Pros
Some of the best coworkers I've ever had, and maybe ever will, I've met through this place. I really enjoyed working on a team and interfacing with nurses and psychiatrists, that is a unique feature. While I was working full-time I got tons of clinical experience and supervision for licensure- (riddled with cons, described below) and there is an abundance of opportunities for picking up shifts in different units whether it's inpatient, outpatient PHP vs. IOP, different populations, etc. One plus is the increase in diversity in therapy staffing, this is only a very recent thing over the past 6 months to a year maybe. Work-life balance CAN be good in outpatient in the sense you're technically a 8-4/5 type of day, however when you have an overloaded caseload or suicidal patients and management doesn't want to approve overtime it gets tricky.
Cons
Reasons why you can always get shifts in other departments? Chronically understaffed and no incentive to hire staff. CONSTANTLY tell staff they are hiring however it takes MONTHS for jobs to be posted- the process itself requires an overhaul but when people are finally vetted and hired the last 2 years I've been here staff are given little to no orientation. This work falls on the current, already exhausted staff with no recognition and no pay differential (as they advertise, which is only $1 extra per hour). I've trained countless of employees and was consistently denied the opportunity to become a "preceptor" (where they pay would be official) but was often prompted and expected to still onboard and train new staff. Management will gaslight you until the end of your days, promise the changes everyone advocates for, and then be upset with staff for asking for updates. I'm extremely hesitant to make claims unless I am able to see proof of some kind- but I have seen time and time again those in leadership roles blatantly lie and behave in unethical, appalling ways. Policies are not followed in ethical practice, clinical therapists are consistently asked to take on empty roles and expected to do so without adjustment in initial workload. Supervision itself (if a therapist) can be a fight just to get a supervisor that will stay with the organization for the duration you need hours, depending on the other roles they juggle there can be constant rescheduling or cancellation. Some of that is normal, but in this space it happens more than I've seen in others. Benefits suck, no way around that. Over the past 3 months is the first time any of us have seen raises be approved, but they were very low and only started to make up for the abuse and insane workload. Sorry- "fast paced". The culture and values piece is funny, particularly when direct patient facing staff tell management exactly what is needed and they are ignored, told it's not something staff actually need, or are then self-identified as the "real" issue THEN management wonders "why is the culture so negative?" Look internally babes. Oh- and they advertise gender neutral restrooms but that's not available for outpatient and instead of making change they tell the patients to "use distress tolerance". NOT trauma-informed.