support worker

consultant

childcare provider

financial controller

adult protection specialist

Kenora Association for Community Living

KACL is a large company with many different programs. They support adults and children with intellectual disabilities and mental health issues and are focused on allowing all individuals to interact as an equal in their community by providing opportunities for personal growth. Working with intellectuals with disabilites has taught me to be more patient, open-minded and to never judge a book by its cover. It can be rewarding and also very stressful at times and is never predictable.  The Management structure is very odd and there can be a large communication gap between management (who are largely planning and paperwork with little contact with consumers) and the front-line support staff, although each program has it's own management structure. The workplace culture can be amazing, including weekly meditation sessions, lots of training seminars held in the local facilities or out of town. Potluck lunches, yoga.  Only many of these things can be less accessible depending on which of the programs you work in. The hardest part of the job is that the people we serve often have a plethora of health problems. There can be difficult behaviours to deal with, but mostly watching someones health deteriorate, or watching someone that you come to care about struggle, get sick, or die. The most enjoyable part of the job are the times when you see someone doing well, when they master a new skill, become more confident and more independant. The less a person needs your support, the more you know you are doing your job well

A typical day at work was like any other day but with detailed daily logs and a person to assist in performing their everyday tasks. I Learned not only about my consumer but myself as well. the importance of understanding and communication is of great importance in developing any kind of relationship. Co-workers were very inspiring and kind hearted. I felt as if they were there to serve the same purpose as I was. I didn't feel as if any co-worker was taking advantage of the job or salary but merely there to assist the consumer. Hardest part of the job was coming in and knowing the consumer them self was not having a good day. not being able to verbally communicate clearly how one is particularly feeling that day is frustrating, sometimes left feeling as if you are unable to help properly. Not only frustrating for the worker but the consumer as well. The most enjoyable part of the job was growing relationships with the consumers you work with. Growing with the consumer, building a relationship and figuring out a sense of communication between with one another comes with a very self satisfying feeling. A grunt in the early stages of introduction with a client becomes much more as you spend more time and get to know the consumer.

CSW Position 
Although pay is amazing, benefits are awesome, and pension benefits are outstanding, there is little room for advancement nor is there much support from direct managers. Staff shortages are the norm, causing many workers to stay for long hours with very little notice. Frontline Staff turn over is frequent and the companies idea of fixing this, is to move managers and supervisors around.  

Between 8hr swing shifts and expected OT (yup. You will be told that no OT is ever expected, but as soon as they are short staffed, they will remind you of contracts, obligations, and use 24hr housing as an excuse to keep you, well all managers happily put their jackets on at 4pm, leaving exhausted and frustrated staff to carry the torch). Much of the frontline staff is unhappy, risking the consumers that KACL houses, but as long as that ODSP funding is available, the higher ups will continue to turn a blind eye.  Work Burnout diagnoses are not seriously looked into, instead putting blame back onto worker (ie. "Are you talking to someone" or "what do you do for self care?).

a typical day is going through all previous logs of clients. Setting up any medication based on shift that you are on,( morning meds or evening meds), then you wait before departing for morning medication administration. Once this is done, you return to review any appointments that any client might have throughout the day. After that, you can attempt to make plans with certain clients for the day, and certain clients require certain hangout periods during the day. The shifts are 8 hours long, which gives you plenty of time during the day to make plans. Female staff deal with female clients and vice versa.   

This job is very mentally and emotionally draining.

Not a great environment to work in. management isn't up to speed with the ongoing city epidemic of drug use and violence. This made protecting the mental and physical health of staff dangerous and underprepared when dealing with front line crisis. I would recommend going into a field of psychology or social work as well having some experience in the field before working here.This will save you months if not years of trauma.  Its best to go into this working environment prepared for whatever the day could throw at you. It's always unexpected what could walk through the door.

As a disabled individual who works for this company, my experience has been terrible. I have had to go into debt for taking necessary medical leave and have not been able to get my accomodations permanently put in place. For an organization that promotes compassion, they are anything but compassionate to those who work for them. I have lost all my sick days and there is no way to get/earn any sick days. The benefits are atrocious... One visit to the dentist and my yearly coverage is gone... Terrible upper management...


99% of the days are positive; my peers make it an enjoyable place to work. There is a real sense of teamwork. The upper management is doing a great job at changing work culture. However, management at the mid level are not fully on board with the organizations message. Hardest part of the job is the level of oversight in my tasks. The best part is the options to continuously learn. 

I will definitely work at KACL again.  They are a well organized team oriented company who care for their consumers.  I was there through COVID and they continually updated their processes to ensure safety of everyone.

You can fast track to management/supervisor pretty quick.  There are some difficult things to see/deal with in the community.  Lots of supervisors.  Lots of corporate oversight.

Really enjoyed my years there. Management has changed to adapt to new work culture. Some older managers still remain though. Extremely well compensated

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Support worker 14 salaries reported	$30.46 per hour
Consultant 10 salaries reported	$66,595 per year
Childcare provider 3 salaries reported	$22.28 per hour
Financial controller 4 salaries reported	$72,664 per year
Adult protection specialist 4 salaries reported	$77,376 per year

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