saltwater09

Hey, just bumpin this post for someone but figured I'd update incase anyone is curious or needing inspiration for their job search. I've been working as a STNA at a LTC facility for a little over a year and they just offered me a part time LPN position. It's only 1-2 twelves a week but it's a start. Jott, your mention of 'starting fresh in another career' was taken seriously by me! I'm getting ready to send in my OSU application, I'm considering majoring in either aerospace engineering or physics. To be honest, I think this whole mess with my nursing license was the kick in the back I needed! I went to LPN school for, what I now recognize to be, the wrong reasons(money and short education, mostly), not because I really wanted to be a nurse. It's quite interesting when I look at my past, actually. I was looking up my high school transcripts and ran into those 'career planner' sheets we had to fill out in high school. I had such high hopes for myself before I got into drugs: Career Goals for freshman year "Air force, PhD in astrophysics, work for NASA" to a "NONE" after I started getting high. I didn't even fill them out the last couple years after that. And my GPA, ack! Dropped 1.5 points after I started smoking. If I had only known then... ah well, live, learn, and move on!

There's a post a page or so down titled 'ohio board alternative program' that has some good suggestions in it. You might check it out. Actually, I'll bump it for you so it should be at the top somewhere.

oh, I also wanted to ask, where is this AA meeting for nurses? I know of nothing like that around where I live, But I don't mind a drive every once in a while.

I feel you on the new career possibility. Even without the narc restrc, it seems like anyone in HR is looking at it from the perspective of "Do I want everyone to know I hired a drug addict to work for us???". Of course, it's always vocalized in a very professional, tactful, "keep up the good work, but, not here!" kind of way which is, although slighly encouraging, still unbearably depressing at points. It seems to me it should work the opposite way that it really does. Like, look: I get random drug testing up to 20x a year, at least you KNOW I won't be using, unlike every other nurse that walks in here, passes a pre employment urine, then does as they please. But then again, I never manage to present that in an interview. The pressure is on and I just start blurting out all these 'restrictions and requirements' of my situation and it never sounds like a positive thing. It usually goes something like: "Oh, those gaps in my employment history? Well....(pulls out list of guidelines)... see, I kinda got screwed up on drugs a few years ago and well, I can't pass narcs, etc. etc." That's a slight exxageration but the basic points are the same. So, yeah, it's a daily battle with me just going to work if what I'm doing is even worth it.

Does anyone have suggestions for employment opportunities that don't require controlled substance administration? I finally brokedown and started hitting up Dr.offices and went to an interview at a urology practice and, lo and behold, they JUST started doing surgeries onsite so administering fentanyl is part of the job description. Anyway, I can request to have the narc restrc lifted after 6 months of employement. However, I have been turned down in every interview I've been in because controlled substance admin is part of the job description. I have worked for a LTC facility as a STNA for a year, and they even turned me down in favor of a new grad that had only been there as a STNA for a few months. That stings. Feel free to let the honest opinions fly. Are nurses in addiction recovery really looked down upon because of their past, or is it just a hassle with the narc restc that people don't want to work around? I've been getting so frustrated lately and considering pursuing a different career entirely. I'm so sick of my past following me to every job interview I go to. I can feel the atmosphere of the interview change when I start listing off all these restrictions and requirements I have and I get labeled "high maintenance liability". What really bothers me about this whole situation is that in a moment of brilliance after getting clean (almost 18 months ago) I decided I should "Do Things the Right Way", and called up the OBN and put in my application for the alternative program for chemical dependency a couple weeks later. So this challenge is of my own construction, and now I am not sure which way to go.

Is anyone else involved in this program? Just got my license returned a couple months ago and watching someone go from happy and excited to see me at an interview to a look of terror as I tell them I'm in addiction recovery is really discouraging. I'm really looking for support from nurses in this program that are actually employed. I'm really getting sick of being turned down in the few interviews I do land, I'm starting to wonder if this is even worth the effort. I've been clean over 18 months and I'm still being treated like a junkie. Also, if anyone has any questions I can answer, I'll be glad to.