Pros
As someone who wanted to work in this field, it was a great introduction to doing this kind of work. It provided me the foundation of doing clinical work in a fast-paced outpatient program and inspired me to puruse graduate studies. I also had fantastic coworkers and supervisors who became very close friends of mine.
Cons
The pay was incredibly low. You're spread incredibly thin and asked to do the responsibilities of other positions like an administrative assistant. It was good that it allowed me to see how a mental health treatment facility operated, but it got extremely overwhelming at times with the amount of unsaid work that was put on you. There is also a lack of diversity that made for a sometimes uncomfortable working environment for POCs. Management was very top-down and sometimes incredibly hard to track down or receive support at times. Lack of communication and transparency was also a major issue during my time here. We never knew when a clinician or staff member was in, if they left for the day, if they're on vacation or not, etc. It left to awkward and sometimes aggressive confrontations with patients who were frustrated with the lack of communication. It's also hard to move up in the company if you're not going back to school to become a clinician.
