support worker

youth worker

caregiver

travailleur social

licensed practical nurse

Strive Living Society

Typical day involves:

Outings with clients
Personal Care
Daily Journal Writing
Incident Reporting
Maintaining the cleanliness of your worksite

What I learned:
MANDT training provided
First Aid Training provided

Management:
I have a part time line and work with Adults in the Day Program and  Group Homes and also pick up shifts in their Children and Youth Services Department so I can compare and contrast management.

Adults - current manager, works hands on and trains new staff hands on but, I feel their 4 hour orientations are not enough. 

There was however another manager in the Richmond location who did a 4 hour orientation for me to work as a casual worker in a Specialized home in April 2016. After the 4 hour orientation, the manager actually worked with me for the full 8 hours of my first shift in this specialized home so I learned the clients personal care routine in the evening right away and also her typical routine during the pm over the weekends. 

I thought that this manager went above and beyond to help new or casual workers for his site. This is one of the reason why I kept picking up shifts in this location. Sadly, this manager resigned and was replaced by a newbie.

Childrens:

Managers do not train you hands on, they ask the senior staff to do their trainings without management oversight. This is ok I guess as long as you train with a good senior worker. However, we all know that not everyone is always good at their jobs even though they have been their for awhile which can lead to discrepancies in the training and no continuity of care.

The Hardest Part About Your Job:

Is Listening to staff and managers gossip right infront of the people we support. i.e. talking about the high turn over rate of staff and managers.

The Most Enjoyable Part of My Job:

Work Experience, you can use the skills you get here from Strive and use it as a stepping stone for other career opportunities within Strive or outside Strive,

I worked at Strive for 2 years. While the work itself can be meaningful, and the clients deserve proper support, the reality for staff is very challenging. Staff regularly deal with clients who are physically and verbally assaultive, with limited support or protection from management. Safety concerns were often minimized, and staff were expected to continue working in unsafe situations without adequate solutions.
Despite my commitment, strong work ethic, and dedication, I was eventually let go due to shortage of work. The way this was handled felt very discouraging after the time, energy, and care I put into the role.
There is a serious lack of communication, transparency, and support from management. Job security is unstable, and employees are left feeling disposable. I would not recommend this organization to others who are looking for a stable or supportive work environment.
I hope Strive takes real steps to protect and value their frontline staff moving forward.



This company is desperate for workers due to the high turnover rate. Management changes constantly, it started off with a yearly change but then it became almost every 6 months. Contacting managers becomes very difficult and confusing. There are barely any meetings or ways to feel connected to your co workers. The only time you will meet a co worker is either by training new staff, or if a manager visits for an equipment check. The children are absolutely the highlight of this job, they're wonderful and are in need of help but due to lack of training as well as management not always being familiar with different children, as the one to one worker you will be thrown into the fire many times. This job can be very stressful at times due to this. 

In short

Negatives: 
- Management is in disarray
- Managers also are not familiar with the actual kids as they are randomly hired from different organizations
- Isolating: there is no sense of community and you barely see your co workers
- Stressful: due to lack of knowledge regarding clients from management, you are not trained very well for each client thus creating a sink or swim situation for the worker
- 

Positives:
- You get to work with incredible youth and the job is very rewarding 
- Pay: you are compensated very well but it is hard to get a full 40 hour week unless you're in residential care. 
 
Overall my rating is a 2-2.5. 
If you want to gain work experience in this field as a student I recommend it but I warn you to not get taken advantage of by this company. You will be asked to do many things that are beyond your duties.  

What is the best part of working at the company?
It was a pleasure to have students with different challenges and circumstances for a short period.  It gave me an important experience. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Most of the assignments were for limited, often single, occasions. it consumed a lot of personal time in preparation for it, like geography, names, contacts, etc. addition to complications with establishing rapport with the involved people and with challenging child(s) during transportation.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Great!
Overhand client(s) were easy, often just pleasant, likewise, support of management was solid most of the time. Minor problems solved friendly. A positive attitude prevailed all the time. 


What is a typical day like for you at the company?
When received assignment after preliminary arrangement. documents of addresses, names, schedules, and specifics of the client. put all those in cellphone esteemed timing according to traffic and my knowledge of the area. If the client is already familiar with previous occasions, prepare some personal word or item 'for fan'. Making phone calls, if necessary.  Perform assignment.

The management team is incredibly disorganized and lacks proper leadership skills. I had to leave this company finally for my own mental health because of management and HR both lacking in their own abilities. I have seen politics happening from years and they will not remove the leading people behind those politics. Instead, if you would try to voice against bad by reaching out to the higher management and HR, you would be the one at their target then. They recently hired New Managers as well as Program Managers and let me tell you they are the most incompetent I have ever seen anywhere. This actually give me a brief idea that they don’t see any education and experience while hiring random people and positioning them at higher positions in their department. The previous Program Management was much more organized, competent and reliable. The turnover rate is so high at the moment because all the deserving ones are leaving and they keep replacing the positions with people that enjoy gossips around the workplace. I would not recommend this company to anyone looking for a supportive and fulfilling work environment.

~3 yrs of employment. Initial appearances were positive! Then came the micromanagement, negating expert professional opinions for a numbers outcome.  Eg: axe psychoeducational groups for a meal program. Quality of services compromised by quantity goals, staff turnover and unreasonable workloads. 
Very unsafe psychological environment, seemingly trickling down from head office. Tendency for using scapegoats instead of feedback to identify and address problems. 
You must be on the "good side" of upper management, do their biddings without complaint, or you will be the next scapegoat and your position will be removed.  
Casuals are constantly complaining they do not receive enough/any hours. Clients complain of staffing turnovers. Only good part was the clients and peer co-workers, who brough heart and hard work with them everyday.

Excellent job, excellent management, working with Strive Living was a personally rewarding experience that helped me decide to follow this path in life.  I was given a leave of absence from Strive Living to complete a university degree in Ontario, and met with family issues that prevented my returning to BC; otherwise, I would still be there.  I cannot think of a better way to live than helping others as Strive Living does.

Even though this writer worked specifically with adults and children prone to physical outbursts, i received excellent training and support by management, and recognition for effort. Sadly, a minor disabilty limits my ability to counter violence now.

I worked for this agency for over 3 years.  It is very apparent that there is a lack of leadership from the Executive Director and upper management which then leads to unfit front line leaders.  If you are not in the "inner circle" of the agency you do not have any room to advance and your ideas are not heard.  For being advocates for inclusion this is not modeled within the company therefore that philosophy of care is not passed on to the individuals served.  Many great coworkers at the agency however the management team and support is not strong. 

There are many other agencies out there doing a much better job of supporting their staff for the same pay and same work.  I would suggest looking at those agencies before signing on with Strive.

I am on the same boat with a lot of people regarding this company.  They make you go through a lot of trouble through the hiring process to make sure you have everything they want yet, pay you peanuts.  I just received my total of hours since they hired me back in 2023 and all l have made is about 1000 bucks. Ridiculous,  who can live with this type of job.  After l was hired l waited for about a month to see if they would give me hours and when there were no hours l had no choice but to try to find another job.  They want you to use your car and pay so little for mileage,  it doesn't even cover for the gas. They want you to be available yet dont give you enough hours to have a living salary.  
I feel like l wasted my time to go through all the hiring process and unpaid training... sigh....

Flexibility, great work/ life balance, frequent opportunities to participate in events/ expos/ fundraisers, training and educational opportunities, solid benefits, down-to-earth management, meaningful work helping individuals with disabilities. Ideas and feedback are encouraged, knowledgeable teams and managers. Employees are open to ideas, excellent teamwork. Open minded, honest, and friendly office culture.

It's inspiring to see the individuals we provide services to succeed and how our programs make a difference.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Support worker 42 salaries reported	$22.26 per hour
Youth worker 10 salaries reported	$24.96 per hour
Caregiver 5 salaries reported	$4,630 per month
Travailleur social 1 salary reported	$23.00 per hour
Licensed practical nurse 4 salaries reported	$29.77 per hour

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