North Bay 2014 from Glassdoor

In August, I copied Glassdoor reviews of North Bay Mental Health.  I was surprised to see that North Bay practices towards employees, and through their employees, towards clients, do not seem to have improved.

For Says-us, it shows that expression of grievances, while necessary, are not necessarily sufficient to cause change.  On Glassdoor, if you are not looking for them, you will not see North Bay reviews.  Says-us will need to promote the most egregious forms of poor management and employer abuse of employees and clients, or find other organizations to help do that.

Here are some negative 2014 reviews from Glassdoor.  There is a lot of passion and detail.  That is the first step to change:

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Jul 12, 2014
“Stupid Bay does NOT pay! ”

Former Employee – Staff Therapist in Attleboro, MA
Pros
I met some wonderful people who will be lifelong friends. In addition, I gained the hours I needed for licensure.
Cons
So you like working long hours with extremely low pay? Enjoy completing ALL paperwork by hand and having to fill your gas tank twice per week with no mileage reimbursement? If so, South Bay might just be the place for you! Many of my co-workers were taking anti-depressants to cope with this job. Even worse, some were indulging in illegal drugs as well. South Bay is an unethical company that could care less about you as a person or professional. If you get no-shows, you’ll be asked why you didn’t call another client up (last minute) to fill that slot. When there’s a holiday, you’re told to make sure you still get your hours despite clients unwillingness to meet on holidays or no-showing which is completely out of your control. Be prepared to work when hungry, sick, tired and when you need to use the restroom as you’ll probably never have time for yourself. Work life balance is not attainable because South Bay, as others have written, puts unreasonable demands on clinicians. You’re told to schedule 30 clients per week, human resources requires you to have a minimum of 20 billable hours per week to maintain full-time status however middle job managers push you to at least bill 23 weekly. They’ll tell you to bill 23 to protect your average but what they don’t tell you is that they can earn a bonus based on your work if you bill 23. Be sure to actually read the handbook especially where it’s written that you shouldn’t practice outside your scope of practice. From Day #1 of employment there, you will be assigned to work with people struggling anywhere from chronic drug use to sexual and eating disorders. If you tell your supervisor you don’t feel comfortable treating those clients, you may be told “The CEO just expects you to do your best!” What about the Code of Ethics or even South Bays employee handbook that says we shouldn’t practice outside of our scope? Take the warning and protect your mental and physical self! I’ve never worked for a company this horrible and it puts a bad name to a field I love. You have officially been warned. By the way If you take the health insurance, you’ll get a good plan but good luck finding time to utilize it and take care of your own medical needs.
Advice to Management
Get a clue! These reviews are giving you all the information you need about how your current and former employees feel. People do not feel supported by management, are overwhelmed, not being compensated fairly and feeling burned out. Do something about it!
Doesn’t Recommend, Negative Outlook, Disapproves of CEO
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Jul 6, 2014
“Not patient-centered, not clinician-centered… they take advantage of the people they hire. Known to be abusive. ”

Current Employee – Senior Clinician in Brockton, MA
Pros
If you are a clinician, you have complete flexibility in creating your own schedule.
Cons
Outreach model, but do not reimburse expenses like gas. Nearly impossible to conduct actual, empirically supported therapy approaches. Many, many, many hours of paperwork due weekly; if you do it in session, you are not doing therapy. If you do it on your own time, it is not billable. No time to prep in between sessions. There are no office rooms to conduct therapy, no space in office to do paperwork. Hour sessions are expected; thus, clients are scheduled back to back with no breaks. It is a money-making factory for administration; clinicians are taken advantage of and underpaid and overworked compared to other clinics. For lots of administrative reasons, many clinicians experience a very high no-show rate.
Advice to Management
Look at what other comparable companies are doing. Pay more. Demand less.
Doesn’t Recommend, Neutral Outlook, Disapproves of CEO
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Jun 24, 2014
“It’s not worth it to work there ”

Former Employee – Staff Therapist/Mental Health Counselor
Pros
Had assistance in managing my time to see clients
Cons
Work-life Balance was very poor-I worked 7 days a week just to make up the hours so that way I actually got paid a somewhat decent paycheck. If you didn’t get a co-pay from the client (which YOU’RE ARE NOT LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR GETTING) because they didn’t have it that week, the you had money taken out of your paycheck and penalized; as well as if you forgot to get one of the CRAZY AMOUNT of paperwork signed by the client. There is currently a lawsuit which the plaintiff WON because of the ILLEGAL practices around paying staff therapists.

Supervision time was only for an hour at week, if that-the only thing that was focused on during the supervision time was your schedule, why you didn’t see a specific client that week, your billable hours, your HELDS FROM YOUR PAYCHECK-By the way, if you had over a certain amount of “HELDS” on your paycheck then management would WRITE YOU UP-No Pressure right? On top of ALL of the other pressures you had working with people for a living. Almost NONE of the time was taken to actually talk in supervision about the clients. I had over 30 clients I saw within the week to.

The culture of the office was poor and everyone always complained about someone or how they were being treated. It was a very negative environment to work in and brought me down as well as my physical and mental health. I gained I believe over 20 pounds during this job just because I never had time to eat during the day and would stuff my face at night and never enough time to exercise. The agency is big on self-care BUT THEY NEVER GAVE ANY TIME FOR SELF-CARE WHATSOEVER.
Advice to Management
Please consider the positions you put your clinicians in-The job should be about supporting the clinician, giving them a decent SALARY, and not BURNING THE CLINICIAN OUT until you milk them for all they’re worth and they then quit-that should not be how a company is run.
Doesn’t Recommend, Negative Outlook, Disapproves of CEO
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Jun 11, 2014
“”KEEP YOUR SANITY AND SELF RESPECT. DONT DO IT!!” ”

Current Employee – Billing
Pros
There are a few really great staff members. And getting to know some of the clients presents to be rewarding.
Cons
There isnt a nice way to tell you that this company is nothing but a “human cattle pusher”. The revolving door for staff and clients no matter what the cost is plain sickening. I think the worse part about being an employee here is the lack of appreciation and or pay for all that you do. You have people in positions of great power that dont know whether to wind their butt or scratch their watch and constantly make things a lot more difficult then they need to be. Then you have other employees that would rather throw you under a bus then actually admit to their own faults (supervisors are great for this as well). You feel unsafe a majority of the time because the rules and regulations they give you are not to protect you from harm but to protect the company from a lawsuit. There is no compassion for any employee here so better not fall ill or have any children fall ill after all your time is gone because that will lead to either 12 hour days to make up for it or termination. They will lie to you in an interview and lead you to believe that the possibilities of growth are endless in this company and yet they will give you a bad review every year just so they dont have to consider you for another position or raise your pay a meesly $0.25. Its not worth it here. I pray that one day someone takes this company to its knees and makes them change their greedy, money hungry ways so the clients can receive actual care and employees can do the job they went to school for and some how make a difference in this scary world.
Advice to Management
Hire Managers and Program Directors that know their jobs and at least embody a small portion of empathy and appreciation for the employees under them. Look at what you feel your job is worth and ask yourself what all the other jobs actually entail. Are you paying nearly enough to the people who work for you. CARE MORE ABOUT YOUR CLIENTS AND EMPLOYEES
Doesn’t Recommend, Negative Outlook, No opinion of CEO
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Jun 9, 2014
“Don’t Waste Your Time ”

Former Employee – Developmental Specialist in Lowell, MA
Pros
Working with the families is the best part. However the company seems only focused on bringing their numbers up. They want to acquire more families but don’t have the resources to allow dedicated services to them. At weekly team (mandatory unpaid) meetings they harp on how they need more families and being disappointed when they don’t get referrals.
Cons
If you don’t make 20 hours a week you lose full time status including benefits. However it is difficult due to cancellations, no shows, and you don’t get paid unless you’re face to face with a client. No reimbursement for mileage (and you will go through a tank if not more a week.) Being placed in unsafe households, there was a time I have witnessed domestic abuse, drug abuse but you are still expected to go there every week. Forced unpaid weekly supervisions that would be helpful once a month but it takes time out of your schedule where your supervisor (who has little training) forces crunching numbers and will add cases to your case load when you physically do not have the time to see every family. If you get a no show it is your fault, and “why didn’t you make up that hour?” Seeing 22 families a week is near impossible.
Advice to Management
Train supervisors better, the salary model is better but not evenly disbursed based on value of employee. Weekly supervisions seem unnecessary. Supervisors make clinicians feel just a number pusher and don’t understand when you need to transfer cases without jumping through hoops. I now understand why people leave so fast in this job, I’m thankful I did.
Doesn’t Recommend, Negative Outlook, No opinion of CEO
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Jun 2, 2014
“Class Action Lawsuit ”

Current Employee – Staff Therapist/Mental Health Counselor
Pros
Staff are great when you see them. Such a revolving door – don’t get attached.
Cons
Turnover is huge. It affects staff morale and client care. There is a class action lawsuit going on now too because staff didn’t make minimum wage when they started. This says a lot about a company. They treat you like cattle, not like a person.
Advice to Management
Treat people like human beings. Hopefully the lawsuit will help make some change.
Doesn’t Recommend, Negative Outlook, Disapproves of CEO
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Apr 28, 2014
“Great on your resume…. like a Medal of Honor ”

Former Employee – Anonymous in Worcester, MA
Pros
Amazing staff. The staff there are genuinely invested in their clients, and each other.
Cons
Underqualified people making major decisions, and are nothing but puppets. Any good intentions that may have been there have been wiped out and replaced with robotic actions. Can’t keep a licensed clinician on staff for more than 6 months at a time due unreasonable, unachievable quotas and stepford-like expectations. No breaks of any kind, ever. You will be chastised for closing office doors, or going downstairs for coffee. You will be told to use the lavatory to make personal phone calls because there is no break room, and you can’t close the door in any room for privacy, because it’s a ‘milieu’. This is a numbers-focused company. You better get those clients in the door! Because the higher ups get paid a bonus for any open cases. So good luck trying to discharge a client without jumping through many, many hoops, and still provide good client care to the ones that do show up, because you also will not have access to enough phones or computers to do the mounds of tedious, redundant paperwork required. (5 computers available to 9 direct-care staff and 2 interns. Mind you, 2 of those computers are CONSTANTLY in use by specific people, so actually 3 computers to 7 staff and 2 interns) Now remember that you’re running groups all day, with 15 minutes in between groups, and an hour and a half at the end of the day (except Fridays. That’s MANDATORY staff meeting.from 3:15-4:30) to complete at least 3 ‘events’ (team meeting or outreach), call ALL absent clients and/or their collaterals, schedule your team meetings, and complete your IAPs. Oh, and don’t forget an hour each week of supervision….more than likely by someone less qualified than you….to discuss how your numbers need to come up. It is made clear that you are expendable, and you will not be provided with any type of self-defense strategies despite the enrollment of violent individuals into the Program. You will be called or texted on your sick and personal days, and you will be guilted into coming in despite broken bones, emotional exhaustion, or highly communicable diseases. And you will not be given a forum to air your grievances amongst your peers under any conditions. If you need hours under your belt, forget that too. Clinical supervision is rarely available, and has almost cost people their licensure. Please, do yourself a favor, and stay away. They will drain your morale faster than you can say “extremely high turnover”. In 1 year, 6+ people quit. In 3 years’ time, they lost 15+ people. 2 of which just never came back. This place breaks you. It’s horrible.
Advice to Management
Treat your staff like human beings, not cattle. Remember, if your staff feels relaxed and supported, they will be more able to focus on clients. Thereby increasing productivity, decreasing absences of both staff and clients, and, imagine…. bring up those all- important numbers!
Doesn’t Recommend, Negative Outlook, Disapproves of CEO
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Apr 18, 2014
“Do NOT work here! ”

Former Employee – Developmental Specialist in Lowell, MA
Pros
Good experience to further your career somewhere else. Free trainings.
Cons
Fee for service. You have to drive all over the Lowell area. Unsafe environment and management makes you work alone in to the night. You are only paid when clients are actually home (many would not even answer their door). They constantly mess up your paychecks and you do not get paid for a lot that you do. You do not get paid for all the paperwork and meetings you have to do which is about 15 hours a week. I would work about 50 hours a week and only get paid for 12 of them. This place takes advantage of young, intelligent women newly out of school.
Advice to Management
This should not be a fee for service job. This should be a salaried job to make it much more stable for the employees. It is very unsafe!
Doesn’t Recommend, Negative Outlook, No opinion of CEO
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Apr 18, 2014
“Like others have said- RUNNN!! ”

Former Employee – Family Service Provider in Lynn, MA
Pros
The ONLY good thing about this job were the co-workers. There was a deep hate about this company from everyone, so it was easy to bond with others. Don’t get caught saying anything negative though- Including saying you’re having a bad day- because you WILL be written up for it.
Cons
This place is ridiculous. Every single employee here hates their job, and it is because the site is supervised by unprofessional, unlicensed, money hungry clinicians. The supervisors there only care about how many hours you are scheduling… and that is because they get a huge percentage of the cut. They will start you at $25-28 dollars an hour, but you will end up billing between 23-30 hours. It is fee for service so you only get paid what you state that you physically did on paper. You will get yelled at weekly if you do not schedule/bill enough hours or see enough clients, even though this is not our fault. The clients constantly no-show which means no money for you!! :)

You have to work holidays, drive all over different cities without being reimbursed for gas (which other companies will pay you), unpaid supervision and trainings, and you have to schedule DOUBLE HOURS for weeks to take a one week vacation eventually.

There cannot be enough said about how bad this company is. They are selfish and do not care about their clients, worst of all. The turnover rate is SO high, and these poor clients have a new clinician every 3-6 months and have to START over completely.

Unfortunately, this place will always be able to hire people. There will always be a new grad in need of supervision hours for their license, so they will not change how they are. Elliot is pretty close to most south bay’s and offer better benefits. You will get burnt out and no showed weekly. Do not be fooled.
Advice to Management
Get people who know what their doing to run the offices. Management is shady and immature- they will yell at you for anything. Lose the fee for service and start salary. Start paying people for their no shows and gas. Just stop running this company like you have been.
Doesn’t Recommend, Negative Outlook, Disapproves of CEO
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Apr 13, 2014
“Do your homework before entering this job. ”

Current Employee – Mental Health Counselor in Lowell, MA
Pros
Job Experience, License supervision after 3 months, clients and impact on their lives, Health Insurance after 3 months.
Cons
I am going to try to be fair as possible when it comes to this review. South Bay has been reviewed many times in the past. Their reviews are usually negative. I will start off by saying that I learned a lot At South Bay. They gave me the experience that I needed to learn my craft. . Yet, there is a price for it. You are destine to be burnt out by your first 6 months. Getting your license for this profession is really difficult…South Bay uses that for their gain. One reviewer described their experience at South Bay as an abusive relationship. I agree with that assessment. By the time you end you employment (there is no future in this job. If you think there is? Please do your homework on this company), you will be physically, mentally and emotionally drained (not by the clients, but the company itself). So, let’s start the review with this company.
Part one: South Bay goals: to make money off the blood and sweat of their clinicians. What does that consist of? South Bay will promise a good salary. That is not necessary true. At this time, South Bay is fee for Service. Client does not show up. You do not get paid. Yet, here is the catch, Production…South Bay demands you to set up 30 clients (remember 30 hours), yet your bench mark is 23 and the lowest you can go is 20 without losing your health insurance and license supervision.So, the reason South Bay sets these benchmarks is that they know the high no show rate. You set up 30; you will be lucky to see 23. There is high no show rate. Now comes the paperwork. Your life is going to be run by paperwork. You will not see your friends. First off, the average amount of hours a therapist works at South Bay is 12 hours a day (read previous reviews and ask ex employees). Most of it is paperwork. If you do not finish paperwork to perfection or on time, they hold payment. No electronic system, just pen and paper. If you do not use black ink or it runs out, you do not get paid… Also, prepare no lunch breaks, bathroom breaks, sometimes the woods is your best friend. Now, 12 hours a day times 5 days is 60 hours a week plus. Also, that does not include weekends.. However, South Bay does not pay for the following: gas, car repairs, and materials for clients or yourself. My Gas bill for my car per week was over $60.00-70.00. First Year, I drove over 28,000 miles. This was all South Bay millage. Also, the first 3 months: no health insurance, supervision that counts for license, sick time. After 3 months you get health insurance. The health insurance is decent. However your first year working at South Bay: no holiday time, vacation time, bereavement, or sick time. I could not pay my bills on time (ever)!!. Part Two: Supervisors and Supervision: South Bay has some good supervisors. Yet, most of them are inexperienced. The Supervisors goals are to produce numbers. You meet for and hour with a supervisor (this does not count for license hours) and you talk about why you did not see clients. (Snow storm and streets close, so what? Why did you not see client. No show, your fault. If you do not see 20-23, you lose your health insurance and license supervision. Advocate, because South bay will not give you license supervision unless you ask after 3rd month of working. By the way, the reason it takes 3 months is because most therapist leave by that time. Then comes the real supervision. License Supervision, I recommend it. It was the only time I felt like someone care and was on my side. Too bad you have to wait 3 months to get it. Also, South Bay tries to use that as a selling point: most places offer License supervision for free. Yet, I work for South bay for over year, had several supervisors. In general, most therapists will leave the Job due to inexperience supervisors. A Side Note: Supervisors are posting positive reviews on Job sites. The reason for this is because of South Bay’s reputation. For example, read all the positive ones in this site: very vague language does not go into great detail on the job and what they like (well except that they like helping people) or dislike (job can be hard, no kidding, tell us why). Be aware of positive reviews. My challenge to you, the reader, ask DCF, Schools, other clients, professors, collaterals, and clinicians how they feel about South bay? You will get the real story. Most common complaints are: high turnover. So what does that say if there is a high turn over on a company? Yes, I cannot tell you how many times I would hear the client say, “ You are my 8 therapist “. The sad part about it is that it impacts the clients.
Part 3: Other thoughts and the profession: Beware of Bedbugs,roaches and fleas. South bay does not reimburse if you get them. Also, if you are looking for certain population, you will not get it at South Bay. Most of your clients will be Kids. Also, be aware of safety issues. You will go into places that are sketchy at best. It is difficult to meet client at office due to space. Also, if you are thinking of relocation or giving up your other job, please, this is not a future or stable place to work for. I cannot tell you how many clinicians I have seen get fired or quit that resulted of them being almost homeless. The mentality here is getting the experience and license hours and get out. I have met some great co-workers and some that I will not comment on. Like I said, I have learned a lot. But, I paid a price: no time with family and love ones, gained weight, lost sleep, and no self care. South Bay does not believe in Self Care. I also want to warn the new graduates, many reviewers complain about Fee for Service. I did not focus on it because South bay is changing their model to salary. This does not change anything.The salary is the same as before. The only difference now is that the supervisor can say that you are getting paid for paperwork. Remember, 50-60 hours a week (no overtime), plus week ends (sometimes 80 hours a week: again no overtime).. Do your homework and ask around about this company. I wish you well….
Advice to Management
Emphasize employment growth, respect your therapist and clients and maybe re-evalulate your emphasis on numbers ….
Doesn’t Recommend, Negative Outlook, Disapproves of CEO
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Apr 11, 2014
“It was the worst place I have ever worked, they are not good to their employees or their clients. ”

Former Employee – Doctor Support in Plymouth, MA
Pros
When I look around, I know I’m the smartest person in the room.
Cons
Just getting through the day most days is a miracle!!!
Advice to Management
Please Please Please go into the Plymouth Office around 5PM on a Friday night….Oh wait no one in upper management is around then, everyone is gone by 3, leaving the Doctor support alone by themselves with people that aren’t always stable. VERY dangerous place to work. And you get paid PEANUTS……
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Apr 12, 2014
“One Star is Being Generous! ”

Former Employee – Developmental Specialist in Lowell, MA
Pros
Working with families is the best part, but it is not appreciated by the company which is sad. I also feel South Bay wants to keep the families down in need of counseling for life….more money for them…
Cons
EVERYTHING. I have to be blunt: you will work for idiots. Supervisors are incompetent. How did they get in their position???? I do not know one person who worked with me other than the brain-dead robotic supervisors that were happy in their job…everyone was dying to get out.
Advice to Management
Fire the supervisory staff…they are RUINING your company. I have never been in employment before in such a massively negative work environment.
Doesn’t Recommend, Negative Outlook, Disapproves of CEO
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Apr 3, 2014
“Staff Therapist in MA for less than a year ”

Former Employee – Anonymous Employee
Pros
Nice coworkers who were supportive of each other and cared about their clients.
Cons
What can I say that hasn’t already been said? I found the supervisors patronizing and controlling. During supervision, the entire focus was always on the paperwork, and how many hours I billed that week. We never once talked about an actual clinical issue. I worked 10-12 hours days often, and was lucky if I got paid for half of that time. There was no mileage reimbursement, no cell phone provided. It was a terrible place to work. Fee for service clinicians are treated like crap, to put it bluntly.
Advice to Management
Please, start treating your employees better. Your current business model is terrible. Do you think it’s good for clients that there is such a high turn over rate??
Disapproves of CEO
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Mar 12, 2014
“A_W_F_U_L!!!! ”

Current Employee – Early Intervention Nurse in Lowell, MA
Pros
The families in crisis we work with.
Cons
Everything else! Worst administration ever….they must be hiring relatives that are incapable of working anywhere else. If you want to be treated like utter sh-t, work for South Bay…
Advice to Management
Notice your employees are humans. Be positive, all the negativity is tiresome.
Doesn’t Recommend, Negative Outlook, Disapproves of CEO
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Feb 26, 2014
“Group Facilitator ”

Former Employee – Group Facilator in Worcester, MA
Pros
Great colleague support, receptionists were wonderful to workers, allowed to run groups as clinician saw the need, according to new reports, this has changed, clientele was challenging but also wonderful for the most part. Tightly-knit team for clinicians.
Cons
Parking was not convenient, being supervised from someone that holds a lesser degree was frustrating on all levels of my job, lack of clinical supervision, having to fill out paperwork while conducting group was impersonal and clients felt it, being available during the entire day often prohibited me from my own needs, such as eating lunch or toileting, creating certain “step-down phases” to be be able to bill longer for certain insurance clients, unreasonable expectations of outreaches, paperwork and time management, lack of faith/trust in employees thus making them feel replaceable and extendable, inappropriate behaviors of supervisor and breaches of employee/supervisory boundaries on a regular basis.
Advice to Management
So you have Associate level persons signing off on Partial Level Documentation. Masters levels interns can not run groups of any kind, but AS levels persons can run Partial Hospital groups, fill out PHP notes and call call in authorizations.
Doesn’t Recommend, Disapproves of CEO
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Oct 3, 2013
“Burn Out Guaranteed!!! ”

Former Employee – Anonymous Employee
Pros
You get the privilege of working with some very interesting families that challenge you as well as some great co-workers.
Cons
South Bay Mental Health drew me in due to what seemed like a great amount of caring for the disadvantaged population. I really value outreach work which is what much of the work is. Though the agency seems to have a great mission statement they really run their workers raged. The fee for services model generally is not a good one, if the clients don’t show up you don’t get paid. They mislead you about it somewhat in the interviews how much it happens. The population we serve is dealing with so many different issues, d/v, homelessness, and many other services too balance that sometimes appointments are not a high priority. The expectation is that when some one cancels or you get to their home and they are not there that you call up another client to see if you can see them instead. This was something I did not find comfortable doing, it seemed very disrespectful of the clients time too assume that they would be ready to see you at anytime.

Overall I came to feel like focus was not on the best care of clients but on maintaining a high number of billable hours. The clients were seen on the basis of if the clinician needed hours not if they required care. Sometimes clients would be seen several times a week when not needed only to give the clinician a high amount of billable hours for that week. When at the same times some clients would go 2 or 3 months without having a therapist due to the high turn over rate. There were clients who went through 3 therapists within a span of less then 6 months due to the high turnover rate. They broke rules of CBHI laws having bachelors level clinicians work on cases without a masters level clinician due to the revolving door.

The reasons why the turnover rate was so high was due to the long hours the clinicians were required to put in but low pay. I very regularly had 12 hour days but only got paid for about 4 or 5 of those hours since driving time, meetings, supervisions and training’s are not paid for. We are given no vacation time, sick time, I was scolded for not coming in the day of the lockdown after the Boston marathon due and told to plan better next time something like that happened. Clinicians are scolded for not being able to make the minimum billable hours and told to be more proactive when many times not making hours happens for a variety of different reasons way out of the clinicians control.
Advice to Management
Make the agency be less focused on billable hours. Pay for meetings, supervisions, training’s, driving time becuase that is all time that the employees devote to the company.
Doesn’t Recommend, Negative Outlook, Disapproves of CEO

 

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