registered nurse

therapist

mental health technician

clinician

case manager

Smokey-Point-Behavioral-Hospital

As an MHT, your role is meant to support patients with activities and getting them their needs. Which is doable if it just means getting coffee or juice for the patients. When it comes to actual mental health care for the patients, you’re at a loss. Someone said it’s a bad game of telephone and it’s completely true. Every day you walk into work already drained. Some people seem to actually care about the patients but most of the nurses look down at the patients for their mental health problems and talk bad about them.  Not being able to help the patients get what they need from the treatment team leads to irritation which turns into codes. The training is the first week but once you get on the floor, it all goes out the window. They claim to care about their employees but if an employee is having problems suddenly everyone knows about it. In order to work here, you have to understand you’re not going to be able to make much of a difference no matter how hard you try. The changes of upper management makes it seem like they care and then it just goes right back to feeling like you’re talking to a brick wall. The pay for MHT is way too low. They advertise a posted pay range and then offer you way less. If SPBH reads this, pay your MHT’s a wage worth working and you might have better retention. Stop putting 2 people on a lower volume unit and leaving the higher volume units understaffed. 

This hospital is a joke. Do not take anyone you care about here. they will not get treatment of any sort, its just a giant daycare. the patients don"t get any counseling, no groups, nothing.  The hospital will tell you they have groups to participate in and talk, but a "group" consists of the patients filling out a sheet with the same 5 questions every day and turning them in. nobody reads these papers after they are turned in at all, they are just counted and marked in the charts that they were done if the patient even decides they want to fill one out. They ask to see their Dr but get ignored, for days at a time. when they get admitted, their belongings and medications will be left sitting in a room for days before they finally get them. The management is as crooked as they come. they do not care about anyone but themselves and the money they can get from cheating all the people who stay there, this is a fact! The employees are amazing and they do care about the patients and want to help them, but management ties their hands so they can't do anything to help any of them. its very frustrating to want to help your patients but not be given the tools to be able to help them. I could go on for pages telling you why you should not work here, just trust me and all the other former employees who have written a bad review, do not work here.

if you’re looking to help people this isn’t the place. Patients comment all the time how it’s like a prison and they’re right MHT’s do their best to advocate and help patients, do fun activities and crafts but nurses and upper management shut it down. Definitely don’t send your children here. Teens are in one large “wing” and it’s co Ed. And with staff always being UNDERSTAFFED they have to do room lockout until bedtime to ensure nothing goes on, but at night if staff isn’t paying attention they could easily sneak into another kids room. They barely get to go outside. All they do is watch tv all day and color. Staff yells at kids if they’re too loud and it’s 25 kids to 2 mhts but of course when state comes in it’s 4 mhts and 3 nurses on the kids unit. SPBH needs to close its doors or get on track. Terrible upper management, terrible turnover rate. Some nurses actually care and try to make a difference as do most MHT’s. Patients couldn’t even keep their artwork on the walls. Board games and books were removed from the units. If patients people who are there to be helped are “misbehaving” staff will take away what little privileges they do have as a punishment. This is not a place of healing or helping others it’s a prison for mentally ill. 

Paperwork is top priority so it looks like this place has it all together. Management is always “too busy” to help and instead loves to tell you to “take a deep breath”. CNO and floor managers are unable to break for lunches, but always eat a lunch or two themselves. They can always be found in admin, never on the floor. CNO never comes to the floor unless panicked code calling is heard overhead. It is a toxic environment and this upper management - 3rd CNO/CEO has made no worthwhile changes. A ratio of 20+ patients at times to 1 nurse on a large unit is SO wrong when there are 5 RNs in admin at any time. 

The paper schedule is fixed to reflect you are getting a second nurse but that’s usually someone who sticks around for 30-60 minutes and leaves because they are “busy” and aren’t assigned to work the floor. 

Patient care is not the priority and the profits this place makes need to be looked at and more needs to be placed into the patient experience.

Most of the nurses, therapists and techs give their all to this place and “thank you” is rarely heard. No positive behavior is rewarded. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
The patients , Co workers and the pay.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
They are stingy with necessary supplies,ie no hand soap in the med rooms, no bacterial wipes, no hot or cold packs. We run out of bath towels and bedding all the time. With no way to get any more. Then when you stock your unit, the other units come and steal from your supplies. The short staffing causes burnout, but they don't care about nursing retention, they will just hire more people. I could go on and on. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The environment is hectic, we barely have enough time to finish writing our assessments. I typically have 14 patients to chart on, and give meds to. There is never enough time.  The new CEO is actually visible on the units, which is wonderful

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
That was answered in the last question

What is the best part of working at the company?
The pay was not bad, insurance coverage was pretty good. I liked not being micro-managed. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Disorganization among departments, having to FILE daily notes in charts due to an antiquated systems. The expectation of performing "other" job functions than what I was hired to do.  

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Mostly disjointed, IOP doesn't really know most of the employees in other departments. Christmas party is held when not all employees can attend due to being with patients facilitating groups.  

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Within the IOP program as a group facilitator, daily prep for DBT lessons, complete any assessments assigned, conduct a 3 hour group, complete documentation, print and file notes in charts. Attend team meeting with Pysch doctors for collaboration and department issues. Update requests in charts that come from medical records department.

I think the best part about this place is probably the patients and very few nurses/techs. Majority of your coworkers are lazy and dont care about what’s going on around them. You could have 3 techs and 2 nurses and feel like you’re working all by yourself. House sups ignore problems with workers if you report somebody to them because they’re friends with that person. Intake doesn’t follow majority of rules anymore so patients are coming on the unit with medal rings and jewelry on their bodies which can be incredibly dangerous if they’re suicidal or aggressive. Sometimes you’re left on the floor by yourself with 20+ psychotic patients. Everytime I work on a unit other than my home unit they never follow the rules and they get special treatment because they don’t want to deal with problems. (example being bringing food onto the unit from the cafeteria). I could go on and on.

During my time here, intake operations often felt driven by census goals rather than realistic clinical capacity. There was strong pressure to complete admissions before midnight, but staffing did not match the volume being accepted. It was common for a single clinician to manage multiple evaluations.

Walk-ins were not accounted for in scheduling, which frequently created bottlenecks. Patients sometimes waited extended periods before evaluation and going up to the unit. I  frequently resorted to using yoga mats to create temporary sleeping areas due to limited space and resources.

Staff burnout was significant, and I witnessed new employees leave mid-shift due to the workload and lack of support. 

For those seeking a patient-first environment, I would encourage careful consideration. 

Each day, I show up ready to work! I don't work to make friends, and don't involve myself with gossip. My commitment to my job is for me and my family.  And because I believe that SPBH is making a difference in our patient's health and wellbeing by what we have to offer. It is the staff's personal ability to care for everyone including our peers in order to achieve a greater work/life balance. I've been challenged in order to grow and have had opportunities for advancement. I believe my growth and rate have increased because I am attentive to the needs of SPBH and they are meeting my expectations as I am meeting theirs. Over the past six years, I've seen many changes and lots of improvements because of company surveys and employee feedback. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
I was gainfully employed. It was a blessing to have a job. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The amount of work required to do the job verses the realistic 24 hrs in a day. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
No concern for employee retention,  a constant state of burnout across all positions, a lack of cohesion between departments, chaotic environment. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Prep for the day’s groups and treatment planning updates hold the same small time slot. Three group sessions are led by one clinician, back to back. Individual and group sessions are expected simultaneously, performed by one clinician.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 26 salaries reported	$55.08 per hour
Therapist 15 salaries reported	$90,986 per year
Mental health technician 9 salaries reported	$21.00 per hour
Clinician 15 salaries reported	$49.07 per hour
Case manager 11 salaries reported	$22.00 per hour

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