My job is really hard, not that any job is necessarily easy, but this job definitely meets "really hard" as an understatement.
I work as a therapist with families that have a teenager(s) who is legally defined as "delinquent." Because this is often their last chance before the state decides that out of home placement is necessary, the therapy I offer is VERY intensive.
I see my families several times throughout each week. I am in the homes working with the entire family (this includes primary caregivers and all the other kids in the family), I go to all the court dates, and I am in the schools working on improving their behavior there (most kids in legal trouble are also performing poorly at school or are truant). I work crazy hours - way more than the 40 hours a week I'm paid for. I leave early in the morning and I often don't get back until late at night. A big part of my job is working with parents/primary caregivers on their parenting techniques (because kids wouldn't get into so much trouble if they had rules to follow, consequences and rewards associated, good supervision, and had positive behavior modeled to them). This, as you can imagine, often leads to some heated conflict. I can't tell you how many parents don't want to parent ... its ridiculous. If you don't want to parent your kids, then don't have kids.
Anyways... I'll stop myself from that rant - because that could last forever.
With any taxing job it is important to add self care into the routine. Yet it is a struggle to do that when you are gone from early morning to late at night and only have time to eat and sleep in between.
So I do what I can.
This week I had a home visit near some stables. The family had some safety concerns regarding one of the kids, so I had to stick around the area in case it turned into an emergency (but I was trying to empower the parents to handle it - so I didn't want to be right at the home) and decided to fit in a few minutes of breathing time with this guy.
5 comments:
So true, it’s good to take some time for yourself. (And I TOTALLY have issues with parents who think they should be their child’s best friend, and not set limits or guidelines.)
Equine therapy is good for kids too. My farrier gave me a story on why a Father “Wasted Money” on horses for his daughter, and it pretty much rang true as far as I was concerned. It’s hard to get into too much trouble when your first priority is your horse.
Parenting is a tough job and too often people don't want to do it. They would rather let their kids do whatever they want or let someone else do their job for them. You must have a lot of patience. I applaud you for your work. And I'm glad you took a few minutes to think of yourself.
Love that your guy is breathing with you! Indeed your job sounds hard (working so close with teens and families is hard even when they're not in crisis, so I can imagine how much more so your work is). Always take a moment to enjoy, to breathe - -wonderful advice.
He DID brighten up my day and I'm so glad he did the same for you because you...dear woman...deserve it.
Wow. That sounds like an intense job. You are really contributing to this world though, by doing the work that you do. SO awesome.
I am glad you had some horse time to help you relax!
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