program manager

counselor

direct support professional

registered nurse

behavioral health professional

Lifes WORC

Senior/Upper Management is so out of touch with what is going on in field.   Homes are so short staff and turn over rate is unbelievable. 
Yet, Senior/Upper Management spends their time asking office staff to write positive reviews on Indeed and Glassdoor to better their ratings.  There is a lack of leadership at the top as well as poor training for new employees.  Training dept has no idea how to train new employees on feeding, bathing, transferring, or how to use adaptive devices for these vulnerable individuals and puts it all on the house managers that are already overworked due to staff shortages.  When incidents occur, QA only worries about if training in-services sheet were signed and then usually terminates the employee as corrective action..  No one ever asks who trained the staff involved and was the trainer trained properly?You would think this would be the obvious question and help with resolving numerous incidents, but then Head of Residential Services, Residential Directors, Training Dept, and QA would have to be accountable.  Instead, they all put their heads in the sand and throw DSPs that were not trained properly down the river. Upper Management responsible for promoting office gossip and stabbing in back. If you see something and say something, you are punished in a way of putting back on you in the form of more work. The culture is too give out "Titles" to upper management so that they will feel empowered to become bullies. Out of touch with what is going on in the field.

Works one-on-one in the consumer’s home and community to address a variety of life skills to include social, recreational and other activities of daily living. Follows the goals and/or activities specified in the individual's "Individualized Service Plan" and Community Habilitation Plan. In cooperation with the individual and family, the support staff helps to identify skills and competencies to be developed and devises plans to achieve those skills and competencies.
Assists consumers to identify social, recreation and other community resources the individual may wish to access and devise plans to achieve that access. Measures the likelihood of social isolation and develops plans to build social and communal relationships, which prevent or minimize that isolation. Negotiates schedules and daily activities. Regularly maintains and submits service notes with documentation of the hours worked and the service provided. Maintains and submits travel vouchers and reimbursement requests. Follows any agreed upon action plan for activities with the individual, including a behavior plan. Employs knowledge of emergency procedures as outlined by Wildwood. Enhances and promotes social interaction and community participation. Presents as a positive role model. Works those hours authorized by the Individualized Service Plan (ISP). Submits to and reviews reports and problems with the Assistant Director for Community Habilitation. Provides transportation for the consumer to and from community activities.

The Managers & Assistant Managers have the worst jobs in this agency. The agency's expectations are unrealistic and I feel they take advantage of their employees. Everyone is constantly getting burned out by being overworked. For example, the residences are always understaffed. Always. And the Administration tries to avoid paying overtime at all costs. So, since the Mgr and Asst Mgr are salaried employees, they are expected to fill in on any shifts needing coverage, including last minute call-ins, adjusting their schedules daily, sometimes totally more than 15 hrs/day and more than 50 hrs/week, and only getting paid for 40 hrs. I understand that is what salaried means however, this is done consistently. There is very little assistance from Administration in finding coverage. Everybody offers to help with everything but they seem annoyed if you take them up on it. In addition, I was on-call 24/7. Even on my regular days off and vacation days (unless I specially requested to be removed from pager). I once was written up by my Director for something another person in the group home did, while the Asst Mgr was on duty, on my day off. I asked my Supervisor how that can be possible and she said that, as a Manager, I should know everything that goes on in the residence at all times. That's when I gave up. As far as the actual work with the residents, that was the only rewarding and fun part of the job. 

Run away. Fast.

If you are looking for an opportunity to work hands on with awesome people and awesome front line staff this may be the place for you.  If you are looking for a stepping stone where you can gather experience this may be the place for you.  If you are looking for a second  job without people breathing down your neck this may be the place for you (avoid dayhab though, their Director is awful and petty).  If you are literally looking for a job where you show up and get paid this may be the place for you.

However, if you are looking for a place to grow with a supportive and competent leadership structure it probably isn't the place for you.  If you are looking to have your opinion listened too and respected as a professional this is definitely not the place for you.  If you are looking for a long term career where you will grow with professionals around who support that growth this probably isn't the place for you.  If you are looking to work with an administrative and leadership team who are leaders in the industry in the positions they hold this is definitely not the place for you (people are just handed jobs because they "suck up" well... ie Marketing Director is now HR Director).  I suggest talking to some front level staff before accepting any position as the way they will present what they are about could not be further from the truth.



This organization is a good place to work. Great place to start to start exploring working with People with Developmental Disabilities.  Staff and management are pleasant. However, you are required to obtain and keep your AMAP certification up to date. If you fail the AMAP pouring you lose your total benefit package and they drop you down to a sub. When you are dropped down to a sub you pay rate is also cut down to minimum wage which is currently $9.00 in NY. This is not a good factor being that DSP'S do not get paid much, the most up to 11.00-12.00. Being a sub means that your current schedule will be offered to someone else and if you want to keep your job and hours up to par you will have to work at different residents and put in many hours just to bring your pay check up to where it was before. Going to different residences isn't that bad, it breaks up the mundane flow of things. But having your benefits taken away due to the fact you could not pass your AMAP pouring is not cool at all. So, think twice before you work for this organization. Otherwise it is a great place to work.

I began my role after a positive interview process and enjoyable orientation, but unfortunately, things took a downturn. I never received proper training from the start and still haven’t. The promise of a flexible schedule and work-life balance was never fulfilled. We’ve been perpetually short staffed, with many colleagues having poor attitudes, frequent call-outs, and late arrivals. As the assistant manager, I’ve been left covering excessive shifts, 10 to 14 hours every other day, even on my days off. There’s no support, and my manager is rarely present—she lies, gossips, and undermines my efforts to improve the environment. Communication between management and staff is the worst I’ve ever experienced. The culture is toxic, with sabotage and dishonesty rampant. I hope leadership addresses these deep issues to protect future employees from similar experiences.

LIfe's WORC offers many different employment opportunities, including entry level Direct Support Professionals, Program Management, Program and Administrative Directors, RNs, Finance, & full time or part time shifts in NYC, Queens, Nassau & Suffolk.  What I like most is working with caring people who support all staff in reaching their goals. They offer tuition and text reimbursement, leadership classes, paid classes to be certified in AMAP & SCIP (among other classes).  They really invest in their employees.  The Directors and VPs are all very dedicated and follow the Agency Values.  I have had a wonderful career at Life's WORC and feel lucky to work in a field that helps people.

My job at Life's WORC is very rewarding and a typical day involves follow up phone calls, organizing case management caseloads, organizing my payroll bi-weekly, writing individualized service plans for the individuals I work with whom need services dependent on their disability. My co-workers are amazing and we work together as a team to help each other with changes and different regulations. I love my job and every day is a different day with rewarding tasks. It's a vert fast pace environment which can be stressful at times but with good organizational and time management skills, I have had a very successful and happy career at Life's WORC. I am ready for change in my career path and I have all of the qualities that it takes to to be a successful executive assistant or personal assistant.

I came into the job thinking it was going to be stressful and fast paced but that initial notion was soon abolished by the calm and inviting atmosphere that was Life's WORC. 

On a regular day of work, I would be helping the employees with their hardware and software complications. Near the end of my time there I was updating the spare CPU's that they had with the new version of windows. I think by the time I had finished with them I had updated an upwards of 20 CPU's. 

One of the big projects that I had helped them with is was the implementation of their new video conference system along with teaching them use their new polling system. 

Overall, it was a very pleasant and easy going experience. If given the opportunity, I would definitely work with them again.

Day to Day work was not difficult, they pay rate was disgusting for the work  they expected from you though.  Cleaning up bodily fluids and changing adult diapers multiple time a day with aggressive individuals for $13 an hour ( if your perdeim the max they will pay you is $11).  The management is typically useless and will do anything to make their  house "look good" even if that means scheduling employees 60+ hours a week, and disregarding what the individuals really want to do with their days to make their jobs easier. The employees are usually inexperienced and not mature enough to be a care taker for someone with such high quality of needs. would not recommend If you are trying to make a decent living, if you are interested  in the mental health field it may be a good stepping stone for future employment elsewhere.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Program manager 56 salaries reported	$23.93 per hour
Counselor 51 salaries reported	$22.14 per hour
Direct support professional 42 salaries reported	$20.44 per hour
Registered nurse 10 salaries reported	$88,100 per year
Behavioral health professional 14 salaries reported	$22.12 per hour

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