clinician

social worker

crisis counselor

registered nurse

support specialist

NetCare Access

Firstly, it’s important to say that Netcare is above all things ethical. You will not be asked to take risks on your licensure or out your clients or self in jeopardy. In this way, Netcare is a good workplace. 

Working at NCA is an excellent resumé builder if you’re seeking to advance in the social work field. This is primarily due to its notorious reputation of being a hazardous, difficult work environment. A lot of that is owed to the nature of the work, being a non-profit, small mental health clinic in a big city, situated in a dangerous neighborhood. Some of that, however, is owed to complacency by management and executives surrounding the real concerns that their frontline employees have. 

There are several different job descriptions at Netcare for social workers, and all come with their own challenges. On the acute side, however, your risks are significant on a daily basis. Though the workplace does an adequate job at mitigating risk factors for their frontline staff, concerns are often met with a “there’s nothing we can do about it” attitude. Nonetheless, this isn’t the largest concern I have regarding Netcare. That concern belongs to the massive staff turnover occurring in the workplace. 

Staff and management alike at Netcare have favorites, and it’s readily evident in most interactions with staff members. Those who are willing to voice concerns are alienated by thicker skinned, more experienced staff. This produces a hard nosed yet cliquey work environment that is counterproductive to staff retention; something management will make it readily apparent they’re significantly concerned about. Workgroups were initiated on multiple instances in my tenure at Netcare with very little success. Many new hires leave within a few months of their onboarding, while others have their eyes on other job opportunities throughout their careers at NCA. Disengaged, burnt out staff can present challenges when attempting to onboard new staff, disincentivizing their willingness to complete training. This creates understaffing on acute floors, which can present unique challenges in any acute setting. 

This is not to say Netcare is an absolute must-avoid workplace. People find their own niches in social work, and if community acute mental health is yours, this is a great place to determine if you can see a career in this work. Pay is good, benefits are fair (it’s a non-profit, so don’t bank on huge retirement contributions or a robust PTO allotment), and management are more willing to provide leeway for life events than a large corporation would be. 

Just understand that this location has its risks. Do your own due diligence before accepting your offer. This workplace can drive you to intense levels of stress not commonly found in other workplace locations. Funding is always a challenge and there are not many resources meant to make your job safer or more comfortable. You can move up fast at Netcare, but understand that this is primarily due to unwillingness to move up from more seasoned employees. Make an effort to understand why that is the case. Your job is secure here, but that’s for a good reason. Not many employees stay at NCA more than a year or two. 


Netcare serves a vital role in central Ohio’s constellation of mental health and substance use services.  The work is very rewarding, and I very much enjoy the role I play in helping clients in crisis meet their goals. The work is very fast paced, and there is a lot to learn.  The training is very good if you engage with all of the opportunities available.  Leadership is receptive to new ideas, and empowers clinicians to make them happen.  If you are looking for experience with high acuity mental health presentations, then you will enjoy working at Netcare.  Netcare operates as a team, and the people I work with are always there to support me when I need help.  “What can I help you with?” is a phrase that is heard a lot on my shift between coworkers. There are also lots of opportunities to develop horizontally within the organization with opportunities in the crisis stabilization unit, Miles House, the ERS triage hotline, non-crisis assessments, and mobile crisis. There was a recent base pay raise for crisis clinician’s that makes Netcare’s pay competitive with major health systems in Columbus. It has been my impression that working a Netcare garners a lot of respect from other mental health and substance use professionals in the community.  If you are interested in a fast paced and challenging work place to develop clinical and case management skills where you are empowered to help members of the community in distress, then you may find it working at Netcare to be rewarding.  

As a side note, Netcare is always looking for contingent clinicians, and I believe everyone providing outpatient mental health or substance use treatment should work at Netcare to gain a better understanding of how the integrated public and private mental health and substance use treatment system operates in Columbus, Ohio.

Netcare Access serves the most vulnerable of Central Ohio who are experiencing a crisis due to mental illness or substance abuse and misuse by providing immediate and comprehensive crisis assessments, safety management, suicide prevention and referral to resources even when someone has no insurance or ability to pay. No one who is in need is turned away.

Over the last few years, Netcare has continued to increase benefits, wages, and recruit management that is empathetic and challenges employees to improve their skills while being an entry-level friendly workplace. It has the pace and mission of a psychiatric emergency room setting with the culture of a non-profit that is tight-knit and personal.

Netcare has began innovative mobile crisis teams with Columbus Police and Franklin County Sheriff to provide services in the community to provide care to the citizens of Central Ohio in the least restrictive manner.

Netcare has a bright future and will only continue to expand and improve from here. A good time to get in if you are up for a challenge, can work collaboratively and enjoy an interprofessional, team environment that feels like an emergency room and ICU for mental health and substance abuse crisis.

Netcare is an ethical place to work. Managers ensure staff are providing services due to ethical and legal standards. You don't have to worry about being asked or expected to doing things that place client's or your licensure in jeopardy. Managers try to show appreciation through food and other small gifts. The computer system is really efficient  (really important due to how quickly you have to document). Your work is done at the end of the day, you don't have to worry about paperwork or client concerns being carried over. Great place to work for experience. Great place to work overtime hours and receive overtime pay.

The environment can be very toxic. There is gossip, clique behavior, passive-aggressive behavior and pettiness that make it difficult for some to work if you "don't fit in." This is especially concerning because all staff work together on a pod. This behavior needs to be checked and it usually is not. The pay and benefits are not comparable to other hospital like environments. The focus is on quickly assessing and discharging, so may not be a place for you if you enjoy ongoing care of clients.

Pay is top notch, part timers have total control over non scheduled work hrs that they sign up for, team leads are great, youre given compliments often. I have never worked for a company like this. Usually, the mental health field or human services are in some type of disarray, but not Netcare. Everyone seems to be all on the same page. Im a great employee who has been turned disgruntled by other facilities, so coming here & being a part of this team, i feel out of place. I dont have to defend myself here against incompetent leadership. I dont have to defend myself against messy, gossipy coworkers. I can have full faith in the leadership & direction our leads. Its still a few individuals who just aren't good people persons, but they aren't as cancerous as ive seen in past. From the top down to the bottom & everything in between, Netcare is awsome!

Overall, Netcare was a pretty decent place to work. They skills that I developed there as a professional are truly invaluable and can be transferred nearly everywhere. Social workers are respected within the agency and have a modicum degree of autonomy. There were plenty of opportunities for CEs. They pay wasn't excellent, but it wasn't on the low end of the spectrum either - pretty respectable. Most importantly, if you're the type of person who really wants to make a positive impact, then this is a place where that can happen. 

On the other hand, I found the leadership (HR director,as well as the residential services clinical director and manager) to be unforgiving after I left. If I were white, a part of me believes that things would have worked out differently.

Netcare will give you a ton of clinical experience. It’s a great place to learn how to work with difficult clients and to get experience in identifying various mental illnesses. The pay could be better. The health insurance is not great. They do offer a good amount of PTO and other benefits, including tuition reimbursement, are decent. The people are generally great and there tends to be a sense of “we’re all in this together” camaraderie (depending on your shift though). Unfortunately, the opportunities for advancement are limited and most people just move on after a while. And they will work you to death if your shift is busy. But overall, it’s a good company and you’ll learn a lot from it.

The Manager of CMT is awesome and she truly cares for the clients and her team and staff. It is a very interesting and different experience going out into the community into people’s homes to help them while in crisis. Sometimes it can be very interesting learning new things and being able to help people in crisis but it can also be kinda scary at times going into someone’s home that you don’t know while they are in crisis and escalated cause anything can happen so you definitely have to keep your eyes open and keep your guard up. The job is rewarding and different every day which can be great sometimes but I do like it it’s definitely interesting and can be fun and I get to help people so that’s always good 😊 

Work-life balance
As long as you communicate with team leads they will work with your schedule

Pay & benefits
No hazard pay. Personal days every 90 days outside of Sick/Vacation time is a plus.

Job security and advancement
Unless you decide to cross train in other departments there is no room for advancement in the department you work in

Management
Never met CEO. Management and guidance is minimal and confusing

Culture
Some days are slow, some are fast paced. If you enjoy being cussed out by intoxicated clients on a daily basis then this job is for you.

Overall
Good for part time work, always an opportunity for picking up extra shifts. I personally feel like I am losing my clinical skills and in need of a career change due to the repetitive work and scripted dialouge from managing homeless hotline

If you are a new graduate and looking for experience with clients by all means work here.  However don't have high expectations.  The work environment is highly toxic and complete with hazing.  Management is full of chaos and drama.  They will tell you that you can get supervision for your licensure but its always being canceled or its just subpar in general.  Work stress is high with very little support or appreciation.  Mostly you are just told what a failure you are despite all your hard work.  Pay for clinicians is terrible, nurses however get paid decently and never seem to do much work.  So good news if you are a nurse.  But if you are a social worker or counselor work elsewhere unless you are completely and utterly desperate/unhireable elsewhere.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Clinician 4 salaries reported	$30.34 per hour
Social worker 10 salaries reported	$31.38 per hour
Crisis counselor 3 salaries reported	$33.50 per hour
Registered nurse 6 salaries reported	$35.42 per hour
Support specialist 1 salary reported	$21.50 per hour

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