direct support professional

childcare provider

residential counselor

direct care worker

clinician

Seven Hills Foundation

What is the best part of working at the company?
Working with the kids in the school- especially on a day where there’s a school-wide activity 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Basically everything- responsibilities and expectations are inconsistent, you never actually know what your chain of command is because you’re told a different story every time.  Working in the residence is just intentionally signing you up for failure, and this company lies about career ladder opportunities. The paras hold the place together out of their love for the kids and wanting the best for them, but administration plays that to their advantage by guilting us to work through the constant state of burnout. There is 0 communication or consistency between admin and the school. The school onboards too many kids too quickly and doesn’t provide the proper staffing, meaning as a para you are overwhelmed from the start and unable to build good rapports with each kid the way we SHOULD be able to. Most teachers are in ratio on a daily basis, taking away from their own duties and furthering the burnout. This also hinders how much these kids can get done academically because our teachers are unavailable to go student to student to help them- let alone even get to know them. 

Don’t work here unless you can be JUST a school para, or a kitchen staff, or housekeeping/maintenence. The better you are at your job, the worse your job becomes and the more they pile onto your plate with less and less room for error 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
You tend to develop a nice relationship with your teachers and a handful of close coworkers. The kids you do develop good rapports with become part of that circle too. Apart form the small-scale social circle, the environment and culture is pretty stressful. Nobody works together because nobody CAN. It’s a constant cycle of being understaffed and out supervisors who are supposed to help are completely strung out trying to get to EVERY person throughout the day. It’s exhausting across the board for everyone who works directly with the students. Clinicians and anybody who works in administration are hands-off which makes it difficult to advocate for the clients needs when all they have to go off of is a piece of paper. I will say, clinicians have tried to show face more in recent months, and it’s not their fault- they’re stretched thin too- but the problem is still at hand where these kids don’t receive complete and thorough therapies 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Despite being hired as a school only staff, you will begin your day in the residence. You’re supposed to just be there to make sure the kids bags are packed, devices are charged, and take them to school, but shift responsibilities- especially on third are lacking severely, so you will go in and have to do everything from wake the kid up and shower, to breakfast and meds all before going to school- and typically showing up to school late because of it. The school day is hectic, teachers usually in ratio so they’re not around to give breaks or coordinate a class-wide schedule that we adhere strictly to, but they’ll somehow still try their hardest to help you when they can. Once you get to lunch you try to take a breather but you do not get a lunch BREAK- no no, you eat lunch with your client and sometimes that is simply an impossible task if your client doesn’t want to wait, becomes impatient, or destroys your food so you CANT eat. After lunch, you are trying to fill the end of the day up with activities, but aside from scheduled classes (art & gym) there are no other classes being run- sometimes the bowling alley works so we go there 1-5 times during the winter and then that’s it. By the end of the day you are wiped out, and if you’re paired with a residential kid, chances are you’ll be hanging around waiting for 2nd shift to come get them for wayyyy too long until you have to call your supervisor and ask for someone to come grab your kid.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The ability to make a difference and help clients with their daily activities and routines.
The foundation means well but the needs and assistance for the safety of clients and employees should always come first.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The demand of needs and responsibilities is outstanding and is not limited to or stated clearly under a scope of practice. Residential Director position specifically never ends or stops its 24/7. No personal to professional life balance making it a very stressful and unsafe career and life.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Work environment is only clean if you clean it personally. Lack of direction and understanding of job description and duties on shift as a direct support professional that does not require CNA license and I believe should. However this company is very diverse and African-American culture is high which makes for the clients to be exposed to such food choices and spices. You make put a menu in place but it is not inforced or followed. If I couldn't communicate for myself and was a client living in residential I would be very behavioral and hungry for the type of food provided or not and level of spice is what the staff like or enjoy and know how to make in their culture and lives.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Spinning and non stop communication of daily, weekly,monthly  multi meetings in person and virtually short and long trainings and responsibilities that are around the clock. Work phone and computer provided and responses are expected immediately. Also maintaining staff and scheduling. Covering call outs and scheduled time off, also and not limited to setting the expectation like being with the clients for staff to see that you also can do their job and your own.

Stetson is last place you will want to work for if you want to get into the field of child care. The supervisors and administrators do no at all care about their staff. they talk the right game to your face but they are unable to back up what they say. They have no control over their clients. They have staff that will flat out abuse kids such as pull their hair or smash their face into the ground during a restraint. If you try to report it they make your report disappear and the pulling hair turns into patting the kids head. If you are truthful on a restraint form they shred it write another and sometime even lie and say you were not there for the restraint so that you don't have to sign the form. Only work their if you are related to someone who works their that way you have a far less of chance being singled out and mandated to work 24 hour shifts all the time. By all the time I mean they will mandate you weekly or biweekly to work on the overnight and it will turn into 24 hours. They do not care about their staff and they only see their kids as dollar signs. If you want to move up you need to be one of the staff who see kids as dollar signs. they are so low on staff all the time that it creates an unsafe environment they hire staff  that are not allowed to go hands on with kids and cant even be left alone with the kids and sometimes cant even understand English that well. you will not have the support you need if the environment becomes unsafe because you will not have the staff needed to go into a hands on situation to keep the environment safe so you will need to call for help and by the time the help arrives the situation is just about over and you are to blame for there being a situation in the first place.

I've worked there as a nurse for several  years. There are great people and good benefits, however, upper management, with one major exception, turns a deaf ear to legitimate staff concerns.
As an LPN who previously worked in day program  some years back,  I found it unsettling and discriminatory, that now I am not eligible  to work at a day program unless I am a RN-despite the fact that other human service programs do hire LPN's for their day programs. 
There are also few opportunities in this company for LPN's and the hours offered for work ( days as opposed to off shifts)are usually not as good as those given to the RN's. There is also no shift differential paid for evenings, nights or weekends.
As a residential nurse the work load  is too heavy for one nurse and they will not hire additional nursing.  Also, they are slow to respond to psychiatric issues, thinking that behavior modification and little medication is the way to go-which is woefully ineffective.
This puts staff at risk for physical harm. As a result the turnover for direct staff is high, people either transfer out or quit. There is no incentive to stay and be verbally and or physically abused on a daily basis.
I'm not saying this is a bad company. In the right position, (non-residential) it can be pretty good. But if you're in the wrong house, watch out. It's not worth being injured to make a paycheck.

I would not suggest working here.  They are one of the biggest organizations in the state with many affiliates and yet they pay the least.  Look around as many other organizations in and around the Worcester area are paying upwards to $16 per hour for direct care, Seven Hills is still stuck at $13 and change.  The CBDES management in Worcester is atrocious, the program manager does not care about her staff or the individuals.  However, the CBDES manager at Devens is exceptionally wonderful, kind, caring and always professional.  The VP of Adult Day Health has been there too long and needs to retire.  She aggressively belittles most of her staff and plays favorites among the staff.  Her behavior creates a divisive working environment.  Her office is in the same building as one of her program managers and that manager cannot even manage her own program.  Individuals sit around all day not engaged and ignored.  Those who do get attention are those likely to engage in behaviors if not attended to.  If you are quiet and well-behaved you will sit there and stare at the ceiling for 6 hours.  The manager cannot pass an in-house, nevermind CARF audit to save her life, she is disorganized and plays favorites also. The company has much work to be done.  I would not work or send my loved one to this organization.  Out of all the 6 different ASPIRE programs I would only recommend Devens CBDES or Goddard adult day health.  Aside from that management needs to wake up and do some house cleaning.

•	Dress and groom (brush hair, shave oral hygiene) residents
•	Measure and report vital signs: temperature, pulse, respirations and blood pressure
•	Provide care that minimizes the risk of skin breakdown by being attentive to the resident’s hygiene, proper positioning and injury prevention. 
•	Provide ROM exercised
•	Transport residents in wheelchairs throughout building and on grounds.
•	Regular lifting on an average of 40 pounds on average of 25 times in and eight hour period with assigned residents and up to 45 times per shift when assisting others.

The bullets above are a typical day for me at work. I have learned to care for children and adults with severe brain injuries on a daily basis. 

For the most part the management is reliable. There are times when management seems to let things slide and push things under the rug that should not be. The hardest part of the job is how other employees don't give their all in their job. And the rest of us have to pick up the slack for them when it is basically all do to laziness of the employee.

The most enjoyable part of my job is knowing that I make a difference in the children's lives everyday. Knowing that the families know that I take care of their children with all that I have to give. Another thing is when I can make some of them feel safe and can get them to give me a little smile.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I left my new hire onboarding appointment due to the way I was treated during the process.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part so far has been the onboarding experience due to unprofessional communication from onboarding staff, which made the process feel uncomfortable and unwelcoming.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I wanted to share concerns regarding my onboarding experience. When I arrived for orientation, I explained that I had not completed the online paperwork because I had not yet received or reviewed the employee handbook. I was then told to complete the paperwork on my phone during orientation since it had been sent by email.
During the interaction, I felt the communication from the onboarding staff was unprofessional and dismissive. After handing me additional paperwork and the application, the staff turned away without offering guidance or assistance. The experience left me feeling uncomfortable and unsupported as a new hire.
I wanted to bring this to your attention because I value professionalism and respectful communication, and I hope future onboarding experiences can be more welcoming and supportive for new employees.

Longtime employee, enjoy the daily exchange w/ the residents & trying to advocate for those who dont have a voice. Good bennies, time off, etc... That said, it seems mgmt doesnt want dsp to advocate & nursing staff is nonexistent- leading to medical maladies that could have been avoided and/ or treated in a timely manner. Negligence is abundunt- by dsp & mgmt & nursing- and any call out on it is quickly swept under the rug, w/ veiled threats made to those who try to say something. Inadequate training for new staff, who were hired by people who have no ability to "read" a person is done by mostly fed up senior staff who know those new staff care more about their phone than the people we take care of. The idea of people caring for people is phasing out. Seven hills should invest in robots to do the job, because todays 20somethings dgaf. No room for advancement, as their hiring process appears to be nonexistent, and any current employee applying for mgmt is overlooked- position goes to a newbie who has no idea what a load of bs they're in for!

I worked at Seven Hills in the Visitation center and for the type of work it was you would expect a level of cooperation, respect and support. I got none of these. The management of the program is so terrible and unprofessional that I could not take it anymore. there is no communication between management and colleagues and you are expected to do 100 things at once. Management is so unprofessional that employees are talked about behind their backs, they are made to fend for themselves and the lack of training is just preposterous. The work itself is very rewarding and I loved that aspect of my job but the unnecessary stress that went along there made me explore other options and eventually leave.  the only way to explain it is being thrown into a pack of wolves with a suit made out of meat. be cautious when looking into being a family support specialist as it may seem a great opportunity it was more like a nightmare, not to mention I was never able to have a sit down with management for any type of case review to get any type of feedback on my performance

Once you clock in you’re met with a meeting (for residential)  it is a essential part of a successful day.  Makes you feel like management and administration wants you to succeed.  They understand that we are human and have good/bad days but do their best to help you check it at the door staffs bad days don’t effect the youth. This company will have your back long as you do right by the youth and show that you care about the program. Moving up the ladder seems to be a little difficult unless you are “popular” but in a residential setting this can be good and bad. As long as management truly care about the kids then whatever happens outside of work should never be brought into the residential programs and for the most part this is the case.  I absolutely adore seven hills and if it wasn’t time to move back home to my baby. Id get a mortgage on the east coast where they operate. Great opportunity to build your resume and skills with a varied population of youth! 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Direct support professional 55 salaries reported	$21.61 per hour
Childcare provider 1 salary reported	$22.50 per hour
Residential counselor 19 salaries reported	$21.24 per hour
Direct care worker 1 salary reported	$21.96 per hour
Clinician 8 salaries reported	$68,955 per year

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