How Long is Too Long in the Front Lines?
DeeAnna Merz Nagel
I recently had a conversation with a colleague who said she just couldn’t find her “calling.” She is a counselor and she knows she was led to help people but she feels she is called to deeply fulfill her vocation- she just doesn’t know what or how. She told me about her jobs (plural). One of her jobs is as a counselor at a juvenile detention center. She said she knows she helps her clients. And then with pause she said, “But the work environment is toxic.” And I knew exactly what she meant. Having worked in various settings over the years- many of which were crisis-oriented settings, I could relate. As I dealt with the concerns and needs of my clients I often had to deal with the negative attitudes of burnt out staff people who had seen way too many lives torn apart by abuse, neglect, poverty, disaster, illness and death.
Upon reflection, and knowing how much I have witnessed in my career, I am thinking that each of us can only take in so much before it begins to taint us and deeply hurt us at a soul level. Maybe we should only be allowing ourselves to work in these difficult environments for a much shorter time than we think we can handle. Maybe only a few years at most, and then it is time to move on and let someone else take the challenge. In that way, we can remain whole and be able to continue to have positive impact on the world around us without our own souls being in the balance. I realize there are exceptional people who may be able to do crisis work for years but I am talking to the rest of us.
I didn’t realize the toll all of those years really had on me until I moved away from that level of intense work. Now I know that even as I was helping, I may not have been able to give anything my all, because it was not in me to give. So now I spend time nurturing and feeding my soul so that I give again the way I did way back in those early years of my career…
What do you think?
DeeAnna Merz-Nagel is a clinical counselor, teacher, workshop presenter, sat on the ACA Cyber Technology Taskforce, and is co-founder of the Online Therapy Institute
Hi DeeAnn,
I agree it is a very important issue. I have, in recent years, alowed a toxic environment to seriously affect my mental and physical health, believing, after 30 odd years, that I had become pretty immune.
Previously I had always see 6 -7 years as being the maximum period for effective working in any environments. The optimum for me seemed to be between 2 – 4 years, and a change was then a rewarding relief and renewal of energy, even when leaving very successful practices.
The term ‘toxic’ is perfect to describe the situations I am currently thinking of and I will have to be careful I do not over-use the term. This recent crisis was after 4 years. Being in the field of Mental Health I was well positioned to get myself out of the pit I had allowed myself to slip into. Even my physical health has now largely recovered.
It was a good lesson for me and one that has me watching out more for my colleagues. It indicates how important counselling supervision is, for the wellbeing of our client’s and of for ourselves.
It has now got me focussed on the dangers that institutions can pose, in expecting people to work in what are basically psychologically unsafe environments. This affects all professions, not just counsellors and therapists.
It seemed ironic that the most dangerous psychological working environment I have worked in was ‘Mental Health’. The dangers were not because of the challenges of the clients, but the unsafe practices of the institution and a few individuals.
I broke the habit of a lifetime and took a less polite approach to the issues. I pursued a complaint aggressively against the Institution, using only counselling and therapeutic arguments and principles as my ammunition.
The reactions were very strong and many people were worried that I would suffer further distress as a result of my outspoken criticisms. I must admit, there were times when I thought I should back off.
As it happened; at the final stage of my ‘therapeutic’ challenge, just before we would have gone to legal process, there was complete acceptance of the risks that were affecting staff. Practices were changes, supervision improved and I all my personal demands were met in full, including a more rewarding job.
You are so right in raising the issue. It is a well-established edict that you cannot help others if you are unable to help yourself (or words to that effect).
We have to make sure that our psychological working environments are just as sound and risk managed as our physical environments. It is only then that we can hope to do the best for our client’s.
This side of my work is now just as important as my counselling and therapeutic responsibilities. Environmental Health responsibilities included the Psychological and Emotional Health of all workers. Employers just need these issues clarified for them, to see the serious failures of duty when this is not adequately considered.
By the way, Occupational Health workers were brilliant and backed me all the way. Nice to be able to rely on people.