youth advocate

social work supervisor

behavioral therapist

mental health therapist

program director

Youth Advocate Programs, Inc.

The building was disgusting, never clean.  The AC didn't work properly either - it was always swelteringly hot.  Front staff were so stressed all the time and/or inadequate (some didn't bother to do any work at all for months).  Training was poorly given and non-existent for some tasks.

My supervisor and office manager were not the brightest tools in the shed, yet seemingly had a lot of power in the company.  They were unable to provide clinical insights or genuine support of any kind.  They scrutinized the therapists' paperwork and tasks and demanded perfection, yet made the simplest of mistakes themselves.  And the trainings and supervisions they conducted were, quite frankly, a joke. 

There was constant pressure on therapists to complete a tremendous amount of paperwork, and to bill for more people.  Although they put on a façade of caring about clients, YAP really only cares about two things: money and compliance.  As long as you see more and more (and more) people, and you complete the paperwork correctly then YAP will be pleased, regardless of quality of services provided.

Don't expect to be paid fairly. They give a $1.00/hr raise after obtaining licensure, which is insulting.  If you're full-time, you'll make just a little more than a cashier would.  If you're part time, you'll make double that per hour if your clients show up.  But they don't.  No-show rate was around 40%-60% for most therapists.  Full-time therapists have to see at least 23 people per week.  Part-time staff can see as few or as many as they would like.

In addition to unprofessionalism, the management was very unethical.  They require clients who want psychiatric services to also have therapy services, which I believe is an ethical violation because it mandates unwanted services.  While YAP might justify this as well-rounded care, it's clearly a plot to get more money per client. 

After COVID hit, YAP demoted some to part-time so they could collect unemployment benefits while still trying to work. The no-show rates increased and the case loads decreased dramatically due to the population having poor access to video/telecommunications. My supervisor actually threatened to tamper with a therapist's unemployment benefits unless he started seeing more people per week, despite YAP not having a set quota required for part-time employees and benefits not requiring a set number of hours worked (UBs ask about pay, not hours).

Bottom-line: don't work here if you don't have to. The building is dirty and disorganized.  Management is unethical and criminal.  They don't provide adequate payment and don't care about quality of services.

You get assigned a client, a case- we call them youth's or 'kiddo's'; however, its pretty messed up to consider another human life, while your responsibility is to advocate on their behalf, merely a case... Your responsibility is to meet with them & their family if they're presently involved, get to know the youths & families and establish goals with them. These vary for obvious reasons, so just be present during each & every interaction and you'll do great. But imagine your youth is now in school during normal commercial hours because you've achieved your goal of getting the youth back into government indoctrination camp. Where is the time to see them? Believe it or not, pulling them out during school hours is a popular move. No hypocrisy there, but didn't we want to get them enrolled back into school? How about on their bus rides? I know, during their basket ball practice, oh- nope after they're home and it's the evening already & the family is about to have dinner perhaps, or shower to get ready for the next day, or engage in homework. But it's all about hours. Enjoy those long hours. This position claims part-time, but you will lend your very full time, energy, focus & attention to it, like you would any other just-over-broke & be compensated for very little of it. See for yourself is all I can say & have patience. My personal favorite was simply being private chauffer to the juveniles (no judgement, and their past is irrelevant to me; I just find it hysterical that this system rewards "bad behavior"). How does waking up, driving 40 miles one way to pick up a kid who's already late, taking him to school 25 miles away (therefore spending 30 minutes with the client) and then driving home after having discussed why mom was at home when you arrived, but just didn't want to take responsibility sound? Your miles, your time & your sanity. For roughly $40 (not including out-of-pocket fuel expense). If you don't have a family yourself, and hedonically love nihilistically celebrating the hydrocarbons this position is for you! Final words: Embrace the duality of life, the persecutions that come with having a j.o.b & incessant contradictions.

It's a job that enables one to have some money while looking for a career or while in school.  It should be noted however, if you tell them you're going to school or that you're looking for a career they will get rid of you sneakily.  After finishing my job assignment, I was left hanging 3 weeks with no explanation.  I contacted management in person who told me nobody was fired or layoff and gave some vague story about low referrals, another words, I still worked there.  (Typically you'll be assigned 2-3 youth which you must work around 14-23 hours per week with.  You'll average 2 youth a week unless one gets in trouble or sent away then you can cut your pay in half which is a bummer, and it takes about a week to get assigned a youth through referral and intake process.)  I  was pursuing career making more money elsewhere.  Management claimed they were supportive of my decision  and said they'd help me get into that career.  A few weeks later upon wrapping up my assignment I never heard from Youth Advocate Program again.  A few of us were treated this way.  Shady Management, but a good way to make some money on the side.  Very high stress job for what it pays.  You will feel like you worked 40 hours after 14 hour week very mentally draining.  Helping kids and changing lives is very rewarding though.  I have bumped into parents who thanked me for the good job they said I did, so I know I did a good job.  If you're struggling, going to school, or looking to find another job keep it to yourself management will stab you in the back.  I thought others deserve to know how I was treated.  Just some words of wisdom.  Don't expect to make a career of of this job.

I got hired right out of college and didn't need prior experience in field, just my degree. The training is great and you learn so much about autism at this job and jobs in the human service field. Job is working mostly with school-aged children, so if you don't like kids or don't have much patience this job probably isn't right for you. I loved working with the clients and helping them communicate and act more appropriate. The problem was getting everybody else (families, schools, etc...) on board with my job and getting respect. Another huge problem was your hours can get cut at any time b/c your client has medical problems, family doesn't want to participate anymore, government doesn't approve hours, school ends in summer etc...In the summer I had to get another job to afford my bills. While it does pay decent $15 an hour with client, all the meetings and paperwork are only allowed to be billed at minimum wage and they can't hire full-time. Also, you really can't move up without getting your masters. Sometimes you can have extremely stressful clients or situations. Luckily, they will work with you and I actually had to drop a very aggressive client because of safety issues. This job is very rewarding intrinsically, but comes with a lot of stress as well.

I enjoy working with most of the staff. My immediate supervisor is wonderful. A few months after starting at YAP, the program used with the clients changed to FCT. The staff was expected to learn an extremely intensive program remotely. The FCT program does not align with the mission statement if YAP. We are no longer able to assist clients in the areas they need help the most. Instead, our sessions with our clients consist of completing numerous FCT checklists of tasks and activities that do not seem to benefit the majority of our clients. Part-time employees are paid an hourly wage that varies; hours spent with clients is the only way clinicians can make a living wage. Time spent on paperwork, meetings, training, and supervision is not much more than the hourly minimum wage. If your clients cancel, the paychecks are slim. Full time employees are paid salary, yet there are many weeks/months when the part time clinicians work as many or more hours as the salaried clinicians for half the pay. Advancement is rare and the salaries are fixed. The salaried, FT clinicians have not had a raise in the 2+ years of working there. The best part of the job is the flexibility to create your own schedule. 

As an former employee, I learned how to improve my interpersonal skills with people tha were in nedd of strategies on how to deal with at risk youth tat were in foster care that had behavioral issues. I also learned how to multi task effectively with the volume of paperwork and reports required to produce about our clients in a given work week. I believe that management could have been a little more supportive of their subordinates when they have needs for tools need to perform their job more effectively instead of being visible only when there were crisis at a field office. I learned to work well with my coworkers in regards to us helping each other with community linkages to help our clients. The hardest part of the job was not being able to spend quality time with my family due to the scheduling of the sessions with my client andtheir availability. The most enjoyable part of my job was to see my clients reah their short and long term goals after the sessions and treatment plans I implemented for them had ended and they were able to function effectively with little or no supervision from my therapy sessions with them!

A typical day working for the YAP Program consisted of making a visit to the home of the child/adolescent and spending two hours with him/her working on treatment goals which were developed to achieve, maintain and sustain stability for child while in the foster care setting. Sometimes the child was taken out of the home for a portion or all of the session depending on how well child was progressing or if child needed some space to better express themselves. I learned that every child that is separated from their parent/s needs individualized help as they do not all respond the same to being separated or placed in a new home with strangers that play the role of their parent/s. Management was very helpful and ongoing training and weekly supervision was mandatory and vital to the success of the program/team. I enjoyed my peers as they all cared deeply about their role in helping these children during their separation, re-unification or even adoption. The hardest part of the job was seeing children getting adopted due to the parent/s failing to do their part to get their children back. The most enjoyable part of my job was seeing the children succeed.

My typical day at Indiana Youth Advocate Program (IYAP) would consist of reviewing all new, discharge and incident reports.  I input any data and processed all reports of new, discharged, incident and transferred child or foster parent within the program.  I organized and planned all trainings and meetings with parents and treatment coordinators.  

At IYAP I learned about the different services that the state provides for at risk children/youth that are placed in guardian homes.  I learned about grant funding for programs as well as state requirements to become a foster parent and/or advocate.  

Management was very helpful and knowledgeable about all requirements and classes that were available and needed for all parents and advocates in our program. 

My co-workers were friendly and helpful, if ever I had a questions or needed help planning and setting up trainings/meetings for foster parents and/or advocates.

The hardest part of my job was imputing reports of abuse regarding children that were new, transferred or discharged from our program.  

The most enjoyable part of my job was getting to see first hand children that were in abusive homes thrive in a new environments.   

A typical day working for the YAP, consists of working with the families as well as the youth who is trouble.  It involves working long hours throughout the day depending on the availability of the clients.  We check with guidance counselors, teachers, probation officers, lawyers, and any other outlets to check on the progress of the clients.  At times there can be miscommunication with management and co workers.  It's important everyone's on the same page, which can be quite challenging.  The hardest part of the job is not being paid for mileage until the actual client is in the vehicle.  Therefore I could drive 24 miles to a clients home and the client refuses services for the day or is avoiding contact and won't be paid for the trip.  Using your own vehicle makes things difficult as well being the increase gas prices.  The most enjoyable part of the job is making a difference in the clients lives.  Being a positive part, can help show them outlets to success.  The most rewarding is seeing the hard work you put into the clients, and them being able to function on their own becoming more self sufficient.

What is the best part of working at the company?
My co-workers were the absolute best! Not clique-y, most were willing to work together to make projects and other work done.  

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Lack of TRUE communication from leadership.  There always seemed to be emails or something coming from National or Regional leaders, but it didn’t really seem to be REAL communication.

There was also a lot of keeping trouble staff that had a TON of corrective action on their record, but no real consequences.  It was honestly demoralizing.  How many times can you move a person, give corrective action plans to (that are not followed) and them NOT be terminated? 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It is a good place to start a career or end it.  But you are not going to have longevity there.  The culture doesn’t support it.  There isn’t any support to help admin staff advance past what they are.  There is no tuition assistance offered as part of the benefits package, and then, benefits are only offered to salaried employees, not hourly.  And most are, if not all, hourly. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Arrive….Clock in….clock out….clock in ….clock out… go home… Repeat the next day

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Youth advocate 24 salaries reported	$15.88 per hour
Social work supervisor 3 salaries reported	$17.83 per hour
Behavioral therapist 1 salary reported	$40.00 per hour
Mental health therapist 1 salary reported	$52,500 per year
Program director 2 salaries reported	$75,000 per year

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