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I took on the responsibility of two jobs simultaneously as many do at Non-Profits. As the Rec. Facilities Coordinator my daily tasks were to check and maintain all sports/recreation facilities on campus (basketball courts, tennis courts, driving range, pool, bike/hiking trails, fitness center, recreation room). I also scheduled all sports and recreation activities for the student population; coordinated sports teams and conducted practices; led fitness classes; and set up events (basketball tournament, guest musicians/speakers). I also maintained schedules and calendars that determined who could use what facilities and when so that there were no conflicts.

For the Volunteer Coordination position I acted as a liaison between members of the community and our organization. I would either actively recruit or review volunteer applications that I would receive electronically. I would then conduct trainings and screenings with the volunteers, have them sign confidentiality statements and submit background checks. After all the screening I would do my best to place them in a department or area of their preference or where I thought they would do best. Occasionally I would have to turn down individuals whose background checks came back with red flags or stood out in some less than savory way. 

My supervisor was the CEO and possessed a "hands off" philosophy of management. He allowed me to do my job without micro managing me but was there for me when or if I needed assistance. I worked alone which I enjoyed but this also made things difficult at times when I was over worked or pulled in opposing directions by my jobs. 

Balancing both jobs was very challenging at times. Often my responsibilities would pull me in opposing directions and without any co-workers I would have to get creative to accomplish all my duties. This was difficult but I found it rewarding and empowering as well. I was always able to get done what was needed and I frequently received high praise from management. I took the job after the previous employee left abruptly and received no training - I was able to train myself and exceed my predecessors standing which was already rated quite high. This was a huge source of pride for me. 

I also found it very satisfying when I was able to make the two jobs complement each other. I would recruit ex-coaches and college athletes to volunteer for us; which would expand our volunteer base and provide our students with more a varied sports/recreation curriculum - and the icing was that this made my job easier because I had less activity blocks to fill on my own.

I think the saddest thing about this particular review is that I know Eliada used to be a wonderful place, both for employees and for students. They really did do a lot of good for the kids in residential and the company worked to take care of the people who took care of those kids.

At this point in time, however, residential needs to be shutdown. Due to horrific working conditions, systematic mismanagement, a lack of caring about the safety of employees or children, and a general disregard for compliance with regulation, Eliada isn't even a shadow of what it could be, and as a result staff are leaving faster than they can be brought in; in fact, most staff leave before they are even out of training. As a result of this staffing crisis, management is constantly bribing staff with $100 bonuses to pick up extra shifts, and then when that doesn't bring in enough staff management will force staff who are working to be out of the legal staff/student ratio - which is not only illegal, but it puts staff at higher risk of being injured due to the high acuity of the students and general lack of support.

I wish I could say that Eliada is trying to fix the problems with residential, but unfortunately this is not the case. The CEO doesn't understand the most basic and foundational concepts of working with students who have Oppositional Defiant Disorder or Conduct Disorder, and the Residential Director looks at everything as being someone else's problem and simply won't do her job. Not only that, but the cottage supervisors are either spread out far too thin to do their jobs well or are just too incompetent. Probably a bit of both, in all fairness. Not to mention that the direct care staff who do actually stay at Eliada will become so burned out that they'll only work third shift, will become part of the problem by not actually doing their jobs, or will have an emotional break down.

If you take nothing else from this, just know that residential is a giant mess that needs to be shut down and all the upper leadership need to be fired. The sooner, the better.

My experience working at Eliada was okay but could've been much better. My biggest concerns was the unprofessionalism from upper leadership, the lack of support, and my safety. I was only an intern here making 7 bucks an hour and felt like i did way too much work for that pay. I had less than 2 weeks of training and felt very inexperience when i stepped foot on that floor. Some interns had to take on leadership roles they didn't ask for but still received the minimum wage which i thought was crazy! 
A couple of weeks ago my fellow interns and i had to restrain a student and guess what upper leadership was doing? Standing around looking dumb with out even helping us! They were the ones with "years" of experience compared to us interns with "months" of experience! I also got kicked in the chest "twice" by the student and upper leadership didn't even ask if i was okay. Instead her response was,"Are you good to restrain there legs?" I knew right than that my time at Eliada was done. I'm not working for a company that does not care if there employees get injured and than ask that same employee to continue restraining a student. 
Usually when you have off days you're suppose to enjoy them because you're finally off from work!!!!  Right??? NOPE!!!! Ever since i've been at Eliada each and every OFF day at had my phone would get text message after text message hassling me about what my availability is during my off days! I could not thoroughly enjoy my off days because they wanted me to pick up shifts! I almost got to the point where i had to block them!

****PSA: GIVE THOSE INTERNS FREE  WIFI!!!!! THEY WORK HARD AT ELIADA AND DESERVE TO GO BACK TO THE VILLAGE AND WATCH NETFLIX*******

Working as a RISE intern, direct care staff Eliada has professionally nothing good to offer. Therapeutic Crisis Intervention training is only a couple of days long, and does not prepare you appropriately to deal with every day issues. A typical day involves pre-shifting with irregular staff members, and basically planning how to survive without anybody ending in the hospital. When on the floor, staff are basically nannies, who do not have enough time to address the children´s issues -which ends up hurting their development. By the end of the shift, you will be requested to stay longer due to understaffing, after that you will still have to finish detailed notes, ending up working at least one more hour than what your were expecting.  
Management will not address the issues you bring to the table, they will rather talk to you about the importance of self-care and saying no, while they simultaneously ask you to pick up extra shifts and donate money to Eliada. 
Workplace is a two way street. While you can make unique, and healthy staff relationships, gossip and deception are also present. Staff lie about beign late, personal relationships with other members, infromation about the children, and talk behind other staff´s backs. 
The hardest part of the job is realizing that no matter how hard you try to help the children, it will never be enough, because they deserve real clinical treatment and Eliada does not provide that. 
The most enjoyable part of the job is leaving and never returning.

When you drive up to Eliada, there are signs all over the place saying things like "HEROES WORK HERE" and "Thank You HEROES OF ELIADA!," but make no mistake: Eliada does not value its employees.

When you think about it, it makes sense even from an outside perspective; after all, Eliada is CONSTANTLY hiring and - despite having closed down three entire residential programs in the last 12 months - still does not have enough staff for any given shift without relying on last minute help from people who like receiving overtime pay or direct supervisors who are forced to come in to help on their days off. And, from an inside perspective, the reason for this is simple: the only staff (outside of leadership) who stay at Eliada for any length of time are either overnight or part time staff as the company treats its employees like commodities instead of people. They hire you, train you (poorly), throw you into an unstructured program where you'll ultimately suffer, and then cut your benefits while simultaneously begging you to work extra shifts even while you're still recovering from your latest cut, bruise, bite, swollen tendon, concussion, broken bone, etc.

The end result is that no one stays at Eliada. And really, no one should start working there, either.

Working at Eliada is probably the hardest thing that I will ever do in my life but it was also an experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. It can be really fun working at Eliada even during stressful days because you have your coworkers there with you and supporting you. At Eliada you'll meet some amazing people, not only the staff but also the kids who make it so much fun. However, be prepared for long work hours and being too mentally/physically drained to even enjoy your days off. And if you're an intern you get even less time off, less benefits, but they expect you to continuously pick up hours. Also many people face serious injuries on the job so be prepared for that. 

As far as management, I can tell they care about the staff but sometimes they fall short on ensuring the mental wellbeing of staff members. There needs to be more communication between the administration and direct care staff when changes are being implemented since a lot of changes that have been made effected staff members' physical, mental, and financial wellbeing. But, Eliada is currently going through a lot of changes structurally so hopefully it's for the better.

The job was incredible. I loved the children and I learned every day how to accomdate and challenge the children. They confided in me their fears, secerets, and goals. They felt hopeless but with dedication, staff proved to them that the future is never set by your past. The management we sub-par. The manager was rarely in the facility and demanded work that we would complete but never within the short time frame that staff was asked to achieve, due to the amount of work and our priorities set for the children and nothing would go beyond that number one priority. The hardest part of the job was not taking it home with you but the team as a whole was a group of amazing people who knew the importance of dicussing the days trials and accomplishments to set the next work day in a bright new light. I enjoyed more than anything watching the children progress each day to find new strength within them selves and the acknowledgement that the people working with them truely cared for them and that all was not lost.

During my time there, I found that the program would be far more effective and pleasant if the current administration were not in place. There is a significant disconnect between the administration and direct care staff, not to mention a blatant disregard for the concerns of the direct care workers.

In the recent past, employees have been subjected to having their personal Facebook pages sought out by the administration and then used the information to threaten and/or terminate the employees.

Children in the programs have gone for weeks, if not months, without consistent therapy despite significant behavior issues making the work of the residential counselors seem more like an incredibly intense babysitting job.

Concerns that have been brought to the administration have been met with anything from termination to indifference. I began my work here hoping to make a difference in the lives of children but I found that my hands were completely tied based on the current state of the administration.

Just look at the constant job offerings that they can't keep filled. They expect staff to tolerate unreasonable conditions and situations as they cannot effectively make decisions that will prevent them from occurring  or to assist the population as a whole when deficient conditions exist. They give very little respect for the hard work and sacrifice that they so graciously receive, but do not earn. They will chew you up and spit you out, as they think you are replaceable and will tell you so. The time is coming where too many people are in the know, and they will have to change their ways, or close up shop. The show is run by a bunch of kids, and there is much petty backstabbing and unprofessional dynamics at work here. You will most likely never get a raise, but you most certainly will be taken advantage of as time goes by. You have been warned!

I have worked with Eliada for about 9 months now and it has been the most rewarding and hard job I've ever had. Being able to see the difference that you can make in a student's life is amazing. Watching them grow into young adults is so rewarding. That's not to say the job doesn't have it's challenges. To make that kind of progress there are a lot of bumps on every individual's path to success but allowing yourself to revel in the little victories of everyday is what makes this job worthwhile. Not to mention the staff. Everyone is so kind and supportive, they're probably some of the best people that I know. Management is not  is is now much easier to get ahold of and to make your issues known, the only thing they ask from you is that if you have an issue you try to come up with a solution. It's a great place to learn about youth, yourself and how to handle yourself in a crisis.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Youth mentor 4 salaries reported	$18.75 per hour
Preschool teacher 1 salary reported	$18.00 per hour
Qualified professional 1 salary reported	$46,000 per year
Teacher 1 salary reported	$33,280 per year
Residential counselor 4 salaries reported	$18.13 per hour

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