Horrific - Registered Nurse Stars Behavioral Health Group Employee Review

The adolescent center in Torrance is by far one of the worst facilities I have ever worked at. The complete apathy from administrators involving health code violations (moldy food, rodents, bug infestations), understaffing (one nurse covering the entire building, absolutely 0 staff on the floor scheduled), and poor structural programming for patients (violent patients rewarded for physically assaulting staff and sending staff to the ER) is abysmal. At one point the management approved admitting so many patients from Juvenile hall at once that an entire unit was destroyed by a riot. The patients utilized hand-made weapons to injure staff and Torrance PD had to assist in order to maintain the peace. The food given to the patients is consistently moldy and expired. There is also a rodent infestation at the facility that has been ignored for months despite staff complaining to management about the rodents in the patient's rooms. The understaffing is so horrible that words can hardly describe it. There have been shifts where 0 floor staff were scheduled for the entire building. At times, only one nurse scheduled to care for nearly 40+ high acuity psych patients. It is horribly unsafe for both the staff and the patients. Patients are also rewarded for violent behavior. There are no meaningful repercussions for assault to staff. Management expects you to just "get on with it" and ignore the injuries and continue working otherwise you will get written up. The maintenance team is also completely understaffed and under-budget. The building looks like it has not been cleaned and updated since the 1980s. Even the technology spends most of its time broken. Last and not least, like many other people have said here, the pay is horrible. Be warned if you choose to apply to the Torrance Adolescent Center. It is truly a nightmare created into reality.