Pros
I worked at Recovery Innovations for 13 years as a full time employee. I had my fair share of challenges with average pay and benefits, some inexperienced and poor management/leadership, and feeling pretty nervous when people got suddenly let go for what seemed like fickleness on the part of the upper management. But honestly, we were doing something very special and important. We were pushing the boundaries of behavioral health care in ways that were truly innovative and wonderful. There was a beautiful way of keeping records--more like adding chapters to a story than clinical notes. There were college credited classes for people who were currently homeless. There were people with serious mental illnesses gaining wonderful work experience and providing unique supportive services to others based on their extremely valuable lived experiences with recovery. We were writing and speaking and creating and growing like crazy. It was a time and a successful effort that was unmatched. People came to see what we were doing from all over the world. It was incredible, really.
Cons
I don't know what happened other than that a new CEO came in and shifted the working mission to suicide prevention and stabilization. The language and culture shifted in a highly clinical mode and all the work we did to create a beautiful environment was just decimated. The vision was lost. The talented and dedicated people were all lined up and fired. New folks with no appreciation of the mission or history or of recovery culture were hired and the boat has been sinking ever since. It is such a horrible thing to watch. I must say that I feel genuine grief. I am sorry for what was lost. Hopefully, others who lit their flames from the Recovery Innovations of the past are still going strong and will carry the message and the good work forward. The aim was true.