Thinking of working with drug addicts

[Ecdysis]

So, my previous career has been gobbled up by AI. We're one of the first industries to be replaced. We all knew it was coming tho, so I've been retraining in another field, in between having some major health issues.

So, I've been retraining in the social field, figuring that's one area that won't be replaced by AI any time soon.

I'm thinking of doing an internship/ work experience at a local treatment center for drug addicts, with a view to maybe doing that professionally.

Any thoughts re working in this field, with a PTSD background?

Anyone else worked in this field and has any advice?

 

[ms spock]

I don't think that you have the sensitivity to work in this area. You have to have empathy, compassion and meet clients where that are. I don't see you being able to do that.

 

[KA60]

I am not sure. I am always looking at my own situational vulnerabilities when I attempt something new. AKA triggers stress overload codependency traits. My concern for myself if I did this is would this lead to some kind of relapse for me? Relspse where my self care goes out the window?

 

[Sideways]

Any thoughts re working in this field, with a PTSD background?

If there’s a lot of overlap with your own experiences, consider peer / lived experience roles where that will be an asset, rather than a problem.

AOD is very real. Hard, complex work with multiple layers of issues that are all feeding each other, and you get to work in a very narrow window of the things the person needs help with (particularly in comparison with roles like social work).

It’s good for folks who have very solid boundaries around work, who have natural resilience, and who cope well with having low ‘success’ rates. You tend to need to really celebrate the small stuff, and be okay with repetitive setbacks. If you’re already cynical about humans or you get frustrated by powerlessness &/or setbacks? It’s maybe not the right choice. Can be immensely rewarding, but it’s not for everyone.

Definitely the AI boom isn’t really having any meaningful impact on our need for AOD workers, so in that respect is a solid choice, and long term would set you up well to transition into less emotionally demanding roles.

 

[Movingforward10]

I'm thinking of doing an internship/ work experience at a local treatment center for drug addicts, with a view to maybe doing that professionally.

Any thoughts re working in this field, with a PTSD background?

An internship sounds a good idea to test the waters?

It's so varied about what can trigger people. What do you think the vulnerability would be for you in this area of work?

And what precisely would be the area? Would it be court mandated attendance or voluntary, for the people struggling? As does that make a difference?

I imagine that you will see people with trauma that have the symptom of drug use to block it out. So, hearing and seeing people's trauma stories?

You hear people's trauma here and respond and engage and share your insights and help.

A lot of drug services have peer led recovery schemes. So, it seems a place where lived experience is valued, rather than shamed and hidden. So might be a good place to work as someone with PTSD?

 

[Ecdysis]

I definitely want to do an internship first... Definitely need to test the waters and see how I cope with it.
My old pdoc was our city's only methadone provider, so allllll the city's addicts would be there and going to see him for appointments was always an "adventure". Cos 20 or so addicts in a waiting room, waiting for their methadone... Quickly turns into a "party" or a riot, depending on the mood in the room...

My pdoc would always "hurry" me out of the waiting room into his office, under the premise "20 addicts are an intense experience for anyone, so for a patient with PTSD it's probably a major trigger".

But I never experienced it as such and also told him so.

I dunno how to word this right, but I'll make an attempt... I think growing up with the type of family setting that leads to major C-PTSD leads to growing up with a sense of "my family situation is not normal" and I'm also not "normal" according to society's standards.

In my case, that led to lots of masking and "pretending everything was fine" as a kid, partly because it was demanded of me by my family, partly from instinct, partly from fear.

Then later, with major C-PTSD, once I went no contact with my family, the C-PTSD and other long-term trauma effects also made me feel like I could never live up to society's standard of what's "normal". I think a lot of my life, I tried to chase that and tried to fit in "as well as possible" and tried to mask and hide the PTSD from everyone except friends and therapist etc.

Now, in mid-life I feel like that part of my journey is "done". I can't begin to say how sick I am of the masking and the hiding. And I'm also sick of working in jobs where it's necessary to mask and hide it. I worked as a lecturer in a college for a while and in roles like that, you have to be a role model, be professional, always have your shit together, etc.

And I feel like I don't want to work in that kind of setting again.

I've done hospice volunteer work, done internships in a children's home with children with C-PTSD from abuse and trauma who were removed from their families, and worked in a home for mentally disabled people.

I felt more comfortable working in those settings because they are all not "normal" settings in societal terms. All of these people are in a situation that doesn't fit into society's definition of normal.

And I find with PTSD, I do better in such situations.

I know a lot of other ppl with PTSD here are first-responders and similar... And that's something I can relate to too... That I don't do so well with the "normal" societal expectations, but as soon as a crisis or an emergency hits, I'm functioning super well and can really thrive in those kind of situations that others find overwhelming. I guess many of us can relate to that - the sense that our trauma has primed and prepared us for coping in situations that others find traumatic.

So that's kind of my rationale for potentially choosing that line of work.

Right now, I'm just trying to play with the thought of it and get ideas/ advice/ cautions/ etc, before I write an application for an internship.

I'm definitely in two minds about it... I can see the potential pitfalls...

But I think the experience of an internship would be valuable and also, the insight that I want to work in "non-normal" situations is a valuable one for me, because if working in an addiction treatment center isn't a good fit, then at least I know to focus on seeking other "unusual" fields of work, because I feel so much more comfortable there, than in a mask-and-hide type of work environment.

 

[ms spock]

So you are going to meet your needs through treating addicts because you will feel so much more comfortable there? As they, like you, don't meet society's expectations?

Pursuing this type of work will take the pressure off you, rather than being in a mask-and-hide type of work environment.

It does not seem that you are coming at the work for potential clients, but mostly for yourself not having to hide your PTSD.

That's potentially damaging for those you use to feel comfortable with your work environment.

I would advise against doing this. I am sure that you can find a comfortable work environment without using suffering addicts to assist you in feeling comfortable.

A mental health professional or a advocate survivors are meant to be there to meet the needs of the clients.

As you feel you can't fit into society, how can you assist an addict transitioning back into society or will you offer the advice to also work with other addicts so they don't have to face society like you seem to be getting ready to do?

You literally don't have the skills that addicts need to heal and recover and live and manage in day to day society.

 

[Ecdysis]

So you are going to meet your needs through treating addicts because you will feel so much more comfortable there? As they, like you, don't meet society's expectations?

Pursuing this type of work will take the pressure off you, rather than being in a mask-and-hide type of work environment.

It does not seem that you are coming at the work for potential clients, but mostly for yourself not having to hide your PTSD.

That's potentially damaging for those you use to feel comfortable with your work environment.

I would advise against doing this. I am sure that you can find a comfortable work environment without using suffering addicts to assist you in feeling comfortable.

A mental health professional or a advocate survivors are meant to be there to meet the needs of the clients.

As you feel you can't fit into society, how can you assist an addict transitioning back into society or will you offer the advice to also work with other addicts so they don't have to face society like you seem to be getting ready to do?

You literally don't have the skills that addicts need to heal and recover and live and manage in day to day society.

Can you stay our of my thread please?
I don't need to deal with your crap.
You don't know me and are being randomly judgemental because you're triggered.

 

[Dynamic]

hi I think it’s great you want to help. I’m curious what ways you see yourself helping?

For example I want to help traumatized people by providing a safe place in the community they can relax heal and learn about trauma

 

[Movingforward10]

I definitely want to do an internship first... Definitely need to test the waters and see how I cope with it.
My old pdoc was our city's only methadone provider, so allllll the city's addicts would be there and going to see him for appointments was always an "adventure". Cos 20 or so addicts in a waiting room, waiting for their methadone... Quickly turns into a "party" or a riot, depending on the mood in the room...

My pdoc would always "hurry" me out of the waiting room into his office, under the premise "20 addicts are an intense experience for anyone, so for a patient with PTSD it's probably a major trigger".

But I never experienced it as such and also told him so.

I dunno how to word this right, but I'll make an attempt... I think growing up with the type of family setting that leads to major C-PTSD leads to growing up with a sense of "my family situation is not normal" and I'm also not "normal" according to society's standards.

In my case, that led to lots of masking and "pretending everything was fine" as a kid, partly because it was demanded of me by my family, partly from instinct, partly from fear.

Then later, with major C-PTSD, once I went no contact with my family, the C-PTSD and other long-term trauma effects also made me feel like I could never live up to society's standard of what's "normal". I think a lot of my life, I tried to chase that and tried to fit in "as well as possible" and tried to mask and hide the PTSD from everyone except friends and therapist etc.

Now, in mid-life I feel like that part of my journey is "done". I can't begin to say how sick I am of the masking and the hiding. And I'm also sick of working in jobs where it's necessary to mask and hide it. I worked as a lecturer in a college for a while and in roles like that, you have to be a role model, be professional, always have your shit together, etc.

And I feel like I don't want to work in that kind of setting again.

I've done hospice volunteer work, done internships in a children's home with children with C-PTSD from abuse and trauma who were removed from their families, and worked in a home for mentally disabled people.

I felt more comfortable working in those settings because they are all not "normal" settings in societal terms. All of these people are in a situation that doesn't fit into society's definition of normal.

And I find with PTSD, I do better in such situations.

I know a lot of other ppl with PTSD here are first-responders and similar... And that's something I can relate to too... That I don't do so well with the "normal" societal expectations, but as soon as a crisis or an emergency hits, I'm functioning super well and can really thrive in those kind of situations that others find overwhelming. I guess many of us can relate to that - the sense that our trauma has primed and prepared us for coping in situations that others find traumatic.

So that's kind of my rationale for potentially choosing that line of work.

Right now, I'm just trying to play with the thought of it and get ideas/ advice/ cautions/ etc, before I write an application for an internship.

I'm definitely in two minds about it... I can see the potential pitfalls...

But I think the experience of an internship would be valuable and also, the insight that I want to work in "non-normal" situations is a valuable one for me, because if working in an addiction treatment center isn't a good fit, then at least I know to focus on seeking other "unusual" fields of work, because I feel so much more comfortable there, than in a mask-and-hide type of work environment.

Makes sense: you can have empathy on another level because of your lived experiences. And that keeps things 'real' and there can be a genuineness in that. If that makes sense.

I don't really share the area of work I work in on this site, and not sharing now, but there is a lot about the duality of the lived experience of a professional. And , like I said in the previous post, one of the main areas that sees that as something to value is in drug recovery.
Can it be a vulnerability? Yes of course.
Can it be a strength? Yes of course.
Where it falls really depends case by case. And I suppose how well you know yourself, how well you know your triggers how well you are able to regulate throughout the day if there are triggers.

I have triggers in my work and I am much better at regulating during the day. I am also more open about it in my new job than I ever have been: partly due to shame about things reducing and partly due to the safe working environment I am now in. So I can get support from my manager about some stuff (I do share very little but way more than I ever have done).

So what support do you think you need to be okay in this role?

 

[KA60]

So you are going to meet your needs through treating addicts because you will feel so much more comfortable there? As they, like you, don't meet society's expectations?

Pursuing this type of work will take the pressure off you, rather than being in a mask-and-hide type of work environment.

It does not seem that you are coming at the work for potential clients, but mostly for yourself not having to hide your PTSD.

That's potentially damaging for those you use to feel comfortable with your work environment.

I would advise against doing this. I am sure that you can find a comfortable work environment without using suffering addicts to assist you in feeling comfortable.

A mental health professional or a advocate survivors are meant to be there to meet the needs of the clients.

As you feel you can't fit into society, how can you assist an addict transitioning back into society or will you offer the advice to also work with other addicts so they don't have to face society like you seem to be getting ready to do?

You literally don't have the skills that addicts need to heal and recover and live and manage in day to day society.

I like your cimment regarding meeting your needs by helping addicts. I can apply it to me. With codependency in my trauma history I need to be sure now that I care for myself my husband my dogs first. That my oxygen mask stays on all the time if necessary.

 

[Calm in the chaos]

And I find with PTSD, I do better in such situations.

Why not use it as a bit of a super power? The only thing to consider is the levels of burnout in this kind of work, especially dealing with the demand of a conveyer belt of clients. Would that be something that you see effecting you?

I've done hospice volunteer work, done internships in a children's home with children with C-PTSD from abuse and trauma who were removed from their families, and worked in a home for mentally disabled people.

But saying that, did you like this work? I have the mentality of “do whatever makes you happiest, or closets to content you can get”.
If in the past you thrived in this kind of work… why not? Lots of things to consider though, make sure you’ve got plan A, B, and C for triggers.

I know people who have mental health background that work in the field, there’s an area of connection and lived experience expertise they can offer.