mental health technician

psychiatric nurse

dietary cook

bus driver

receptionist

Compass Intervention Center

A typical work day at Compass is very chaotic. I've worked at several mental health agencies as a social worker/therapist, so my review is from a place of experience. 
1. Needs better onboarding process-on the job coaching in regards to the paper work. The company is short on clinicians so they really don't have a key or point person that is able to assist with proper on the job training. You are taught everything but it's usually last minute and you have to dive right in. Other clinicians are so busy it's hard for them to take time to train or provide support.
2. Not enough space to hold proper trauma sessions.
3. Therapist sit in one room during COVID with mask on. Literally 10 computers in one big room. No storage space. Very chaotic set up.
4.In a field of constant change, Compass, is no different. Leadership makes many decisions undermining the opinion of the assigned therapist. At times, I felt as if I was the case manager and not the clinician providing trauma sessions.
5. Leadership-CEO and Clinical Director both have their hands in so many task at one time it makes them unorganized, poor communication, and both exhibit poor work/life balance.
6.I feel the census is too high at the moment and they have to place the children in large teams or groups. This is a barrier for them to receive effective therapy due to boundary concerns, rigid rules to account for the large group setting, very little room for individuality or flexibility with therapy, poor communication, and not enough time to process at times in group because your redirecting or correcting behaviors.
7. Some of the therapist that have been there for awhile are going through burnout and compassion fatigue. I'm sure this is across all job positions and roles at the agency.
8.Assign smaller case loads.
9. Group 3 x week, instead of 5 and smaller group sizes.
10. Unprofessional staff (arguing with each other, passive aggressive behaviors, gossip, attitudes, etc). Becareful because any staff, I repeat any staff( from direct care to leadership will throw you under the bus to save themselves when they can).

I loved the skills I gained and my time spent at Compass Intervention Center. My direct supervisiors cared how I felt and would work to check on me when having a rough day. I loved the people I worked with during my time, it can be hard getting started and establishing relationships with co workers, but mental health is a hectic field and there are a lot of people in the building just trying to get what they need to get done without a crisis throwing your whole day off. The only thing I would say is that departments would tend to blame each other rather than find a solution to better communicate with one another. Also, bringing something to another department about a kid could be challenging because attitude sometimes got in the way. Overall, I loved Compass and even though it was challenging daily it was worth every minute. I would recommend Compass to anyone looking for a job in Mental Health. Please don't let other reviews push you away, Compass really does care about the kids and you working for them, sometimes it can be hard and think leadership does not care about you or your thoughts but they do, you just really need to be open with your supervisors and COMMUNICATE WITH THEM.. its a two way street.

Working with behaviorally challenged children and adolescents is not not easy, but with results of treatment working, it is a very rewarding job to be able to help these kids. While at this job, I learned how to verbally de-escalate children who were upset for various reasons and I learned how to teach children various coping skills and how to handle these children with care when things escalated to the possibility of someone getting hurt. I also got the opportunity to participate in narcotics anonymous meetings with the therapist(s) who ran that program. The hardest part of my job was the stress that came from working with children who were there for treatment and having to cope with the fact that I was not able to help everyone that I came across. The most enjoyable part of my job was knowing that I was helping someone and the things that I was able to learn even on the toughest of work days.

Compass Intervention Center provides a supportive and structured environment for adolescents struggling with mental health and substance use challenges. The staff are generally compassionate, well-trained, and committed to helping youth make meaningful progress. The program offers a range of therapeutic services including individual counseling, group therapy, and family support, which helps ensure a more holistic approach to care.

While the care is effective and the facility is clean and secure, there can sometimes be delays in communication with families or outside providers. Additionally, like many mental health programs, individualized attention can vary depending on staff availability.

Overall, Compass plays a crucial role in stabilizing and guiding young people through difficult times. With a few improvements in communication and consistency, it has the potential to be even more impactful

The administrative staff was very supportive of my suggestions to utilize the kitchen facility to freshly prepare 3 meals a day and  snacks, as well as allow staff to purchase a meal.  We discontinued purchasing pre-cooked food and/or cold sandwiches from a local health center downtown and transporting it the East Memphis facility twice a day.  Changes occurred 1 1/2 month after employment.
 
I learned that children from all walks of life want pretty much the same thing, to KNOW someone really care about them and their opinion matters.  They established a dietary council that provided input for their menu selections.


.Enjoyed seeing the children looking forward to mealtime

Compass Intervention Center is a wonderful place to perform as a nurse.  The new CEO and Leadership Team has worked really hard to make Compass a great place for children and the work environment is so much better than it was in years past for nurses.  I am very impressed with the changes made at Compass since leaving in 2015 and will be going back full time to work as a member of the nursing team.  I highly recommend Compass for children with behavioral health/psychiatric issues and strongly recommend nurses with the desire to work with this population to give Compass a try.  The pay is very competitive, with great shift and weekend differentials, benefits and an awesome nursing team.

I regret even working here it is not a safe environment to be in , for employees or some of the children. 

so many things go on in this place and they are never reported.

you have to be fearful of getting fired for any little. Thing.

Management is a joke no structure in this place the children are not receiving any real help in this place, they are just their for stats and the money that this company receives for each child per day.


The children who act bad are rewarded for their bad behavior with snacks to keep them calm and from acting out, while the good ones receive nothing.

PLEASE DO NOT Place your CHILDREN HERE. BEWARE!!!!!!!

This is a terrible company because they claim to care about kids but it’s really about the money paid by insurance companies. Staff plays favorites and doesn’t have the kids’ best interests at heart, when that should be primary. Some kids are kept longer in residential care because insurance is paying for it and others are denied treatment for arbitrary reasons.
As a new hire I had high hopes for working here but those have been extinguished by the lack of care for employees demonstrated by management. There was no on-boarding process, everything was thrown at me with little explanation.

If your looking for a therapeutic treatment facility to put your college degree to work, this is NOT the place. 1)Kids are only a # there, do not receive any real help. 2) There is NO structure. 3)Leadership afraid of the residents, so the residents do Whatever they want 4) Leadership can not be trusted (people who were committed to the company 10+ years..fired). 5)UNSAFE place for residents and staff (on any day there can be 1 staff with 15+ behavioral youth for an 8 hr. Shift). 6) No advancement within the company (Once a Community Counselor/ Mental Health Tech..always one). Lastly, the pay is garbage!! College graduates make a dollar or two more than minimum wage!!

The goal of the organization is noble; however, considering the ego of the leadership- the nobility gets lost. This facility is owned by UHS it's more about the numbers rather than leadership supporting positive change for the children served. Prepare for poor organization from the first week of orientation until you leave. Most administrative staff are sizing you up in attempts to manipulate you. Administration appears to care a lot more about how they look/are perceived instead of doing the work that needs to be done. I would not recommend this facility.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Mental health technician 9 salaries reported	$16.11 per hour
Psychiatric nurse 1 salary reported	$50.00 per hour
Dietary cook 4 salaries reported	$15.00 per hour
Bus driver 4 salaries reported	$17.13 per hour
Receptionist 2 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour

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