nurse practitioner

mental health therapist

manager

bookkeeper

Sea Mar Community Health Centers

The only reason this organization continues to run, is because most front line employees choose to do as best they can. Even when there is no support from management, 

There are two types of 'managers' at Seamar. 
Upper management is willfully ignorant, and puts into place lower managers who will hide problems, and push a fake narrative that "SeaMar is Amazing!!"  It is very scripted.
Organization wide emails are sent out seemingly on a schedule with things like "Here is an email we got from a patient saying how well they were treated" 

All this does is highlight to me all those patients who are upset because they can't get their medications refilled because of the disconnect between clinics and pharmacies.

Any requests to fix simple problems will result in an employee being labeled as negative or "trying to hurt someone's feelings" 

Do not make the mistake of bringing a problem to Upper management and making your manager look bad. 

Upper managers will usually just ignore it, but your manager will panic that the problem will actually be acknowledged, forcing them to explain something they don't understand to their superior. 
It is a stressful thing to have to make up a good excuse, when you haven't had time to prepare it before your next conference call. To them it is all about appearance, not about creating a more efficient work process.

Simply stated SeaMar is broken. 

Each clinic is doing the best they can individually, but because there is no working upper management, the clinics will never be able to work together, and many times are working in opposition to each other, by dumping something they don't understand on to another department, or clinic and washing their hands of it. They don't have time to worry about how the end result with affect the patient's care.

Outside facilities don't know where to send patient records, and the clinics don't know how to tell them the correct place to send records. It is chaotic and random depending on which SeaMar clinic you go to and which specialty provider/Hospital/ER you went to see. 

Nothing is uniform. and the chaos causes a very insecure, uncomfortable, unsatisfying job environment.

And that is why there is such a high employee turnover rate, and why almost every position is perpetually understaffed.

Be aware that if you get a job here, you will have to learn how to work with very little job satisfaction.

If you can be happy just plugging away without any job growth, and can ignore issues that you know are causing unnecessary anguish to patients, 
If you are able to expect nothing from management other than a babysitter, who is paid more than you, and who can't explain, or perform your own job duties. 

If you are a person who wants to improve your work environment you will need to be prepared to be constantly stepped on, labeled and shut down. 

We do need more people who will come in and put pressure on Upper management to recognize there is more to managing than just "image" and collecting a large 6 figure paycheck.

This is a "non-profit" organization, it relies on government money to stay afloat. 

This organization continues to run because most front line employees choose to do as best they can, and because of the support from our community through donations, and volunteers.

Too much taxpayer money is going into the pockets of executives, and not enough is being invested in infrastructure, well being of staff, and more importantly patient care.

Typical day for a dentist includes being scheduled around 24 patients. As a dentist for Sea Mar you typically have 2 or 3 columns of patients. Each patient is scheduled anywhere between 30 min to 1 hour. Usually 1 hour for operative/procedures and 30 min-1 hour for exams. Sea Mar and is compensated on the number of visits or number of patients seen per day so they say that any patient that shows up must be seen. Clinics are open from 8-5. You are required to stay until 5 even if you finish with patients and notes(everything) at 4:59! So don’t plan on leaving a minute early. The only clinic in the Seattle area that does crowns or root canals is the South Park clinic. So if you work at any other clinic in King County you only do fillings or extractions-so if you’re at all interested in root canals or crowns this is definitely not a great place to utilize all the skills and training you received in dental school. If you’re okay being complacent and not maximizing your abilities and working from 8-5 monday-Friday or saturday(open 8-5 Saturdays at some clinics) this is a good place for you. The pay is competitive, the benefits are good. But you will lose most of your skills here if you plan on staying long. Sea Mar tries to squeeze as many simple procedures and exams in your day to maximize number of visits and maximize their profits but they play it off as “helping” patients-when it doesn’t help to do one occlusal surface on #3 when they have a full quadrant of work needed but only give you enough time to do a filling or two because they rather have the patient come back 7 times for separate visits versus only 3-4 visits to maximize their profits and visits. The higher ups are paid way above what a community health center should be paid. THe CEO is paid over a million annually and the directors make around half a million. These are public records so if you dig around you can find this. Difficult to work for a company that presents itself as a service to the community when the higher ups are living a lavish life off of the underserved.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Benefits is the only positive. Phlebotomists are paid exactly the same amount as Front desk receptionists despite being Medically trained. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part is chronic understaffing and an unclear clinical structure, which often leaves one phlebotomist responsible for an entire clinic’s lab workload. High patient volume makes it difficult to take breaks or keep up safely, and unclear lines of clinical oversight add additional pressure during already demanding days.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The environment is fast-paced and consistently understaffed, resulting in a high pressure workflow where employees are expected to manage multiple roles at once. While coworkers generally try to support each other, the workload often makes it difficult to take breaks or maintain a sustainable pace. The culture feels reactive rather than structured, with limited clear clinical oversight and inconsistent communication from leadership. It feels unsupportive and strained on a daily basis, especially during high-volume periods.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day involves managing a high volume of patients while handling all lab responsibilities, including blood draws, point-of-care testing, QA, processing, and related administrative tasks. With limited staffing, one phlebotomist is often responsible for multiple providers and walk-ins, which creates a fast-paced and continuously demanding workflow. Breaks can be difficult to take consistently due to patient volume, and the day is largely focused on keeping up with incoming needs with limited downtime.

I enjoyed my work with Sea Mar greatly and had hoped for a long career with them as a Behavioral Therapist specializing in Mental Health and Addiction Recovery. However, within the first couple of weeks of being hired, another employed became fixated on me. Over time, this employee became increasing obsessed to the point that I was being harassed making it difficult to focus on my work. When I did not respond to the other employee in the way that was desired, she began to trash me to co-workers, superiors, and patients. Despite informing my supervisor and program manager early on that this was going on, my appeals for assistance were ignored. I found out that this coworker had also been accusing me of unprofessional and abusive behavior to the program manager, who sided with her-despite informing me early on that there had been similar problems previously with her. Finally, after six months of dealing with constantly escalating harassment from this employee and realizing that my supervisor and program manager believed her, I went over their heads in a last ditch effort to be able to stay in my position. I was assured it would be investigated. After several weeks of hearing nothing, and now having the employee actually put hands on me, I gave a 30 day notice. For 30 days I was actually able to do my work without being harassed as the employee in question stopped the daily harassment,  only bothering me occasionally. In the end, management blamed me for the harassment despite evidence from other employees and patients to the contrary. I was left with no other choice but to leave when the 30 days was up. Sadly, although my intention was to staff my vulnerable patients to mitigate the stressful change in therapists, I was not allowed to do so..

A typicial day at work during my time at Sea Mar C H C would be clocking in at 8 turning on autoclave and other machines needed through out the day like light etc. whiping down all counter tops and doing inventory of each room making sure things are restocked for the day. patients arrive see them quickly and greet them with a friendly smile and start light conversation. sit them in their room and go over name birth date pretty making sure you have all the right info. Also go over health history and the procedure we will be preforming on them. have them sign any consents needed. make sure they are comfortable and ready tray set up and notify dentist patient is ready for procedure. perform procedure. when completely go over post op instructions and preventive care for the future answer any questions give a slip for next appointment and direct them where they can make their next appointment. chart procedure and clean op from top to bottom and prep for next patient. turn chart in the dentist for review and see next patient. during down time run instruments clean rooms prep t bands and matrix bands for future use. organize appliances with patient name and DOB and put them to be found when patient arrives. refill gloves face masks or file charts. at the end of the day power all machines down make sure rooms are ready for the next morning, and be sure all charts are signed and accounted for, for the present day. clock out. I learned a lot at my job with sea mar i was hired just 3 months after i graduated and since they have different dentist all the time it was a great expirence learning different specilties and styles. I really enjoyed my time there.

My favorite part of working for Sea Mar was the relationships I built with patients, co-workers and the team of medical providers. Initially there was a lot of opportunity for independent work in creating health education programs. Great teamwork among the other health educators and lots of opportunities for continuing education. The biggest challenge is the level of bureaucracy and unrealistic and unmanageable expectations set by the executive team. Direct managers were great to work with, but there seems to be a big disconnect between executive administrators and the clinic managers and those working directly with patients. Providers have a lot of genuine care for their patients, but executive management does not demonstrate the same level of care for their employees. Sea Mar works diligently to stay true to it's mission and values for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and I gained valuable experience working with the Latinx and immigrant communities. Non-manager positions are represented by Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Union negotiations in 2023 were successful in updating the dress code and using gender-neutral language. Sea Mar could benefit from further advances in work culture to provide accommodations for patients and employees with disabilities and stop discrimination of patients and employees who are LGBTQ+. Final tip if you do work here, pay a little extra in co-pays and get care outside of Sea Mar clinics. Wait times for new and existing patients are extensive and sometimes unmanageable for urgent issues.

I worked as a licensed child and adolescent mental health therapist at the Federal Way Behavioral Health clinic for nearly 2 years.

The highlight of my experience was the supportive community among clinicians and coworkers. We genuinely cared for each other, whether in patient care or dealing with management.

For prospective clinicians considering Sea Mar:
- Productivity expectations are incredibly demanding. Caseloads can reach 70-80-90 patients, with schedules often fully booked, leaving little time for breaks.

- Paperwork and documentation are extensive and unavoidable. Progress notes, intakes, treatment plans, and discharge summaries are essential but often rushed due to time constraints. Even lunch breaks are used for catching up on documentation.

- Management availability and support can be inconsistent. It's common not to know where they are or receive timely responses to emails. Seeking assistance from other managers may be seen negatively.

- Providing feedback or raising concerns about policies is met with resistance. There's little room for dialogue or improvement suggestions, with dissent sometimes resulting in disciplinary action.

Overall, while the clinic fosters a strong community among staff, the high productivity demands and challenging administrative support can be significant hurdles for clinicians.

It was a lot of work for 60% of what I could make at a hospital. And yes, I understand this is a non-profit.  The company's budget was about $150 million in 2014, I believe.  The workers and managers are viewed as replaceable, from the mouth of the CEO.  The CEO does seem to genuinely care about the patients, but needs to be replaced by someone who cares holistically for the employees and patients. I learned a lot about health education as a Care Coordinator.  For all the incredible work and dedication the staff brings daily, the support and payback (or lack thereof) from upper management is reflected in their factory-mentality for managing people.  The mentality seems to be: Employees work astronomically hard, and Management will give as little in return as can be gotten away with, and then see amazing and valuable employees leave in droves because of the lack of compensation, respect from management and lack of infrastructure and the "start-up" mentality of a 40 year old company.  The Health Home team is incredible and their care manager in Vancouver is the absolutely BEST manager I have ever experienced.

Initially, I was very excited to be working in my position but management made it quite difficult to succeed. First off, onboarding was terrible. The first two weeks of hire, you will be reading policies in binders, and it seems as if no one in management knows what they are doing when you get into the office. Fortunately, my colleagues were very helpful and helped me swim in a sink or swim situation. During COVID, many of us fought to work from home, only some departments were allowed WFH. Great, no biggie, only that our productivity goals were quadrupled, with continuous meetings with upper management telling us that we should be grateful to even have a job during COVID. During this time, our union negotiated hazard pay and was unsuccessful, as upper management stated there was no money for raises. Meanwhile the CEO is making 2 million dollars a year. In a non-profit??? Yikes, red flag. It wasn't until staff starting quitting that upper management decided to increase wages. Ultimately, as much as I loved the patients, I resigned for the sake of my mental health. The low income patients that we served were absolutely amazing and Sea Mar as a company has resources to support access to healthcare to the most vulnerable in our society. It is so disappointing that management chooses to create such a toxic work environment. 

Aside from the hostile and toxic work environment, the place lacks compassion and care. Only a handful of providers seem to value patient care by taking their time to address patient questions/concerns. Management was a joke, you will be micromanaged and left on your own to figure things out in hopes you won’t be penalized, MAs tend to be at fault written up for incompetence reasons (caused by bad communication among providers and management). The homeless population in this area is tremendous so a lot of the patients are dismissed and not cared for- a lot of patients end up returning for the same concerns, quite frankly they where turned away the first time. I wouldn’t advise any one my loved ones to seek care from this company for health concerns they may have far more than a routine flu shot or a referral else where. At times expect to be the only MA in for the day. The building is not wheelchair accessible. Hours are 11am -10pm, MA’s start at $17/hour 40 hour weeks, the competitive rate in the area is $18 for new graduates.  I would say their medical benefits are very good compared to other companies, generous PTO per pay period.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Nurse practitioner 3 salaries reported	$110,000 per year
Mental health therapist 3 salaries reported	$64,667 per year
Manager 1 salary reported	$84,000 per year
Bookkeeper 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour

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