clinician

direct support professional

residential specialist

care coordinator

residential counselor

North Suffolk Community Services

First and foremost, I would like to say that this company truly cares about the well-being of its employees. From the moment I started working here, I have felt supported and valued. The management team is always available to listen to any concerns or suggestions, and they make an effort to create a positive work environment.

In terms of pay, I believe that the company offers a fair wage for the area. The mental health field can be challenging, but I feel that my salary reflects the work that I do. Additionally, the company offers excellent benefits, including healthcare and retirement plans, which shows that they understand the importance of taking care of their employees.

One thing that really stands out about this company is its travel reimbursement policy. As someone who occasionally has to travel for work, I appreciate that the company is willing to cover my expenses. This shows that they understand the financial burden that travel can bring and are willing to take steps to alleviate it.

Overall, I would highly recommend this mental health care company to anyone looking for a supportive work environment, fair pay, and great benefits.

A typical day entailed, making sure the individual clients had their needs met, and  helped them with their daily living skills such as cooking and cleaning and laundry. I learned a lot working with people with disabilities, such as giving them a quality of life and helping them feel like what they were saying is important. Which it was, they're living beings and were treated with the same respect that I would treat anybody else with. I had great co-workers and we all helped each other out and gave advice and I was blessed to work with such great people, and even though I'm no longer working there, I built relationships with people and still communicate with some of them. Working there could be difficult at times when getting to know the clients and understanding there needs at first. It was enjoyable taking them out on outings once I got to know them and what they liked to do and we'd plan something fun every Saturday, and I would have the clients take turns picking an activity so that everyone got to do something they wanted at some point.

A typical day will be having to find a detox for an individual and start and continue calling until you find one. However, there are some barriers for some of the population we serve (eg. Latinos who are undocumented, and don't speak English but understand a little). So, you need to find a Detox that have staff that speak Spanish and have beds paid by the DPH because they only have a limited health insurance that is not accepted in most Detoxes. Once they leave the detox we helped them with wrap around services (eg. shelters, medical appts., treatment options, jobs, food, clothing, etc.). We work as a team and as co-workers try to provide individuals with the best service under the circumstances. The hardest part of this job is when the team is not working to its capacity and the most enjoyable part is to come each morning waiting to see what it brings and keeps exercising compassion with one of the most vulnerable and rejected population in this world.

The detachment of the executive team to the rest of the company is staggering. The sub-executive directors have little supervision of their own, which causes serious issues. Favoritism, nepotism, unethical business practices, and undeserved termination (*I myself was NOT terminated, but witnessed many unwarranted dismissals).

The turnover at this company is overwhelming, and their standards of hire are non-existent. The pay compensation is laughable (though at entry level is on par with other similar organizations in the area). The workplace culture is "cut your throat to get ahead" except no one "gets ahead". The treatment of even administrative staff by directors or even low-level management has bordered on abuse.

They say they "pay by position", but that is a flat out lie, and often pay by favoritism, not merit. There is room for advancement to a small degree, but at a certain point you cap out and will be stuck being managed by a townie who apparently was asleep in the building when it was purchased and ended up working there for 25 years.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Team work, training and dedicated workers who take very seriously the service to others 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Document all your hard work by the end of the week no matter what 😁 also keep the clients calm and safe in an unexpected situation 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Is a multicultural environment,  that's what I like the most,  you learn about different cultures and way of life,  you get involve and implement and share what you learned with clients 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I used to work as a Family Partner,  I loved my job, used to vist families encourage them in different ways how to implement some rules, activities with their kids, modeling how to do it,  accompanied the family to diverse appointments such as school meetings,  psychiatrist appointments,  housing,  food pantry, I really enjoyed my job

I love the work I do here. I get to spend time helping children and families in treatment related to their specific goals such as increasing family communication, organization and structure in the home, and social skills development. My job is interactive and fun. I rarely look at the clock and often stay later without noticing. Another benefit is that you can manage your own schedule and coordinate your own daily task. The huge negative about the job is the small pay, no bonuses, and no raises. Also, there are times I feel supported by my co-workers and upper management, however there have been countless time where I was not supported and felt not cared for. For example, there have been multiple snow days in which upper management expects you to come in even when the entire region is closed down, creating serious risk for the workers; They also expect us to use our sick time if "we feel" the roads are not good to drive in.

Unfortunately, this great agency has become a disappointment. 
Environment has become stressful, unsupportive, divided and NOT-diverse. Conversations and supervisions are no longer about the work and the families, but about numbers, rules, regulations and employees feel like they are only a number, not a person, not a skilled worker.
Increased limitations and regulations make it almost impossible to achieve agency's expectations, but the employees are the ones who are blamed for not working hard enough. It is impossible to reach those goals in the 40-hour week, but there is no overtime compensation for working extra, and the "bonus" is almost impossible to achieve, and when achieved it is not worth it, not enough of a compensation for the amount of extra work.

Management does not care about its employees , you are nothing but one of the many , they don't care about your safety, your growth or development.  This is not a family friendly organization , your family to them is nothing more than a burden because they just want you to work endless hours without compensation especially for salary employees.  They want you to meet the demands of the programs and clients but will steal hours worked with no support from upper management . Calls morning noon and night. They stripped direct care staff of any ability of independent problem solving , as a result direct care staff  have no accountability and don't care about the clients.  I wouldn't put a family member in this program

Unrealistic expectations for what the compensation is. However job is flexible- days off, hours, self care. No room for growth, inconsistenties in management, also inconsistencies with program policies and regulations when it comes to clients. We are in the field of human services - if staff cannot rely on management, the client will not receive the services they deserve. 

As far as training goes- two weeks of wasted time. No training on actual job expectations or program rules/structure. Training consists of HR nonsense.

Lots of training provided but still not adequate for the actual tasks expected to complete. Upper management chooses not to listen to their employee's concerns/complaints, their communication with employees is almost non-existent. Workplace culture is stressful and overall terrible. The only saving grace is IF the particular team that you are working with are easy to get along with. The hardest part of the job is dealing with the fact that management expects 1 person to complete a job load of 2-3 people with little to no support!!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Clinician 35 salaries reported	$74,553 per year
Direct support professional 59 salaries reported	$20.33 per hour
Residential specialist 76 salaries reported	$20.17 per hour
Care coordinator 8 salaries reported	$66,946 per year
Residential counselor 20 salaries reported	$20.19 per hour

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