Devereux Colorado
Devereux Colorado (formerly known as Devereux Cleo Wallace) is a psychiatric residential treatment facility located 20 minutes outside of Denver in a city called Westminster Colorado. It is by far the worst facility any parent can send their child to. As a former client (2010-2011) being there and suffering mental, emotional, physical AND sexual abuse, I am writing this story to WARN ANY parent(s) of a child who has as history of mental health issues to NOT send them here. My first month (September of 2010) was horrible. The minute I arrived, I was not greeted nor treated with any respect whatsoever. I was immediately stripped down to my underwear and had every part of my body searched and during that time I was touched inappropriately on my genital area. Staff would refuse my meals, slam my head against the wall, spit on me, place me in seclusion for an extended period of time not allowing me to have water or to use the bathroom, and EVEN would grope me. There was a staff member in specific named Andrew who would physically abuse me on a consistent basis, neglecting my basic needs by not allowing me to use the restroom allocated to each client living on the unit. It seemed as if I was being picked on by him just because it was me. Anyway, I started filing abuse reports to multiple agencies including Colorado Department Of Family Services. While it was my word against theirs, NO abuse was found. I was stuck living there continuing to suffer abuse DAILY by multiple staff members INCLUDING Andrew as I mentioned above. Some are still working there and there are those who are no longer there as well. Anyway, long story short I ended up doing well there by faking it and suffering the abuse so I wouldn't end up being in any sort of trouble. The facility had a level system, you would start out on "Orientation" once you were there. You would only have your basic needs, shower, meals and using the restroom IF that. Then once you are ready to be discharged to go back home, you would need to be on "Gold Level" I made it to Level 3, which was still good. The staff would take us on outings and would buy us meals on Thursdays ONLY for those who were on Level 3. Once I reached Level 3, I was able to go on these outings. One day, I ran away while on the outing and was arrested on multiple charges. That was my ONLY way of being discharged from the program. The point I'm trying to make is that this place is SO horrible the ONLY way out is by being arrested. Staff don't care if you're injured, neither do the nurses, supervisors, therapists or social workers. This place is absolutely horrible. When I ran away for 3 days one time, the staff on my unit NEVER even made an effort to call my parents to let them know I was missing. This place is disgusting. This place is camouflaged as a juvenile detention center. It's sad that most of the clients/students here that have been arrested would PREFER being in a Juvenile Detention center over this shitty place.
