behavioral specialist

behavioral consultant

clinical supervisor

superviseur

regional manager

VIVA Therapeutic Services

I don’t even know where to begin with how horrible it was working for AIS. It was an extremely negative, toxic work place where management and HR have clear favourites. There’s different rules for different people depending on how well liked you are. 

Training was very basic and didn’t cover how to deal with challenging behaviours, which will be held against you if your client engages in behaviours you do not know how to handle. Anytime you ask for help, it’s used as a “negative” on your assessment. 
  
Training was inadequate and no client specific training was done due to school transitions which meant that client programs were not introduced but were required to be ran. This led to inaccurate programming and then when assessed by supervisors it was held against me. If you try to explain any reasons why you are doing something the way you are, you are not considered a team player. Within a couple weeks of being hired (and still without supervisions on most clients) I was required to train new staff which I felt very underprepared and unqualified for. 

AIS will change your schedule last minute and without reason given, but if you request a change of schedule for legitimate reasons it may take months (if at all) to get that change which leads to working in difficult environments and burnout. 

No training was given on aggressive behaviours - whether it was self-injurious behaviour or towards staff which leads to injuries. AIS puts new staff with very challenging clients right away which also leads to high staff turnover rates and burnout. Supervisors have little to no time to give you additional help so you are often stuck work in poor work conditions until they can see you which make take weeks. 

They have lots of policies in place but don’t follow them. Eg., clients vomiting/diarrhea during a session, driving long distances during a snow storm, dangerous workplace conditions

Overall, a very tense, toxic work environment. 

Worked for the company when they switched to AIS from ACNB. Terrible KM policy, I hope you like driving around from place to place and seeing no money for it! 

Yearly wage increase is pitiful, but considering the fact you just need a grade 12 education I guess it’s an alright wage. They have decent benefits and 5 paid sick days. At least if your client is sick you don’t get cut hours but get to prepare materials for programs at the office. 

If you have issues with how a child’s home life is don’t bother talking to HR as they don’t care. If management would take their heads out of their butts would probably be a decent place to work, but head office is very impersonal. I guess with such a large company it pointless to learn everyone’s name?Shame on what you can see in a home and how HR and supporting people assist you. Hopefully that doesn’t bother you as if you get stressed the company won’t have your back. 

 Don’t get attached to any client since as soon as you see progress with them your schedule will get changed. 

Vacations are assigned to you such that you get a week at Christmas and in Summer, best plan around those vacation times as good luck getting other days off. Have fun working non mandatory statutory holidays as government didn’t fund them and company is too cheap to pay for them. 

Job has ZERO security. When clients go to school in September you may face a cut in hours or a lay off.

I was excited to join VIVA Fredericton as a Behavioral Assistant and viewed the opportunity as a significant career milestone. I approached the role with dedication, thoroughly completing training, reviewing materials on my own time, and preparing to contribute meaningfully to the team.

Unfortunately, my experience took a difficult turn when I became ill with a high fever and flu-like symptoms. Following VIVA Fredericton’s guidelines regarding staff illness, I attempted to seek clarification on whether I could attend training while unwell. Despite multiple attempts via phone and email, I did not receive a response.

To my surprise, I was contacted by HR and dismissed without discussion or consideration of the circumstances. I had invested considerable time, effort, and commitment into preparing for this role, and I felt that my dedication was overlooked.

While I had hoped for guidance and support in navigating this situation responsibly, my experience instead left me feeling undervalued and unsupported. This was deeply discouraging, especially given my enthusiasm and commitment to joining the team.

I hope VIVA Fredericton reviews its approach to employee support and communication, particularly for staff following their own health and safety policies.

I loved the job and the clientele. The Trainor was great , but training could have been longer. The supervisor's and team leads are all great and supportive. The person in charge of hiring is not very professional. Her superiors (HR) the people who run the company weren't any better very unprofessional. They have a very high turn over rate for employees and change the name of the company very often. That alone should tell you something about the company. It's actually kind of sad for the clients they don't get the proper help. When you first start working there it's all great until you really see what's going on. It's one of the worst job experiences I have ever had in my 22 years of working. It's sad because the clients suffer and they are the important ones the ones who keep the company going . The company puts on a good front , but after awhile some of the clients parents see what it's all about . It's hard because there isn't other options for autistic kids. If you want your kid to get what you think is help for there disability there is no other choice but to use this company as far as I know. Even if there is one other company Someone needs to open another company who services autistic kids up to kindergarten age. There is defiently a demand for its as VIVA has a waiting list.

This program has potential to be amazing and children with ASD need it, but it is run so poorly and unprofessionally.
People working at head office have no clue how to run each region. They treat employees poorly and make emotional decisions rather than practical ones. Head office constantly compares regions making everyone feel inadequate and causing resentment between regions.
They expect managers to deliver bad news/address most issues to parents and staff, which is totally appropriate, but then when there is a complaint (because there always is), the manager gets thrown under the bus and blamed.
The front line staff are treated so poorly and the turnover rate reflects it. They work in VERY stressful conditions and are under appreciated. 
Training at all levels is insufficient. And expectations after two weeks of training (for front line staff) is unrealistic.
Issues are not taken seriously or resolved by HR, but there is no one with an HR background working there, so that’s expected.
The team is amazing, but the stress, unrealistic expectations and empty promises (of raises and better work conditions) from head office make it a very difficult place to work.

The only redeeming part of the job is the kids you work with and getting to see them progress (sometimes). Had to drive 45 minutes just one way for a client each day and gas compensation did not even begin to cover the costs especially with inflation. Reinforcement items are sparse so you’ll ending up spending a lot of money of your own to ensure you have interesting novel materials to increase engagement during a session, as novel reinforcement items are required in most programming of course, but choices the office offers is very limited. One of my clients had a lot of challenging behaviours and broke my glasses which was not covered, and there was no training to deal with such behaviours. Ultimately, the children suffer from the high turnover rate in staff because the staff doesnt get adequate training and end up leaving; resulting in a revolving door of BI’s for the clients which is challenging. Reaching out for assistance to upper management does not help- I had team leads and BC’s refuse to go to a certain client’s home while BI’s were expected to deal with those working conditions. Can be a rewarding job but at a high personal cost. 

I have been there for a few years now and I can honestly say it is because of management that our turnover rate is so high. There is absolutely ZERO communication, in fact management (especially HR) will not even answer your emails or phone calls. This company does not care about their employees ... all that matters to them is that their employees act like robots and do what they say and don’t ask questions. If you fit in their cliques then you will be okay (maybe) but if not be prepared to be talked poorly about and very unappreciative. They have a “compliment board” but if you look carefully how many BI’s are there?? NOT VERY MANY! This program has great potential but if they are not willing to properly train their staff and not willing to support their staff then ultimately their services are not as effective as they should be. The children and families are incredible and I honestly feel bad that services are not doing them justice. 

This job is physically and mentally exhausting yet severely underpaid for the level of work required. Being a behavioral interventionist is a very hands-on role, but the company treats it like a standard 40-hour job when it should realistically be closer to 35 to support work-life balance. Leadership claims to support staff, but their policies are inconsistent and mostly benefit themselves. Gas reimbursement is below fair rates, and there is little flexibility when it comes to real-life needs—appointments, family, or even basic car maintenance. The clients and colleagues are the only positives; teamwork among staff is strong, but higher-ups create constant changes, drama, and stress. As a parent, you’re expected to prioritize the job over your own family. Unless major changes happen, this company will continue to burn out good employees despite the meaningful work with children.

I worked there for about a year as a BI, they were good at first.. but you quickly begin to learn that if you’re not part of their “clicks” you’re not important. They pick clear favourites. The BI’s were great between each other and a couple above but the rest had poor management skills. If you ran into a problem with a kid you’d have to wait weeks before seeing someone because they’re always busy so from example I was getting hit, head butted, kicked, and I didn’t get to see our Behaviour Consultant for weeks so I just had to deal with it. And as someone with a kid you’d be shamed for having to deal with your kids and putting your own children before work. They wonder why they have a high turnover and burnout but they just throw you out into the field with two weeks of training. They will literally hire someone who just graduated with no extra schooling. I could go on and on but I just don’t reccomend working with AIS.  

I liked Viva in the beginning. I had amazing clients and management. Then they started implementing a lot of changes, a lot of people got switched off clients or got a completely new team. I tried to give it a chance but the environment ended up becoming very toxic in my opinion. I also found that unless you were “in” with the company or sucked up to specific people you couldn’t move up in the company. I applied a few times to positions and did my best work just to crash and burn out. Then I seen the new position was taken by someone who was always sucking up to people. I also heard so much gossip from higher ups about us lower down workers. I ended up leaving because I couldn’t take the toxicity and burn out it was giving me. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Behavioral specialist 3 salaries reported	$21.83 per hour
Behavioral consultant 12 salaries reported	$64,324 per year
Clinical supervisor 6 salaries reported	$79,341 per year
Superviseur 2 salaries reported	$81,150 per year
Regional manager 4 salaries reported	$83,200 per year

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