outpatient therapist

family support counselor

administrative assistant

mentor

behavioral therapist

Pennsylvania-Counseling-Services

PCS culture is run with cultlike rigidity. At orientation, you will be love-bombed -- told how special you are to be there, that PCS is like no other employer because they *care* about you and are just one big *family.* If you pay attention, the first red flags will appear at this time, but you will probably ignore them for the positive message set forth. 

Once orientation is over and reality kicks in, your cadre of managers will fail to train you if they even bother trying. You are thrown into a very cutthroat environment with no life raft. On that note, if you ask for more (or any) training, and explain what works best for you, be ready for passive-aggressive commentary. Any requests for help may or may not be answered within the next two weeks. 

Managers are hypercritical and controlling from the start. The work culture goes beyond "micromanagement." It is personal and intrusive. They will demand to know everything you're thinking under the guise of being "caring," yet whatever you tell them is negatively misconstrued against you and your boundaries disregarded, all while glibly promoting "self-care" with the gusto of a high school pep rally. 

While they claim to love hearing from all employees, if you dare to suggest an improvement or question the logic of their outdated processes, they will tear you down by pathologizing you, questioning your competence, and accusing you of lacking integrity.

​The intolerant attitude extends to clients. Those with even a distant history of substance abuse are treated as eternal addicts and regarded with cynicism. Clients' comfort and need for stability is an afterthought as they bounce around from one therapist to another due to world-record turnover rates. 

Therapist are friendly and easy to work with and do act as a team.   

 Administrator is insecure and unsure of herself.  She is non supportive and only covers her own butt -- meaning she will throw you under the buss to save herself.  She will not go to bat for you at all.   The environment is not a team as they promote -- but rather everyman for himself.    the administrator is the issue in this situation and sets the tone.  

there is a small training period -- training is minimal at best.   after that when you make a mistake .....there is 0 tolerance and you get wrote up.    Administrator just got that job ---so she is learning herself and overwhelmed.   during training - she doesn't tell you items that you need to know ( and then acts as if she did) (or doesn't share info as a result of her power trip-) 

I have gone to college (on deans list) - so I am educated ---this is not supported in anyway by the administrator -- rather taken as a threat to her and her unsecurity.  

the company is super ridiculous about everything --they make rules up as they go along and then constantly change things.    an example would be if you get sick at work --its OFF THE CLOCK -- on your own time -- not theirs.   you do not get a lunch break ...except a 20 minute paid break.    I had gotten an emergency call from my sons school and was told that call would be my lunch.     No tolerance for having any kind of personal life.   

there is a constant turn over in employees due to the strict rules and un-cohesive environment.    They have an extreme mis-trust of employees.   Cameras everywhere (3 in a small office alone)  -- every move you make is watched and critiqued.   

They are looking for perfection and believe everyone is replaceable.   For a 10 dollar an hour they are unreasonable with their expectations -- which explains the constant turn over in employees.   

overall this rates as one of the WORST jobs I have ever had.   I do not recommend to anyone unless you are in desperate need.   

  

When I was hired on as a MT/BSC I was told that they couldn't start me until two months later. Should have ran then. But I was desperate to get into my field. 

After four interviews and two months of waiting.. I finally started. The training is not really that adequate and there's no examples. They lecture you, show you only some paperwork and throw you into the field. 

Specific offices will vary in culture, the one I was at was alright. The admin was wonderful. She really cared and tried to help everyone to the best of her abilities. Others in the have office didn't want me hired though because I would take incoming clients from them. They voiced their opinions and word got back to me. That made it a very awkward work environment. Also, the lack of a caseload was a pretty big deal since you are FFS..

Being FFS means that you only get paid a minimal base salary and then you have to work billable hours to make up the rest of your wages. Sounds doable, right? Well, only if they give you clients. I was there two months with only four clients. That means I was only getting, AT BEST, 12 billable hours a week. 28 of those hours I was being paid a measly 8 dollars an hour. There were TSS staff that had bigger paychecks than me, at a masters level employee. That's not right! The turnover for TSS is unbelievable because they are expected to do so much and get so little in return. It's prodominantly females in the work place so that can be a turn off due to cattiness or gossiping. 

If you are just out of college and need experience before you can land a better job, this may be okay. If you are trying to live on your own and start a career, run. 


Breakdown of pay..
Base salary: 16,664 ($320/week or $8 an hour)
FFS: $14 for every billable hour
PTO: $11
"Bonus": $10 for every hour over 25 billable hours

I have thought a lot about what I would say if I ever left this agency.  I worked for this company for almost a decade, in a few different positions. So I had the unique experience of being able to see how things were run in different programs. Let me tell you that the people I worked alongside, coworkers and direct supervisors, were some of the best people I know. I made friendships there that will last the rest of my life. As far as service goes, there are a lot of great direct service workers and office staff. These people are dedicated to the families they serve and are willing to make sacrifices to ensure the wellbeing of all involved. I have no issues there.
Where the story goes sour unfortunately is with the individuals who operate the company. The bottom line is that the employees are not supported. Period. At least not where it counts. Contracts, bottom lines and numbers have become more important than the people that work hard for them everyday. Concerns were brought up and dismissed frequently. Unfortunately with what I’ve seen, this is across the board. In my opinion, PCS has lost its way. The core values that are meant to be their foundation, are carried out and implemented by the employees that work for them when working with their families. They seem to be absent beyond that. Although I loved who I worked with, I could no longer support an agency that did not support me or my coworkers. I recently made the hard decision to leave and start a new career elsewhere. As it stands right now, I can not in good conscience recommend this agency as a good place to work. In my opinion, they need to take a long look at what’s really important, re-evaluate what they’re doing and make some sizable changes.

PA Counseling Services mission statement is "People are valuable, therefore, PCS exists to help children, adults, and families discover their greatness" which could not be farther from the truth.
I have never felt so undervalued or mistreated in my life. This company only cares about money and their own well being which is ironic for being in the mental health field. They do not value their employees or their clients. You are micromanaged and scrutinized for every move you make. They have a highly punitive system where they are constantly looking for reasons to come down on you, yet on the surface, try to portray that they are a supportive "team". You will be highly overworked and highly underpaid and undervalued. If you have any voice or autonomy, you will be targeted - you either buy in and are with them, or are against them. There is constant turnover and they do not seem to acknowledge their responsibility for this. Their noncompete is ridiculous and restrictive as they ask for 30% of your gross annual salary from the last year if you work in the field within a 30 mile radius of the facility in which you primarily work when the last thing they need is the more money for their expensive houses and luxurious vacations and Vegas trips. It's highly unethical practice. In addition to being unethical in that vein, they're unethical towards their clients and also their employees as they do not properly train you and then expect you to see all clients of all populations regardless of the extent of your training or competency or your personal comfort level with the client or case.

There are some positives, like when clients apply what you have been working on. 
However, there are many difficult aspects of this job such as: 
Ever changing schedule that includes split shifts and most evenings.
Families and caregivers that are not using the treatment plan to help themselves or their child.
Documentation and paperwork- very specific wording that has to be used
Start up pay- until you meet the billable average(for an entire quarter), you are on start up pay, and not eligible for any bonuses or raises (including the COVID bonus).
Billable hours are hard to come by- frequent cancellations make attaining the billable average difficult.
Mileage is reimbursed only if you are going between client appointments or between appointments and the office. 
Long wait times- clients have been on a long wait list, and during that wait time, problems they are facing have exacerbated. 
Disorganization- often times when a problems arises those in charge are not sure of the process to solve it. Solutions are long and drawn out and can take weeks to resolve. 


I've been working as a family-based therapist with the company for several years now and have seen a lot of things with the company. While no company is perfect and there have been many times where similar frustrations were repeatedly expressed from employees about things such as benefits/compensation for work being done or the work/life balance, I have been able to observe PCS's desire to meet their employees needs...it just takes time and commitment on both ends. I have had a lot of success in speaking directly with my own bosses in my department and have felt genuinely heard when there were concerns I needed to bring to the table. 
I would say that the biggest challenge is personally knowing what kind of balance you need in your own life versus the demands of the job. Family-based is a very fast paced job with some intense difficulties to work through with families but it is very rewarding work. There is a lot of flexibility within the job as far as scheduling goes which can be wonderful for some people or far to stressful for others. Again, that's where I think it's important to know yourself and what kind of balance you need. 

As a therapist you get lots of flexibility in scheduling, it's very easy to come and go as you please and make your own schedule. You can work as much or little as you want, so long you see a minimum number of clients each week. This is great on flexibility, but challenging because pay is baseline VERY low. You also don't get paid if a client doesn't show, so this can lead to overscheduling. When you hit the right balance the flexibility is great, but it leaves therapists subject to their client's show rates. That, and the pay is rough. 
Upper management is not receptive to feedback and there's a very conservative attitude that permeates all of the company's decision making. It's 2023 and they only just now put diversity on their company values? HR is very manipulative in their hiring tactics, which makes it tough to recommend to people looking for a job here. Support is limited. If you come in and know what you're doing and only need a limited amount of clinical support, you might be okay - but if you're a newer provider, you're probably going to struggle. Lack of support is an ongoing issue that contributes to staff turnover.
Higher pay, transparency from upper management and HR, better training/support and changing their hiring practices would do this company a world of good. 

A typical day at PA Counseling is structured yet flexible, with a strong emphasis on client care and maintaining ethical, supportive practices. I’ve learned a great deal about working within behavioral health systems, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, and managing real-world challenges in the counseling field. Management is generally supportive and approachable, and the workplace culture values work-life balance, which is a major positive. The most enjoyable part of the job is the flexibility and the ability to maintain balance while still doing meaningful work. The hardest part for me has been the commute, which has become more challenging over time and impacts overall satisfaction. While the pay is lower compared to similar positions elsewhere, the benefits, perks, and balance help offset that to some degree.

So I barely made it working there a month and a half. I was given a three day training and left to be on my own. If I asked questions about a certain topic I was unsure about I was looked down upon because I was "expected" to know everything. Funny thing is that with a job like this where the expectation and the very delicate privacy policies, you would expect more on the job training. I started as a part time employee and within 3 days was promoted to full time because they felt I was picking up on things rather quickly. When I started to ask for clarification about certain things it was taken as me being unsure about my job. You aren't allowed to speak to your coworkers while on the job. If there are no calls coming in, the only thing you are allowed to do is listen to music on your phone. They do give you side work but the majority of the time I was done with it early so had nothing to do. You get a 20 min paid break. There are cameras everywhere. I felt like I was in High School again. And even in High School, I felt like the teachers had a little more confidence in me.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Outpatient therapist 100 salaries reported	$51,240 per year
Family support counselor 117 salaries reported	$54,308 per year
Administrative assistant 38 salaries reported	$15.77 per hour
Mentor 31 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour
Behavioral therapist 77 salaries reported	$55,156 per year

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