Residential Counselor. It was very fulfilling to help the clients, but the staff needs work.
Pros
I loved being able to help clients in any way I could, and it was very fulfilling when clients made it evident how much they appreciate you.
Cons
Sometimes (unfortunately too often) had to make medical decisions for the client, and that made me extremely uncomfortable, considering I am not licensed in any way to make such decisions. Medication management is a huge part of the job, and I always felt super uncomfortable because I felt like a nurse should be monitoring medications. By the way, THERE IS NO SUPERVISION. You are COMPLETELY ON YOUR OWN. there is an on call supervisor that is supposed to be available by phone or text if needed, but there were quite a few instances where the supervisor would not answer the phone, so I had to make a decision on the fly, and if it turned out to be wrong, I would get blamed for it, when really the supervisor should've ANSWERED THE PHONE. I did not like being the only staff on site during my shift. There should be at least one other coworker, in case something goes terribly wrong. I also feel there should be trained security onsite, in case a client gets physically aggressive and possibly dangerous. The lives of the clients are completely in your hands, and that's a lot of pressure. I will admit that I made mistakes during my time at Mosaic, but the upper staff often expected me to know certain things that were not common knowledge, that should've been explained to me when I was hired or during training, and I would find myself in situations where I truly did not know what to do. And again, if a supervisor is not answering the phone, you're on your own. Paid Time Off: often, having this benefit was useless because the majority of the on call staff are either college students who have classes during your shift, or people with other full time jobs. You have to "secure coverage" before asking your supervisor for the time off. It was a hassle every time. So, work life balance was often nonexistent. Good luck planning vacations. Note: the job description on Mosaic's site is not telling the whole truth about what you're about to get yourself into. If you're interested in this position, and get asked to interview, make sure you ask them to explain to you in detail what you will be doing. I did not do this, because I thought I had a good grasp on what I would be doing, and I was horribly wrong. For the work that I did, $12 an hour is a JOKE.
