Pros
The kids who are helped by ABA services were great to work with and the autism clinic is sorely needed. Mediocre free (institutional) lunch when working with ABA. The northeast clinic is a terrific space but the southwest clinic is outdated and crowded. Campus is nice with a playground shared with the "unit" kids.
Cons
Kids can be very difficult to work with at times. Technically we're "supposed" to get two 15 minute breaks during the day but that doesn't happen often because you have to ask another therapist to watch your kiddo and sometimes that's not possible. Some of the PMs are unprofessional and clueless as to the difficulty of the job they write "goals" for. You have to eat lunch with your kiddo and if you don't get breaks that means no breaks for the entire day. Lots of kids are transported by the therapists to the clinic and even though you get mileage, you still have to pick up or drop off at least one kiddo. You would think working with kids ages 2-6 would be sunshine and Carebears but it's a stressful job. If you call in sick with no PTO to take (or without advanced notice) you get points added to your employment status (ex: 3 points for calling in sick with no sick days available). When you get to 20 points, its game over and they show you the door, regardless of the reason. They seem to hire lots of non-native English speaking people from Africa with thick accents who are hard to understand. It seems Damar is more interested in getting disposable people on the cheap rather than offering career opportunities. I went through training but didn't really feel prepared or supported to do the job. As for Damar, they have recently sold their adult group housing to another company so they could "focus on other things" which I believe translates to "follow the money" which is in both ABA and other similar programs. The company is technically non-profit but they often parade well dressed, potential donors through campus to "see" what great work they're doing. They had an annual ball to raise money for the company and are putting on an EDM concert on Geist which is only accessible from a boat ON Geist. While I don't fault a nonprofit organization for going after money, it seems to me that Damar has become more focused on the financial benefits of caring for the disabled rather than staying with their original mission of serving the Indianapolis area.