registered nurse

support specialist

licensed practical nurse

mental health technician

behavior technician

RI International

This company is very people friendly and oriented and very interested in the individual succeeding in their job.  They also celebrate change and honor individuals who have gone above and beyond in working with individuals who are severely challenged by their own personal mental health challenges and yet completed a very difficult goal, became employed, etc.  A day in the work of a course facilitator for recovery classes requires that the course facilitator is fully prepared and that the individual uses "recovery language" ; requires that the facilitator engage class participants in the class subject matter, which generally encourages others to also participate.  Each class is two hours in length, with one or two `10-15 minute" break.  A facilitator must write a note on each participant at the end of the class. The note should reflect "progress that is specific to the individual for whom the note is written.  All group notes are due within 24 hours of the class.

A day at work for a recovery coach who is working individually with people can be quite variable, depending on the goal that the participant is working on.  Recovery Coach could also be taking the individual to a clinic or a wellness city that is having an event or classes that may be of interest to the participant and may help them to complete their goal sooner, progress forward to a better happier life is totally dependent on the individual, however, the coach can make a real difference by helping the individual to validate their own personal strengths, by using open ended questions that can help the individual better remember those times when he/she did feel good and knew why.  Such experiences promote hope and encouragement and demonstrate to the participant that they have value and can work, can be a contributor to society.  The mission statement of this company says it well: "To create opportunities and environments that empower people to recover, to succeed in accomplishing their goals, and to reconnect to themselves and others, and the meaning and purpose in life".  

The most difficult part of this work is writing the group notes or the individual progress notes as written by the recovery coach.  These notes are due to administration within 24 hours of the time the class ended.  For individual notes, this should be within 24 hours of the individual meeting ended.

The most enjoyable part of the job occurs when as an employee I am able to witness change that occurs in the individual and when  they are able to demonstrate how much they love life and it shows in their face, their way of communicating, the way they carry themselves, they look tall and they make visual eye contact and they share what they are doing to enjoy life and help others, These are incredibly enjoyable moments.  

I have had the opportunity to learn and grow in multiple skill areas. My position includes administrative tasks and providing behavioral health services. I feel well supported by leadership and my teammates. During the couple years I’ve worked for RI, I’ve had my ups and downs, so has RI. I’ve received consistent and satisfactory raises when compared to where I began and my starting experience. The pay, of course, could be better. I’ve always felt an equal balance. I give a lot to my job and RI gives back. They recently paid us nationwide “hazard pay” when most “similar” organizations weren’t doing anything, at all, to give back to their front liners. Sometimes it’s not as directly as that, or as people my want but RI has given me an environment to grow, learn, and become what I didn’t think I could be, never would be. I’m a better Peer and a better person. 
I’m aware this sounds like a paid advertisement. Whole heartedly, I came to RI for Peer Support credentialing, I waited months for a job here and snagged it fast. I’ve been here ever since and don’t plan on leaving. 
Yes, there are rough patches. That’s where you grow most; reach out for support/leadership, learn from it. It might be a challenge with a member, maybe a co-worker. If the jobs not difficult sometimes, your not learning anything. 

With that said: there is a secret about RI I’ll share. It’s all about the leadership baby! Much like anywhere else, a lot of our leaders are really incredible, consistently supportive mentors. Leaders who know your job because they did your job and are open to a learning curve. 
From what I hear, not all members of leadership are what I’ve described.
I’ve personally only experienced the former during my time.
I would encourage you to professionally interview your interviewer. Have 2-3 questions prepared that speak to what matters to you in a work environment. 


I very much enjoyed this job out of all of the jobs I've ever had over the years and could honestly say everyday at the end of my shift that..." I LOVE MY JOB! " My coworkers were helpful and an excellent staff to work with as well as an excellent management team. The hardest part of my job was working with individuals on a one on one basis who continued to destroy their own lives with substance/alcohol abuse and had no desire to "Recover" or seemed to be hopeless...However...the most rewarding part of my job was to know that I made some sort of a difference in someones life in a positive way that gave them hope and a more positive outlook on their own lives.

However...in the long run...I as well as many fellow coworkers saw Recovery Innovations as "Enablers" more than "Recovery Oriented"

Management as well as Human Resources was fully aware that participants in our Housing programs (Funded by HUD Housing) not only continued to "use" illegal drugs daily...but management and Human Resources were all fully aware that participants were also selling illegal drugs to other participants and individuals...but continued to pay for their housing with HUD Housing funding and seemed to be ok with this.

Overall....I give Recovery Innovations an "F" for continuing to have the knowledge that their participants in their Housing Division (again...funded by HUD Housing Dollars) not only "use" illegal drugs in their homes but the company seems to be ok with the fact that known illegal drug dealers are selling illegal drugs under the homes that HUD Dollars pay for...

In my opinion....Recovery Innovations is an unethical and illegal business using HUD Housing Dollars to fund illegal drug dealers...

Recovery Innovations is ANYTHING BUT Recovery Oriented...

Working for a non profit mental health corp is stressful, no matter what role you play from admin to clinician, doctor, nurse, peer, or support staff. NO ONE who works in MH, in any aspect is here for the money. We are here to be part of a solution, not a problem. I see lots of bad reviews and my take is this, if you are miserable, move on. RI is a great place to work if you want to make it a great place to work. I have had so many opportunities to grow and learn here and even on the hard days, I feel blessed to be part of the RI Family.  I have opportunities to have a voice and tell leadership my ideas on change and improvement, things that I see that work and do not work, and be part of a solution for a better more inclusive workplace. I would rather do that, or even try to do that, rather then to be part of the problem and complain in misery. Have I seen some unhealthy leadership and practices? YES. Have I seen some great leadership and growth? YES. I choose to advocate for myself and my work environment and it has gotten me far. I have made many friends and connections within the company and my community and remain involved to create a positive work environment.  Again, if you are looking for work of any kind within mental health, you most likely are driven by more then money so don't let that be your deciding factor.  At the end of the day, the stress and the hard work pay off knowing that you are part of helping others, or helping others to help others. RI is working hard to create a safe space for diversity and inclusion and I appreciate the efforts made. Take the good and the bad, and be part of the positive because life is too short to be unhappy.

I would clock in on PC p have our morning meeting then have to make sure our calendar in filled out for the day to meet their quota. I would do zoom meeting with our members and make phone calls this is after we were re staffed due to the first staff quiting and it was hard getting members appointments due to the huge turn over and not enough qualified employees to do assessments. Too much micro management so it felt like they where on your back 24 /7 also the walls are so thin you can hear everything throughout the building. I worked there in September of 2022 and had a whole staff quit except myself and one other employee we where in a empty building just doing trainings on the PC. No management for a few months They play favorites and if you contact Corporate in confidence they set up a meeting with that individual and HR. I have a medical condition and was told to go get checked out by my doctors which put me on medical leave and a few weeks out of work no pay I get a call from HR telling me I will not be able to return to work and asked me to resign I refused as I have no income They let me go the following few weeks I filed for unemployment which is still pending on a active issue as RI is coming against it it has been 5 weeks filing no funds yet I reached out to many resources and only got ight assistance waiting for unemployment to be able to pay rent so no I will not consider myself or anyone to work there.

RI International is not a good company to work for, they do not care about their employees. They guilt trip you into thinking that they care when really they don’t. As a peer support specialist your main focus should be peers, not your employers wants and needs. They make their peer support specialist work more like social workers than a certified peer support specialist, definitely would not recommend anybody working for this company. When you need a time to learn new things no one has a time, every week you’re supposed to have a weekly supervision and your team lead does not have the time to and will not call, text, email you back so they leave you hanging. They will have you drive over 200 miles just to go see an individual even though the individual might not be home. They repeatedly disregard HIPPA guidelines  and do not mind giving your address out to whoever without your permission. Most of the time I had to go out and get office supplies because I was not provided with it. They expect you to work overtime without getting overtime. Not very good management, and not a very good employer to work for. If you’re just starting out as a peer support specialist I highly would not recommend this company. They give you a caseload that’s about 80 to 100 members if not more and expect you to have everybody’s information done, when in reality you should only have a few individuals to focus on. Overall to sum up my review I would not recommend anybody working for this company unless you want to fill used and abandoned. 24/7. I gained more stress than anything working here. 

I worked at RI International for approximately 8 months and was terminated for a minor offense without notice. I was called into a meeting under the pretense of supervision only to have the rug pulled out from under my feet. My experience at RI was disturbing as I seemed to bump heads with the RSA who did not understand how to ultilize her staff properly, especially  those who were equally talented, and educated. 

I thought it very sad that I was released from my position there after I turned down positions with other companies that would pay me more, to finish launching a pilot program that would help the citizens gain self-sufficiency. 

I thought I would recieve a raise after sucessfully building their program from scratch with little supervision from my RSA, after pouring in months of painstaking hours establishing vendor and stakeholder contacts, developing employment and barrier resolution curriculum's,  and placing hard to place clients into gainful employment, I was deceived and terminated mercilessly.  I go away from this expereince with the confirmed belief that AT will organizations are the worst organizations to work for and I would not recommend it. I would now stay far away from it and treat it like the plague, if you have any choice in the matter.

It is sad because the move was not well thought out and as a result there are clients who are suffering. HR and management did not take into account the people they were supposed to be serving, and I guess this is what happens when insecurity starts to win out over common sense and fairness.

My first job as a peer 7 years ago. I loved the peer empowerment and felt very supported by my team. At times you may have agitated guest due to drugs, mental health, or simply some one having a bad day. Each employee is trained with de-escalation techniques and therapeutic hands on options so its important t hire qualified employees and train them correctly so that no one is hurt. Since the change of owners RI has become more medical based and ran vs peer and mission based. There has been a decline in quality services for we are rushed to get clients in and out of the facility and often guest leave going back to the streets or there domestic abusive partner. I used to feel like i was making a difference getting resources to the guest but now typically we have sometimes one day to work with a guest  which makes it hard to get to know the guest, develop a rapport, and make sure they have the resources, connections, they need to be successful from recurring crisis . Because of this we have started to see a  pattern of same guest re-entering crisis services. Staff have started to leave making the teams scarecrow crews which means danger for employees and guest.

I have worked as a Recovery Innovations employee for many years.  I have to say, I've never run into crooked or shady dealings.  From my personal experience, there are some great highlights of what Recovery Innovations offers:

*Clear indications of what is expected from employees

*Clear boundaries and ethics to protect both employees and persons being served

*Respectful and above-board with employee time (ie, non-exempt employees are not allowed to volunteer time off the clock, period)

*A process for dealing with employees' work challenges that is based on strengths and solutions instead of penalties and retribution

*Open-door policies in administrative and supervisory staff that encourage open communication

*Strong policies against harassment and gossip

The medical and dental benefits aren't the best I've ever seen, but the company pays the majority of the costs and also puts cash in Health Savings Accounts for employees each month.  

Social Services work, as a norm, is stressful.  Providing direct services can be mentally and emotionally draining.  It is not for everyone, and that's OK.  But from what I've experienced, Recovery Innovations has good policies in place that help minimize stress and encourage a healthy work environment.

This company employs alot of good people but in many cases, they're not the ones who are heard or promoted or fairly compensated. There is so much unfairness and inequity in this agency, especially the support departments. The leaders are often bullies or at a minimum they look the other way and they promote and favor those who also bully and refuse to collaborate. There is very little accountability and people are not treated fairly. Some of the worst offenders are the ones that are supposed to be ensuring fairness and equity, such as Human Resources and Quality & Compliance. Not everyone in the departments is this way but the people leading the teams are the worst offenders. It's time to take a closer look at the leaders of those teams. If you did, you would quickly recognize where and what the issues are if you opened your eyes. The departments blame and point fingers rather than support or collaborate with the staff and teams in the field. The solid staff on those teams are held back and cut out by the unethical so called "leaders". If you want to see change in the agency, start with your leaders first and actually pay attention to what's going on and on who is actually trying to do the right thing. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 7 salaries reported	$38.29 per hour
Support specialist 27 salaries reported	$16.34 per hour
Licensed practical nurse 2 salaries reported	$27.25 per hour
Mental health technician 1 salary reported	$33.00 per hour
Behavior technician 1 salary reported	$19.00 per hour

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