clinician

care manager

direct support professional

direct care worker

senior technician

Spurwink Services

I worked for Spurwink for over 8 and held many positions and in multiple homes all over Southern Maine. When I started it felt like a small company that cared about your mental health and stress level, and hired caring hard working individuals, by the 7th year it turned into another big company seemingly only worried about its bottom line and hiring almost anyone off the street.  There is very little chance for upward mobility unless you get a masters degree or are part of the inner circle. A majority of the staff are under skilled and are just there to sleep (when not supposed too) and get paid for it, or take long van rides with clients to waste time. The stress level is high as you could get injured by a client at any time if you are not alert, work on your craft, are caring and compassionate, or a co worker isn’t doing there job properly which is often. There are some amazing caring longtime employees that genuinely care about the clients, although if you are good at your job you will be asked to go above and beyond to make up for the other unmotivated and lazy employees. If you are a young person or in college it is a good place to gain valuable experience in working with multiple populations and diagnosis. I’ve gotten jobs since simply because I worked with some of the toughest clients in the state for so long. The job will burn you out and if you have a heart it will ache for many of the situations these kids are living with. The job isn’t all bad, there is ample down time on a lot of shifts to relax and get ready for the next incident or crisis. Some days you’ll sit and watch tv with a client all day others you will be managing multiple behaviors and severe situations for 8-12 hours, all depends. You can make a small change and connection in there lives if you work hard. It will go mostly unnoticed by upper management though, and you will just be asked to do more with maybe a pat on the back and a thanks.. if your lucky. Bottom line. If you work here,  Don’t do it for 8 years like me. Get a year or two for experience then move on would be my advice.

Depending upon the specific site that you work at, in general it is required that you manage your individual client assignment, meeting daily goals, as well as contributing to the team dynamic of client care. Transportation, meals, and assistance of ADL's are a must. Training for specific population (behavioral of Autistic Spectrum) is done almost entirely with on-the-job training, so working well and trusting your co-workers is a must. The job requires a lot of your mental and emotional commitment so you have to be there because you want to do the job, not just have a job. There is no getting around caring for the clients after spending so much time with them, and that is an essential value of Spurwink to provide the clients. However, the management style is very un-focused on employee and client needs versus that of what best works for the company. It can be disheartening at times to not be able to commit as much to utilization of life-skills for improvement of clients overall well-being, versus just focusing on maintaining client safety.  It is both low key and fast paced, depending upon the environment, time of day, and clients' mood and activity.

A typical day at work consists of getting a client assignment from the team lead. My team lead is a phenomenal, supportive individual whom I can call a friend. Running his team like a family that supports one another is a good feeling to come into on a high-stress day, especially if a client is having a hard time and to results in having to initiate a restraint for safety reasons. However, our house and team are a bit like an island when it comes to having the support of the supervisors in the region. We are often times left with impossible demands that take staff out of the house to leave unsafe numbers in the event of a client behavior, which can be challenging in a house with large, potentially dangerous young adults. However, we always manage to make it work under the leadership of our team lead. The most enjoyable part of the day is having a good day with a client; Watching them achieve some sort of victory, no matter how small, is always a great feeling. The hardest part can be on those days where a client isn't having a great day, and their problem can quickly become something that affects the whole house.

I loved working as a school social worker. I worked at 2 elementary schools for 6 months and during the summer. I worked with children in the elementary school doing play therapy. I learned a lot as I was taking a course at the same time on Children's Psychopathology. My coworker's were great until the six month mark where the school system wanted to re interview me for the job as they had a quarrel with Spurwink anjd Spurwink lost the contract. I was then placed in Lewiston, Maine and loved it there even more. My salary went from $39,000 a year to 33,000 a year due a cut in the number of months I was going to work. Benefits were also threatened to be cut off and I took the in NM. After that they had rearranged the benefit packaged. I considered staying, but the challenge of the job in NM ius something I wanted and had hoped I would stay at Socorro General Hospital until I retired.

I feel lucky to have been part of the public school counseling team at Spurwink for the last 2 and a half years. I have worked for 10 years in schools with children and love getting to see kids in their own environment. I am passionate about working with children and families so working school hours means that I am able to be available for my own family after school. I have an incredibly supportive and experienced supervisor and am part of a helpful and collaborative team of clinicians spread out throughout the area. Spurwink as an organization values the work that we as a team are doing and give us the tools that we need to accomplish this work well and sometimes on the go (cellphones, laptops, reimbursement for miles and office supplies). We have a budget for training as well as opportunities to engage in Spurwink led trainings as well.

There has never been a job that I did not take seriously and did not put my all into. I take pride in stepping back to take a look at the work completed. Working with teams that have instilled in them the excitement and devotion to professionalism so the end game becomes effortless. 

I will always apply the best in me and hopefully motivate others to follow. I am a stickler in finding ways to improve on efficiency in the workplaces and will bring the right tools to the job at hand as I always have done in the past.

Co-workers, I experienced, were dedicated care-givers and I was proud to work with them to improve the lives of the children being cared for. My daily experience within the organization expanded my view of the world and has helped me put many aspects of life in perspective.

As a person who has been involved in a variety of ways I see it different depending. The relief that's giving the parents to need assistance with their troubled kids. So special and so important and the kids are amazing management has not figured out where their priorities should be. They are giving money to refugees in different people like that coming in Tuesday but are not taking that money and taking care of the kids who truly need it. They are actually talkin of closing Cornville and that was a vital school for anyone who had children who needed services in the northern Penobscot or Aroostook County area. I currently know of a child who from the north and if a move happens in Cornville parents like these and so many others will be put in such hardship. I like working there and that situations like this show that the management does not have their priorities in order.

I worked at Spurwink for three years and finally left due to the toxicity of the work environment and the lack of support and care from management.  My experience was very negative.  I worked  hard, was dedicated to my clients (who had really high needs) and never received appropriate support from my supervisor and managers.  Spurwink is a big business that seems to care only about its bottom line, I was very disappointed by them.  It is a revolving door for decent and devoted clinicians, Spurwink has no problems burning out their employees.  I watched clinician's leave regularly, and listened to their distress regarding lack of support from management and their fear around expressing that.

 I am so honored to work for such a wonderful team of professionals and to be supported by supervisors, directors, and peers alike. I tell families often that it takes a village and Spurwink really models that for me. I know I can call on a peer, or a supervisor or even our director and that makes me feel supported and confident.  The most enjoyable parts of the job are working with clients and their families, attending clinical consults and staff meetings. I feel like I am always learning, and doing so in a safe and supportive environment. The hardest part of the job is that it is what you make of it. Sometimes time management and prioritizing tasks can become elusive and that ebbs and flows

This is a company that wants you to believe that they care about their clients and their employees but at the end of the day the only thing that really matters to them is the almighty $. It is truly sad. On the outside this looks like a great place to work but the reality is far more grim. Staff have zero support and aren't given the necessary tools to do the job. Leadership constantly changes their minds about how things should be done. There is very little structure which is what these kids need. Leadership refuses to make the right choices at every turn. The clients and the staff are just numbers. Do yourself a favor and run! This job isn't what it used to be.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Clinician 4 salaries reported	$62,688 per year
Care manager 31 salaries reported	$24.13 per hour
Direct support professional 29 salaries reported	$17.62 per hour
Direct care worker 18 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour
Senior technician 2 salaries reported	$23.00 per hour

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