frustrated

deadnothingbetter

i work at a mental health hospital. i get annoyed by how many times people come in. they come in for detox... not once, twice or three times. they come in maybe for about 10 times in a year and make it a habit, almost a career or hobby.

frankly, this frustrates me.... and it's nothing easy. i work saturdays and i hate it.... passionately. mainly because there are only two of us working... and for some odd reason people feel much better coming on the weekends which makes it worse. there are only two of us now and we have 4 patients with a possibility of 2 more coming in. it's ridiculous. what's even more ridiculous is that the patients don't get better. they don't, no matter what. with the exception of a few.

i want out.... my cousin had the nerve to call me a "wuss" for wanting to quit this job. i should've never listened to my friend in the first place about getting this job. it's nothing easy, plus you get involved in all this political and moral agendas. like for instance, a suicidal person who wants to end their life.... and the people who oppose the laws that are implemented on suicidal patients.

this line of work is bullshit plain and simple.

sorry, just venting.

Collin

I said it before, you should find another job.

It's pretty obvious you're not happy with it.

And I wouldn't say it's bullshit, it's just not for you, apparently.

Wookiee_Blaylock

Collin wrote:

And I wouldn't say it's bullshit, it's just not for you, apparently.

I agree.

deadnothingbetter

Collin wrote:

I said it before, you should find another job.

It's pretty obvious you're not happy with it.

And I wouldn't say it's bullshit, it's just not for you, apparently.

yeah, i know.... it's not bullshit helping these people out. i mean it's bullshit that our supervisor doesn't want more people working on saturdays for "financial" interests. it's also bullshit he didnt want to switch my saturdays to wednesdays when it would actually benefit the company much more.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

Get hopelessly addicted to heroin or crack so you can associate...


It will all become clear after that...

hippiemom

deadnothingbetter wrote:

yeah, i know.... it's not bullshit helping these people out. i mean it's bullshit that our supervisor doesn't want more people working on saturdays for "financial" interests. it's also bullshit he didnt want to switch my saturdays to wednesdays when it would actually benefit the company much more.

It's certainly not a bullshit career, trying to help people is never bullshit. But your particular circumstance does sound like a bullshit job because of the management.

There's nothing more frustrating than being given a job to do, but not being given the resources to do it well. I'd definitely say it's time for a change. And if you're the sort of person that likes to see immediate results, I'd say that working with addicts is probably not the line of work for you. That's not a criticism ... I couldn't do it either, I'd find it much too frustrating.

deadnothingbetter

hippiemom wrote:

It's certainly not a bullshit career, trying to help people is never bullshit. But your particular circumstance does sound like a bullshit job because of the management.

There's nothing more frustrating than being given a job to do, but not being given the resources to do it well. I'd definitely say it's time for a change. And if you're the sort of person that likes to see immediate results, I'd say that working with addicts is probably not the line of work for you. That's not a criticism ... I couldn't do it either, I'd find it much too frustrating.

i hear you... no matter what tho.... these jobs always fall under some kind of system which is primarily what i hate most about it, just like my job previously to this one. one of the biggest reasons i quit was because i was always feeling threatened about losing my job. and so i found a place which was a little better but little by little it ended up being the same.

and i know.... helping people is the best thing but it can be very very frustrating.... even to the most helpful person. everyone i work with gets frustrated from time to time. i particularly get frustrated on saturdays cos i hate working on those days. next time i'll make up something and say i can't work saturdays cause it's against my religion or something. j/k

lucylespian

Basically, detox does not work.
DRug addiction is not about physical addiction. It's about not having a set of non-drug coping mechanisms. That takes years to develop, once you realise that is what you need to do.
Also, you can't help people, people help themselves. Guiding poeple, and giving them space etc is one thing, but sooner or later or not at all, they have to step up to the plate for themselves and do their own personal hard yards.
Kinda like Bill Gates has to do his own gym work, bo mater how rich he is, no-one else can do that for him.
Drug rehab is a burn-out job too, you either quit caring, or you burn out.
Sounds like you have burnt out. Congratulations, that means you still care !!

deadnothingbetter

lucylespian wrote:

Basically, detox does not work.
DRug addiction is not about physical addiction. It's about not having a set of non-drug coping mechanisms. That takes years to develop, once you realise that is what you need to do.
Also, you can't help people, people help themselves. Guiding poeple, and giving them space etc is one thing, but sooner or later or not at all, they have to step up to the plate for themselves and do their own personal hard yards.
Kinda like Bill Gates has to do his own gym work, bo mater how rich he is, no-one else can do that for him.
Drug rehab is a burn-out job too, you either quit caring, or you burn out.
Sounds like you have burnt out. Congratulations, that means you still care !!

well, thanks.... that's a great way of putting it.

Indian Summer

Life's too short to spend it doing something you hate....don't go back.

deadnothingbetter

Indian Summer wrote:

Life's too short to spend it doing something you hate....don't go back.

totally....

but ask my friends and family and they call me a "wuss" :rolleyes:

norm

deadnothingbetter wrote:

totally....

but ask my friends and family and they call me a "wuss" :rolleyes:

well is your life or their life? rhetorical question, just making a point....:)

deadnothingbetter

cutback wrote:

well is your life or their life? rhetorical question, just making a point....:)

well maybe ironically i am a "wuss" not cause i want to quit but cause i keep listening to them.

norm

deadnothingbetter wrote:

well maybe ironically i am a "wuss" not cause i want to quit but cause i keep listening to them.

ha....exactly....time to sack up and do what you want to do...:)

RolandTD20Kdrummer

People in that condition are caught in an addictive embrace of misery and healing, so it is natural in order to help them it will suck a little bit of life away from you.

I could never do what you do. It would make me too depressed and weirded out.

69charger

deadnothingbetter wrote:

i work at a mental health hospital. i get annoyed by how many times people come in. they come in for detox... not once, twice or three times. they come in maybe for about 10 times in a year and make it a habit, almost a career or hobby.

frankly, this frustrates me.... and it's nothing easy. i work saturdays and i hate it.... passionately. mainly because there are only two of us working... and for some odd reason people feel much better coming on the weekends which makes it worse. there are only two of us now and we have 4 patients with a possibility of 2 more coming in. it's ridiculous. what's even more ridiculous is that the patients don't get better. they don't, no matter what. with the exception of a few.

i want out.... my cousin had the nerve to call me a "wuss" for wanting to quit this job. i should've never listened to my friend in the first place about getting this job. it's nothing easy, plus you get involved in all this political and moral agendas. like for instance, a suicidal person who wants to end their life.... and the people who oppose the laws that are implemented on suicidal patients.

this line of work is bullshit plain and simple.

sorry, just venting.

WWJD?

deadnothingbetter

69charger wrote:

WWJD?

probably heal them all without any medications...

lucylespian

deadnothingbetter wrote:

totally....

but ask my friends and family and they call me a "wuss" :rolleyes:

They proabbly thnik too much of the idea of committment. It's one thing to be able to see things through, but it's another to stick at something that is sucking the life out of you. I used to hate doing ward rounds on a Saturday mornig, and just seeing one patient after another with cigarette caused disease. I could just think that if they did not abuse themselves so, I could have been at the fricking beach.
I don't work weekends now, at all !!!!!!!!

deadnothingbetter

lucylespian wrote:

They proabbly thnik too much of the idea of committment. It's one thing to be able to see things through, but it's another to stick at something that is sucking the life out of you. I used to hate doing ward rounds on a Saturday mornig, and just seeing one patient after another with cigarette caused disease. I could just think that if they did not abuse themselves so, I could have been at the fricking beach.
I don't work weekends now, at all !!!!!!!!

ahhh, finally someone that understands where i'm coming from!

lucylespian

deadnothingbetter wrote:

ahhh, finally someone that understands where i'm coming from!

I spent most of last year remodelling my life so that I did not drown in it.
Mental health work of any sort is hard, and it's quite OK, to take a break and do something different. Sounds to me like you need to take that break.
Addiction work is not easy, and it does not sound like you are getting the support you need.
As for the family, well they either get that, or fuck em !!

deadnothingbetter

lucylespian wrote:

I spent most of last year remodelling my life so that I did not drown in it.
Mental health work of any sort is hard, and it's quite OK, to take a break and do something different. Sounds to me like you need to take that break.
Addiction work is not easy, and it does not sound like you are getting the support you need.
As for the family, well they either get that, or fuck em !!

good to know someone else worked in the same line as mine... cause usually when i talk about it or express myself, they think i'm evil or something. good to know you can relate to me.

soulsinging

deadnothingbetter wrote:

i hear you... no matter what tho.... these jobs always fall under some kind of system which is primarily what i hate most about it, just like my job previously to this one. one of the biggest reasons i quit was because i was always feeling threatened about losing my job. and so i found a place which was a little better but little by little it ended up being the same.

and i know.... helping people is the best thing but it can be very very frustrating.... even to the most helpful person. everyone i work with gets frustrated from time to time. i particularly get frustrated on saturdays cos i hate working on those days. next time i'll make up something and say i can't work saturdays cause it's against my religion or something. j/k

i say get out. speaking as someone in recovery, the people who try to help addicts while having never been addicted can't accomplish shit anyway. nothing personal. they just have no clue what it's like, let alone how to get better. the only professionals i ever respected and listened to were the ones who have been through the wringer.

deadnothingbetter

soulsinging wrote:

i say get out. speaking as someone in recovery, the people who try to help addicts while having never been addicted can't accomplish shit anyway. nothing personal. they just have no clue what it's like, let alone how to get better. the only professionals i ever respected and listened to were the ones who have been through the wringer.

you are probably ever-so-most-valuably right....

sometimes there are patients who don't want to stay and there's really nothing life-threatening or whatnot... but still are forced to stay at times, given medical reasons or doctor's opinions, so they give them court-order's and stuff. sometimes these order's are questionable and not always do the deputies agree with the doc's.

Indian Summer

deadnothingbetter wrote:

totally....

but ask my friends and family and they call me a "wuss" :rolleyes:

You're only a "wuss" if you believe it. I'd rather be considered a "wuss" by others but enjoying life to the fullest. You get to a point in life (usually after college), where you don't give a shit what others think of you....and I mean you really don't care, and you just do your own thing. What i mean about REALLY not caring is, that you don't give "stupid-shit-like-that" the time of day....not how a high school kid thinks they're "cool" by saying they don't care what others think (because at that point that's all they care about). You'll know what I mean when you get to that point.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

DNB...trust me..you're not a wuss...

uhmmm no...not a chance.,

Whoever said that, is missing a few hard facts....

hippiemom

deadnothingbetter wrote:

i hear you... no matter what tho.... these jobs always fall under some kind of system which is primarily what i hate most about it, just like my job previously to this one. one of the biggest reasons i quit was because i was always feeling threatened about losing my job. and so i found a place which was a little better but little by little it ended up being the same.

and i know.... helping people is the best thing but it can be very very frustrating.... even to the most helpful person. everyone i work with gets frustrated from time to time. i particularly get frustrated on saturdays cos i hate working on those days. next time i'll make up something and say i can't work saturdays cause it's against my religion or something. j/k

There are plenty of people other than addicts who need help. If you feel called to help others, I think that's wonderful ... it just sounds as though you might not be cut out to help these particular people. And I agree with soulsinging that you're probably limited as to what you can do because addicts will not trust someone who hasn't been where they are. I also don't think forced rehab is worth much, and if you're working with people who are there only to satisfy some court order, you're not going to see much in the way of progress.

As for your friends and family, they've got one hell of a lot of nerve. They've got their own lives to live, this one is yours. You'll be a lot happier and a lot more effective if you're doing something more suited to your talents and your temperament.

lucylespian

soulsinging wrote:

i say get out. speaking as someone in recovery, the people who try to help addicts while having never been addicted can't accomplish shit anyway. nothing personal. they just have no clue what it's like, let alone how to get better. the only professionals i ever respected and listened to were the ones who have been through the wringer.

Fucking crap !! I have met plenty of previously addicted counsellors etc, and they were fucking useless. Indulgent, ineffective, always bleating on about how much they knew, making excuses for all the crap.
You don't neeed to know what it's like to be a drug addict to be effective, you actually need to know how to live without drugs and deal with shit.

somebodyelsessky2020

first of all you have to love what you're doing to be successful at it. and no one can help everyone. it's impossible when dealing with addiction. helping just one person out of 100 is better than helping none at all. and trying is better than giving up. also you really can't work a job like this if it's only for the paycheck at the end of the week either. someone that cares alot for the cause and is willing to make sacrifices to try and change things would better fit this type of position.

deadnothingbetter

somebodyelse'ssky wrote:

first of all you have to love what you're doing to be successful at it. and no one can help everyone. it's impossible when dealing with addiction. helping just one person out of 100 is better than helping none at all. and trying is better than giving up. also you really can't work a job like this if it's only for the paycheck at the end of the week either. someone that cares alot for the cause and is willing to make sacrifices to try and change things would better fit this type of position.

last time i checked, everyone was in it for the money.... even the hospital.

sad fact of life, it's true. although i tend to agree with you and i strongly believe in what you say, the truth is when the music is over everyone is waiting for their big fat paycheck.

lucylespian

deadnothingbetter wrote:

last time i checked, everyone was in it for the money.... even the hospital.

sad fact of life, it's true. although i tend to agree with you and i strongly believe in what you say, the truth is when the music is over everyone is waiting for their big fat paycheck.

Actually, I really believe people do a better job when they are working for money, rather than for altruism. So, don't feel bad about that.

It's what your clients believe that is the problem here. You bust your slot, give them every chance, and they squander it time after time.
Personally , I give them one chance, and tell them that in the first interview, and if they blow it, that's it.
Occasionally, someone steps up to the plate. Most don't.
Your hospital does not care how many times they come back.

Seriously mate, it's really important to work out who and what any siruation is about. Best advice I ever got was "Don't let people make their problems your problem".
And for a bit of light relief onn the subject, grab the latest White STripes, and listen to the last song, "Effect and Cause".
PM me if you like, I have more than a tad of experience in health care, and especially in caring for health professionals.

bootlegger10

There is nothing wrong with leaving your job. No matter how nice or mean your bosses are, when push comes to shove the company and the dollar come first, no matter what bullshit is spouted by the top. There are things that you need to put above yourself (family), but your job is not one of them.