Working at my Mental Health Job.....

[frecklegirl417]

To my family,

      I know that I haven't posted in awhile or responded to any post. I have been studying and listening more then posting. I wanted to let everyone here get some kind of understanding of my job. I work at a state run Psychiatric Hospital. I take care of patients raging in age from 18 to 105. This is a very humbling job and very draining mentally. It can be physical at times, but mostly it is very mental. My patients have a variety of mental illnesses.
      You have people who will use everything they can think of to get what they want, and there is some who can't remember when they went to bathroom or how to go to the bathroom. I also have patients who were abandon by there so called loving families and cling to us workers and tug so hard on our hearts that we end getting in trouble for buying things for them or accepting home made gifts from them.
      I will try to describe a day of work there but it is hard to put on paper. I start work at 3pm, i walk in the door and has soon has my patients see me they are right there begging me for help. I know the day shift staff has helped them but it still hits my heart hard when they ask for my help. I can't even have a chance to my coat off, I already have patients in the bathroom or in the shower. I then have to do a head count and ask them( if they can remember) if they have had a bowel movement. The ones who need changed I change. I then have to line them up like cattle to get medicine which is suppose to help but I feel like the doctors have no clue. I have a patient who uses the staff like a punching bag and the medicine is like giving her a piece of candy. After medication they can have juice and go outside if it is not too cold or not to hot out. Then about 4:30 pm some of my patients are feed on the unit dining room. Some can feed themselves some can't. Then when they are done I get to take at least 9 patients upstairs in the main dining room to eat. After dinner we do a reading group or discussion group. Which we discuss anything and everything. I mean anything. If you think of it we talk about it. Most of my patients get more medsat 7pm then get a snack. After snacks I change them again but they have been changed like 4 times before that. I assistant the ones who want to go to bed. The rest watch the news or a movie until I wake them and help them to bed.
    That is just some things I do. I also listen to how they talk on a hotline to family or the president, the hotline is the heating ducts in the bathroom. I have a patient who thinks this is a punishment from God because of  some sin he commited, I do my best to tell him it isn't but it only works for a little while. I also have patients who believe they are pregnant and will leave when the baby is born. She has been in the hospital at least 10 years. I also have another one who has been there 14 years and can manipulate anyone to get what she wants so you have to think 10 steps in each direction to out wit her. I have patients who have Alzheimer's and can't remember what year it is, how to eat, and they are like infants. I also take care of some very intelligent people like a heart surgeon, an architect,an  array of different educators.  I have to laugh sometimes because they come up with somethings that I would never think of. I have a male patient who has been in and out of hospitals all his life. he needed his pants changed even his underwear but said his underwear was dry when they weren't. I asked him how that was and with a straight face said he only sprayed a little in the front. The lady who uses us has a punching bag one day tried to convince all of us she was a man until we told her to look down and when she did she was shocked to realize she was a women.
    This is women who tried to poison her family after they told her their father molested them, and she was trying to prove they were lying. She relives those memories everyday. I have a patient who is religion obsessed so i gather Ray's stuff and give it to him and he calms down some and asks alot of questions but then forgets but it helps him. I have a lady who thinks she is married to Clint Eastwood and he is going to rescue her.
      This is just some of the things I see and deal with on daily basis. By the time I get off at a 11pm my brain is so tired of thinking I just shut it off. Samson always says what do you want do on are day off together, I always tell him whatever you want because I do not want to think about it. We only get 2 days a month off together sometimes 3 if we are lucky. He is such an understanding husband and I feel bad sometimes because he has to do all the thinking sometimes. Well, I think my time has come to say thanks for listening.
  Ihope this gives you some idea of why I am just reading or listening to Ray. I will try my best to post more but I can't promise. My heart is in it but my brain isn't, I hope that made sense.


                                                                                         Your sister,
                                                                                            Pam

   

[Dave in Tenn]

Hi Pam.  God bless you for shining your light in such darkness. 

It's not a contest here.     She who posteth the mosteth doesn't win a door prize.  Thanks for sharing a glimpse into your 'real-life'.   

[Marlene]

Wow, what a daily trial you face. I believe, God placed you there.  He is doing great work in you.  This sure humbles me.  It was so nice for you to share this with us. It amazes me. God blessed you for sure, when he gave you Samson and I am sure he feels blessed to have you.

In His Love,
Marlene

[Linny]

Pam,
Bless you for doing the job that you do. I know I couldn't do it. I worked in a mental hospital for 6 years. I did a few night shifts on the adult unit and hated it. Did some shifts on the adolescent unit and hated it. Had to do a lot of codes on adolescent unit which required a lot of running and physical work with out of control teens. Too much for me to handle mentally.

I worked on the Child Unit. Ages 3-12. I loved working with abused kids. We got hit, kicked, cussed and bitten a lot. But it was very meaningful to help a child deal with such pain. Many times the people suited for the kids were not suited for the older ones and vise-versa. Burn out is common with this kind of work. Probably with most, if not all jobs that involve working with people.

Do you enjoy who you work with? That is so important. I worked with some of the most interesting, intelligent, big hearted, fun people at that job. When that changed, it was time for me to move on because when you do such a stressful job, you need to work with great people.

Thanks for sharing you life with us!
Lin

[arion]

I worked with juvenile delenquents for a few years and I can understand how many of the workers that do it for a long time end up themselves with substance abuse problems as it drains you physically as well as emotionally and mentally when you read the files and get some insight into why they act the way they do.  Not many people could do what you do.  You have to be so drained when you get home only to turn around day after day and gear yourself back up to do it again. 

I'm pretty shocked you only get 2 or 3 days off a month.  For your own well being you need more time than that to decompress.  And I don't like the meds very much either.  They tend to mask the symptoms but do nothing about the underlying problems.  When you see such things day after day one has to say that literally except for the grace of God that could be me.  God bless you, sustain you and bear your burdens with the things you witness each and every day.

[Linny]

Pam, hope you don't mind my answering here but Arion, Pam meant she only gets 2 or 3 days off with Samson every month.

[9440geoff]

Hi Pam,

I thank God for the heart He has put in you. It is not a job that I could do.

Geoff

[cherokee]

Hey Pam,
So good to hear from you. Lord bless you for being able to do the job you do. I know I could never do it long term. You have been missed and have been in our prayers and will continue to be.

Blesssing,
Suzie

[Roy Martin]

whoo! I got drained just reading what you do. I consider you very unique.

Roy

[Deborah-Leigh]

Hey Pam

Sampson has a wonderful caring wife in you. What an emotional tower of strength you have to be for him.

I worked in Hospice for a short while. I loved it. I volunteered to work at the old age home too. I was so moved that I still think that a visit to both institutions should be on the school curricular.

My experience showed me  that the  impatient beauty addicted world outside only seems to display the young and beautiful not the crippled, aged, frail or ugly as the world would see them. I had to encounter the differences in perspectives that were changed by the hardship of loosing worldly appeal. Some do it gracefully and others resentfully.

I remember a woman who was so angry and so hostile. She had terminal cancer, no hair and the most doting and attentive husband.  Jack, did not want to die and was barely skin and bone going black and blue around his temples and eye sockets. He asked me to pray for him and I was inspired to tell him forthrightly to trust Jesus though he may see a bottomless black pit in front of him. He died that night. The next morning I felt so happy for him.
After that I was asked to leave because my presence was interfering with the Pastor who's was visiting the patients and I was seen to be interfering.
I know that God has you where He wants you in a ministry of care giving and gentleness of His Spirit. Perhaps when you feel weary at all the sickness surrounding you, just know you are His Love in action and only His Spirit sustains you or anyone who He has appointed to experience frailty, age, pain and suffering.

Thank you for your post.

Arc

[daywalker]

Hello Pam,

W--O--W--!!!!!

What you go through every day at work would put me in your hospital!!  The fact that you can endure all that gives me great respect for you. Surely, God has given you many gifts; not the least of which are patience and self-control...

My wife works as a front counter receptionist for a psychiatric office, and though she doesn't go through nearly what you do, she does tell me some strange stories about some of the patients she deals with... It really makes me sad that there are people with such terrible mental disabilities and such; even sadder to hear that their own families have deserted them...

I've mentioned this in previous posts, but I got tourettes's syndrome [the twitching one, not the Hollywood version  ] and at times I get real frustrated with it, and even get angry with God... but when reading posts like this, it sure does humble me and remind me that it could be a whole lot worse. It reminds me of the blessings and mercy that God has shown to me that He doesn't have to...

I lift up a prayer for you, Pam, that God continues to strengthen you and grant you all the Divine tools you need to continue your work; and I lift up a prayer for all those patients that you deal with... and also for you and Samson, that God continues to bless and strengthen you both individually and collectively as a couple... Amen.


Daywalker 

[barrabus]

I was a patient in a state run mental hospital in 1976... I had a mental breakdown and thought I was some sort of angelic being or something... I can't remember how it went but it was very complicated and I thought I was sane and everyone else was crazy at the time...

Later I worked at the same hospital for a short time... Have you ever noticed the amount of religious experiences that people have while in a seizure... there was a patient once that when I asked him what he was doing he said he'd been praying... he couldn't understand why everyone was bothering him... he'd just had a seizure...

Some smart people say that Ellen White was having seizures when she was going into her "prophetic" trances...

I had a bad experience about seven years ago that made me remember the state of mind I was in during my breakdown... I went back into that delusionary state for a short time and again I thought I was OK and everyone else was crazy... sometimes thinking back I have trouble discerning how much of it was actually a spiritual experience and how much of it was a delusion... I was steadily praying for God to help me git home and praying for Him to renew my mind... asking for forgiveness etc...

Any way... I work as a correctional officer at a prison now...

God definately has a sense of humor... it's weird how the crazier someone seems the more that person thinks that they are normal... I think the best thing you can do is listen to them... not saying to agree with them... just take the time to let them know you are listening ... all I wanted was for someone to listen and quit telling me I was wrong before they even heard what I was saying...

When someone finally took the time to just listen to what I was saying, I actually heard what I was saying also... sometimes that's all we can do anyway... sometimes that's all someone is really needing, to know someone cares enough to listen...


Well I gotta go to work, I'm going to get back to this post and re-read it when I get home... kinda rushing thru it...

[OBrenda]

Hi There Pam,

So happy to see you posting....

Brad always teases us that we have the same brain, but my job sure is easier than yours!!!!
I wouldn't last a week.  What you give everyday goes way beyond what is given back to you in a paycheck.
Your giving to these people reminds me of this verse....

Matthew 25:34
Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'


I like what Dave said about the door prize....

I see your fruit Girlfriend,
Brenda

[frecklegirl417]

To everyone who responded,
     
       Thank you all for the support! I am sorry I haven't answered sooner. Today is my day off and I thought it be best to answer tonight before I start another 4 day stretch at work. I will have Wenesday off but that day is set aside for Samson. I sit back sometimes and wonder why I am where I am but then I see my patients and do not have to wonder no more. These people need me, even if it is draining and gets to me sometimes these people need me.
       I laugh sometimes because alot of  my patients want to send me to HELL! They tell me all the time "GO TO HELL"! I just smile and laugh and go finish whatever it was I was doing. I wish I could get them to somehow understand there is no hell, but I guess that will come one day.
       My biggest problem at work is me, I sit and listen and try to make their lives seem like their is nothing wrong and make them has comfortable has I can. I tell them has soon has "we" meaning me and them get them all better they can leave but I now sme of them will never get better and I feel for them. I feel for them more then the ones who have no family contact.
       I pray every day and night for them and for the strength to keep going on because for some reason our Heavenly Father needs me there and that is where I will be.

[Vangie]

God bless you, Pam.  Thank you for keeping on and doing what you do.  I'm so honored and glad to know you.

Love in Christ,
Vangie

[Stacey]

That's a super tough job you got there Pam. My wife worked for a while at a Nursing Home and that was pretty tough on her. You are right about your patients needing YOU! Even if they know it or not!

[Silvia Martin]

   
      Hi Pam,


I know, what you're talking about and applaud you for sticking with it. Those people need  someone with a heart as big as yours.My parents were psych nurses.I spent a lot of time with them at their jobs.My dad worked in a "closed" house, meaning that the people weren't allowed outside unsupervised. I didn't like it there at all. A lot of them were tide to their beds and screaming profanities. Not a pretty sight fora little girl. I liked playing with my moms patients though. They were mentally on my level. It was hard leaving them behind when i grew up (mentally). This was a huge complex in Germany by the way. Hitler did a lot of damage there. He saw the mentally ill  not as human beings. He sterilized the women and did experiments on a lot of the people. It is said, that there are tunnels underneath the complex where some courageous caretakers risked their lives to save there patients (I'm sure you would have been one of those brave people). Some of my parents patients had been Hitler's guinea pigs.Indescribable
I worked at a big nursing home when I came to America. God taught me a lot there. It was a humbling experience. I've had Alzheimer patients, who asked were they "lived" every 5 min, got beat,scratched,bit,cussed at and yet God gives you grace every day to endure more and enlarges your heart to love those people. It is so amazing ,the things you thought you could never do and then God changes your heart.
I did have some fun there to though. There were some characters. One guy made up his own names for me. When I wore my white scrubs I was "Gloria" and had me married to one of the male aids. He kept asking me if my "husband" was treating me well. When I was wearing my burgundy scrubs, I was "Dave" . When I tried to tell him I was a girl, he just smiled and said, " no you're not". Then he pointed to one of the "girl" aids and said, "now THAT is a girl , Dave"      
Well... I did have very short hair and a boy-ish figure; and the other girl had long hair and BIG    . When his family came to visit, they grinned at me and said, "you must be DAVE".
He also kept trying to hook me up with his granddaughter .
Well...this post is long enough, so I better stop.


   God bless,

      Silvia

[Linny]

Funny stories Silvia.    On the Child Unit, we had a book that we recorded our funniest moments with the kids. Before I left, I photocopied it. I still go back and read it for a smile.
Many times we'd have to make a quick exit from a room to keep from laughing in front of the kids.
One of my favorites was when I was having to discipline a 9 yr old little girl who was VERY smart and an amazing smart alec. I was leaving her room and she had to get in the last say. So she says, "Linda, you are not NEARLY as pretty as you think you are."
That one required a quick exit.
Lin

[daywalker]

I wish I could get them to somehow understand there is no hell, but I guess that will come one day.

Hey, whaddu know... there are millions of people with [mostly] perfectly-functioning brains who cannot [or will not] grasp this understanding...

Daywalker   

[Nelson]

My biggest problem at work is me, I sit and listen and try to make their lives seem like their is nothing wrong and make them has comfortable has I can. I tell them has soon has "we" meaning me and them get them all better they can leave but I now sme of them will never get better and I feel for them. I feel for them more then the ones who have no family contact.

Hi Pam,

Personally I admire you for what you do, I certainly couldn't do it. We must thank God every day for the gift He places in each of us, and if we need so many different gifts to help in society, likewise this is true of the ekklesia too. As for getting better, that most certainly is in the hands of our God,

• "And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me,"Write, for these words are true and faithful."" (Rev 21:3-5)

• "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col 3:1,2)

• "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal [age-lasting]" (2Cor 4:16-18)

One day all these evil things will have passed away, but today is not that day. We wait with endurance in the strength that God supplies, you will most certainly be kept in the prayers of the holy ones.

Grace and peace to you and yours

Nelson