Sufferer Hi, I’m new at this - Correctional Officer

[March2018]

I was kind of relieved to find online support. I feel like I’ve been doing this alone for 11 months now. Long story short, I work as a correctional officer and was attacked and beat up about a year ago. I feel like I’ve been through all the emotions with no end in sight. Every time I think I’m over it something happens and I get depressed again and then feel guilty that I’m still struggling. I’m in the middle of a workers comp case and it just feels like everyone is working against me to screw me over. Even though I know I have support it’s from people who really don’t understand what I’m going through & it gets kind of lonely. I made myself go back to work a couple of months ago, but then had a panic attack trying to do the same work, and now just feel stuck. I guess I’m just here to be able to talk about it.

 

[Wendell_R]

Welcome! You're in a great place for support, and a great place for people who know exactly what you're feeling inside.

 

[scout86]

Welcome to the forum! (Although I'm sorry events lead to you being here.)

it just feels like everyone is working against me to screw me over.

From what I've heard, that's pretty much how workers comp works. I wonder how many people just give up and never get compensated?

Are you seeing a therapist? Getting help dealing with things early on is probably a plus.

 

[March2018]

Welcome to the forum! (Although I'm sorry events lead to you being here.)

From what I've heard, that's pretty much how workers comp works. I wonder how many people just give up and never get compensated?

Are you seeing a therapist? Getting help dealing with things early on is probably a plus.

I have been seeing a therapist for about a year, but workers comp recently forced me to see their doctor, who of course claimed there was nothing wrong with me and I wasn’t suffering from PTSD. It’s almost traumatic just to have to deal with them!! I want to give up and drop the case but then I try to remember that they were at fault and they should pay for my doctor and therapy bills. It’s very very frustrating to deal with! My doctors and therapists know me, and it just sucks that legally my employer can use their doctor to make decisions instead.

 

[scout86]

I've never been involved in a workers comp case. (self employed) What you're describing sounds exactly like what I've heard. And what I've heard my therapist complain about too. That would be EXTREMELY frustrating. Trying to deal with the system, when it seems to be out to get you, can't possibly help. There are others here who've had similar battles, I think. I'm sure you'll find sympathy. Maybe you'll even get some useful suggestions. This can be a pretty useful place!

 

[hithere]

Welcome. There are others that have posted on this site their difficulties with worker's comp and I can't imagine what that must be like. I also have a friend who suffered a serious injury from work and dealing with the worker's comp claim I believe caused her to go into a depression, or at least exacerbated it. She hired a worker's comp attorney and it helped her so much. She did not have to deal with them anymore, the attorney did. The attorney told her what to do and went to hearings for her. That way she could focus on her PT and trying to get her life back. . Your job sounds stressful to me. I'm curious, do you like this line of work? You don't have to answer that. I was just interested.

 

[Justmehere]

Welcome to the forums!

 

[March2018]

Welcome. There are others that have posted on this site their difficulties with worker's comp and I can't imagine what that must be like. I also have a friend who suffered a serious injury from work and dealing with the worker's comp claim I believe caused her to go into a depression, or at least exacerbated it. She hired a worker's comp attorney and it helped her so much. She did not have to deal with them anymore, the attorney did. The attorney told her what to do and went to hearings for her. That way she could focus on her PT and trying to get her life back. . Your job sounds stressful to me. I'm curious, do you like this line of work? You don't have to answer that. I was just interested.

I really hate it now. I used to love helping people with their troubles, but the what the system has recently changed into makes me HATE it! It’s almost as if they want to enable inmates to be worse. Without going into specifics, that’s basically what got me attacked. I expect them to follow the rules, and they saw me as a threat to their freedom of doing things the way they wanted, and tried to kill me. I did my job. For weeks I wrote tickets & incident reports stating the inmate was threatening my life, and my administration did nothing about it, so he finally followed through on his threats. I think that’s what I’ve had trouble dealing with, not only the attack, but the indifference to my safety from higher officials. Now I don’t want to be there at all, and my therapist tells me that for my own mental health I need to leave, but everything kind of depends on my workers comp case. I have kids, I can’t just up & quit with no income!!

 

[EveHarrington]

Welcome!

 

[Freida]

Dispatch here...welcome the forum! There's a few of us first responders sprinkled around and I think we all get this....

, but the indifference to my safety from higher officials.

Workmans comp sucks mostly because they don't have any idea what the job really entails and don't want to admit fault in anything.
Keep fighting!
?

 

[oldyounggun]

My son works as a correctional officer, and I think even what you do within the scope of your job is traumatic enough, but to then suffer what you've suffered on top of what happens on a daily basis, I don't see how you could go back and do your job. I like the idea of a workman's comp lawyer. I like you remembering it's not your fault--they were negligent. My heart goes out to you, and I hope you find more help with this.