Thursday, October 12, 2006

The Titanic was a snail

One of the major reasons I keep saying I don't want to go back to alabama is that I love my job and will never find another one like it. I do love my job and I care about my clients and I probably will never find another job like it.

This job is the type of thing that only comes along once in a lifetime and is not a position that any other state funds, and as a result can only be found in in-patient settings affiliated with universities with lots of money. I'll never work another job like this one unless I'm back in idaho. THANK FUCKING CHRIST I'M LEAVING.

I have never seen a company tank so fast.
The director left about 6 months ago and the 2nd in charge ended up being as good or possibly better than he was. She left because the company sided in the interest of money and she felt very strongly that it was more important to follow regulations and to side on the interest of helping staff.
When she left, we requested an audience with the CEO (this is a for profit business, not non-profit). Who said yeah, we're sorry that you guys don't have a director yet, and we'll get someone as soon as possible. What else do you guys need to do your jobs." We said "another computer and some new tables." Within 2 days we had a desk with another computer on it and some new tables. We thought "okay, cool." We figured that we just had to talk to the right people and we would get what we need. So we recently had a meeting to talk with the dude who is helping all the offices get what they need and balancing it with the needs of the business. Every answer was pretty much "we're looking into it". Either that or saying that they would get us help in doing the things we have to do but don't get compensated for more efficiently.. instead of y'know actually saying they might entertain the idea of paying us for work.

So everyone else was a bit discouraged and I was frustrated for them, but I knew it wasn't going to be my problem anymore because I was leaving (they knew this too). Everytime someone turned in a resignation letter, the staff got a little more dismal and lots of people started saying they felt like they were "on a sinking ship". They were willing to hear the execs out but had little hope that anything would actually happen.
Today the execs just took dynamite to the hull of the boat. Our lead therapist, who everyone loves and looks up to because she's brilliant and sarcastic unorthodox and a damn good therapist, had turned in 3 weeks notice so she could start her own practice. Today she was told that she needed to leave by monday. She isn't allowed to do termination sessions with her clients. She just basically had to call them all and tell them... Some she was lucky enough to be able to see face to face for 5 minutes. Unless she touched a client innapropriately, there's no reason for this shit. Even if she leaked company secerets to someone or something, there's no reason to disallow her from having a termination session. Transition is hard for our clients even when done in an orderly manner. This is most certainly not orderly, and I can think of one client that is probably going to start self-destructing. When she self-destructs, who will the social workers have to turn to to figure out what to do? A therpaist who understands the clients illness and knows every trick in her boo---oh wait... A director who's been here 2 weeks and barely knows any of the clients.
I'm so glad I'm getting out of here.
I *hate* that I'm glad that I'm getting out of here, but it is SO time to be gone.

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