Community Reach Center reviews about "leadership"

It’s all cons, and there is a lack of trust in senior leadership and no support for employees. The burnout is real with high caseloads and no support. The clients and the stress created a toxic work environment.

-Voicing concerns will lead to adversarial relationships and/or may get you fired -Pay is not competitive with similar positions at other Community Behavioral Health Centers, and is inconsistent between staff. Newer staff are brought in at similar or higher rates than more experienced staff, there is no process for advocating for a raise, job responsibilities are added without increased compensation, higher levels of specialized training are not compensated proportionately (e.g. doctoral degrees, multiple licenses/certifications) -Many inefficient processes that cost a lot of time and stress -Problems are solved reactively, rather than proactively; concerns are raised to leadership in advance, but are not addressed until they actively become a problem instead of preventing them -Upper leadership feels out of touch with what is happening at the service provision level. An example of this is eliminating a director position when it was clear clinical directors were already working very hard to cover the needs of the program they oversaw and provide the support, guidance, and coaching that managers needed to effectively run their programs -Wait times for appointments is high -Decisions are made to meet minimum requirements for regulations, rather than in the interest of quality of care -Time is wasted on projects that don't go anywhere, initiatives fall off, having to explain needs/concerns multiple times to the same people. -Training and supervision are touted as a core value, but there is minimal investment in redeveloping the training and supervision infrastructure after key staff departed the agency years ago -No addiction services and very limited crisis services are offered -Competent, compassionate people are dragged into doing more work to keep things from falling apart, which leads to a choice between burnout or sacrificing client care

Community Reach Center loves to market itself as compassionate, trauma-informed, employee-centered, and community-focused — but my experience working there felt very different behind the scenes. There is a strong culture of overworking passionate employees while expecting them to continue showing up with endless emotional capacity, even when support, transparency, and accountability from leadership are lacking. The hardest part is that many of the frontline staff genuinely care deeply about the clients and the community. People stay because they believe in the mission. Unfortunately, that passion often feels taken advantage of rather than protected. Burnout is normalized, concerns can feel minimized, and employees are frequently expected to “push through” systemic issues instead of seeing meaningful change happen. There is also a noticeable disconnect between the organization’s public image and the actual employee experience. CRC speaks heavily about values, wellness, and equity, but internally those conversations do not always translate into action, especially when staff raise difficult but necessary concerns. Mental health work is already emotionally demanding. Staff should not have to carry the additional weight of feeling unsupported by the systems above them. I learned a lot during my time there, and I met incredible coworkers and clients, but overall the organizational culture made it difficult to feel truly valued, heard, or sustainably supported long term.

I've worked in many stressful, even high-conflict environments before coming to CRC. I've never worked anywhere that accepted managers screaming and swearing at subordinates as normal and reasonable behavior. I witnessed this first-hand several times in my own department, and I've heard of similarly appalling treatment happening in other departments across the organization. The entire org is rotten. HR is untrustworthy and retaliation against employees is common when they do work up the nerve to report their concerns—read others' reviews here on Glassdoor for examples. CRC's leadership team is an absolute joke. Rick Doucet is the most contemptible man I have ever had the displeasure of meeting, and the only managers who've survived his 15-plus years as CEO either don't have spines or don't have morals. As they say, "a fish rots from the head down." Every person I've talked to who works for any of CRC's neighboring community & mental health organizations cringes when I tell them where I used to work. I am sure CRC would be the laughingstock of the Front Range among mental health professionals, were it not for the real harm I fear they cause to our community by being an incompetent dumpster fire of a service provider. I met some wonderful people during my time there. I have not met a single employee of that operation whose title was higher than "supervisor" who I respect. All of them treat their teams like fiefdoms, treat their people like trash, and treat their mission like a punchline. I never felt I was made to work excessive hours, but my every waking moment away from work was filled with the dread of having to report back the next business day. I had great coworkers and a great lead, and they're the only reason I made it as long as I did. DO NOT WORK HERE. If you absolutely must, then have an exit strategy at the ready from day one, and document everything. I promise you, you'll need it.

Can’t think of any issues, it’s the best work environment

There can be a large number of meetings. This is something that the organization is looking at and making changes to, which I appreciate.

Leadership is toxic, sneaky, and untrustworthy. If you ask questions about the layoffs that happened this spring or why they are closing multiple programs and selling buildings you get a target on your back and they will try to shut up up or get you out. People get pulled into meetings with chiefs and leadership if they ask questions that they don’t like. It’s sad when you get thrown under the bus bc they do not care and when they promote unqualified (+ bigoted) people into upper leadership jobs because they don’t have anyone else