behavior technician

direct support professional

clinical support staff

behavioral therapist

maintenance technician

J-Arthur-Trudeau-Memorial-Center

It is hard to describe a typical day at the group home I work at with The Trudeau Center because with the nature of the job, every day is going to be different. I work with six severely mentally disabled adults and my responsibilities included transportation, bringing them into the community, interaction with family, housework, cooking, passing medication (including narcotics), personal care (showering, changing, help in the bathroom and with incontinence, and other hygienic and grooming needs). dealing and subduing "behaviors" and violent outbursts. Through doing this job i learned a lot about working with people with disabilities and the disabilities themselves. I learned how to manage difficult consumer interactions (client and family) and adapt my own styles of doing things to better mesh with my co workers for the clients overall benefit. I was trained for CPR, crisis prevention and intervention (CPI), to pass medication and intervene in medical emergencies. I have a fantastic house manager and that made the job a comfortable and productive environment that allowed for the growth and happiness of the consumers. For the most part my co workers were fantastic as well and kept our group home a well oiled machine, and the few who were harder to work with gave me valuable experience in adjusting my own rhythms to better the whole workplace environment. The hardest part of the job was the physical violence that had to be dealt with. I work with particularly violent clients and getting hit (sometimes quite injured) at least once a shift was quite difficult to deal with on such a regular basis and though it is easy to understand with the nature of the client I wish the management better balanced the individuals with violent tendencies to make the house safer for everyone. Even so  it is easy to forgive because my clients are wonderful people and i grew to care very much about each one of them, and that bond is definitely the most rewarding part of the job.

Where to begin? Pathways states in it's mission statement that it is a one-to-one school however this is hardly the case. Many days there isn't enough staff to ensure the safety of the students let alone staff.  They are so desperate for help they hire anyone whether you have experience or not which can be a problem when some students have significant maladaptive behaviors and are aggressive. Throw someone who has no idea about any of this is recipe for disaster. 
 At times it feels like management accepts more students just for the income they receive but the behavior technicians don't see any of that while we do the majority of the dirty work.  We've got a 35 cent raise in the last 2 years, seems a bit strange for the amount of students.  Management is also hard to find during crisis, they stay in their office behind closed doors unaware of what's going on, or show up when the situation has been handled by staff in the room. It also seems that some people get promotions simply by who they know or are friendly with, making work feel like high school all over again. 
If you want experience or can handle a unpredictable day this is the place for you, but for the amount of work we do we should get a lot more and made to feel like we matter by management.

Pathways Strategic Teaching Center - Do not work here. If your intention is to provide support and education to children with developmental and intellectual delays, this is the wrong place to work. It is cliquey, dangerous, understaffed, unethical, and fake. The school acts as if they care about kids, but really they care about income. They will hire anyone including employee who are predators based solely off of their physical size for crisis situations. Crisis situations they create by treating children like test subjects instead of children. Management spends their days locked away in their office like the popular kids in high school that no one is allowed to sit with. Promotions are based off of who is friends with management. I am BCBA in another state, and my first job out of College was Pathways. I would never run a program the way they run theirs. Dangerous and unethical.

The mission of Trudeau is truly admirable, and the work itself has the potential to make a meaningful impact. Unfortunately, the leadership significantly undermines that mission. Many members of management appear to lack a clear understanding of the programs they oversee, which creates confusion, inconsistency, and poor decision-making.

Employee support is also severely lacking. The culture often feels self-serving rather than collaborative, and staff concerns are not taken seriously. Instead of empowering employees and fostering growth, leadership tends to create frustration and low morale.

It’s disappointing because the organization’s mission deserves strong, knowledgeable, and supportive leadership. With better management and a greater investment in employees, this could be a much healthier and more effective workplace.

While the idea the Trudeau Center is amazing, the actual execution day to day seems to be just based around the concept of ensuring each child keeps their insurance to pay for the program, and not actually improving the child as they age. The management is not helpful at all and overall it is a corporate culture in an environment that compassion is needed in an I felt absolutely no compassion towards me while there, I left a part time role teaching because I thought I could make a difference hear, but I did not even feel like a worthwhile cog in a machine, just a hamster on a wobbly wheel. There is a reason why they’re hiring so many people.

The Pathways Strategic Teaching Center is a program that is apart of the Trudeau center, which functions as a year-round school for children with intellectual delays, mental disabilities- the main one being on the spectrum and behavioral issues.  The job can be very stressful, it is hard for them to keep employees. Supervisors are constantly doing this last minute.  Needs some organizational help. However, it is a great program and there is room for advancement. You also get 4 paid weeks throughout the year as well as accumulating time off. If working with these type of children is something you're interested in building a career in, pathways is a good place to start.

Trudeau is a big company that works with children, and adults with disabilities.Trudeau does all kinds of staff training, so staff can help people live their life to the fullest as possible. I work with adults with different type of disabilities, at a work site. I teach them how to do a job correctly.I feel good, when they learn a new job. I drive them to and from their job sites. I love helping people learn to live their life to the fullest as possible, so they can some day work a job on their own. We are trained to work as a team.

This place has been around for 62 years for a reason. The mission is extraordinary and the company truly does what it sets out to do. I would very comfortably place my own child or loved one in the care of Trudeau. As a workplace, all companies have good and bad issues, but any bad issues and not just ignored, they try to improve. We are always going to have some disgruntled employees, as does everyone but the longevity of employee tenure and return rate is like no other, I have seen. You will not regret coming to work at Trudeau. 

I served as a member of the Board of Directors of the J. Arthur Trudeau Memorial Center for 12 years.  Three years ago I was asked by the Board to serve as the President/CEO and I did so for a three year term which will be expiring soon.  I did this as a way to "give back to the community" as I have a daughter with a developmental disability.  I informed the Board last month that I would be retiring from my position and not requesting a renewal of the contract.

-Worked one on one with adults from the Developmentally Disabled population who are struggling with Alzheimer’s disease.
-Assisted and observed clients in the Senior Enrichment Program, which provided a safe, fun and comforting place for our elderly clients.
-Co-facilitated a Women’s Group; topics included hygiene, sexuality, and safety.
-Worked with staff and clients to develop curriculum for the Shared Leadership Program, which teaches people of all ability levels to be leaders and advocates.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Behavior technician 10 salaries reported	$22.11 per hour
Direct support professional 15 salaries reported	$21.93 per hour
Clinical support staff 8 salaries reported	$23.75 per hour
Behavioral therapist 4 salaries reported	$25.50 per hour
Maintenance technician 2 salaries reported	$26.33 per hour

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