PORTLAND -- Possibilities Counseling, a once-thriving, now- shuttered Auburn mental health agency, is likely to be the subject of a class-action lawsuit, despite the fact that most of its social workers and other affiliates have now been paid what they were owed. In Portland on Tuesday, a Business and Consumer Court judge said he'll likely allow hundreds of social workers, counselors and other affiliates of Possibilities Counseling to band together in a class- action lawsuit against the agency and its former billing company, Affiliate Funding. But justice Andrew M. Horton also said he will likely set criteria that limits who can join such a suit.
A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge agreed to drop an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy action against Possibilities Counseling on Wednesday, clearing the way for two law firms to pursue the defunct Auburn mental health agency in a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 550 social workers. Attorney Greg Hansel of Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau & Pachios said the suit had been on hold while the bankruptcy action, brought by some Possibilities Counseling creditors, had been in place.
AUBURN -- After a tumultuous month, President Wendy Bergeron is closing Possibilities Counseling. Located on Center Street, Possibilities had 500 affiliate therapists and case managers serving 10,000 mental health clients around Maine. About a month ago, a pair of surprise Department of Health and Human Services inspections found that 16 of 18 office staffers walked out in August and had largely been replaced by Bergeron's untrained family and friends.
AUBURN -- Dozens of social workers, counselors and other affiliates of Possibilities Counseling gathered at the Auburn Public Library on Thursday evening to share stories of missing paperwork, missing paychecks and what they saw as general mismanagement of the counseling agency that is soon to close. Then the group of about 70 talked to a pair of Portland lawyers about the potential for a class-action lawsuit.
PORTLAND -- A judge said today he will likely allow the social workers, counselors and other affiliates of Possibilities Counseling to band together in a class-action lawsuit against the mental health care agency and its former billing company, Affiliate Funding. However, there will also be criteria that will limit who can join such a suit, the Judge Andrew M. Horton said. The two sides will submit their arguments regarding that criteria in court over the next week.
AUBURN -- A Portland law firm filed a class action lawsuit against Possibilities Counseling in Cumberland County Superior Court on Monday and another laid groundwork for its own class action suit in Androscoggin County Superior Court. Greg Hansel of Preti Flaherty said he would ask that his suit against the Auburn mental health agency and its president be moved from Cumberland County to Maine's Business and Consumer Court, which handles large, complex issues.
AUBURN -- The state has given a local mental health agency a one- year conditional license after finding "serious deficiencies," including hiring friends and family without training or background checks, not paying therapists and leaving client files out in the open. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services conducted a surprise inspection at Possibilities Counseling's offices at 1120 Center St. on Aug. 26. It found that 16 of 18 staffers had quit two days before. President Wendy Bergeron should have notified the state of that but didn't, according to a report out Wednesday.
AUGUSTA -- Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Brenda Harvey has agreed to attend an open forum with former therapists and case managers from Possibilities Counseling, many of whom claim the recently closed Auburn mental health agency owes them thousands of dollars. The forum is set for 6 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28, in Jewett Hall Auditorium at the University of Maine at Augusta, said Susan Dore Lamb, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers' Maine chapter.
Social workers and mental health clinicians who claim they were not paid by a billing company for services performed over the last quarter will meet this week with top state health officials. Possibilities Counseling, an Auburn-based billing agency operated by Wendy Bergeron, announced it is closing at the end of October.
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