Althea Park House - Stroud

Anna Z.

Althea Park offers a unique approach to supporting people struggling with eating disorders. The staff team are incredibly knowledgeable and always treat the young people with compassion and kindness. The service offers incredible therapeutic support and opportunities to engage in meaningful and fun activities.
I wish this kind of service becomes more common, as it offers person-centred support for young people to see the life outside of their eating disorder and empowers them to find enjoyment in life.

Vickie B.

Althea Park is a totally unique service, which offers an alternative approach to young people who find themselves struggling with an eating disorder. The team here are so friendly and helpful, and truly try and understand everyone as an individual to be able to offer them the best possible care. It’s a kind and caring service, that honestly feels more like a home. The way they support people to see life outside of their eating disorder and help them to move on is wonderful. I would highly recommend considering Althea park if you have found other inpatient eating disorder services haven’t worked for you.

Kelly

I have been a resident at Althea Park House (APH) for over 3 years now.The transformative impact APH has had on my life is beyond measure, and I feel compelled to share my heartfelt thanks with everyone involved in my journey.
When I first arrived at APH, I was a mere shell of a person, grappling with an eating disorder and personality disorder that had consumed every aspect of my life. At that time, I rarely left the house, was deeply depressed, and struggled to find the strength to eat. However, thanks to the dedicated and compassionate team at APH, my life has taken a complete turn for the better.
The support workers at APH have played a pivotal role in my recovery, guiding me through the darkest and most challenging periods of my life. All the staff truly care about the service users and will do anything to support or help them. Their unwavering commitment, empathy, and professionalism have been nothing short of exceptional. They have provided the care and understanding I needed to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
I am also immensely grateful for the multidisciplinary team (MDT) staff at APH who have been with me every step of the way. They have not only challenged my behaviors in a constructive and positive manner but have also equipped me with valuable tools to cope with the complexities of my disorders. Their expertise and dedication have been instrumental in my personal growth and the significant positive changes I've experienced.
Today, I am a completely transformed person, enjoying life to the fullest. I am pursuing a degree, working, and actively engaging in volunteer opportunities—all of which were unimaginable feats before my time at APH. This profound transformation would not have been possible without the exceptional care, understanding, and support I received from the entire APH team.

Nima C. H.

I was a resident here for around 2 years. Althea Park House went out of their way to support me to access 'life outside hospital' stuff, whilst also providing a detailed and intensive package of care. The staff here worked hard to get to know me as a person, rather than an illness, which helped me get to know myself. The house itself is lovely and in a beautiful part of the country, with lots of surrounding nature - this also means that there's always opportunity for activities which the staff facilitate, such as visiting zoos, theme parks, walks, ice-skating, drives and the classic evening tesco trip. It's hard to recommend this type of placement because of course no one wants an eating disorder, but if you're lumbered with one anyway then this is the best place to be!

Seph M.

I lived at Althea Park House for just over 6 years. I don't think any amount of stars or reviews can capture the work that they do or the impact the service has on people's lives. I don't say that lightly. If I could summarise, the team at Althea Park saw me as a human being, because they were also human beings. Basically, they're the closest we've got to 'person-centred' care, that gives you the time to understand yourself as a person, rather than treating symptoms in some sort of clinical holding cell! Although they work within a system of mental health care that really needs a massive update, they're willing to listen and challenge policies and procedures within mental health services that simply do not support people. One of the most striking approaches at Althea Park is their resolve to provide safe therapeutic relationships. When I was discharged, I wrote to them 'in every sense, what you guys have given me is me'.
I truly hope that in the future services like Althea Park House become commonplace, services that don't shy away from another person's pain and actually utilise all the research already out there that says 'this is a person in pain, a person that needs help to heal'.

Tim F.

The team at Althea Park are outstanding. Their knowledge and ability to apply this in a client focused way is second to none. They hold the individual at the centre of everything they do and work with them and support them to create specific, personalised care and treatment plans. By identifying the specific needs and going with the individual on their journey, the team at Althea are able to support the individual to be the best that they can be.

Julia S.

Some staff very good and genuine but unfortunately not the ones with any influence in day to day running of the service. Sadly the processes & treatment do not have any real foundation or effect on ingrained ED's and frankly as a parent of someone who stayed here long term I would not recommend it to anyone. The service completely let down my son in the worst possible way - building up weight to an extraordinary 25 bmi (!) He was bordering on overweight and then the service refused to assist with this very uncomfortable weight gain & basically left him to it. Even discharging whilst he was relapsing.

At least one staff have eating issues that appear unresolved - putting photos of herself naked and anorexic on the internet - when this was the subject of a complaint apparently this was considered as 'art' by the service. Just weird...
And the manager, James King, we found unhelpful and socially awkward. We were badly mislead by the management at the start of the treatment and my son left in a worse state than at the beginning. I would not recommend this service. It is a waste of resources.
When you live with someone who has a long term eating disorder you want hope, this service killed any hope and trust for my son.
We hope that at some point a service will appear in the UK that has some notion of what it is doing & does not cause more damage to individuals.

Natalie P.

When I was a patient there. They did so much for me and are extremely helpful.
This is from 2013- if u suffer with server eating disorder this is the place to go.