case manager

caregiver

mental health technician

mental health case manager

housing specialist

Community-House-Mental-Health-Agency

Working at Community House is a unique experience because of the direction management fights for every single day. Mental health companies in King County are always run the same way, except here. Community House intends to remain a small company because it means more human contact with its clients. I worked as a case manager which at other companies involves little to no client contact. At CH, I saw my clients every day! I helped them when they were in crisis, I supported them when they were doing well, I celebrated with them when they over come barriers and because of this, my job was incredibly rewarding.

Many case managers have very little experience when they begin with CH as they are typically recent graduates. This gives so many people the initial step into their career. Additionally, this means the team is young and really fun. They have happy hours regularly, hangout outside of work often and enjoy each others company while at work.

The down side of Community House is one that is pretty common amongst all non-profit, social work businesses. The income for most positions isn't great. It's equal to that of the same positions at other companies but can still be frustrating at times. There are opportunities to make a little extra by being the on-call person but that is completely optional.

They are also in a transitional building while their new site is being built. There is nothing wrong with their current building but its not very pretty. The new place which will be ready in 2020 will be amazing if it looks even remotely like the mock ups but that is quite a ways away at this point.

Community House has one of the most unique work atmospheres I've ever had the opportunity to work in and is hands down the best job I have had in my short life. 
They hired me as a clinical case manager, despite having minimal experience, took the time to teach me everything I needed to do, didn't settle for poor work but also never made me feel like I was a bad employee. Outpatient clinical case management is an absolute heavy caseload and Community House will do everything it can to make sure you feel supported through it all. The enviornment is supportive, collaborative, inclusive and focuses on quality care to the clients. I've never seen an agency that cares so much about making sure the clients feel like the agency is a community that they can rely on and feel safe in. 
I loved the work I did with the clients, the positive relationship that I had with them. The great relationship the staff have with clients, admin and each other is unbeatable. If you ever have a professional goal or personal goal, from what I saw CH was always willing to work with their staff to make it happen. 
It might be fair to say that Community House pays less compared to some competitors (and really not that much), but for the work environment, understanding flexible environment, and overall great place, anyone should consider themselves lucky to work at CH.

In terms of pay, PTO, and benefits, CHMHA sits in the middle of the competition. While the starting pay may be on the lower end of the scale, CHMHA does offer annual pay raises, overtime opportunities, and bonuses. They host quarterly team get togethers and holiday parties. The culture is moving towards reducing staff burnout and creating work-life balance. This is in hopes to reduce staff turnover in future years.

Most of the staff that are employed here are dedicated to client care and are passionate about serving others. The culture in my experience is mostly positive with a few staff that hold rigid negative views about the agencies and clients in general. Employees who cause drama are terminated as swift as possible.

In my experience, the leadership is generally very supportive and advocates for their staff to advance, if possible. Unfortunately, there are scarce opportunities to grow, but if you are a strong worker, it is noted and rewarded. It may just take some patience. The good news is that the agency is growing rapidly which tends to create more leadership opportunities as more staff are hired.

DO NOT WORK FOR THIS COMPANY!!!
LABOR HARASSMENT AT ITS FINEST!! 

Old employees are extremely hostile with new employees, supervisor is just in the facility during day shift so what happens at afternoon and night shifts is monitored based on what old employees tell supervisor happened (different perception issues), paid is once a month (which I found super inconvenient since we all have bills to pay weekly), since is nonprofit salary is extremely low compared to the work you do, is a huge issue If you don’t have a clean driving record and can’t get approved on companies insurance to drive clients to their doctor’s appointments, they lie to people hiring them for Case Manager positions and you will ended up mopping floors, washing dishes for 20 residents, taking out the trash of the whole facility and sometimes even cleaning feces on the wall of sick clients. Also, you will be exposed to blood since they check patients BGLS multiple times a day.

I found the struggle to communicate between differing parts of the agency frustrating, as well as the lack of some professional conveniences (Who seriously doesn't have voicemail in this day and age?). Also it seemed weird that we almost never had nurses available to use in the residences. In retrospect some serious concerns that most medication management was being done by unlicensed staff. 

It seemed there was a general lack of available funds for needed improvements, and we never had all the resources we needed to do our jobs well. 

That being said I felt that most employees tried hard to do the best for their residents with what means were available. I think that this could be a very good agency to work for with better allocation of resources and a bit more funding. 

I loved working with the residents and most of my coworkers. The position provided me with valuable personal growth at a time when I needed it.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Providing outstanding wellness, compassion and ongoing self independence to the clients. Strong positive support with community actives, meals, hospitality and individual ongoing support with community programs promoting independence.
Excellent medical team providing assessment and fererrals for ongoing medical issues

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Parking availability, needing more space

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Exceptional for cultural diversity with ongoing support
Culture that welcomes and supports the targeted population that it serves

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
triaging medical and psy notes for continuity of care, medication reviewing and team communication for ongoing wellness needs

Community House is a fantastic organization that really tries to focus on helping those folks that need it. That value starts at the top and is reflected in the priorities that are set throughout the organization. If you're looking for amenities that you'd find at one of the many tech businesses throughout the area I'd look elsewhere. But it you want to work for an organization that strives to make a difference and have coworkers/ managers that genuinely care about you and your well being this is the place for you. I always felt incredibly supported while working there and had tons of opportunity to learn and grow my career. 

I worked at Community House Mental Health Agency as a Peer Bridger. This place is so supportive it isn't even funny. They really care about how you are doing and what life is like for you. They give you a free lunch and free coffee and snacks. The clients make you really feel as if you are going to help the whole world. The only problem was that there wasn't enough job to go around. Community House could only offer me 2-6 hours a week at minimum wage. Unfortunately I was making peanuts. So in the end though it was fulfilling it became not worth it. My co-workers were amazing and supportive. My supervisors were always available to talk. The clients were amazing.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Many of the clients have been with CHMHA for 20+ yrs, and are great,  also, the CMs are able to do more good with the clients.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Management and dealing with the escalated clients, which can be dangerous and constant. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
They try to create a good culture, but they ignore PTO, benefits and pay as important parts of those culture and self-care. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Running around getting clients needs and behavior management, for 4 hrs, after an hour of getting prepared or meetings. Then 2 hours of paperwork.

I worked here for 8 months and was alone the majority of my shift in a home with 18-20 residents who lived there with mental health illnesses. At times this seemed like a liability due to the nature of the home and some of the illnesses the people had ie; I was threatened, screamed at, had romanticized letters given to me all by the residents I was taking care of alone. However I did feel great joy assisting the residents and liked my coworkers, they just shouldn’t have allowed anyone to work alone. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Case manager 48 salaries reported	$33.44 per hour
Caregiver 27 salaries reported	$27.70 per hour
Mental health technician 1 salary reported	$33.24 per hour
Mental health case manager 3 salaries reported	$27.45 per hour
Housing specialist 4 salaries reported	$27.69 per hour

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