I think one of the worst things Abt working inpatient as a tech is dealing with coworkers who you know don't give a shit. There's already an empathy crisis happening right now, but too often I've seen tiktoks and heard coworkers joke about 'being the crash out tech' or thinking restraints are funny.
I fear we are forgetting that these are children who are sick. And you see this a lot..people enter the profession because of how easy some psych wards make it to work there due to shoddy screening processes, and immediately regret it because they realize that not all mental illness looks the same, and it's not all easy to manage.
I see people shame literal CHILDREN about how they are living their lives, their addictions, self injury, etc. and it blows my mind, because how are you going to work at a place specifically to help people in crisis and think tough love will help? This isn't where you come to be paternally hard on kids and make them turn their life around, it's where you come to help children who are in crisis and a danger to themselves or others.
And I see people be.like 'clearly you don't know how scary it is to work there.' I'd like to remind them that as bad as you might think you have it, these kids re not only going through the hardest times in their lives, they can't leave after a 12 hour shift. They have to stay. And they are panicking and struggling, and sometimes all they know how to do is fight or yell or stay in their room and sleep through groups.
You don't get to shame children and say they 'arent trying to get better' just because their coping doesn't look right to you. If they are awake and living, they are still trying. Because doing what they need to do to regulate isn't shameful.
And the thing about restraints being funny? Yeah that's awful. These kids are already going though it, they don't need a self-proclaimed crashout tech telling them to toe the line or they're going to get sedated. It fucking sucks.
People need to remember that not all kids suffering look like perfect 'victims', they don't all just cry and take their meds willingly. They aren't a project or something to be fixed, they are people who deserve respect and attention and empathy despite what they've been through and how they choose to cope. They are trying to get by, and if you go into this field willing to hold grudges and shame kids and judge people with addictions, it's not the field for you.
Do better.
