Spectrum Health Systems, Inc.

Spectrum Health Systems, Inc.

ABOUT SPECTRUM HEALTH SYSTEMS — WORCESTER

Spectrum Health Systems, Inc., which has 18 locations across Massachusetts, is a private, nonprofit organization that treats adult and adolescent men and women struggling with substance abuse and mental health disorders. The facility on Merrick Street in Worcester, Mass., is one of the three Spectrum Health Systems centers in that city. It offers outpatient services, and is the largest such site in the Spectrum network.

TREATMENT & ASSESSMENT

Clients undergo a three- to four-hour comprehensive evaluation before admission, which includes a physical exam and toxicology testing. The findings are then used to develop a personalized recovery plan for each client. To be approved for same-day treatment, clients must be experiencing withdrawal symptoms and have refrained from illicit drug use for 12 hours.

The Spectrum Health Systems facility offers a range of outpatient services, including substance abuse counseling on an individual, group, and family basis. Another offering is a medication assisted treatment (MAT) program for clients struggling with opioid addiction that uses methadone, Suboxone, and Vivitrol for purposes of detoxification and/or longer term maintenance.

For individuals who need more structured outpatient care, there is a three-week intensive outpatient program (IOP), which incorporates one individual counseling and two group therapy sessions per day. It also includes weekly in-depth individual sessions and family groups.

The center’s 16-week driver’s alcohol education program is mandatory for court-referred clients with a first-time DUI conviction. It includes weekly two-hour group sessions, plus required weekly attendance at a minimum of two AA meetings. The facility also offers a range of mental health services, namely clinical assessment, treatment planning, counseling, and medication management.

STAFF CREDENTIALS

There currently is no information provided by the facility regarding the treatment staff at this specific location. However, four respondents to the Best-rehabs.com survey who rated the Worcester staff’s level of training and experience awarded it an average of four out of five stars.

ACCOMMODATIONS & AMENITIES

This Spectrum Health System treatment center is located in a quaint building on a picturesque street. The facility is within walking distance of downtown Worcester and near Interstate 290.

WHAT ALUMNI SAY

The two alumni polled by Best-rehabs.com felt positively about this Spectrum Health System facility. Alum Karen awarded perfect five out of five stars for treatment effectiveness and meals/nutrition as well as four stars for accommodations/amenities. They wrote: “I relapsed and went back there 14 times. They NEVER gave up on me. I got clean in 1995 and became a drug Counselor in Texas.” The alum also noted that they initially chose the facility because of its medication-assisted program. “The only place that detoxed with methadone.”

WHAT FRIENDS & FAMILY SAY

Three reviews from loved ones surveyed by Best-rehabs.com skewed positive. All indicated they would recommend the facility by awarding this metric an average of 4.3 out of five stars. However, their ratings averaged lower than four out of five stars in other categories: counseling options and staff experience averaged 3.7 out of five stars, and family participation and holistic offerings averaged three out of five stars.

One anonymous loved one praised the staff in particular: “Knowledgeable staff and trained clinicians who are ready for any type of situation they are approached with.”

WHAT STAFF SAY

An anonymous former staffer offered a moderately positive review of this Spectrum Health Systems facility in Worcester, rating treatment effectiveness three out of five stars and both accommodations/amenities and meals/nutrition four stars. This employee suggested: “Longer stay of care and follow up would reduce chance of relapse.”

FINANCING

According to its website, Spectrum Health Systems accepts Medicaid and a number of private health insurances. For those who opt to self-pay, there is a sliding scale based on income.

Spectrum Health Systems, Inc. Reviews

I have’t had to go back to a detox in 17yrs.Not that I got sober at the spectrum program .Get up make your bed. Clean the bathroom 1st morning waking you up dead dope sick I don’t know if they still run it that,OG’S REMEMBER,but anyway I got in last month,all the paperwork u sign gives them permission to call all your Dr’swell I seen it after it was on her desk and I took it back so they discharge me haaah,then the 6 pairs of undeclothing they said and gave me back 3 good sport underwear white Ty’s back. How do they lose ur stuff in 30 minutes.That place has always terrible for me anyway. Call a different detox!!!!! Very rude ALSO .BRIAN KING 101
It seems like most of their It seems like most of the reviewers must have gone here years ago. I've been to at least a dozen programs, including some of the most respected, not to mention most expensive, facilities in the state. Spectrum's (New England Recovery Center's) residential program is by far the best. Just to counter a few of the other reviews that may be old: -the family program is one of the most important pieces of spectrum. They have a weekly meeting to educate family members which, given how informed my family already is on addiction Issues, was surprisingly helpful. From the moment you go in, they involve your family, because they realize how important your family support is not only in treatment but in your Aftercare program. If you don't want your family involved, they don't push it, and family is to find however you want. If you want your boyfriend or best friend to be as involved as family, that's fine with them. - the detox and residential program are both in state-of-the-art buildings. the building for the residential program was opened in 2015, and it includes a fitness room that you are encouraged to use, a large dining room that does not at all feel like a hospital kitchen, comfortable family meeting rooms, plenty of single bathrooms with showers, and double and triple bedrooms (mostly doubles) that each have multiple windows. Since the front wall is mostly glass, it lets in a LOT of light. The whole place is clean, modern, and comfortable, and it escapes the constricting, run down, sterile hospital feel that many programs in MA are plagued by. -I had no problems with either my private insurance or MassHealth. -They are extremely understanding and compassionate. -They exceptionally holistic for a substance abuse program. Yoga twice a week, massages, a new cardio room, a meditation garden (in the process of being built), SMART recovery meetings in addition to 12-step groups, mindfulness, nutritional counseling, art therapy, EMDR, gender-responsive treatment...how much more holistic can you get at a 2-4 week program? Disclosure: I was supposed to go to Spectrum 9 years ago, but the program I was at at the time decided the population at Spectrum at the time consisted of "too many aggressive men," and they feared I would be too anxious. That was 9 years ago, though. Things have changed.
This place is absolutely useless. I was a patient there per court order. Spectrum messed up billing my insurance so many times that it resulted in missed appointments that were required by court. In the end spectrum figured out how to bill my insurance, after I stopped going there and went to the VA. Thankfully there was a direct paper trail proving Spectrum's incompetence, otherwise my legal issues would have been greatly magnified. Absolutely do not bother wasting your time with Spectrum
It helped me to start my life over they have pretty good resources to move on to the next level of treatment groups are good and counseling was good. One thing I didn't like is that it wasn't clean.
Staff is well educated and willing to help. No gym or workout area. Spectrum offers methadone assisted detox treatment.