The Rewards of Working in a Rehab Facility: Firsthand Experience

It all started when a buddy of mine from my hometown and I ran into each other at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri. Keith asked me where I was working, and when I mentioned I was "in the market," he told me about how he recently had been promoted at his job and they were in need of good male employees. I took the number and address and went to apply the very day. It took a few weeks as they had to run background checks and all the typical hiring process procedures (interviews, reference checks, etc.)

On November 6, 2007, I began what in all honesty to me would be a short stint to help my friend out until more qualified individuals were hired. I became a rehabilitation technician at Preferred Family Healthcare in an adolescent facility. The closest thing to working with teenagers that I had ever done was coaching youth league bowling and umpiring Little League baseball for a couple summers. This in no way prepared me for the difficulties of trying to help these troubled teens get through their addiction.

The first few weeks were rough as the clients knew I was knew at this and they took full advantage of me not being completey sure what I could and could not do for them. I also was getting very stressed out with certain individuals there to which I would jokingly say, "After this job...I think instead of having children, I'll just get a dog." It was extremely difficult (and still is) to stay neutral and treat all clients the same. I think anyone who works with kids or young adults would find it very difficult not to have and play favorites amongst the children.

As the weeks wore on, I came to realize that I was learning from them just as much as I hoped they were learning from me. Talking to them about their families and living situations outside of the facility, it finally sank in that no matter how bad I think I have things...there is always someone who is in worse straits. I also learned a lot about drugs from these children as I had never taken or experimented with any drug other than alcohol. The more I learned, the more I considered staying longer than planned.

Seven months into my stay, I have decided to stay with this company until I am able to find a career in my field of study from Lindenwood. I have been switched from the evening shift to the overnight shift where things are a lot less stressful as the clients are (almost) always sleeping by the time I arrive for my shift. It is harder though for me to have any interaction with the clients as I only see them now 6 hours a week at most unless I take on an extra shift during the week. The most difficult part of my new shift is staying awake. This is a major issue though as the facility houses both females and males and all that separates their rooms is a narrow hallway.

As you can imagine, there have been plenty of incidents where one client has gone into the room of the other sex. It happened once on my watch, and I felt worse about it than I've ever felt about anything work-related before in my life. Thankfully, nothing happened between the boy and girl other than a little chit-chatting. Other than a suspension and a little talking-to from Keith, nothing came of the incident as far as I go.

The main reason I decided to write about this was to let everyone know that if you get the chance to do something like this, I would encourage anyone to leap at the opportunity. It really is a lot of fun if you have enough patience to deal with the silliness (and at my facility, the low pay). As much as the kids want to pretend to be hard and bad...most of them are actually a lot of fun if you get them away from the other clients. That was probably the most surprising aspect of the job. It taught me that almost always, no matter what the circumstances...in the end, kids are just kids and that they just might need a little help. I can't wait till I become a father and get to help another child through the world.