child development instructor

trainer

The Lighthouse II Inc

This job is not for the faint of heart. It requires an immense amount of compassion, patience, and resolve to be done properly, and for the most part there are enough people working here that understand and achieve that to keep it running well enough. It's a situation of extremes, the best days you'll remember for a lifetime, as well as the worst ones. 

You'll be working with children that have lived lives extremely unkind to them, and they experience many people walking in and out of their routines constantly. Be patient and fair with them, eplain your reasonings when you can and you can build trust and help them better themselves day by day, which is an extraordinary thing to be a part of. The other side of that coin is to have the thick skin and understanding to not let the worse days get to you. The children will lie, yell, hurt others or themselves, and it is up to you to handle it.

Each facility has its own routines and cadences you'll learn over a few visits to each when youre scheduled there. Theres plenty of caretaking, socializing, housework, and paperwork to do every day so you'll rarely find yourself without purpose if you're being attentive.

Management is all very understanding towards physical and mental health, and flexible with available days you want to be scheduled for, but also seem to wear themselves thin most of the time allowing for upkeep of requested items to end up falling through the cracks now and again. The company and culture is highly inclusive to LGBT people, simultaneously though a number of the employees will talk amongst themselves and end up gossiping over misunderstood or petty things rather than talking to you or each other up front. Best sidestep that all together and set boundaries not wanting to hear other's business and clear air about anything that might bother you.

Lastly, this job unfortunately falters in its training of new employees before they are placed in a facility. Partially thats because obviously nothing will really match hands on experience, nonetheless consistently new hires will float and falter their first few shifts, myself included. Your experience overall experience will be painted by whichever employees you're scheduled with for those first shifts. They will tend to do most of the work in the day as there is so much to do and showing another the ropes while juggling 4-5 children is a tall ask, especially when its on short notice. Ask as many questions as you need and offer to help so you get in the habit of participating and avoid setting yourself and others up for failure.

I adored this job and unfortunately could not stay in that environment for personal reasons. If you're considering applying I wish you well and hope you enjoy it. 

A typical day at work can go from have a great, relaxing day watching movies and playing games to all clients in their rooms for safety because one client is tantrumming and all staff are restraining them for their own safety. I have been bitten, punched, slapped, kicked, pushed, and been given whip lash from clients in escalations. I have been to the Emergency room more times in the two years that I have been employed here at the company than in my entire life. 
I have no clue what the benefits of this company is, still to this day, because the HR is disrespectful and has closed doors to her employees and management. She rarely responds to messages from employees and when she does respond it is a curt, mean response. 
The Pay here... sucks. New staff are getting paid more than those who are in management or have been here for years. You get paid once a month SOMEWHERE between the 5th and the 15th, you never know what day exactly and will never get paid on a weekend. Holiday pay happens only twice a year on Christmas and Thanksgiving (I think. Once again I don't know because it was never answered.)
Work hours are rough. You are scheduled, in a full time position, 5 days of 8 hours. If you pick up any extra hours it is another full 8 hour shift, making your day a 16 hours. Yes, you get paid overtime for the extra 8 hours and get a chance to win in a drawing BUT your name goes into the drawing with all other employees who picked up a shift and most likely will not win the drawing. 
The stress of this job is not accommodated for and often results in the employee quitting. The turn over rate is so ridiculous that there are ALWAYS open shifts and ALWAYS people working extra shifts.
The staff quitting rarely has to do with the clients and mainly has to revolve how the staff is treated by the upper management and HR/Owner.
I do NOT recommend this job unless it helps further your career.

Having spent years at this organization, I can say that while the work with the clients is deeply fulfilling, the administrative culture is incredibly taxing. For a long time, I took pride in maintaining a high standard of care and managing the house through various audits and complex client needs.
​However, over time, the boundaries between professional duties and personal favors for leadership became non-existent. Staff were often expected to perform manual labor, landscaping, and personal errands that were entirely outside of our job descriptions. This created a toxic environment where work-life balance was not respected, and physical safety was often a secondary concern to management's personal requests.
​The most disappointing aspect was the lack of support for long-term employees. Despite years of service and documented health needs, there was no meaningful 'interactive process' or empathy. Instead of being supported, I found that health challenges were met with a clinical and dismissive attitude. It is an environment where you are expected to give everything—your time, your health, and your personal finances to fill gaps—only to be treated as disposable in the end.
​If you are looking for a role where your hard work and loyalty are matched by professional integrity from the top down, you may find this environment very difficult.

I love working with children, but get no respect from the HR. It is impossible to walk in and talk to her, she is disrespectful, never answers our questions in a timely manner IF they are answered at all. You would be lucky to get a text response back from her at all. Staff MUST keep a paper trail with all documents sent to HR due to Her "not getting it". HR is in charge of pay checks, which happen ONCE monthly, and staff NEVER know what day to expect payment, causing employees to be late making payments on their bills and rent. If the employees ask for a pay advance, rarely is it approved in time to make those payments. Employees at this company work hard and deserve more. We have NO idea of IF we get benefits or what they are. 
The chain of command is as follows:HR/Payroll, Executive Director, Social Service Provider/Behaviorist, Director of Operations, Operations Manager, House Director, House Manager,House Supervisor, CDT, and NOC. Now, that said at least 4 of the house directors are family with HR, which wouldn't be an issue if they were treated the same as the other directors, but they are not. They are set on high horses and go running to HR anytime there is an complication or worry. Even when their staff are venting and needing director support or help, they all goes gossiping to her. It makes for a stressful environment and feels like you are constantly needing to watch your back while walking on eggshells.
Watching the clients learn and grow is about the only satisfying things with this job.

The Lighthouse is a fun place to work, most of the time. We are told in the interview what to expect and go through at least 5 days of orientation and training before working a shift. This made me feel more comfortable and excited to start. The work with kids is hard at times, but I love to play with the kids and cant believe I get paid to have fun! Their program is organized, but the amount of paperwork can be a lot. I really enjoy interacting with my director and the staff I work with.  We have a good team. There are times we have some frustrations, but that's normal at most places to work at least in my experience anyway.  Upper management has always been respectful to me. They work with me to give me the time off that I need for my personal things even despite my not having paid time off. The scheduler adjusts the schedule if he can to meet my needs. I have never worked for an organization that gives bonus opportunities for picking up shifts. I love to work a lot so it's a double bonus for me as I get overtime pay and the chance to win a bonus every month. There seems to be a lot of gossip about how awful upper management is, but they have not treated me in any way bad. I dont like to get involved with drama so I stay away from it. The downfall is paid 1 time month and no direct deposit.

One of the worst companies I have worked for. The management at this place does not care about anything but bringing in income. Most of management are related, therefore they stick together. Lots of things go on that absolutely should be reported. They don’t care about patients, and barely even visit. Lots of employees have never even met head management. If you aren’t management in this company you are treated like scum. Most people start off with a very low pay wage for such a hard job on top of only getting paid once a month and not knowing exactly when you’ll get your paycheck. Resulting in late bills. Ridiculous when one house alone may bring in more than most of us make in a year. It is very hard coming to work everyday not knowing if it will be a calm day or if you’re going to be attacked by clients. Verbally and physically. There’s lots of favoritism. Lots of constant drama. Managers and directors are very sneaky, gossipy, and deceiving. There’s a lot of sitting around on phones with nothing actually being done, which seems to be allowed. There’s no structure and barely and discipline for the children. They don’t get punished much and continue doing whatever. There’s lots that need to be done for this company to get to where they need to be. Very high turnover rate.

One of the worst companies I have worked for. The management at this place does not care about anything but bringing in income. Most of management are related, therefore they stick together. Lots of things go on that absolutely should be reported. They don’t care about patients, and barely even visit. Lots of employees have never even met head management. If you aren’t management in this company you are treated like scum. Most people start off with a very low pay wage for such a hard job on top of only getting paid once a month and not knowing exactly when you’ll get your paycheck. Resulting in late bills. Ridiculous when one house alone may bring in more than most of us make in a year.  It is very hard coming to work everyday not knowing if it will be a calm day or if you’re going to be attacked by clients. Verbally and physically. There’s lots of favoritism. Lots of constant drama. Managers and directors are very sneaky, gossipy, and deceiving. There’s a lot of sitting around on phones with nothing actually being done, which seems to be allowed. There’s no structure and barely and discipline for the children. They don’t get punished much and continue doing whatever. There’s lots that need to be done for this company to get to where they need to be. Very high turnover rate.

The lighthouse is a nice company I have worked for a few group-homes. Pros: like the flexibility when things happen last minute upper management works with you, and sometimes They can be supportive, and upper management can be Intimidating cons: However there are a few things that bother me like how we get paid is once a month and not knowing which day, and sometimes pay days are delay the fact that it only happens once a month it should always be on time.  And A holiday may effect it the company does not even pay you most Federal holidays.  I feel like if it’s a federal Holiday it should be recognized. Pro: I do like the bonuses that are available at times, As well as the overtime. There are a lot of people in the company upper- management included that work really hard and bust there butts. But there are always a few bad apples in the bunch, I hate the paper timesheets at least with the app you can’t fake a clock in and out I’m a strong believer of hours worked hours paid. And with the paper sheets it’s pretty much your word VS someone else’s.  We do a lot, and deal with a ton at times the paperwork that we do can be very overwhelming at times. I also feel there should be some rules that should be the same at all houses and not just some of the houses.

 We have to go to free events and find free clothes and backpacks and handouts even though the state pays good money for the kids to have these things. During this pandemic we are being told to limit how much soap we are using which is an issue. People who are family are not being held accountable for the things they do that are wrong and some how other employees get let go for trivial things. A lot of physical trauma from the clients because there are not enough staff to help with restraints and because of lack of support and hearing that we need to deal with it as there aren't enough funds to go around for more staff. The house looks bad most of the time until we get an inspection then we fix and clean stuff before the inspector comes.  My director is new and she is awful to us and to the kids. The goats are not properly taken care of either. So that is a reason I hate working here. Sometimes you get fed even if it's cheap food. The kids are cool and have rough background stories. They can touch your heart when they are not going nuts and deserve a good life. 

Working with the kids is great, but the management is awful. When you are hired you sign a no gossip policy which sounds great! We are all adults and should know how to not gossip but it the upper management that gossips the worst. Also if you are an awful employee they keep you around and it makes it so hard to be a good employee because no one really cares how well you do your job, they just want a body for ratio purposes. This is why they lose so many people because they keep the awful employees and dont appreciate the good ones. Also it's a family owned business and they take care of their own, so if you are family or you are a kiss up, they will keep you. And this company does not care about the kids at all. Its more about the money than the kids. These kids could have so much more but the company just wants to put that money into peoples pockets. So If I were you don't even apply here, if you are a good employee you will just be miserable and treated poorly. They also have awful benefits and a bad PTO policies. Also not very consistent when it comes to treating everyone equally. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Child development instructor 1 salary reported	$24.00 per hour
Trainer 1 salary reported	$24.00 per hour

Working at The Lighthouse II Inc: Company Overview and Reviews

The Lighthouse II Inc

The Lighthouse II Inc Ratings

Popular jobs at The Lighthouse II Inc

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected