I am 40 years old now and will never forget the "care" that I received. I was under Dr Blackman's care when I was 13 years old. My father left when I was a baby and my mother passed away when I was 12. I was bounced around in the system through group homes and foster care and ended up in CASE house in the Yellowhead Youth Centre. The moment I was brought in, all of my personal items were taken away and locked up and I was given medication against my will. I refused to take them and was told that I would be restrained and given the medication via injection. I can only assume that the meds were to control me, as nobody had even talked to me to establish my frame of mind or the need for medication. The next 6 months were torturous and abusive. I was essentially in jail and medicated to the point where I could barely think for myself. During one therapy session, a theory was posed that perhaps the reason I was so "troubled" is because they believed my mother had molested me. My mother was a saint and Blackman had no basis for this analysis. At one point, I was angry and told one of his staff members to "f*** off". I was promptly restrained and locked in the time-out room (four walls, a door and one way glass with only a mattress on the floor). I was in that room for a whole week and was told that it was to receive "extra special care". These are just a glimpse of the treatment I received while under his care. As far as I'm concerned, this man and most of his staff should receive jail time for their criminal treatment of children. I tried to tell people about the abuse when I finally got away from him, but I doubt anyone would take a child's word over such a "renowned" doctor.
Posted Date : 21/11/2015
Anonymous
Dr. Blackman was the attending doctor at the time our 10 yr old daughter was admitted to the Royal Alex pediatric psych unit. Our daughter was completely catatonic, not eating nor speaking, this was such a traumatic experience for her & our family. Dr. Blackman never at anytime meet with or or spoke with us, when he decided to bare from the hospital for two days. The nurse explained that this was so staff could observe our daughter without any parental influences. She was so gravely ill all we wanted to do is be by her side, I feel that this was barbaric treatment. If she had leukemia they would pull up a cot so that we could be there. But because she had a biochemical imbalance in her brain we should lock her away? After all that, it then was suggested to use SHOCK THERAPY. Needless to say we said NO! Our family is still reeling at the lack of compassion and the old school treatment methods Dr. Blackman uses.
Anonymous
Fell asleep during my sessions, and didn’t seem to be paying attention when awake – like at one point I asked him a direct question and he nodded and said yes, go on.
Anonymous
This doctor put my step-daughter on anti-psychotics at the age of 12, even though she showed no symptoms that her dad or I could see (but her mother is a long-time mental illness patient!). He never has contacted her father at all so knows nothing of 50% of this patient’s medical history. She was taking both anti-depressants and anti-psychotics at the same time as we later found out, via his prescriptions and she told us they were sleeping pills because she gets anxiety.
Anonymous
Had I completed this survey when my son first started seeing Dr Blackman, the scores for helpfulness & knowledge would have been higher. In my opinion, Dr Blackman has unfortunately become increasingly forgetful and much less effective over the last couple years.
Anonymous
I first saw Dr. Blackman when I was 12 and am now a grandmother. He also saw my children and helped us through some tough times. He is straightforward and doesn’t sugar coat things, which I like. Because of his honesty, some people don’t like to hear the truth. I would much rather hear the straight truth. His nurse/receptionist, Linda is wonderful.