I’m not Numb, I’m not insensitive, I’ve adapted

I have been a therapist in some shape form or fashion all my life.  Over the last 10 years this job has become harder and harder because situations are becoming more frequent.  Children and adults are dealing with Mental illness  and  family problems more then they use to (domestic violence, homelessness, PTSD, ADHD).  I have individuals  asking me how I can do the work I do, listening to the horror stories of what people  have had to endure for the sake of staying alive; drugs, rape, molestation, incest etc.

After a while of hearing the same things happening over and over again, generation to generation in all age groups, it becomes woven into the fabric of the work I do.  It becomes as common as if I leave work at 5:30 headed south on the expressway, there will be traffic.  I get upset but I deal with it and learn ways to not let it take over me.  This in a field of work that mainly involves planning, resource gathering and talking.

Now I’m not a strong advocate of the police but I can identify with them.  You go to a job where people die every day in front of you  or you arrive on a scene to another dead body, someone saw it happen but don’t tells you, every day. This based on past experiences with someone who wears the same uniform as you , sounds a lot like stereotyping, every day.  You get blamed for not doing enough to solve the crime, bake a cake from scratch no recipe and only some of the ingredients, every day.  For not protecting communities where this frequently happens; if I know something is about to happen I can do something about it, if I find out after the fact but you tell me what you know, I can help.  If I have nothing to prevent it and nothing to keep it from happening again, this makes as much sense as me shooting blindly in the dark to prevent my home from being robbed. 

I’m sure some of these officers have simply accepted it as part of the job, part of their day and in MOST situations aren’t numb, insensitive or uncaring but simply doing what they can to do their jobs, to the best of the their ability, going home at the end of their shift, trying to shake the job off their minds, so they can still be a spouse, parent, friend, brother, sister and human being.

In therapy some of us have a motto:  Never work harder than the client.  If I find you’re not doing at least 20% why should I be expected to do 80%?  If you see or hear something tell someone, if you know something is about to go down drop an anonymous tip, we must do something to help ourselves.

Imagine the difference it would make in our communities if we did 20-30%  ………