CAMH Reviews

Leadership (all levels): Opportunists profiting over a great cause which is mental health, with no actual regard for the patients CAMH is supposed to serve. Sees the centre as a corporation to generate profit not as a hospital doing research to truly help enhance services for patients. Staff are seen as dispensable, no matter how excellent the work they put out (if you think you will impress them with fantastic recruitment numbers, retention and great data quality you are wrong). RAs are used to pump out publications that they will never be given acknowledgment for no matter how large their contribution to the project. There is a general lack of regard for staff as people (e.g. the management of the COVID-19 pandemic was poor and disorganized, pressured research staff to continue in-office work without good reason and against explicit concern voiced from staff around health and safety). There is no sense of ethics or morality in the Slaight Centre… there is, on the other hand, Kool Aid. Manager: Extremely controlling micromanager. Goes out of their way to demean, undermine and disrespect staff members (always has something critical to say and will make something up if needed and use the excuse that as a manager they need to provide feedback... ask anyone they will probably have a story...). Will psychologically abuse and manipulate you into thinking you are at fault for things you are not involved with and will try to convince you that you should be grateful for what you’re given. Does not take accountability for mistakes and consistently poor judgement (I have yet to witness a decision that was made to genuinely to improve efficiency). Completely disregards staff feedback and concerns and only makes decisions and rules that will fuel their ego and profit their agenda. Expect to be under utilized no matter how qualified and skilled you prove yourself to be (staff are regularly expected to wait in the hallway for hours because more efficient systems refuse to be accepted though they have been suggested). Pushes out or gets rid of staff who have the courage and assertiveness to stand up to the abuse (if you don't leave before your contract is up, don't expect to get renewed). Will blatantly lie and withhold information to staff (e.g. policies around pay). Will take credit for your work every so often. May also throw you under the bus when things don't work out. Overall Organization: Limited growth, bureaucratic, nepotistic, corrupt. A complete disgrace in terms of workplace mental health and protecting workers.

- Extremely high turnover rate (10+ Slaight employees quit or are forced out by management each year, despite doing amazing jobs) -Abusive practices and toxic leadership in management and senior leadership staff (name calling, forcing staff to gossip about each other, emotional and mental manipulation, scapegoating, management/leadership will spin an issue/complaint to blame the individual instead of taking a thoughtful approach to increase inefficiency, staff morale, and improve on processes/procedures); -Inefficient and coercive research recruitment practices (they will make you wait for hours in the hallways to hound clients at intake and follow up appointments); they actively tell staff not to tell clients that they have a choice to speak to research (informed consent is not always emphasized, e.g., expectations for inexperienced/not trained staff to complete informed consent for multiple studies, expectations to approach clients who say no multiple times to research studies, not telling clients that their screening information will be entered and kept in a database indefinitely etc.); you will be commonly placed in ethical dilemmas/binds (i.e., recruitment numbers are the most important over client welfare); if you complain about processes/procedures, you will become the problem and management will find a way to blame you and then subsequently replace you (often times with someone with less experience who won't know any better, without changing any of their practices). There is a culture of perceived (and potential actual) threat if you choose to speak up to or against Slaight in any manner. - Burdensome workload - you will be expected to take on excessive overtime (without the proper pay) - Work atmosphere is not conducive to promoting and maintaining the mental health and well-being of staff (I have seen many Slaight research staff cry on the job due the above reasons) - Please avoid accepting any roles involved with Slaight research, these are all systemic, ongoing issues that have existed since the advent of Slaight research a few years ago (many HR and union complaints have gone unheard with no changes to management and leadership).