Eckerd Youth Alternatives Reviews

I worked at Eckerd Youth Alternatives full-time for more than a year

Pros – Saved up a lot of money, great perks and benefits
One of the most rewarding jobs... "character building"
A great opportunity if you can keep your head on straight

Cons – Poorly funded- a lot of shortcuts taken that could have been a huge liability
Understaffed- Often was the only counselor in a group of 13 fighting kids for 5 days at a time... then only had 40 hours off
physically demanding... sleep deprivation+breaking up fights all day+fattening food
outdated therapeutic structure...

Advice to Senior Management – change... it's the only constant in life.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Eckerd Youth Alternatives as a contractor for more than a year

Pros – The day you leave camp

Cons – Ahem.... the lying abusive chiefs, program directors they condone the abuse, the few chiefs actually there to make a difference where shunned like they had the plague...its best they did shut down before another child was accidently killed due to their lack of training...

Advice to Senior Management – Fire yourselves and help keep this place and others like it shut down

I worked at Eckerd Youth Alternatives full-time for less than a year

Pros – It feels good to make a difference in the lives of abused, neglected children and at-risk families. The mission and vision of the organization are awesome!

Cons – Terrible, micro-managing senior managers...worst I've ever experienced. Contract instability and low margins mean the company is very understaffed across the board...every day people are holding their breaths hoping for the best. Management doesn't care and Human Resources Department is a joke. A culture of fear and back stabbing permeates the organization, stemming largely from hot headed senior leadership who thrive on keeping everyone off balance.

Advice to Senior Management – If Eckerd upper management truly searched their souls,they'd realize they are a large part of the problems of the organization. Many of them are mismatched for the duties that are required of them and are self-serving sycophants who are collecting salaries comparable with the president of the United States.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Eckerd Youth Alternatives full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – The people who work in the field in entry-level positions are awesome. Employees come here to work with children and make a difference. The problem is that the leadership has no idea what they are doing, which only hurts the children.

Cons – The leadership in Clearwater is a joke. People who run non-profit organizations should not be making six figures! Youth counselors only make $20k a year and live out in the woods working 60+ hours a week. Members of the leadership team take home fat paychecks and have the option to work from home. How fair is that?

Advice to Senior Management – My advice to senior management, aka executive leadership team: Take some time to actually visit your facilities and camps. Instead of staying in five star hotels when you visit stay in the time off house so you can see what the counselors live in.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Eckerd Youth Alternatives full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Benefits are great. Perks with the job are great. It won't ever get any tougher than it is here, so everything else is easy.

Cons – Outdated clinical practice (reality therapy - long term residential)
Inexperienced entry level staff.
incompetent middle level managers who spend too much time in the office - Program Directors.
120 hour work week. 75 on - 45 on call

Advice to Senior Management – Increase the salaries to a competitive level.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Eckerd Youth Alternatives full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – I got to learn how to be an adult, I was a part of something special. I got to make a difference. TRIPS! Canoed the Suwanee river twice!

Cons – The new direction the company is going in. Executive management gives themselves bonuses while the company crumbles and loses money.

Advice to Senior Management – Get back to your roots.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Eckerd Youth Alternatives full-time for more than a year

Pros – Get to make a difference in the lives of kids

Cons – High burn out. Getting passed by for promotion over and over despite 10 years experience and a Masters degree. Pay is very low for this type of work - other companies start at $10k more a year. Two co-workers have become homeless due to lack of pay since I started working here. Management undercuts the authority of the counselors in front of the youth.

Advice to Senior Management – Promote from within, listen to employees and support them when dealing with the youth.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Eckerd Youth Alternatives

Pros – The kids and families I worked with. I feel that my services made a difference in the families I served.
Because there is little supervision there is room for creativity when creating sercvice plans.

Cons – When the hire a person they do not explain what the job entails. For example driving upwards of 200 miles A DAY. They state a 30-40 hour work week, but you end up working 45-60 and on weekends. You are on call 24/7 for your clients. When you leave no matter how much overtime, flex hours or pto you have saved up you will get none of it. Management conducts annyomous surveys that are not really annoyomous. There are several jobs available in community mental health that pay more and treat you better.

Advice to Senior Management – Management shoud listen to staff and be responsive. Our staff has asked for guidance, minimal advice on how to be more affective employees and recieved nothing. It feels, when you quit that you have nothing to show for your time there. I worked so hard for this company and have recieved nothing in return.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Eckerd Youth Alternatives

Pros – working with the kids and seeing the changes over time is a main thing. the staff can be great if you get time to spend together. If you like to be out doors and kids this is a great thing.

Cons – program director and director can be incompetent or basically just not care about you. the money if fine if they take care of housing but here housing was 30 miles away and they would not give a ride to the counselors that did not have their own cars(they had stated they would and did for a time). if you are injured it is seen to still do the work and take the pain, camp comes first no matter what. by sticking to Doctors orders and questions management you will get fired.

Advice to Senior Management – First worked in FL with EYA and program staff was amazing but at most other camps it is BAD and thus so are the counselors making the whole camp bad. the sad part was the great program we had were pushed out for newer people.

I worked at Eckerd Youth Alternatives

Pros – Some of the best reasons to work with Eckerd would be that you will have the opportunity to work with people from all walks of life. Including the children that will be served, there is educaion reimbursement available, and Eckerd has several resources available to make sure that the worker can efficiently see to the needs of the children and make sure that they get the best care possible.

Cons – The downsides for me working at Eckerd was gaining a love for the children and having to watch them be transitioned from home to home. Another downside was that Florida is one of the lowest paying states for Child Welfare/ Social Services. So, although you may work 55-60 hrs per week you don't get compensated accordingly. Child Welfare is definitely a profession that you have to have a heart for.

Advice to Senior Management – I would advise Management to go into Social Services for an overall interest of the Children and not how much money you can make. It'll make a great impact on the decisions you make while in management.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend