Vantaggi
The Good: The workers: The workers at the residences are AMAZING. I had the pleasure of working with a great group of people who are deeply invested in helping the mentally ill population. They are extremely supportive and often go the extra mile to better the lives of their clients, and will even stay extra hours to assist their clients. It's a very team oriented work environment, so if you're ever having trouble keeping up with the workload or having a difficult time with a client someone will always be there to help you out. I also cannot forget to mention my supervisor, who is one of the most caring and compassionate humans I've ever met. Overall, I will forever remember the people I worked with at this company and find them all to be very inspiring. The clients: While my opinion on this may be very polarizing, the clients were one of the main reasons I was motivated to show up to work everyday. The population I worked with (schizophrenic clients) is extremely challenging and will test your patience on a daily basis, but at the same time working with this population is very rewarding. Many of my clients made marginal progress and struggled to accomplish even the smallest tasks, which at times was frustrating, but there were a handful that made great strides and efforts to cope with their mental illness. The clients really made the job worthwhile.
Svantaggi
The Bad: The clients: First they're sweet, then they're sour. As rewarding as it is to work with this population, it's also extremely challenging and will put you through a whole lot of stress. With severe mental illness combined with medical issues, many of these clients will decompensate and become symptomatic, so you will have to deal with clients in high pressure situations, which can be very stressful for some workers. If you cannot handle these types of situations, I'd look elsewhere for a job. Additionally, it is possible that your clients may engage in suicidal behavior or experience fatal medical conditions, so always be prepared for the worst case scenario. Unfortunately, you will often be doing damage control with your clients rather than actually making any sort of progress with them, so the job can be very discouraging at times. The workload: Be prepared to drown in a sea of paperwork. This job involves A LOT of documentation, and there's a ton of paperwork that's excessive and unnecessary but will have to be done anyways because upper management said so. As a result, it is nearly impossible to complete all of your weekly meetings with your clients and stay on top of your notes each week, so unless you stay extra hours (they don't pay overtime), you will barely be able to keep up. It's no surprise that the burnout rate at this company is so high and that workers feel drained very quickly. The Ugly: Upper Management (the peeps who work in Manhattan): Hmmmmm where do I even begin...you know when you're writing an essay in college and your computer crashes right before you finish it? Upper management is that computer. Every time you feel like you're making some sort of progress with your clients and notes, upper management slaps you with a new initiative or new document at the most inconvenient time that will completely derail your progress. They really make an already difficult job much harder than it needs to be. While they say they care about their workers, their actions (or lack thereof) say otherwise. They offer no overtime pay, incentives, bonuses, or rewards of any kind, just a pat on the back and some comp time here and there. Security is also a major issue at the residences, as we had a series of very violent events at our residence and no practical solution from upper management whatsoever. While staff and residents both agreed that security would help reduce violent incidents, upper management flat out refused to implement this measure for unjustifiable reasons, and suggested a bunch of other security enhancements, but never actually implemented them. It's all talk, no action on their end, and they make little effort to keep the workers happy. As a whole, upper management is an absolute joke. Should you take this job? Despite all the negatives, I would say yes, but only if you have minimal experience in the field. Overall, this job will allow you to gain excellent insight into the chaotic world of the New York state mental health system, and it really is a great learning experience. However, inevitably, your stress levels will skyrocket and you will take your work home with you, so if you are easily overwhelmed, steer clear from this job. My suggestion to you: get your year of experience and GET OUT. Trust me, don't wait any longer than a year. You will learn so much in the span of a year and there are a handful of other companies that work with similar populations and treat their workers a whole lot better. If you have a social work license or extensive experience in the field, steer clear from this job and look for better opportunities. Cheers.