Kenna Says: Trauma Informed Care Should be the Default

Open Letter to Dr. Bertsch, Dr. Berkley, and Dr. Perez

I look at your bios and think: impressive. Degrees, credentials, leadership, decades of training. You’re licensed medical professionals at The Guidance Center in Flagstaff, Arizona — part of the NARBHA Institute network. You should care — right? You should know enough about trauma and its fallout to handle one loud-mouthed, mentally ill survivor like me.

Dr. Bertsch — you talk about moral injury. Then let’s talk about mine: betrayal, crushed trust, the emotional wreckage I now live with. Let’s talk about the moral injury my former therapist is likely carrying too. She lost control, she defended instead of repaired, and now she bears the weight of harm she couldn’t undo in a toxic system. If you are who your bio claims, then your silence here is unacceptable. If you know trauma, speak.

Dr. Berkley — you have PTSD and military experience. You sign the checks to the lawyers. So why aren’t you protecting the people The Guidance Center chews up and spits out? You claim to care about lifting up people with less privilege — then do it for the mentally ill. I noticed your $50,400 year salary (FY 2023/2024) for one hours work a week – just noting reality!

Dr. Perez — your bio is flat, built on military pride. Fine. But you’re a licensed psychologist. You know ethics. Or at least you once passed tests that should mean you do. Yet you bunker down and do nothing while patients are retraumatized; and lawyers run the show.

Here’s the reality:

I have spoken with a couple dozen people who I believe have legitimate claims against TGC. Civil rights violations are everywhere. Abuse of Title-36 holds — this one is huge, and recurring. Abuse of restraints. Discrimination against Native people. Discrimination against transgender and non-binary people. ADA violations. Guardianship violations. These are not one-offs. They are patterns.

People are afraid to file complaints. Afraid of retaliation. Afraid of losing services. People are AFRAID OF YOU; AFRAID OF THE HARM YOU WILL DO. I lived that retaliation myself; I am too traumatized to seek services elsewhere. Fear keeps others silent — not because you’re doing well, but because you punish those who speak. Frankly, how dare you intimidate people like this? How Dare You?

And you know better. That’s what makes this your moral failure — maybe even your own moral injury, if you’re honest. Licensed professionals hiding behind lawyers while patients are harmed. Cover-your-ass strategy instead of trauma-informed care. Right now, it’s clearly the lawyers running the show; and that is absurd in a mental health clinic. Step up to the plate.

I’m not asking for “radical” change. Trauma-informed care is proven. Suicide assessments are proven and have been known for decades. Civil rights are law. Including peers and families are best practices. Patients are human. If you cared about your own humanity as much as your bios suggest, you’d act.

So let me say this again: I am not here to do damage. But if I feel unheard, and if no meaningful changes happen after all this pain; if you hope I’ll burn out, then yes — I will do damage. A filing in Justice Court is likely my next step; I am still waiting to hear if AG will take the case. I’ll keep writing. I’ll keep publishing. I’ll keep finding survivors brave enough to join me — and I can keep that going for years if I have to.

Another SMI grievance is about to hit you, this one based on discrimination. The only real protection for The Guidance Center is reform. If you don’t want me to be “precedent,” then reform is the answer. Sit down with me. Talk to me. I am a stakeholder. Mentally ill, yes. But intelligent, informed, and unwilling to shut up until I believe change has begun.

You should want the same changes I do. That’s what gets me — don’t you want to get better? Don’t you think someone like me has something to add to that conversation? Don’t wait for the next “me” with AI tools to blow the doors off — that person will show up eventually. Hell, I might even collaborate with them.

If your fancy degrees can’t get you to act with integrity, then what are they worth?