mental health technician

residential aide

clinical supervisor

peer counselor

support specialist

Lifeline Connections

So I worked in all the downstairs units at one point. Sobering, detox and men’s residential. I learned so much from my clients and coworkers. It was really rewarding at times as well. Seeing people suffering to being filled with hope and excitement for life and being able to help is amazing. Lifeline does offer badly needed services to the community. But the treatment of staff is pretty not great. Aides are underpaid for the level of physical and emotional labor they endure, including the risk they endure regularly from being assaulted at work- especially in sobering. And the training is a joke. You get the general run down of how things operate and that’s it. There’s no real training on how to handle and navigate the high needs of clientele. A lot of clients are high mental health needs and often you are left to your own devices. And the support from management is a joke at best. The communication is poor on all the units. Between floor staff, unit to unit, and from the top down. And changes are abysmally implemented. It’s treated like a dirty secret by management and then it’s suddenly expected to be adhered to without allowing hardly any input from floor staff. At one point I was by myself with over 25 clients all night. Totally unsafe if anything were to happen. Nurses would regularly come in and be in tears in my floor staff office because they were so overwhelmed with the work. The insurance is great if you have chronic issues, overall you’ll pay out of pocket less. But I couldn’t afford my bills and therapy at the same time with what they paid at the time. As far as I know it hasn’t changed and they do not dole out raises even to long staying staff. Some supervisors really tried their best but they walk into a mess and trying to navigate and implement positive changes just never lasted long. Most of the good ones leave quickly. And the bad ones coast on the bare minimum and don’t get let go until they cross a big boundary or they choose to leave. The counselors are great and many have been there for years. I’ve heard good things from clients that graduated from the residental program and came back to visit, about the upstairs IOP and OP. Overall the job was very stressful and frankly it was disappointing to be a part of at times. But it does have its merits as the people who stay are the ones that care the most and want the services provided to be as good as they can be and want clients to succeed. SUD and co-occurring MH is a difficult field but I got to see some wonderful success stories. I also saw some slip through the cracks and sadly there were times where we would get the news a client had passed. Not for the faint of heart but if you really care about this community or are looking to find a foot in the door to engage in this line of work, this is the place. It has amazing potential to be a bigger, better staple of the recovery process. 

Overall this company has some pros that are worth “sticking it out for”, but the cons become overwhelming and push employees away because they are not feeling listened to or appreciated. Pay is extremely low compared to other companies, especially when schooling/degrees are required. Student loans can barely be paid on this wage, much less raising a family. Despite saying experience is considered, upper management treats employees like they are disposable (NOT effective for motivating people). After awhile, employees lose sight of the purpose when the negative is always the focus. 
The most glaring factor that employees all seem to agree on (in all departments I have worked in) is that upper management has little to no communication and are never on the same page. When issues are brought up or even simple questions are asked, they are treated like a big secret to the point of causing high anxiety among teams and within departments. These are even minuscule issues that have no impacts on anything, and it’s like pulling teeth to get straight answers sometimes. 
Something that has also increased since starting is the high focus on billing, even when it sacrifices patient care. It seems like the need for money is top priority, and while we understand this is important, it should never come before the patients, which is happening more with passing years. 

LLC is a valuable resource for the community of SW Washington.  I have learned that this organization could be great if the Board of Directors and Senior leadership were removed and replaced with competent leadership who understand industry best practices.  The LLC's CEO appears to be rarely in the office and is seldom accessible to staff.  Unfortunately, if a staff member needs to meet with the CEO, they must go through her personal assistant, who resides on the East Coast.  The LLC's CEO micromanages everything, which limits production from the top down.  Then, the staff are unjustly evaluated due to barriers to success set forth by the CEO.  Most managers are managed and manage through fear due to a culture that emphasizes unrealistic results. Unfortunately, the head of HR is also off-site (East Coast), which allows HR to run unchecked and not be held accountable for their incompetence.  The hardest part of working there is that the ideology that "trust is earned" doesn't allow for positive productivity and organizational change when there is a lack of healthy communication practices.  Unfortunately, in my tenure, I rarely received feedback and didn't receive any evaluation on my performance.  The most enjoyable part of the job is knowing that you're making a difference in the lives of individuals who need help.  There are a lot of great people throughout the organzation but the negetive shadow of the CEO and other senior leadership taints any positive thing I would say about working for LLC.   I couldn't in good conscience refer anyone to work there.

Working at Lifeline Connections is fast paced, meaningful, and centered on helping people, and the people who serve them, during some of the most challenging moments of their lives. A typical day requires empathy,  flexibility, strong communication, and collaboration, as priorities change quickly and no day is the same.  Program Directors and the Executive team are accessible and mission focused, with an understanding of the demands of the work and an emphasis on supporting staff while maintaining high standards of care and compliance. The workplace culture is one of the organization’s strongest aspects, with a genuine sense of teamwork, compassion, and shared purpose to serve the community. Employees care deeply about both their work and one another, creating a family oriented environment. The hardest part of the job is managing the emotional intensity that comes with supporting individuals who experience a substance use and/or mental health condition, which requires resilience and intentional self care. The most enjoyable and rewarding part of the role is knowing that the work truly makes a difference, working with people who are passionate about their jobs, and being part of an organization that values service, community impact, and employee well being, including meaningful employee benefits such as a generous PTO package and serious healthcare leave.

Really depends on where you land in this company- I personally worked in a great department with a wonderful boss and great coworkers. That being said communication between departments is lacking- what's more I knew some who worked in departments with more then questionable management and hostile work environment which would prevent me from saying "yes anyone should work here". So your experience working here really depends on who you end up working under. 

I will also say I felt like employee benefits  and perks were changed on a whim whenever it was felt like without regards to how it would affect employees or their families without any clarity as to why those benefits were changing other then "making it cheaper for the company". What once was a decent health insurance plan dissolved into mediocrity that didn't really serve anyone's well being and contributed to a lot of people leaving prior to me leaving the company.  

But lets discuss some of the pros;  I worked under a good team as mentioned and I found I had no problems taking the time off I needed too. There is generous PTO which is good and while the wage for some roles is embarrassingly low here, I do appreciate the openness Lifeline has for giving people a chance during interviews and I do think this is a good starting point for people new to the SUD field or mental health field. 


I worked at Lifeline Connections full-time
Pros – 1You might actually help somebody once in a while. That's about it ! Any possible rewards are outweighed by the many dead-end factors of this job !
Cons – Terribly low pay ! With no hope of a raise. Withholding of benefits for several months. Some lazy and incompetent coworkers. Some of which have been there way too long(and should have been fired) that will pile work on the people who want to do a good job ! Poor to virtually no training to troubleshoot potentially dangerous scenarios.
Advice to Senior Management – Pay a Living wage ! Pay a Living wage ! Pay a Living wage ! Give raises, and provide incentives for people to do a good job ! Provide benefits in a timely fashion. Don't withhold them until the absolute last possible minute! Way too many limits on when benefits start. Get rid of the handful of Lazy/incompetent workers that have been there too long. They are 
driving off new people that would have been future assets to your company.
No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

What is the best part of working at the company?
This is a fun company to work for however, they do not have their priorities straight! They tend to just want to look good so they’ll spend a ton of money on looking good rather than actually taking care of their employees! The employees work hard but aren’t paid well and therefore don’t want to give much effort into the company. But, it really is a great place to work and the people are truly amazing and passionate about  helping those who are still struggling with addiction and mental illness.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
They do not care about their employees and the CEO has no idea what is really going on within the organization. If  they really cared, they would  walk through each unit regularly to see what it entails!! I don’t believe a single employee knows who the CEO is and wouldn’t recognize them if they did see them!!  It’s wrong!! 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work is wonderful but stressful at times due to low staffing but the employees work hard to accomplish their goals and they have no problem helping each other out when needed.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of working here was leaving.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part about working here was being underpaid and overworked. Management frequently disguised biased criticism as “feedback,” while retaliation tactics were used against employees who raised legitimate concerns or attempted to advocate for themselves. Morale was extremely low, turnover was constant, and there was little accountability from upper leadership.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
This was by far the most toxic work environment I have ever experienced. Leadership was disorganized, unqualified, and consistently placed unrealistic expectations on staff. I was routinely expected to perform the work of three separate positions with little to no support, recognition, or appropriate compensation. Burnout was inevitable.
To make matters worse, the recent “resignation” of the CCO tied to insurance fraud concerns only reinforced the serious ethical and operational issues within the organization. Instead of addressing systemic problems, leadership continued to place blame on already overworked employees.

Workplace culture is 4 out of 5. Clinic never had a bad vibe to it always welcoming. Management is pretty great easy to talk to and easy to add your opinion to something or implement new procedures. The most enjoyable part of my job is watching patients take back their life get through long journey of recovery. I have learned so much since starting with Lifeline connections different drugs people are on and how addictive they are and how techniques are constantly evolving to combat these drugs affects on patients. Hardest part honestly is trying to stay busy during slow times at the clinic. Some days super busy others no one comes in it depends on department but most of the time 2 days of the week always slow 3 that are always busy. I plan on being with Lifeline connctions for a long while I cant speak for any other department but my own out-patient departments are laid back and great environment for staff and patients. I would highly recommend working here, the best case would be working in out-patient department rather then inpatient those are most stressful environments

First, Lifeline really does help a lot of people and that part of the work is rewarding. There are major issues with scheduling, pay, a lack of training and a lack of support overall from management. Shifts are 12 hours working with patients experiencing acute mental health crisis and/or drug and alcohol withdrawal which the primary responsibility for falls onto the Peers and the BHT's. You have to work weekends. There's no lunch break and after a while most people start to experience burnout and compassion fatigue. You can't make any money unless you take extra shifts and if you do that your self care and personal life will deteriorate rapidly. They put new employees on the floor with almost no training which is very overwhelming. It's a sink or swim scenario. Management does not prioritize seniority when it comes to scheduling and they are often very short staffed. The concept is good but the structure breaks down the employees who are doing the lions share of the hard work. It's just a very mentally, physically and spiritually demanding job - hard work, high stress, low pay.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Mental health technician 15 salaries reported	$33.60 per hour
Residential aide 8 salaries reported	$22.36 per hour
Clinical supervisor 4 salaries reported	$83,244 per year
Peer counselor 10 salaries reported	$21.72 per hour
Support specialist 1 salary reported	$18.50 per hour

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