mental health therapist

therapist

licensed clinical social worker

psychologist

addiction counselor

Northkey-Community-Care

I would not advise anyone to work at NorthKey as a counselor. Most of the counselors are like me and are trying to leave due to being overworked, having poor benefits, and not having enough support from management. 
I should have known I was going to be overworked on my first day. I was shadowing a group and the therapist logged off during the break. They told me to take over because they were too tired to continue. After one month, I was completing 20 to 25 clinical hours per week. After 5 months, I had anywhere from 150-200 clients and was completing 33-38 clinical hours per week. I arrived at work at 8:15 am and left around 6:30 pm on Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, I was supposed to work until 12:00 pm but I usually ended up staying 3 to 5 hours later so I could see clients who were in crisis and complete my clinical notes. 
Now I know a lot of people work more that. It is over 40 hours per week but not by much and I did not have to work weekends. However, being fully present with a client and listening to trauma that frequently drains you physically and mentally. I was always exhausted. During the week I only had the brain power to walk my dog, cook a microwaved meal and exercise (which was critical for my mental health). During the weekends, I spent Friday night and Saturday recovering and Sunday was for errands.  Life revolved around work because it was the only way I could ensure my clients received the care they deserved.
And you will always be overworked because NorthKey is perpetually understaffed at the counselor position. This is because of a high turnover rate and NorthKey being unable to regularly hire counselors. Some counselors who join see the workload and run (more power to them). But some are stunned by the benefits. For instance, as a counselor you only get paid for clinical hours. While this does result in high pay (maybe the highest in the area), it encourages counselors to overwork themselves. It also discourages counselors to take enough time to write proper clinical notes or take trainings because NorthKey does not pay you for that time. In fact, taking paid time off is unintentionally discouraged by NorthKey.
NorthKey offers a bonus once a year but in order to get it, you have to perform an average of 25 clinical hours per week. Let’s say you take a week off and use your PTO (which might be half of what you make normally), you still need to complete the 25 clinical hours for that week. That means for the next five weeks, you will need to average 30 clinical hours to be in compliance. This same trend also happens for attending training during the day. If you take an all-day training, you have to make up those 5 clinical hours at some other point during the year. 
As I realized the scope of these injustices, I wanted to see if I could advocate for myself. However, people advised me to not waste my time. This is because middle management is powerless to make changes and are there to deliver bad news. But they understand the situation and see how hard each counselor works. They are great people and it is easy to see that they are doing their best. They are just stuck in the same system as the counselors. So since middle management cannot really help, you can reach out to upper management.
Every time I have reached out to upper management, they responded quickly and were very kind. However, a lot of upper management has therapeutic training and you leave each interaction feeling understood and better about your situation. Yet two weeks down the line, you will realize that they were brushing you off and the problem won’t be addressed. They are great at pacify complaints and saying the situation is out of their hands. They are unable to take responsibility for the culture they created. As a result, NorthKey will stay the same.
In all honesty, the only way I see NorthKey becoming a better place to work is through systematic change. Rates of stress and burnout are incredibly high. I would love for them to hire an outside consultant group to perform a full audit on the company. Of course, that would require upper management to admit the problem is beyond their power to fix which is I think is very unlikely. 


Having worked at several other non-profit, social service organizations, and having worked at NorthKey now for two years, this is what I have to say about NorthKey:
--The people you work with here are quite possible the nicest you will find to work with.  Seriously, I cannot think of one person I've encountered out of the hundreds of staff at NorthKey who hasn't offered up a smile, a joke, a listening ear, a pleasant conversation snuck in the busy workday, etc.  We have all sorts of personalities here but a common theme is being personable and approachable.
--The management team is genuinely interested in hiring and keeping quality staff on board and making changes to have this happen.  The hiring bonus is great. The changes in benefits that are made may not be as relevant or enticing to some staff--such as needing to wait two of three years to get a certain perk.  Some staff recently got raises though.  The point here is that leadership is invested in retaining quality staff and there seems to be an ongoing conversation on how to do this.
--The annual contingency wage--which has been 10% for two or three years at least--is a great perk to look forward to in the summer.  
--NorthKey is offering a lot more internal trainings now on a variety of topics.  They have even brought in some outside trainers.  The $500 training/education allowance for independent clinicians is generous. 
--Although you will be kept busy as a therapist, if you have the desire to grow in other areas such as helping with trainings, contributing to blog posts, or just working with a different population than you are used to (like facilitating IOP or other groups), there is ample opportunity to use your other skills that help you continue to grow as a professional.  If you are interested in growing into a leadership role one day, that is also very possible at NorthKey.  Leadership looks for those who stand out and prefers to promote staff who are knowledgeable about the agency rather than hire somebody from outside. 
--How challenging your day-to-day job is likely depends on your role, but most everybody at NorthKey works very hard because we serve a lot of people with complex needs.  Being skilled in time management and setting boundaries between work and home are important.  So, I guess I could say how you operate will affect your experience at NorthKey and you will be challenged to be flexible, be willing to jump in where needed, push yourself to be timely, and this is not a bad thing.  But if you like your job to be static and to always know what to expect, you may find this job to be stressful because non-profit, social service work is rarely predictable.
--Office spaces are nice for the most part.  I haven't been to all of the buildings, but all the ones I've seen have good-size offices with windows for therapists.  Staff can decorate their space to be inviting for clients as long as it still looks professional.  
--There is an after-hours team that only certain staff belong to and some staff work an occasional weekend.  If it's important for you to work Mon.-Friday, it  may be helpful for you to know that you can have your weekends :)

1.) My typical  day of work involves orienting all eligible clients for the ACT participants to the program and providing housing searches and supportive services to promote participants self sufficiency, integration into the community, and permanency in housing; performing administrative tasks involved in the review and maintenance of a caseload of program participants. The principal duties are performed both in a general office environment and in the field and community where program participants reside. Also to have knowledge or understanding of tenant’s rights and responsibilities as well as “strengths based” case management. And knowledge of residential lease contracts to educate clients of their rights and responsibilities. Concentrated record keeping, budgeting. Demonstrated knowledge of community resources, social service agencies, and landlords.


2.) I have learned that assess housing barriers of individuals experiencing mental illness and  homelessness to determine housing and service needs is not easy.

3.) Management has been a wealth of knowledge especially during this pandemic. The shock management initially felt could of made everything harder to deal with. However both leadership and management has attacks this pandemic with a positive outlook.  Management has provided resources such as webinar's, virtual Workshops and continue up dates with staff. Also my direct coordinator has been awesome by allowing me to work from home. 
    

4.)Workplace culture has a lot more diversity that's visible also enhance the leadership effectiveness with professional development.

5.) The hardest part of the job for me is obtaining housing for our challenging client and trying to convince landlords to take a chance on clients.

6.)The best part of the job is when housing is obtain for our client and knowing that they are safe and out of harms way.

My building is open over 40 hours per week which means I can move my hours of availability around with ease. I can work with different populations and have a very flexible routine. I love my manager's "we will try it" attitude. I have felt my manager support me when trying to better myself or my profession. Although, this is not true of every manager (I've had three thus far). There are many good things about this job: up to $500 one time yearly for a training after you are independently licensed, access to free online training, flexible scheduling, and the ability to earn as much as you can. We get paid per client we see (once we submit their note and they or their insurance pays). This allows us to make a lot of money, but can be taxing mentally. I have been told that when you get beyond this lower management, things get political and dicey. If you are too good, you'll be promoted and given more responsibility ("other duties as assigned") that you can't really say no to and these tasks can become too much. I have seen managers leave and their job get split into two jobs if that give a good idea of what I mean. I have some issue with how we are marketed to the community. The community thinks we can help with every issue, but in reality we don't necessarily have people specially trained in Autism Spectrum disorders, eating disorders, etc. but instead we are all encouraged to seek training or attend things the organization puts on for us.

My day consisted of meeting parents and conducting interviews with parents and entering information on a computer. The interviews would take a couple of hours most of the time and so most times my days were long and I would end up working much more than the allotted hours per week. If there was a family crisis, I would get a call at night and talk to the family during the crisis or I would end up staying with the family for several hours during the evening until the crisis was over.
The best part of the job was the monthly meetings when we would have meetings at the school in which the kids would play and the parents would get together and get to know each other and share stories plus there would be a speaker and the agency would have the meeting catered so it was a time when the parents could do something different and not have to watch the kids and just relax.

NKCC is a joke, they DO NOT respect Nurses & will only tell you about Policy after they take your vacation hours & refuse to pay. They offer PTO & bonuses & perks but then turn around & blame a policy no one told you about, nor is it easily assessable and Take the PTO & Bonuses & perks. They try and keep policy almost secret & will not explain it to you Until there taking all those nice Perks they promised.  I tried to stick it out & thought it'll get better & they rewarded me by literally robbing me in the end, that's how they repay Employees!!

I feel very lucky to work for a company goals and vision such as NorthKey's.  Going into work and being greeted by co-workers and management alike is a good feeling.  When I settle into my office, I feel comfortable in my space, helping me to feel empowered to do my work.  I have been given independence and flexibility while still being able to have quality supervision.  I have never had a manager who wasn't respectful, considerate of my personal life, or who didn't take time to thank me for my work.  Feeling trusted allows to me to really think outside of the box and not be worried about sharing my ideas.  I am pleased that NorthKey provides so much information about what is taking place within the agency and strives to keep employees informed, satisfied, and included.  Opportunities to learn and grow are presented to me daily.  The hardest part of my job is keeping up with my work load.  However, working with our clients is rewarding and I am grateful for those opportunities.

This organization draws most people because you buy into the mission- helping people. That mission is lost. The desire to make money has been the focus. Grant money has allowed for this massive growth, which has NOT resulted in an increase in people served. NOT compensating the talented individuals who deliver services has resulted in a mass loss of overwhelmed/overworked employees. With a leader who boasts of profitability and who glances over the fact that if you don't have people to provide services, you CAN NOT see clients- mission lost. It seems that if the mission were the focus, less profit and increased salaries to draw and retain service providers would be the next move. It is often shared that pay aligns with other non-profits. My response would be are other non-profits making the PROFIT they are?? Even subtracting grant dollars still leaves room for increased salaries- get it together or run it into the ground.  This should be a PEOPLE focused business!!!!

The insanely high turnover rate at this organization speaks for itself and it’s just very sad, considering the need in this area for the services provided here.  I’ve been here only a few months and seen more people leave than I can count. 
I wish I had done my homework on NK before accepting the offer. They will tell you what you want to hear to get you in the door and the other shoe drops after you have been an employee for a few weeks.  As another employee  pointed out, it has to be pricey for a company to keep onboarding new people. Why not invest the money into your current employees? 

Very excited to join the Team but found Management to be extremely degrading, toxic, micromanaged and hostile. In all my years in healthcare field never experienced such an environment. The employees are the best but the Management is the worst I ever seen. Very old school mentality and not up to par with technology usage or thought process. Very concerning the toxic and hostile  environment especially since this a mental health facility. I would not recommend anyone to work here. You eventually will be looking for another job. This is not a place that you want to retire unless they change the Management  then it has potential to be a great place to work.  I know understand why people walked off and quit and why turnover is so high.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Mental health therapist 5 salaries reported	$69,000 per year
Therapist 1 salary reported	$67,500 per year
Licensed clinical social worker 5 salaries reported	$66,427 per year
Psychologist 3 salaries reported	$75,000 per year
Addiction counselor 5 salaries reported	$55,500 per year

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