It was an impeccably quiet September morning for Coltrane and Zola, Christopher Bogart’s pets who by day moonlight as treatment dogs at his Darien office; a oasis of sorts ahead of time of the clamor of children who might get through that afternoon, a couple maybe who could utilize a friendly tail sway or two.
At The Southfield Center for Development, quiet and friendliness are in sufficient inventory — for those kids and teens, however for the staff who help them with any number of formative needs to defeat difficulties they experience at school or in the community.
Bogart, 58, has manufactured a culture that makes The Southfield Center the Hearst Connecticut Top Workplaces No. 1 champ in 2019 for little employers, with an eye on taking the edge from what can be an upsetting activity while helping staff kill the weights consumed by families.
Bogart established the inside in 2009, concentrated on the formative and treatment needs of youngsters.
He has developed The Southfield Center to a staff of 40 as the facility as extended in its unique structure on Old Kings Highway North in Darien. The inside as of late opened a satellite office in Wilton, close to the secondary school.
“We now have about 1,000 open cases and we have contracts with all the school districts in the area — Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, New Canaan, Westport, Wilton, Ridgefield — to provide either individual therapy services or testing services or consultation for staff professional development,” he said. “We take a lot of private referrals from doctors in the area.”
For the individuals who work at The Southfield Center, air is significant given the anxieties that they help youngsters and their families work through. From at an early stage, Bogart disclosed to Hearst Connecticut Media, he looked to fabricate a training that would bolster representatives similarly it did its paying patients, perusing up on the best way to manufacture positive work environment societies and choosing staff who notwithstanding remarkable capabilities showed that they would buy into those ethics.
“My professional career has given me the opportunity to work in many different places and I have held many different roles in those organizations,” expressed Gina Bria, business manager for The Southfield Center, in an email depicting the intrigue of the facility as a workplace. “Everyone is dealing with a lot of difficult or sensitive issues but they never lose sight of doing what is best for the client and being respectful to their colleagues. … It is amazing to me that my colleagues deal with all of this and are able to stop and say hello and share a laugh or two. We all actually care about one another.”
The Southfield Center’s advantages incorporate an approach of boundless downtime for representatives that need it, with staff averaging a month and a half of vacation a year. For remuneration, Bogart said The Southfield Center offers ordinary compensation in the 80th percentile of companion rehearses, with workers getting opportunities for rewards that can push them to the highest point of their job classification locally.
Bogart depicts the company as somewhat a result of his upbringing.
“By the time I came along I think my parents were exhausted, and I had a lot of freedom as a child and developed a very independent, entrepreneurial spirit, and I think that has played into my career,” Bogart said. “I think my influence for becoming a psychologist was my mother. I was exposed to a lot of kids with learning disabilities, kids with issues growing up. … I was very sensitive to kids with learning disabilities from an early age, and I myself ended up having a lot of identified issues with tension and focus and executive function.”
In Darien, it is a lively scene that welcomes patients and guests, with energetic designs trimming the lobby yet in addition a quieting atmosphere, directly down to Bogart’s pet dogs in his office who are prepared to give treatment companionship.
“We actually had a patient who would bring her bearded dragon in for everyone to see,” Bogart reviewed. “There was a bearded dragon in our presence for quite some time.”