facilitator

coach

direct service provider

activities director

case manager

Social Vocational Services

It's completely worth reading :)
I began my journey as a one-on-one in office 145 (Salinas) and I was there for about 3 months until an opening was available in Soledad. I continued my journey in Soledad for around two years. Working at the Soledad location was by far the best job I had ever had. The Program Director was just amazing. She was always very kind and flexible towards me. I've never experienced any type of negativity from her. The staff was also great. I think I was one of the very few who actually got along with everyone there. The staff was very helpful and worked as a team with me and I think the reason is because I never involved myself with any gossip or drama. In essence they were the best crew I have ever worked with throughout all my jobs. I miss them all very much and the clients are the absolute best! They were truly a blessing. 
Soon after, I applied for the case management position that had opened up at Salinas 144 and was hired! I was very excited to start my new journey, yet super bummed to say goodbye to the family there! It was definitely bitter sweet.
When I arrived at the new office, things were going well and admin was kind and welcoming, we would get together for lunch and I was feeling as if I was fitting in very nicely in the office. The staff on the other hand, just wow, I was in for a real surprise! I quickly noticed their attitude towards me from day one. They were VERY unwelcoming, rude, wouldn't follow any directions and were extremely prejudice towards me because I did not speak Spanish! Like really? Come on, they were very immature and lazy, that was just so ridiculous. They definitely made it very difficult for me to do my job. But I stuck it out and just continued doing my job (of course there were a very small handful of staff that were truly awesome and I'm grateful for them). 
Shortly after I got settled in, the Regional Director began to get comfortable and started showing his true colors. I started to notice his very weird and rude comments or jokes he would make about staff. What was completely wrong was that he would intentionally makes things difficult for certain staff whom he would bully. He would openly gossip about the staff with admin and they would just laugh like we were at a comedy show. It was very unprofessional. I think the most uncomfortable conversations were when he would talk about wanted to cheat on his wife and joke about womens' appearances, regardless where you work, that's just unacceptable and inappropriate. What drew the line for me was when I seen how the Program Director would join in on the making fun of and gossip. They were both terrible bullies and I started to see how she would favor certain staff and leave others out. She would constantly harass and pull staff into the office whom she didn't like, always looking to fault them for any little things and that was what started to irritate me, and when they began to see that I didn't agree with them or that I would call them out on certain issues they quickly began to turn on me and I was their next prey. I was the one being called into the office as much as they could and I just seen the negativity, gossip and back biting there. It was terrible and I was miserable. It really sadden me because I just started the position and was hoping to flourish and grow to learn so much with the hopes of employer support, but I was definitely wrong! Bottom line the Regional Director was very unprofessional, texting and driving at high speed limits with clients in the car, constantly on his cell phone for hours in his office where all could see. And sadly, the Program Director followed his footsteps with gossip and a two faced attitude. I didn't expect that from them, especially the Regional Director, we really got along and I was devastated because he was the one who helped me get the position and for him to be so evil and misguided by his own perversions is truly sad. 
Nevertheless, they did me the favor and I have moved on to bigger and better things. Forgetting the old and embracing the new!
Hopefully the day will come soon when SVS cooperate starts taking out their trash and begins to bring in the right fits for Salinas! 
What is done in the dark will always come out in the light!!

Typical day at work- a productive  investment of  time and energy  
What I’ve learned -that individuals with intellectual disabilities have rights to uphold and must be treated with dignity and respect;  they learn adaptive skills, can communicate in their own way,  and can be trained some skills and a sense of independence and that those serving them can help the client by truly caring and being mindful of the client's fragilities
Management has been very supportive by providing continuous skills training; very much present and involved in the work with the staff and quite responsive to the needs of the client. 
Workplace Culture. Employees are able to operate in an atmosphere of shared values, i.e., it is inspiring to serve clients-in-need in a consistent and faithful  way, with heart and soul. A culture of shared values of empathy, respect, truthfulness and helping one another, especially being part of the solution rather than being a part of the problem all serve as our dictum- a reminder that any challenge, big or small, can be hurdled
Hardest part of the job- when challenges arise and one grasps for ways in handling challenging situations
The most enjoyable part - the realization that the job even teaches us humility in a profound way; and,  patience (lots of it)In SVS, it was a joy to have witnessed servant leadership in action especially when leaders are quite visible and hands-on involved in special events and occasions.       Corporate and individual values when fused together, cultivated and cared for consistently, will surely forge a long enduring partnership going forward. 
A day’s work in SVS,  as a Community Inclusion Facilitator, translates into a productive  investment of  time and energy  when providing direct service to clients who are challenged physically,  intellectually,  or both. Thanks to the ample support of the management by providing orientation and continuous skills training along the way. Such  dynamics  build encouragement and further  one’s capacity  to operate in an atmosphere of shared values, i.e., it is inspiring to serve clients-in-need in a consistent and faithful  way, with heart and soul. In SVS, it was a joy to have witnessed servant leadership in action.

Challenges can be inevitable, too. Serving challenging individuals can be daunting physically and mentally  as well. One may get inevitably overwhelmed. Yet,  the job even teaches us humility in a profound way; and,  patience (lots of it)-qualities and skills  that one acquires in the process. A culture of shared values of empathy, respect, truthfulness and helping one another, especially being part of the solution rather than being a part of the problem all serve as our dictum- a reminder that any challenge, big or small, can be hurdled      Corporate and individual values when fused together, cultivated and cared for consistently, will surely forge a long enduring partnership going forward. 

Suggestion(s)
1]To  determine how impactful the corporate vision/mission are to all employees and to inculcate  and instill corporate values, perhaps teambuilding workshops or the like can also be held; or post/hang  corporate vision-mission/posters in conspicuous places like lobby, program sites, 
2]To establish how employees are performing on  their job,  perhaps a suitable performance appraisal system can be  developed if no formal one exists already. Or,   an existing one may be updated and enhanced . This way, the company will be able to customize  a kind of service that is even more  responsive to the clients. 


I have worked at SVS for almost three years. A typical day is picking up clients at their homes in the morning to start program at about 9 am. 

Each staff member (CIF) has 4 clients that we are 
responsible for during the day (M-F). Each week, I and my clients make a schedule for the following week. This is client driven and includes activities in the community (lunch, shopping, the park, etc).
In addition, we plan activities in house such as a cooking class, arts and crafts, science and computers. 
So far, I have stayed at SVS because of my clients and the other 30 or so that attend our program. I care deeply for them and their growth and wellbeing. 
Unfortunately, corporate SVS does not value or reward us financially, benefits wise or paid time off. We (CIF’s) do not get raises or even cost of living increases. Instead, at our yearly review, we are asked to fill out a form outlining what we’d like to learn or have help with in the year ahead 
(Ex: helping clients meet their goals). Our medical benefits are expensive in all aspects. With our 17.00/hr pay, few employees can afford them. 
As for PTL, vacation pay and sick time are not calculated separately; they are earned as a percentage of our hours worked. There is no front loading of PTL. For most staff, any time less than the scheduled 7.25-7.5 daily hours worked must be made up by using PTL (even less than an hour).

Due to the low and uncompetitive low pay, we are constantly short-staffed which shortchanges our clients and leads to low moral among staff. We are unappreciated and burnt out. 


 You come to work and learn new things and teach people to learn with you. The clubs are a fun way to try new hobbies that your interested in and try to get others interested in as well; or if you have a hobby you enjoy doing you can teach others as well. I had a co worker who loved to go fishing , I knew nothing about it and my group wanted to try it as well and we got a fish on the first try. Our clients where very happy and one of them got to take the fish home. It's the simple little things to us but make a big deal and life changing for others and they have these great memories. Working with people with disabilities can be challenging and no day is the same  and we all have our hard days; but going to work with co workers that get along with each other and have a family like setting is great!  Yes, there is drama once in a while. We truly are a second family not only to our co workers but to our clients. They live at home or in a care home and come to SVS and most of them have staff that they prefer to work with and staff they just don't care to work with. Each staff cares for the clients and you can see it in there work. Program Director is involved and knows each person unlike other program. She challenges staff to try new things and if things don't turn out like the sample we laugh and all we can do is try. Our Pinterest club is fun and I should be the queen of Pinterest fail . That's all we can do is try our best, with our projects and with our clients. Some of our clients do better work then the staff. Great work place, most co workers are helpful. 

If you are new to working with adults with disabilities this is good opportunity to figure out the best fit for you with low medium or high functioning adults. (Prefer) . It's two DSP workers for six clients in one van. My suggestion is to definitely talk to the other dsps who have been there and they will be more than happy to talk to you about how to approach or work with a specific client's needs or behaviors which really does come in handy... I had worked in the wheelchair van medium functioning I had a great DSP partner. The clients always love to being there we all participated and treated it as a small family. You spend most of your day in public doing activities or at a work site. Some days with management was confusing. The pay is not great because it is a nonprofit all nonprofits don't pay well the upside is you don't use your own vehicle you use a company van. CPI training was not for everybody it mostly went to the males. Those are for the behavioral clients that I admit was not the fair part because at any given time you can swap a client into your van or to your group who was known to hit or bite and you had no proper training to protect yourself or other clients. For the most part the clients were low risk behavioral but there is always a couple. As far as gossip I could care less. You did get paid days off. I do think that it is a good first step to moving forward in a field of working with disabilities. Sometimes you have to be creative for the client to be successful.

I worked here as a Community Inclusion Facilitator at the Long Beach location. I was super excited to work with adults with disabilities as I personally had high functioning disabilities myself. I wanted to give back to my community. The job is physically and mentally exhausting and demanding. Please have a therapist with doing this job. You will be changing clients, preparing food, cleaning up bodily fluids, dealing with violent or abusive client behaviors during your shift. There are no opportunities for advancement, as the pay is so little that when there’s a position open someone hired will stay there for 15+ years just to keep that pay. There is no direct deposit, and even though you work in healthcare you have to pay for your medical insurance. Be prepared to be in unorganized chaos every day. You will do several peoples jobs, especially when there’s absences while getting very little compensation ($17 an hour). I also experienced extremely high turnover while there because people were so dissatisfied with the position. They will hire anybody as long as you’ll do the job, and beg you to stay. Please steer clear. There are no lunch breaks, you work during your lunch. You rarely get to take your two breaks a day as well.

A typical day at work would be you clock in (if you're working out of the office) or you just go to your job site and start your supervisory or "job coach" duties. It really depends on your clients, the type of day you have...i.e., a client who is demanding and difficult to work with will require a large portion of your attention throught the day.
Management is great. It's the type of environment/management that if you do your job and do what is expected (what you're PAID to do) then the management will adore you. But if you get caught up in the gossip of the day then you're bound to be apart of some drama. The co-workers are great so long as you maintain a professional distance. The hardest part of the job could be the clients or the gardians of the clients depending on your level of involvement with both. The most enjoyable part of the job I'd say hands down would have to be the ability to know that in some small or large way, you've contributed to the life of a person within a particular people group (the intellectually disabled community) who all too often are discounted & overlooked. When my head hits the pillow at night I sleep well knowing that I made a difference to someone that day.

The company offers little or no benefits at all. Life insurance is given for free upon hire. Health benefits are limited to 120 dollars per visit and you pay 60 dollars per month. It's horrible. Pay starts as little as 9.00 per hour in residential and 10.00 in day program settings. It's difficult to make a living with this as your primary job. Many workers work three jobs just to make a living. This company pays so little that turn over rates is very high. No one is pleased after a year because there is not a single pay increase after the year performance evaluation. Many people don't feel comfortable in their workplaces because of gossip about pay, other staff, and management. This job targets illegal and minorities. They are constantly put down and not awarded for their hard work; rather have looked down as a minority with little potential for the company and to only make the owners richer. Many staff complain about the DSP required training which isn't paid for when the trainings are attended. Workers with other jobs have to risk their own slack in pay for that week because of the required training. I wouldn't recommend this job, unless you are desperate.

Unfortunately, this could be a great place to work at if corporate and office management were meeting at the same level. Instead, corporate gave certain districts and offices no raises from 2018 until 2022. Almost 4 full years of zero raises until California forced minimum wage to go up to $15.00 an hour and even then it was met with resistance. The insurance/benefits are crazy expensive, you make just enough to qualify out of medical but not enough to sustain yourself and pay insurance, your workload of clients to staff ratio is insane because the job doesn't pay enough so nobody stays long enough. Endless issues stemming from the top that force the bottom to literally ask themselves every week, "What are we even doing here?". You try to serve the clients you work for and make their life more fulfilling but you are stretched so thin that it always comes as a surprise to management that you are leaving because the workload is endlessly piling on, leading to quick burnout. Those who stay, always say they stay only because the schedule is Mon-Fri and they need that because of having kids to take care of at home.

Honestly, my only favorite thing about this job is working with individuals with disabilities. Seen their smile on their face. They are the only nice thing.  I learned a lot different things since I was given the opportunity. There is nothing hard about this job, the only hard thing is when they put to work with people that don't like you. The most enjoyable part of this job is working with the clients. Also, workers that been working in this office longer are more trusted than new ones. I have to find a work place that has many maturity level above high school. I have yet to work for a boss that not only allows it but is blinded by the people who are bullies and draw morale down. If an employer treats some staff differently than others and refuses to see their wrong in this, then they themselves have to take full responsibility for creating a toxic work environment, which left unchecked will ultimately ruin their own company. This will negatively impact their employees mental and physical health , even some of their strongest and most loyal employees. You're better off this office. Stay away for your own well-being. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Facilitator 163 salaries reported	$18.81 per hour
Coach 115 salaries reported	$18.59 per hour
Direct service provider 169 salaries reported	$19.15 per hour
Activities director 99 salaries reported	$19.02 per hour
Case manager 91 salaries reported	$22.63 per hour

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