therapist

special education teacher

wraparound facilitator

program director

treatment manager

Pressley Ridge

I have seen some poor reviews of Pressley Ridge but in my experience this is an excellent place to work. I worked at the Pressley Ridge White Oak site in Parkersburg West Virginia and it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I held the position of Teacher/Counselor which is an entry level position working with a group of troubled teens. I was able to help several troubled teens through their problems and I feel that I made a huge impact in many of their lives. One of the things I loved about White Oak is positive environment. I felt appreciated as a staff and taken care of when I needed help. This position was difficult at times and it helped to have a supportive group of people helping me out when times got tough.

They offer a couple of different options to work as a Teacher/Counselor. One is a Residential Teacher/Counselor which is a live in position. An example of that schedule is as follows: First Day 7am-11pm/Sleep at facility, Second day 7am-11pm/Sleep at facility, Third day 7am-3pm then done for the week. I liked this schedule the best because it allowed me to have a personal life and complete graduate school. They also have a shift work Teacher/Counselor position which was usually five 8 hour days throughout the week. Most of these shifts were from 3pm-11pm in the evening. The facility is open 7 days a week so a staff member may work weekdays or weekends depending on the need of the program.

My favorite part of this program was the camping trips that the staff would take the kids on. We got to take kids on canoeing trips, bike riding trips and trips to the beach. It was nice to see these troubled teens out in society trying out their newly learned skills. If you like camping then you will love this part of the job.

This job has a good starting pay, great benefits (Medical, dental, vision) with a couple of different options to choose from and offers education reimbursement up to $1500 a year. The education benefits and flexible schedule allowed me to earn a Masters degree in counseling as I worked full time. This position was a great stepping stone in my life and helped me grow in many ways. I would not be the counselor I am today if it was not for this position.

Honestly I am wondering after seeing at least a dozen people leave this Job in my short tenure is there not more warning reviews? 
Do not get sucked into this Job because of the pay! This is by far the worse place that I have ever worked and the most illogical in it's approach. 
PR in Ona is ran by 2 burned out Fascist females who do not care about employees whatsoever. I was a so called Teacher Counselor and let me tell you that there's no Teaching or Counseling as it's totally a Direct care position with troubled sometimes violent Juvenile boys and girls. At PR to you are made to follow a daily schedule to the letter. There is no employee support the longest coworker that I had in the T/C position was a mere 9 months because of huge turnover. Most of the supervisors are drug users- You have to work 16 hour shifts with no-breaks or lunches under total observation by cameras and other staff- You have to ask permission to use the bathroom-You have to eat the terrible food they give to the kids with the kids or starve- You are subject to constant scrutiny and abuse by the supervisors. You have no support- You are subject to DHHR investigation when a kid makes a false claim about you and believe me they will because it's the only way they can retaliate against you. You never know what the expectations are. I could go on and on. They have two units Level 2 and level 3- They have 2 houses with the boys in one and the girls in the other and pray you do not get put with the girls because you will be in the unemployment line within a week. The wage is 12 and they take 2 of it for insurance-Even if you have a Dr. excuse when you miss it's an occurrence and will be held against you.-I have brainstormed and tried to think of anything good about this place and I can't because it surely was the worst place I have ever worked. I was lied to and manipulated by their HR staff into taking this position working with boys because I have a decade of experience and Graduate level college credentials. Afterwards I was made to work in the girls units because the turnover rate there is 100% after working over there twice I resigned because there is no support and your own freedom is at stake because any story is believed and there was no way I was going to allow it to make it to that level after seeing so many good people fired for nothing. Run from this place "RUN"---

Pressley Ridge is a therapeutic foster care agency.  I worked with children who had been removed from their home due to abuse and neglect.  I trained foster parents on how to deal with behaviors of the individual clients.  I prepared and developed treatment plans as well as Behavioral Modification plans and assessments on my caseload.  I would do weekly visits with each client in their foster homes and would conduct supervised visits with their natural families.  Each year we would take all the foster children to camp and supervise and because PR was so family oriented, I was permitted to take my biological children and my husband as well.  I would advocate for my clients in court proceedings as well as hold monthly meetings with the treatment team.   I would also supervise clients while in school setting.  I was supervisor over the residential group home where we housed offenders.  I was supervisor over 8 employees.  Was working salary and would work about 60 hours per week.  I was on call one weekend out of the month.  The most enjoyable part of my job was seeing families come together, and being able to involve my family in the activities.  I also enjoyed all my co-workers and the management staff.  It was a wonderful experience for me.  The hardest part of the job was just dealing with children who wanted to be with their biological families but the parents could not get themselves to abide by the courts to reunite them.

Pressley Ridge has a ton of turn over, and this leads to poor outcomes for kids and families.  Yes, I have been asked to falsify reports.  Yes I have been asked to hide files from inspection.  Yes I have seen staff just not work but bill for work.  I was shocked at what I saw there.  Worst of all it bad for your career!  It is not a stepping stone.  Employers know their quality of staff.  Those who stay at Pressley Ridge become angry, and they barely do their job and treat their coworkers badly.  The horizontal violence at this place is unreal.  There treatment site uses unqualified folks and they are very, extremely hard on the kids.  If you work at Pressley Ridge you will suffer if you care about your profession, your clients, and yourself.  You will get depressed, overweight, or take your pick.  There is horrible supervision, and since all that matters is billable time, forget about wanting to be a better therapist.  As a worker, salary is low for a masters in social work, benefits really do not help much, you lose vacation or are forced to take it, cannot cash it in, and the dental and eye just does not help.  There is no respect even from case managers at other agencies because of the Pressley Ridge reputation.  Anyone who gets a job at Pressley Ridge is just waiting for a sad awakening.  Truly.  You will throw away years of your life just to try to do what you thought you would be doing.

This job can be quite rewarding if you are willing to put in the mental and emotional support to do. The kids can be quite disrespectful and that is jarring at first glance, but if someone were to take the initiative to get to know the kids and work with them through the things that cause them to act out in a negative manner, you really do feel like you are enriching and leading them on a better path.

I would not recommend working here if you don't have a fair deal of patience and understanding, as the kids can be disrespectful and prone to acting out against authority if rules are demanded without the appropriate level of rapport being built.

A major con is the lack of good communication among upper staff to lower: rules often shift or change almost daily leading to confusion among staff that is often hard to break.

Overall, make sure you are the right person to do this position: such as being kind and empathetic to the kids' emotions while being mentally strong enough to endure a fair deal of emotional strain and be strict whenever necessary.

These people are just plain strange. It's all about making the workers feel good about their cushy jobs at the operations center and yet the front line staff don't even get breaks to go to the bathroom. They brag about accepting the toughest kids in their programs but then virtually provide no training on very severe cases of mental illness. They abuse the kids, have many law suits in the works against them, and only the folks from west virginia who have been with the company from their wilderness camp days get to move up. And when they do move up, they have no sense of how to make a business work. It takes years to make a decision about anything there. As one perk, you get a lot of "freebies" like mugs, jackets, tote bags, t-shirts, etc..... the sad thing is, though, the kids get nothing unless the staff donate things to them. They finally brought some expert in last year who knew about autism and really turned things around. But, then this year, they booted her out because the good old boys didn't like her because she made them do their jobs. She was the only one that knew a thing about the kids and how to build a school and made the staff work with the kids the right way. About the only thing I would recommend is their icecream event -- free icecream! Glad I'm gone!

Great place to work!  It is challenging to keep families engaged in services and the kids really need us so our work is very important.  Job is rewarding when you know that you're making a difference in a child's life to improve the quality of services they receive.  Anyone working in this industry is really dedicated to the work, long hours, making your own schedule with clients, and ensuring that their needs are being met.  Expect disappointments and cancelled appointments, you really have to be on your game with organizational skills and scheduling.  Should have a tough skin in dealing with difficult situations don't take it personally.  Strong compassion and empathy is a must to survive in this industry.  Lots of growth opportunities if you take advantage of them.  Lots of training available, the company thrives on providing the best resources and training to employees.  Lots of benefits, time off, and employee recognition.  

At Pressley Ridge the culture of helping troubled children flows through all of the employees. A typical day at work is never typical. There is always something new going on and my job responisbilities require me to wear a different "hat" each day. I have had the opportunity to work with children individually and in a group setting. I have attended court, MDT Meetings, scheduled and ran meetings within the company. I have trained direct care staff in various areas of their job. I have created treatment plans and maintained communication with all parties involved. I have worked with families and traveled to their homes. I have learned an incredible amount of skills through learning from others, being trained, and seeking knowledge from my coworkers. My coworkers are dedicated individuals that have assisted me in my job. Their culture of treating others like family is tremendous. The hardest part of my job is watching children that have potiential to change and grow, not use it. The most enjoyable part of my job is watching the children and families become united and assist each other with life's stressors.

The students push you to be creative with your lessons. Unfortunately, the school day can be pure chaos and you may never get to actually teach anything you plan. The pay is very little for the amount of paperwork required of you. Your 40 hour work week is consumed by trying to prevent or dealing with crisis. Any prep time you need for a class lesson is taken from your free time on the weekends or in the evenings. I would say I actually worked 60 hours a week. Management is not supportive and they have no sympathy for your personal life. If you need a day off, you can take it with no pay and you do get sick days. But there are no substitutes. So if you do get sick, you then inconvenience your teammates. If you get hurt because of something a student did to physically hurt you and you can't work, then you have to use your earned sick hours to recover. Basically, the paperwork is excessive and management constantly changes the way things are run so the students end up running the school and no one is on the same page.

Working as a family therapist, you work with a partner and make your own schedules to see your clients in their homes. This position allows you to schedule your personal appointments throughout the day along with your work appointments therefore there is no need to miss out on work. The hardest part of the job is there is a lot of paper work that needs to be done in a timely manner and if you get behind it can take up a lot of your day and night to get caught up so it is important to stay on track with your paper work and daily notes. This is a fast paced environment and you have to be able to learn at a fast pace and keep up with the constant changes and able to adapted quickly to these changes. What I enjoyed most about the position was the fact that I could make my own schedule without having to ask for certain days off as long as I saw all my clients within the week I was able to take what ever day off that I needed without having to ask permission unless it was more then two days off. Co-workers were nice but you don't get to see each other much because your on your appointments all day and week.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Therapist 3 salaries reported	$42,000 per year
Special education teacher 4 salaries reported	$43,000 per year
Wraparound facilitator 2 salaries reported	$44,146 per year
Program director 1 salary reported	$53,500 per year
Treatment manager 1 salary reported	$200 per day

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