direct support professional

rehabilitation technician

residential instructor

shift leader

residential manager

Hope Network

Been with them over 8 years. Their were a few good managers left when i first started. They try to over work you and leave you on doubles. They used to hire you in for specific shifts and you worked what you apply for. Now because the poor picked managers dont wanna work or help out they try to leave you stuck or overwork you force you into hours u dont want. The directors do not help! They continue to let this go on. Their raises are 1% and 2% so the most you may get is between 9 and 12 cents yearly once this minimum wage increases starts u wont get that. Managers also feel they should be off every holiday however they will make you work and even try to bribe you if needed to not have to come in. THEY intimidate their workers into trying to force  different shifts doubles over time and working at other homes because the workers dont know any better and they play on their insecurities and make them fear losing their jobs.this is a at will company. They need help badly its supposed to be 2 on every shift except midnights unless ur in a crisis home but get ready to be left alone with 4 to 6 people daily and the manger to not be present alot. Its gotten bad to the point the consumers are free and able to make all the rules . They have all the rights you as a worker have none. It's really hard when your in a home with hoarders and you cant tell them to clean or get rid of anything. All they will do is tell you to clean it cause its your job! Also a home had bad bed bugs instead of the company evacuating the home and hiring a company to come in and clean they let it go on for 9 months did not evacuate any of the consumers and forced the staff to work at the infested home. The manager had the staff checking for bed bugs but how can a staff know what bed bugs are if they have never had bed bugs? Another staff was allergic to the bed bugs and had a outbreak but still had to work. The other staff that refused was threatened to be removed from the schedule. Because they stood up for their self instrad of putting the staff at another home the manager told the staff to grow up and get over it even though the staff told the manager they were terrified.

This company offers its employees to empower persons living with mental disabilities. Employees working in group homes have the opportunity to get to know consumers (residents living with mental disabilities) on a more personal level. Responsibilities vary by shift, but as a whole employees prepare breakfast for consumers get them ready for their "Day Program." In the Day Program, consumers will either go to work, go to a skills center, or they will learn life skills at home. The goal is to prepare consumers to be as independent as possible and eventually prepare them to live on their own. Employees will then prepare lunch for consumers and then they will continue with their Day Program. Some of these activities include crafts, fishing, home care, and field trips to local attractions/events. Employees would offer morning and afternoon snacks and prepare an evening meal. Employees also administered medications to consumers throughout the day. Employees also documented daily activities and behaviors (good and bad) of each consumer. The home I worked in was fun-loving and my co-workers all supported each other and offered advice as to best care practices for  each consumer. The hardest part of the job was continuing to support consumers on days when they were displaying "negative" behaviors. I will not go into details, but there were times when I wanted to walk out or share my true feelings toward the consumer. I had to remind myself the consumers are just having a bad day or that they are scared and they need me and my co-workers to continue to support them. The job had many good days as well. I found that when I encouraged consumers to become more involved with meal preparation, they displayed fewer or no negative behaviors making the job a lot easier. The job was mentally exhausting, but it was always rewarding to see growth in consumers. If you can afford a smaller paycheck and have a lot of patience, this is a wonderful place to work.

Everything about the job was incredibly difficult. I really cared for my consumers and wanted to help them, but often felt powerless to do so. That's all I have to say about that part of the job. What I really want to focus on is the company culture because it was one of the worst I've encountered. There was a lack of support from management and I was expected to keep up with the seasoned case managers after a month. When I felt like I was struggling or overwhelmed, I was simply told not to worry about the way I feel because everyone feels that way at this job. Awesome. The training was lackluster and disorganized, and I walked away from it feeling like I had no clue what I was doing, which just added more stress to an already high stress job. I don't really understand the thought process behind making a new case manager train an even newer case manager. Management doesn't seem concerned about the high turnover, so I guess when you aren't concerned about people quitting, you aren't going to invest in their training. Or invest in your new employees on any level at all. If I was in the office, most of the time I was treated like I wasn't even there. When I would mention this to my supervisor, I was told that she can't read my mind and I need to be reaching out if I need help - which I was already doing, but she would cancel our one-on-one meetings constantly. It wasn't just the supervisors either. Some of the other case managers were extremely rude if I asked them what they perceived as a "stupid" question. So, where is the super supportive team I was told about during my interview? Because it certainly isn't at Hope Network. Definitely should have run in the opposite direction as soon as the hiring manager described the team as being like a "family", but lesson learned. The day I quit was the best day I had at this job.

Typical day: 
Review all incoming faxes and forward them to the proper individuals
Review & answer all work related emails.
Run & work SNB report (Services not billed)
Run R&C report (reasonable & customary denials) - EOB's & documentation printed, appeal letter written, faxed/mailed.
Sort all paid/non-paid EOB's into files.
All zero paid EOB's and returned to biller's to work.
Assist biller's with weekly & monthly claims & notes.
Process claims w/EOB's to secondary insurances.
Scanning documentation into consumer's accounts & scanning of deposit batches
.
What I've learned:
As my amount of duties lessened I was taught to do the electronic check scanning and bank deposits.  I'm always willing to help others in assisting in projects within the department.  Those that I worked with were such a delight.  I enjoyed the astomphere.  I felt my contribution was needed and important.  A more recent responsibility was ordering office supplies for the corporate office.  This included organizing the supply cabinet, ordering supplies, consulting with different retrailers to get the best prices.

Management:
We had monthly departmental meetings to keep us informed of updates within the department, insurance updates, etc.  These meetings were also a time of teaching/learning new procedures and skills.

Workplace culture:
I worked with a variety of enjoyable individuals.  Hope Network meets the needs of mental & physical disabled individuals   They often use some of these individuals by giving them employment at Hope Network.  This helps them with their self worth.

The hardest part of my job:
Scanning of deposits batches (some times 700 pages w/double sides which made accurancy difficult).

.My enjoyable part of my job:
The variety of responsibilities each day made time fly!

This job is difficult mostly due to the fact that you are working with a population that is undeserved by their families (if they have any) society due to the prevalence of stigma against those with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities, the government due to lack of funding, and due to the company itself for continually bowing down to its funding source's inane demands that have little to do with treating those we serve with dignity and respect, and everything to do with money. 
Never mind that the job is innately difficult. Caring for, and teaching individuals who suffer from mental illnesses and developmental disabilities is not for the faint of heart. Those who do this job with any longevity do so because it is a calling, certainly not because it pays well.
Often we are abused verbally, and emotionally,sometimes physically, and sometimes treated poorly by those who are supposed to have our backs (management and coworkers), but once in a while find a good crew to work with and may be lucky enough that they stick around for a while. 
Turn over is high in this field, but if you are able to dig deep and keep at it, the rewards of building trust with those we serve can be great. Getting to see a person who was once in an institution begin to trust you, open up and share their life story with you is a gift you could never imagine. 
Watching a person with autism who could barely speak a sentence a year ago gain the confidence to make a decision about what game to play or that they would like to go to the park is a significant milestone as well. These are the rewards of this job. We may not make much in pay, but we are rewarded in seeing those who society has forgotten grow by leaps and bounds by the work we do because it is in our hearts.

I’ve been at Hope for 6 months now, quickly working in various different homes and moving from a tech 1 to a tech lead, so I feel like I have gotten a good general idea of how working at Hope really is. First off, everybody is underpaid, and on top of being underpaid there is also typically very little room for advancement. If you get hired in, you are likely to stay at a criminally low rate the entire time you work there. Third shift has a decent pay premium, but nearly every single third shift worker is unbelievably terrible to work with. The quality of the job entirely depends on how good the staff on your shift are. I’m extremely lucky to have 95% good staff on my shift, and even with some of the best staff in grand rapids (IMO after working 6 different homes) the shifts are extremely draining. I also happen to have one of the very few good supervisors, but unless you work at Ada house, Sojourners, or Arbor Glen you are doomed to a terrible supervisor. On top of that, the majority of shift leads are absolutely terrible and just use their position as privilege. You will likely never move up in the company because management typically only hires people that have been there for a long time instead of bringing up new talent. On the bright side, even though the pay is atrocious, you are able to work as much overtime as you want so the potential earning is much higher than jobs with a higher base pay if you are willing to put in the work. The residents are mostly amazing, but there are always a few bad apples. 

Overall TLDR: Incredibly draining job and you shouldn’t plan to be here long term. 

I can't even begin to tell you how saddened I am to bear witness to this organizations inevitable undoing.  
12 years ago, this company was completely different.  They had an overabundance of applications flying in the door.  Now, every department and/or facility is understaffed on a daily basis.
We went from hiring experienced and knowledgeable management/clinicians, to low-balling straight-out-of-college bookworms who place more value in their overpriced degrees than the actual people who take care of their clients.
Don't expect to have a voice...even with years of experience under your belt.  
And with the quality of employees they are now able to hire as direct care staff...you can expect crazy turnover, as well as an unbelievably volatile  work environment.  What do you expect when you can barely pay above minimum wage?  Many of these people walk in with zero work history or life experience...and the absence of patience that goes along with that.
And yes, the 'person-centered-planning' propaganda they've been pushing here for years has quickly become 'get-away-with-murder' message.  The psychiatric department here is an absolute joke.  Psychologists spend more time creating behavior plans than they do actually talking to the staff working with their patients.  Then they wonder why the plans don't work.
I could go on.
If you're looking for a fast-paced cutthroat experience in direct care or rehab, this is definitely for you.  The residents are great.  The food is free.  The shifts just fly by.
If you're looking for a healthy environment riddled with overtones of teamwork, commitment, and fun...this is not for you.

This organization saved my life YEARS ago.  Having a company provide bi-weekly PTO payouts with a fairly competitive insurance package for little to no education requirement was absolutely unheard of, at the time. Unfortunately, due to a lot of poor choices throughout their inception, new direct-care hires are facing quick burnout with zero management support.
Don't get me wrong, individual program managers are doing everything they can to fill in the gaps with limited staff.  Many of them are working 60-70 hour weeks just to keep their homes running.  However, we recently had a home shut down due to these roster issues, only to open up TWO WEEKS after their initial closing...and with THREE STAFF to keep it running 24 hours a day.  
They had plenty of beds open at their other locations for the residents within that home, so why risk further staff burnout by forcing them to work overtime just to keep this unnecessary home open??
Add in the recent (and unpreventable) staffing COVID outbreaks to an already frustrating low employee count and...you can see where this is going.
We won't even discuss the horrendous budget handling of the company as a whole.
If you're looking for a rewarding experience working in direct care....with some of the most amazing residents you could imagine...I'd say go for it.
If you want competent/supportive management, I'd honestly go elsewhere.

A typical day at West Lake is going into my office and checking my email and voicemail. Responding to what I need to and then starting with the resident attendance and time cards. After that was finished it is time to start the vocational program and make sure that the residents are showing up to work on time and getting their work done accurately. About mid-morning I would attend a meeting with the administrative team and then type up the meeting minutes from that team meeting. After the meeting there would be time for a lot of filing and interruptions with that to continue with the vocational program. I would also be performing a lot of miscellaneous tasks. At West Lake I have learned how to handle difficult situations, I have learned how to work in a fast paced professional environment, HIPPA, working with licensors and guardians/payees. My coworkers were great and always willing to help out. The hardest part of the job was seeing the residents having difficult times and not being able to help them when they were hurting. The most enjoyable was getting to work with the individuals with the mental disabilities and taking care of them by meeting their needs that I could and staying in constant contact with their guardians, keeping up their files, and making sure I was ordering some of the supplies needed for them to live comfortably.

The easiest part of this job is that you wake up, turn company provided laptop on, start working from home, and when phone calls need to be made use your company provided cell phone. On breaks and lunch, greet my dog and whoever else is around, grab some caffeine, a bite to eat, go back and continue working till shift ends. It's required once a week to go into the office, take care of anything that needs to be printed, mailed, etc. That's when I ensure my desk area is still clean and organized, greet other coworkers in the office that day, go home to finish my shift at home. Every other week we all meet together via Skype where we can ask any questions and receive updates or instructions on any new projects. Its a very busy place, so if there are any questions on a typical non-Skype-meeting day, you ask--via Skype. Your answer might come immediately or days later, from supervisor, or whoever is asked to help you-when they have time in their own busy day, frequently at the end of their shift or AFTER their own deadlines are met. And you're stuck until someone answers your questions. A lot of times your newest assignment is given Friday at the end of your shift, so the whole weekend goes by and you cannot do anything until Monday, then it looks like you've had this assignment for days and made no progress.That's the hardest part of this job.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Direct support professional 311 salaries reported	$18.63 per hour
Rehabilitation technician 295 salaries reported	$16.65 per hour
Residential instructor 60 salaries reported	$18.32 per hour
Shift leader 24 salaries reported	$18.83 per hour
Residential manager 12 salaries reported	$22.77 per hour

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