Youth Villages reviews

I've worked with Youth Villages for five years as an intercept counselor (or intervention specialist, or whatever we're calling it these days). During that five years, opportunities for growth and advancement have been extremely limited because management and administration are built, almost entirely, on office politics, cliques better suited to middle schoolers, and women that clearly didn't get enough of being the mean girls when they were younger. If you don't want to play the game, you're never going to get anywhere. Frequently, the people in charge will have less education and experience than you, but they'll have better connections and social positioning, which is clearly what this company values. You will be expected to work long, long days without support, recognition, or compensation. You will be expected to drive all over creation to meet with families that may or may not want your help, and you may be asked to literally stalk these people if they don't seem immediately on board with services. Paperwork and deadlines are ridiculous, and again, don't expect anyone to give you help, or cut you a break. Just because you worked until midnight is no excuse for not staying up a few more hours to complete paperwork. You do have vacation that you can take, but you had better be prepared to work twice as hard before and after you plan to take off in order to make sure all tasks are accomplished and your clients are safe and settled, because no one is picking up the slack while you're gone. The bottom line, whether or not you like it, is money. Administration will endorse a lot of questionable ethics in order to keep clients, exploit insurance companies, and to make sure the numbers are still looking good regardless of whether or not they're reflecting reality. There is a very, very high value placed on sounding positive and being "strength-focused," even at the expense of admitting that some things are impossible to accomplish, that the job is stressful, and that the reality of some clients' situations means that we're not the best fit for getting them the help they need. Long story short? If you have absolutely zero clinical experience and you're fresh out of school, have no children or spouse or outside responsibilities, this isn't a bad place to start. You'll gain a lot of experience quickly. This isn't, however, a long term career option unless you're willing to manipulate your way into administration by playing the game. Get in, learn some valuable lessons, and get out before you burn out.

I would have to say that I worked myself to the bone. I worked 60 to 80 hour weeks. I worked hard and went above and beyond…I won employment awards. Eventually, I was like a supervisor helping with treatment plans, training and doing other task (not getting paid more though). I grew as a clinician. I got accolades from supervisors and others. Then I left and NO REFERENCE LETTER of ANY KIND. Make sure you network while you are there! NOTHING, they will confirm that you worked there and what role was defined by them. NOTHING! If asked why: company policy. They are the force for family at the clinicians expense: daily living, stress, compensation, clinical training, lack of support when things hit the fan. Sure they have a mentoring program for new clinicians…but surprise when you have been there six months you become a mentor. So roles are: clinician (got paid), training new clinicians, tx plan training, mentoring, “encouraged” to go to YV events that I had to pay for to increase morale, senior project, and other grunt work. The company mantra is “go above and beyond”, but it felt like selling a piece of you how therapeutically appropriate is it. I would literally be knocking on (felt like down) doors in order to get the family to comply. The management is always about getting other organizations to adhere to YV standards. I can honestly say I never did this and listened to what the school or other organization is doing and offered support. I never had a measurable disruption. HA! As long as they are home, break out the champagne. If don’t know why I am laughing and decided to work there, you will! When troubling things happens, management will brush everything under the rug. I think that the YV concept is good but just poorly executed. They want clinicians to be on-call 24 hours a day and some on weekends. I would here my phone ring even when I was not on-call. How appropriate is it. I have responded but lacked the training to provide adequate, appropriate crisis interventions. Trainings were mostly in house going over policies. Supervision feels like sometimes the blind leading the blind. I your supervisor who has been here 3 months just out of grad-school will guide you have been here 3 weeks. There was only one truly licensed clinician in the office. I have a master’s degree but also have other people on my team with bachelors. They have experience but I had about the same amount of work experience and still felt like the supervision is lacking. My consultant was eventually located in Tn. She/he would call in and speak to us. They would only focus on the treatment manual. We were behavioral specialist. Looking at the behavior mostly and not the root cause. I do feel like money drives them they got to keep that census up. But then again, budgets drive every company.