Pros
Meaningful work assisting a population in need. Overall great co-workers: most (non-upper level management/administration staff) are smart, experienced and hardworking.
Cons
Agency/major program directors (Executive Director, director of mental health services, one adult coordinator) do not have the experience and/or intellectual capacity to perform the functions of a complicated job. There is an overwhelmingly obvious lack of strong, mature, well reasoned leadership throughout these highest levels of administration. Major agency function shifts and changes are made erratically, without consultation (sometimes seemingly by one person alone) or apparent understanding of the effects their cumbersome, inexperienced decisions will create for the staff and clients’ served. Hiring practices and promotions are exceedingly political. Your best chance of being promoted is if you’re married to upper level staff - or, better yet, by being viewed as someone who is easily micromanaged. Anyone able to think independently and autonomously, those able to express ideas and collaborate effectively with a group, people who demonstrate a noticeable competence in their field are all considered a threat. None of them outlast management. A general litmus test for assessing the overall strength and talent of individual staff members at the CSB is to pay attention to how long they stay. No one really good, and few who are in this work for the “right” reasons, last for very long.