Telecare Hope House

Joseph Lim

In my opinion, this organization only cares about making money while doing the least amount of work. When I was at Hope House in 2020, I had an awful experience working with an LMFT, Kiki Taliaferro, who would not do her job. She didn't help me whatsoever. Even coordinating my care for post discharge, she gave me a sticky note with a toll free number to call. I ended up calling various Hospitals and spoke with a Doctor to schedule my appointment and enroll in the Intensive Outpatient Program, all on my own. When I asked Ms. Taliaferro questions regarding my care for post discharge she said "why does it matter?! I don't want to get involved!" At least she's honest. She made no effort to help me, or show any concern for my safety or well being. She wouldn't even do the job she was paid by my insurance to do. I never thought a Therapist could utter such words. Fortunately, she no longer works there. The second problematic counselor is Stephen Shalev. A rehabilitation specialist who would brag about his 40 years of experience. When I would wake up with bug bites, yes you read that correctly, BUG BITES, and mentioned it during the morning group, Stephen would do his best at damage control. He would repeatedly interrupt me and say there weren't any bugs, and even had the audacity to say it was a symptom of mental illness. So if it was all mental, then why did I need to get ointment for the bites at the Nurse's office? They saw the bites and gave me ointment so apparently it wasn't mental, Stephen. In one particular group check in, a younger therapist wanted to answer my question about the bug bites, and Stephen told him "don't engage with him, he's mentally ill, he doesn't know what he's talking about". Wow! If that comment isn't discriminatory I don't know what is! So because a person has depression, and trauma, nothing they say is valid or credible? Naturally I had enough of being insulted and dismissed, and so I called him out in a group meeting. I said I see no point in speaking if he was just going to cut me off, try to discredit me, stigmatize mental illness, and dismiss me. Immediately, he turned red as a tomato and glared at me. He even raised his voice, in front of the whole group saying "you need to get your facts straight!" Oh I see! Because mental illness equates to stupidity I got it all wrong, right Stephen? What's even more shocking is Stephen crossed a boundary and tapped my shoulder, demanding to speak with me in private. I spoke with him, and he put on this tough guy act telling me "don't ever do that again, I will slam it down!" So now he's resorting to threats?! Interesting! I told him I would report him for his behavior and he smiled and went on to say "I'm very happy that you would do that!" Now why would he be happy that a patient would report him for threats? Unless, he thought he could win the "credibility battle" and stigmatize mental illness by saying I didn't know what I was talking about. Unfortunately for Stephen, he wasn't too "happy" when I reported him. In fact, in an effort to protect myself, I recorded him threatening me, so there was undeniable proof of his behavior. I even contacted the Corporate office and Stephen had to take sensitivity courses and write me a letter of apology. But he couldn't even do that right. He said everything was a misunderstanding. No! The only misunderstanding is how this guy wasn't fired! After stigmatizing mental illness, dismissing my concerns, and threatening me, he somehow gets to keep his job?! I guess they couldn't find someone else to fill in for him. To add insult to injury, Stephen falsified my medical records, which is highly unethical. In the records he says he showed concern for the bug bites. He completely omitted the fact that he threatened and patronized me. He even blame shifted and noted in my chart that I had a problem with his "supposed response". Stephen felt that he was "right from his perspective" and that he "wasn't trying to falsify anything". So his perspective carries more weight than the recording apparently. Deceitful.

rubber cucky

i was there for probably only 10 minutes and i decided i couldn't stand it there, its pretty much a free apartment for homeless people