Emotionally drained

How much do you work? Do you take vacation time? What do you do for yourself to feel good on your off days?

I couldn’t tell you if you’re burned out and need a break or if you’ve just reached a limit and need to try another job/specialty, but I know for myself that how I care for myself when not at work (and how much I work, OT burns me out so fast) makes a big difference in how I feel at work. Some specialties come with more secondary trauma than others and sad stuff in pediatrics can be especially sad (I work in a peds er and our psych patients have often experienced so much trauma it can be really hard to bear witness to that, to see how it’s impacted their lives, etc).

Have you worked other places or is this your first job outside of school?

I tend to start to feel burnt on a job around the 2 year mark, and often have periods of time where I just can’t connect with my work, but so far I’ve always eventually been able to respark what I love about my work.

On 5/29/2020 at 3:11 PM, HiddencatBSN said:

How much do you work? Do you take vacation time? What do you do for yourself to feel good on your off days?

I couldn’t tell you if you’re burned out and need a break or if you’ve just reached a limit and need to try another job/specialty, but I know for myself that how I care for myself when not at work (and how much I work, OT burns me out so fast) makes a big difference in how I feel at work. Some specialties come with more secondary trauma than others and sad stuff in pediatrics can be especially sad (I work in a peds er and our psych patients have often experienced so much trauma it can be really hard to bear witness to that, to see how it’s impacted their lives, etc).

Have you worked other places or is this your first job outside of school?

I tend to start to feel burnt on a job around the 2 year mark, and often have periods of time where I just can’t connect with my work, but so far I’ve always eventually been able to respark what I love about my work.

I work 36 hours per week and occasionally work OT. I have not taken PTO in at least a year because I've had to take off work for health reasons that didn't count at short term disability.

This is my first job out of school but I know I have a passion for psych. I think it's very much going to come down to boundaries. I feel like I carry the burdens and stories of each child. I definitely absorb the feelings and vibes of others. I should have mentioned in my previous post that I do have struggles in my past and I think that definitely affects me. But I know that I always need to work on myself in order to help others

Thank you for letting me vent ❤️

Trauma Stewardship is also supposed to be an excellent read and is on my book pile right now.