direct support professional

mental health technician

mental health therapist

coach

team leader

Optimae LifeServices

What is the best part of working at the company?
Working at Optimae Life Services as a DSP I play a crucial role in assisting individuals with disabilities in their daily lives, fostering independence, and ensuring their well-being. I appreciate the valuable role because it is meaningful, hands-on support through personal care, skill-building, or emotional support. The job requires patience, empathy, and flexibility, as everyone has unique needs and goals. It’s rewarding to see the positive impact of my work on someone’s quality of life, making it a fulfilling career path for those who enjoy helping others.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Job and family as a parent. Finding time for self-care and setting boundaries between work and home can be sometimes challenging but crucial to maintaining balance.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I appreciate the environment and culture at work as a Direct Support Professional because it fosters collaboration, empathy, and mutual respect. The team is supportive, always ready to help one another through challenges, and genuinely invested in the well-being of the individuals we serve. The culture promotes open communication, encouraging everyone to share ideas and solutions, which creates a positive and inclusive atmosphere. Additionally, the focus on continuous learning and development helps me grow professionally, while the shared mission of empowering others makes the work truly rewarding.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day I enjoy at the company starts with checking in on the individuals I support, ensuring they’re ready for the day ahead, whether it’s helping with personal care, preparing breakfast, or assisting with medications. I appreciate the variety in each day one moment, I might be teaching life skills like cooking or budgeting, and the next, we’re heading out into the community for activities like grocery shopping or recreational outings. I enjoy the personal connections that develop, as well as the sense of accomplishment when someone reaches a milestone. The teamwork and positive environment make the day flow smoothly, and knowing I’m making a difference is always rewarding.

I am still trying to sort out the emotional whiplash from working somewhere that swung regularly from confident satisfaction to unrealistic expectations and frustration. 

I loved working with my customers and had coworkers who have become my best friends even after we were no  longer working together. The team dynamic in my office was fantastic and supportive at times, but super cliquey at many others. Staff are regularly reminded that they are making a day to day difference in the lives of their customers.

As you might expect with any human services company, there is a constant shortage of staff. This is not Optimae's fault (particularly during a pandemic), though it is a constant stressor across all departments. As a result, many staff (myself included) regularly work a huge amount of hours. With a schedule full of holes, there was always someone willing to step up and assist, even if they worked in another department or team. Insurance benefits are okay, and flexible scheduling was (depending on your role) common and appreciated.

On the other hand, despite 5+ years of work in multiple roles, I was never paid a living wage. Raises are few and far between even though everyone deserved them. COVID related bonuses only went to some staff, ignoring others who worked face to face with customers. Every time I was present for conversations about wages with upper management, the default response was "we're working on it" and hardcore emphasis on the "company culture" as a benefit that would make up for low wages. While it was sometimes a boon, that didn't make up for not being able to pay rent. Communication from my supervisors was often inconsistent. Many more tasks were thrown on my plate than were taken off or even reduced. I constantly had tension migraines and my work/life balance tilted severely to the work side.

Despite all the cons of working for Optimae, I really enjoyed it most of the time. When I lost my job with zero warning, I was shocked and humiliated. The reasoning for this are, at best, flimsy and at worst, corresponding directly with characteristic symptoms of my disability. I am still somewhat at a loss. Even so, I hope things improve for my former coworkers, truly.

I started as a DSP at Optimae in March 2020, right at the start of Covid. I was 20 weeks pregnant and new to the area. I had a gap of unemployment due to personal issues. I didn't think anyone would hire me, especially with covid shutting down hiring pretty much everywhere, and the fact that I would soon need maternity leave. Optimae decided to give me a chance. I started as a DSP and was willing to work wherever they needed help. In working a few different sites,  I was able to meet many customers and learn something new every day. Management was very understanding and supportive during my maternity leave. When I returned to work, I was promoted to Team Lead. I worked as a Team Lead at a site for a couple months then was asked to move to a different site where they needed more assistance. I have always been willing to move to where I could be best utilized. I recently was promoted again to Service Coordinator.  This has been a bit of a challenge but my upper management has been very helpful, as well as the hardworking Team Leads. This work is definitely challenging, difficult, and incredibly stressful at times, but I help people everyday, and that gives me a sense of accomplishment. My aim is to end every day better than how I found it. However, this is not the place to work if you are unwilling and/or incapable of taking direction, being resilient to change, or if you have a constant problem of not making it to work on time. The customers need staff every day to meet their medication needs, attend appointments, and to assist in their daily living skills. It creates a huge problem when someone calls out or doesn't show up.  Compassion, empathy, understanding, patience, a positive attitude, attendance, and resilience to change are key attributes you need to be successful in a job at Optimae.  If you struggle with ANY of those,  you will struggle with this work and will find it difficult to move up from a DSP. 

I worked for this company for about a year and…as time went on…I started to see the red flags. At first, I had a lot of optimism for my employer because this company clings to being about choice and rights. But…their policies are very ineffective, and ultimately makes the job of not only the Site Team Leads hard, but also the DSP’s. The communication was inconsistent and there was a lot of “he said, she said” stuff in the workplace. The policies and conduct always changed within a matter of days which added more to the stress and disorganization. The management would even scorn you if you still did your job and there always something wrong, or something wasn’t good enough.

The biggest red flag was the turnover in both the field and the management. I have never seen so much people quit in such a short amount of time from a employer. I seen probably 8 DSP’s quit, 4 Site Team Leads quit, 1 Service Coordinator walk out, 1 Service Coordinator terminated, and they also have staff that specialize in the community that practically all quit one by one and now they currently have only one active staff working community whom is very new. This lead to either Site Team Leads working heavy hours (and management had told us to “be mindful of overtime”) and part time workers easily exceeding 80+ hours within a pay period.


This company when it comes to their clientele, there is A LOT of enabling. Your interventions do not work because they can do practically whatever they please when they please. The priorities are backwards and it is a major contributor as to why there is such high turnover. 

I certainly will miss my clients though. They’re people just like us but deep down…I know the company only views them as walking dollar signs.


They’ll employ anyone, and by anyone I mean, Felons, drug users, people with no common sense or care giving skills, people with little to no morals, specifically those who are abusive to clients, with substantial evidence and proof, yet do nothing about it.  People who steal from clients, don’t do their job, sleep on the job, and even those who think it’s okay to, and actually do, ‘party’ at clients’ homes, even if they’re off the clock, with staff who are working. Higher ups won’t do anything to hold the staff accountable for their actions or lack there of. Staff do not have to be CPR certified and aren’t trained or expected to perform CPR in event of emergency. Staff treat clients poorly, are verbally abusive at the least and are allowed to continue to work here. Typically very understaffed which results in zero work-life balance, especially as a supervisor. Pay is terrible. Starting wage is $10 per hour, with little to no opportunity for raises or advancement. Staff who’ve been with the company for many years still are near this wage and have had a few pay cuts which were never remedied.  In office drama and retaliation is ridiculous. This company does not care about it’s employees or clients served. PTO is offered but you cannot get it if you leave employment, despite how many years you’ve been employed with the company and the fact that there is never time to take PTO because they’re so short staffed. Do not work here!

I was openly interviewed for a full-time position as a full-time college student. I told them countless times that I had no other time to do homework, mainly since I worked a 4p-12a shift with no break between work and school. They were insulted when I requested to reschedule meetings with the management. I had tried to work with them to receive weekends off to work on all of my homework at once but have yet to receive a word after a month after my request.
This company wants to open up more houses when there aren't enough staff members because they get traded out faster than hired. The company also needs to understand work-life balance, especially for employees with kids/families outside of work. If you decide to take a team lead position, you will be forced to pick up any hours the other staff does not. The bickering over this is insane, even causing drama in the house, which stressed the customers.
If you don't like big cities or driving in big cities, you better get used to it because this company does not care about you and your own fears/mental illnesses. If you don't like getting calls from parents about "not letting their baby die," this isn't the place for you. If you want to see your life wither away, go to this company. If you have any common sense, DON'T TRY TO GET HIRED! The only thing good about this job is the customers if they don't try to steal from you!

What is the best part of working at the company?
I have worked in the behavioral health office for almost 6 years and going strong. It has been one of the most rewarding jobs I have ever had. Daily interactions with customers, who I honestly feel like we help and serve well. Co-workers who are supportive and strive for the same goals with strong Optimae values. And a leadership team who cares for you as a whole, not just an employee, but as a person who has to handle life outside of work as well. I also worked for the life services or community program for 2 years prior. Also a very rewarding job but more aggressive hours and on-call cycle for figuring out how to balance with your home life. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
It is a mental health clinic so you never know what you are going to get. The day to day work flow is pretty basic for office work. But being mental health there are high stress situations that occur, that is not the norm, but it happens. We get de-escalation training for a reason. We also have a strong leadership team to lean on in those situations and walk us through the appropriate responses. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Each location has its own “vibe”. The employees are different so of course they do. I would say all of our behavioral health staff are mostly positive people and it shows in the work environments!

My day usually starts out with me checking my email and mailbox and taking care of anything that needs to be attended to.  I help with answering the phones, taking messages, reconciling checkbooks for our payee accounts as needed, run background checks on prospective employees, work with new staff in completing their new hire paperwork, assisting services coordinators in collecting training data of all staff and making sure staff have completed all mandatory training, update personnel files, compiling new personnel files, completing paperwork for staff terminating their employment.  My day can consist of doing just about everything listed as well as much more.  Our office is a busy office and it is hard to say what I may do from minute to minute.  I work had and try my best to do my best everyday. I learned about mental illnesses and have a greater respect for people with these problems.  I have learned to be ready for just about anything and everything.  The hardest part of the job is not having enough time in the day to get everything done.  I have good co-workers.  We try to enjoy our day while doing our jobs and making it a fun place to work.

When I first was hired, I thought it was a great environment and that this company actually cared about me. I was VERY wrong. I was pushed into doing several jobs I was not comfortable with. I had explained that to my SC and they would constantly get moody if I did not do what they asked. The job itself? I didn’t mind the clients. My SC was basically MIA the last few months before I quit. This led for everything to go downhill. My coworkers and I were left to figure it out ourselves. The communication here is TERRIBLE. I mean that from the Mount Pleasant and Burlington offices. The main reason I quit was due to lack of support and the pay is trash for what you are doing. Even when you bust your butt to cover everyone else’s shifts, you still don’t get praised for it. I was talked into not working towards my career from my SC, several times. It’s also unfortunate that there were a few instances where my SC should have taken things a bit more seriously. Actually not just my SC, but everyone above them as well. I had one coworker I could actually trust, but the rest of them, if you told them anything, they will run and spread it like wildfire. It also didn’t help that my SC and team lead were best friends and were in a “clique” together. I also had found out that my SC and team lead would talk behind my back. I will never ever come back to this place and if your reading this, RUN! 

A typical work day involves contact with multiple clients. You will have more success if you are well organized and self motivated. Supervisors do not have time to hold your hand and give you specific instruction throughout the day. In this type of job it is important to remember that if you are absent with no notice it causes a lot of problems. The work you do can't just wait until you get back. The clients need services everyday so, if you don't show up someone has to do your work for you. It can be very difficult to have a work life balance. This is NOT because the management doesn't care or is incompetent. It is because companies of this type tend to struggle with staffing. Optimae has a very clear process for scheduling and requesting time off. As long as you are able to organize and plan ahead you should be able to get the time off you need. One of the best things about Optimae is that they appreciate a good Direct Support Staff. If you are dependable when scheduled, communicate with your supervisor and demonstrate that you are actively working with the clients, your supervisor will love you. You will be able to ask for what you need and feel appreciated.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Direct support professional 97 salaries reported	$15.72 per hour
Mental health technician 34 salaries reported	$15.09 per hour
Mental health therapist 14 salaries reported	$66,607 per year
Coach 12 salaries reported	$16.29 per hour
Team leader 11 salaries reported	$17.80 per hour

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