Pros
Can gain experience working in mental health and with clients Easy to get hired (especially if you are a recent college grad in the social services field and looking for work) Reasonable insurance plans Mostly able to create own schedule and work independently Money granted to each employee to pay for trainings of your choosing within the community Great coworkers
Cons
Awful management - puts frustrating and difficult to follow rules into place, seemingly cares more about making income than client care, treats employees as if they are disposable to the company, disorganized in the way issues are handled Your worth as an employee is based on making engagement, which can be extremely difficult to do, depending on the clients you have. When I did not make engagement consistently, I was repeatedly reminded that I am on the verge of being fired. This made me feel as though my top priority always had to be meeting a quota, not giving good client care. I found myself attempting to schedule appointments with clients, not because I thought they needed the assistance, but because I needed engagement hours. High client caseloads - my standard amount of clients on my caseload was 35 Consistently working in unsafe areas of the city (which isn't necessary a con for BJC, but speaks more to the nature of being a case worker) Low pay for the difficult work that we did, and no overtime pay as we were salary. High volume of tasks and responsibilities that you are expected to complete within your 8.5 hour work day (yes, a standard work day is 8.5 hours) High turnover rate Insufficient job training - I left training still not feeling as though I actually understood how I was supposed to help my clients, nor with any knowledge of resources to give my clients. Low company moral You must use your accrued PTO to take off on national holidays. There are no separate sick days and vacation days, which can leave little time to actually take off for a vacation. No advancement without a graduate degree I was constantly too stressed to feel as though I was able to fully attend to the needs of my clients