health educator

care manager

HILLCREST FAMILY SERVICES

Hillcrest is great workplace to help make an impact on a kid's life.  I loved giving this mental health, and substance abuse kids the life skills they need in order to survive this world. The kids just wanted someone that will listen to them and care for them. This is what I loved about the job. 
Sadly, what I didn't like about my job was that there was no training at all for my position.  My job was supposed to be a Program Lead. I was supposed to be an assistant to my manager for the adolescent group homes. In order to do most of my job, I had to be a med passer, and restraint trained. Sadly, Hillcrest, never got me none of those trainings due to scheduling conflicts. So, Hillcrest treated me like a normal youth care worker. Which was fine, but them my coworkers didn't see me as a Program Lead, which was frustrating. Also, another downside was that Hillcrest was always short staffed. 
When I was hired, I was promised that my schedule would be 1 to 9pm Monday through Friday.  The last two Fridays I worked; my boss asked me to switch my schedule from second shift to third shift. I kept telling my boss no because I had another job to be at on Saturday mornings. 
When I realized that I wasn't going to get proper training on my title, I put in my two weeks' notice. I was going to go part time, but they wanted me to work every other weekend. When I told my boss that I didn't want to do that and I would finish out my last week, she told me not to bother to come to work anymore. So, I didn't. 
Bottom line, if you want to work with kids that's great, but beware of management. 

Hillcrest takes advantage of it's employees. From pay to benefits to the every day... The pay is kept low so they go through people quickly which results in clients suffering.  They took away benefits from everyone by lowering the accumulation rate and amount of pto at the start of 2023. The program I worked in was supposed to be an open schedule but wasn't and rather than communicating with employees about it, they keep telling you that you're doing an amazing job and doing everything right until they flip the switch suddenly and start micromanaging out of nowhere (while still telling you you're doing a great job instead of communicating so you never know what skills you need to grow in). In the three years I worked there, I had one progress report on myself and it was rated a 4/5 yet I was suddenly let go a couple months later without a definitive reason and then gaslighted when I asked questions. Burnout is common at Hillcrest as they load you up with too many clients. There is little to no training so you can only assume you're doing things right due to their lack of communication. You can survive this company if you keep your head down and don't point out what the company needs to improve in and the many ethical issues you witness. Work here if you're really in need of a job but don't stay here, we all deserve better. 

The promise of helping people in need is a strong draw, but you will quickly realize that's not what anyone in charge cares about. The focus is on money and covering the behinds of management. Client outcomes and well-being are secondary. With all the focus on cost cutting you would think they'd be able to pay their staff, but almost the entire work force of the company is paid less than retail and fat food employees. Jobs requiring university degrees pay under $12/hr, and the jobs requiring a HS diploma pay barely more than $8/hr. You're expected to bear the full responsibility of caring for other people with extreme needs and given very little in the way of support. The health benefits for full time employees are some of the worst I've ever seen in a professional setting. The management of the company will also try to hit you up for donations on a regular basis, both through work email and your inbox. They see employees as volunteers, not the skilled and dedicated workers they actually are, and they will try to pay you like you're a volunteer and easily replaceable. Most positions don't allow you any breaks at all, not even for meals. Unless you're an executive your primary duty will be as a scapegoat when things go wrong because you follow the instructions of the unqualified leadership. Dissent and complaints are dealt with dismissively and then ignored when brought up again.

Management/Leadership is not very supportive. They can be seen as distant and uncaring and spend their days in meetings rather then in their programs or helping their employees.  They look down at their employees and treat them as replaceable.  A lot of veteran staff have quit due agency changes, more work and responsibility piled on them with little training, support, and/or compensation given. Some veteran staff have been pushed out of the agency as well. Morale is poor and leadership takes no responsibility for this or the amount of open positions.  There have been a lot of changes within the agency and they have not helped the agency as a whole.  It may have helped some employees with advancement.  You won't receive a lot of support, appreciation or gratitude within the agency. Many feel the agency doesn't care about them at all.  There is favoritism within leadership and if you are not on that list you are treated differently. Work is piled on their employees with little to no help or support offered and with complete disregard to your other duties. The pay is low but benefits are not bad. PTO system was good but that is now changing too.

I can’t even describe the level of disappointment I have for the leadership there. They don’t listen or care about  their employees unless you are favored or are a “yes person.” They want “yes man” and make their “VPs” do their dirty work. They jump to conclusions that are sometimes drastic, without any thought on the long term effects rather then investigation, hearing all sides, or any regard to proper, appropriate steps in discipline.  They speak poorly to their staff, allow insubordination, and just dump piles of work on their middle management. Raises are rare but they have money for sign on bonuses and newly created positions. So many good veteran staff have left because how poorly they are treated. The overall environment is toxic and employees can be petty. It’s a definite “watch your back” kind of place. Trust, support, and gratitude is rare. I had no trust in management or leadership or Human Resources. The overall work you do with clients is great and rewarding but the agency as a whole is not healthy. 

As a PMHNP, my experience here has been very positive overall. The nursing staff is knowledgeable, friendly, and always willing to collaborate. These are very experienced professionals whose insights are invaluable. It’s refreshing to work in an environment where your clinical judgment is trusted, and you’re not being micromanaged. Administration has been supportive and approachable, which isn’t always easy to find.  

This role is definitely best suited for providers who are confident working independently and can manage a fast-paced outpatient setting. While no workplace is perfect and there’s always room for improvement, I’ve found this to be a good place to work with a solid team atmosphere.

If you’re an experienced PMHNP looking for autonomy with supportive colleagues, this could be a great fit.

A typical day at wok would include the clients coming home from school and going into what we would call group therapy with the therapist. Staff would agree and what activities the day would include. once the clients are out of therapy its time for afternoon snack. they all would say a community expectation. then off to excercise group where the clients could learn and build social interaction skills . next would be Dinner where we have the clients sit in a family style setting to learn how to conduct themselves in that kind of setting. After dinner it would be (depending on the day) activity time IE. ymca, library, store trips for a chance to get off the unit and go out into the public and use those skils they learn and acquire and put them to use. after that and once they get home it is time to have nightly snack and prepare for bedtime. During bedtime they have leisure time in thier rooms to do as they please to entertain themselves, read books,hand held video games, interact with roomate. staff would then document the each clients progress for the day

The program has changed negatively since a long term supervisor was forced to leave a year ago. The whole place and environment changed and it never improved. Appreciation and gratitude disappeared, and we felt  have no support, trust or help from management when she left and we never got it back. Some of the toxic and negative staff have left which has been “a too little to late” for some of us. We have gone through multiple supervisors who have no experience. They try to make rules that are against regulations and if we try to explain why they can make certain changes they get defensive and speak poorly about us. Some of us have worked there a lot longer then them and know they rules and regulations better. They really do not understand the program at all. they constantly bothered us to work multiple times a day because we are understaffed. They make empty promises to us in order to keep employees there. I really liked my job too and tried to stick it out. It went from a great place to work to a sinking ship in less than a year and it all goes back to the decision the upper management made with making that supervisor quit.

There is no room for advancement unless you consider a 1$ raise for med passing a promotion. Management is terrible. They never directly address issues, but they love the mass emails. You have coworkers who refuse to see their faults rendering the mass emails ultimately useless. They expect you to live and breathe Hillcrest, they blow up your phone (never PRN staff always fulltime) on your one off day because of habitual call ins and on call refuses to ever actually work the floor when staff is short. Social workers NEVER come to the floor and often talk down to techs. Management and Social Workers insist they know whats best when they can barely tell you what room a resident resides in. There are no consequences for residents or staff, when it comes to behaviors. 
You have senior coworkers who suck at their job and yell at everyone but are untouchable. Often one or two coworkers a shift that do all the work. You don't get breaks unless you smoke. 

This program does not exist as of this academic year as I understand it.  There were school programs on campus for those who could not act appropriately in the regular Dubuque school settings.  I did enjoy the two programs where I worked and did find success in many ways. The first program was with elementary level students, where academics and home, living skills were emphasized.  The second two years I initiated a school to work program with secondary students, primarily male. We established various job outlets in the community which students had daily.  The elephant in the room was severe behaviors which were prevalent at times with certain students.  There were aides who assisted with all our activities as well as behaviors but it was very difficult to be successful as they ran from the class or work areas.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Health educator 1 salary reported	$18.00 per hour
Care manager 1 salary reported	$30.00 per hour

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