Pros
I’m a former National Operations Manager (2021 – 2024) at Lizard Centre and no longer employed by the organisation, my aim is to offer candid and transparent insights for prospective candidates. Lizard Centre is distinct from traditional ABA practices, adhering to 'Today's ABA'—a modern approach since 2000. The clinic leadership upholds evidence-based methods, ethical practices, and prioritizes client outcomes, reflecting international BCBA and Australian CBA certification standards. Despite the competitive landscape, Lizard Centre maintains the integrity of supervisory roles through judicious internal development and peer-stacked supervision structure ensuring the qualification and certification is not diluted from respective bodies. The company culture stands out for its supportive and adaptive nature, achieving a great balance between clinical excellence and operational management. My role was to ensure initiatives were not only clinically effective but also commercially viable and scale-able, aligning with stakeholder interests and stringent regulatory and ethical standards. I was proud to say that clinical excellence was met and maintained given the nature of environmental challenges with the sector and workforce. Between 2018 – 2024, Lizard Centre navigated through two major restructures and a subtle rebranding to stay abreast of market dynamics, the implications of COVID-19, and transitioning into a NDIS registered provider by 2023. The shift from a centralized service pre-COVID to home/community-based interventions post-COVID. Glassdoor reviews reflect historical issues, which I admit that some were valid at the time of comments. Nevertheless, Lizard restructured, re-developed and re-wrote policies, processes, frameworks and models to address public and private feedback. These range from the employee onboarding processes, internal training, support functions, marketing, relationship lines all the way through to clinical report structures, career pathways, caseload, employment contracts and employee wellbeing and benefits. Currently, there is a culture of continuous improvement across all business dimensions. The employment model at time of this submission is 3-tiered: 1: Executive Team; CEO, Client and Intake Operations, Clinical Director, People & Culture, Workforce Scheduling and Rostering 2: Practice Leads, Clinical Supervisors, in-training Clinical Supervisors, PBS Practitioners 3: In-home/Community Therapy Assistants Remuneration is on par with industry standards, accounting for qualifications, practical working experience, leadership and management experience (client:supervisor) and soft skills. While the industry contends with aggressive recruitment tactics to an emerging Australian workforce in comparison to the UK and US, Lizard Centre focuses on nurturing expertise and ethical practice over time, developing staff from within. This is evident with several employees including current Clinical Supervisors whom are close to achieving long-service leave. For Therapy Assistants / Behaviour Therapists: This is a worthwhile company to work for, where ethical boundaries are upheld, client outcomes are celebrated and the work is very rewarding with stable mentors and supervisors. All previous negative comments have been addressed fundamentally and systematically. See below negative regarding financial stability for consideration.
Cons
NDIS funding allows families to access services at Lizard Centre, but budget management is a critical issue and not within control of the service. There have been instances where families or Plan Managers did not disclose that funds were fully allocated, leading to an immediate halt of services to avoid financial hardship, as the NDIS does not cover budget overruns. This affects our 1:1 Therapy Assistants who may lose their hours without warning, despite upfront service budgeting and a four-week notice protocol. Therapy Assistants build caseloads gradually, which makes the role unsuitable for those requiring immediate financial stability of full-time employment. Peak demand is during after-school hours for children aged 4 to 16, while younger children typically receive services in the morning. Reaching a full-time schedule can take over a year due to limitations such as funding, client availability, travel constraints, and therapist availability. Clinical Supervisors must meet BCBA or CBA Certifications, this is attainable after 3 or 4 years of practical experience, supervised by another credentialed supervisor. There will be a career development gap from practical experience to the responsibilities of a clinical supervisor, amplified by a limited workforce. Leadership at Lizard Centre is well experienced across all business functions, but daily management tasks can overshadow long-term planning, affecting the progress of project timelines in the active service delivery environment. Some projects are contingent on another function’s project timeline before being rolled-out. Policies and procedures are sometimes seen as inflexible, particularly in comparison to non-clinical services, but the approach is to maintain professional standards at par with other Allied Health Practices and enterprise-sized organisations. This adherence to high standards, unfortunately, requires a more stringent operational framework. Travel burnout can be a factor, you will be expected to travel witih expenses reimbursed. This role is not suited for those who prefer clinic based. Travel burnout has been addressed through continuous improvement. I was on the project team to re-design the clinical caseload model and regions of each metropolitan capital city.
