What a month August was for The Guidance Center Flagstaff, and by extension, as a whistle blower who has kept them accountable – for me. In August The Guidance Center lost:
1. A charge nurse.
2. The chief clinical director.
3. And they closed their inpatient substance misuse program.

Meanwhile, they launched a new shelter program dedicated to routing the most vulnerable people into their expensive chairs observation program and the psychiatric acute care beds – a program I instantly questioned due to severe outstanding questions about safety – questions neither NAU or TGC has so far been willing to answer – to me their lack of answers confirms that these programs are not run ethically or safely. If everything was above board, they would have proudly answered me.

After losing Dr. Stephanie Babbitt, they were able to hire a new Chief Clinical Director immediately, her name is Kim Alexander. It is good for them they were able to hire her – otherwise their entire clinic might have needed to fold, but I question if anyone can pull this clinic out of their slide into bankruptcy at this point. I don’t know how much longer they can continue but several of their programs are down or compromised. Their income must have taken a slide and I am sure they continue to have top heavy executive salaries. Essentially, they have very little programming to offer except those expensive crisis beds and chairs.

Who knows if the programming for mothers with substance use struggles that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) funded is going to be renewed; without their SARP program, and with me having formally submitted their financial irregularities directly to SAMHSA, quite possibly not. If I see similar difficulties with their next form 990 that should be out any moment now – then I will resubmit it.

Their substance misuse program remains closed. Their general outpatient program is barely functioning with exceedingly limited therapists, and they appear to not hire new ones; maybe people don’t want to risk their licenses on this top heavy clinic.

Ms. Alexander’s online profile makes it look like she is trauma-informed care aligned – but trauma-informed care principles demand that clinics not only involve peers in their work, but also actively make efforts to resolve difficulties with clients they have harmed. If she is genuinely trauma-informed, she would have contacted me, and from where I sit, that is pretty black and white.

To be clear, I have reached out to Ms. Alexander by email in the hopes we could collaborate on making things better; and in total disregard of trauma-informed care principles, and in alignment with the old guard of The Guidance Center, Ms. Alexander has chosen to stonewall me. I have to say this choice made my heart skip several beats in a mixture of sadness, anger and fear – because I feel absolutely mandated to do everything in my power to create change in this toxic system no matter the cost – but I would rather that it doesn’t cost too much.

I do not believe The Guidance Center will fold without the state stepping up to create alternatives for Flagstaff mental health services (for a moment I was hoping Ms. Alexander was part of such a move, I guess I was wrong).

My next steps in the coming days:

• See if the 2024/2025 form 990’s are available. If they are, I will pull the data together and release it.
• Start to prepare if NAU continues their refusal to release documents from their servers – I am going to be ready on 9/22 to escalate that.

What I know is this – my fight for psychiatric accountability and survivor advocacy was NEVER about win or lose; it was about making sure that people who go there are not abused and are not subjected to substandard, harmful “treatment” that routinely violates civil rights. It is still not about win or lose; watching this desperate slide into nothingness is horrifying. It is not about my ego, or the egos of TGC/NARBHA leadership – it is about creating a clinic that serves the community more than its leadership. It is about making sure the people on the pavement have access to quality mental health care that does not threaten their well-being.

When I started on this accountability push 16 months ago, I legitimately thought that both NARBHA and TGC leadership were sane enough to not run it into the ground. Now? I don’t know what I am looking at, but I do know it is ugly!
Next, Open Letter to Ms. Kim Alexander