Howard Center – Burlington

The medical and clinical models the howard center uses and ascribes to is inherently parasitic. The healthcare system and especially the mental health system, are not designed to help people get better. They're designed… to extract money from people, and the Howard center is an extremely blatant example of how bureaucracy and ticking the boxes on funding requirements always comes first and shapes framework attitudes policies and training around how "care" is approached. At the end of the day you have a street outreach team that will schedule time to meet you, a day in advance, in the community, just so they can turn up and tell you they have nothing to offer you. A crisis line clinician who will answer the phone 24/7 just so they can tell you to go to the ER. 3 people sitting behind glass windows in a "crisis stabilization unit" looking at there phones and when many of them do interact out of sheer obligation theres definitely a "I am well, youre sick" "I have power, you dont" dynamic at play; along with filling out "clinical" paperwork based off of arbitrary observations they've made of the people that are staying there under some microscopic guise as if making observations of lab rats in some dumb science experiment they dont even understand. The whole paradigm of "care" completely removes any basic well intended innocent equitable empowering human interactions from occurring and inherently strips the people receiving "care" of personal sovereignty and empowerment through restricting rights and access to basic personal freedoms in order to "keep the person safe" through one size fits all policies without any individual assessment of the persons needs or even the consideration that maybe giving people more personal autonomy around access to resources might have a positive healing effect. Again all of these programming short falls are built in redundancies in order to tick boxes and streamaline "treatment" so the program can run not so people can get better. The whole system exists to perpetuate itself not solve problems and it siphons everyone involved's energy. all in order to fill pockets at the top requiring the status quo to be maintained at all costs. Just look at the wage disparity in any of the programs. which is why other service providers with different approaches are seen more as a threat to the stasis of the business rather than integral innovative partners furthering a collective cause trying to be resolved, which is why there is no continuum of care across organizations to begin with and anyone accessing services has to pander and play tandem essentially contort themselves to the needs of the organization manipulating the system in order to get any cohesion in services and accomplish anything. Because at the end of the day no one gets paid if people are equal sovereign and functioning well.

Literally homeless and disabled and still have to wait at least a month for a cm. Booh! You guys suck!

Never any kind of help at all. Would rather see people waste away in their diseases than actually offer any kind of real support. They are great in hiding behind hipa and any other out they can find. A failing… organization that offers nothing but a waste of time and referrals to any other resources that are not them. I bet I would have received tons of help if I were looking for free drugs or needles. I hate this place

I’ve suffered with mental health problems my entire life and was looking for help, and they disregarded everything that wasn’t within the last year. The criteria is incredibly difficult to qualify. I feel like if you’re… not in a crisis you just don’t get sufficient help. The person on the phone listened well and was compassionate. I would recommend calling them even if they may not be able to help you.

This place is a joke. If you call their first call, they do not take you seriously on the phone and would rather send you to the E.R than think of plans to do when you're feeling down. Some lady that I talked to on the… phone when I was feeling down.Got mad at me because my phone accidentally recorded the conversation and it was not my fault and I didn't purposely do it.It was the phone itself.

Great services for disabled people

Highly recommend. Great experience with my clinician thus far. Plus, front office staff are welcoming & personable.

Howard is stepping up to the plate where others are failing. Support this organization with everything you've got. It might be our last hope. COMMUNITY WARNING: A Level 1 Trauma Center in Burlington Vermont and the BPD… are cooperating in a system that denies mental health treatment and Howard is taking over. A friend was escorted out by security after saying they were going to hurt themselves. The nurses said "this is not a hotel" and that the patient was too medically stable to be allowed to stay there (they claimed hospital and insurance policies). Upon calling the police and informing them of the situation, ON A RECORDED LINE: Question: "Can the hospital discharge a patient if they have said they are going to harm themselves?" PO: "That is their policy, there is nothing we can do." Howard Mental health is stepping in today, but be VERY careful out there with your mental health friends. The system is being rigged against us because we are expensive and give bad feelings. Everyone is safe for now but the system is failing. Be careful and stay safe.

People are friendly and help you do what you need to do

This business made me give up hope of ever finding help again and to make things worse, I feel unsure about receiving emergency care in the ER due to them forcibly have me talk to Howard Center workers every mental… health emergency. I'm at my absolute worse. Don't bother with this company

I appreciate the care I receive from my mental health support team at Howard.

Very kind and understanding .everybody was just so KIND.

No one ever calls you back they are a joke just worried about collecting insurance money! Do not use this company they will scam you loose your paper work dodge you and just be plain worthless