- One client had an assessment done and was told he would get a bed in Residential. Five days before treatment began, he came in to Detox. (Before a person starts treatment they need to "Detox" if their system has a lot of drugs).
- His girlfriend visited him in Detox, and he went outside to smoke a cigarette with her. [Visiting is discouraged, but many clients have visitors, especially clients going into treatment].
- A supervisor was having a really bad day. That supervisor noticed the client with his girlfriend, and accused him of smoking marijuana. The other staff member present said that the client was absolutely not smoking marijuana.
- Neither the supervisor nor anyone else ever saw or smelled marijuana.
- The supervisor expelled him.
- The client was a very young opiate user. He was also motivated and more "treatable" than most young opiate users. He was put on a special list that will make it difficult for him to receive any services, including Detox.
This client never had any previous disciplinary problems at Clitheroe.
- A second client wanted treatment a short time later. When I came to work, the staff member I was relieving told me the client was using heroin right at that time. Soon after, a men's residential client told me that the client was using heroin in an obvious way. I told the two supervisors, and asked them what they wanted done. They did not want me to do anything about it.
- A little while later, two clients from the women's unit said he was offering them heroin. One of the two women was a heroin addict (the other used a different opiate). Again the supervisors said not to worry about it.
- All throughout, clients in Detox were making comments about his obvious use.
- Eventually one supervisor said that the client could stay or leave. His choice.
- As a general rule, drug use is obviously frowned upon at Clitheroe. But if a client has a patron ("mommy" or "daddy") on staff, they will not be expelled.
- A client only using drugs in Detox was not a big deal. If this client had only been using (and not offering) it might not have been as offensive. But in this case the client was openly offering hard drugs to Residential clients, and that should have been dealt with by supervisors.
- That client was a past acquaintance of mine. I wanted to see him successful in treatment as much as anyone, but there has to be a line. Apparently the 2 supervisors were trying to do me a "favor" at the expense of clients who did not have friends on staff. That kind of favor is very common at Clitheroe. If I had accepted that favor (or any one of many other similar favors that were offered) I would have had to stop criticizing those supervisors for their misconduct.
The second of the two clients above is listed on the Banned page as well.
There is one detail that had to be left off the website. Anyone who noticed the little detail would be disgusted at the staff members involved.