social worker

residential counselor

direct care worker

school principal

teaching assistant

Green Chimneys

Very high turn over rate.  I watched many very good, high qualified employees leave, because of being treated poorly and being underappreciated.  Upper management is very "cliqueish" and often only promote their "friends".  I am speaking for child care of course.  The time I was there, the director had no business running child care, very pompous/arrogant, and often got caught up in the drama and lies of the place on a regular basis.  When put in situations to do the right thing, i often watched him compromise, what would be considered doing the right thing professionally.  There are tons and i mean TONS of corruption in this place in the child care department.  Be aware of your management, and the lies and promises they feed you.  I witnessed maltreatment of many employees, and had even seen supervisors and administrators try to intimidate their employees like some "neighborhood thug".  Management for the most part is awful across the board.  From what i understand after talking to people who have worked there for multiple decades, it is only getting worse.  Employees that have worked there for over 20 years are now leaving because of it.  It is a shame, because the campus itself is beautiful, and the job itself is very rewarding.  You will have the opportunity to work with children of all sorts of dynamics, and it is a wonderful experience.  The pay is good, especially if you live in the area, and the benefits are fairly good as well.  Like I said.... Lots of people holding upper positions that do not belong there, and they are not going anywhere, any time soon.  Expect to be over worked and abused.  Not to mention expected to work one 16 hour shift a week.

The management within this organization is dysfunctional and ineffective.  There were multiple times during my employment where I was working in an unhealthy environment. This includes my physical health as well as emotional health. Overall the organization was understaffed, which created stress and poor performance. The communication within the organization was lacking, and between managers of some departments it was regularly strained and ineffectual. The maintenance department was poorly run and had a high employee turnover. Basic health and safety issues on campus were not addressed due to lack of maintenance staff and, I am assuming, managements unwillingness to address them. Human resources department seems overwhelmed and is really good at putting band aids on issues without solving actual problems. There was a lot of emphasis on employee training and development, which is great, but I believe this stemmed from a culture of blaming employees for organization's/managements issues instead of changing the dysfunctional structure of the organization from the top. There is a culture of blame at GC that starts at the top and trickles its way down. It creates jaded employees who are not trusted and therefore do not take responsibility and pride in their work. Some managers and human resources employees displayed unethical behavior which was quickly covered up by the organization. The founder can be a very inspiring individual but at times he displays unhealthy interactions with employees. Once I overheard him joke to an employee that if they did not do something that he asked he would have them run over by a car.

However, a lot of the female management staff manage from a stance of "bullying". As a staff member at the Brewster facility you are expected to go along with the foolery of inadequate care/treatment of helpless children, their personal inter-relationships among subordinates and management, and the lack of sufficient pay that is comparable to the work that is being performed.

Overall some of  the male management are not willing to relinquish their traditions of how the facility is operated. They are very territorial and easily offended when challenged to change.

I personally witnessed staff degrading resident's ability to over come their personal challenges athletically, psychologically, and emotionally. Many of the staff are emotionally frustrated with their job/position and possible their personal lives too. 

I did not learn anything at this facility I found it to be a waist of my time. I resigned in less than one year.

One thing to note, I did build rapport with a few of the children and have run into one or two of them since I and they have left the facility. 

The Children are great despite their challenges!

At Green Chimneys you will be on a beautiful campus surrounded by a wonderful and unique set of coworkers. The students and sense of community make the job worth doing and provide a rewarding sense of accomplishment. The program itself is is highly stressful. The staff are overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated. The pay is poor and as a result the school is staffed by inexperienced, unqualified, and new teachers. The results provide an injustice to the students who deserve and NEED the most highly qualified and experienced teachers available. This is a starter school, you will learn a lot, love your students and coworkers, and then move on to a job that pays fair and is run well. If and when the school is able to pay their staff what they deserve they will find that they will be able to hire qualified professionals  and many of their problems will be solved.

As a youth counselor you work hand in hand with the children in the dorms.  Your main job is to make sure the children are safe and are working cooperatively with one another. This sounds easy until you add multi-diagnosis into the picture. 
On a daily basis you are deescalating crisis and reminding the children of their individual plans and coping skills. If children are having a difficult time with this, then a restraint may be needed. This is by far the most stressful part of the job. 
I work with the younger children 8-12 yr old's and it is critical for all staff to be on the same page with rules and expectations for the day to go smoothly. This sometimes becomes an issue because staff are not always on the same page and sometimes even bride or threaten the kids for them to stay in line. 
On a better note, it is enjoyable to see the children work and play together and it is rewarding to see children hit milestones and be discharged.

Clinical Psychologists were amazing and I learned so much from them that I carried into my new position. The “director” of social work was so out of touch with the work we do, did not keeping current on research or seem to understand any therapeutic model
of treatment at all. I’m could not imagine her providing effective therapy and a lot of the time was hard not to correct her misunderstanding of techniques and research based treatment for various diagnoses at supervision. I feel bad for any recent grads who are being “supervised by her.”

Social work department was too political and we are mental health providers so should know better. Supervisor contributed to this culture. Human Resources were no help and the director of Human Resources would discuss things you shared in confidence. It did not feel like a supportive or safe place to work and that made it a real struggle to be fully present for the residents. 

Green Chimneys Staff in Brewster, NY: (Current Employee)
Pros:
free meal during shift, great highly qualified coworkers who are highly invested in their work
Cons
unqualified individuals appointed into supervisory positions. Friends of supervisors are promoted and given preference over qualified seasoned staff.Sanctuary is touted yet really only for the select few. Safety not a priority
Advice to Senior Management:
Better supervision of all departments by top level staff. All departments should be centralized on campus where daily operations can be monitored. Training of new staff should be documented by both the supervisors, directors and new staff. Supervisors need to be held to the same standard as the regular employees.

A typical day at work includes a medication pass, treatment administration and assessment of residents as they come into the health center with injuries or illness. Typically, our residents suffer from allergies that can turn into an infection if not treated. In those instances, we utilize our standing doctors orders to treat residents until their symptoms subside or until they can be further evaluated by the pediatrician on staff. The hardest part of my job is in knowing the traumatic past of many of the children that attend the residential program at Green Chimneys Children's Services Inc. The most enjoyable part of my job is getting to know the residents and being able to help them in any way that I can, even if the only thing they need at the time is someone to listen to them. Being able to bring a smile to their faces and to have them know that they matter to me is what makes my job worthwhile.

General counsellors are assigned a group of children to carry out and provide activities throughout the day with them. Examples of activities include archery, boating, sports and high ropes. Other roles involve specialists, who are in charge of leading the activities as well as one to one roles to support children with additional needs. Many learning experiences and skills can be gained, which range from boosting confidence and going out of your comfort zone, becoming more creative, working as an effective team member to developing leadership skills. The culture of the workplace is based solely on the fun experiences that the children should be provided with as much as possible. The hardest part of the job at first is maintaining the level of fun and entertainment all day, but once you understand the children better and find out what they consider fun then it becomes the most enjoyable part of the job.

Important work is done here. Children who have slipped through the public school cracks labeled as failures and troubled kids, get a second and third shot to turn their lives around. The adults who get to work with them have the ability to model positive behaviors. Sometimes the adults do that, sometimes they fall short. Most salaries are not sufficient to support a family and it is used by some staff as an excuse for sub-par performances. Most people would label this job as a stepping stone position for a public school teaching or guidance counselor position. Some stay longer than they intended.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Social worker 4 salaries reported	$53,000 per year
Residential counselor 2 salaries reported	$20.60 per hour
Direct care worker 1 salary reported	$18.05 per hour
School principal 4 salaries reported	$100,000 per year
Teaching assistant 3 salaries reported	$38,000 per year

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