Allegations of unethical behaviour have been levelled against two of the Island's drug-helping organisations by a disgruntled axed employee.

Canadian, Sylvie Giroux was a clinician at Fairhavens Christian Care Association Women's Treatment Centre for three months. She claims her dismissal came after confronting management both there and at the Council Partners Charitable Trust on what she felt were "disturbing trends in the way the organisation was run".

But Fairhavens' board chairperson Elaine Charles said the woman's allegations are untrue and a "figment of her imagination".

Ms Giroux, who has returned to Canada, spoke to The Royal Gazette from her Sudsbury home. She said she began working at Fairhavens in March 2001 but within a few weeks began noticing what she called "disturbing trends in the way the organisation was run".

She explained how one of her clients was encouraged by a member of the Fairhavens staff, to "tell tales" on another member of staff.

And Ms Giroux claimed that Mrs.Charles was in on the ploy.

"The staff member and Mrs. Charles both used my client," she said.

According to Ms Giroux, the matter became so intense for the client that she came to her for help.

"She should have never been put in a situation like that. A meeting was supposed to be set up between Mrs. Charles and my client, but I intervened."

But Mrs. Charles denied the claim. According to her, the incident did not happen. "I can't comment on something that doesn't exist," she said.

And right after this incident occurred, Ms Giroux said she approached Fairhavens' board member and Council Partners member Austin Warner for advice on how she dealt with the situation.

"I did this because we had no clinical supervisor at the time," she said.

But later that day, Ms Giroux said it was announced that Mr. Warner and Doris DeCosta, another Council Partner member, were going to be the new clinical supervisors. She said this was a direct conflict of interest since they were members of one of the bodies which funds Fairhavens.

Ms Giroux said once Mr. Warner became her clinical supervisor, he approached her and indirectly suggested that he and Gordon Johnson (Council Partner chairman) were "not sure of her".

"He told me that Fairhavens had nowhere to go but up, and if I played the game, I would have nowhere to go but up, too," she said.

But she said she made it clear to him that she only had intentions to carry out her duties as expected, nothing more.

Ms Giroux also claimed that Mr. Warner had unfair influence on the treatment programmes designed for the clients.

According to her, a friend of Mr. Warner's, Dr. Thomas Slaven, was hired by the Fairhavens board to design a treatment programme for its clients, although the National Drug Commission's (NDC) treatment coordinator, who is also her partner, had already formulated one.

"We (clinical staff) had attempted to flush out programmes. One day Mrs. Charles came into my office and saw me writing on a pad and asked, `What's this?'," Ms Giroux said. "She threw it off my desk and told me that they (the board) had something in mind."

"That is a gross distortion," Mrs. Charles said. "That absolutely did not happen."

Instead, she explained, that Ms Giroux was supposed to prepare a presentation for a workshop that Fairhavens was having.

"When I went to her office, I asked her whether the information on the chart was also available as a handout," said Mrs. Charles, "But that was the extent of the situation. Her interpretation is a figment of her imagination."

But once Dr. Slaven arrived at the facility, Ms Giroux said, it appeared that he was formulating a plan that she believed was not conducive to their clients' needs.

"It became evident that he knew nothing about what he had prepared. After I disagreed with him about the programme, I overheard him telling Austin what I said, and the response was `too bad'," she claimed.

A week before her three-month probation period was due to end, Ms Giroux said she attended a meeting between Mr. Warner and Mrs. Charles and was told because "there was no one there" to review her work, her probation would be extended for a further three months.

"I told Mr. Warner that he could appraise my work and he said `no'," she said. "I also suggested others who could have done it, but I was still denied."

It was during this meeting, Ms Giroux said, she confronted Mrs. Charles about her unethical behaviour.

"I also voiced that I was opposed to having my probation extended," she said.

A short time later, Ms Giroux said she was fired from Fairhavens based on her opposing the extension, which according to Mrs. Charles, was true. But, Mrs. Charles, Ms Giroux had a hidden agenda.

"We did not know before she started that she was on a year's leave of absence from her job in Canada, so when her three months' probation was nearing an end, she asked for her confirmation to the post because her leave was about to lapse," she said.

"She became very angry when she was told that we would not confirm her."

Although she departed the Island last December, Ms Giroux said she has waited this long before going to the media because she thought the issue of outstanding monies owed to her by Fairhavens would have been settled by now.

"This July, I wrote them a letter and told them if they did not pay me what they owed, I would to go public," she said.

But Mrs. Charles questioned why the matter was being brought up again since it had already been addressed by the Human Rights Commission.

"Ms Giroux has been very difficult through all of this," she said.

However, Ms Giroux insists this is not a case of sour grapes.

"I only wanted what was best for the clients...I have never experienced this type of disrespect," she said.

But while he agreed that Ms Giroux had the right to raise her claims of injustice, Austin Warner, director of community development at the Council Partners questioned how the matter was going to benefit the quality of treatment services on the Island.

"What she's (Ms Giroux) saying does not reflect truly with what's happening with health care,"he said.

And although Mr. Warner refused to directly respond to the former clinician's claims, he stressed that he worked in an open and well-informed environment.

"I work for an organisation that has an executive director and a board of governors who are well aware of these issues and everything pertaining to the Council Partners and other funding agencies.

I don't operate in a vacuum. I know why I'm here and the board supports that."