clinician

recovery specialist

senior counselor

direct care worker

medical assistant

Wheeler Clinic

I worked per diem at this agency. I was continually sent around to different houses to pick up shifts at the last minute, even when I specifically stated upon hire I was only interested in picking up shifts at 3/5 houses due to transportation preferences. Because I was per diem (even though I picked up full time hours each week), I was expected to travel and waste my gas, all while noticing that a part time worker never was expected to leave her shift and got away with staying under the radar. If you advocated to stay at the home you already DROVE TO, you were told, “to be a team Player” and “it’s a part of your job.” That following month, the supervisor withheld the schedule from me to pick up shifts, likely because she knew I challenged her to start seeking out other people to call on to go to other houses because I was frankly fed up with being taken advantage of. Also, if they sent you around they failed to let you know you could get reimbursed for mileage. I had to advocate for myself, otherwise they never would have told me. “Supervisors” are merely people that make schedules and rarely offer supervision and lack support to the staff. Certain staff were constantly stealing company food (purchased for the CHILDREN) and no action was ever taken against them the entire time I was employed there even when supervisors knew everything that was going on. Some coworkers were awesome at their jobs and cared about the kids, but others were unskilled and yelled at the children, causing them to get triggered and act out on a shift. You had to PRAY you worked with competent staff. People shouldn’t have to feel this way coming to work. Just overall an unethical and poorly managed environment to work in, and definitely not worth the pay. The only up side is it’s good for people that need a foot in the door. I was luckily able to obtain my degrees and leave quick in a different agency. If you decide to work here, I suggest you do the same.

An overall poorly and incompetently run department. In addition to the chaos, there are just no incentives here, and as a result there is excessive turnover. First, you are mandated to work 4 holidays (so all of them), and there is NO holiday pay - REGULAR RATE. Required to work weekends and during snow storms, which is expected, but there is ZERO leeway; it is a very punitive environment. The pattern is almost all of their program's schedules are half empty each month due to people quitting or being fired. They become desperate to fill openings and will allow anyone on a shift. You get a lot of time off but using it can be a hassle, so it can be easier to just call out. Directors override managers and supervisors, tell them what to do, yet never directly interact with you or the clients, unless of course a crisis occurs. If you’re new, you’re expected to train yourself and run a shift within weeks. If you’re a veteran, you’re expected to take on extra work by training new staff constantly. Most disturbing of all being this is a health and human services agency, management is 100% white, yet the client base is almost 100% minority. I’ve witnessed minority staff be targeted for the exact same issues white staff are coached on, demonstrating clear racial bias. This is obvious to the point where clients have made comments about "minority firing sprees” occurring. Imagine the disconnect taking place providing clinical services to traumatized urban youth of color in this type of setting. Then, picture the behaviors you are expected to deescalate while being on shift with someone that just started, has no experience, and receives no real guidance from an out of touch management. All of this dysfunction, I would not be surprised to see these programs close in the near future.

Working with the youth was a rewarding Experience but management was horrible, no flexibility, no holiday pay (no double time or time in a half), no structure, high turnover rate, people quit left to right. No support from management and for all the work you do the pay rate is little to none, long hours, Constant gossip and management abuses their authority. This is a company that lacks compassion, integrity, honesty, appreciation and so much more for their employees. The sad part is one person  or one program can make the entire company look bad, (you eventually become the company you keep) The owner of this  company truly needs more secret shoppers/employees; meaning someone to come in and pose as an employee to evaluate the treatment of employees and the misuse and maltreatment that management projects off on to their employees. This company is all about politics and Sadly this company has lost some incredible staff through the years and past couple of months, it’s disturbing. The sad part is those that have a heart to make a change in the lives of the children and those around them in the company end up leaving the company to go where they’re appreciated. Bottom line is don’t be so desperate for a job that you settle for less, money is good but not to the expense of your happiness, your mental/emotional health declining and not at the expense of losing time with your loved ones, losing yourself or etc.

Management at Wheeler Congregate Care simply wants you to do your tasks, complete your paperwork, and not have an opinion.  Favoritism runs ramped, and rules are at best, a joke.
Bringing up concerns to Management is pointless and frustrating. They claim an open door policy, but in reality, gaslighting and accusations are the usual result. Upon hiring,  every employee is told that working some holidays is required.  What is purposefully left out to every incoming employee is that it is regular pay (no time and a half) and 4 holiday shifts are required between Thanksgiving and New years day (AKA, all of them. Say Goodbye to holidays with your family). Management gets all holidays off (every single bank holiday) , despite a rotating on call schedule. No call outs on holidays are allowed without a Dr's note. They don't want to be bothered.
Calling out sick with less than 8 hours notice results in guilting you into working your shift, however, all of these rules are applied in blatant unfairness, broken openly  by some staff and management, and weaponized against others.. It always seems to be the worst and laziest staff getting away with the most. This seems to be the only consistency with the rules. 
Caring is a detriment as an employee. 

Working here was one of the worst experiences of my life. I cannot emphasize how much my mental health suffered due to the unreasonable demands of this job. When I left Wheeler I had a caseload of 120+ clients. It is impossible to have a caseload that large and provide the care the client deserve and need. It is unethical!! Nevermind tending to the enormous amount of paperwork required, making outreach phone calls, completing intakes, managing daily crises, eating, breathing, and using the restroom. You will absolutely have to take paperwork home, see clients outside of your work schedule, and you will still feel as though you are not doing enough due to the demands of management. Documentation and policies changed without warning or notice making it difficult to find a rhythm or groove to working. Overall, if you want to conduct good and solid therapeutic services to people do not work here. I would also never ever recommend anyone attend services there (which is unfortunate because they have some really good clinicians and APRNs there). The company as a whole does not give a hoot about staff or their clients. 

Wheeler is led by an intelligent, savvy, personable, motivated group of women and men currently. I learned a great deal, experienced and participated in many great opportunities and was part of creating tremendous growth across my focus area.  C.HR provided wonderful guidance and support. They were very fair to me in general and I think it's a great organization to work for. Good benefits, terrific opportunity to reward staff and recognize them for contributions.  

They maintain a strong focus on the health and wellness of the patient with continual development of  innovative opportunities to connect more patients to the needed services in identified gap areas. Remain true to their mission. 

They are a highly respected, very motivated and responsible leaders in the industry; innovative CEO who is transparent, visible, communicative and accessible to staff.  BOD is fair, strong and respectful but also expects high quality, innovative delivery of services, and should. 

Informatics is quietly advanced in technology, security and education.
 
I am proud to have been a part of the strategic plan for my tenure with them and very thankful for the opportunities and experiences I had with them.  

A typical day of work consists of engaging clients, speaking with referral sources and meeting important deadlines. I have learned to be more efficient and how to really budget my time and energy. Our management team is great! I have truly liked all of the supervisors I have had while employed with this company. I have never met a better clinical team to work with! We all have great communication and try to help each other out in order to have everyone's day run as smooth as possible. I am a leader and will not stop until the job is done. The hardest part of the job at times can be the demand of certain things that are needed. There is also a lot of paperwork involved which I tend to see as therapeutic. It's also a job where you can't make everyone happy but I always do my best to go above and beyond for client's, staff and referral sources that I work with. The most enjoyable part of my job is knowing that I am helping people in many different ways.

The company and management will have you do tasks far out of your job description for meager wages and then gaslight you when you go to management to complain. I have worked in various programs and have found that this is a reoccurring theme across the company. If you value your time and sanity, do not work here. I am convinced that working here has given me trauma and workplace anxiety, as I have recently gotten a new job and felt highly guilty for using sick time and vacation time. Wheeler Clinic would deny my time or make me feel bad for taking sick days, whereas my new employer encourages both. 

Then there is the fact that they are only concerned about bringing in money. They are not concerned about the well being other clients they serve. I witnessed on various occasions management bringing clients into our program who were inappropriate for the program and it put staff and the client/s at risk.

Prior to the COVID out break things were OKAY. Post COVID things went downhill fast. Corporate and admin keep bringing in more and more kids, crossing cohorts, mixing staff and students from different rooms. Staff has not been given hazard pay while working with high risk kids who bite, spit and scratch when in a behavior. Staff turn over rate dramatically increased as a result. The school brings in more kids and the staff is not compensated a dime or properly trained to counter the influx of students. We are severely understaffed and our plights about crossing cohorts, high risk students (who typically get restrained), students who we cannot program for, are all ignored by corporate who sees the 80k each student's district pays. Thats it. You're a cog in the wheel here. 

My experience at Wheeler was pretty good up until the end. There were a few incidents which kind of left a sour taste in my mouth afterward. Overall, the direction of the agency is headed in the right direction. However, there needs to be more focus and attention on employee development. This new oversight in administration and management kind of has tunnel vision. They're focusing a little too much on the larger strategic mission and direction of Wheeler as an agency. Don't forget that your employees however, are the engine behind your success. In terms of compensation and benefits, they are just average. As far as the overall work culture, it isn't the worst but it isn't the best either. Certain groups of people can act a little bit cliquey and aren't always professional. For the most part my employment at Wheeler was okay.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Clinician 112 salaries reported	$59,786 per year
Recovery specialist 74 salaries reported	$21.60 per hour
Senior counselor 42 salaries reported	$21.61 per hour
Direct care worker 10 salaries reported	$21.00 per hour
Medical assistant 42 salaries reported	$21.48 per hour

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