In the last 5 days I have been spat at, sworn at, screeched at, pushed and had a chair thrown at my head (succesful shot)

[activate]

and I should go back to work next week because?

You should go back to work because for many of the children you deal with, you are one of the few examples of a decent human being hey are going to get, and the fact that each day you go in and begin with a clean slate means they may begin to understand that their futures are not written in stone and they can change.
Few other adults in their lives will see them as anything but dangerous, feral and worthless. Different when you are an infant, but as a near-adult the tolerance and belief that you are redeemable is so much less.
So, treat yourself to a little something, long bubble bath and see how much more you have in you.
I taught in a challenging situation for a decade, then family circumstances changed and my children needed more of me. So I jumped ship, regretted it for a while, but it is so much easier now.
Very easy to quit, so much harder to keep entering the fray with a smile and a calm attitude.

Some days I can imagine becoming an office manager in an insurance firm or something like that - you know where you don't have to deal with members of the public

I am blowing of steam I need to pick up the phone and call my mentor tbh but my mouth is swollen and speaking is difficult - DS1 and 2 are being lovely and bringing me tea, toast and my computer to my bed and DP has taken the younger ones out

I am surrounding by wonderful people at work and home

and somedays it's still too fucking hard

as an aside - MrsOtter and catinthehat why so snide?

Are there good sides to the job too? Do you get a massive buzz when one of the kids comes through? Are the buzzes enough to offset the negatives?

Poor you - it's so hard. But if they didnt' have you...

My guess is that you work in a residential special school supporting the young people in their residential groups.

Whatever your role it sounds challenging in the extreme - you must have a vast reservoir of patience, tolerance and understanding. I do hope you resolve your difficulties, and can reconcile yourself to (1) either carrying on or (2) looking for somewhere else.

Please offload to your mentor - is email a possibility if talking is difficult? And if your injuries are bad, should you go to your GP and stay away from work until the physical damage has healed?

I hope you can get through this.

sorry, re-read my post and it looks flippant. Certainly isn't meant to be.

Is it in a PRU?
Those are very emotionally demanding jobs. Hats off to anyone who can do it (actually, hats off to anybody who can teach on a regular basis). Could you change to part-time, would that make it easier?

eh?
mrsotter may wish to expand on her post, but it was pretty clear I think

I will translate mine in case you don't get it - you sound like a drama queen

don't think it was snide, my comment was to the point

If you want sympathy, don't do a woe is me guessing game under AIBU.

there are numbers of people on this site who have daily lives where they put up with the kind of stuff you are dealing with without getting paid, without any choice, and without any support other than this site.

I imagine you chose your job, you are paid for it, and you are able to access support

..if you need it from your employers as I guess this is pretty much par for the course in your line of work. Or didn't it occur to you that working in that area would be kind of challenging?

what are you going to do next - get a job in insurance and start complaining that they expect you to add up ALL DAY?

catinthehat - I think people who have had a chair thrown at them, hitting them in their face and causing what sounds like severe bruising and swelling are kindof entitled to be "drama queen" ish.

Yes, she gets paid for it, but frankly I suspect the pay isn't much (it wasn't for me as a TA - I would have been paid more working in the supermarket). And yes, some people have to cope with this at home - but hopefully then they are dealing with THEIR children who they LOVE. It does make a difference - and I doubt you would be so dismissive of a mother who came on here and posted that their son was treating them like this.

What are the consequences for the chair thrower?

oh catinthehat - your attitude sounds rather painfully familiar in my line of work

this is me ^ rising above your crap

Just because its your job doesn't make it easy to deal with.

(SIL working in hospice, patients under her care die fairly frequently. Did she "have an inkling" that this would happen. Yes. Does it make things easier? Not really. Dead is dead, a chair in the face is a chair in the face. And the salary is not exactly beyond the dreams of avarice.)

Not the sort of job I could do but I commend you OP for being able to do it. Do you think you've lost confidence in the job you do or was it just a very very bad week? As I don't know about these things I'm not sure if this is an everyday occurrence for you.
Keep smiling I'm sure your doing a fabulous job

"oh catinthehat - your attitude sounds rather painfully familiar in my line of work

this is me ^ rising above your crap"

there you go

just to repeat, if you just want affirmation and hugs, I recommend you don't do a woe is me attention seeking guessing game under AIBU, you might get a bit of honesty crap

but don't let me stop you wallowing in the attention

Hmm, I read your title and immediately thought 'teacher, then?'

And teaching is the worst paid graduate only job in the country.

Kids who have a sense of overentitlement and no interest in learning. Families who either don't give a shit or think the sun shines out of their child's arse.

Maybe find another school- some seem to have escaped the worst of this.

I wonder what the country will do when all the good teachers have been put off by the crap pay, ridiculous expectations and unwilling client group.

No the pay is crap.

Yes you can get support - but I find its often after seeking it - its not forthcoming.

activate If you need take some time off work. I have a similar job and work with pupils 2-19 years. I have too suffered as you and even been bitten and skin broken and stomach trauma.

Please take my very un(((MN hugs))).

And for those of you whoes attitude is you chose the job so don't complain can just fuck on IMVHO. Its a very rewarding job and worthwhile but I think anyones whos assaulted is allowed to feel slightly pissed off about it - even when you know its can happen.

How is she wallowing in selfpity, she's an an awful week by the sounds of it and she's come on here to speak to us like the most of MNers do.
If you don't like the thread stop commenting and bitch somewhere else

Pumpernickel and youarekidding, the people who are bitching have probably;
a. never done the job
b. couldn't do the job
c. quite possibly don't have a job at all
d. if they do get off their arses it is probably for some dull office or shop job of very little consequence to anyone
e. have a crap attitude to education in general

Your probably right jade and it's a job I could do as I stated before

I am so shocked at the nasty attitude on this thread, I have a relative who works in this kind of environment, I think the OP just came on here for a bit of support.

Likewise, pumpernickel.

"wallowing in selfpity"

you brought self pity into it, not me but you have a point!

and jadey jadey jadey check this out - this is what someone who really knows this stuff and knows the way mature people deal with these stresses has said to the OP:

" I do hope you resolve your difficulties, and can reconcile yourself to (1) either carrying on or (2) looking for somewhere else.

Please offload to your mentor - is email a possibility if talking is difficult? And if your injuries are bad, should you go to your GP and stay away from work until the physical damage has healed?"

and just to remind you of one of my earlier points:
"there are numbers of people on this site who have daily lives where they put up with the kind of stuff you are dealing with without getting paid, without any choice, and without any support other than this site."

What is really saddening is how many people (myself included) immediately thought you must be a teacher. :(
How crap that teachers in general go through shit like that.

At least in your case you are working with SEBD children, so it's rather more to be expected in your line of work - but it sounds like your job is going outside your original remit. If it's a residential unit (an assumption from what you said about the night duties) then is there some kind of security set up? Or is everyone there so hardened to this sort of treatment that you've been told to put up or leave? (similar lines to catinthehat, whose lack of empathy for someone in a shit job is pretty astounding but whatever).

As for the "well just don't do the job then" attitude - who the fuck do you expect to pick up the pieces if there aren't people like the OP doing jobs in these areas? Teachers, mental health nurses (and come to that, A&E nurses) get assaulted regularly as well - perhaps they should just choose to do something else? They don't CHOOSE to be assaulted, it's a risk in the job they do and you should be FUCKING grateful that someone else does that job instead of so snippy when the poor woman needs to let off a bit of steam!

OP - I hope your injuries recover quickly and that someone at work does something to make your life a little safer there. Good on you for doing a tough-as-nails job.