After starting at Pacific Clinics, I referred four friends to other branches who were all hired. After a year, I am the only one left standing. The burdens that are put on mental health staff are truly bizarre. Staff schedule their own appointments, manage caseloads of up to 60 or higher, see extremely severe cases that can’t get referred to FSP or AOT simply by technicality, and are expected to perform rehab/case management/paperwork/administrative tasks IN ADDITION to seeing 25-30 clients a week. On-call services were abruptly added to the expectation for all sites, and though it was “optional,” many staff felt pressured by their supervisors to volunteer for on-call to make our branch look better. On-call was NOT in the initial job description. My supervisor focused on my productivity, latency, and billing far more than they were willing to discuss clinical issues. I witnessed the clinical director and other head staff frequently gossip about other clinicians or outright bad mouth them when they were not in the room. It was shocking and unprofessional, and when I called it out, I was gaslit. I loved my clients, but I couldn’t handle the toxicity of the work culture. PC strengthened my clinical and diagnostic skills, but at the cost of my own mental health.
