Mental health dilemma - resign or go off sick?

[wingscrow]

A couple of months ago I was a victim of an a sexual assault by a, now ex, partner and I am not in a good place when it comes to my mental health. I have had emergency support from a sexual health clinic and now am waiting for counselling after being assessed, but this could take a while. In the meantime I am left with PTSD, anxiety and hyper-vigilance (I find it difficult to be in crowded environments, take public transport and so on and I am paranoid that something else will happen to me)

As a result I am really struggling to cope at work. There were issues even before with the role as it is a disorganised, stressful place where I am constantly asked to do different things from what I was hired to do and goalposts are moved at short notice. They even tried to remove my flexible working arrangements (although my work pattern is written in my contract).

I work for a charity and it is sod's law that I am asked to do more work with ex-offenders, including sex offenders. This was never mentioned to me when I took the job but suddenly appeared about 5 months ago. I was already worried about this aspect of the job (we were given no specific training or support) but after what happened to me I simply cannot see myself in the same room as a rapist, even one who has served their sentence.

My boss knows what happened to me but is just expecting me to take the lead on working with ex-offenders and working one to one with them. So my mind is made up that this is no longer a company/job I wish to work for.

But how do I get myself out of this?

I am torn as to whether I should simply give my notice now and hope I find a new job to save my sanity or if I should go on sick leave (which potentially could be long term as I just cannot see myself being able to be in the same room as a rapist) and use this time look for job and try to recover and then give my notice while on sick leave and never come back...

My GP has details of what happened to me from the clinic and the referral to mental health services so I assume they would support sick leave.

But I am so confused and tired that I am not sure what I should be doing anymore...All I know is that I need a way out.

Any advice would be welcome.

Might be an unpopular view but I'd get signed off sick ro alleviate that stress, and then apply for other jobs. It doesn't seem like this job will be something suitable for you even following 'treatment' (I hate the word but can't think of another- I had therapy and went on medication for example which although didn't treat my issues has made them manageable but no way could I work with something that close to the trigger).

However if you can afford to quit then that's the better option as a complete break away from it (could be signed off for notice period) with no blemish on absence record.

I think you need to put yourself first, it is not appropriate for you to be working with sex offenders while you are suffering with your own trauma. What sort of work is it, there are other charity jobs available. I would go on sick leave.

Can you afford to take a break in income? If you can, I think it would be healthier to quit and then look for another job without that niggling 'fit for work' date looming.

As others say, you can go off sick now and take a bit of time to think about what the best course of action is for you.

The organisation is completely unreasonable expecting staff to work with sex offenders without training or support, let alone someone they know is processing their own trauma.