Serenity Mental Health Centers - Lehi

“I had a terrible experience here during my initial consultation appointment. I have several severe chronic pain disorders that cause me to be in pain every second of the day (fibromyalgia, sjorgens, Trigeminal neuralgia, TMJ, back pain, joint pain). Some days are better, some are worse, but there's always pain. I've also struggled with severe anxiety and major depressive disorder most of my life. The only thing I've found that helps my pain is a LEGAL plant and without it I wouldn't be able to even hold down a job due to my pain. It doesn't make me high or cause any sort of impairment either, it purely lessens some of my pain. I have tried a myriad of medications and nothing's ever worked and when I heard about TMS I really hoped it would be something that would change my life. My old provider offered it, but with work I couldn't get to their appointments everyday and they recommended Serenity. I loved my old provider and so I scheduled my appointment and was looking forward to it. Everything was fine until Pam came in the room and started talking to me. She told me she thought TMS would be great for me and I started to get excited for the first time in a long time. She then asked about my medications and because I believe in being open and had nothing to hide, I told her everything I take, including the plant. After that she treated me like a drug addict. Over the course of the appointment she probably asked my why I take it at least 5 times. Every time I told her it was because I was in excruciating pain every day and it's the only thing that helps. It felt like she was trying to get me to admit I abuse it and take it to get high. After that she told me that my insurance was going to deny coverage for TMS because of it even though, again, it's not illegal. I'm fairly positive she was lying to me out of her own opinion of me and said that I needed to stop taking it for three months and then we could talk about it again. It felt like I went from treading water with a life preserver to her telling me I couldn't have the life preserver anymore. I bursted into tears for the rest of the appointment and hours afterwards. She kept saying "it's not a no though, you just have to stop taking that" and then heavily pushed ketamine treatments even though I can't afford them and that I have had them in the past and they didn't help and I kept telling her that. The appointment was finally over and I just went out to my car and cried, heartbroken. To be treated in such a way when you're grasping for any help makes you feel so subhuman. It was awful.”

“My psychiatrist at the Lehi location is exceptional and genuinely understands me. This one-star rating is not about him; it is about Serenity Healthcare as an organization and its centralized administrative system. After three months of treatment, many hours of appointments, and thousands of dollars in costs, I am no better mentally than I was when I began. I understand that a mental-health clinic cannot change an unstable employment situation or create sustainable jobs. However, the treatment did not help me cope with or function within that situation well enough to produce a meaningful improvement in my mental health. My experience with communication and leave documentation made matters worse. I sent repeated messages about time-sensitive paperwork as my approved medical leave approached its end, but received no meaningful response. Calling appeared to be the only way to get anyone to acknowledge the request. I was then told it had been marked high priority and that I would hear back within a few hours, but the promised response did not come. Patients should not have to spend hours chasing a mental-health provider for documentation while their leave and employment status are at risk. Regardless of the treatment itself, the poor follow-through added significant stress during an already difficult period. For the amount of time and money I invested, I expected meaningful progress, dependable communication, and better continuity of care. I did not receive them. The administrative communication was also unnecessarily vague. I was told that protected health information had been “uploaded,” but no one explained where it had been uploaded, what documentation was included, or whether it had actually been sent somewhere Lincoln could receive it. When I asked for clarification, I did not receive a direct answer. This left me believing progress may have been made when I still had no way to verify the status of my time-sensitive leave paperwork.”

“When Dr. Holshouser was ready for the appointment, I immediately noticed that he was acting disinterested. He asked why I thought I had ADHD and I explained examples and symptoms that aligned with ADHD. While explaining this, he was staring out the window, avoiding eye contact and scrolling on his computer. After explaining for 5 mins he simply said “I don’t think you have ADHD, just severe depression”. I've previously been diagnosed with depression and anxiety before and it was on my chart, and I directly mentioned it to him at the beginning of my appointment. I felt like he did not listen and was taking an easy way out by reiterating what was already diagnosed. I responded by telling him that I have had depressive episodes and been diagnosed with depression and anxiety for 8 years but this felt extremely different. Because he was not asking me anything or trying to understand, I took the liberties of explaining more and giving more scenarios and symptoms in hopes that he would understand how serious and detrimental it was feeling to me. After talking about that he told me that “if you completely heal your depression, only then would it be worth it to take an ADHD test”. Before I could reply he also added that “Even then, I still don’t think you have it”. At this point I was getting increasingly frustrated as I felt like he did not acknowledge or address the reason I was there. As I had only been in the appointment for 15 minutes at that point I was shocked he could come to conclusions so fast, especially when I had mentioned that another mental health professional (my therapist) was the one that suggested I get tested. He then went on to (of course) explain how ketamine and tms could help. It felt like he only wanted me to have depression and anxiety so he could sell me on those treatments. I continued to advocate for myself and practically had to beg him to listen in which he replied with “It seems like you came in here today to convince me you have ADHD so I guess you have it”. My mouth literally dropped open when he said that I was STUNNED that he would talk to a patient like that. I told him that I understand I can not self diagnose, which is the whole reason I was there. I also told him I was not trying to convince myself, but simply advocate for myself as I had already spent the money to have the appointment. He finally told me that “I guess if you are dead set on taking the QB test you can, but I don’t think it will prove anything” At this point, I was extremely uncomfortable with the way in which he was approaching the situation and the way he was speaking to me. I asked him if he was the one that would be evaluating my QB test results and he said yes. I felt like he had developed extreme bias against me so I asked if there was the option to have a different provider interpret it and he said “Yeah but I don’t think the results are going to be what you want to hear”. Again, he was so adamant that I didn’t have ADHD and was determined to let me know that. I was so frustrated at this point and told him that I didn’t think it was fair that he listened to me talk for a total of 20 minutes without asking many questions at all to come to the conclusion he did. My final straw was when his only reply to that was with scoffing and laughing saying “It has actually been 40 minutes. I guess time flies when you are having fun.” The fact that he could obviously see I was upset and not having fun (which typically does not happen at the psychiatrist) as my voice was shaking and eyes were welling up, only to reply to me in such a mocking manner seems inappropriate, especially for the profession he chose. I would also like to note that his claim of us having been talking for 40 minutes would have been accurate if he saw me at the time scheduled, but like I mentioned before, he was 20 minutes late, so our appointment did end up being 20 minutes. That was when I ended the appointment.”

“In my opinion- Serenity Mental Health is built on predatory practices. They very clearly only want to conduct one treatment; TMS and Ketamine because it is the most profitable treatment. Everyone there is very nice which only makes it more predatory when a patient is bombarded by every person you meet in the office telling you how much Ketamine will help provide immediate and long lasting relief. The only problem is the receptionist and “patient advocates” are not medical professionals and should therefore not be providing medical recommendations. When told the process was i appropriate every employee seemed confused because they are just “educating” the patients. It is only educating if you share all possible treatments options. It is coercion when the patient is only told about TMS and Ketamine, sees only posters for TMS and Ketamine, and is prompted to read a book of testimonials about TMS and Ketamine- all before you ever see a single medical professional.”