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Emotionally Taxing Professions


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deux ex machina

Having a chat with a police officer recently got me imagining what it must be like to be in profession like that. Professions that can take a lot of a person.

 

It’s lead me to thinking about people that are/were social workers, police officers, firefighters, nurses, psychologists, and the like.

 

These would have to be occupations that can potentially take their toll on people emotionally (in addition to all the rest of it).

 

To those in fields such as these, I wanted to ask: how do you prevent taking the work home with you, emotionally – even after working with many people that are traumatized, vulnerable, or in extreme situations? On the other hand, how do you make sure you don’t become callous to what people are going through? Is burnout common in your particular field?

 

What are the ways that you have found helpful to maintain the needed professional distance, yet not become so detached you lose touch?

 

I imagine it’s a difficult balance to strike at times.

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Lauriebell82

Burnout is HUGE in the social service field. They have trainings on it all the time. Drug and Alcohol treatment is especially known for it's turnover rate of employees. That's probably why I got 18 interviews when I was looking for a job!!!

 

When I was doing addictions counseling it was especially taxing because I worked with opiate addicts. Hearing about their horrific experiences and the drama in their life is just plain exausting. The way I combated that was I would come home after work, sit in front of the tv for 1-2 hours and watch tv, usually a comedy to get my mind off work. I just needed to drain my head of everything I heard all day.

 

Some counselors have commented that it is depressing to hear people's problems, which is a huge cause of burnout. I don't usually get depressed, actually the opposite. I feel happy that I have been so lucky to have a wonderful upbringing and have everything that I do today. That in turn helps me to want to help them turn their lives around and feel the same way. Not all counselors can do that though, hence why burnout is so common.

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laRubiaBonita
To those in fields such as these, I wanted to ask: how do you prevent taking the work home with you, emotionally – even after working with many people that are traumatized, vulnerable, or in extreme situations? On the other hand, how do you make sure you don’t become callous to what people are going through? Is burnout common in your particular field?

 

What are the ways that you have found helpful to maintain the needed professional distance, yet not become so detached you lose touch?

 

I imagine it’s a difficult balance to strike at times.

 

most of my work is rental housing complaints/ concerns/ mediation. it's hard. i hear sob stories from people that for a laundry list of reason cannot make their rent payments or who have been taken advantage of by a landlord- and conversly i hear the same from landlords.

the hardest part is figuring out who is telling the truth- or getting partials truths and trying to create the whole truth for the case. only when i know what is going on can i truely assess and try and remedy the problem.

 

i have been at my job for 8 years, and every few months i am absolutley ready for a change! what keeps me going is knowing that i Do help people. i rarely get much thanks, but at times i am literaly showered with graciousness.

 

i do have a thick skin- i have learned 'taking it home' only makes me bitter and snarky. i think at my job myself and my coworkers provide each other with a great support system, what might dubbed as "bitch sessions" are really just helpful in-office vents and a good chance to debfrief.

 

part of the prob. in my job is of the 20-30 or so calls and inquiries i get each day, i would say less than a quarter of those are true cases of wrong doing... all the others are just people that are irresponsible and/ or just want someone else to take of their personal issues- something i will assist with, but will not do.

i get asked all the time to write letters, look over leases, answer legal questions/ or provide legal advise- again- i do not do that.

i do provide great resources for social assistance and i provide mediation. many times i become the "therapist" for people, just listening- offering suggestions, and other social service type work. my intern right now is a Social work major- and she tells me all the time that she learns more here at work than in school.

 

i have about a dozen of recurring people that tell me they just feel better speaking with me- of these there are elderly people and people that have some sort of mental or social disorder- and i am one of the only people that they can talk to that will listen, even if i cannot help, they tell me just that they feel better by talking with me.

i currently do not have a healthy outlet for the stress- in fact my outlets are very unhealthy- and i am determined to get it control.... starting tomorrow, seriously!

Edited by laRubiaBonita
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deux ex machina
Burnout is HUGE in the social service field. They have trainings on it all the time. Drug and Alcohol treatment is especially known for it's turnover rate of employees. That's probably why I got 18 interviews when I was looking for a job!!!

 

:laugh:

 

When I was doing addictions counseling it was especially taxing because I worked with opiate addicts. Hearing about their horrific experiences and the drama in their life is just plain exausting. The way I combated that was I would come home after work, sit in front of the tv for 1-2 hours and watch tv, usually a comedy to get my mind off work. I just needed to drain my head of everything I heard all day.

 

So you'd decompress, and have a routine that would put a line of sorts between work and home life.

 

Watching a comedy is a great idea.

 

Some counselors have commented that it is depressing to hear people's problems, which is a huge cause of burnout.

 

Makes a lot of sense. I can see how that can happen - especially because as it concerns addiction, as there's not a whole lot of definitively great endings out there.

 

I don't usually get depressed, actually the opposite. I feel happy that I have been so lucky to have a wonderful upbringing and have everything that I do today. That in turn helps me to want to help them turn their lives around and feel the same way. Not all counselors can do that though, hence why burnout is so common.

 

You can generate the enthusiasm for it yourself. I love that.

 

Thank you, Lauriebell.

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deux ex machina
most of my work is rental housing complaints/ concerns/ mediation. it's hard. i hear sob stories from people that for a laundry list of reason cannot make their rent payments or who have been taken advantage of by a landlord- and conversly i hear the same from landlords.

the hardest part is figuring out who is telling the truth- or getting partials truths and trying to create the whole truth for the case. only when i know what is going on can i truely assess and try and remedy the problem.

 

Having to get the info you need in the first place, much less trying to figure out if it's even accurate, plus all of the emotions involved has to be so hard to do.

 

It's like your job is three or more jobs in one!

 

i have been at my job for 8 years, and every few months i am absolutley ready for a change! what keeps me going is knowing that i Do help people. i rarely get much thanks, but at times i am literaly showered with graciousness.

 

That must mean so much. Especially when things get ultra-stressful on the job.

 

i do have a thick skin- i have learned 'taking it home' only makes me bitter and snarky. i think at my job myself and my coworkers provide each other with a great support system, what might dubbed as "bitch sessions" are really just helpful in-office vents and a good chance to debfrief.

 

Totally get it. Who you are around can make a big difference. Knowing that if things get too intense, you can talk to someone.

 

part of the prob. in my job is of the 20-30 or so calls and inquiries i get each day, i would say less than a quarter of those are true cases of wrong doing... all the others are just people that are irresponsible and/ or just want someone else to take of their personal issues- something i will assist with, but will not do.

i get asked all the time to write letters, look over leases, answer legal questions/ or provide legal advise- again- i do not do that.

i do provide great resources for social assistance and i provide mediation. many times i become the "therapist" for people, just listening- offering suggestions, and other social service type work. my intern right now is a Social work major- and she tells me all the time that she learns more here at work than in school.

 

That is a huge amount of incoming inquiries to work through, just to get to the cases that have any merit.

 

i have about a dozen of recurring people that tell me they just feel better speaking with me- of these there are elderly people and people that have some sort of mental or social disorder- and i am one of the only people that they can talk to that will listen, even if i cannot help, they tell me just that they feel better by talking with me.

 

Because you listen to them...there really are so many people in the World that just want one other person to know who they are and be "seen".

 

I think they know you care and treat them with dignity.

 

i currently do not have a healthy outlet for the stress- in fact my outlets are very unhealthy- and i am determined to get it control.... starting tomorrow, seriously!

 

Take care of you. Hugs.

 

Thank you, LRB.

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skydiveaddict

a friend of mine was an air traffic controller. He burned out at 45. I guess the stress associated w/that job is incredible

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pureinheart
).

 

To those in fields such as these, I wanted to ask: how do you prevent taking the work home with you, emotionally – even after working with many people that are traumatized, vulnerable, or in extreme situations?

 

Even the most trained professional cannot help taking some of it home, in some way, in some degree. Most of the time meds are used and alcohol. Whenever you can be responsible by a mistake that you make and someone looses their life, or is damaged in some way, or continuous tragedy, it is always taken out somewhere.

 

 

 

 

On the other hand, how do you make sure you don’t become callous to what people are going through? Is burnout common in your particular field?

 

YES

 

What are the ways that you have found helpful to maintain the needed professional distance, yet not become so detached you lose touch?

 

Retirement

 

I imagine it’s a difficult balance to strike at times.

 

Hi DEM, great thread topic!

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pureinheart
a friend of mine was an air traffic controller. He burned out at 45. I guess the stress associated w/that job is incredible

 

Oh wow...I remember when the ATC's were coming out of the closet as far as the stress involved...I forget why this took place, during the Reagan administration I think. My heart goes out to all of them....

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pureinheart
most of my work is rental housing complaints/ concerns/ mediation. it's hard. i hear sob stories from people that for a laundry list of reason cannot make their rent payments or who have been taken advantage of by a landlord- and conversly i hear the same from landlords.

the hardest part is figuring out who is telling the truth- or getting partials truths and trying to create the whole truth for the case. only when i know what is going on can i truely assess and try and remedy the problem.

 

i have been at my job for 8 years, and every few months i am absolutley ready for a change! what keeps me going is knowing that i Do help people. i rarely get much thanks, but at times i am literaly showered with graciousness.

 

i do have a thick skin- i have learned 'taking it home' only makes me bitter and snarky. i think at my job myself and my coworkers provide each other with a great support system, what might dubbed as "bitch sessions" are really just helpful in-office vents and a good chance to debfrief.

 

part of the prob. in my job is of the 20-30 or so calls and inquiries i get each day, i would say less than a quarter of those are true cases of wrong doing... all the others are just people that are irresponsible and/ or just want someone else to take of their personal issues- something i will assist with, but will not do.

i get asked all the time to write letters, look over leases, answer legal questions/ or provide legal advise- again- i do not do that.

i do provide great resources for social assistance and i provide mediation. many times i become the "therapist" for people, just listening- offering suggestions, and other social service type work. my intern right now is a Social work major- and she tells me all the time that she learns more here at work than in school.

 

i have about a dozen of recurring people that tell me they just feel better speaking with me- of these there are elderly people and people that have some sort of mental or social disorder- and i am one of the only people that they can talk to that will listen, even if i cannot help, they tell me just that they feel better by talking with me.

i currently do not have a healthy outlet for the stress- in fact my outlets are very unhealthy- and i am determined to get it control.... starting tomorrow, seriously!

 

You must be a social worker of some sort....well glad you can help people (sometimes) even with just understanding....and sometimes that is all it takes!

 

Retirement is how I fixed that problem...now I have a million others from the bad choices I made while being stressed out!!!!!!!!!!!

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I made it through 5 years as a Social Worker in my 20's. I worked as a counsellor in a group home for abused teenage girls.

That profession sucked the life out of me. The pay was awful, the hours were long, the rewards were few. When the toll of my work started spilling into my own personal life, I knew it was time to move on.

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gypsy_nicky

I think that if your profession 'taxes' you, your personality don't jive well with it.

 

I don't think profession is all about intellectual ability and the like. You also have to factor in the personality. Certain personalities are not cut out for the cut throat world of business and commerce while some cannot handle the emotional labor of being a psychologist/psychiatrist.

 

While some personalities are very laid back that the thought of working is just finding any profession that will happily give them income.

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iwanttolive
I made it through 5 years as a Social Worker in my 20's. I worked as a counsellor in a group home for abused teenage girls.

That profession sucked the life out of me. The pay was awful, the hours were long, the rewards were few. When the toll of my work started spilling into my own personal life, I knew it was time to move on.

 

My, I always thought social workers have one of the happiest jobs in the world. It's like so gratifying to be able to help others change their lives. I'm even considering that now :-S

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pureinheart
I made it through 5 years as a Social Worker in my 20's. I worked as a counsellor in a group home for abused teenage girls.

That profession sucked the life out of me. The pay was awful, the hours were long, the rewards were few. When the toll of my work started spilling into my own personal life, I knew it was time to move on.

 

Yep...in most cases some of these professions only produce a negative...ok like my councellor...I have started out saying, "man I hate to always tell you a bunch of negative stuff".

 

At least in my line of work there were some positives to it also...just very stressful.

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threebyfate

I don`t know about the rest of you emotionally taxing professionals but I wish my mother would go back to work as a teacher. I think she needs to be emotionally taxed! :p

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Lauriebell82
My, I always thought social workers have one of the happiest jobs in the world. It's like so gratifying to be able to help others change their lives. I'm even considering that now :-S

 

Social services aren't "happy jobs." Clients who need social services are usually in some kind of trouble or are having problems, therefore the profession brings starts out in the negative.

 

IMO it's what you DO with the negative of the job and how you deal with it. Some counselors/social workers like D-Lish just can't handle it the stress of it and leave the field. It IS hard not to take all that stuff home with you.

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laRubiaBonita
Having to get the info you need in the first place, much less trying to figure out if it's even accurate, plus all of the emotions involved has to be so hard to do.

 

It's like your job is three or more jobs in one!

 

 

 

That must mean so much. Especially when things get ultra-stressful on the job.

 

 

 

Totally get it. Who you are around can make a big difference. Knowing that if things get too intense, you can talk to someone.

 

 

 

That is a huge amount of incoming inquiries to work through, just to get to the cases that have any merit.

 

 

 

Because you listen to them...there really are so many people in the World that just want one other person to know who they are and be "seen".

 

I think they know you care and treat them with dignity.

 

 

 

Take care of you. Hugs.

 

Thank you, LRB.

 

 

Wow! thanks for the thanks! :love:

 

i truly appreciate it DEM!

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deux ex machina
Wow! thanks for the thanks! :love:

 

i truly appreciate it DEM!

 

You're welcome! :love:

 

One thing I noticed about the police officer I referred to earlier, you, Lauriebell, and others, is that many people I've talked to that work in these sort of jobs seem to have a good, sharp sense of humor. I wonder if there's some kind of significance there - because I have noticed a correlation.

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deux ex machina
a friend of mine was an air traffic controller. He burned out at 45. I guess the stress associated w/that job is incredible

 

Yes, I have heard about that! I've heard burnout is very high for ATCs.

----------

 

 

I don`t know about the rest of you emotionally taxing professionals but I wish my mother would go back to work as a teacher. I think she needs to be emotionally taxed! :p

 

I'm guessing she has a lot of energy. :laugh:

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threebyfate
I'm guessing she has a lot of energy. :laugh:
While I love, admire and respect her dearly, she's not the most restful individual to be with and yes, she's high energy with a no-nonsense manner.

 

Hang on...she reminds me of someone else. ;)

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deux ex machina
Even the most trained professional cannot help taking some of it home, in some way, in some degree. Most of the time meds are used and alcohol. Whenever you can be responsible by a mistake that you make and someone looses their life, or is damaged in some way, or continuous tragedy, it is always taken out somewhere.

 

Good points, especially as it addresses the need for understanding that certain jobs will be more stressful than others by their very nature - and the need to manage that stress in healthy ways.

 

On the other hand, how do you make sure you don’t become callous to what people are going through? Is burnout common in your particular field?

 

YES

 

What are the ways that you have found helpful to maintain the needed professional distance, yet not become so detached you lose touch?

 

Retirement

-

 

Hi DEM, great thread topic!

 

Hey, pure! Thanks for the post.

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deux ex machina
I made it through 5 years as a Social Worker in my 20's. I worked as a counsellor in a group home for abused teenage girls. That profession sucked the life out of me. The pay was awful, the hours were long, the rewards were few. When the toll of my work started spilling into my own personal life, I knew it was time to move on.

 

That's really key. You were there for 5 long years, and weren't much older than them yourself, really. You gave it more than enough of your time, so when you decided to move on, you could be sure you were making the right decision.

 

There's a point where the toll it can take in your life is just too high. Thanks, D-Lish.

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deux ex machina
I think that if your profession 'taxes' you, your personality don't jive well with it.

 

I don't think profession is all about intellectual ability and the like. You also have to factor in the personality. Certain personalities are not cut out for the cut throat world of business and commerce while some cannot handle the emotional labor of being a psychologist/psychiatrist.

 

While some personalities are very laid back that the thought of working is just finding any profession that will happily give them income.

 

You make a solid case that for anyone taking a look at their career options, what meshes with their personality is every bit as important as what matches their intellect. I agree.

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deux ex machina
While I love, admire and respect her dearly, she's not the most restful individual to be with and yes, she's high energy with a no-nonsense manner.

 

Hang on...she reminds me of someone else. ;)

 

;):laugh:

 

 

 

 

----------

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gypsy_nicky
I made it through 5 years as a Social Worker in my 20's. I worked as a counsellor in a group home for abused teenage girls.

That profession sucked the life out of me. The pay was awful, the hours were long, the rewards were few. When the toll of my work started spilling into my own personal life, I knew it was time to move on.

 

is the burn out rate high in social work?

 

Most of the social workers Ive met seem to have this empathetic nature to them.

 

What gets you in the profession, money?, the people? Both?

 

I've met some really screwed up people in life and IME they're very difficult to deal with even if your really caring and altruistic.

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vintagecat

Retired air traffic controller here. 25 years all spent working in busy to very busy airport towers.

 

It can be very hard to not take the adrenaline and the sense of urgency home with you. My DH and I would bust stress by doing very physical work such as gardening or home remodeling that required very little in the way of emotional output to balance the mental strain of the daily job. Strenuous exercise works in the same way.

 

We tried very hard not to do too much talking about work when not working and we both retired at the earliest possible time to preserve our health.

 

I can say that the job puts a dent in you regardless of how well one tries to manage stress, weird shifts, heavy demands on energy. What isn't apparent (the toll of the job) at 30, 35 gets real clear in the late 40s or early 50s. The secret is to manage the career. Take a break, go into a staff job or to a slower facility if need be, take care of health and family.

 

Same applies to other high stress occupations. Personally I don't know how social workers, especially those that deal with kids from bad families do it. I'd rather be up to my eyeballs in airplanes, bailing the air traffic ocean with a thimble, with a raging snowstorm creating it's havoc, having to pee like a racehorse with no break in sight than to hear some of those horrific tales. God bless those people.

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