As a former employee of Northwest BHS, I too, have comments to make. The policy for restraints is that ONLY a child who is in danger of hurting himself or someone else is to be restrained. All other forms of intervention are to be used first. I personally observed several of the supervisors initiate restraints unnecessarily. No, the children do not get restrained if they speak out of order, don't sit up straight, etc., but a non-compliance issue that I once observed was a child who had left his therapy group, and sat in the hallway, clearly angry. He simply refused to be monitored by a staff person. The clients are always monitored, for safety reasons, as many of the clients have severe mental health issues, whereupon they are prone to suicidal gestures/suicide attempts. Refusing to move is not dangerous. This child should not have been restrained. The child was not physically harmed in this action, but who can say the mental effects suffered from being held to the ground by 5 people, then lifted and carried to a room where your ankles and wrists are strapped to a bed. This is a very rare occurrence at the facility, but it does happen.
I agree with the other former employee that most of the staff implementing the program are wonderful capable people. They do admirable work. However, as mentioned, many of the management staff lack the desire or the ability to affect change in the lives of people. Their ultimate desire is to make money, though their mission statement claimes they are committed to Quality, Integrity, People, blah, blah, blah. Nobody asks the employees about this though. The receive several high accreditations from governing bodies, i.e the State of Oregon, JCAHO, Drug and Alcohol Boards, etc. However, the staff are told it is perfectly alright to lie to the surveyors if they are asked any questions during an evaluation. Not very high moral standards, if you ask me.
They advance people to positions of power if they are either related to the owner, friends of the boss' daughter, or otherwise unqualified to wipe their own rear-ends. The drive is for status quo. Any challenge to the process is hammered down swiftly. There is no room leadership. In short, it is a poorly run business that happens to employ some of the most amazing and talented people I have ever had the privilege of working with. All the really good counselors want to leave because of this. If you ever ask anyone who works there about the program, anyone who gives a glowing report is an owner/sibling/friend or child of the owner. Anyone happy with the place is a poorly trained, inexperienced person who should never have been placed in charge of anything. Almost all the supervisors are in their early 20's. Most of them have no other experience in mental health. But, they don't rock the boat, so they get promoted.
They do strip searches. This is to protect the clients and the staff from weapons being brought to the unit, and from drugs being snuck in. I personally have seen a girl come onto the unit with cigarettes and three mini lighters stuffed in her crotch. Nobody touches the client during the search, and it is brief...mostly to check the clothing. Otherwise, I don't know of anything I would consider abusive. Do kids get help?...some do, some get worse, MANY come back. They are teenagers...they are experimenting, their parents need help more than they do most of the time. It's sad, really. 30 days won't fix your kid. Family therapy, long-term, outpatient, that would be my recommendation. I have over a decade of experience in mental health...this place is run by a moron with no morals. You can do better, because on the off-chance your child does connect with one of the quality staff, they are limited in access to those people, because they are chronically understaffed.
Phone calls are permitted on a daily basis. The calls are not closeley monitored, but the client's behaviors are. Some clients get quite angry with their parents during these calls, and any acting out is monitored for the sake of safety. I've personally been kicked, hit and bitten while working there, so yes, some clients get restrained.
THe best advice I can give is this: Your teen needs a GOOD parent, decide if you really are one. Get help for your whole family. Would you trust a 20-year-old to do a better job than yourself. I have to give kudos to the very talented therapists who work there...I'd trust them to care for my own mental health. Other than that, it's a crap shoot. Good luck!
