I was admitted to chalkhill for a severe eating disorder and suicide attempts in 2019, and stayed there for 6 weeks until I was transferred to a specialist eating disorder unit. Chalkhill was the worst place I have ever been, and I still have flashbacks and nightmares back to my time there. The staff at chalkhill seemed incredibly inexperienced with eating disorders, despite claiming they were trained to deal with severe eating disorders as well as other mental illnesses. I find it strange they claimed to deal with eating disorders, despite not even having a dietitian. However, they were extremely unsympathetic when I was struggling with food, often shouted at me and got angry at me for not eating, and used punishments for not eating- I was unable to leave the unit the whole time I was there and they told me my dog couldn’t come to visit me unless I ate all my meals and snacks, which clearly wasn’t happening. They insinuated that I was purposely trying to make life difficult for them when I didn’t eat, and treated eating disorders like they were choices and not mental illnesses. They also offered no post meal support when I was distressed after meals. By the end of my stay there, they didn’t even try to make me eat, and completely ignored me, I wasn’t even made to go to the table. After a few weeks, it was clearly it wasn’t working. I had lost a lot of weight very quickly and was continuing to lose weight. There was a referral to a specialist ED unit, however when a bed came up, one of the nurses told them I didn’t need it, without informing me, my family or even my psychiatrist. There put in a further referral as I clearly did need it, and a place was confirmed, but I was told they didn’t know the date. Although I was happy I was leaving, I was also very scared, and when I voiced my worries I was told horror stories about ED units. I was told they would take me up to a weight hit way above my target weight, and would force feed me melted Mars through a tube. I thi

I was treated badly when I was severely unwell. Near the end they considered admitting me but were told that it would make me worse, which I think says a lot about the environment. Treatment is not about aggression or manipulation.

Wish I could say it was good