Therapists at Hamilton mental health clinic describe exodus of staff, tears at office, ‘oppressive’ meetings – CBC

They say they’re still struggling after mental health deteriorated while working at the clinic

Dec 22, 2023

When registered psychotherapist Louise Oke shared an article on her Facebook page about toxic workplaces, she figured others who were also struggling on the job might relate.

Oke, who spent 20 years at Child and Adolescent Services — a city-run mental health clinic, didn’t mention her workplace or make any comments with the August 2019 post. A few colleagues “liked” it.

A month later, one of her supervisors called her out of a meeting, telling her she had to meet with management and the union in 10 minutes.

“She was just super serious and wouldn’t say anything else,” said Oke.

Oke said she was then grilled over why she would post something like that about the City of Hamilton and was told to take the post down.

A week later, she said, she was told management had placed a “letter” on her personnel file stating expectations for her going forward, such as not posting anything related to work on social media, staying positive in meetings and “never say too much, never say too little.”

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/mental-health-clinic-part-2-1.7066492