Pros
Slightly higher pay (However, this is misleading, as when you factor in only 3 sick days, 3 paid holidays, 5 days PTO/year, no dental and vision, most likely an extensive commute, no government stipend that many community mental health jobs offer, and the fact that no benefits start until 60 days, it ends up being a lot less than you believe). The only real pro I can recall is the amazing frontline staff (therapists, techs, chefs, case manager, etc.) who break their backs to try to provide at least a modicum of treatment to clients for however short of a period most employees stay here. This includes 2 groups and 1-2 therapy session a day, which is standard for a private treatment program.
Cons
I honestly am at a loss for where to begin. I have worked for toxic DMH contracted environments in the past, but I have never seen anything like this. I think I can best express the cons by sharing my experience...I should probably start at the beginning: I was brought on for a management role. I believe they created this role just for me, as the owner felt that, while I couldn’t yet supervise interns/associates due to lacking 2 years post licensure, I could be useful in helping to organize the program and substitute for sessions/groups when needed. I was also told they were about to re-open their Outpatient program, and that I would help to run it. Even before I began working, there were problems. The CEO was lying about what happened to past directors and the HR person with whom I was communicating with “went away.” There was barely any screening process (a quick phone conversation and a 10 minute meeting with the CFO, no references, no tier interviews, no assessments..nothing), which seems bizarre for being offered a "high ranking Management" position…a lot of red flags before I even began. After I began, I discovered that there were hardly any benefits (which I should have asked in more detail about, so that was my fault, but still highly underhanded of an employer to not mention when benefits are so noticeably below the average set of benefits from other mental health providers). I’m talking 3 sick days, 3 paid holidays, and 1 week PTO per year, with health insurance that you’re not eligible for until 60 days (average is usually 30 days, especially for most mental health provider companies). No dental or vision.. I was also told that I would be reimbursed for driving between houses, as there were 3 houses the program operated. I found out later that was a lie (Do you know how frustrating it is to tack on 15 miles to your already extensive commute each day without any reimbursement? Most companies reimburse for something like this). The CEO and other management seemed to never to be on the same page. It was difficult for me find my footing with regards to what I was even supposed to be doing half the time. For the majority of time, I was covering groups, doing individual therapy, and auditing charts. I would get texts in the morning about “reminders” to show up to cover a group (scheduling that was never relayed to me), only to show up and find someone was already covering it. I would constantly be berated in a passive aggressive manner by other management for following the directions given to me by the CEO. For pretty much the majority of my stay, it seems I was always stuck in the middle between one set of directions and the CEO’s directions. I even began to CC both one set of management and the CEO for any correspondence because it seemed like they honestly weren’t even communicating on many issues. I was told to report to one..then both…then the other….the lack of communication between management and the rest of the staff was nothing short of ridiculous. The left hand literally didn’t seem to know what the right hand was doing. I suggested having a meeting to help iron out the protocol to follow, but I guess the CEO was just too busy to include me…I spoke to the CEO only a small handful of times via phone (good luck ever actually getting to see her face outside of her stock photo on the company website, she’s like the Wizard of Oz..minus the hologram). She agreed that I was being underutilized for what I had been hired for (such as never even being given a phone for afterhours crisis intervention, which was part of my job description...not that I was complaining, but that's just further example of the complete disorganization..). She'd also be upset that I somehow didn’t read her mind and audit charts the way she thought I should, with only a general set of directions to follow, despite me always following her and my other director’s directions. By the way, the Director above me had only been there a month more than me... That’s another thing. The turnover rate is abysmal. I’ve truthfully never seen anything like it, and as I’ve mentioned, I’ve worked for several DMH contracted sites! During my less than 2 months with the company, I saw several HR personnel, countless techs, and a few therapists join and resign/be terminated. It was a constant revolving door . And I mean that in the literal sense. And this was across ALL Levels. The longest staff there were 2 therapists who were over a year, and one of them quit. And this isn’t even a big company! The team/treatment planning meetings would usually consist of discussing how to prolong client’s insurance coverage, even when therapists would express their concern that some clients needed a higher level of care or weren’t benefitting from their stay at the program. No joke, I sometimes began to think and worry that my position was simply to be a legal buffer for a lawsuit! I understand that any business needs revenue to stay open, but there were often highly concerning discussions between the contracted medical professional and the rest of the team that made me question if I should continue working there.. While the frontline staff did the best they could to provide treatment to clients, management seemed to bend over backwards for clients. It’s one thing to provide ancillary services (such as massages or Yoga sessions) for private pay clients; it’s a whole other thing to let certain residential clients operate by different rules altogether, such as being allowed to go on dates in the midst of a pandemic, while other clients could not be approved for a hike (how do you think this affects client’s perception of their stay and treatment at Elevation?). I noticed that many therapists would repeatedly stay after their assigned shift. This was due to the fact that the CEO would have client intakes after 3 pm at times, as people would call last minutes sometimes. In fact, part of my auditing duties was to help formulate a plan to help reduce the incidence of documents being completed late (such as the Bio-PsychoSocial, which takes at least 1 to 2 hours and needed to be done by a therapist on the day of intake). I had suggested limiting intakes to a certain time so that therapists could complete them in a timely manner, but apparently, that was not possible, because according to the CEO, Elevation is classified a step below a PHF facility/hospital and can’t limit intake times…or rather, the owner is unwilling to change the classification for purposes of not limiting potential clients, even if we’re not equipped to take them on. The owner would insist that staying late to complete client intakes is part of a salaried therapist’s duties (truth be told, I’m not sure if that’s part of their job description, but regardless, I believe they are being taken advantage of, as most would agree that staying beyond normal business hours should be due to emergencies, not late intakes, and especially when they happen on a regular, weekly basis). On the week that I was terminated, I was texted early on to meet with the CFO at the end of the week. When I asked why, I was told for purposes of “restructuring,” as one of the 3 houses had been closed due to a low census. The CFO mentioned that he had received several complaints from some clients that they didn’t like how I ran groups….mind you, nothing was ever brought up to me regarding this by any other staff, and I could not even discuss it in detail, as the CFO didn’t even know the specifics of anything. Mind you, I’m not saying clients have no right to have grievances, but you’re never going to appease every single client, and as I gathered, many clients would complain about anything and everything sometimes. How would I even correct something that was never brought up?..... Of course, I understood that I was merely an expendable patchwork hire, temporarily brought on to help fill in some holes, as they tend to do with so many countless others. They didn’t have any sort of idea of what to do with me the whole time I was there to justify my director salary, and they just needed people to fill in for random tasks due to their sheer level of chaos. Maybe they wanted to explore some options, but that would mean actually managing the business in a patient and effective manner. It's not like their finances drastically changed in month and a half of me being there. And if it was so precarious, then they probably should have thought twice about bringing on another "director." The whole termination and the reason given was such a farce when it's so painfully obvious that it is just in line with their short-term expendable hire policy. I think what really got me is that, up until even my last day (which I obviously knew was going to be my last day based on the ominous, strange text), I was still being emailed a direction to audit a set of documents in a particular way, which I did, ensuring that the company got every last drop out of me that they could before I had fulfilled my temporary, misguided purpose. I’m not sure how most people would interpret a termination process like that, but I feel that is disrespectful beyond any words…I honestly don't know how any business owner, regardless of their drive for profit, can operate with such little regard for decency and respect. The last thing I recall as I was gathering my belongings was the CEO speaking loudly on the phone with another staff member on how to hide/remove certain negative Yelp reviews..no joke..no embellishments. Not making it up for dramatic effect. Dead serious. I’m honestly in complete disbelief. Rather than discussing how to improve the overall organization of the company, this is what she considers as top priority. ..I don't even know if there's a way to even do that, but I guess it's important enough for them to discuss the possibility. I know this is long, but my goal isn’t to be vindictive. I’m upset (more with myself), but this isn’t my motivation for writing this review. Honestly, I would rather warn potential hires and spare people this kind of an experience. At least until the company does a complete 180. There’s no point for people to put themselves through this. No company is perfect, but I believe it’s our duty to warn each other of companies such as this..