Terrified going into work , is there any hope

[Cadburys345]

I work with vulnerable people who have ASD and learning difficulties. Honesty spending my shifts in fear worrying if I'm going to be attacked.

One man I worked with previously used to spit at staff constantly which of course is not ideal especially due to Covid.

I had a large makeup box thrown at my head which fortunately missed.
My shoes defecated on.

A colleague has various scars on his arm and another ended up in hospital.

I worked with young adults and children in this role a few years ago and was bitten and scratched, but it's much more now.

We worked with a lady who could headbutt staff, scratch their face or punch them and luckily she never did to me but I felt so anxious being around her.

Recently I was punched by an autistic male here, I nearly quit but I was told this is rare for him to do so I decided to hold on.

However he's attacked and hit a little boy in the street for no apparent reason whilst I was taking him to an appointment. The boy was in tears and I felt so awful for him and his parents, it's been reported but I felt terrified of him after that and just started crying in shock.

I enjoy the rest of the job but not the living in fear. I don't want to let the company down but i can't do this, has anybody managed to find roles in which they are and feel relatively safe. I'm open to care homes, home care, supported living, etc.

So many companies put staff in dangerous situations, i am not blaming the service users, but we shouldn't be in harm's way for such little money.

Look for work as a hca on an outpatient / day case surgical ward/ pre operative. Much better duties still patient facing and helping others but less heavy work. More protection.

The company you are with sound actively negligent. To both staff and SUs. You must have been so frightened when the SU you were with attacked the little boy (and so must he of course) and that absolutely shouldn't have happened - if I'm reading rightly, this happened AFTER he had punched you while in a residential setting? He should surely have been placed on a double-hander following that. Is there even a written response to your incident report?

It is placing the SUs at risk as well - this SU in particular clearly has higher needs and by allowing him out with only one CW the company have put him in a situation that could have gone even more wrong for him, potentially landing him in legal trouble which could have devastating consequences.

I really encourage you to apply for other roles at other companies or with your local NHS Trust. And once you've gone, I really hope you whistleblow, anonymously if needed, to CQC. Absolutely appalling behaviour from your current employers and an example of the worst kind of result of "market forces" being allowed to run the care sector, who are interested in shareholder profits rather than service user outcomes. Bastards.

Hope you have a better job very soon OP

I feel for you OP. I worked a very similar job for three years and whilst I absolutely loved the work I was always physically, mentally, emotionally exhausted and I was on my own in situations where I could be attacked and like you have said the money is terrible.
Now I volunteer to help people (totally different but still very much working with people) alongside a much more boring job but one that pays well and doesn't have me constantly drained and burned out.
Don't put up with it it its too much. If you want to stay in the social care sector there are other things you could potentially look for like working at a day centre or something along those lines.

Thank you, yes I felt awful when he attacked the child, I hope he won't be traumatised by it.
The SU attacked me in the community and I reported it yet still lone work with him both at home and in the community.

I will certainly look at NHS roles. There are many care/support jobs online but many companies have poor reviews, usually the same kind of problems, understaffed, only care about money, bullying culture.

I could earn the same amount for waiting on tables (no disrespect at all to anybody who does it as it is very physically demanding) with zero risk of being attacked .

To the PP no I haven't received any response to my written reports, didn't know we were meant to ?

Personally I would leave the job. Speak to the gp about your stresses and issues at work. Maybe they can sign you off for a week or two whilst you get your thoughts together.

@somuchlaundrytowash

Personally I would leave the job. Speak to the gp about your stresses and issues at work. Maybe they can sign you off for a week or two whilst you get your thoughts together.

Also speak to your manager about how difficult you find the job physically and mentally and that nobody had bothered to address your concerns. Mention that you might have to leave due to the impact on your health ( physical and mental) Ask the gp for a blood pressure check up too.

My partner used to do one on one care for a teenager with asd. He was allowed to live himself but needed 24/7 care and his addptive parents couldn't cope with him anymore. When he first moved to his home he needed 3:1 care as he was so aggressive. They slowly decreased this to 1:1 but my dp was attacked countless times. The carers had a lock on their bedroom door so they could lock themselves in. All the carers had been trained on how to restrain him, but one of the carers was a woman and I just don't think she would have had a chance of being able to restrain him. Dp struggled and he is a big guy but he said the strength this boy had was unbelievable.
My dp loved that job, but he was used to violence growing up and playing football so he just doesn't have the fear of getting hurt that I would in that situation. It is really unfair what they expect carers to do though. Someone who has the potential to attack a child in the street should be in the care of one woman.

Hi this was me on another username.
There has been another incident since and I have unfortunately decided to leave. It is unfair on the service users as they aren't receiving the right care.
It is advertised as supported leaving but that is not at all what it is.
I have had to lock myself in a room because i am scared, and today I am handing in my notice.
Thanks to all the advice on here again, I am in no way blaming the clients they have needs which need to be supported in the right way, but staff deserve to be safe at work.

So sorry you’ve had to come to this decision and hope you find another job soon. These adults are being badly let down by this company. No staff should be made to feel like you did. On the other side of things these adults deserve to be supported fully & their needs understood so these incidents are very rare. As a parent of an adult with severe LDs it’s all so worrying. Please think about whistleblowing to the CQC it will have no detriment to yourself and may save years more misery. You sound lovely & I hope you find somewhere where they genuinely care for staff & residents alike

Your employer is the problem. My brother is in his 30's with severe learning disability; Autistic; and sensory processing, as are all the residents he lives with. The staff have no issues with the residents behaviour at all as they are understood and stimulated so well.

@Hankunamatata

It's all bloody money saving. Rather than having a 2:1 ratio they do 1:1 as isnt enough money for provision. Just another way disabled people are let down

Completely agree.

Yes i first agree the clients are really being let down here.
They have staff lone working in order to save money and it's wrong, there's nobody around either if you need help in the immediate vicinity.

This was not meant at all to offend anyone whose relatives have LD, as it has been correctly pointed out the employer is the problem and the clients are not in the correct type of care.

If you want to be a carer/support worker have a look at hospitals. I'm a nurse and its a tough job for the pay but there is nothing more appreciated than a hardworking health care support worker. You can be pushed to edge of frustration at times but I've never felt unsafe, we are always trained to put ourselves in a position to be able to get out when we need to and there are a million emergency buzzers everywhere, 20 staff would run in in 5 seconds.

Thank you for the suggestion I will certainly look into it, I am looking into live in care roles too.
I'm totally ok with busy and hard work as long as it is relatively safe, that's amazing you have the buzzers and stuff like that, I have had no sort of training like that and we have a phone line but it's no good if you're in need of immediate help.
The manager was quite annoyed but I have to do what is best for me.

I think you need to also realise that the young people we work with (being in same role and being hurt by them multiple times) that they will read your body language better than anyone else - much like horses will know if you’re skittish to approach them they know when you’re a jumpy wreck and they then feed off your anxiety because it unsettles them.

it sounds as if you have not had chance to build your resilience back up or have had no resilience prior to working with these young people.

I previously worked in adult neuro (am an AHP) where we’d work woth those coming out of coma and they would literally leap up and start swinging teying to escape as they were partially conscious and were like over 6ft stacked blokes so me as a 5ft 5 woman was likely to get injured hard if they hurt me.

LD is difficult but most have a cause to the behavioural communication - if they can feel you’re nervous they will not trust you, they will feed off it and will think you’re unpredictable so will behave unpredictably. If you do the exact same routine, exact same plan, treat them as if they aren’t going to harm you, then they build trust.

it is scary when you have incidents - but if you haven’t worked on this after they have happened, then maybe this is not the job for you anymore. If you cannot function in that job with protecting that young person as your priority (not your fear of them being unpredictable as your priority) then you need to choose something else.

you need a level of emotional resilience to work with this cohort, and be able to manage an unpredictable atmosphere, be able to expect and stay out of the circle of danger, or if like me you’re doing II or other work involving close contact then being aware of the triggers and warning signs of individuals.

after incidents (I had 2 yesterday) I remind myself why they happened - person was distressed because they had to take medicine, don’t like the taste, was a change to routine and they felt unwell and did not know how to process or cope with that. I happened to be nearby and as someone they trust they approached me to show they were not ok and ask for help but also unable to control their emotions and frustration, and then I got cuts and bruises from them showing they were distressed to me. I know that after this they would be feeling equally distressed once calmer that I may not come back or may be different with them and this increase their anxiety and behaviours if I don’t show them that I understand them. It’s reliant on my emotional resilience and my awareness that they cannot help how they are, we e done as much as we can for their learning and understanding - but they rely on people like us to help them navigate the world.

some people need to have reduced contact and rigid routine to function well - for their quality of life doing the exact same thing day in and out makes them feel safe. Any change makes everything seem impossible for autistics. They can’t process the world as well as we do.

it doesn’t dismiss you were hurt - it’s scary but you have the skill set to support yourself to understand the situation - they don’t. Imagine feeling how you do in work in every aspect of your life. That’s how they are feeling. That’s why you have behavioural communication.

you sound particularly affected and need either external support eg a talking therapy to find why you are so distressed by this eg your own trauma that has affected your resilience, and processing through what’s happened, and you shouldn’t be working if you’re unable to keep those people safe because you’re too jumpy to best support them. Some people need to change career. A lot will go back to working in schools because they cannot tolerate working with adults who present with childlike behaviour but the strength of adults.

interestingly - those I have been injured by / was more afraid of in the moment were all smaller than me, had explosive tempers and were very unpredictable and invaded my space aggressively - eg things our bodies are built to fight flight it out of there sharpish - the huge ones with the muscles are usually teddy bears who don’t know their own strength so would high five me and send me flying or hug me a bit too hard.

if you no longer feel the joy in helping others you need to fix yourself first and then decide if it’s for you - it’s not unreasonable at all to feel scared after an incident - it is to feel jumpy 24/7 because you have not processed and had coping strategies as it’s a detriment to everyone.