State hospitals in California

[Igor4sugry]

Would appreciate input of those who worked/working in CA state psychiatric hospital system. PsychiatricTimes for this month has a ton of jobs in CA. There are two large state hospital advertisements.
One such advertisement is with California Dept of State Hospitals (DSH) with offers in DSH-Atascadero (San Luis Obispo County), and at DSH-Napa. The other one is in Department of Mental Health County of Riverside in Riverside, CA.

Doing some research these places are located far from metropolitan centers, yet property values are still high.
Are there any desirable state hospitals in California, and if so where are they? Any locations to avoid?

Desirable criteria mainly includes the community where psychiatrists of these hospitals live (particularly with kids). I'm not into being in LA, but also not looking forward to being in middle of nowhere.

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[Shikima]

Middle of no-where really doesn't exist any longer with the expansion into traditional farming communities. Also, Federal BOP has 3 different sites too.

 

[PrideNeverDie]

Would appreciate input of those who worked/working in CA state psychiatric hospital system. PsychiatricTimes for this month has a ton of jobs in CA. There are two large state hospital advertisements.
One such advertisement is with California Dept of State Hospitals (DSH) with offers in DSH-Atascadero (San Luis Obispo County), and at DSH-Napa. The other one is in Department of Mental Health County of Riverside in Riverside, CA.

Doing some research these places are located far from metropolitan centers, yet property values are still high.
Are there any desirable state hospitals in California, and if so where are they? Any locations to avoid?

Desirable criteria mainly includes the community where psychiatrists of these hospitals live (particularly with kids). I'm not into being in LA, but also not looking forward to being in middle of nowhere.

rivertucky is like 1.5 hours away from LA, 1.5 hours away from SD, and 4 hours away from Las Vegas
riverside has 300k people. it isn't some rural town in the boonies if that is what you are thinking.

are you a bro? do you like dirt biking and raised trucks? if so, riverside is the place for you.
if you go there, make sure to stop by los jilbertos and eat some nacho fries for me.

looking forward to going back there and continuing my all-you-can-eat-bro-ho buffet! bleach blonde hair, tight white tops, and jean shorts mmmhmmm!!!

 

[notdeadyet]

Would appreciate input of those who worked/working in CA state psychiatric hospital system. PsychiatricTimes for this month has a ton of jobs in CA. There are two large state hospital advertisements.
One such advertisement is with California Dept of State Hospitals (DSH) with offers in DSH-Atascadero (San Luis Obispo County), and at DSH-Napa. The other one is in Department of Mental Health County of Riverside in Riverside, CA.

I am more familiar with Napa than Atascadero. Both are forensic-heavy institutions. Both have some academic affiliation, though it's stronger at Napa (they are one of the big training sites for UC Davis's forensic fellowship, one of the better programs in the country). Patients at both are long stay types, some will find their treatment challenging.

Napa has the reputation of feeling a little... unsafe. A nurse was killed there a few years back and there was talk of improving safety conditions (there are spots where the mobile panic buttons don't have reception, etc.). I don't know how much these issues have been resolved. I don't know how this compares with Atascadero.

I know nothing about the Riverside gig. I lived in Riverside for a short contract and the town wasn't to my liking (all of the blights of big city living with little of the advantages).

Doing some research these places are located far from metropolitan centers, yet property values are still high.
Are there any desirable state hospitals in California, and if so where are they? Any locations to avoid?

Napa isn't the nicest of places, but the wine country is nearby and San Francisco is a short hop. Houses won't be cheap in decent neighborhoods (they've had a rising gang problem, so you need to look around). Napa is commutable from Marin, which is awefuly pretty, but definitely not cheap. I wouldn't try commuting from San Francisco (1 hour without traffic and there is ALWAYS traffic, sometimes real bad).

Atascadero is in the middle of nowhere but a nice middle of nowhere and not far from San Luis Obispo, which is an underappreciated town. A very good state college is there and there's also great wine country nearby (a trend?). Property won't be cheap, but you'll actually get acreage near Atascadero as opposed to tract housing in Napa. I'd prefer that location way above Napa, and I'm a Norcal guy.

Hope this helps.... In California, prisons and state hospitals tend to be placed in less populated areas and there are beautiful less populated areas and ugly ones. Property tends to be less valuable in the ugly ones, so guess where they tend to build state hospitals and prisons. Atascadero and Napa are older, so you have more life there.

By the way, take a cut out of the offered salary (I think it's 4%) which was reduced due to furloughs and never raised back. I don't see it coming back.

 

[Igor4sugry]

Thanks for this info notdeadyet. For someone who is not familiar with CA (except for large cities), how do I go about finding a place to work that appeals to young physicians with families. I'm looking to live in an educated zip code with good schools.
If one excludes Bay Area, and middle of LA, where should one look?

 

[notdeadyet]

Thanks for this info notdeadyet. For someone who is not familiar with CA (except for large cities), how do I go about finding a place to work that appeals to young physicians with families. I'm looking to live in an educated zip code with good schools.
If one excludes Bay Area, and middle of LA, where should one look?

That's such a multifactorial, personal question that it's hard for anyone to answer that other than to betray personal bias. In California, you'll find as many psych jobs in secondary markets as in big markets like SF/LA/SD. It really depends on what you what lifestyle and weather-wise.
My recommendation would be to look at a good summary site like http://www.city-data.com/forum/. You see people post all sorts of information and questions about various regions and areas. If you're looking at State Hospitals, it would be well worth your while to check that site out. Most state hospitals recruit heavily because they are not in areas that psychiatrists tend to like to live.

If you have more specific questions, I'm happy to help, but I know young physicians that dig living in greater San Diego near the water living in a small starter home. Others would love living in a smaller northern california city amidst the redwoods. Others couldn't imagine not living in the mountains. It's so user-dependent.

 

[gibits]

I worked at Patton State for a while but I'm guessing they are not hiring right now. They just fired a bunch of people last year. It's in Highlands so still rather remote, at least there's a casino down the street.
If you wanted a more urban setting I'd imagine Metro would fit the bill but I think they have a hiring freeze as well. Forensics wasn't really my thing, I was bored out of my mind there.

 

[qwerty89]

delete

 

[qwerty89]

delete

 

[qwerty89]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...hiatrists-paid-400-000-shows-bidding-war.html

 

[Igor4sugry]

Found this recently: http://www.montereyherald.com/ci_11918720

 

[PistolPete]

Ouch. Karma is a b.

 

[Indodo]

Thanks for this info notdeadyet. For someone who is not familiar with CA (except for large cities), how do I go about finding a place to work that appeals to young physicians with families. I'm looking to live in an educated zip code with good schools.
If one excludes Bay Area, and middle of LA, where should one look?

By definition, everywhere except those places where there is a decent population. That is still a very large chunk of california.
Central California, valley and coast. Sacramento. San Diego are places to start.