4.0
18 Aug 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook
Pros
Comraderie. Family oriented. Some great kids and rewarding work.
Cons
Stressful, frustrating, not enough support, not enough pay for the work we do.
Lawrence Hall Reviews
2.8
47% would recommend to a friend
Kara Teeple
66% approve of CEO
34% positive business outlook
Lawrence Hall has an employee rating of 2.8 out of 5 stars, based on 55 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Lawrence Hall employee rating is 25% below average for employers within the Non-profit and NGO industry (3.7 stars).
Reviews by job title
55 reviews
18 Aug 2015
LHYS
Anonymous employee
5.0
17 May 2017
Meaningful Work, Supportive Environment, Relevant Experience
Former employee, more than 5 years
Chicago, IL
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook
Pros
After graduating with my MSW degree, I was hired as a Therapist/Case Manager in 2011 and departed as the Director of Residential Services in 2015. I had the opportunity to do meaningful clinical work with young men who had a variety of different social, emotional, behavioral and educational needs. This experience assisted me in building a strong clinical foundation working with people who need support. As a therapist, I facilitated individual and group therapy sessions in a structured environment. Beyond therapy, I gained valuable experience attending client IEP educational meetings, family/criminal court cases and facilitating relevant inter/intra agency staffing meetings. I received clinical supervision toward my LCSW and had opportunities for relevant paid internal and external trainings. I was trained in Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI) and learned how to manage myself and others during crises, which are useful skills to have during crises which can and do occur working with a population of young people with significant trauma histories. This training has served me well during my time at Lawrence Hall and beyond. As an administrator, I had the opportunity to represent Lawrence Hall in broader industry meetings and work groups, which allowed greater insight to macro issues facing residential facilities and the greater social service community. I had the opportunity to work for and with people of high ability, character and integrity who have track records working in social services and do this work for the right reasons - to help this underserved population. Lawrence Hall is a great place to start a career, as well as a place to grow as a professional. Depending on your career goals, there are many opportunities once in the agency and there is always room for those of us looking to make a difference in a supportive and challenging environment.
Cons
I cannot list any specific personal cons while working at Lawrence Hall but can bring up some concerns I heard from others when there. People always want higher salaries. I found Lawrence Hall compensation competitive with peer agencies for the work done with generous paid time off and good health insurance. People have complained the work can be difficult, and it can be difficult. That said, there is support in place with regular supervision and management has an open door policy to address greater concerns. While the population can be challenging, the work is incredibly rewarding and I built positive relationships with almost all the youth I worked with while there. With the challenges comes growth and perspective. The challenging environment allows us to grow as mental health professionals and interpersonally as human beings. The skills and experience I gained working at Lawrence Hall set me apart from most applicants when looking for internal or external job opportunities.
1.0
21 Jan 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook
Pros
You are challenged to interact and try to bring forth a positive change in not only the clients, but also in your co-workers. You bond with your co-workers and clients through the struggles that arise.
Cons
This Older Adolescent Program is very disorganized. They moved me around without warning and the inconsistency between sites was nauseating. No one did anything the same way, so I always had to re-learn or learn something new altogether to be on the same page. All of the employees are either working two jobs or not giving a damn about doing a good job, so the motivation to be there was non-existent for me. Also, most of the staff was older people who, a lot of times, were either not able to or refused to combat the ideals that were instilled in them early in their lives and blatantly disrespected the clients because of their life choices, despite the fact that we have sensitivity training and the things they said sometimes had me in disbelief. It was awful. I can, but I will not complain about the salary because I knew that it was a non-for-profit when I started and non-for-profits are not going to pay well for what, at the end of the day, is grunt work. It is so funny how they made it seem like something so much more than it actually was while we were in training. Such a joke. Oh! And I was on probation for 6 MONTHS. No PTO (paid time off) that whole time. Good thing I never got sick. And good thing my friends understood that I was not blowing them off, but I just could not afford to miss or take a day off. I would not wish having to work at this place on anyone.
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