Pathlight Mood & Anxiety Center Chicago - Erie

Never trust an institution that tries to cover up the suicide of a patient that happened while the patient was still living at Erie’s residential due to staff neglect, and informs none of the patients’ peers in order to further hide it and not get sued. This company NEVER takes appropriate accountability, and this situation is absolutely disgusting and disgraceful. Justice for this patient.

Howard • February 20th, 2026

I had an out-of-state relative admitted to this program recently. I drove my entire family 1.5 hours through traffic from a far western suburb to visit with my relative. The Visiting hours listed in the patient materials clearly stated 3:30pm to 5:30pm. However, when we arrived, we were told that it was 3pm-5pm. This left us very little time to spend with our loved one, especially with the 2 person rule. We attempted to bring this inconsistency to the attention of the staff, but our concerns and requests were ignored. I understand that boundaries and rules are in place for valid reasons. However, it was clearly Pathlight's error; and they were unwilling to compromise to settle on an adequate solution for all. It seems like a very basic thing to have your actual schedule align with your printed patient information. It's extremely unfair to "dig your heels in" to be the most restrictive when it's clearly your facility's error, especially when it comes to the vulnerable population that you are supposed to be serving. Furthermore, the staff member at the front desk made no efforts to direct us to the correct room to find our loved one. She took a guess on which room she was in, and told us to knock on the door to check. That is extremely inappropriate both for the patients at the facility, and for myself as a visitor. I can only hope that the rest of my loved one's experience at Pathlight has been better than this, and worth her time and efforts. As a physician, I will make every effort to avoid this facility for any of my own patients as well as those of my colleagues.

Michelle Willis • March 14th, 2025

Attending Pathlight was unfortunately a huge mistake. I was not in crisis when I enrolled - I was seeking treatment for a specific diagnosis for which there are no providers in my area. I traveled from out of state after being assured that I would participate in some form of treatment for my diagnosis. This was very much not the case, despite the staff and therapists being mostly friendly, with the exception of the psychiatrist assigned to me who I met with via telehealth while in the residential facility. The psychiatrist, Dr. Hartmann, did not listen to my history and dismissed my concerns, made derogatory comments about my provider at home being a nurse practitioner instead of a doctor, and repeatedly ignored my questions about significantly increasing the medication I was on. He also asked unneccessary and inappropriate sexual questions which made me exceeding uncomfortable. I understand the topic sometimes comes up in psychiatry - this was not one of those instances. While I was in treatment, he went on vacation and I met with a different provider, in person on the ward, who was very helpful, answered all my questions and addressed my concerns about Dr. Hartmann. I asked to be switched to that provider and was told it was not possible. I discharged as soon as possible without going against the recommendations of my team despite new alarming symptoms that were never addressed. I followed all the instructions given to me upon discharge and still was unable to refill the medications Dr. Hartmann prescribed, despite over a week of trying prior to running out, which resulted in acute withdrawals. Myself, my pharmacy and my provider all attempted to contact Pathlight through the channels outlines in my discharge instructions and finally though any way possible to contact them due to concerns about the high dosage Dr. Hartmann had put me on. We received no response until I called the direct line to then nurses on the floor at the residential, who immediately helped me. Thank god. I met with the Patient Advocate before I discharged and also filed a written complaint with the Patient Advocate after recovering from the medication withdrawals. I received an official response that contained an explanation of Pathlight's PTO policy and a statement informing me that I had signed paperwork explaining how to get my refills when I discharged. (I am well aware I signed those papers, those papers were what I used to inform my failed attempts to get the refills.) When I attempted further contact to explain that the response did not address my concerns in any way, I was told the case is closed. I have not received any further communications back despite multiple attempts. I am disgusted by the absolute dismissal of my valid concerns and the complete denial of responsibility for even providing an explanation of why these things occurred. I would like to clarify that I have never been anything but professional and polite in my dealings with Pathlight, despite the highly distressing situation they have put me in. I discharged in July and I am still recovering from my awful experience at this program in December. I have given Pathlight every opportunity to discuss my concerns beyond their completely absurd yet final dismissal, and I have received nothing but repeated requests that I leave a review, so I am. I was torn about writing this but I truly hope that it helps someone avoid a similar situation. Perhaps this program could with stabilization during a crisis. I can only attest to this program having caused far more damage than the healing I so desperately had hoped for while providing a total of three hours total of the treatment programming I had been assured would occur. I would not recommend Pathlight to anyone.

Kirsten Crook • May 20th, 2025