So…..
I worked for a for-profit Behavioral Health company (addiction medicine and mental health) in the state of New Mexico for 2 years, slowly working up the ranks of this 50 employee company that just opened in 2022.
Background: It was abusive and a lot of harassment was happening there amongst staff; not to mention clients were mistreated and lied to regarding their treatment. Clients who had commercial insurance would get treated like kings and queens and they would get to reside in the 3 story 4 acre mansion, whilst the medicaid patients would get crammed into a one story with less amenities. This is typical of the Behavioral Health community sadly, but this company took it to the extreme. Management (who didn't even work on site) would make clinical decisions about the clients' well-being without any clinical licensure, ignoring actual clinical staff who looked over and tremendously cared for our clients. I was bullied by another staff member at one point, told the owner, and was told that if I brought up the issue again that I would be fired.The owner would scream at the insurance contractors who we partnered with and so many bridges have been burned that this company only accepts half of the insurances it started with. He also didn't care about client safety or well-being and he would make the decision to kick people back into the streets knowing they would relapse just because he “didn't think they were a good fit for the facility” or because their insurance wasn't paying him enough for their stay. I could go on and on regarding the various ethical nightmares of this place but I'll save you the grief. I lost one of my dear friends to fentanyl addiction because of this man's decision making.
These last 4 months I was working in a new position disguised as a promotion, it took three of those months for me to get my raise and I have been working 60 hour weeks. It came to a head when medications became a HUGE issue; it was my previous position there before they moved me up and since then they could not keep someone in the position to replace me. I was constantly doing two jobs at once with a 40 individual case-load, but mainly I couldn't even DO my new position because of my previous responsibilities. It was humanly impossible to keep up with. The therapists on-site saw that I was struggling, tried to stick up for me, but no one was ever heard. The Program Manager decided, instead of helping me, to reprimand me for not asking for help…even though I was strictly told not to off-load my duties onto someone else.This is the same manager that also told me that my department “sucked” and I needed to “get my priorities straight.”
I suggested to my manager, “May I suggest moving back to (previous position) so I can make sure it's done correctly. It would be less stress off of a lot in individuals in the company, and I'm not even currently able to do (current position) anyway. I also would be able to go back to school like I talked with you about.” Of course I got the response I was expecting: “No, that doesn't seem like a good path to take, I'm going to put this on the back burner for now. Sound good?”
That was the final straw for me 🤣 I blocked everyone and pulled a disappearing act. Thankfully I made some really good friends there during my employment and they supported my decision.
I got a call from one of them THE NEXT DAY: “The FBI showed up at the front doors with a warrant. They pushed their way in with desks, computers, printers and scanners and now they're pulling out every employee file and HR document they can get their hands on.” My heart dropped into my asshole.
My friend then had some serious balls and attempted to ask one of the agents why they were there but of course they wouldn't say a word. Our suspicion is medicaid fraud because it is so rampant in this field and in this state. I was told later that they also arrived at the other residential facilities and were only there for about 3 hours.
TLDR: Quit my abusive job after two years working in the behavioral health field, FBI raided the place and files the next day possibly due to medicaid fraud. Should I be scared?
Moral: If someone you know is struggling with addiction, please reach out to VETTED AND MANDATED programming. Do not let your loved ones be scammed by programs like the one I worked for.