Alsana

I went to Alsana twice in 2019 and 2020.They encouraged my binge eating in the name of HAES and supported my weight gain of over 50 pounds. They told me I would never be able to reach a healthy weight (I have lost all the weight, healthily). They would claim I am eating in a disordered way simply by not letting myself eat whatever I want, but my health is better than it has ever been in my life.I understand some of the strategies they use would be helpful with people with restrictive eating disorders; however, while they were able to help me completely stop all purging behaviors, they truly enabled my bingeing behaviors and it has taken the last few years to deconstruct the things they taught me. It wasn t until I could actually hold myself accountable for bingeing that I was able to heal- and Alsana will not support that.I went into Alsana afraid to eat anything, and I left afraid to eat healthy. It s very all or nothing thinking I am very relieved to do away with.

I attended Alsana for 6 weeks over the course of 2021. I was newly diagnosed EDNOS (though I had been knowingly struggling for years) and would like to note that this was my first time in ED Treatment. I came in with a tremendous amount of education regarding HAES, Medical Bias and Fatphobia and Eating Disorders in general, and I feel this is the only way I survived and made it out of this place. I am fully aware that no treatment center is without flaws, especially those that treat ED's due to the sheer complexity of the illness, but my extensive qualifications when doing research before admitting (including HAES/All Foods Fit, Gender and Sexuality Inclusive and Flexible etc.) led me to Alsana which pegged itself to be all of those things and more. I am very sad to say that I just didn't find this to be true. For a place claiming to be gender inclusive and in alignment with HAES principles, the care was very inconsistent and harmful at times. All of the therapists were phenomenal (though I would note they are very young and newly licensed) and they led groups very well. I had a great experience with my therapist, but the safety ended there. It was only the therapists that seemed to be gender inclusive, with the nursing staff refusing to use non-binary pronouns and the majority of the dietitians struggling to educate themselves on the proper terminology for Trans individuals. And the largest reason for my giving 2 stars was the experience I had with my first dietitian that was on my team upon being admitted. I know, that historically ED patients don't favor dietitians for obvious reasons, but I hope to be heard in spite of this. From day one my dietitian simply scolded me for struggling and talked to me as if I were a child behaving badly(when I struggled in my first week, despite having the knowledge that I have a rough home life and this was my first time in treatment) I was sarcastically asked why I even came, and why I couldn't just eat(ironically)? In almost every session we had before I switched dietitians, when a discussion ensued, it would get to a point where she would request that I stop and continue with my therapist because it was touted as too deep and therapeutic. And what I'm still struggling to come to terms with today, especially as a person in a larger body and someone with an "Atypical" disorder, was the back handed fat phobia that skewed my care. Though I struggled with a restriction based disorder, my meal plan was lower than those in smaller bodies, and this was painfully clear everytime I sat down in the dining room. There was even a point when I clearly needed an increase, but was only given a slight Meal increase (equating to what "standard" patients got) when my blood sugar kept dropping. My medical concerns were also pushed aside for so long that I had to go to the hospital, and when I was given a treatment to take with me, I still had to wait almost 7 days to be allowed to use said treatment, and while multiple staff members admitted this was harmful, I was constantly told to be trusting and understanding, and I often felt gaslit into the typical submissive and people-pleasing client role that I was therapeutically trying to recover from. Again, I don't think any facility is perfect and I do think that this place is probably better than many others, but please be informed that they are not an established gender and HAES facility, but merely one working towards being there. I unfortunately feel I experienced more trauma with my dietitian than I did help, furthering the very beliefs that keep me trapped in my ED, and my hesitant regret for choosing to go to Alsana (from out of state) weighs on me daily. Please take all the information you can before going to this, or any facility, particularly those who exist in larger bodies because unfortunately, this place, like many others, still isn't safe. You may find healing and recovery here, but not without a larger fight that extends beyond your perceived reason for admittance. Best of Luck to those seeking recovery.

Residential here saved my life. It was a wonderful experience. The staff genuinely cared. I would give 5 stars, however my experience in PHP here was the worst experience and the worst program I ve ever been in. It often felt like the PHP staff didn t care, the clients overheard PHP staff talking bad about us, and clients were transferring out of PHP or having to step up a lot. I felt extremely unsupported in PHP, as did many of my fellow clients. There were so many arguments within the PHP program between many clients and staff, when the issues could ve resolved without the arguments had staffed listened and considered our feelings. I would recommend the residential program at the Birmingham location to anyone and everyone, however not the PHP/IOP program. The only reason more clients didn t leave the PHP program was because they had no where else to go. My first week in PHP we didn t even have a dietician and many clients had gone over a week without a dietician appointment because they all quit. The PHP/IOP program needs some serious work. My therapist and dietician in PHP were wonderful, but I cannot say that for the rest of them.