I'm a social worker. I have been for over 40 years. It's tough work. For many social workers, it is front line work. The profession has many true first responders in it who show up in ER's, child abuse scenes, domestic violence, mental health and addiction crisis, family deaths, community disasters and so on. When the term first responder is used people think of police, fire and ambulance. Social workers don't drive around with lights and sirens. The work os often dangerous going into homes where safety can be quite uncertain or down back alleys to help those in the sex trade or trying to find their next fix.
Even those not on the front lines, will work with traumatized people day in and day out. It's the common denominator of the people we see.
Our clients also die. Suicide, overdose, murder as well as the tragedies of life on the streets all add up in the lives of our client experiences. None of us walk away unaffected. It is impossible.
The common risk is burnout or fatigue from vicarious trauma that comes from witnessing. Many approach the work thinking they are tough and can handle whatever comes along. It is a lie. Some get themselves promoted or transferred into positions where the exposure is less intense. Most just engage in DAMN behaviour (Denial, Avoidance, Minimization, Numbing).
On the other hand, self care is a real need and meditation is part of that. Other things like diet, exercise, hobbies and interests and supportive relationships are also part of the menu. It is vital that we find the calm in work full of chaotic experiences.
Even those not on the front lines, will work with traumatized people day in and day out. It's the common denominator of the people we see.
Our clients also die. Suicide, overdose, murder as well as the tragedies of life on the streets all add up in the lives of our client experiences. None of us walk away unaffected. It is impossible.
The common risk is burnout or fatigue from vicarious trauma that comes from witnessing. Many approach the work thinking they are tough and can handle whatever comes along. It is a lie. Some get themselves promoted or transferred into positions where the exposure is less intense. Most just engage in DAMN behaviour (Denial, Avoidance, Minimization, Numbing).
On the other hand, self care is a real need and meditation is part of that. Other things like diet, exercise, hobbies and interests and supportive relationships are also part of the menu. It is vital that we find the calm in work full of chaotic experiences.
Unwritting the Story
Unwriting the story of my life
is stepping back from the cliffs
where the vulnerable live
It is no longer being able to touch
the precious humanity of the abused
Whose bodies and minds carry the scars of the violence
To not be the witness of lives lost
at the hands of others
who have felled the blows or handed the drugs
It is to pull back from the child
who looks up unsure
which choice will be made, love or hurt
To let go of the tenderness so foreign
to the person whose home
is the ground between two trees at river's edge
To stand back from the begger
who stands before the coffee shop
between stays at the hospital when the voices inside erupt
It is to know they all have come
to live within the cells of my body
where homes have been made for all
The desperation and loneliness
touch deeply
Many are gone as the evils have won
Some are blossoming
as the new flowers of spring
showing the possibility of change
Too many get to the edge of hope
but lose their grip
falling back into the abyss
Evil has not been my only story
but I have touched evil often
such that it has walked with me too many days
I turn and there it is
humanity has no shortage
of evil's presence
My body after years of walking with evil
bows down in pains
too long carried
Who now will be my witness
who now can carry the burdens
I no longer can shoulder
Unwritting my memories
is not to be done
new ones must be found
The pain and evil I have witnessed
must not be forgotten
as they are the very legacy that many seek to deny exist
If we are not the witness then who will be
it must be those willing to walk the pathway
I joined and must now leave
There was passion and joy
in my journey which has passed along
new joys new passions new pathways must surely await
© Peter Choate, 2016
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