Philip Aggarwal

Belmont Pines Journal

Bill Church 330-442-2048

Belmont Pines was an interesting and eye opening experience for an offsite clinical.

During my 6 hours of clinical I have come to understand the importance for this facility and

every staff members from the doctors, BHT to the group leaders. Every single individual plays

an important role to provide a healing environment for the patients. Belmont pines offers several

recourses to aide in the treatment of self-harm including suicidal ideation and substance abuse,

depression and some behavioral problems. One thing that I did notice while at this facility, was

that young females seemed to be the ruling demographic. They provide acute inpatient treatment,

5 to 7 days, in hopes to attempt a relapse of the complaining behavior upon admission. Belmont

pines also offers a 60 day extended care facility as well. From what I have learned about the

extended care is that these patients have been through a lot of traumatic events and need

extensive help and treatment to reach their goal of treatment.

During my time here, my favorite part of the day was sitting in on the various types of

groups; CD group was ultimately my favorite. The leader “Miss Holly” was honest, structured,

organized, group oriented and very informative. She had ground rules for everyone to follow,

which they followed and created a nonjudgmental environment. I could physically and spiritually

feel the connection she has with these kids and I can sense that she loves what she does. It did

shock me to hear what some of these kids go through and the ways they cope with it. Most

coping was done by consuming drugs and alcohol, but what was most alarming was that drugs

being used were hardcore street drugs such as, meth, cocaine and ecstasy. Since these patients

are younger and have more access to drugs through personal contacts and social media, I learned
a new term called “speedballing”, this is when you mix a stimulant and a depressant to get high,

which is extremely life threatening.

Belmont Pines establishes itself as a true lifeline when it comes to young patients with

mental health issues. The staff interacts with the patients in a positive manner and patients

interact with each other in surprising ways to lift each other up.