child development specialist

mental health therapist

campus manager

registered nurse

billing coordinator

The Bradley Center

A typical day at work during the school year at least was very difficult. Already having to deal with the residents who live there along with the day school students who come from the community can be very difficult because the residential children lose privileges when they lose incentive in school, while the day school students don't get punished for anything, especially if there is a lack of parenting at home. When the residential kids are not in school, the day can be somewhat decent. My unit got the least amount of funds for outings and other activities, I only suppose because only half of our activity specialists was actually doing their job. A lot of the time, you had to spend money out of your very own pocket because they were very disorganized and cheap with the outings. The campus coordinators would pressure you into picking up overtime (because the retention rate of staff is terrible, and I can see why it is) because we were short staffed all the time. 16 hour a day shifts, 4 days in a row with 4 hours of sleep almost every night was very normal here, especially while having to transport children across the state or to a different state, which isn't safe to do while someone is extremely exhausted.  Some staff would get away with hurting children or putting them in danger, but so help you God if you make a minor mistake and your not in the unit's clique or one of the favorites, you're immediately going to get fired without any warnings or write-ups. Some of the clinical directors of the units can be very nice as people, but have no idea what they are doing job wise which makes it very frustrating. The food here is somewhat ok, the parking is free, but if you are a salaried employee, you must park down in the lot on the main road and catch the shuttle up to the building. Some of the children here can be very uncontrollable because of the fact that they are transitioning home from the court system, and because leadership has their favorite kids, these kids are not held up to the same standard as the other kids, which makes things even more difficult because these kids will act out until they get what they want. The vision and dental and a percentage of the health insurance is covered, but the copays to see a specialist are $80 and just to see your PCP is $40, which is terrible considering you're at risk by getting hurt by these children everyday, and then have no consequences for hurting their staff.

We spend way too much time clicking around in the system when we could be actually providing quality patient care. I'm convinced we're hired solely to complete paperwork, chart, and work under extremely stressful conditions each shift. Certain units receive better treatment. Patients are nothing but numbers and quotas. Doctors admit and discharge within a day, regardless of reason for admission or acuity, especially if said patients are family members of certain staff. Admissions are back-to-back while staff is expected to complete discharges. Phone rings non-stop. Readmission is prevalent, no matter the threat posed to staff. Yes, without the patients staff doesn't get paid, but without the staff there would be no Bradley. Upper management is a clique that consists of people who only look out for each other and pretend to care about staff. Family members work together, and there are people holding titles without proper credentials within this clique. Turnover is high and they are under-staffed. This organization has lost so many amazing staff members due to unfair treatment and stagnation of their role within the company (it's even been discussed that it's related to race). Facility said to be renovated but ac units in patient rooms are rusted and noisy, housekeeping is subpar. Training is short and staff are expected to be experts in a day. No recognition for jobs done well. No employee engagement program when we could literally be hospitalized just by working there. As long as upper management is paid well, patients keep rolling in, and staff shuts up and takes whatever.... it's a good day for The Bradley Center. 

A great job to gain experience working in a fast paced, stressful and challenging environment right out of school or career.

Job environment is not for everyone but you will learn a lot working with this population and be challenged daily—no day is the same.  You need to have thick skin and be able to handle stress well.

Pay is significantly lower than public school jobs and with the teacher shortage, special education teachers have more options for better pay, benefits and working environment than ever before.

The Bradley Center did have good benefits when I started but they changed a lot due to COVID.  The healthcare coverage isn’t good (UHC).  In Pittsburgh, most doctors take UPMC or Highmark.  Many providers don’t take UHC because they are awful to deal with and getting coverage for treatment and prescriptions is time consuming/nightmare. The vision and dental are typical, industry average.

Unlike many other employers, they don’t provide a financial opt-out for declining health coverage if you stay on your parents or spouse’s insurance.  So basically you’re saving them a huge amount of money and not receiving a benefit you’re entitled— even in the form of a reasonable salary adjustment.  Most non profits employers up it $1,000 or $1,500 in Pittsburgh for declining group insurance coverage.

They do offer student loan payments but it’s really small.  You’ll never pay your loans off unless you qualify for student loan forgiveness after 10 yrs working in certain positions/fields—this could always change/go away.





This job is difficult to say the least. I worked as a child developmental specialist, and while I got a lot of hands-on experience and worked with lots of different kinds of children who had trauma from abuse and neglect, this was a mainly negative experience. The compensation for the amount of mental stress and workload that the employees go through is laughable. Upper management only cares about you as long as you stay on their good side, any constructive criticism given or requests for additional support will be met with essentially social ostracism from them. 
The children are the reason this job is important and worthwhile to attempt. However the lack of support or individualized care plans that are put into place for the children for their needs makes it impossible to give the level of care needed for each child. Do you want to try and make a difference in some children’s lives who desperately need good care and love and attention this is the place to try it, and to also get good behavioral therapy experience from my hands-on perspective this is the place. However workplace environment, support from upper management, and mental safety in reference to dangerous patients/children, pay compensation and work life balance are all in the red at this job.

Upper management does not listen to staff's suggestions and requests. Our ratio is 4 kids to 1 staff and we are supposed to be a trauma informed mental health residential treatment facility. However, we continue to accept adolescents with not trauma or mental health issues and strictly involvement in the juvenile justice system and it has been creating an extremely unsafe environment. We perform physical interventions as necessary but due to the ratio typically have 5 or 6 staff on a unit and it requires at least 3 staff to perform a physical intervention and 1 to document the intervention leaving only 1 or 2 staff on the unit to supervise the other 15-19 residents. We are repeatedly told to call staff from other units but this becomes and issue because we are taking staff away from their unit and creating a potentially unsafe situation on that unit or run into the issue that the other units are having their own issues and cannot send any staff to assist. The immediate staff are amazing, however. They are typically down to earth and understand what it is to work in the direct care position.

Staff are not regarded well or supported by management well. There is a lack of consistency and communication which leads to different people having different standards for the children and other staff that they are working with. 

There are limited breaks, free meals, and the low pay for an incredibly hard and taxing job. There is ample opportunity for over time though, provided you can pick up the shift work. There are three shifts, 7am-3pm,3pm-11pm, and 11pm-7 am. Overnights tend to be the easiest shift because they require tons of paperwork but limited outbursts or disturbances from the children. 

The children do not received consequences for their positive or negative behaviors as often as they should. It becomes frustrating g to work with certain people because training in the beginning has been inconsistent and rules become inconsistent. Staff splitting and aggravation are common. The turn over rate is high because the environment is stressful and not as supportive as it could or should be. 

This is a job for people who love children, have thick skin, and have the utmost patience. It can be incredibly rewarding but it is hard not to become overwhelmed or burnt out by the constant pressure of the children and management.

I have been a direct care staff for quite some time and I must say this job has robbed me of my compassion. It's a great place to start out and gain some experience if you're straight out of undergrad, but get out after a year. Leadership plays favorites and often appears very cliquey. And if you're not in the clique, forget it. Their own policies are often ignored when hiring internally or in other circumstances as well. I've seen supervisors turn a blind eye to many things that have made direct care staff uncomfortable. This RTF is run by a bunch of people who haven't stepped foot on a unit in years except for inspection purposes and to "show off" the facility to outside people. They appear to have no clue what it's like to work a shift directly with the residents. They often admit unmanageable kids (can't be restrained, no mental health diagnosis, etc.) and throw staff to the wolves. Especially when the ratio of staff to kids is dysfunctional. Communication throughout the building also lacks. It's as though no one is ever on the same page when it comes to anything. Overall, my experience here has been very up, down, back, & forth.

I worked here as a Child Development Specialist.  If you think children who are mostly wards of the state or have serious mental illnesses or have a history of trauma and thus struggle to relate to their peers and adults are poor examples of humanity that need to be strictly consequenced and yelled at for every little thing, then this is the place for you.  Be prepared to have the children hit you, curse you out and complain.  You'll learn how to physically restrain children too and can restrain them for even the most minor things.  If you take the time to understand the child and help them process, you will be reprimanded by mangement, who also cannot give a straight answer to any question and is incredibly laissez-faire with their guidance.  You have to advocate for yourself constantly as there is no comraderie amongst staff at your level of employment or between levels of authority--with the exception of all management positions.

My co-workers here were pretty much the most amazing thing about this place. Everyone had each others backs, something that is much needed in a field like this. If it weren't for the people that I worked with, I probably would not have lasted at this job as long as I did. Management changed quite often during my tenure here, some for the better and some not so much! You have absolutely NO life working here! Shifts are unpredictable and are quite often asked to stay over. The BC is known to have some of the most challenging youth sent their way. I do have to admit though, it was quite nice to see some of the more troublesome residents work through their issues, turn their behaviors around and return home on a positive note. Ask anyone and they will tell you that this is not a place to settle into, just a stepping stone onto something better, less stressful.

I'm an arts therapist, so I'm on salary and not clocking in like most of the employees. There are 4 different units; each one has it's own unique population, and a staff that reflects their needs. Everything is very structured, but some units are more authoritarian than others. There are staff who are really talented and well-trained, and there are also some long-time "youth counselors" who are clueless when it comes to therapy. But all in all, this place is doing a good job with a lot of kids who need help, and didn't get it from their families (for the most part).
The pay is on the low side, but as long as you cover your workload and paperwork, the schedule isn't super difficult.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Child development specialist 3 salaries reported	$20.67 per hour
Mental health therapist 3 salaries reported	$40,333 per year
Campus manager 2 salaries reported	$17.00 per hour
Registered nurse 1 salary reported	$30.00 per hour
Billing coordinator 1 salary reported	$47,500 per year

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