Arty Kitkat
Yeah I've been doing the job a while - about eight and a half years. I have booked a couple of weeks holiday so maybe that will help refresh me. I'm just worried I've become jaded. You see that a lot with professionals, especially in mental health, where people have literally run out off steam. I don't want to happen to me as I think your work suffers and the clients need you to be fresh (ish) and have hope as they often don't. I think I do need a holiday so maybe i'll see how I feel afterwards.
Posts by Arty Kitkat
Funnily enough its not the clients I find hard to work with. They are the best bit of the job. The bit I find hard is all the red tape and the paperwork. I work in the voluntary sector at a daycentre. The problem is is that the staff teams at the statutory levels have got smaller and smaller so more and more of our clients are struggling on without the proper help so where I work we seem to end up filling the gaps.
I've worked the last 10 years in mental health and I've experienced mental health problems myself off and on for about 25 years. I've been treated for this recent bought of depression & anxiety for about two and a half years and its only now that the medication seems to be working sufficiently to lift me out of the depression. I still have off days and I'm getting horrendous PMT but overall things a way better than they were.
Anyway this last couple of months I've been feeling brighter in myself but thoroughly meh about work. I just feel like I'm stuck in a hamster wheel and never really get anywhere. I know I'm good at my job and I do good work but there have been so many changes at a statutory level that its become near impossible to do your job.
I've been thinking this for a while that maybe its time for a change but I've been doing this work for so long I don't feel like I'm qualified for anything else. I feel like I've kind of hit a wall in my current job but I'm a bit lost about what to do now instead....
Just on a side issue - being overweight or obese doesn't automatically mean your unhealthy. My bf has had that a lot - he's around 20 stone but he's probably healthier than many people who are apparently a healthy weight. He doesn't smoke, he barely drinks and he cycles everywhere. We both have our share of naughty food but we also have a lot of veg and have our own allotment so grow our own. Also because I don't eat meat he barely does either and says he doesn't miss it. But still people make assumptions. I think some people are naturally larger.
It sounds like sour grapes - she's nominated for an oscar, he's having a whinge on youtube! I know what you mean though. So what if she got the role because she looked a certain way, I'm sure she wasn't the only plus size girl to go for the part and she must have been up to the role as she was nominated for an Oscar (I think). Its great that she got the role as its not every day that films producers step outside their comfort zone. Also I think her co-star was also up for an Oscar so between them they deserve praise. Also I remember some of the coverage from the Presidential elections and heard how some people didn't care what Obama's policies were, they just didn't want a black man running their country. So she was also up against all of that shit too. Good luck to her.
I am so sorry for your loss. It must feel so unbearable. I like what Sheila said about finishing the project you started with him. It will be hard but you will cherish it when it is finished and it will be something you can keep. Also I find find doing something physical helps in these situation. It gives an outlet which can bring some healing. Nearly 5 years ago I lost one of my clients. I work at a daycentre and I had been his linkworker. I'd seen him every Monday and Friday for years and then he had a heart attack. He didn't die straight away, it was probably another year of gradually deteriorating when he died. I can still remember the day he died and being told. Like Heather I felt haunted by my memories. I felt so much emotional pain that it felt like it was physical. I also linkworked his best friend and held his hand at the funeral. It was extremely hard, especially the first 6 month. I felt like I'd never keep it together but somehow you do. Now when I look back it is with happy memories. He was such a character and so cheeky. I ran the Friday and Monday gorup he attended and our Friday Gardening group (which he was member of) got together after the funeral and went down our local garden center and bought a beautiful rose bush and we planted that in his memory.
If you can manage it I would recommend going to your teachers funeral. We have lost quite a few clients since and I have always found the funeral like a last chance to be with that person. You have gathered together everyone who knew that person and they all bring together their memories and that bit of that person that they have been left with and I think for a moment you almost have that person there. I hope that makes sense. One of my favourte quotes by Morrie Schwartz probably says it better: -
"As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on—in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here"
If anyone wants to watch the results as they come in go here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/
Bec - I was over at the uni today for a conference. It was quite odd seeing how much had changed since I was there. The fonts not even the font anymore!
Just in case anyone else is scratching their heads - Lolly.bot (Bec) is studying at the same uni as I did 
I have voted green locally for as long as I could vote and will continue to do that this time. I will vote liberals though for the parliamentary seat though as our liberal candidate has very similar policies to our green one and stands a good chance of getting in. The labour and conservatives candidates looks practically the same. Has anyone checked out the website where you can pick by policy who to vote for. Its really interesting. I'll try and have a google and post the link. You just have to pick the 4 main issues that interest you and they will give you the 4 main parties policy on those issues and you pick which policy you like the most and they tell you at the end who you would vote for. I oddly enough picked green for 3 out of 4 of the policies and the other one was liberal. That ironically was the environment policy
I'm so sorry. Its such a horrible thing when its one of your pets. You feel so helpless. Hopefully though the fact that he is young will be a plus and he'll start to respond to the treatment. x
What a great plan. I'm so pleased the day went well. The photos looked great and I was so impressed that you'd made the dress.
Thats pretty crap. Does she know that she's messed up? I can understand why you're miffed as I was a bit slow and only started reading about your wedding the day after you'd got married so I know how much work you put into making the day special and I know that the Hen do/ Bachelorette's do is part of fun. Its also a time when you can unwind and just have fun and let someone else do the organising. Did your husband have a boys night out? If he didn't you could do something together, like celebrate your first month being Mr & Mrs. I do feel for you though and think it maybe worth having a word with your sister and saying how hurt you felt that she didn't arrange anything. She can't turn the clock back but it may help you to get it off your chest as I'm guessing its got nothing to do with money or what she arranged, its the fact that she arranged nothing.
Its apparently the most viewed thread at the mo so I'm guessing that people (like me) liked what Sheila and Becs said so much that they couldn't add anything more. Update us all on how you get on. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I met someone when I was 21 who I'd liked when I was 15. I was convinced he didn't even know I existed when we were at school. It turned out it did. Unfortunately when we did meet (when I was 21) we lived at opposite ends of the country and the feelings I had at 15 weren't the same and we were both in the midst of uni courses but it just goes to show that you can be absolutely certain you know what another person thinks of you and get it wrong. I hope that made sense.
That bit about kite flying on the empty airstrips is hilarious. I've been chatting tonight with friends over Twitter and we've agreed that Father Christmas is to blame. His elves decided to get an early start on toy making and all that extra activity has triggered a volcano to erupt. That's the last time I leave milk and cookies out
I'm another square peg. I can't do girly shopping, give me a charity shop and I'll be happy.
thank you. I'm feeling a bit calmer now. I will take my meds as normal tonight and ring the duty worker at the CMHT tomorrow.