Pros
I genuinely cannot think of one positive thing to say.
Cons
First off, the job description was incredibly misleading and did not give any proper insight to the actual unsafe and underpaid duties of this job. There was little to no training, guidance, or support from management before being thrown into a caseload of 30+ clients with mental illness diagnoses and substance abuse struggles. As a woman straight out college, I felt underprepared and unsafe on numerous occasions- basically every day. You will drive by yourself to some of those most crime-ridden parts of St. Louis with no preparation or safe-guard measures. They reimburse you for gas, but the thousands of miles and wear and tear you will put on your vehicle driving all over St. Louis (most days anywhere from South County, to downtown, to North County driving clients around) is not worth it. In addition, you were expected to see 3-5 clients in-person a day, yet management was not expected to see clients. Management DID expect for you to see them in-person, ONLY work 8-4:30 pm (no earlier or later so they didn't have to pay you more), find time to chart every interaction, phone call (with clients, doctors, therapists, pharmacists, etc.) , and so much more while you're spending at least 3 hours everyday just driving. There was genuinely just not enough time in the day to get everything done that was unrealistically expected of you, but my manager always had time to remind me I was not doing "everything" I was supposed to do in a day. Not even to mention that while you're with one client, you have 10 other clients calling and texting you and screaming and cussing at you for not providing immediate service to them (and you have to chart EVERY phone call with them, even if it's them just cussing you out, which takes up just more of your time.) Most days you will basically just feel like a taxi service to them. The verbal abuse and unsafe conditions you will face in this job is absolutely, under no circumstances, worth the laughable $17.32/ hr they pay you. I couldn't afford one-bedroom rent in St. Louis and had to move back in with my parents. The only reason I left my previous, livable wage job for this one was honestly to just get further experience in the social services/psychology field before applying to PhD programs. I endured this job for 2 months before I mentally and physically could not function anymore and I quit. I now do nothing in the social services or the psychology field because this job was that detrimental to my well-being. Save yourself the mental and physical anguish. You will be stressed, unsafe, unappreciated, and underpaid in this role.
