registered nurse

mental health technician

psychiatric nurse

nursing assistant

social worker

Pembroke Hospital

As an MHA at Pembroke Hospital, you can expect the following: Being responsible for doing checks every 15 mins, getting patients various items and food, cleaning up during down hours and restraints (Code Green). Essentially, the atmosphere is pretty laid back. People might say it's "unsafe", but most of these patients aren't really physically opposing and you get alot of backup when patients go off the wire. The administration is a bit of a joke, they hire WAY too many college girls who are too squeemish to handle difficult patients and you will see alot of staff members bending the rules when it is convenient. Consistency is also a huge problem, every unit (6 in total) is different in terms of what you can and can't do. Also, as an MHA, you will feel pretty expendable. It is clear that you are just a nameless body that will get transferred from unit to unit at a whim. They will make you a "core" on one unit at first, but that changes pretty quickly. It's easy work, but overall you will find yourself thinking about thinking about looking for another job come your third month. It's not a bad job by any means, but it is definitely a dead end job unless you are interested in being a nurse. Also, the staff is VERY cliqueish, Remember in high school how they was the "in" crowd and then everybody else? Get ready for that. However, working with mental patients is alot of fun and you really meet people from all walks of life. This job also toughens you up quick in terms of confrontations and sticking your ground when some mental patient is swearing at you and calling you every name in the book. I have since left Pembroke Hospital, but all in all, I think the experience helped me grow as a person. If you are fresh out of school, this might be a good position for those who want an easy paycheck and some good old fashioned character building. Please though, if you are a 110 pound college girl, look somewhere else. They have enough of you there. Also, if you last a year you will be considered a veteran. Keep that in mind.

There are a lot of nurses who have been at Pembroke for a long time so it definitely works for some people. It might work for you if:
It is close to home...lets face it, driving into Boston is tough.

You like drama...all hospital settings have drama but working w/an unstable population really ups the anti.

You don't mind being hurt and often feeling unsafe...there is no security to speak of at Pembroke Hospital so you may be required to be directly involved in situations where you could be physically hurt. Many, many cases of worker's comp and many people permanently injured from occurrences here.

You don't mind working understaffed. Just an ongoing issue d/t the high turnover. You are often left shorthanded and there is no consideration of the acuity of patients'. They follow a "grid" which is number of pt's to staff. This is designed to control cost not to manage acuity. So if the 10 pts on your floor are raging psychopath's don't count on having extra staff or if you happen to get extra staff it will be pulled from another unit leaving them short staffed.

You don't mind archaic systems of doing notes and passing meds. Nothing is computerized so there is a lot of room for error.

You don't mind being treated like a child. The upper management (DON) is punitive and reminds me of a grammar school nun. Unit Managers are fabulous as is most of the staff. 

You don't mind very low pay. This is the most lucrative of all the hospital's in the entire Arbour Health system and they pay the least. Don't believe the person who says they are doing the best they can with what they have. 

That's my 2 cents. Not a very good fit for me but you can decide for yourself.

I started this job thinking I would stay for a year or 2 just to get experience after getting my bachelor's degree but it was almost painful to make it to 6 months.  The best part of the job are the patients and mostly the other people you are working with on units.  You are given a set schedule but you better believe you will be hounded at home constantly to pick up shifts even though it was the hospital's decision to cut everyone down from 40 to 32 hours.
The lead MHA's are the only people who genuinely care about the units and the people working on them but the problem is, higher-ups don't listen to a thing they have to say.  The higher ups in the offices could not care less about the safety and well-being of the on-unit staff.  They all hide away in their offices all day and treat the MHA's like they are dirt under their feet.  When you DO get hurt on the job protecting their clients, they will make you jump through hoops just to get checked out.
The high turnover rate for MHA's is very dangerous but the office people don't care because there are bodies working on the unit and that's all that matters.  You will end up being the only "experienced" (I had been there for 2 months) person on the floor with people who are just off orientation.  That can lead to some dangerous situations when you only have people who can't de-escalate and have never restrained.
Overall, don't work here if you want a job where your superiors care about you and your safety.  There is 0 job advancement and you are just a number.

Very poor communication :
   * This includes unclear expectations, lack of transparency, and inconsistent messaging.
   * It also involves a failure to listen to employees' concerns.
 * Lack of Delegation:
   * Managers who cannot delegate effectively often create bottlenecks and overburden themselves and their teams.
 * Failure to Provide Feedback:
   * This includes both a lack of constructive criticism and a lack of positive reinforcement.
   * Employees need feedback to grow and improve.
 * Lack of Support:
   * This involves a failure to provide employees with the resources, training, and support they need to succeed.
 * Favoritism and Inequity:
   * This involves treating employees unfairly, leading to resentment and decreased morale.
 * Lack of Accountability:
   * This involves a failure to take responsibility for mistakes and a tendency to blame others.
 * Ignoring Employee Well-being:
   * This involves a disregard for employees' work-life balance and mental health.
 * Lack of Vision and Direction:
   * This involves a failure to provide clear goals and a sense of purpose.
 * Taking Credit for Others Work:
   * This is a very damaging trait, that breaks down trust.
Consequences of Bad Management:
 * High employee turnover
 * Decreased productivity
 * Low morale
 * Increased stress and burnout
 * A toxic work environment
In essence, bad management creates a negative and unproductive work environment, hindering both individual and organizational success.


Working as a group therapist at Pembroke Hospital provides a unique and challenging experience. A typical day involves running multiple group therapy sessions with patients diagnosed with severe psychiatric conditions, including psychosis. These sessions focus on improving coping mechanisms, social skills, and providing emotional support. Between sessions, there is time for charting, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, and attending meetings to discuss patient progress.

What I’ve learned is the importance of patience, flexibility, and the ability to maintain professional boundaries. Each day is unpredictable, with patients’ needs and behaviors varying drastically.

Management at Pembroke Hospital provides general oversight but can feel somewhat disconnected from the day-to-day operations. This can make communication and support inconsistent at times, though the staff tries to remain collaborative.

The workplace culture is one of resilience and teamwork. Colleagues rely on each other for support and feedback, which creates a strong sense of community. The hardest part of the job is dealing with the unpredictability of patient behaviors, which can be physically and emotionally demanding.

The most enjoyable part of the job is seeing progress in patients—whether small breakthroughs or significant improvements—knowing that the work you do has a tangible impact on their recovery journey.

This company has had a reputation for years of low balling employees when it comes to pay. It's said that UHS is the biggest psychiatric inpatient company in the US. Reason: lack of competition.
 Why has there been several media exposures via newspapers, many DMH investigations and several deaths due to unsafe conditions from lack of staffing etc.: The MONEY and the POWER and lack of viable competition.
  Like many companies today, money, their money is the top priority. UHS would rather lose employees and replace them than offer employees with a worthwhile, safe environment where patients and employees can grow. The almighty buck is the priority.
  Still in the dark ages where paperwork is still on paper, few computer's that hardly work properly and a staff that are treated as a numbers not people.
  Any other company that run operations in such a manner would be investigated, fined or shut down. Why aren't they? Money, Power and the government's need for psychiatric institutions. Looking the other way.
  Training is not a priority and new people are thrusted into situations that, due to lack of knowledge , is just plain dangerous. Employees are sacrificed when the company's incompetence is the real issue. The company's focus is on what the employee did or did not do. Employees are the sacrificial lambs for this company to continue doing what they have always done...make MONEY.

This place is the epitome of h*ll I have worked there for a good amount of time and there has never been a job where I feel less supported. This hospital is corrupt, it is legit the worst place to work. I have never ever felt supported by people who are higher than me, they only care about the money they make, not if their staff and patients are safe. This place is a walking death trap. Brutally disgusting and if I was a patient I would rather die than sleep one second in those units. People care more about the drama around them then their own patients. For the work my staff and I do we are not paid nearly as close other places. When I think about going to work I instantly feel a giant headache coming on and the nausea I feel is atrocious. There is no consistency on these units and people would rather be friends with patients than tell them the rules they need to follow. No one takes accountability for anything and everyone is in it for themselves. This place does not live up the the name of caring for their patients, at all. Overall if you would want to work at Pembroke Hospital, you're better than this place. Do yourself a favor and find a different job that doesn't involve getting hurt and treated like this. This place has a turnover right that is quicker than the patients that are admitted, no core staff equals no consistency and safety. This place is h*ll.

I worked here as an MHA for about 6 months. Overally the job was fine, but occasionally had extremely acute patients with restraints. Sometimes i did not feel safe on the floor and mentioned it to nursing superiors but they were dismissive and told me it was just the job. I also felt that many staff members were fired or quit and there is a lot of turn over. Sometimes I was the only experienced MHA on the floor with people just off orientation and they were not farmilliar with the environment. However my issue was with the nursing staff, a lot of them are dismissive towards MHAs and tell them to do more work when the charge nurses sometimes just sit in the back nursing station on their phones and leave the mha's to struggle with needy patients demanding nurses. There is also no security and staff need to deal with psychotic and violent patients on their own. The management does not care about you as a person and will ask you to stay multple days in a row even though you have to work the next day on a rotating shift anyways. If you are looking for a mediocre job this should be easy, but most staff dont stay for that long.

This workplace was genuinely terrible. At first, I was so excited to work there because of my previous experience in the medical field and being able to gain more experience in a different type of field. The staff there don’t care about the patients; the nurses (and doctors) prescribe medications to, basically, dope up the patients and make them easy to work with. As someone who worked on the dual diagnosis floor (drug addicts/alcoholics and mental health issues), it was heartbreaking to see them not give a care in the world about drugging up their patients to make them “more cooperative”. It wasn’t healthcare. The staff are also terrible because all they do during the shifts is talk about drama or things at home rather than actually paying attention to patients, as well as skipping the rounds they were supposed to do at the time to do it. I wouldn’t recommend even my worst enemy to work nor get treated there, and I hope those who end up there are fairly compensated when they turn out worse than when they first got there.

Let me preface this by saying I love my coworkers and for the most part, I do enjoy my job. The people I work with genuinely care about the safety and well-being of patients, and it shows. 

However, administration is unprofessional and often shows a complete lack of support when it comes to assisting with patient care, which often leaves to escalated patients that could've been avoided entirely.

The units are often dirty because housekeeping rarely does the job, and it takes forever to get much needed supplies for patients since the administration does not want to pay to take care of their patients.

Also, the training for new orientees just isn't enough to prepare for the reality of what you will see the minute you enter a unit. I have seen several new staff quit very quickly once they learn just how challenging this job can be.

The bottom line is the hospital mainly cares about money, much to the expense of staff that really wish to make a difference in the mental health field.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 66 salaries reported	$50.00 per hour
Mental health technician 57 salaries reported	$27.16 per hour
Psychiatric nurse 44 salaries reported	$49.60 per hour
Nursing assistant 10 salaries reported	$24.00 per hour
Social worker 14 salaries reported	$41.20 per hour

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