Sanctuary Lodge Reviews 7

We would advise you avoid Sanctuary Lodge at all costs.

The courage to seek help for yourself or a loved one is a precious gift that should not be wasted. Our advice would be not to risk squandering your chance to get well on this organisation. There are other organisations that will help you better.

We are in active litigation with Sanctuary Lodge for breach of contract, misrepresentation, and negligence. We hoped to quietly settle this long ago, and help them change their governance, marketing materials, and improve their clinical processes. Sadly all our attempts to effect change for the better and be compensated for the harm done to us have been rejected.

We are looking forward to our day in court, the publicity we hope will shine a bright light on this organisation, and help stop others being harmed by them in the future.

If you do decide that Sanctuary Lodge is right for you, then please have your eyes open:

- Be prepared to spend more time in A&E than Sanctuary Lodge. Their ‘everything you need to fully detox’ claim does not extend to even the most basic of medical interventions such as giving fluids.

- Be prepared to lay on the floor for a while if you fall out of bed. Their ‘full service clinic’ and ‘full medical facility’ does not include enough staff trained to lift patients. My relative lay on a hard floor for 6 hours whilst waiting for trained staff to arrive.

- Try not to have any detox complications. Their clinical consultant is rarely available and we believe incompetent. You therefore have the choice of having problems dealt with by Colchester A&E or being sent home as ‘too complicated’.

- Be prepared to fight for your loved ones whilst in Sanctuary Lodge’s care. Medications that were killing our relative continued to be administered despite withdrawing consent. It is hard to be heard when they don’t care, but if you spend long enough on the phone and make enough noise, they will stop doing obvious things that harm your loved ones.

- Do your own research on medications that they plan to administer and refuse consent if you are unsure. My relative was simultaneously started on 5 separate drugs without any thought as to their combined impact. This nearly killed him.

- Be happy with a vanilla therapy plan. My relative’s plan was not customised at all and included items we explicitly said would cause problems. Despite the promises, no customisation happened and there were indeed problems.

- Be Christian. The centre seems to be run mostly by Christians. There are bibles, prayer posters. Group sessions start with Christian prayers. If you are not Christian this is challenging.

- Do not expect your data to be kept confidential. Sanctuary Lodge shared the personal details of several other patients with us, some of whom are in the public eye. It’s difficult to imagine data more sensitive than that related to addiction.

I am sure Sanctuary Lodge will fob this review off with “we investigated and found no evidence”, “we reject your assertions”, “we pride ourselves on a long history of success”, “no evidence of negligence”, “all procedures complied with”, “voluntarily discharged” etc.

Please ignore that management waffle.

Sanctuary Lodge also appear to be withholding information related to our care, perhaps to prejudice our legal process. The Information Commissioner’s Office are investigating, which I hope becomes public in due course. We also hope to persuade the Care Quality Commission to reassess their view of Sanctuary Lodge. How they can be rated ‘good’ is a mystery.

And – speaking directly to Sanctuary Lodge – please do not pretend you have no record of our stay and of our issues. It is impossible that you do not know who I am and given the volume of letters and solicitor interactions we have had. Please do not further our contempt by pretending otherwise.

To everyone else… Please make your own decisions about what you feel is right for you and your loved ones. Please get the help you need and deserve. But our strong advice would be, based on our experiences, avoid Sanctuary Lodge.

(Note that our review relates to Jan 2022 - we have been arguing that long over the issues we faced)

Absolute con. Ripping off severely ill people. i have zero good words to say about this establishment. Unprofessional bullies. i ran a childrens charity for 8 years in a 3rd world country and i would never treat a dog like how they treated me and my friends. My best friend in there has just had a stroke and has been bed bound for 5 months, i said at the time this girl needs help. but their response was im an alcoholic who doesnt know what im talking about. rip off money scam should be illegal

There is absolutely no question that Sanctuary Lodge have saved my life. I had an incredible 28 day intensive counselling stay there in 2020 when my drinking was getting out of hand. Their help and support kept me sober for 4 years until I had a short relapse following a breakdown after the suicide of one of my closest friends. I could see where this was headed so called UKAT for help. They booked me into Sanctuary Lodge the following day. Again, with their help and support I managed to get sober again within a week. Everything about Sanctuary Lodge is absolutely incredible and I feel extremely lucky and privileged to be part of their recovery community. I am 110% determined to never drink again. The Counsellors and Support Team are the most caring people I’ve ever met. Even the food is superb and the chefs ensure you eat a very healthy and balanced diet whilst there. Every member of staff gives their life and soul to ensure you get the very best individually tailored program to meet your needs. Whether you are there for a short 10 day detox or staying longer (it’s entirely up to you, with their advice) how long you decide to stay. Your days are busy with group counselling sessions, gong baths, accupuncture and yoga and the whole community pulls together to support each other. It really is an incredible resource and experience. If you are serious and genuinely want to get clean and sober then I can’t recommend SL highly enough. BUT, you have to be prepared to put in your own absolute commitment. They also make weekly group Zoom counselling sessions available to everyone for a year after you leave, and UKAT keep in regular contact to make sure you’re doing ok. I’ll never be able to thank them enough for the help and support they afforded me. Even after leaving you still feel supported and can call UKAT anytime you feel a wobble coming on. The centre itself is fantastic with excellent bedrooms and en-suite bathrooms and even when you have a bit of downtime there is plenty to do. If you’re serious about getting clean and sober, and prepared to put in the work, then I can promise you won’t regret for a second asking UKAT for help. I can only assume the very nasty negative reviews are written by people who had no interest in putting in their own 100% effort to get clean and sober and fully engage with the program. My own experience after two stays there (with four years of sobriety in between) is the polar opposite. I certainly don’t recognise the Sanctuary Lodge they’re talking about. They are clearly people who cause trouble wherever they go. Sanctuary Lodge were probably pleased to see the back of them as they were likely toxic for the current community. Just take their reviews with a very large pinch of salt…..

Sanctuary Lodge is run by egotistical maniacs owned by a company called UKAT who have just appointed the receivers, says it all really!
Sanctuary Lodge in Halsted Essex, probably the worst-run centre, is mismanaged by a female manager whose ego and lack of any common sense flows over to the councilors, who are of limited experience and as ex-addicts think they can do a night school course and play god. If you are someone who has addiction problems avoid at all cost, total waste of money.......Trust me any good staff there dont stay long!
I note that the super woke feminist manager Maria Konat has been fired, about time she was mentally unstable!

Therapists like Tracey an narcissistic ex addict, who bullies and belittles clients.
Maria the manager, totally woke sociopath.
Waste of time and money, the decent staff leave rapidly as they see what harm the place does to its clients.
Less than 3% success rate as documented by staff, avoid at all costs!

My sister stayed here and was offered drugs within 48 hours of being on the premises (which she declined thankfully), she has told me the facility was very dirty, the staff are uninterested and the therapy disorganised (appointments moved and cancelled). My advice to everyone: GO SOMEWHERE WHERE YOU ARE SUPPORTED. NOT HERE!