Nevertheless, following the early discharge of my child from Hillcrest at my direction (not Hillcrest's), Hillcrest charged my account the full amount for treatment, all this despite the fact that I never executed the credit card authorization form for this charge. I disputed this charge, not because I did not find the clinicians to be capable, but because I found the institution as a whole to be untrustworthy. After disputing the charge, Hillcrest threatened me by stating essentially that should my dispute of the unauthorized charge be granted by my credit card holder, Hillcrest would charge me again at the full undiscounted rate, essentially blackmailing me into accepting services provided by Hillcrest that were not provided in the manner agreed to at intake. So I ended up paying tens of thousands of dollars for services that were not what was promised to me.

Without trust, there can be no meaningful treatment. Hillcrest was completely untrustworthy. Be warned. I wish I had seen a review like this before taking my child to Hillcrest, as I would never have taken my child there had I seen such a review, and had Hillcrest simply kept their word, this review would be unnecessary.

Runitupx

My sister and I were searching for a place for her daughter to get help with her extreme anxiety. It seems that everything makes her worry and not want to spend time with people or outside of the house much. She decided on Hillcrest and I think she made a great decision. The place is beautiful, the staff is great, and the peaceful gardens are lovely. She was able to talk with a trusted Doctor and the group sessions help were a huge help for her too. The concern if she would move past this and live a functional life is fading all of the time. It will be an ongoing work in progress, but she copes so much better now and continues her skill training at home too.

Michelle K.

Hillcrest has a great program! Their therapists are wonderful and have high skill sets and experience. The staff is great. Our daughter was in and out of the hospitals and two other residentials. But only Hillcrest brings back our daughter to where she was before she started her depression and self harm treatment. A BIG shout out for Hillcrest, their staff, and therapists!!

Maryann C.

When my brother’s ODD came to a head last year, my family was at our wits end and it became clear he needed more help than we could provide. All of us did our research and eventually I came across Hillcrest. It seemed like a great place. So far, we’ve all been working with them for about a month and we’re seeing a huge difference in my brother’s behavior.