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DFL candidate touts experience as administrator of treatment center, but its license was revoked • Minnesota Reformer [1]

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Date: 2024-06-26  

A DFL-endorsed candidate running for an open state House seat touts her job as administrator of a substance abuse treatment program on her campaign website, but it was repeatedly fined and its license revoked for numerous violations before it closed on June 1.

Anquam Mahamoud is running to replace Rep. Hodan Hassan, DFL-Minneapolis, in House District 62B. Hassan announced in February she would not seek re-election after three terms.

On her campaign website, Mahamoud says she is chief operating officer of Twin Cities Health Services, a mental health provider and substance abuse treatment program that was incorporated in 2017 by Guled H. Mohamoud, with its registered office in Shakopee, according to filings with the secretary of state.

Calls to Twin Cities Health Services were not answered and Mahamoud did not return a phone call and email seeking comment.

According to state Department of Human Services records, the company’s license holder, Twin Cities Therapy Services, Inc., was fined by DHS twice and ordered to make changes over issues like failing to do background checks and going without a treatment director for more than two months in early 2021, and lacking a licensed drug and alcohol counselor supervising their facility in June 2023, among other violations.

DHS revoked their license in May 2023 for a lengthy list of health, safety and client rights violations at its new location at 3255 Hennepin Ave. in Minneapolis.

Among the company’s 2023 violations: failing to comply with reporting of maltreatment of vulnerable adults; failing to do internal reviews of alleged or suspected maltreatment; and failing to complete treatment plans and reviews and notify DHS of new administrators.

During a licensing investigation, DHS reviewed documentation of an alleged sexual assault at the company’s sober home that indicated employees knew about allegations of an inappropriate sexual relationship involving a client, but failed to comply with maltreatment of vulnerable adults policies and procedures.

Twin Cities Therapy Service appealed the May 2023 license revocation, and in February agreed to surrender its license, close the program and reopen if it submitted a new application and met some licensing conditions like a self-monitoring program, DHS training and employment of a full-time treatment director.

Mahamoud says on her campaign website that she moved to Minnesota at age 8 and grew up in the East Phillips Neighborhood, where she experienced poverty and had little access to health care.

“My single mom fought hard to provide for me and my siblings,” she wrote. “These sacrifices inform my work and advocacy daily.”

That experience led Mahamoud to work helping others get access to health care, and she said she was one of the first state caseworkers when the Affordable Care Act was enacted. She moved up to become state planning director for MNSure, where she helped oversee and implement the ACA.

Prior to that, Mahamoud was director of G&M Adult Day Care, Home Care and Transportation, according to her LinkedIn profile.

At Twin Cities Health Services, she said she works with “some of our most vulnerable and unhoused neighbors,” helping them navigate adult rehabilitative mental health therapy, substance use services and housing barriers.

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[1] Url: https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/06/26/dfl-candidate-touts-experience-as-administrator-of-treatment-center-but-its-license-was-revoked/

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