As a former employee of Northwest Behavioral Healthcare Services, I can address some of the concerns below. NWBHS is a lock-down facility for dually diagnosed adolescents -- this is why there are dead bolts (actually magnetic locks) on the doors. Rarely is there a need to restrain a client, but it does happen, and not only when a kid is a danger to him/herself or others -- it also happens sometimes when a client refuses to comply with staff requests. True, clients cannot contact their parents anytime they want -- phone calls are granted at scheduled times to keep things orderly and structured. And yes, it is expensive if you have to pay for it yourself, and insurance companies seem to be trimming their coverage more and more these days.
So. Is it a good program? Well, yes and no. Yes because the mental health therapists and counselors, chemical dependency counselors, school teacher, recreation counselor, special topics counselor, and art counselors are all excellent. Most of the floor staff (Adolescent Counselors) are great. Some are terrible. Many of the staff have egregiously poor boundaries, with both fellow staff members and clients. This is not monitored very well, and therefore staff is not held very accountable nor guided very well to improve and grow. Much of the employee misconduct and unprofessionalism continues unnoticed or unreported. This is particularly true of the "phone practitioner" mentioned below, Sarah (for more, see below). Her full name is Sarah Mahler, and she is the daughter of the company's owner and executive director, Dan Mahler. It is my impression (just an opinion) that Mr. Mahler runs his company much like a Machiavellian prince or a self-proclaimed Nietzschean ubermensch-- manipulating and exploiting his staff to do his bidding and presenting his allegedly primary goals in such a noble way that his staff is seduced into supporting his cause. It is also my impression that he lies, manipulates, cheats, exploits, buries damaging information, and conducts his business with little regard for ethics, morals, scruples, principles, or people's feelings. For hi, it seems, if the desired ends are met, then the means -- whatever they are -- are justifiable. And I believe his desired ends are simply to keep the facility open and running at all costs so as to secure his financial future for himself and his family. Which of course is his right -- it's his business. However, I never got the impression that he cares much for the clients and staff per se (except for his inner circle, which includes his daughter), but rather sees this noble endeavor as the perfect "charitable work" facade by which to meet his real objectives: money, power, and control. He seems very concerned about "reputation" and "image" but seems to show little interest in truth and fairness. Ms. Mahler, his daughter, was hired on as a floor counselor a few years back or so, and since then she has rapidly climbed the company ladder to admissions counselor to admissions supervisor to performance improvement "specialist." It is many veteran staff's opinion that her promotions into these positions seem to have occurred without commensurate merit, and many other more qualified and more veteran employees who applied for these positions were by-passed to make room for Ms. Mahler's clearly nepotistic ascent. Ironically, Ms. Mahler is observed by many staff to spend a significant amount of her time at work doing non-work related activities while on the clock, including personal phone calls and emails, long gossipy non-work related discussions with her work friends in her back office, reading and sharing mail from past boyfriends and engaging other staff members in lengthy discussions to "help" her decide what to do about her personal drama, and pursuing an inappropriate romantic/sexual relationship with a fellow co-worker who had just joined the company (the clear impropriety of which is magnified by the fact that the liason was also adulterous -- Ms. Mahler has been engaged for almost two years -- and took place by and large on company time in the company facility, against her father's wishes. Mr. Mahler apparently did not have a problem with his daughter's infidelity. He simply requested that she "keep it out of the workplace," which she did not). It has been clear to most staff for awhile that Ms. Mahler enjoys an untouchability within the company and has an extreme sense of entitlement. The impression she gives to most staff who work with her or under her supervision is that she believes she can do whatever she wants whenever she wants on company time without accountability or consequences. When she was preparing the company for the Oregon state audit, she made no bones about instructing several staff members who would be meeting with the auditors to lie in response to certain questions in order to make the facility appear to be up to speed in its practices. I know this because I was one of those employees she instructed to lie.
I use the case of Ms. Mahler simply as an example of what's going on underneath the shiny, noble facade of Northwest Behavioral Healthcare Services. Is it a good program? Some clients do benefit greatly, but this is because of the talented staff of therapists, counselors and floor staff. But at the same time, I believe it to be a sham in the sense that the person "selling" you on the company when you call to inquire about the program (Ms. Mahler in Admissions, whose phone script is likely crafted by her father) will lie or spin information to get you to send your child there. Once they are there, they are most likely in good hands, but you must decide if you want to send your child to a facility where ethics and principles are lacking in the Executive Director's office, where it is likely that Ms. Mahler will be sitting when her father retires. This is just my opinion and impression based on things I have seen while working there. If your child needs help, they will probably benefit at least somewhat from being at Northwest Behavioral, but you should be very aware of what's on the surface and what's beneath the surface if you send your child there. I can't say Northwest Behavioral is the best place to work, but it does provide good services by and large, in spite of what's going on in the "oval office."
