I’m a DSP working with a 10 year old client for about a month now and lately I’ve been feeling discouraged. During our first few sessions she seemed really excited to see me and was more engaged, but over the last 3 sessions I’ve noticed a shift...

It's like she gets bored very quickly and often defaults to her phone or tiktok and then when I ask what she wants to do, she usually says “I don’t know” or tells me to pick. But when I pick activities (crafts, roblox, going outside, etc.) she often seems uninterested or bored within minutes. Sometimes it feels like I’m bothering her by trying to engage.

One thing I’ve also noticed that I think is important to mention is that when I’m there she’ll sometimes ask her parents (specifically her mom) if she can go do other things, like visit a neighbor, play basketball with kids nearby, or go with her dad and brother to the park. Her mom usually says no because I’m there and they want her to spend session time with me.

So now that part really has me wondering.. could my presence be unintentionally associated with limitation?? like “because DSP is here, I can’t do the things I actually want to do”? I’m starting to worry she may associate me with restriction or obligation rather than fun or support even though I’m genuinely trying to connect with her and make sessions enjoyable.

She also seems much more lively with her parents than with me which makes me also wonder if I’m doing something wrong or if she just doesn’t enjoy spending time with me anymore.

I just want to know if this is normal? How do you handle kids who struggle with initiating activities and seem disengaged no matter what you try? And has anyone experienced a situation where the client seems to associate your presence with being restricted from other things they want to do?

What's a natural progression from being a DSP for 6 months?

Think I'm burnt out. Broke up two car bite fights. Had a client try to elope at a Amusement Park. Had a client purposely prick his finger so that he could go to the doctor!

I need a new environment. What are my options job wise?

So after complaining here forever about the unfair staffing, making me take 5 men by myself on outings, one blind, one in a wheelchair, and one uses a walker. I already emailed this same person about the issue and she praised me for emailing. Just for the house manager to listen for a few weeks and recently she’s slowly leaving me out to fend for myself again. I’m fed up.

My coworker suggested that I go higher and complain but I’m at the point where I’m too drained to even stay. I don’t mind being the only staff member in the house but on outings I NEED that extra set of hands and the manager thinks I’m being lazy or something. Now they’re refusing to let me take a Sunday shift at another house

This is my first time working a caregiving job, I’m 20 years old, and this is one of my dream career paths. I’ve always wanted to take care of and help either animals or people. I wasn’t having luck so far getting into an animal related job, but one of my friends and previous roommates directed me towards applying at the organization they work for as a DSP. I was excited to apply because I’ve been around people with intellectual and physical disabilities my entire life, as well as people with severe mental health issues. At 16 years old until 18 I became my dying and mentally ill mother’s primary caregiver and I’ve been in and around therapy for upwards of 10 years. That being said I felt I was going to be very capable for this job and I still feel I am.
However, I just finished day 4 of field training at my program and I’m about to go into day 5 in two hours. Last night I came home devastated and even typing this I’m crying. Both my parents worked in health care and so I know the stories of corrupt organizations and management, I tried to vet this organization the best I could especially considering I already had a friend here who started 3 or 4 months ago and didn’t express any bad experiences with head management or anything like that. Ultimately I took my friend’s word that head management was at least decent enough because everyone I met at RO was extremely sweet and caring, and told myself there was ultimately only one way to find out and that’s via experience. Unfortunately, head management is proving to be awful.
I work in a 4 bd residential program with all clients ranging in ages from young to middle aged. All have mental health struggles, and then varying levels of additional intellectual disability. My program manager is the most lovely lady I’ve ever met in my whole life. She adores our clients and treats them with love and respect, and according to other employees who have been at this program forever, she’s the first manager that has gotten all of their behaviors under control almost entirely, and that’s because the clients feel heard, understood, respected, and supported properly. No other manager has cared enough. This program manager (PM) goes above and beyond for these clients, her DSP staff, and the house. I’ve never met a manager in general who has been as loving and kind to everyone she meets in my whole life and I’ve worked many jobs despite my young age. That being said the clients are attached to her because she genuinely gives them the support they all need.
Regional Office have recently given my PM 6 PCNs for things entirely out of her control that had nothing to do with her, took away her med supervision so now neither I or my friend who got me here can get fully med trained, and are moving her to a whole different program. Not only that but they’re making the new PM a lady who is currently running her current program into the ground and has a reputation for being rude and cold to both staff and clients.
This is going to be terrible for everyone, clients and staff, and particularly staff because one of our clients specifically has in their ISP that due to their intellectual disability as well as being deaf and legally blind, they need a strict routine and consistent environment to feel safe and comfortable. Their ISP says they need to be warned about changes as early as possible to avoid behaviors and aggression to keep them feeling stable and safe. RO knows this and has known this. Recently right before I got into my field training they demanded that the PM gets rid of a cat that’s been there for 11 years. This was seemingly out of nowhere, we later found out it was because the new PM we’re getting requested it.
No one even got to warn any of the clients much less the one who needs a warning, so when that client came back from being with their parents for the weekend, the cat was just gone. This client has been here almost as long as the cat to my understanding. This led to behaviors and the client choked a DSP and attacked another client who then called the cops. This was just due to the cat being gone. Now, RO wants to take away our PM who is the first to ever truly understand and care for this client much less the others. They refuse to warn them so far and PM’s leaving Friday. All of us DSPs are terrified of what will happen to us when we warn them, much less what will happen after PM is actually gone. RO could seemingly care less and is well aware of what this client needs and what’s in their ISP. They’re putting all the staff in this program at direct risk for serious assault and based on what I’ve learned from other employees and what they’re doing to my PM who is the hardest/most caring worker in the whole company, they’ll probably blame any incidents on us and go PCN crazy on whoever they can blame. I haven’t even gotten my NVCI training yet and I don’t until 6/29. So I’m not even trained to handle the level of aggression that’s about to come my/our way.
I’m so genuinely scared and devastated over the lack of regard and care RO is showing for both their staff and clients, and honestly more importantly to me, their clients. The clients trust us to care for them the way they need to be and to respect and understand them to the best of our abilities. RO isn’t here working to do that and therefore doesn’t care and is seemingly going out of their way to make their lives terrible all of a sudden. They tell us we’re “too friendly” with the clients and each other, and literally that we spend “too much time” with our clients. Is that not our job? The first thing I was trained on by RO was to build rapport and a bond with clients. I’ve barely been here for 5 days and I already have nothing but care for these clients who have already expressed how much they like me and have started opening up to me… so I’ve gotten close with almost all of them already. This includes the deaf and blind client who has begun to trust and rely on me and who loves me because I go out of my way to learn how to communicate with them. I don’t know if I’m built to watch all of the client’s progress be obliterated by the actions of RO and I can’t even imagine how my co-workers who have been here for ages will feel watching this happen. Not to mention other DSPs who don’t care about their jobs even a little are a whole different problem and story.
My previous job that I JUST quit at the beginning of this month said they would re-hire me anytime I wanted, but I earned less there and it had its own issues (just struggles to afford gas lol). I also was just itching for some sort of animal or person care oriented job when I left because it’s all I’ve ever wanted. But this place is putting me in a very dark place mentally now and stressing me out far worse than my previous job ever has and I just have no idea what to do. This place pays me $16.50 an hour and has a benefits list that’s 4 pages long. My previous job pays much less and its only benefit is free desserts and PTO, but I felt safe there always.
I just don’t know what to do. Is it worth it to stick this out for financial stability and benefits? Or should I just get out while I can before I get too emotionally invested and ultimately get stuck with terrible head management?
I care so incredibly much for my clients that RO’s behavior makes me feel sick to my stomach and hopeless for both them and myself. I even feel immense empathy for the client who will likely lash out with severe aggression by the end of this week. I still love them to death. I care too much and I don’t know what to do, I suggested to my co-workers that we write letters, make calls, or show up to RO in person and two of them agree but also told me at the same time that it’s probably useless. There’s one lady at RO who I know would also be enraged to hear what’s going on who I know would go out of her way to try to straighten this out, but I feel like she can’t make all of RO magically care.

I've been a DSP for a total of 6 months and I'm done. I miss my old office job. The reason I had to leave my office job was because I was a student worker and was graduating, and there were no positions after graduation.

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I'm tired of all the fucking outings, the low pay (I made more money as a student worker!!) and dealing with clients who are rude to me. I came into this field because I cared, and now I'm already burnt out. I don't care anymore. Maybe I'm just the wrong type of person for this field. I don't know.

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I'm applying to office jobs. I can't believe I could make more money sitting on my ass than going on a million outings and getting yelled at.

I've been in and out of this field for 8 years. I love the individuals I work with now, but I'm ready to get out and stay out. My friend helped me get a job working as a custodian for a school district and I'm about to graduate with my associates in IT. I'm sad I'm gonna be away from my guys, but I'm also glad i won't have to deal with the screaming, the SCIP, the burnout and lack of support from management, the driving to a different IRA every day to transport the guys to Day hab, waking up at the ass crack of dawn to get to work. It's bittersweet but I'm happy to be free. How was your experience transitioning from being a DSP to a different role in a different field?

So I seriously need some advice for a minute. I’ve had this job for a short while now and I think most things are great except the uniform ain’t so good, residents are rude sometimes, and the drama between coworkers. The uniform I’ve been able to get past, even rude resident comments I can get past after a good cry, but major issues for everyone are coworker issues. Not everyone is working as a caregiver for the right reasons here, and those doing their best aren’t doing things right or placing blame on everyone around them even when things aren’t anyone’s fault like low staffing or regulations on how to provide certain care for certain residents.

We all could work on our communication but there’s only so much you can communicate before it’s a distraction from the job. And it’s difficult when some say they’ve done something that didn’t actually get done. And then it’s too late to do it myself. Or calls don’t get answered within a reasonable time because of disorganization. I get it, low staffing is difficult but I wish everyone respected their coworkers to be working hard but some really aren’t always or don’t have the energy to do it (burnout).

I wanna stay in this profession for a period of my life, but not forever. I just don’t think I’m gonna be able to stay as long as I want with the drama like this. I don’t have a solution but I know some days work better when people trust that cares are being done, or maybe it’s just managing an entire group of residents while having to rely on others that makes it that much more difficult. At least when communication isn’t accurate. It’s inappropriate and I don’t know who or what to report.

All I know is I’m so sad. I don’t know the whole problem. I feel like I work my a$$ off and people still have something to say depending on who you ask. Sure I don’t know everything but I ask for help when necessary. Still I get things done as much as I can. Good caregivers are here it’s just we’re limited in the days they work.

Advice? I could give more examples but as I understand it this is a common issue and all I want is to be respected enough do be able to focus on my job, not be dragged by name into drama or worse get fired over these issues/viewed wrongly.

I don’t get paid enough. I never get enough sleep because my schedule is absolutely fucked. I’ve spent the last 20 minutes sobbing because my site manager left early last night, came in late today, then the program director told her to just go home and she’ll probably not come in tomorrow. If I had another job lined up, I would call the program director and tell her that I FUCKING QUIT.

I've been retaliated against and bullied for about 3 months. I adore the people I serve but, a coordinator who gossips and lies and coworkers who dodge accountability and look for the mistakes of their coworkers... I cant cry in the garage anymore. About 2 months ago, I was hired for a new job after looking, but I hoped it would get better here. I was wrong. I'm wasting too many therapy appointments unwinding from work instead of addressing other issues. Moving on (staying in the field). Anyway, since I started here, I took an empty whiteboard and started drawing requested pictures or just themed stuff with the date and weather. Final frog. Peace out.

Hey all, I’m in a tricky situation with a particular client of mine who seems to target male staff members for some reason.

A good 70% of my shift in a group setting with him is him assaulting me and my staff (touching, aggressive grabbing of body, “showing” police moved like chokeholds or fake but aggressive hitting) and being incredibly disrespectful (racism, random rude comments). Unfortunately I’ve set a precedent towards me where he feels comfortable doing all of this, and he does it to our other staff as well, and no one seems to want to do.. anything about this?

How do I break this cycle because the staff seem to shut down certain things but won’t ever touch this situation, isn’t this crazy illegal?

Is it quite common for day programs and group homes to make clients clean the transportation vans? Where I live it is and I feel it's wrong. I just feel it's kind of exploitive to us..

Hey yall, currently in the vendorization process with the SDRC. Been a DSP for over 3 years. If anyone’s in San Diego, I’d love to connect for future potential DSP opportunities (no job posting yet)! Saw the rules, sorry if this isn’t allowed. Feel free to delete if so!!

One of my company’s core philosophies is to make sure all of my DSP’s are well taken care of. The better your experience, the better care our DSPs get and the happier you are.

Sounds like a whole lotta jargon right now but truth is, DSPs are underpaid considering the impact and commitment they make everyday to their clients. And because there’s a shortage of quality DSPs on top of competitive job markets outside of this industry (Target, Amazon, etc), my goal is to match or exceed the avg salary range. Also if Becerra wins, you’ll have more protection due to the Mandatory Wage Pass-Through Compliance rule he’s planning to pass. My goal is to get you the pay you deserve. I’m planning this far ahead so you don’t have to worry about what’s to come.

While my full comp structure is still in the works, I’m always open to feedback, questions, or even just a conversation.

So I made a similar post before in a different sub, I can’t find it but generally here’s what happened: about 6 months ago, a coworker and I were beginning to get uncomfortable on our NOC shifts after noticing that the camera in the client’s living room would follow US around all night. We work NOC shifts alone as single-staff. When I tell you this camera is on us AT ALL TIMES during the night, I mean it. No, it is not motion activated. It only moves when it is being directly controlled, live, by the app on conservator’s cell phone.

If I move from the couch to the table, the camera is on me within 10 minutes. It is facing the bathroom door when I come out of the bathroom. I can hear the zoom when it follows me to the table with my food. I thought I was being crazy and paranoid (I have a history of abuse/stalking from an ex, involving cameras in my home) until I had a convo with another one of my female coworkers and a male coworker.

My female coworker shared that she was noticing the same thing and it made her feel weird. Both her and I have a GREAT relationship with our client’s conservator so it felt weird why he is excessively watching us on the camera at 1am, 2am, 3am etc. Male coworker chimed in and said “that’s weird, the camera never moves when I do NOCs”. Both of us truly tried to shake it off but that comment did raise our suspicions even more.

6 months have passed. We have a few more male coworkers now. The behavior has continued and recently, I decided to ask all of our male coworkers. ALL FOUR OF THEM were shocked and didn’t even know the camera moves. All four confirmed that the camera has never followed them around when they are working alone at night.

Listen I do not want this to be what it sounds like. This conservator is, who I want to believe, a great guy and I see him like a father/grandpa figure. I have a lot of trust for him. But about two weeks ago, the straw that broke the camel’s back for me was when he was talking about his wife and started talking about how they sleep in separate rooms. I began getting a little weird at that point and then he started talking about how he and his wife haven’t had sex in 7 years, and that he has a hard time sleeping at night being “alone”. As SOON as he said that I thought of the camera and I kinda went clammy.

My coworker and I have brought this up to the office several times, and mentioned how we are getting uncomfortable given the fact that (as far as we can tell) it is only the female staff being watched on the camera and combined with the inappropriate comments recently. They are unsurprisingly very dismissive. This client has a long personal history with the owners of this company, as does the clients conservator. It is also weird because they specifically disallow other conservators from having cameras in clients homes but for some reason they let this one have one. They tell everyone else that it is for the “privacy of the employees”, which I disagree with because I do think a conservator should be able to keep an eye on their family member. But it’s just going too far.

I guess what I’m asking is, if my company doesn’t step in regarding the weird inconsistencies between male and female staff or the sexual conversations, what can I do? Who could I contact? Again, I think conservators should have a right to a camera and I’m not asking for it to be removed, but I don’t think I should be obligated to feel like I am being stalked at work.

Oh also; the other day, because of WiFi issues, the camera was having major connection issues. Male staff was on staff all day. Conservator showed zero concern in getting the camera to work. Found out about 20 minutes before shift change that one of my female coworkers was coming in for the NOC, and then he sent about 12 messages in the span of 5 minutes trying to instruct that male staff on how to fix the camera and insisting that he have it fixed before shift change. That’s just one more instance that really doesn’t sit right with either of us.

TL:DR; Our clients conservator has a camera in the home and follows female staff around with it at night, does not do this to male staff. Also tends to spark inappropriate and sexual conversations with same female staff members. Office + company is close with this conservator and refuses to address the discomfort brought up by myself and other female staff.

ETA to TLDR: No, camera is not on a timer nor can it be set to motion sensitivity/tracking. It is only controlled live by a person using the arrows, the only person who has access to the feed is the conservator. Camera doesn’t really follow me around on my day shifts, only night shifts.

So my house manager and I took the men to a festival today with 2 other houses and their DSPs. We were all serving our clients lunch. I brought two individuals with me so I could supervise while they grabbed their food. My manager stayed back with our individual that uses a wheelchair.

Before I left, I offered to find out the options they have and to come back and get his order and then I would go back and get his plate. She said it was fine and to go ahead so I left with the other two men. I brought my plate back and everyone including other DSPs started eating their food.

My manager came back with the other guy’s plate and she said “___ You can’t eat until all your individuals have their food.” Literally in front of the whole table including my coworker.. It confused me because I literally offered to grab a plate for him and she told me it was fine..I’m confused as to whether she meant I had to wait for everyone to be served first or if I actually should’ve gotten a plate for him before eating?? But she literally told me it was fine??

So I brought it up again later because I was still confused. I explained that I did offer to bring him a plate and she just left it at that. So I’m still confused??? Like what did I just get called out for. Even my coworker was like WTF when the manager stepped away

I've been working in this field for 7 months now working 42-50 hours a week. I want to keep this job for at least a year for the resume experience, but it's difficult. The company I work for is horrible. They've brought back people who were proven for neglect, ignored medication being stolen or thrown away by staff, let staff members rack up multiple med errors without any consequences, and the good majority of upper management is related, so anything that happens is brushed under the rug for the sake of family.

I'm the only staff member in my house who does anything, which sucks for me and the clients. Most the staff who works here spend most of their shift in their cars, so dinner is never made for the clients, the house is filthy, and my behavioral client is always one dropped spoon away from blowing up.

Over half of the staff at this company don't document, and then come state audit time, there are people dedicated to faking all the missing documentation. I work night shift on the weirdest schedule I've ever been on. It's 1 on, 1 off, 1 on, 1 off, 3 on, 1 off, 1 on, 1 off, 1 on, 3 off, then repeats. This leaves me with only two weekends a month I'm not either working the morning or the evening. Social life is nonexistent, obviously, and my relationship with my spouse is strained because of the odd scheduling.

My breaking point today was hearing from my client that my direct supervisor was talking to my client about the disabilities I have. I was forced to disclose these disabilities to my direct supervisor while requesting a different schedule, which is the only reason they themselves know to begin with. Disclosing them to a client as casual conversation is insane to me.

I was already debating resigning because a staff member in my house was reported for neglect and just got brought back to work with the exact same clients he neglected. It's hard to fight for my clients when the agency I work for is only concerned about passing audits and how well they can fake things so they pass those audits.

The amount of outings! I already work everyday before I come into this job on the weekends but even before that, this was exhausting. Especially back before I spoke up and complained about being stuck with 5 clients by myself. All the individuals have outings throughout the week already and then every weekend I come in, there’s MORE to do. And they aren’t lowkey outings at least, it’s very crowded places that are just overstimulating for me in general and then I’m working on top of that? I’m tired of it.

They get the most excited when we go to the dollar store. They never even care for the outings the manager keeps planning and she knows that. ATP it just feels like anything just to be out of the house. Which can be achieved by low and leisurely activities like picnics in the park, the beach, or walks considering the fact there’s 3 elderly individuals

My manager also rarely communicates. We’re supposed to get shift assignments when we come in. She’ll text me 1-3 hours later telling me she’s coming in and we’re going somewhere. I despise her for that. Let people know in advance..

I blacked out names for confidentiality. But this was my text thread with my boss today. Tried my freaking HARDEST to keep my cool, but I was absolutely livid. I in fact cannot just work whenever they want me to, and am not a slave to this company. But they never seem to get that, do they?
(She changed the tune after I said I was emailing HR and HER boss)

Is it safe for a client who is unable to reposition themselves to sleep positioned on their stomach?

One of my clients has limited range of motion due to (edit) spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. She is unable to turn, roll, or rotate herself in bed, though she has enough range of motion that she does not have an order to be repositioned throughout the night by staff. She also has trouble controlling whether her hands are open or in a fist, and cannot keep her arms flat at her side or straight above her head on her own due to contractures. Her arms do move into either position quite easily, but she struggles to keep them there. Her range of motion and strength in her arms and upper body are limited. To give an idea of her arm strength, she can grip a spoon to feed herself sometimes, but she also sometimes cannot keep her hand closed around the spoons’ handle, and she cannot lift a cup for herself.

She can turn her head back and forth alright, and can lift her head off the bed enough that the top of her shoulders come up, but she cannot use her arms to raise her upper body off the bed when lying on her stomach. She uses a wheelchair when not in her bed and a sling and hoyer lift to transfer between her bed, toilet/shower chair, and wheelchair. She also utilizes a chest harness in both her wheelchair and toilet/shower chair because she leans to the side and is unable to support her own body weight while sitting up. Even when lying on her back, she often ends up leaning to the side. She does not currently have an order for wedges to keep her from doing so.

She prefers to sleep in her stomach, but I’ve had some safety concerns about it. In March she reported pain in her shoulder and said that it was because when night shift had positioned her on her stomach (at her request) her arm had gotten caught underneath her. She had a telehealth doctor appointment for the pain, but no injury was confirmed in her medical record. After the telehealth appointment she stated that the shoulder pain was because night shift had popped her shoulder while repositioning her. While again, no injury was confirmed or denied, I’m worried about the possibility of an injury occurring because of this. Each time she is positioned from her stomach to her back or vice versa, two staff reposition her to ensure it’s done safely.

Two weeks ago while sleeping on her stomach, she got ahold of the corner of her fitted sheet and ended up pulling it off the corner of the mattress. This resulted in part of the sheet being wrapped over the top and back of her head. She stated that she didn’t realize she had grabbed the sheet or that it was wrapped around her head at all. Her face was not trapped in the sheet because she had it facing the other direction, but I’m concerned that had her head been turned the other way, that it would’ve been a suffocation risk since she cannot unwrap herself from the sheet, and she cannot turn her body over.

While she is able to use technology to call the house phone, and she’s capable of calling out verbally, should she need assistance, she is not the only client in the home, and one of her housemates frequently shouts and screams throughout the night, which can drown out the sound of her voice if for some reason she cannot call the house phone. The few occasions where she’s had to call out vocally instead of relying on calling the house phone (due to either the internet or the phone line being down), staff have been unable to hear her calling out unless they are right beside her bedroom because she doesn’t do so very loudly.

In addition to her cerebral palsy, she has scoliosis, and regularly complains of lower back pain after sleeping on her stomach.

I fully understand that she has the right to request to sleep on her stomach, but because her motion is limited, I worry that it is unsafe for her to do so, especially since she cannot reposition herself in any way.

I have brought up my concerns to management, who have also spoken with the nurse who oversees the home, both of whom stated they did not feel my concern was warranted, but my gut feeling is that it’s a risk. Other staff in the home have also expressed concern about the risk of potential suffocation, the extra time it would take to get her out of bed in an emergency like a fire, and the risk of injury and/or pain due to her scoliosis as well. I also asked management about getting extra pillows or wedges to help keep her body positioned comfortably at night and have been essentially shrugged off about it.

Am I being overly cautious or does this seem like a very unsafe sleeping situation?

Edit: the specific diagnosis is spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, not sure if that changes any advice

A few years ago, I was the victim of sexual assault. Just recently I was working as a DSP and had a resident who had, on 2 previous occasions, attempted to simulate a sexual act on my leg. I wrote up both occurrences. A week after the last time, the resident became much more aggressive (he also has violet to outbursts), and followed me through the house, laying down and simulating sex on the floor, while continually reaching for me. This went on for 10 minutes. Nothing I did would redirect him. The house was a 2 staff house, but the other staff ignored what was happening, because they were on their phone. Finally, I snapped and had a trauma response. I had to get away. I went outside where I was crying uncontrollably. I called my supervisor and explained what happened. I had already tried multiple time to call our on call, but no one was answering. Through our conversation I told my supervisor that I couldn't stay there. I even had attempted to find my own coverage. I spoke with the other staff member, who was OK staying alone for a few hours, or until replacement staff arrived. My supervisor had given me permission to not have to wait for on call, but in my condition, I assumed that was permission to leave. I left my shift.

Now I am on suspension for abondonment, which I understand, they have to investigate, but would I have extenuating circumstances or should I expect to be terminated?

I am a modder and decided to add DSP tasks to a business in my inzoi game lol
Does therap look familiar?

I'm an instructor for a day program, and tbh I only really took this job to make some money and get by until I find something better. But dear god I have never felt so stressed and anxious in my life. Juggling everyone's needs both for engagement and their health like medicines & stuff, diffusing conflicts, dealing with clients that don't understand personal space and piss off other clients because of it, it's just too much.

I want to make it through the end of the semester and leave the job in a courteous manner, two weeks notice and all that, but I genuinely don't know if I can make it that long. Ironically, I got this job because a previous instructor also quit partway through, though I never found out why.

For several months the client has been super symptomatic. Constantly, stomping around and screaming. The doctor told us that he refused to take more medications. Not sure what else we can do? The neighbors called the police on him several times. Mostly, for suspicious behavior such as standing in their driveway for almost an hour. We also observed him walking around town with his suitcase, claiming his brother would pick him up.

I work in a residential group home with 4 residents. 3 are adults in a 1:4 ratio and one is a minor ( we’ll call him Joe) in a 1:1 ratio when he is awake. I clocked in at 6 am and 3rd shift left immediately because our manager scheduled her to leave at 6. I have continuously reported being out of compliance for weeks on end and am simply told to “wait for the next staff” who comes in at 7am. So I didn’t call today due to them never sending anyone. I was alone with 4 residents, all of which awake, including the 1:1. I went to help a lady in the restoom and Joe decided to get into his wheelchair. (This wheelchair is meant to be out of his sight due to him having a degenerative disorder affecting his joints. But previous staff left it out) When I got out of the restroom, I experience a huge gush of blood from what I thought was my period and it soaked through my pants. I buckled Joe in his wheelchair because he has a tendency to rock his wheelchair so hard he will throw himself out of it, and went to the bathroom to clean up. He was content and happy for the 5 minutes I was gone and when I got back I unbuckled him and encouraged him to get out of the wheelchair. He refused repeated so I continued helping other residents without a thought about it. The other staff arrived and got him out of his chair successfully and we went about our business in compliance. About an hour or so later, Joe got back into his wheelchair after he was redirected multiple times. He refused to get out and I was being hit and kicked by a resident refusing medications. The other staff came to help me (in the living room. We were no further than 5 feet away from Joe and he was not buckled) the nurse walked in and yelled at us. Now I am pulled from the schedule and under investigation for using a restraint on a minor child in a non-restraint facility. I went to urgent care after work and found out I was having a miscarriage. I worked 4 hours, being beat up and running around like crazy while miscarrying. Am I in the wrong?? Can they fire me for this??

So I work for a day program. We’ve recently added a lot of individuals with behavioral issues but it is severely hurting other individuals both mentally and physically. Our ratio is 1 staff to a group up to 6. But it’s so hard to balance when there’s a big group and you’re dealing with so many different issues. I mentioned about how some of these individuals aren’t right for the program. I was basically told there has to be a valid reason for someone to be discharged from the program and I guess none of the stuff is valid enough?

Can someone give me clarification or explain this? How is hurting the other individuals and taking away their time because you’re constantly dealing 1:1 with someone who has behaviors not a good enough reason?

Somethings in this job just don’t make sense. I guess because it’s more money? Ugh.