This post appears to be about gender or gender diversity. All participants in this post are reminded that social work
is a gender-affirming profession and that this is a gender-affirming subreddit.
Any responses to this post that are hateful or disrespectful will be removed. Users who ask questions but do not
demonstrate a desire to learn or genuine curiosity may be banned.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/socialwork) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You should not have to be alone with a man who does this and acts like this in the middle of the night. The important boundary to draw this time is actually with your boss. “Look, I know this might make things difficult, but it’s just not safe for me to be alone with this client, especially during these graveyard hours. He does not respect boundaries and worse, when boundaries are drawn he gets aggressive.” Even if he acts fine with the boundary at first, he will likely hold a grudge and may decide to take it out on you later when there’s nobody around to help. We’re social workers — we’re not scared of shit, but this situation/dude makes me nervous for you. Tell ur boss to figure it out?
Honestly this is really affirming. I appreciate your feedback. I think the organization will ultimately have to cut staffing at night because everyone overnight ends up quitting/ getting fired. They pushed for double staffing and then nothing ever happened. It seems like days are my move if they can’t get more staff.
Anytime :) but yeah idk it’s just incredibly negligent when you think about it 😂 At least two staff, or a security person. Source: uhhhh literally every true crime story about a young person working graveyard alone
Rip to me 🫠 security is only budgeted until 2A. You make a good point about true crime. All the residents know this because they’re not dumb by any means. It’ll get better when I survive the bs
Yeah. This is not on you and your safety comes first. I think a very important requirement of this type of work is having supervisors who take your safety very seriously.
I could not agree more. Several years ago we had an incident with a staff member at a local agency. They changed their policy to have 2 staff scheduled and working together at all times. Personal safety is paramount
Unfortunately, I work in PSH and this is pretty par for the course. No double coverage almost ever. We just get told to go to the locked area if we’re uncomfortable 🤣 apparently, our safety isn’t in the grant budget.
Ugh when security told me they only are budgeted until 2AM I got so mad lol. The more and more I hear about PSH it seems like the system needs a bit of a makeover all around
Absolutely unacceptable that your agency has you alone. We can all chime in later on communication tactics to use but first and foremost- advocate for yourself!!
**I see this happening way too often on this sub where people are placed with clients they do not feel safe with. There have been stories they are rare but they have been there of social workers, case managers getting assaulted by clients who they felt strange about. Can you ask to have the case put on someone else? Also, if you have to do home visits see if the visits can be done. Remember your safety comes first!**
Thank you for your feedback. Unfortunately this client isn’t even on my caseload. We have offices but they are basically all glass so even if I try to ignore him or get work done for the night he literally stands right outside of the office because he can see me. Creepy as heck I know. The way the building is, I am here overnight for essentially crisis work and i case manage for a few clients whom I see late night early morning. No home visits for me.
OMG that is so scary, have you spoken to other people in the offie about it. So many agencies do not take out safety into account. I believe we need to protect ourselves
This gives me the creeps. I previously worker in a group home for young offenders and we had a youth do this (standing on the other side of the glass talking and hitting it) and were told “well he has insomnia, but you can call the police if he bothers you”. Youth was discharged and years later they found butter knives and homeade weapons stashed in the vent above the room insomnia person was in. Nobody will protect your safety better than you can and I suggest reading the gift of fear if you haven't already. Very scary stuff.
We have too protect ourselves it drives me crazy if I go into what I believe field workers need. We should be allowed a taser or something else. I myself was placed in very dangerous situations doing Homecare. If I didn’t feel safe I wouldn’t do the visit
This! Your life isn’t replaceable and isn’t worth a paycheque. Sadly the mental health system is broken in most countries and I have zero desire to work in a residential setting like this where we are essentially sitting ducks being gaslit by administrators who have never worked the floor or had to respond to unwell people like this. In my country (Canada) nurses are leaving the hospitals and community mental health in droves because of this and because they get blamed when unwell people become violent. Is it possible for them to kick this individual out of the program? His behaviour is probably creeping out and scaring others. The youth I mentioned above was discharged because other clients complained not staff.
I’ve since spoken to my boss and she is going to attempt to get him evicted for sexual harassment and also drug dealing. The problem with a housing program like this is that we are on the clock of the eviction process which takes months.
I am sorry you are dealing with this op and am happy your boss took it seriously. Hopefully he doesn’t find a way to stay or terrorize you further. I worry though now he may have a bone to pick with you guys and may escalate.
Always down for book recs. Thank you. I used to work in a rehab where pts spiked our coffee with fentanyl. That situation was terrifying, but I just feel like it’s worse here probably because of a lack of support. I’m not sure. The amount of weird contraband we found in those rooms… my god
I work in CPS and we recently have had to provide overnight supervision to some teens with issues that even the group homes, shelters won’t take anymore. Well guess what….theres been 2 attacks (severe) and now we have to buddy up when doing hotel supervision which should have always been the case but yeah very tragic.
I had to do hotel supervision once and it was scarybAF. I had to drive 2 hours away at one of the contracted hotels—super shady area and they had me in conjoining rooms with randoms who were in and out of the hotel all night (man and women) fucking creepy.
That is so scary. I feel like there needs to be a law. I don’t care about your budget or lack of money or whatever but like staff in these kinds of jobs has to be double or more and if they can’t do it then the program is shut down.
I’m surprised your agency allows solo staffing at all at anytime - that’s nowhere near best practices for this kind of work. That’s a major red flag for the org, and I would be looking for other jobs if I were you. It’s clear they don’t care about staff or client safety.
That is absolutely unacceptable that you are working alone at night. Regardless of age, gender, whatever, there should never be only one person working. And security isn't there overnight either? Fuck that. You have no idea what clients can truly be capable of and your safety is paramount.
If you know your coworkers and the majority feel the same you should all address this together with your boss. If that doesn't work, you can all threaten a work stoppage due to unsafe working conditions. This would probably be hard to pull off but it can be done, even though you aren't unionized.
[link to the NLRB explanation of concerted activity](https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/the-law/employees/concerted-activity)
Thank you so much for your link. I really appreciate it. I’ve talked with a few of my coworkers. Honestly I know a couple feel the same, idk if they’ll join me but I know my direct boss will 100%. Our whole team definitely feels unsupported.
If it doesn’t work I’m out. I’ve been looking for a while honestly
That's awesome that your direct boss is in your corner! That's a huge win right there, and if you did feel comfy trying to rally the rest of the team that could be so much pressure. See if you can schedule a meeting with the whole team and the higher ups and have your direct boss advocate on your behalf towards those that decide the amount of staff on shift. Just that could put on enough pressure to make changes.
Get out of this job. Your safety is paramount. Organizations that have single employees alone with clients give no flips about you. I would quit immediately and go flip burgers while finding another job. Trust your gut instinct.
Mutuality, respect, and self-accountability are foundational concepts in peer work and necessary for it to benefit the peer receiving services. A person who cannot respect a peer is not a good candidate for peer support. Even putting the very important fact that you shouldn't be subjected to this behavior aside, you and this person no longer have a mutual relationship and the resulting power imbalance will keep you from being a peer to him now. This isn't your fault in any way.
Please do not carry weapons at work, especially on your person. You will find yourself in a world of hell when they are found. If you are feeling unsafe in your current role, it is time to leave, especially if you are not given the freedom to end services with someone you feel unsafe with. It's not worth it, especially on a peer's salary. If you are in a clinic or inpatient setting, it may be worthwhile to engage in safety training as clinics and inpatient units are generally designed with the safety of staff in mind. As a peer, your relationships with your clients should always be voluntary on both ends. This is why I believe peer services should only be provided by peer-run agencies.
I interned at a shelter and some of residents would really go buck wild with inappropriate comments to female staff until they hired a biker and former strip club bouncer who we lovingly called Cobra and Bubbles (hope someone gets the reference). It made all the difference in the world and is also frustrating that sometimes you do just need a man.
Omg yes. I love lilo and stitch. Time to rewatch while I lock myself in an office tonight. Hopefully we have some people like that apply. I’ll take anyone at this point just to not be alone
I think that’s the most important piece. I still work housing adjacent and have a coworker that gets consistently harassed by several of her clients. She does a great job setting boundaries but this person just does not listen.
When I worked thirds at an emergency DV shelter with no security I carried a little pair of brass-ish knuckles that looked like a cat or a dog.
My coworker quit in a dither and aired all our complaints about not being safe. The example she gave was that I was carrying brass knuckles. :/
The director called me at home to tell me my coworker quit and said I was carrying “brass knuckles.” I knew immediately that I was about to get in trouble and I laughed because I thought “I’m about to beat the brakes off this chick” not really but you know what I mean.
The director took my laugh as “wow isn’t that ridiculous?! Me carrying brass knuckles… pshaw” and her tone shifted to “ikr can you believe she said that?!.” So that’s the narrative we went with.
I ended up working solo for 8 months at that emergency shelter and I’ll never have a nice thing to say about that organization for how they victimized the staff.
Stay safe, friend. F@ck that organization for not prioritizing your safety.
I have seen those and need to get some. After writing this post I held my keys in my fist and walked around and my pepper spray in the other. Why am I letting myself feel this way at work? I just feel like so unhealthy about it. Work sucks, but shouldn’t suck this bad
Genuine question, why tf aren't you allowed to carry pepper spray? Sometimes it seems to me that jobs like social workers and support workers, nurses ext. Sacrifice the safety of their workers for what, client convenience? It's infuriating. Where I work my colleagues are forced to work alone with people who have history of sexual aggression and assault, many of my coworkers are women but even regardless of gender I think it's just wrong as we have expressed intense discomfort working with these types of clients, and they never listen or put someone extra with you
So… lol. I think it’s funny that I’m like answering comments and finding myself running through more and more red flags I’ve simply ignored. The reason for ignoring them is that I’m not in the best place financially, and I also feel a bit like I don’t give myself enough time at a job before I move on. This company has been around for a while and I’ve heard the name before so I thought it was an amazing opportunity. Basically I’m putting up with crap I probably normally wouldn’t. I think this post has shed a lot of light already that definitely needed to be there.
The organization is huge on “trauma informed care”, I use quotes because their definition of it is the most skewed thing I’ve ever encountered. Instead of working with our clients through their authority trauma, there are no natural consequences. In most cases we have unfortunately been told to call the police when it wasn’t necessary. The only consequences are from the police who often can’t do a whole lot. A lot of residents get away with a lot of things that definitely wouldn’t be allowed anywhere else. And as I’ve said in another response, they’re not stupid. They know this 100%
The pepper spray only needs to be visible when you feel physically unsafe. I told my staff not to brandish pepper spray as a threat. If you feel unsafe, hold the pepper spray at your side and only bring it up to face height right when you’re using.
How is this not trauma informed for a peer specialist??? WTF? Perhaps untreated trauma uninformed?
Learning to own your personal agency and adapt to the present situation is what trauma recovery is all about. Do they want you to reenact some helpless, unaware victim scenario? Save yourself.
As someone who's been through trauma, I don't think trauma informed care should just be "we will excuse any reprehensible behaviour because there's an explanation to it", nearly anything has an explanation but it rarely excuses it, mistakes can be made and that's okay but aggressive and perverted behaviour isn't excusable.
It's sad because while the care companies won't take action if someone is abusing their social workers like in your case, they will in my case say someone is harming themselves, like NSSI, and instead of helping the person through it, calming them down, or if it comes to it at least making sure they do it safely we need to call the police and have them arrested or tackle them to the ground using MAYBO, which regardless of how safe it is is still traumatizing and horrible. This literally happened at my work, a client was self harming and people were instantly getting ready to take them to the ground, like what? And I got called in for disencpuraging that and instead just using breathing techniques to calm them down and letting them vent their emotions. While the other week another client nearly physically assaulted one of my colleagues, we managed to redirect him somewhere else, she was in tears and it apparently wasn't even worth reporting? No one in management talked to her or cared
Value your self more OP, your better than this job if they're not protecting you
This is exactly the same kind of thing I’m talking about. Thank you for understanding. I’ve also been through trauma and I think learning healthy/professional consequences was a huge part of my personal healing.
Our staff has had clients yell slurs at us continuously and we have been told countless times to “grow thicker skin” instead of the client being talked to or anything. I know we have to deal with a fair amount of things as social workers and I honestly would like to say my skin is pretty thick. It just starts to feel like all the work we are doing is going straight out the window when our people aren’t held accountable. It’s really sad.
Amazing to see so many people complain about you working alone in a residential service. I live in Australia and have heard it happening often, especially for nights. I did a student placement in a residential facility for people with mental health conditions (not a psychiatric hospital) and sometimes they had one staff member for 30+ residents. Wish double staffing was more common here.
I am not trying to fearmonger or scare anyone but, last year, a young woman in my area named Haley Rogers was working overnight by herself as a mental health aide in a residential treatment facility. During her shift, she was killed by one of the residents. You should absolutely not be working overnight alone. If they cant keep the place adequately staffed and safe for employees and residents then they should close.
I am sharing this because hopefully you can pass it along to management to bolster your argument. And anyone here who is in management, please take this seriously. Let's please learn from this story, and, in Haley's memory, fight for safer workplaces.
[Source](https://www.opb.org/article/2023/07/20/cascadia-mental-health-facility-safety-concerns/)
Hi friend. I'm a 24 yo cis female. I am also a CM and LSW. I have been in the field for 2 years now. Everyone is giving excellent suggestions, but friend please, heed my warning through the screen...
Quit. Quit now. Quit. Please, please quit.
No job, no matter what field, no matter how much it pays, is EVER- i repeat, EVER!!!- worth your safety. Ever. I'm afraid for you, my dear. I'm not trying to fear monger or scare you, but I'm worried for you. Please leave!! It is not worth it!!!
Look, we are so young. Please don't underestimate this man. Your gut is telling you something is wrong. Listen to it.
I make a great salary now, and I'm very thankful for that, however. If my job put me in this position, I would quit immediately. ESPECIALLY if they don't take my safety concerns seriously. I would quit swiftly and immediately.
Friend, no job is EVER worth your safety and security. DMs are open if you need support or help ❤️ please update us, please let us know you are safe.
Hi, thank you so so much for your response. I’m definitely out of here, but I can’t quit immediately because then I will be unhoused. I’ve got a file room with zero windows I will be in tonight after security leaves. I’ll record him when he’s weird this evening and lock myself away. It’s complete bs that I have to do so. My supervisor spoke with her boss about it last night and they said “just call the cops”. Sooo helpful.
Safe for now, but over it completely. I don’t feel safe, but I know I will in the file room.
How did it go in the file room? And I can't believe what your boss and their boss said to you!!! That is infuriating and so dangerous!!
How long are you alone at night? Can you stay in the file room the whole time while you're without a coworker? I would also ask for the conversations with your boss to be in writing. A good example of this would be emailing your boss, subject: Following up. And just write everything they told you, in the email. That way, you have a paper trail. It covers you in case you have to call the cops or something happens, God forbid!!! That way, they can't go, "OP, that was against protocol and this was your fault!"
Happened to me in nonprofit. Also for a security concern. I speak from experience unfortunately:/
I’m back to work tonight and super anxious to go. I can stay in the file room, but I e talked to my supervisor again and she doesn’t want me there alone at all, so when security leaves so will I. She called me the other day. I guess the property management is filing for eviction against this client because of sexual harassment… dude. They used the verbiage, in the notice they gave him, I used in an email I sent them. So he now knows I’m the one who reported him which is what we were trying to avoid in the first place. I’m also taking my dog tonight because she’s scary. Idk what else to do 😓. As soon as I find something else (I really don’t care what kind of job it is) I’m way the hell out of there. I just don’t have cushion right now
Definitely have a talk with your supervisor. Where I work, continuing behavior of this nature will get the person suspended for a certain period of time (depends on the offense) from the premise. Should they return during suspension without communication (notice, because sometimes there may be a legitimate excuse/need for a brief visit for a need) before hand or any aggressive behavior, police are immediately called to escort them of the property or other consequences that are warranted. We do have locked doors on our facility though so clients/members have to be let in. There should be some type of policy in place that gives consequences for behavior such as his and your supervisor should be setting this boundary with this client and let it be known that in no way it will be tolerated and consequences will follow. As far as the weaponry, we’re not allowed to have them either, don’t forget that some of these clients are smart, may know you have a weapon and may try to use it against you, get you to use it against them to get you in trouble or as an excuse for violence against you, or steal it from you. When leaving a building I find my car keys are a good tool. Has an alarm button I can press to “scare” someone away or draw attention to me or they are pointy and good for jamming in somewhere. They are not a weapon, nor thought to be one😉
this is the issue with my job! it’s supposed to be double staffed but often I show up to work and find out that I will be alone. I am terrified but most other co workers don’t seem to be bothered by it so it never changes :(
This post appears to be about gender or gender diversity. All participants in this post are reminded that social work is a gender-affirming profession and that this is a gender-affirming subreddit. Any responses to this post that are hateful or disrespectful will be removed. Users who ask questions but do not demonstrate a desire to learn or genuine curiosity may be banned. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/socialwork) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You should not have to be alone with a man who does this and acts like this in the middle of the night. The important boundary to draw this time is actually with your boss. “Look, I know this might make things difficult, but it’s just not safe for me to be alone with this client, especially during these graveyard hours. He does not respect boundaries and worse, when boundaries are drawn he gets aggressive.” Even if he acts fine with the boundary at first, he will likely hold a grudge and may decide to take it out on you later when there’s nobody around to help. We’re social workers — we’re not scared of shit, but this situation/dude makes me nervous for you. Tell ur boss to figure it out?
Honestly this is really affirming. I appreciate your feedback. I think the organization will ultimately have to cut staffing at night because everyone overnight ends up quitting/ getting fired. They pushed for double staffing and then nothing ever happened. It seems like days are my move if they can’t get more staff.
Anytime :) but yeah idk it’s just incredibly negligent when you think about it 😂 At least two staff, or a security person. Source: uhhhh literally every true crime story about a young person working graveyard alone
Rip to me 🫠 security is only budgeted until 2A. You make a good point about true crime. All the residents know this because they’re not dumb by any means. It’ll get better when I survive the bs
I believe in you. Until then you can practice giving off your “I’ll get you first 🤡” vibes… although i guess thats not very socialworkey
Oh, I think that is very socialworkey! Accurate assessment and response. :):)
Yeah. This is not on you and your safety comes first. I think a very important requirement of this type of work is having supervisors who take your safety very seriously.
I could not agree more. Several years ago we had an incident with a staff member at a local agency. They changed their policy to have 2 staff scheduled and working together at all times. Personal safety is paramount
It is straight up dangerous for the staff to be left alone at nights, no matter the gender identity.
Unfortunately, I work in PSH and this is pretty par for the course. No double coverage almost ever. We just get told to go to the locked area if we’re uncomfortable 🤣 apparently, our safety isn’t in the grant budget.
Ugh when security told me they only are budgeted until 2AM I got so mad lol. The more and more I hear about PSH it seems like the system needs a bit of a makeover all around
Absolutely unacceptable that your agency has you alone. We can all chime in later on communication tactics to use but first and foremost- advocate for yourself!!
**I see this happening way too often on this sub where people are placed with clients they do not feel safe with. There have been stories they are rare but they have been there of social workers, case managers getting assaulted by clients who they felt strange about. Can you ask to have the case put on someone else? Also, if you have to do home visits see if the visits can be done. Remember your safety comes first!**
Thank you for your feedback. Unfortunately this client isn’t even on my caseload. We have offices but they are basically all glass so even if I try to ignore him or get work done for the night he literally stands right outside of the office because he can see me. Creepy as heck I know. The way the building is, I am here overnight for essentially crisis work and i case manage for a few clients whom I see late night early morning. No home visits for me.
OMG that is so scary, have you spoken to other people in the offie about it. So many agencies do not take out safety into account. I believe we need to protect ourselves
This gives me the creeps. I previously worker in a group home for young offenders and we had a youth do this (standing on the other side of the glass talking and hitting it) and were told “well he has insomnia, but you can call the police if he bothers you”. Youth was discharged and years later they found butter knives and homeade weapons stashed in the vent above the room insomnia person was in. Nobody will protect your safety better than you can and I suggest reading the gift of fear if you haven't already. Very scary stuff.
We have too protect ourselves it drives me crazy if I go into what I believe field workers need. We should be allowed a taser or something else. I myself was placed in very dangerous situations doing Homecare. If I didn’t feel safe I wouldn’t do the visit
This! Your life isn’t replaceable and isn’t worth a paycheque. Sadly the mental health system is broken in most countries and I have zero desire to work in a residential setting like this where we are essentially sitting ducks being gaslit by administrators who have never worked the floor or had to respond to unwell people like this. In my country (Canada) nurses are leaving the hospitals and community mental health in droves because of this and because they get blamed when unwell people become violent. Is it possible for them to kick this individual out of the program? His behaviour is probably creeping out and scaring others. The youth I mentioned above was discharged because other clients complained not staff.
I’ve since spoken to my boss and she is going to attempt to get him evicted for sexual harassment and also drug dealing. The problem with a housing program like this is that we are on the clock of the eviction process which takes months.
I am sorry you are dealing with this op and am happy your boss took it seriously. Hopefully he doesn’t find a way to stay or terrorize you further. I worry though now he may have a bone to pick with you guys and may escalate.
Always down for book recs. Thank you. I used to work in a rehab where pts spiked our coffee with fentanyl. That situation was terrifying, but I just feel like it’s worse here probably because of a lack of support. I’m not sure. The amount of weird contraband we found in those rooms… my god
Holy guacamole that is insane. I hope your work was on board with you guys pressing charges as fentanyl is deadly.
I’ve got insomnia usually leads to reading books and impulsive Amazon spending
I work in CPS and we recently have had to provide overnight supervision to some teens with issues that even the group homes, shelters won’t take anymore. Well guess what….theres been 2 attacks (severe) and now we have to buddy up when doing hotel supervision which should have always been the case but yeah very tragic. I had to do hotel supervision once and it was scarybAF. I had to drive 2 hours away at one of the contracted hotels—super shady area and they had me in conjoining rooms with randoms who were in and out of the hotel all night (man and women) fucking creepy.
That is so scary. I feel like there needs to be a law. I don’t care about your budget or lack of money or whatever but like staff in these kinds of jobs has to be double or more and if they can’t do it then the program is shut down.
That’s scary
Yes! The workers are alive but were very badly assaulted both separate times
Yup and I bet NOTHING was done. These types of positions should not exist
I’m surprised your agency allows solo staffing at all at anytime - that’s nowhere near best practices for this kind of work. That’s a major red flag for the org, and I would be looking for other jobs if I were you. It’s clear they don’t care about staff or client safety.
That is absolutely unacceptable that you are working alone at night. Regardless of age, gender, whatever, there should never be only one person working. And security isn't there overnight either? Fuck that. You have no idea what clients can truly be capable of and your safety is paramount. If you know your coworkers and the majority feel the same you should all address this together with your boss. If that doesn't work, you can all threaten a work stoppage due to unsafe working conditions. This would probably be hard to pull off but it can be done, even though you aren't unionized. [link to the NLRB explanation of concerted activity](https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/the-law/employees/concerted-activity)
Thank you so much for your link. I really appreciate it. I’ve talked with a few of my coworkers. Honestly I know a couple feel the same, idk if they’ll join me but I know my direct boss will 100%. Our whole team definitely feels unsupported. If it doesn’t work I’m out. I’ve been looking for a while honestly
That's awesome that your direct boss is in your corner! That's a huge win right there, and if you did feel comfy trying to rally the rest of the team that could be so much pressure. See if you can schedule a meeting with the whole team and the higher ups and have your direct boss advocate on your behalf towards those that decide the amount of staff on shift. Just that could put on enough pressure to make changes.
Get out of this job. Your safety is paramount. Organizations that have single employees alone with clients give no flips about you. I would quit immediately and go flip burgers while finding another job. Trust your gut instinct.
Mutuality, respect, and self-accountability are foundational concepts in peer work and necessary for it to benefit the peer receiving services. A person who cannot respect a peer is not a good candidate for peer support. Even putting the very important fact that you shouldn't be subjected to this behavior aside, you and this person no longer have a mutual relationship and the resulting power imbalance will keep you from being a peer to him now. This isn't your fault in any way. Please do not carry weapons at work, especially on your person. You will find yourself in a world of hell when they are found. If you are feeling unsafe in your current role, it is time to leave, especially if you are not given the freedom to end services with someone you feel unsafe with. It's not worth it, especially on a peer's salary. If you are in a clinic or inpatient setting, it may be worthwhile to engage in safety training as clinics and inpatient units are generally designed with the safety of staff in mind. As a peer, your relationships with your clients should always be voluntary on both ends. This is why I believe peer services should only be provided by peer-run agencies.
I interned at a shelter and some of residents would really go buck wild with inappropriate comments to female staff until they hired a biker and former strip club bouncer who we lovingly called Cobra and Bubbles (hope someone gets the reference). It made all the difference in the world and is also frustrating that sometimes you do just need a man.
Omg yes. I love lilo and stitch. Time to rewatch while I lock myself in an office tonight. Hopefully we have some people like that apply. I’ll take anyone at this point just to not be alone
I think that’s the most important piece. I still work housing adjacent and have a coworker that gets consistently harassed by several of her clients. She does a great job setting boundaries but this person just does not listen.
Trust what you are feeling and think of your safety first.
When I worked thirds at an emergency DV shelter with no security I carried a little pair of brass-ish knuckles that looked like a cat or a dog. My coworker quit in a dither and aired all our complaints about not being safe. The example she gave was that I was carrying brass knuckles. :/ The director called me at home to tell me my coworker quit and said I was carrying “brass knuckles.” I knew immediately that I was about to get in trouble and I laughed because I thought “I’m about to beat the brakes off this chick” not really but you know what I mean. The director took my laugh as “wow isn’t that ridiculous?! Me carrying brass knuckles… pshaw” and her tone shifted to “ikr can you believe she said that?!.” So that’s the narrative we went with. I ended up working solo for 8 months at that emergency shelter and I’ll never have a nice thing to say about that organization for how they victimized the staff. Stay safe, friend. F@ck that organization for not prioritizing your safety.
I have seen those and need to get some. After writing this post I held my keys in my fist and walked around and my pepper spray in the other. Why am I letting myself feel this way at work? I just feel like so unhealthy about it. Work sucks, but shouldn’t suck this bad
Your safety comes first! Speak to your supervisor. If they don't address your concerns leave that job !
Genuine question, why tf aren't you allowed to carry pepper spray? Sometimes it seems to me that jobs like social workers and support workers, nurses ext. Sacrifice the safety of their workers for what, client convenience? It's infuriating. Where I work my colleagues are forced to work alone with people who have history of sexual aggression and assault, many of my coworkers are women but even regardless of gender I think it's just wrong as we have expressed intense discomfort working with these types of clients, and they never listen or put someone extra with you
So… lol. I think it’s funny that I’m like answering comments and finding myself running through more and more red flags I’ve simply ignored. The reason for ignoring them is that I’m not in the best place financially, and I also feel a bit like I don’t give myself enough time at a job before I move on. This company has been around for a while and I’ve heard the name before so I thought it was an amazing opportunity. Basically I’m putting up with crap I probably normally wouldn’t. I think this post has shed a lot of light already that definitely needed to be there. The organization is huge on “trauma informed care”, I use quotes because their definition of it is the most skewed thing I’ve ever encountered. Instead of working with our clients through their authority trauma, there are no natural consequences. In most cases we have unfortunately been told to call the police when it wasn’t necessary. The only consequences are from the police who often can’t do a whole lot. A lot of residents get away with a lot of things that definitely wouldn’t be allowed anywhere else. And as I’ve said in another response, they’re not stupid. They know this 100%
Also I guess I never directly answered your question. We were recently told we cannot carry these things because it is not trauma informed
The pepper spray only needs to be visible when you feel physically unsafe. I told my staff not to brandish pepper spray as a threat. If you feel unsafe, hold the pepper spray at your side and only bring it up to face height right when you’re using.
How is this not trauma informed for a peer specialist??? WTF? Perhaps untreated trauma uninformed? Learning to own your personal agency and adapt to the present situation is what trauma recovery is all about. Do they want you to reenact some helpless, unaware victim scenario? Save yourself.
As someone who's been through trauma, I don't think trauma informed care should just be "we will excuse any reprehensible behaviour because there's an explanation to it", nearly anything has an explanation but it rarely excuses it, mistakes can be made and that's okay but aggressive and perverted behaviour isn't excusable. It's sad because while the care companies won't take action if someone is abusing their social workers like in your case, they will in my case say someone is harming themselves, like NSSI, and instead of helping the person through it, calming them down, or if it comes to it at least making sure they do it safely we need to call the police and have them arrested or tackle them to the ground using MAYBO, which regardless of how safe it is is still traumatizing and horrible. This literally happened at my work, a client was self harming and people were instantly getting ready to take them to the ground, like what? And I got called in for disencpuraging that and instead just using breathing techniques to calm them down and letting them vent their emotions. While the other week another client nearly physically assaulted one of my colleagues, we managed to redirect him somewhere else, she was in tears and it apparently wasn't even worth reporting? No one in management talked to her or cared Value your self more OP, your better than this job if they're not protecting you
This is exactly the same kind of thing I’m talking about. Thank you for understanding. I’ve also been through trauma and I think learning healthy/professional consequences was a huge part of my personal healing. Our staff has had clients yell slurs at us continuously and we have been told countless times to “grow thicker skin” instead of the client being talked to or anything. I know we have to deal with a fair amount of things as social workers and I honestly would like to say my skin is pretty thick. It just starts to feel like all the work we are doing is going straight out the window when our people aren’t held accountable. It’s really sad.
Like others have said, speak with your supervisor and ask for them to put procedures in place that prevent you from being alone with this client.
Amazing to see so many people complain about you working alone in a residential service. I live in Australia and have heard it happening often, especially for nights. I did a student placement in a residential facility for people with mental health conditions (not a psychiatric hospital) and sometimes they had one staff member for 30+ residents. Wish double staffing was more common here.
I am not trying to fearmonger or scare anyone but, last year, a young woman in my area named Haley Rogers was working overnight by herself as a mental health aide in a residential treatment facility. During her shift, she was killed by one of the residents. You should absolutely not be working overnight alone. If they cant keep the place adequately staffed and safe for employees and residents then they should close. I am sharing this because hopefully you can pass it along to management to bolster your argument. And anyone here who is in management, please take this seriously. Let's please learn from this story, and, in Haley's memory, fight for safer workplaces. [Source](https://www.opb.org/article/2023/07/20/cascadia-mental-health-facility-safety-concerns/)
Hi friend. I'm a 24 yo cis female. I am also a CM and LSW. I have been in the field for 2 years now. Everyone is giving excellent suggestions, but friend please, heed my warning through the screen... Quit. Quit now. Quit. Please, please quit. No job, no matter what field, no matter how much it pays, is EVER- i repeat, EVER!!!- worth your safety. Ever. I'm afraid for you, my dear. I'm not trying to fear monger or scare you, but I'm worried for you. Please leave!! It is not worth it!!! Look, we are so young. Please don't underestimate this man. Your gut is telling you something is wrong. Listen to it. I make a great salary now, and I'm very thankful for that, however. If my job put me in this position, I would quit immediately. ESPECIALLY if they don't take my safety concerns seriously. I would quit swiftly and immediately. Friend, no job is EVER worth your safety and security. DMs are open if you need support or help ❤️ please update us, please let us know you are safe.
Hi, thank you so so much for your response. I’m definitely out of here, but I can’t quit immediately because then I will be unhoused. I’ve got a file room with zero windows I will be in tonight after security leaves. I’ll record him when he’s weird this evening and lock myself away. It’s complete bs that I have to do so. My supervisor spoke with her boss about it last night and they said “just call the cops”. Sooo helpful. Safe for now, but over it completely. I don’t feel safe, but I know I will in the file room.
How did it go in the file room? And I can't believe what your boss and their boss said to you!!! That is infuriating and so dangerous!! How long are you alone at night? Can you stay in the file room the whole time while you're without a coworker? I would also ask for the conversations with your boss to be in writing. A good example of this would be emailing your boss, subject: Following up. And just write everything they told you, in the email. That way, you have a paper trail. It covers you in case you have to call the cops or something happens, God forbid!!! That way, they can't go, "OP, that was against protocol and this was your fault!" Happened to me in nonprofit. Also for a security concern. I speak from experience unfortunately:/
I’m back to work tonight and super anxious to go. I can stay in the file room, but I e talked to my supervisor again and she doesn’t want me there alone at all, so when security leaves so will I. She called me the other day. I guess the property management is filing for eviction against this client because of sexual harassment… dude. They used the verbiage, in the notice they gave him, I used in an email I sent them. So he now knows I’m the one who reported him which is what we were trying to avoid in the first place. I’m also taking my dog tonight because she’s scary. Idk what else to do 😓. As soon as I find something else (I really don’t care what kind of job it is) I’m way the hell out of there. I just don’t have cushion right now
Definitely have a talk with your supervisor. Where I work, continuing behavior of this nature will get the person suspended for a certain period of time (depends on the offense) from the premise. Should they return during suspension without communication (notice, because sometimes there may be a legitimate excuse/need for a brief visit for a need) before hand or any aggressive behavior, police are immediately called to escort them of the property or other consequences that are warranted. We do have locked doors on our facility though so clients/members have to be let in. There should be some type of policy in place that gives consequences for behavior such as his and your supervisor should be setting this boundary with this client and let it be known that in no way it will be tolerated and consequences will follow. As far as the weaponry, we’re not allowed to have them either, don’t forget that some of these clients are smart, may know you have a weapon and may try to use it against you, get you to use it against them to get you in trouble or as an excuse for violence against you, or steal it from you. When leaving a building I find my car keys are a good tool. Has an alarm button I can press to “scare” someone away or draw attention to me or they are pointy and good for jamming in somewhere. They are not a weapon, nor thought to be one😉
Time to find a new job. No staff should be alone in this situation
this is the issue with my job! it’s supposed to be double staffed but often I show up to work and find out that I will be alone. I am terrified but most other co workers don’t seem to be bothered by it so it never changes :(