Pros
Working with Presence Learning for 6 years now, I have had the ability to gain control over my schedule to make it fit the growing and changing needs of my work-life balance each year. This job has provided me a seamless transition while moving to a new state (by not having to change jobs), scale down my workload due to health needs, gear back up my workload when when ready and looking to take on new populations and challenges as a clinician, and adjust my schedule to also accommodate working in hospital and private practice settings to keep me up to date and constantly growing as a clinician. Working from home and having control over your schedule and say in the opportunities you take on, you have the ability to try out something new while not being limited to geography. I have found the leadership I have connected with at PL over the years likes to know your strengths and interests and feed into your interests with new opportunities. You also have the ability to create the culture and work environment you want in your own space, something that was always challenging working in a school environment, where the fast paced school culture of "always putting the kids first" can lead to overwhelm and burnout. The actual tech of this company has come MILES in the last 6 years with the growing and improving PL platform. I have used other modalities for telepractice and literally have no idea how other people are making it work without the tools and functionality we now have at PL to make therapy interactive and fun. The tech support team who help keep this system running are awesome....I actually look forward to reaching out to tech support because they are so great, although I feel like I rarely need them these days.
Cons
One of the beauties and challenges of working with PL is that each school year can be radically different- sometimes in a welcome way, and sometimes not. This challenge can come from the struggles of working for a company that in large part, exists to help support struggling school districts. Working with struggling districts can be a bumpy road with lots of ups and downs requiring a lot of problem solving, patience, and putting aside expectations of what/how a district "should" operate...they all "work" in their own unique way and you have to be open to that idea. I have had some great leaders that have made these years possible to get through, and successful. I have also seen some leaders that are so overworked and strapped, that there is no other way to be than to just "get by" that year. Being with PL for many years now, I have seen this company change and evolve A LOT. This can be exciting at times (yay for more sophisticated and faster platform and tech support), but also exhausting as a remote provider trying to constantly keep up with the changes in the management and structure of the company leadership and systems of operation, only to have them change yet again when you feel like you are just figuring out your new "go to" people and new systems. As a provider, watching this need by the company to constantly be changing, growing, and restructuring seems to happen too fast, without any time to really see and keep in place what does seem to be actually working, especially for clinicians. This leads to a lot of confusion and constantly asking yourself and your fellow providers, "So I can't remember, do we still do X, or is there something new in it's place now?" You really have to be self sufficient to seek out and find information. You'll be given help and resources along the way via email updates and occasionally Town Hall meetings, but overtime, things will change a lot and you have to constantly refresh yourself on what the "new" norm/expectation is, which can get confusing for both the new person and the veteran. Probably my biggest complaint is hourly rate. I feel like I have had to take a pay cut for the price of gaining flexibility and work/life balance. I also work per diem at a local hospital where my hourly rate is $7 higher than my PL rate...that is a HUGE difference. Both part time, both with the same basic level of CA part time benefits.
