Pros
Has changed my life - I’ve grown more assertive, compassionate, and self-aware here, and I have a better relationship to others as well as to myself. The work is meaningful - you’re actively helping people and offering support The work is engaging - you’re constantly active, problem solving, strategizing, moving, cooking. The work is not boring. Community - the place is filled with really kind, funny, self-aware people who are great to connect with and who want to see you grow and thrive. Management is great - the higher-ups in the company care enough to get to know you. They are kind, understanding, and accommodating. Time off - the job offers tons of opportunity to take long stretches of time off. Since you work every other week, taking one shift off means you have 3 weeks before you return to work.
Cons
Stress - working in inpatient therapy with reluctant/resistant teens is far from easy. The job requires serious patience and endurance. Also dealing with physical discomfort involved in living in the wilderness (getting drenched in storms, dealing with bugs, cold/hot weather). Also dealing with disrespect from the students. Work life balance - spending half of your time living in the woods with poor cell phone service and limited opportunities to contact the people you care about is hard. Also putting the rest of your life on pause to live in the woods for a week every other week can make it hard to have a life outside of here if you’re not intentional about creating one. Low diversity - predominantly white. I don’t think the company is at fault for this. I think Blue Ridge is accepting and non-discriminating. I think it’s due to self-selection. Outdoor/adventure employees, patrons, and hobbyists are disproportionately white in the U.S. A transgender person who trained but did not take the job told me that they’d had their pronouns disregarded and had been treated insensitively by one or two staff members here.
