[Redway]

Originally Posted by Zizu

Well I’ve worked for practically 28 years supporting and working with autistic / Aspergers / disabled / MLD / SLD / SPLD teenagers and all I can say it that as rewarding as it has been .. it’s taken such a heavy toll on my own mental health .


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The most important thing is that you find somewhere right for you if you do work in care or healthcare generally, whether you’re there for a couple of months while you’re doing your Master’s or a bit longer (etc.). Some people are contracted to one place and either get moved on onto somewhere else or quit that particular post (because the place was too chaotic or unclean for their liking, or whatever) and go bank for places they’re actually comfortable getting stuck into a bit of work in and find it’s the best thing they ever did in that field. There’s no point working somewhere you feel uncomfortable when you’ll get paid the same in a place you actually like.

Some care homes can be very, very dirty so if you’re a bit of a neat-freak (at least when it comes to other people’s mess), that’s gonna take its toll. Working in filth only comes with so much willingness to put up. When your office chairs are covered with bin bags because the state of them’s that bad and that’s what you’re expected to sit on, a person has to wonder where the hell they’re working and if it’s worth it to degrade themselves to that level. Chances are, you ain’t paid enough to sit on bin bags. Everyone up to even Kim and Aggie can be untidy up to a point at times but some of those raggedy places are beyond minging. And ultimately people can do better. Unless they’re the sort of people who working in the most disgusting of environments doesn’t bother them and would happily eat their rice and butties off those floors. Me, I’d probably be out quicker than Barry White could say bass. I wouldn’t even eat an apple in there but I would find somewhere cleaner and more decent. Save having to run to Asda every shift for lunch. In places like that, support workers deserve to be treated a lot better than they are. Having to take on the lack of self-respect in the environment and let it affect you just isn’t sustainable long-term.

So long as you’re fulfilled doing what you’re doing and staying on top of your psychological well-being while you’re there anyway. You can’t let stuff like that take too much of a toll on your mental health because that wouldn’t exactly be fair on you.