Stress Management Support Group
Stress management defines stress as a person's physiological response to an external stimulus that triggers the "fight-or-flight" reaction.Stress can be overwhelming. This community is for best practices in stress management.
Hi Everyone,
I am here because I am basically stressed out at my work place. I work in a vocational rehab for people with mental health issues. On a given day we as staff are working with 20 or more people teaching them social skills, helping them to find jobs, and basically caring for them. I have worked in this environment for the last 3 years. I have also worked in a group home for people with developmentally challenged issues, i.e. Mental Retardation for a total of 10 years. The people in the group home were high functioning and were easy to be with.
In the vocational rehab I am working with many people, many ,very needy people wanting a lot of staff's attention. I realize I cannot give all of these people my undivided attention. Many of the people who are mentally ill have acting out behaviors that even the most patient of people will eventually get burned out dealing with.
I am burned out and experiencing Compassion Fatigue. I have researched this on the internet and surely are feeling Compassion Fatigue. As a survivor of childhood abuse, i.e. sexual, emotional and physical at the hands of 2 foster families for 23 years until I married and moved out of state, I am certain as a survivor the stressors of work trigger me often. I have read that caretakers who experience Compassion Fatigue and were traumatized as I was, will be more prone to this condition. I also know that I am a very empathic person when it comes to others and their sharing their pain with me. I often times have cried with them. I now realize that I need to regroup, detach and take care of my needs in order for me to be an effective person in the lives of those I serve.
My question is "have others here experienced this in the workplace?
I am looking for ways to take care of myself while taking care of others.
The first thing I did tonight was call my therapist and set up an appointment with her. I feel in doing so I am doing something to enable myself to have a whole different perspective on my job and taking care of my need, to be at peace with myself and my job.
Any suggestions would be sooooooooooooo appreciated.
I am here because I am basically stressed out at my work place. I work in a vocational rehab for people with mental health issues. On a given day we as staff are working with 20 or more people teaching them social skills, helping them to find jobs, and basically caring for them. I have worked in this environment for the last 3 years. I have also worked in a group home for people with developmentally challenged issues, i.e. Mental Retardation for a total of 10 years. The people in the group home were high functioning and were easy to be with.
In the vocational rehab I am working with many people, many ,very needy people wanting a lot of staff's attention. I realize I cannot give all of these people my undivided attention. Many of the people who are mentally ill have acting out behaviors that even the most patient of people will eventually get burned out dealing with.
I am burned out and experiencing Compassion Fatigue. I have researched this on the internet and surely are feeling Compassion Fatigue. As a survivor of childhood abuse, i.e. sexual, emotional and physical at the hands of 2 foster families for 23 years until I married and moved out of state, I am certain as a survivor the stressors of work trigger me often. I have read that caretakers who experience Compassion Fatigue and were traumatized as I was, will be more prone to this condition. I also know that I am a very empathic person when it comes to others and their sharing their pain with me. I often times have cried with them. I now realize that I need to regroup, detach and take care of my needs in order for me to be an effective person in the lives of those I serve.
My question is "have others here experienced this in the workplace?
I am looking for ways to take care of myself while taking care of others.
The first thing I did tonight was call my therapist and set up an appointment with her. I feel in doing so I am doing something to enable myself to have a whole different perspective on my job and taking care of my need, to be at peace with myself and my job.
Any suggestions would be sooooooooooooo appreciated.
deleted_user
Yours is a difficult situation, and you probably know more about it than I do. But after reading your post, it reminds me of enmeshment issues. That is where your identity meshes with another person's identity and you experience conflict internally. You may want to read about practicing healthy boundaries. It's learning to say, "no" in a healthy way, and in practicing healthy boundaries, you will become more healthy overall. Just my initial thoughts.
jeanette474
Thanks for your reply livinglonely. I so agree with you about emeshment. I know that a lot of the empathy and compassion I feel towards the people I work with is a result of the pain I suffered as a child. I feel as tho I can relate to their pain. But in the process it is harming me. I am so aware of that. Presently I am back in therapy and my therapist is doing IFS Internal Family Systems, basically searching for those parts of my personality that are still blocked or taking over the parts that need and want to get back to the Self, the self being at peace and balanced. I believe that this therapy will unlock a lot of the stress that I might be creating myself without knowing it. Another step in my journey to be whole.
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