Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Troubled Teen Industry
tampa bay academy
Ursus:
Here's the companion piece to the just above article, "Tampa Bay Academy Reaches Settlement..." Unlike previous companion pieces in this series, the scope of this one expands the subject considerably. Looks like an interview with Rich Warden, the academy's chief executive, became available in the interim.
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In Deal, Academy Must Fix Problems
By ADAM EMERSON aemerson@tampatrib.com
Published: January 16, 2009
Updated: 01/16/2009 12:45 am
The state reached a settlement with troubled Tampa Bay Academy that allows its mental health center to admit children if it pays a $50,000 fine and meets every standard set by regulators.
Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration gave the academy six months to fix everything it found wrong when inspectors visited the academy last month. The settlement, released Thursday by state officials, even forces the Riverview center to fix problems inspectors did not cite.
If it wants to keep its license to operate, it can't even have a broken window.
As first reported on TBO.com, Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration found "substandard" conditions at the academy's residential treatment program. Inspectors unearthed evidence that residents sexually preyed on workers and on each other - all made easier by the failures of a poorly trained and inadequate staff.
Fifty-four children were enrolled at the academy's treatment program, and all have been placed in other centers. A group home program and a charter school on the academy's campus were not affected by the agency's order.
While the settlement gives back the license, it restricts Tampa Bay Academy to admitting patients only gradually.
A snap inspection in the near future will show whether the academy is complying with the law and with the health care standards set by regulators.
If everything's OK, the treatment program can enroll up to 20 children during the next six months. After that, the state will remove all restrictions if it finds the academy repaired all that went wrong.
To meet those demands, the academy must increase its staff. Inspectors last month, and on several occasions during the past few years, found a lack of employees to treat children who suffered from severe mental illness. One inspection noted that some workers sometimes cowered behind closed doors.
But the academy laid off about 140 workers after it faced sanctions by the state and lost nearly a third of the children in its care.
Rich Warden, the academy's chief executive, said he hopes to eventually fill all the positions he emptied. He won't fill them with everyone he let go, however.
Some of the employees he fired contributed to the problems, he said. Warden said he wants to bring back those who performed well and recruit others who can handle the type of patients the academy enrolls.
Warden added, though, that the academy may begin enrolling a different type of patient.
"We might be a little more conservative with the type of child we might take," he said. "The more challenging, the more aggressive kids - we might be slow to admit."
The academy won't try to bring back the children it lost to other mental health centers, Warden said.
"It was disruptive for kids to move the first time," he said. "We wouldn't want to further disrupt their treatment."
Last week, Warden sent regulators a 470-page correction plan, assuring them the center will schedule enough workers and report incidents immediately to law enforcement when necessary.
In 2005, the academy made a similar plea to the Department of Children & Families, which then regulated the treatment center. DCF stopped the academy from admitting new patients for three months after finding many of the same problems the Health Care Administration found last month: inadequate staffing, abuse complaints and an alleged sexual assault on a patient.
Satisfied with the results of subsequent inspections, DCF later allowed the academy to resume admissions.
In its settlement agreement, the Health Care Administration said the academy "cooperated fully" with the efforts to remove its children. The settlement also notes the academy took some measures to improve the quality of its care before it was sanctioned.
Warden was hired as the chief executive in November, one month before regulators moved to suspend the academy's license.
Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285.
©2009 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC.
Ursus:
Comments for the above article, "In Deal, Academy Must Fix Problems" (by Adam Emerson; The Tampa Tribune; Jan. 16, 2009):
Posted by ( thehonestchick ) on 02/05/2009 at 09:58 pm.
50,000 doesn't repair the damage done to the kids who endured the damage! Goes to show you, it's all who you know......
©2009 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC.
Anonymous:
What's 50 grand to a million dollar "binnis"? I'm sure it cost them that a month just to maintain that spread!
Does anyone know how thier group works? Is it synannon based or twelve step or what? Tough love and tourture or psychobabble. Does this place quallify as a "cult", or just a cash cow?
And once again your efforts are greatly appreciated
Ursus:
--- Quote from: "none-ya" ---What's 50 grand to a million dollar "binnis"? I'm sure it cost them that a month just to maintain that spread!
Does anyone know how thier group works? Is it synannon based or twelve step or what? Tough love and tourture or psychobabble. Does this place quallify as a "cult", or just a cash cow?
And once again your efforts are greatly appreciated
--- End quote ---
I would tentatively call Youth and Family Centered Services a "cash cow" enterprise, although individual programs within their "empire" might well have their own cultic schtick. It looks like they try to buy up programs and psychiatric hospitals, and milk them for what they can. I don't think there is a whole lot of ideological investment in the process, as far as corporate sees it. But... I haven't researched them enough to say that emphatically.
From their website:
THE CONTINUUM OF CARE.
YFCS is dedicated to providing affordable and successful health, education and life skills to infants, children and adolescents who have been abused, neglected and are intellectually, emotionally and behaviorally challenged.
INVESTMENTS IN THE FUTURE.
YFCS was founded expressly to provide services to disadvantaged infants, children and adolescents through the acquisition of specialized service companies throughout the country. Its emphasis on offering quality services at fair prices serves the interests of its patients, its payors, and -- in the long term -- the society at large.
STAYING TRUE TO OUR MISSION.
By helping children and adolescents who need it most, YFCS offers hope not only for them, but for all of us. The service and care provided by YFCS facilities can prevent today's troubled youth from becoming tomorrow's prisoners, or abusive parents, or even major health risks. And that can reduce the price we all pay.[/list]
Btw, not sure if it was clear from the text, but that program PsychSolutions mentioned a few articles back, where a snap inspection found the person responsible for overseeing the floor ... holed up in his office reading a novel ... well, that happens to be another of YFCS's programs.
Ursus:
Looks they're primarily CBT-focused and that they use TCI Restraints. Could be worse. But, it's all in the "application," eh?
From their Services page:
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INTEGRATED CARE, IMPROVED OUTCOMES.
YFCS offers an integrated approach to treatment that helps to achieve positive outcomes for patients. Our clinical philosophy centers on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which is based on the premise that changing maladaptive thinking is the key to overcoming negative feelings and behaviors in children and adolescents.
Our facilities and programs rely on coordinated interventions by multidisciplinary teams to deliver care. In addition to being guided by CBT, our teams are fully trained in therapeutic crisis intervention (TCI). Developed by Cornell University, TCI is aimed at minimizing the need to restrain or seclude children as part of treatment. TCI has helped YFCS achieve significant system-wide reductions in both restraints and seclusions.
Education is an integral part of our comprehensive approach to treating abused and neglected children. We operate accredited and chartered schools for special education, and we believe that teachers have a vital part to play in children's overall care. Teachers are part of our interdisciplinary treatment teams, bringing to the process unique and valuable information, observations, and perspectives about children's behavior.
Finally, we believe that the true measure of what we do is in the outcomes we achieve for the children. Since the company’s founding in 1997, we have achieved thousands of successful treatment completions, as evidenced by discharges to lower levels of care, higher educational testing scores, and improved clinical results. Collecting outcomes data and using it to improve what we do is of paramount importance to us, and we participate fully in JCAHO initiatives for evaluating performance based on outcomes.
Health Care
* Acute and subacute psychiatric
* 23-hour observation
* Medical residential treatment centers
* Psycho-social residential treatment centers
* Partial hospital programs
* Day treatment
* Intensive outpatient programs
* Community Based Services
* Community Integration Programs
* Alcohol and other drugs (AOD)
* Diagnostic EvaluationsEducational Programs
* Academic study and vocational training
* Accredited schools
* GED preparation, vocational education, life-skills instruction
* School-based intervention and assessment
* Charter schoolsAlternative Living Environments
* Placement in group homes
* Independent living
* Therapeutic foster care
* Long term placementSpecialized Services
* Conduct Disorders
* Juvenile Sex Offender (JSO)
* Services for the Mentally Retarded/Developmentally Disabled (MR/DD)
* Autism spectrum disorders[/size]
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