Pros
Lots of people with good intentions, met some people I really admire working with children. Supervisors open to my observations/concerns. Flexible hours, could work as many hours as I needed/wanted. Good place to "get your feet wet" if you haven't worked with SED kids or those with serious behavioral issues.
Cons
Pay did not commensurate with my education. (master's level) I was paid as much as someone with a bachelor's. Not enough education/training on mental health. Although a 'hands-off' approach to discipline was expected, I saw a lot of people using unethical methods of discipline with the children. It seems that staff was too eager to 'take down' an out of control child often making the situation worse and causing even more trauma to the child. Lots of mixed messages on how to do things. Not enough support for using the computer program to document patient behaviors. ALOT of mean girl clicks in staff making it hard to do my job. Favoritism by some supervisors. I worked both hospital and residential and found this to be true across the board. Organization poor. Relationship between nursing staff and BHC/BHT's strained. While I worked there several male supervisors were fired for inappropriate sexual behavior with clients and staff. Working at KVC was a lot of times like working at a huge high school! Professionalism poor. Supervisors did nothing to get rid of staff who were there for socializing instead of working with at risk kids.
