Supportive management and great team culture, but not for everyone.
Pros
I’ve experienced tons of support by my program manager, clinical supervisor, admin, and my trainer when it came to any of my questions and concerns. My program manager and clinical supervisor respond quickly to any messages sent on Teams and if they’re already in the clinic I’m in, they’ll pop by and model a trial, answer my question personally, or even help me when my clients experience challenging behaviors! I get lots of feedback and praise by my clinical supervisor and program manager when they sit in on my sessions for the last hour. They were always quick to reassure me when i felt unconfident or uncertain. Praise and feedback were always a given! I was constantly reminded to always ask first about something because they would rather you ask than guesstimate and skew data results. This isn’t something I’m used to, it felt like I had to beg the management of my previous job to give me support and feedback. Environment is young and upbeat. I also like to know I’m making a difference in the world. My previous management practically treated children in poor living situations as cash cows and I don’t get that vibe here at all! I also love my clients and find it difficult to call off work because I feel extremely dedicated to their well being and want to keep rapport with my client and caregivers as much as possible! The pay is decent for the experience I have and I was one of the lucky BI’s to score a 40 hr work week. My co-workers are fantastic! Theyre all extremely friendly and exactly the right people you would want to care for your children! The clinic is small, but they’re getting a much bigger one soon, which would be lovely for the BI’s and children to have more space from one another to prevent injuries. I was also provided a tablet which is extremely handy rather than being constricted to a small phone screen. As a final note, it truly seems like Intercare upholds their company values and lack of BCBA’s isn’t their fault. The child development and psychology field has been in a chronic shortage for a long time, which means now is better than ever to begin working in the field. I definitely recommend anyone with some experience to take this entry level position.
Cons
I was told I would only be sent 25 minutes away from my home. My eta on a good day is 45 minutes. It doesn’t matter as much for me, because I don’t think I want to go anywhere else as I really love the clinic I’m working at, but this could be a problem for others. It took a month for me to get assigned a client after training. How every BI starts out greatly varies. Some will have much more positive experiences if they’re fit in the right place, but other BI’s might realize at home leads to perceived lack of support when you’re just texting through a screen compared to supervisors being in the same place as you. Some BI’s are assigned more difficult cases than others, which can also affect work experience. Expect to get sick a lot in the beginning, but that just comes with job, so take your zinc and sanitize your hands and tablet regularly!! Not every BI’s first experience will be the same. My experience has been great, but others might be different. That’s not Intercare’s fault, just something to keep in mind. Central Reach will be confusing for a while. I consider myself tech savvy but have had a hard time navigating through this somewhat archaic system. However I know the company wide transferring of data from one application to another would be really tedious.
