direct support worker

direct support professional

support worker

occupational therapist

registered nurse

Central West Specialized Developmental Services

This organization used to provide an opportunity to learn and grow. Now the goal is to keep your head down and avoid ruffling feathers so you don't get fired.

They have eliminated all of middle management, and released several talented people without a plan. Clinical services are suffering. Everything has gone down hill since the loss of the fantastic clinical director. 

The culture within this organization is incredibly toxic. Staff do not want to follow behaviour support plans or implement skill acquisition. It is a constant uphill battle trying to do anything clinically significant and with the removal of all of middle management, there is no one left to ensure accountability. It's a free for all.

 Getting yelled at by staff and experiencing constant questioning and undermining is not what I signed up for as a behaviour analyst. Managers question everything (even in front of staff). The pay is also significantly below what it should be given this environment and the level of expertise needed to implement intrusive management strategies like chemical restraints and physical restraints. It's frustrating to write a BSP and train it and then have it be followed incorrectly or not at all. It's unethical. On multiple occasions I spent hours training everyone on skill acquisition plans only for staff to decide the program won't be run for whatever reason. It's frustrating and really impacts what clinical services can actually be provided. This applies to OT and SLP interventions too. Staff do whatever they want and aren't held accountable. Some staff are phenomenal, and I did truly enjoy working with some teams. But these issues are still systemic and the handful of staff who are competent and able to complete their job duties did not outweigh the dozens upon dozens who could not or did not care to.

Management is unaware of what is actually happening in the homes. If they spent time within the homes they would see that people are not receiving adequate care. Instead of focusing on these issues, they send emails about project transform and work on changing our logo. What a fantastic use of money when the homes are falling apart, and the collective agreement still uses the 2020 paygrid.

I would not recommend working here. It's a huge liability for anyone who is licensed as a behaviour analyst or BCBA. You won't be able to create change or meaningfully improve the lives of people supported. Instead, you will fight with staff about actually following BSPs, or taking data, or calling 911 during a medical emergency. And then the manager will ask you why you didn't provide training or why you didnt support staff, because it's all your fault the staff didn't implement a BSP despite receiving tons of documented training. Everything has to funnel through the managers (e.g., requests to talk to the doctor about a recent medication change for a person) and if the manager disagrees it won't happen. It's hard to advocate and follow the ethics code. 

If you like to make change, and see it realized, working with multi-disciplinary teams then this is the place for you! 

We have a great team of professionally trained clinicians using their education to help make a change in the lives of the people we support within our community living homes as well as the communities that we support. 

The organization has a great benefits package (HOOP pension!) and for some roles, allows the flexibility of working at home or on site when needed. 

No day is the same as the last, and if you like that kind of environment and making lasting changes - this is the organization for you!  The culture of the organization is one that is open to change and seeing lasting change with the people we support as well as within the employees across the agency. We value and have integrated in diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the organization as well. We are an equal opportunity employer.

We live our Values every day: Adaptability, Accountability, Inclusion, Respect, Collaboration and Innovation.

Central West needs to establish a disciplinary continuum when addressing discipline. There first approach is always to terminate staff despite the staff tenure with the organization. I believe that as much as staff are loyal to the organization throughout all adversaries, the company should take that into consideration and be fair in their decision making.  Meaning, show some level of care to the staffs who given your company their all to ensure that your organization is successful.  Your management ability to proactively vouched for your staff for their unwavering work ethic is rather poor and so staff left feeling like they were just a number rather than an asset.  This circle of life entails a myriad amount of stress and so people's lives are stressful, having said that, Central West has no compassion, they don't have the, "Care" factor to understand the many issues their staff may be facing and if a mere mistake there first approach is to terminate and that is wrong especially in these times.  Central West upper management and HR department needs a complete overhaul on there practices on how they approach issues of disciplinary. 

Pretty poor taste to post about project transforming after 2 area managers are walked off.  Two area managers after 5 amazing managers and 1 area manager leave the company due to the way they were treated.  2 area managers who kept this place somewhat afloat after all these good employees went elsewhere because of “doing more with less” was your mission.  While money is being spent on consultants and CEOs getting 20% raises instead of comparable wage increases or finally having a union agreement.  If “project transformation” means turning defining programs like the geriatric and day service to garbage then congratulations.  Your front line staff are unhappy, you can’t keep good management or anyone in HR and all your “fireside chats” fell on deaf ears.  Positivity, inclusion and empowerment? For who?  The residents have no voices now.  It’s a good thing the majority of the people you support are non verbal since if they could talk they’d have something to say about how this place is being run. 

Hey, I’ve worked here for a while now and the one thing I can say is there biggest downfall is their commitment to staff. They will move you around and keep your work with the residents inconsistent and you hardly make any change here for the residents. We are expected to ONLY make the clients comfortable and as Behavioural staff we should take the responsibility of helping these individuals grow into an independent living but all I have seen in my time here are staff doing everything for the residents and if they make a complaint about you they will move you into a different house so they don’t have to deal with what’s going on even if the complaints are unwarranted they are usually not investigated or if they complain say goodbye to where you were because they don’t care if you were committed there and actively making positive change. I would not recommend working here long term.


I worked at CWSDS as a residential counsellor. I loved the clients I worked with. I learned a lot about how to beat support individuals with developmental disabilities who also have behavioural issues. CWSDS has so much potential, but needs to be restructured. Management is terrible. Anytime a client had a behaviour when at the centre and upper management was around, they would shut their doors and pretend nothing was happening. Nobody gets fired at this agency and they should. Many staff sleep on the job, go for LONG van rides, smoke weed while at work, choose to do absolutely nothing and they all get away with it. While there are good people that work at CWSDS, there are a lot of people who aren’t there for the clients best interests. It’s a shame because all the good staff leave because there isn’t any incentive to stay.

This is the worst organization I have ever worked for.
Management treats you poorly. The staff turnover is embarrassing. It is stressful constantly training new staff and dealing with crisis situations.
Supervisors and managers hide in the office and gossip. They do not support staff. They won't even pick up the phone if it's ringing and you're busy. 
Management doesn't support staff and staff have to complete duties outside of their role. 
 There are zero rules or structure. Safety for staff is not existent


Being in the social service sector means you should be creating the best quality of life for these individuals, and advocating for them. This company unfortunately is all about politics and not looking out for the best interest of the clients (unless they have a lot of money in their account). Management tries to silence those who speak up and advocate for people supported and only wants “yes people” to work there. I couldn’t sleep at night knowing the injustice I was giving my clients due to the lack of support from management when trying to give my individuals the best quality of life possible. You also pay for a union with little to no reps and they do not help you when you actually need them. 

No all house managers are awful but the organization is hindered by the top management. They are untrustworthy and unethical.

Senior management are complacent about poor performing or toxic team members as long as they make things look good i.e hide medication errors and lie on incident reports. They do not like to hear about issues and you will face reprisal if you tell the truth. I was asked to lie on reports and was ignored when reporting neglect.

Sad place to work due to neglect - saw way too much!! And those staff that make the sunshine list are the worst, they sleep on awake shifts and fail to do the job as they are too tired and uncaring to work

What is the best part of working at the company?
The pay and benefits. Quitting was also amazing though

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The enormous amount of incompetence, corruption and nepotism from management

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Lazy useless management got paid as much and same benefits as the hardest working front line staff. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Constant change, not enough workers, lazy supervisors telling you to do there task for them 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Direct support worker 1 salary reported	$25.17 per hour
Direct support professional 1 salary reported	$25.23 per hour
Support worker 4 salaries reported	$26.10 per hour
Occupational therapist 2 salaries reported	$43.33 per hour
Registered nurse 2 salaries reported	$36.56 per hour

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