clinical therapist

educator

lifeguard

youth worker

service administrator

Kinark Child and Family Services

Throughout my time at Kinark, I have had the privilege of working in several of our CYMH programs and also very closely with individuals and teams from across the organization.  

Certainty Kinark is an agency that is committed to high-quality clinical care for all kids and families receiving service.  There is a leadership and organizational focus on delivery of evidence-based services with fidelity to the model.  This is supported through strong clinical supervision, transparent feedback mechanisms and supportive clinical-team collaboration.  

The organization is busy - lots of new initiatives and there is a high work load expected of staff due to the complexity of the clients supported through service.  There are however, incredible resources to support employees with learning and growth opportunities as well as many opportunities to grow and work in diverse work environments and areas throughout the agency.  

Kinark is a great place to build a career, working in a team-based environment with a group of dedicated, talented and compassionate individuals! 

Fast-paced environment with a very high standard of professionalism and excellent support for and encouragement of evidence-based practice.  Case loads and presentation commitments were heavy, as were use of technical reporting tools based on excel.  Good opportunities for professional development were made available (actually mandatory) for all employees.  The hardest part of the job was the work load and logistics of traveling throughout a large geographical region, and managing to make it to appointments on time with unpredictable weather as well as unpredictable traffic.

Upper management are not equipped to manage the facility in Oakville. Recently, they cleaned house and it is now overseen by head office with little change that was anticipated. Unionized environment with few conflicts resolved before arbitration. Most of the middle management have no other experience outside of the facility and lack management skills. 
They have a problem in Human Resources Dept. with a relatively new employee that apparently lacks good judgement on decision making. 
Certainly, they will close their doors soon due to their stubbornness to see the ways of their errors. 
It’s not an environment for anyone looking for long-term employment. Most are quickly discouraged by reprimands before they barely get through the door and the turn over is most often from being fired for unjust cause. 

Don’t waste your time on such a miserable environment. 

Kinark has morphed over the years into a top down authoritarian model. The mental health stream is comprised of front line social workers and CYW's while clinical  upper management are psychologists who decide on the evidence based programming that Kinark will offer with little thought to the need to look at children and families who need a different intervention in order to meet their needs. Clients are expected to be motivated to complete the intervention and when not able to do so, the worker is to blame or the client is seen as "not ready: to do the work. Be prepared for this. Young workers can get quick training.

The manualized and cookiecutter treatment modalities do not fit for the population served. Parent involvement is a must when working with young children. Clients sit on the waitlist for 2 - 3 years, and when they are assigned a therapist, the therapists burn out trying to motivate and commit parents who have a variety of barriers to treatment. When solutions are proposed to commit parents at the front door, upper management will not listen to ideas of frontline workers. Workplace culture is very cliquey and gossipy. Mental health of employees is not supported, encouraged, prioritized, or reflected in benefits. Do not work here if you want to make a positive difference in the world. The staff turnover rate is all you need to know to run far and fast.

The KOC (Kinark Outdoor Centre) is a fun place to work and it's a very fulfilling job. Nice to have accommodations, however they are a bit run down (especially the summer cabins for staff). I also think we deserve more than minimum wage. 
Management was okay, some are great, however some just do the bare minimum, they need someone there whose going to take initiative and is willing to stand up at company meetings and be a stronger voice for the KOC

Kinark child and family services was my first CYW job. I’ve learnt lots and have gained a lot of experience. although there are difficult moments with the high need clients, it’s so rewarding. 

Although, I think they need to focus more on accepting clients they are qualified to help. i find a lot of the time they accept clients with more than just mental health. This makes it difficult for the CYW’s as it makes us feel like glorified babysitters managing challenging behaviours rather than a child and youth worker. 

The people that work here talk badly about clients’ parents that have their own mental health issues. They gossip and judge people based on mental illness, while working at Ontario’s largest children’s mental health agency. Hard work is not valued here, rather how well you fit in socially. You can outwork your whole team with paperwork, but if you don’t engage in conversation enough, you’re pushed out of the company . Even if you never had a negative work review they find a reason to fire you. Be careful if you have your own mental health struggles, because then you are a target and ostracized. Not everyone is equal at this company.

Love working with kids with cognitive disorders. Learned a lot and became really good at what I did but there was not job security. Only hiring on contract so no health or dental benefits. 

Had to leave because salary was not enough to cover cost of living and job was not stable enough to start a family. 

Coworkers were sometimes rude and clearly not happy. If you are not happy doing this kind of work, for the sake of the children please leave. Allow someone that truly loves doing this work an opportunity to fill your permanent position. Do what makes you happy. 

This organization will exploit your skills and good willed character to churn out projects on their behalf. This agency does not promote a positive corporate culture. there is no room for advancement if you are not connected directly to high management. There is no hope for equal industry standard pay for your work either.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Clinical therapist 16 salaries reported	$41.21 per hour
Educator 3 salaries reported	$17.50 per hour
Lifeguard 5 salaries reported	$18.10 per hour
Youth worker 19 salaries reported	$30.64 per hour
Service administrator 20 salaries reported	$36.00 per hour

Working at Kinark Child and Family Services: company overview and reviews

Kinark Child and Family Services

Kinark Child and Family Services ratings

Popular jobs at Kinark Child and Family Services

Salary satisfaction

Job seeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected