Large mental health clinics — and less frequently, individual providers — often operate as though laws and ethics don’t apply to them. They count on their clientele to struggle so hard that standing up becomes impossible. I, Malene, believe mental health and psychiatric abuse is frighteningly common. It simply doesn’t get addressed.

I consider my own story a case study in what happens when a clinic is not trauma-informed anywhere except their marketing material.

Accountability takes many forms. I pursue all of them.

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Exposure

Exposure is the most powerful tool we have — because it is the one we control entirely.

Exposure means telling our stories. It means publishing tax records, documenting staff and leadership misconduct, and naming names publicly. When individuals are named, their professional futures become complicated. When organizations are named repeatedly and specifically, they take a reputational hit they cannot fully control.

Named, documented, public accountability also creates the conditions for journalists to find us and get interested. That is not an accident — it is a strategy.

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Complaints

We typically begin with Medicaid, Medicare, and insurance complaints, followed by licensing board complaints. The state Attorney General and the federal Office of Civil Rights are frequently part of the first round as well.

I will be honest: filing complaints rarely delivers what we are looking for. It might do something. It is never enough, and it is never guaranteed — no matter how severe the misconduct was.

There are still two strong reasons to file:

• It creates documentation
• It costs the clinic significant money in legal fees and staff hours

We file because it matters, not because it fixes everything.

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Legal Pressure

I have so far failed to find a lawyer willing to take on these cases. They are complex, and attorneys consistently determine that our damages are not significant enough — even when physical harm is documented.

This is a systemic failure of the legal system, not a reflection of whether the harm was real. We document it here because that failure is itself part of the story.

If you are an attorney who handles mental health civil rights cases, we want to hear from you.

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Political Pressure

Political pressure requires persistence. Severe misconduct is frequently ignored by politicians unless money is visibly involved. We pursue it anyway — to rattle cages, to force institutions to spend money responding, and because occasionally a politician decides this warrants attention.

We are deep into political pressure work right now. We document what we do and what response we receive, or don’t receive.

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Current Exposure Focus

• The Guidance Center — Flagstaff, AZ (owned by NARBHA)
• Flagstaff Medical Center — Flagstaff, AZ
• Sonora Behavioral Health — Tucson, AZ

If an institution harmed you, I am happy to add them here alongside your documented story. You will not stand alone.

Nothing About Us Without Us.