counselor

registered nurse

mental health technician

intake counselor

housekeeper

Roxbury Treatment Center

I was fully trained as a MHT and a Counselor Aide.  I worked here for 3 years.  I had an experience that would be considered good for an entry level position--I made friendships with coworkers that will last a lifetime, and I was treated well by most of the upper management and most of the administration.  I can't say that about most of the places I have worked at, so I am very grateful for the professionalism that they used in their interactions with me.

The main drawback of this facility (in my opinion) is that they are flooded with people that are at the Bachelors level, with amazing experience, that are sitting on the floor as an MHT, yet MHT is not a Bachelors level job, no matter how much they want to portray it as such.  The staffing there is so ridiculously short (at dangerous levels) that an MHT has no time to counsel or spend time with a patient until a crisis situation presents and there's no other option.  As it is right now, an MHT hands out crackers and towels, and does rounds.  That doesn't require a Bachelors degree--a child in middle school could do that job.  If they were staffed and paid properly, people with lesser education and experience could be handing out crackers and towels and doing rounds, and people with experience could be proactive and work with the patients, which would deflect most of these emergency situations that arise from patients not being heard and/or attended to.  As it is, I applied for many better promotions while I was there, to include Intake, Counselor, Case Manager, and HR.  When I applied for HR, I was told that they were looking for people with "really focused HR experience".  In fact, I had 3 years of "focused" HR experience before I walked in the door, and 1 year that I gained while I was working at another facility and still PRN there.  However, those skills and abilities get overlooked and neglected when they use you up at the entry level.  As a side note, they're still looking for a person to fill the HR position 6 months later.  Maybe they would have the opportunity to really connect with their employees if they would give someone who worked on the floor a chance, but they lack the vision to do so.  There are many, many employees that are there right now, sitting in that boat.  I am fearful for their futures.

I believe that this place could have unlimited potential if they learned how to allocate resources properly.  The MHTs and the Counselor Aides are the backbone of the facility.  It "requires a Bachelors", yet when I started in 2016 they were paying 12.50 an hour.  I "ended up" at 13.10 an hour after three years of working here.  Now they are starting MHTs at 11.00 an hour.  I'm not sure what their justification is for paying 1.50 less an hour than they were, given the large workload and safety risks, but I'm sure that this isn't helping them to retain staff.  They need to put money into retaining their trained staff, and into the patients.

Each day at Roxbury was a different experience. Though we had the same routine, we always had new admissions, discharges, and new obstacles to overcome. You were never quite sure what you were walking into each shift. Interestingly enough, I enjoyed this about the job. Each day I would be assigned a group(rarely the same group each day). The group consisted of anywhere from 8-14 patients. I would direct them on where to be, and when. For instance, when it was close to breakfast, i'd wake them up, remind them of the med times, and accompany them down to breakfast. I would be there throughout the day to remind them of groups, cigarette breaks, meetings, phone times, Dr. Visits, and to answer any questions they had. I had mandatory 15 minute checks, with a check sheet for each patient. I performed room searches, luggage searches, and body searches. I would assist in group therapy, and I would lead groups. I was able to learn so much about the struggles other individuals endure, and how to help them cope. I grew so much as a person, and a mentor. Everyday, I felt so rewarded to know that I made a difference. That was by far, the most enjoyable part, along with interacting with the patients. The hardest part of my job, was when we had combative patients, for any reason, and we had to go hands on, or mechanical restraints. It was very physically exhausting, but most importantly, very difficult to use your "power" over someone else. I always attemted verbal de-escalation until there was no option left. I had great co-workers, and we all came together wonderfuly with team work. There were a lot of positive encouragement everyday. OveralL, I had a wonderful experience.

Long hours, of which you’re usually coerced, or deceived into doing, and low pay for the workload that you’re given. 
Zero succor from management (you’re lucky to see management period; even in an imperative situation with the health of a patient, or the safety of the staff), and the center will be left understaffed and hazardous, regardless of the occupancy or acuteness level of the milieu, before any of management will step in and help you, leaving working on any unit, to be at anytime dangerous. 
The “pros” of the job, would simply be making a difference in the patients lives, and helping them throughout their stay and making them know someone cares about them. This position really requires nothing more than being truly empathic (which I was told in orientation by the CEO, that she looked for empathy as the main strength in a person before hiring someone to work there - to which I’m pretty sure not everyone knows the definition of words they use), and patience. And of course the mental capacity to work in an atmosphere that isn’t always the most pleasant, but does have moments where you can’t help but smile. The patients at Roxbury are the true Pros or working here. As long as you have a big heart, the ability to often hold your tongue, and the ability to detach yourself from your work, you’ll do just fine.

The people who work at the company are phenomenal. I have never worked for a company that made me feel like I was as much a part of the family as Roxbury did. This job has an extremely high turnover rate and it truly does take a special person to excel in this position. An acute care facility such as this one most certainly has quite a hectic pace of work and it is not rare to feel as though you might lose your cool multiple times during a normal workday. Being able to control your emotions is a skill that improves extremely rapidly by holding this job- because it has to. The management takes a lot of criticism from lower-level staff but in reality they are doing everything they can. The people who hold management positions are truly good, hard-working people who care about their staff and the patients. There are certainly frustrating aspects of this job which stem from much higher up than management level. 
Overall, holding this job for almost 2 years has helped me grow astronomically. It has helped me grow in terms of my knowledge of psychology, mental health, verbal de-escalation, preventative interventions and the importance of connecting with each patient. The area in which I feel the most growth is in my personal belief in my ability to handle any situation, my communication skills (not only with patients, but with my team I work with each day), my insight abilities, my confidence in my potential, and my leadership skills.

If you want to work somewhere where you're full time but full time doesn't mean 40 hours a week like everywhere else, but instead downsizing cuts to 35 hours or less then come work "full time" at Roxbury, they're always hiring.

If you want to work somewhere where you have to lock your cell phones into cubbyholes like you're in grade school and can only check them out at lunch time, then Roxbury would be a great place for you.

If you want to work somewhere where the CEO and other managers avoid coming into the programs and it's an ongoing joke among the employees, then come work for Roxbury and you can laugh about it too.

If you want to work somewhere where you handwrite in paper charts because the company is too cheap to buy an EHR and type into a green screen program for intake literally from the 1980's, then get your 80's hairdo on and get to Roxbury ASAP.

But seriously, if all that isn't enough, if you want to work somewhere where you're chronically understaffed with very ill patients with no security, and where the quality of your work and the services to the patients will rarely be looked at but daily census and revenue will be looked at constantly, then Roxbury can be your work home for life.

Think twice, three, even four times before you decide to work for Roxbury. Sure, HR will paint the happy family picture in the interview, but don't be fooled. And definitely don't say you weren't warned...

I worked on the substance abuse unit. The other employees there for the most part are great people, and make it easier to deal with when patients may act out. Each day, I monitored patients by doing checks every 30 minutes. I had to document patient location and behavior. I also had to make sure patients got to their groups and counselor appointments on time. On top of that, I had to manage hygiene times, meal times, smoke breaks, as this unit allows smoking. I also had to take attendance at each meal time. Each staff member was provided with a walkie-talkie, though nobody used them. As aforementioned, most of the people here are great, but trying to get higher-up people to implement changes needed on the unit can be difficult. Since they don't interact with patients daily, they don't understand their concerns. This usually ends with nothing being done and more unhappy patients, which leads to unhappy staff. That being said, the best part of the job is getting to know the patients. The hardest part of the job was being understaffed, and having to complete all of the tasks above and then some by myself. Also the lunch isn't free and it's basically prison food.

What is the best part of working at the company?
You get to help people. A lot of the staff care about people's health and improving people's lives. The staff is generally friendly and cooperative. Pay is well, and there are opportunities for overtime.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Poor administration, the place is not well run. You will be overworked, and some staff don't treat the patients well and don't know how to work with this community. It is high stress with minimal resources and staffing.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
everyone is stressed out high pressure, you feel like you've left a war zone when you go home.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
clock in, have morning meeting, run group, try and find time to have individual sessions (which often doesn't happen because you're stuck making calls to place people in different facilities) run another group then go home

What is the best part of working at the company?
Experience, benefits, helping others

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Low pay, overworked, understaffed, unethical patient to staff ratio, management disconnected from patient care, needs more resources and options for treatment, staff mistreated and used 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Great connecting with patients. Some are tough nuts but overall cool to meet them. Can be hectic for better or worse. Lots of laughs, tears, and fights. Many personalities mingling. Some not there for help, some are very dedicated to bettering themselves. Nurses are very rude even to hardworking coworkers. Management is no where to be seen, but were friendly to me 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Fast paced, demanding, sometimes uplifting, emotionally taxing, but does feel like you have accomplished something. It's not for the weak of mind or heart no matter who you think you are.

A typical day of work consists of running multiple therapeutic groups with patients, which can be extremely enjoyable dependent on the group you have, then paperwork needs to be done including daily notes, incident reports, psychiatric notes, 15 minute checks. Do not expect any help from management, in any aspect of your job. Whether it is needing help with a restraint of a patient or covering breaks, management does not want to be bothered and they thoroughly remind their workers of that. However, the group of coworkers there are incredible, everyone pulls together and helps each other when they can, you become a small family. The hardest part of the job is the environment that you can be in some days, if you are not mentally prepared for 7-8 restraints a day, this job is not for you. But, the best part of this job is seeing individuals come in who truly want and need help and watching them leave a new, healthier and happier individual.

What the "Counselor" ads don't tell you is that you'll do a lot more case management than counseling. Especially: finding homes for homeless addicts, persuading sometimes demanding clients to go where you can find a bed for them, persuading insurance companies to pay for more time in treatment while you look for other places for them to go before their time runs out, and often enough finding money for patients willing to go to a recovery house. Run two groups daily, daily staff meetings, weekly individual sessions and 50+ file notes weekly. Highly stressful, ever-increasing expectations, verbal abuse from patients (potential for physical abuse). Responsibilities from other departments increasingly became Counselor responsibilities. Some managers recognized problems and tried to stop it but they were outnumbered by other managers. Quitting was the smartest decision I ever made. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Counselor 2 salaries reported	$23.07 per hour
Registered nurse 13 salaries reported	$60.00 per hour
Mental health technician 3 salaries reported	$16.08 per hour
Intake counselor 10 salaries reported	$21.00 per hour
Housekeeper 1 salary reported	$2,194 per month

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