Brattleboro Retreat (environment, health insurance, debt)

[arel]

Dos anyone have experience with the Brattleboro Retreat? Is it a good place to work? Does it pay decently? Is the ambience friendly and calm? Or is the ambience hyper and stressful? Is the administration concerned about the patients and about the employees? I'm sure there are different answers for different programs, but I'd like any information anyone can provide.

If I move up to Brattleboro, that's the first place I will consider for work. Of course, I will want a job lined up before I move, as posters have strongly recommended, but right now I am researching.

Thanks.

[carolinajack]

well they have jobs online at the Brattleboro Retreat so you can apply before you move. I was up there last weekend, the Retreat is awesome, i would take a job there in a heartbeat but they dont have affordable housing for us in the Social Services and Nonprofits. sadly

[arel]

I've been to their website, but the jobs pages do not provide salary information.

I've also asked about the Retreat on iBrattleboro.com. Let's see what locals have to say.

They do so much cutting edge stuff at the outpatient clinic.

The Retreat is one of the things that originally attracted me to Brattleboro.

I know about the housing issues in the area.

[carolinajack]

do you have to know the salary? when you apply or talk to someone personally i am sure they will tell you

[mackymoo]

I worked at the Retreat for 6 years. I left the job last June, although I wish it had been much sooner. It's a very questionable place in terms of administration. Jobs cuts happen every year. The CEO makes tons of money while they are millions in debt.
Let me know if your interested in hearing more.

[arel]

Yes, I would very much like to hear more. Feel free to PM me if you like.

I have heard that the place has changed, though.

[arel]

It is over a year since the previous post on this thread.

I have discovered that few employees and even some former employees want to share their experiences when I ask what it is like to work at the Retreat.

Does anyone know if there is a systematic reason for this?

My sample is not big enough for generalization, but I find this tendency disturbing. It is tempting to draw inferences from this, but it may mean nothing and I don't want to jump to unwarranted conclusions.

Mackeymoo, are you still on the Forum?

[bratt]

Originally Posted by arel

It is over a year since the previous post on this thread.

I have discovered that few employees and even some former employees want to share their experiences when I ask what it is like to work at the Retreat.

Does anyone know if there is a systematic reason for this?

Yes. Management is extremely toxic at the Brattleboro Retreat. They run a caste system here...

The VP of patient care (VPPC) has made work extremely difficult for housekeeping and mental health workers (MHWs) by instituting a sleeve-type sheet that you need two or sometimes even three employees to struggle putting it on the mattress and taking it off the mattress. There is no top sheet and patients have to sleep with very itchy blankets.

Patients in the detox unit have to share the unit with patients who belong in an acute psychiatric unit. The detox patients are not allowed to wear shoelaces and you often see them tripping over the tongues of their shoes at work. What is even worse is that these same patients who attend AA meetings in town are not allowed to wear shoelaces and it has become a standard joke in town that these are the new VP retreat detox caste shoes...

The VPPC of patient care is attempting to have all MHWs do the bulk of the dirty work while her precious charge nurses bask within a special VPPC assigned pedastal bubble.

Fortunately, there are still a few good charge nurses that have refused to work in this manner and do particpate in positive team work with MHWs.

The CEO is clueless concerning what is going on around this place. Charge nurses are allowed to abuse MHWs emotionally and mentally. The turnover rate is very high and it is difficult to keep new MHWs because of the abuses by management and the charge nurses.

There is no MHW confidentiality with some unit managers. They discuss and talk about private matters concerning any MHW that they do not personally like or want removed from employment here. These same unit managers subscribe to defamation of character tactics and attempt to grind the employee down by passing rumors to charge nurses, who in turn gossip private matters about the targeted employee.

Most long term employees are afraid to say anything about what is going on because they have been around long enough to know that they will lose their jobs, regardless of having a union here.

I can't give any specific examples because I am still employed here.

I hope that helped!
Bratt in Bratt

[Asta]

I worked there, left, then went back, and I have finally left for good. So now I can say it, and I won't get in trouble. I agree that upper level management at the Retreat is toxic. Caste system is a good way to put it. I have seen other employees treated very shabbily by upper level management. Also, some of the long-term employees perceive change and progress as a threat to the comfortable routines that they have followed for 20 to 30+ years. Thankfully I was able to keep my nose clean and got along with most everyone while I was there.

The other reason I decided to leave is salary. The longer I worked there, the less money I was bringing home. As far as the union, the salary package they agreed to for union employees was: in 2008, a 1% pay increase across the board, in 2009, 2%, and in 2010 it will be an additional 1% on the anniversary of your hire date. If you were hired in December, too bad. Meanwhile health insurance rates have almost doubled for some employees. I liked my job and my coworkers, and was sad to go. But I couldn't stay in good conscience any more.

[arel]

Wow. Very sobering posts. I had a gut sense that the place was an uncomfortable place to work. I based this on what people said, what people didn't say and the feelings I got around the place. I have even felt tense and uncomfortable when simply driving by.

So it wasn't my imagination.

Sad. The environment described seems so at odds with the decency, openness and sense of community that Brattleboro is known for.

I wonder how they treat social workers.

At this stage of my life and career, I do not want to tolerate abusive workplaces.

I wonder where else I can work in the area as a clinical social worker. I can't put out a shingle of my own until I make myself known to referral sources.

I hope I don't have to leave Brattleboro after a year because I can't find decent work. I also hope I don't have to commute to Northampton, Keene or the Upper Valley. If I have to work an hour or more away, and I haven't fallen so in love with Brattleboro culture that I would accept such a commute, I might just as well move closer to the job. Or move back to Rhode Island (where I used to live and where I have friends) or even back to Brookyn, where my professional contacts are.

Any recommendations?

Thanks for the honest comments about the Retreat.