residential counselor

clinician

registered nurse

special education teacher

residential supervisor

Justice Resource Institute

I was stuck in life, stopped college and hadn't finished my degree yet, and while working at a Marriott in my home state of Pennsylvania, my friendliness and customer service was apparently noticed. I was recruited by a division director (a regular guest at the hotel) to come work at a JRI program in the Boston area. I started out as an Admin Assistant at a juvenile justice center. I worked hard at this new position to make it more organized and improve efficiency and happiness for employees at that site -- luckily I had great managers and mentors to support me. My hard work was recognized and appreciated and when the difficult decision was made to close that program (for lack of state-funding to pay staff sufficient wages), I was offered a position at the JRI corporate office in the accounts receivable department (with really no training or experience in that area). Again, I put 110% into my work to not only learn and do the job, but to make improvements where I could and when I had time. During this time, the company also paid my way to complete my degree, which left me with little-to-no student loan debt afterwards.
As the company has exponentially grown (and continues to grow), I was able to be promoted from Accounts Receivable Manager to my current Budget Director role in which I report to the CFO. Meanwhile, my wife and I had two kids in the past 4 years and JRI was flexible enough for me to take some paternity time and then adjust schedule as-needed to meet daycare demands, etc. Next month, I'll have completed 14 years at JRI already and I'm just turning 40 later this year. It's very rare to find these days, but JRI offers a defined pension plan benefit, which means that when I retire, JRI will continue to pay me based on a calculation of my years of service, salary level, and a few other factors (and I don't have to contribute anything to this during my career at JRI). On top of that, I also choose to contribute to JRI's pre-tax 401(k) plan which is matched by JRI up to $800 per year -- so I'm feeling very good about making sure my family is set in my retirement years. Additionally, even though JRI offers excellent health coverage, I'm still on my wife's medical plan at her work, but that allows me to take advantage of another benefit at JRI called the Alternative Health Option, which has paid me an extra $2,000 per year for NOT using JRI's medical coverage -- and once I hit 10 years at the company, that went up to $3,000 per year! Since my wife's plan also has great rates, this pretty much means we get our family health coverage for next to nothing -- we may even make a few bucks on it! Plus, JRI provides free Dental coverage so my entire family is covered at no premium cost to me.
All of those things are great, but what I love the most at JRI are the people, the supervisors, and the mentors that I've had. Also, I love the rewarding feeling that comes in knowing that, in some way, my behind-a-computer-screen budget work is ultimately helping to provide excellent services to the many different clients that JRI serves. I do miss being on the front line and interacting directly with clients, but it's a good feeling to know that JRI has high standards for the services we provide and the physical sites where the work is done. I know these are places that I would feel comfortable sending my own kids if necessary. Most of my friends work at for-profit companies, such as PR firms, and I've seen each of them get laid off or have to switch jobs multiple times in the time I've been at JRI. That's not for me. I love the job security and I love being a part of the JRI family, which is all working to make real differences in the lives of young people and families -- and not just padding someone's pockets at the top of a for-profit company. There are many people at JRI that have been here for 20, 30, 40 years or more -- and many are coming up for retirement soon. I'm one of many examples where my hard work has allowed me to move up the chain quickly, and there are many opportunities coming up at JRI. JRI has literally changed my life for the better and I'm thankful every day that JRI found me and I took the chance to move to Boston and start a career with JRI. I recommend that you do too!

I was hired as part of a management team who were tasked to develop three new group homes and behavioral programs, policies and procedures for the rehabilitation of adolescents with a variety of behavioral, cognitive, and psychological disorders.  A month into the job the funding that had been projected as forthcoming from DDS fell through.  Consequently, so did the planned management and staffing structures.  I elected to move from group home management to the position of clinical case manager so that the Assistant Group Home manager whom we had already hired was promoted to Group Home Manager without a raise in pay, but did not suffer a pay cut.  

Once opened, a typical work day saw me traveling to one of the three group homes where I provided individual, family and group therapy.  My work day included case management, ensuring that all providers to include DDS and DCF were on the same page with progress and delivery of services.   I worked closely with direct care staff to ensure best practices toward building therapeutic alliances with the residents.  The most difficult part of the job was the extended travel.  The group homes were located between Chesterfield (Norwich area) and Thompson.  Often I would be called on to be at Thompson for staff training and then travel to two or more group homes for unexpected meetings mostly having to do with one of the children requiring crisis intervention.  The most enjoyable part of the job was being part of a like-minded team who practiced a gentle and consistent approach to behavioral change, and who refrained from shaming, blaming or judging in order to manipulate behavioral compliance.

My first position after graduating from Medical Assistant certificate program. Unique choice as a first job in the field, but I learned a lot very quickly. JRI as a whole, strives to reach and support clients and their families, and are exceptional in maintaining that philosophy. My work entailed a wide range of responsibilities, which allowed me to learn new skills in avenues outside of Nursing. JRI provides excellent training to their new staff in understanding the purpose of the work, and how essential it is to their clients. At Pelham Academy, the students are a particularly specialized group and require a lot of extra sensitivity, awareness, maturity and dedication from their staff. As such, this often turns out to be grueling and entails long hours which require meeting a state-mandated staff:student ratio. This can cause the work to interfere with personal time, and often causes burn out. One of the hardest aspects of the job is to work proactively with students that suffer from severe psychological issues and trauma that they can be behaviorally difficult, and at times, physically aggressive when dysregulated. Staff are trained in safe, appropriate physical management, but it can be a high-stress environment for many. Despite this, JRI provides opportunities for staff to help children and adults learn to build safe relationships and provide a solid foundation that supports emotional growth and understanding.

JRI utilizes a trauma informed model which is excellent.  If you are starting out in the field of human services, this a great place to learn.  You will also learn about Administrators who play favorites and how good or bad leadership starts from the top.  The tone of a workplace is set by the leader, and JRI's leaders have lost sight of the importance of top down role modeling and appreciation. There is a "spying" mentality so you can't develop trusting relationships among colleagues.Secretaries report back conversations to Directors, teachers report back to upper management when they should go to their direct supervisor. Everyone is trying to be accepted into the Prog Director's clique. If he likes you, you're golden and everyone knows.  The same is true if he doesn't like you.  The fear of repercussion is real. Favorites also get better benefits. I won't even go into credit card mis use for personal reasons by the admin team.  Also, the teachers in the school portion do their best, but they are severely under qualified and not certified in all areas.  Yes, they are granted waivers by the state, but overall the teaching is extremely poor.  Some management didn't even follow proper MCAS guidelines allowing students as much time as needed to complete their exams. The students are great, stressful, but great.  They've lived the toughest of lives and are trying to put themselves back together.  It's a place to learn a lot, both good and bad, and take it with you to move on.

I was hired as a supervisor at the grip project in Lowell.  I was coming from another program where there were real consequences and structure for these residence but not ever residential program is the same.  I was not sure what they wanted out of a supervisor other than write a lot of paper work.  I was a supervisor that would enforce rules which I knew from my history with working with children and young adults that there would be push back. The program and administrating staff goes back and forth on what rules they want to follow, basically which very the wind blows on any given day.    Admin did not want you restrain the children after they become overly aggressive and they didn't want you to call police after children put there hands on you.  They also would let the children destroy property because it was therapeutic for them, but I guess I should have known this was a joke when the program director would say in supervisor meetings who cares that the kids go AWOL just to smoke weed but later we as staff would find children drinking  and find drug  residue in there room.  The program doesn't have a real plan for the teens.  One thing about residence programs is that the schedule is very flexible and a lot of overtime.  As a supervisor there is alot of paper work and if you don't have a second supervisor on board than your day will be long.  As a floor staff it is much easier because all you need to do is baby sit.

A typical day at work is logging in (mostly working from an office or from home) and tracking which of the 55-60 family caseloads you need to contact today. The team of staff are amazing but HR isn’t super involved unless it’s a big change. I loved helping the families and the kids. The issue is that at times the supervision can be extremely vague and unclear with feedback, and then expect you to read their mind and fix it the next time. There is a lot of back and forth, hovering anxiety, and uncertainty especially if you’re on an improvement plan. The amount of paperwork and the tiny nitty gritty details make the job quite stressful. They are pretty accommodating work/life balance wise as long as you hit your monthly numbers. However they have very VERY high expectations and standards for the low pay they offer. You may get feedback one day that you’re amazing and doing well, then suddenly the ball drops on you that you haven’t been. It feels very hot and cold at times unless you’re a robot and you learn extremely quickly. They aren’t a horrible place to work, but they have some unethical practices and after a while I started questioning if my morals matched their values. If you do apply, go in with caution. Things are not always as perfect as they seem once you’ve been there for a while…

I would have never thought that I could have been a Direct Care Staff in a juvenile detention center. After hearing all the stories about how kids react in these places turned me away.  

I was asked by a family member to give this job a try and so I did. I went through the training and found myself wondering if this was a job for me. I was able to interact with the residents and found that they weren't as bad as people made them seem. Most of them just needed someone to talk to. Some attention besides the negativity the was surrounding them daily.

During my employment I became comfortable about the residents and friendly with all staff including upper management. I got to know the residents better and was able to maintain safety on the units. The residents became to trust me more and was able to come to me with personal issues they was having.

My overall experience with JRI was unforgettable and I wouldn't mind going back to working in this environment. I like that I was able to make a difference in some of the residents lives and after leaving the program hearing about the positive impact that I had on them.

The most rewarding part is the kids you help. But it is extremely sad that some of the employees who have been there since its opening 17 years or so ago have lost the ability to care. I have witnessed some pretty terrible things that have been said or done to the kids by the Long term staff. The upper management will do nothing about it. One of these employees has a huge hygiene problem of their own and has been talked to repeatedly to no avail. They are responsible for helping the kids with their hygiene plans! See the problem??  This person also has anger issues and has done some things in their past that would get them fired immediately. Several years ago they actually took some kids to their home on the way back from an outing. This person never lost their job and is now a supervisor!  There are a great deal of discrepancies within this company and upper management just expects you to just shut up and do what you are told without complaining! If you do complain then you are in fact black listed! They are only interested in hiring bodies. There are however some employees who really do care. They don't seem to last too long though..

The employees enjoy the work that they do working with clients from all walks of life. The work with different families of various life difficulties can be challenging at times as well as rewarding. The challenging aspects of the job are when the clients are difficult to engage with and are not responsive to receiving the wrap around services to normalize their lives and to lead stable lives and incorporate the skills learned into their daily life and routines in all aspects of their lives.  The rewarding part of the job is when you see the families recognize the assistance they need and begin to reach out independently to seek the help they need to lead successful lives. It's great to look back to where a client was and to see the amount of progress they have made and feel proud to be part of their success and celebrate their achievements. Team and individual supervision is productive and consistent. They challenge you t9 be proactive and further your education in order to continually grow in the field and recognize yourself as a life long learner.

I worked at Meadowridge Academy for 7 years and grew in my roles and abilities there exponentially. Leadership will support anyone who is there to provide transparent and ethical treatment. By simply being an honest hardworking person (at least I hope so), I was encouraged to develop as a social worker and a leader. I began as a residential counselor and over the years attended graduate school, started a family, became a licensed clinician, and an administrator at Meadowridge. 

The work in this field is difficult because of the nature of the work and larger political and social systems. The job was never made difficult by my supervisors or leadership. My Director cared deeply about the quality of care provided and the development and culture of the staff. I can only speak about where I worked, but Meadowridge Academy was an amazing place to develop in this field thanks to the people in charge of that program.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Residential counselor 7 salaries reported	$21.07 per hour
Clinician 3 salaries reported	$63,333 per year
Registered nurse 2 salaries reported	$53,750 per year
Special education teacher 10 salaries reported	$60,750 per year
Residential supervisor 10 salaries reported	$24.65 per hour

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