[flu189]

I can relate to and appreciate the sentiment of selling off and leaving a home that you grew up in. Just remember there will always be memories and hopefully you have some fond ones. I know I do. Also, I know you have mentioned several times on concerns over winter driving. I have extensive experience with it and can suggest not to let the anxiety get to you, that's when you make mistakes. Read up on driving tips and techniques. Most people who have mishaps simply are just careless and reckless when it comes to speeds relative to conditions. Understand your vehicle, learn how to steer and understand skids and other loss of traction issues. Also, don't let other drivers cause uou to travel faster than you are comfortable or which conditions warrant. Even now, on back roads I frequently slow down and pull over to let the so called "expert" drivers pass. You will find out soon enough and smile when you see some of these idiots off in the ditch where to be quite honest they belong, hence keeping the roads safer for the others. Above all, when conditions get really bad with ice or visibility concerns you really have to ask yourself is this trip really essential. More often than not your answer will be no and you will stay off the road.

[lilmiss89]

I was a patient in the adolescant inpatient for a little over 4 months, and then i went to osgood 1. I also went to 2 other hospitals and another residental program. In many ways brattleboro retreat was the scariest of all the hospital i had attended. I dont think this was so much of a problem with the staff but with the way they did things there. Many of the staff members were very nice. I wont get into details unless their wanted but I will say that I personaly have considered going into the mental health field but i would not choose to work at the brattleboro retreat.

[bratt]

Originally Posted by 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.

.

I have not heard any complaints from social workers. The bulk of ongoing complaints and my observations are that they treat mental health workers like yesterday's dirt.

Staffing is atrocious on the acute child/adolescent units and nurse and MHW incident reports are very high. Administration is still mega overpaid and they under staff situations of high acuity. The current organizational structure would be a sociological project dream!

This place needs to be restructured and the source of abuse removed. It starts at the top and continues to trickle down. There is no end to the list of nasty rules that the VP of patient care institutes against staff.

Rules are not the same for everyone though! It depends on who you are and who you know. You can be a unit manager with very little education or psychiatric experience if you know the right people!

Aside from nasty administration - staff is wonderful considering that they work under such an unhealthy and derogatory administration. If administration could be replaced with administration that took care of staff then this place would be a very nice place to work.

Bratt~

[Asta]

I just received a union newsletter in the mail yesterday, something about trying to justify the expectation that mental health workers work thru their breaks. Like all the union newsletters, I glanced over it and then threw it out; now I wish I had kept it. I wonder when the next "reorganization" will be. I worked there for a very long time and was happy, until I experienced first-hand the coldheartedness, blatant disrespect, and downright selfishness of upper level management. I am still in the field, and I absolutely refuse to recommend the Retreat to anybody, under any circumstances.

[arel]

I have been told, by two independent sources, that the Retreat's new CEO is trying to turn things around.

Also, the Retreat is expanding, with several new programs.

http://http://www.reformer.com/ci_11975681?source=most_emailed (broken link)

If you want to see this article and have trouble accessing it from the above link, just google Brattleboro Retreat new programs

[Asta]

Originally Posted by arel

I have been told, by two independent sources, that the Retreat's new CEO is trying to turn things around.

Also, the Retreat is expanding, with several new programs.

http://http://www.reformer.com/ci_11975681?source=most_emailed (broken link)

If you want to see this article and have trouble accessing it from the above link, just google Brattleboro Retreat new programs

Simpson has been working on that initiative since he was hired back in 2006. It's a positive step to take (and it's about time!), but it doesn't take away the fact that the core of the problem at the Retreat is politics in management.

[arel]

That can be a hard culture to change.

I remember working at an agency where someone came in to clean things up. He ended up being forced out.

Eventually the agency died. I think the corruption and dysfunction were the major causes.

[bratt]

DO NOT WORK the child and adolescent units in the Tyler building. These two floors are under very bad unit management. Nepotism rules!

[bratt]

Originally Posted by Asta

I worked there for a very long time and was happy, until I experienced first-hand the coldheartedness, blatant disrespect, and downright selfishness of upper level management. I am still in the field, and I absolutely refuse to recommend the Retreat to anybody, under any circumstances.

The VP of patient care still hides in her office and passes out edicts on a regular basis. The place would have far more opportunity to be successful if they would just send her and the cronies she hired off with a nice severance package.

[arel]

So where is a good place nearby for a mental health professional to work?

HCRS? Monadnock Family Services in Keene? One of the nearby hospitals, e.g. Greenfield, Springfield, Grace Cottage?

I've heard that HCRS has a great staff, but a problematic administration.

The pay at the Retreat is low for social workers, much lower than in NYC, and, which is really galling, lower than the pay for nurses.

Clinical social workers need graduate degrees and licenses, but they can't strike and shut down a hospital the way nurses can. Maybe it is also a matter of supply and demand. I don't know.