Acadia Healthcare Sex Abuse: Rights & Options

Acadia Healthcare is one of the largest behavioral health care providers in the United States with hundreds of treatment centers across the country. But in recent years, several of its facilities have come under fire for systemic sexual abuse and patient neglect. Survivors from facilities in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Michigan have come forward with serious allegations that span years and in some cases decades.

At Timberline Knolls in Illinois, a lawsuit filed in 2024 alleges that staff members sexually assaulted a patient multiple times. That facility is now permanently closed. In Indiana, at Options Behavioral Health, patients say they were drugged and sexually assaulted, then threatened with delayed discharges if they spoke up. At Lakeland Behavioral in Missouri, 31 patients filed lawsuits in just one month alleging a mix of sexual abuse, neglect, and retaliation. And in Detroit, multiple women say they were abused as minors at the now closed Detroit Behavioral Institute. These aren’t isolated incidents.

Lawsuits point out a larger pattern of alleged neglect and misconduct across multiple Acadia Healthcare facilities, including grooming, rape, inappropriate restraints, unauthorized nude photography, and delayed discharges meant to boost profits, just to name a few. In recent years, Acadia has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in legal settlements. That includes 400 million in 2023 over child abuse tied to a former subsidiary and nearly 20 million in 2024 for fraudulent billing of unnecessary inpatient care.

If you or someone you know was abused in an Acadia facility, you have legal rights and options. You have the right to file a report with law enforcement even if the harm happened years ago. While criminal charges may not be brought, by filing a report, you’re creating an important paper trail for yourself and others. You may be able to file a civil lawsuit against Acadia for the harm that happened to you. Depending on the facts and circumstances, you may be entitled to compensation for medical bills, therapy costs, pain and suffering, PTSD, and more.

We know how hard it is to come forward, but you don’t have to do it alone. Here at Helping Survivors, we can connect you with an experienced attorney who can provide a free consultation today. Should you have a case and want to move forward, every law firm we work with takes these types of cases on contingency, meaning there are no upfront cost to pursuing a claim. If you were abused at Timberline Knolls, Options Behavioral, Lakeland, Detroit Behavioral, or any other Acadia facility, please reach out to us today for more information.