direct support professional

special education teacher

registered nurse

board certified behavior analyst

clinician

Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health

When I first started at Devereux I went in with the hope of helping individuals and their families. I was promoted to a manager but in that position I got to see the ugly side of the company and just how cut throat and underhanded they can be. This company sets it's managers and directors up in order to fire them. They have no compassion for their staff or the individuals. They only care about retaining staff no matter if they are bad staff they only want bodies in the group homes. They over work their managers and the DSP's . If the schedule is short a staff they expect the managers to work not only their morning shift but also the open 2nd shift or the overnight and then when the managers work starts to suffer that's when they'll blame the manager for not keeping up with things after they already knew that the manager was dealing with a bunch of open shifts...The leadership in DNJ needs to be re evaluated, the family clicks need to be separated and transferred to another location. The culture in this place is toxic, the managers never get a break even when they are off, the leadership is CONSTANTLY sending emails almost 7 days a week, it's so bad that you'd have to turn off your email notification. This company  has gone down hill every since it  since it picked up the Bellwether homes, it's ALWAYS  been about the numbers with this company not the people , not the staff. They  lie about being compassionate , but the truth of the matter is there compassion is spelled in green =MONEY! They took away the hazard pay from the employees but they still want/expect the employees to wear the mask and keep up with the covid -19 restrictions and continue risking our health. It's no wonder that they are in the news for subpar care in other states including NJ. They are ALWAYS under staffed, the only time leadership is ever seen is right before a state inspection otherwise they never come into the group homes to assist when there's no coverage, They make sure that they get to spend time with their families. They just don't care!!!! Please do yourself a favor and don't be fooled by the enticing pay rate because it comes with a heavy price YOUR FAMILY! YOUR DIGNITY, YOUR SOUL, YOUR MORALS AND YOUR ETHICS will all be taken away from you if you work for this company... They will work you until they find you to be un-useful . EVERYONE is Expendable!  This place will eventually become the next bellwether if they don't reexamine the people running the NJ branch. They are going to lose good managers and good direct support staff. The state will eventually catch them with the multiple open shifts, 
 The Sleeping overnight staff that they know about and instead of leadership getting up out of their beds in the middle of the night, they want the managers who they are already over working to go in at night and do pop ins and then stay if they find the staff sleeping... I don't get why this company who is given millions from the state doesn't just put cameras in the homes after all they have GPS in their vans. I could go on with the list of problems and concerning things that are going on in this company, but after giving them 10yrs of my life I'll be glad to kiss this place good bye... The only thing I'll miss will be the consumers and some of my co-workers. Some advice to the CEO would be to clean house within your NJ leadership division , then start looking at the directors , then the managers, the problem is coming from the top and it's trickling down the hill.  STAY AWAY! There are much better jobs out there and this is not one of them!!!!

I love working with and helping people,,I have children with IDD so this field is what I live for. The problem with this company is that the corruption is at the higher level everyone seems to be related or very close friends.  They pick and choose who they want to promote,  if you're a yes person who doesn't make waves and keeps your opinion to yourself then you're sure to get promoted. There's a lot of back stabbing and pettiness from fellow managers,  lots of Gossiping, lack of team work and if your peers don't like you they won't help you.  If upper management doesn't like you they won't help you either or promote you instead they promote  the fake  managers who have the easy group homes,  what they will do is try to set you up to fail.  They pile copious amounts of work on the managers and set unrealistic expectations to get the work completed.  They make managers over see vacant group homes along with their own assigned group home with no extra compensation. They constantly change things at a moment's notice and are adding more and more work on the managers. The training given is useless and ineffective the equipment hardly ever works.The day to day is extremely stressful , there's a lack of support from the higher ups, the Executive Director  has to see  what's going on by reading these reviews. But the consensus is Managers and staff alike are all BURNED OUT!  If you are looking for a job that will stress you out daily,  a job where there's no real advancement, unless your a yes person,  a job where favoritism RULES! a job where you don't matter,  a job that supports the YES person and not the actual hard worker then come on over they're waiting for more suckers to apply. I also forgot to mention how incredibly understaffed they are both with DSPs and managers. This company doesn't care at all about the people who actual are keeping them in business,  without the clients Devereux wouldn't exist,  without the DSPs Devereux would  have no clients,  without some of the harder working managers the group homes would fall apart (oh that's right they would just over work a manager and  have that manager cover both homes). But knowing this they continue to treat this group of workers as expendable and once you step in the door you become their pawn. Bottom line is as long as you say yes to everything, & agree to be their lap dog and bend over backwards you'll move up the ladder, but until you find the strength and take ownership of the following words " Sorry I can't continue to run myself into the ground, you'll have to find someone else" They will continue to work you to death (literally)until you've had enough and either quit or drop down to a sub. I am actively looking for another company that actually cares about their employees and the clients,  you can't have one without the other. A happy employee is a more productive worker. Not A Burned Out Employee! 

 DEVEREUX YOU ARE BURNING OUT YOUR EMPLOYEES!

I can't stress enough to find a better company ...This place is not a good place to work at.  You've been warned!

Pros
-You work with a great team of professionals and clients - Medical benefits - Flexability scheduling
Cons
Devereux is cheap- they are constantly looking for ways to save a penny here, save a penny there. I worked in the foster care program. I had to use my car for work. Devereux does not offer any sort of stipend for the wear and tear on your car. They do pay mileage (they claim the mileage rate covers both gas and wear and tear expenses). I'm not sure what idiot was calcuating this formula because their reimbursement rate didn't even cover the gas you used to travel to homes and appointments. In 2013 the IRS national mileage rate was $0.56 per mile. I left Devereux in 2013 and their mileage rate was $0.35, and they refused to raise it when the gas prices would go sky high in the summer. Come on now- we are social workers- we don't make the big bucks. By the time I left, I was paying out of pocket for my work related gas expenses. Professional development opportunities are frowned upon, unless the employee pays for it themselves. Wait, this gets better- you HAVE TO PAY if you want to attend the employee holiday party. Case loads were probably illegal per contract with DCF. When I started here I was told case loads never go over eight because intensive foster care requires weeklly visits- I think when I left my case load was 15!!! On-call system/overtime- the icing on the cake. If you were on-call you worked a 39 hour work week, allowing one hour for any "on-calls" (they refused to pay overtime. You had to document minute by minute of that on-call hour. If you were reaching 50 minutes you were forced to hang up the on-call phone (even if you were dealing with a crisis) so you could call the on-call supervisor to let them know you had 5 minutes left before you hit 40 hours. They would either give you permission to continue or they would take over because paying any overtime was a big NO NO. Also, when I was out on my vacation time- I was still on-call- so messed up. Devereux likes to schmooozeeee- they think they have this reputation of being the "highest quality" foster care agency- but nobody really cares or pays attention- as long as you have a home with a bed DCF will think you are fantastic. Documentation- I get it, when you are a social worker you have no other choice, but Devereux documentation standards took it to another level- when documenting a home visit they wanted to know every minor detail from a new pet goldfish in the home to the color of the clothing everyone was wearing when you went to the home- the documentation requirements took away from the clinical treatment you could actually be doing with the clients.

Advice to Management
Upper management could use with a pay cut and use that money to give the bottom of the food chain social workers a (small) raise. For instance, my social worker salary when I left was $32,200. Robert Kreider's (CEO) salary in 2013 was $669,451 (it's public information, google Devereux 990 tax return). I'm not even asking for much here, 32,200 is hard to live off of these days. If Mr. Kreider would take a 10,000 dollar pay cut he'd still be left with $659,451, and I'd be making 42,200 (and I would be THRILLED and HAPPY).

Most of their staffs curses clients (kids) out, argues back and fourth with the kids, belittles the kids because and there's no consequences when you are in clicks. The constant horse playing nonstop with the clients. No professionalism shown while on the unit. Grown adults reverting to little kids themselves and playing with clients on the unit.  They favor few clients there, which causes to discipline these clients less. Program management and supervisors are terrible, they gossip as if they were the ones in the program's high school. I have reported verbal abuse to HR towards kids regarding staff who's in the process of becoming a supervisor or shift lead, they were more concerned about making up stories assuming I had a personal issue with staffs. The SPA's are performed rough on the kids, some staffs are away from camera view God knows what really happens during those times.  I feel sorry for these kids, because HR approves these hires and half of these staffs I would not have hired  to even work with animals but it's a revolving door there, their establishment needs to function 24 hours, so they do not care who they hire as long as the background comes back clear, you pass your physical,  you job references checks out, you are in the door to work there. Favoritism and clicks is strong in the workplace, supervisor that favors staffs, let them leave the unit whenever, and when shift is over, you can forget it, you are stuck there after 1hr when the shift ends. If you are not part of the clicks, you are harassed and micromanaged like your clueless of the work descriptions. Technically, it’s a therapeutic facility for the kids, but this establishment is simply there functioning to accept more kids with every psychotic and behavioral issues while the DCP gets punch on, spat at and etc.. to collect funds daily with no real consequences, come get your prescription meds, the more meds and behavioral issues the better for them. When corporate comes to inspect or whatever, they want to act accordingly. In leadership position during any investigation, the investing party should not side with their clicks. It should solely be based on the safety of the kids, both mentally and physical  thoroughly investigating and temporarily removing the staff involved from such unit, but instead, leadership do states they want a statement to conduct the investigation , but never gets one from you(Covering up so they don't mess up the staff promotion), they say they are going to handle it, and the next day they are gossiping, smiling with the accused like the person who reported had a personal agenda, conflict of interest, then stares you down the following day with the ugly look, because you told on their homegirl.. I enjoyed working with some of the staffs who were easily to approach, conversing appropriately and who respected the clients.
P.S. "SOME" staff will quickly through you under the bus.

There was not necessarily a typical day at work because the cases that I have been assigned to have varied so much based on the support I was given by the supposed team I was working with, as well as the goals and capabilities of the individuals with which I have worked. Some typical goals that my individuals may have worked on included: fitness, house hold chores, cooking skills, budgeting skills, socialization, communication, hygiene maintenance, appropriate management of emotions, etc. I learned many things from every case that I worked on. I learned to think quickly in order to solve problems and be proactive. I learned to interact positively with individuals who function and express themselves in different ways than I do or than what might be considered "normal" and appreciate the strengths and uniqueness of each person that I worked with. I learned how to advocate for my clients and I learned that I cannot make everything perfect. I learned how to be flexible, giving, but also the importance of setting boundaries. Most of my coworkers have been pleasures to interact with, but some have come across as uncaring, distant, or disdainful to the individuals that they work with. In recent years there has been turn over in all levels of the company, including the loss of the head of our program whom I had learned to rely on as a mentor and supervisor, especially in times of crisis. Now case managers are coming and going that they barely work long enough to even understand the job they are supposed to be doing. Behavioral specialist are sometimes involved, sometimes not, sometimes leave the case and don't get replaced. Sometimes you are sent in blind and with absolutely no support from the agency. This was the most challenging part of the job, although not the hardest. The hardest part was dealing with parents who seemed to stand in the way of their grown children's progress. Routine is important for individuals on the autism spectrum, but if things become too routine it becomes monotonous. My favorite part of the job has been the relationships that I developed and the wonderful individuals I have met along the way. Another favorite part of the job is when I can see someone progressing on the goals that they are working towards and when I know that I am doing something to positively impact another person. I also loved the variety of each day in my week. I loved the flexibility of the job, despite the lack of security, as well as the opportunities that I was given as a contractor to be a part of a team, and have my opinions heard, my experiences and interactions with my individuals incorporated into the plans which we would work on.

The children that this company serves are wonderful. The clients served are among the most difficult "cases" from around the US.  The children and adolescents make the job rewarding and interesting. Of course, they can be volatile and aggressive, but most have personality,are wise beyond their years and are genuinely interested in wanting to get better. I have a lot of love and respect for this population. If you have good therapeutic boundaries and a lot of patience, this could be a very good job.  That being said, these great children are being woefully underserved by the Devereux Corporation. The company does not invest in developing adequate treatment programs for the clients. Rather than therapeutic activities and groups, the kids are most likely milling around with no structure or playing video games or watching TV. They receive minimal (if any) consequences or redirection for any dangerous or unsafe behaviors. 
They do not invest in adequate training for employees. New employees are often thrust into situations that could be dangerous without a lot of training. They do not invest in employee retention. Once you're hired, you are on your own. Annual raises are pitiful. I was told that the company does not approve any additional raises at any time for any reason. So, if you are taking on more duties and being a generally good employee and going above and beyond don't expect any monetary recognition. You *might* get a $5 Starbucks gift card, if you have a generous manager. There is little to no education reimbursement. They give a minimal amount of money to help further education or professional development. I think 1-2 people a year receive education reimbursement if you apply for it. Oddly enough, it was the residential director's wife that received it one year. Come to think of it, she won discounted healthcare insurance at the annual health fair too. Weird... 
Management is hands off. If you have a problem they would prefer not to get involved. The philosophy is "trauma informed" organization management (I don't even know what that means, but we watched some power points about it). You are encouraged to handle your own issues with co-workers and have "difficult conversations that are transparent". Basically, crummy employees get off scot free because it is YOUR job to to talk to them about the issues. If you aren't reporting glowing praise management isn't interested. If you make a complaint that management does not feel is warranted, you will probably have to write an apology to whoever's feelings you hurt. This used to be a great place, but now not so much. You can find a better job that values you and cares about your safety and the safety of the patients.

Culture is horrible. Corporate is attempting to bring in "Servant Leadership" which sounds good on paper, but are not incorporating that in the GA Center, as evidenced by keeping the incompetent management in place. Poor management at the center level with horrible communication skills, and a complete lack of sympathy and empathy. There is no trust, they treat the base workers as numbers and do not care about their lives, nor safety. Top management at the center have no idea how to run a nonprofit, and instead implement a government style of running a center. No checks-and-balances, it is like an echo chamber. They are stubborn and refuse to listen to the other leaders who know what practices work best and worked in the past before the two top center management took over. Constant turn over because of poor management, low pay, and awful work environment. Many supervisors and managers are bullies and there is absolutely retaliation at the center, despite the anti-retaliation policy in place, but everything gets swept under the rug and poor behaviors are allowed to continue. Floor staff encourage new hires to use restraints first instead of therapeutic approaches. They also encourage physically fighting. However, since the poor staff are in the cliques, the behavior continues. I tried to stay because I care about the clients, but enough is enough. I refuse to be targeted and bullied because I refuse to adapt to the crooked and toxic environment. 
True colors are definitely being shown during the COVID-19 crisis-- Refusing to allow the office workers(non-essential staff) to work from home because the top center leader is old school and "doesn't believe" in remote work, causing a potential outbreak of illness when they should have been actively acting to reduce risk and exposure. Many of my prior coworkers are experiencing concerning symptoms. They are still allowing clients to leave campus and allowing visitors on campus. No respect for the employees whatsoever, nor do they care about the employees' health and wellbeing. I urge you, do not get stuck in this black hole. 

Corporate, if you are reading this- please intervene! GA needs your help! Certain people are charismatic in a bad way and can polish dirt to make it seem like everything is fine. Many staff are scared to say anything because of retaliation and fear of losing their job.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Devereux cares about the mental, physical and emotional health of their employees to the degree that it cares about the clients. There are many incentives, wellness programs and amenities to help employees stay healthy. It's nice to know that a company cares about more than profits. Employees are also recognized for good work with complement cards as well as gift cards and there is a discount program and partnerships that will save you 1000's of dollars on vacations and airfare!

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part about working at Devereux was not knowing what to expect when I received a new student. Even though there is n IEP, I never knew what to expect until I met the student. I was, however, supported by the company and I never worked alone, so I always felt safe no matter what mental challenges the student was diagnosed with. Each classroom has 1 or 1 IA's as well as PCA's if that's in the IEP

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The culture was relaxed and serious, because although  it's a very specific job where you have to follow different individualized programs for people with different diagnosis, you can laugh and some of the work was fun.  I enjoyed working with the students and I got the work done by infusing humor into what could have been boring or repetitious work. You are also not micromanaged by the supervisors. They trust that you will do your job and they're not looking over your shoulders. They are, however, there when you need them. The supervisors were very approachable and fair and they will have your back if you need support.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I never punched in or out. I had a fob to get into the job so that's how my attendance was monitored. Before the day began I would review what was expected of me so that I could prepare. Then all day I followed my lesson plans  until break, lunch or specials or until it was time to go home. After the students left, for the day, I prepared for the next day and then  I went home. Three of us  worked in one room and were responsible for 6 - 8 students, but I was responsible for the majority of the paperwork.

Onsite management and staff here are friendly and supportive, but this review is about the job itself, not the people. As a therapist, you take on multiple roles—therapist, case manager, point of contact, admissions counselor, and discharge planner. You’re deeply involved in every aspect of a child’s life, from their probation process to knowing their clothing sizes and Christmas wishes. You also plan monthly off-property outings and handle family passes.

When kids are on passes, you must keep your work phone on you, even when off the clock, in case of an emergency. Additionally, there is a “Storm Team,” meaning if a major storm is expected, you must stay overnight as long as necessary (which is common in mental health hospitals).

If you’re working toward licensure and aren’t a social worker, expect it to take 2.5–3 years to get your hours. While session lengths can be 30, 45, or 60 minutes, this often doesn’t happen. Many sessions end up being shorter due to scheduling conflicts, crises, or other responsibilities pulling you away. Weekly, your direct client hours can be inconsistent, which slows down the accumulation of required hours for full licensure.

Also, this company does not participate in loan forgiveness programs like HRSA/STAR, which directly help with loan repayment without requiring payments upfront. Their programs are more geared toward career changers. If asked about loan assistance, they will only direct you to PSLF, which requires you to make years of qualifying payments before applying for forgiveness. Which you can do at almost any company. I personally provided them with all the information needed to enroll in HRSA/STAR, thinking they were unaware of it, but they already knew and chose not to participate.

I requested a case manager to help with the workload and was immediately denied, so the structure is unlikely to change. If you’re okay with being a parent figure, this might be a good fit. If you want to focus strictly on therapy, consider other options.

If staff could just focus on themselves and the consumers, this would be a great job to work at. If upper management didn't retaliate against good workers based off of emotions, then it would be a great job to stay and grow with the company. The consumers should be the only stress of the job, instead you have to worry about upper management overriding your supervisor with writing you up for stupid things because they don't like you. Nothing is kept in private because you have people who are always near the managers door trying to listen to what you are talking to the supervisor about or just walking in on a private conversation. You have staff who is constanly causing drama because they can't seem to separate their personal life from their work life. Due to them being miserable, they make up things to get other people in trouble possibly fired. There are too many investigations happening due to people lying for their friend that is being investigated or because they don't want to be involved. The constant threats from upper management if you don't do something a certain way or ask a simple question (make them feel powerless) you will get written up or possibly fired. Upper managment talk nasty to staff. No paid vacations, always have to use your time to cover for the holidays, and if there is a closing on the day program due to the weather, you will be forced to go into the group homes to work for the day instead of just getting paid for the bday because the center is closed. This is not a place for good hard workers. This is a place for lazy people who lie their way to the top. Only corrupt staff get promotion here, if they really like you they will create a position for you out the blue. Please go elsewhere and work, don't come here. We are constantly short staff all the time, you will get burned out quickly, and there is no loyalty for hard workers, they only look out for lazy people. Staff is always om their phones not paying attention tontheir assigned consumers. Someone needs to call the state on this place, real facts!!!!!

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