Shasta County’s Director of Mental Health Will Resign in August
Health and Human Services Agency Branch Director Miguel Rodriguez said he’s stepping down to take a position in private industry.
In a letter sent to all Health and Human Services Agency staff on Thursday, June 13, Shasta County’s Director of Mental Health, Miguel Rodriguez, announced his resignation, effective August 2.
“I truly value all of the passion, sweat, and tears you continue to pour into providing excellent services to our clients,” Rodriguez wrote. “Over the past (just about) 6 years, I have seen and experienced the constant change Shasta County has gone through and how you all continue to remain strong despite what challenges are thrown your way!”
Rodriguez, a licensed clinical social worker who has worked for the County since 2018, said the decision to step down from HHSA was difficult. He’s taking a new position as Director for Mental Health for The Wonderful Company, a $6B agricultural holding company that includes the well-known brands Fuji Water and POM Wonderful.
Rodriguez became Shasta County’s Director of Mental Health about two years ago, on the same day that HHSA Director Laura Burch was appointed to her role permanently after eight months of serving in an interim capacity.
Since Burch’s appointment, HHSA has seen significant turnover in top management positions. Rodriguez will be the third of HHSA’s four branch directors to resign since Burch took charge. He’s also the only Branch Director who reports directly to Burch. She has not yet responded to a request for comment.
As Mental Health Director, Rodriguez was the first Branch Director to oversee a combined Adult and Children’s Services Department under the Behavioral Health and Social Services Branch of HHSA, which was created through reorganization just before he assumed the role.
Rodriguez used an email to staff announcing his resignation to express his belief in the capability and strength of the deputy directors he will leave behind overseeing Adult Social Services, Mental Health, Child Welfare and Alcohol and Drug Administration.
Rodriguez also gave special shout-outs to fellow Branch Directors Katie Cassidy (Public Health) and Dwayne Green (Eligibility Services.) He ended his email with a statement of care and respect for the HHSA staff who provide direct client care.
“I truly believe that the staff who are helping clients on a daily basis are the heart and soul of our system of care,” Rodriguez wrote, “and I respect and appreciate everything you do for our branch, clients, and community!”
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Oh for the days that the Shasta Psychiatric Hospital, Breslauer Ln, professionally ran, returns to serve our mental health citizens.
That’s is exactly what is needed. They need to be brought back state and nation wide!
What a mess.
Unless an upcoming “regime change” means Laura and Christy get replaced, HHSA staff will continue to hemorrhage.
wow! it’s comments like that that really show how crappy some employees are. There are many of us that see the good they do inspite of all the challenges and negative people like you! too bad you aren’t part of the solution, but instead part of the problem
It’s the line staff who do good things in spite of all the challenges, not Laura and Christy and the other mean girls. And they serve the agency and the community day in and day out despite massive leadership failures that have resulted in high turnover, even higher workloads, and the lowest employee morale I have ever seen in the agency. Their poor decision making and lack of fiscal expertise or management skills are causing harm to the agency. Employees need to be encouraged to speak up about what is happening to the agency rather than being called negative for telling the truth.
Most of the staff are so happy he’s leaving. He has made the lives of so many employees miserable. He loves to belittle his employees and make them feel like crap about themselves. He definitely enjoyed having the power he did.
Miguel is a top quality human being. This is a huge loss for our county, one of many, over the last few turbulent and chaotic years of misgovernance by the Jones Outfit. I don’t ever see the past Directors, Counsels, and Health Officer returning but at least we can help staunch the hemorrhaging of key staff remaining with the upcoming regime change. Such a shame.
I wish you all the best, my friend!
I worked there in Children’s Services before retiring shortly after Mr. Rodriguez came on board. He was the typical government bureaucrat, all about his goals and agendas and cared not at all about the frontline workers. I have heard from friends that remain there that morale is low, working conditions are bad, and Mr. Rodriguez is largely responsible. I’m sure he’ll prosper wherever he goes. They always do.
Queen song in my head
Another one bites the dust
Miguel and the Director are very close so his job must be something he couldn’t pass up OR maybe the board?!?!? Ms Burch has some plans herself (I’ve heard) the board is going to tank the county one by one.
Either he knows something bad is happening behind the scenes and is jumping ship before he’s implicated or he’s tired of looking the other way for the “mean girls”. Some employees have said no one was involved in budget this year. It was closed doors. So who knows what they did with those numbers. There’s too many programs, grants, and mandates for them to know what they are actually legally allowed to use funds on. I would not be surprised if they fudged numbers to look good instead of following the law.
You’re not the only employee who is concerned about them fudging numbers and hiding budget information. HHSA executive leadership and the Admin branch leadership talk a lot about transparency but that’s just a way for them to hide what they are up to. Has anyone asked why Laura and Christy were so eager to bring housing into HHSA and now want it booted out a year later? And why whenever fiscal staff starts to understand the Housing/CAA funding they are suddenly gone? And why did Laura push out experienced admin branch leadership with fiscal expertise and replace them with two people who are lacking in supervisory experience, management skills, fiscal knowledge, or any budget experience? Could it be Laura and her mean girl disciples were trying to hide something regarding the housing money?! Inquiring minds…
You nailed it!
💯% Truth❗
Mic drop on that. 100 % what all of fiscal people who are left are asking. Something odd in all this
So sad we are losing our most dedicated and knowledgeable employees in the county. Our community suffers greatly without them. Best wishes for Mr. Rodriguez. He will make a difference wherever he goes. Thankful for his service.
Uhoh! The County loses another key person. Lower your expectations…
On the Behavioral Health side HHSA has been going downhill for quite some time. It started downhill with Marta McKenzie hiring a completely unqualified person to lead Mental Health. There was intense pressure to eliminate professional staff along with decision making by people who have no experience or understanding of working with those who have serious mental illnesses. Behavioral Health has continued to lose professional staff and they have been replaced by people who have no experience or training in mental health. People were hired who did not have the basic listed requirements for a position, at times hiring family members and friends. This included hiring people for adult mental health positions from the now defunct Victor residental program. Now there is almost no clinical oversight and no accountability. When he was hired, Miguel had NO experience working with adults with serious mental illness and simply created chaos everywhere he went.
Cant go much lower than they are
I’m very saddened by Miguel’s departure. I’ve seen so many staffers leave over the past few years, but the head of programmatic services is a huge hit. I wish Miguel all the best, truly, but I can’t help wonder about the wake left in his absence.