Pros
The patients can be tough, but you do feel like you can make a difference. It’s hard to see the revolving door, but there are those who genuinely want and need help. It was the only thing that kept me coming to work sometimes. Even the pay wasn’t worth it. Some of my coworkers were fantastic. This job taught me immense patience and an understanding that management will not always have your back, so to look out for yourself.
Cons
Where to even begin. I’ve been attacked physically and verbally by patients, then dismissed by management as “well it’s part of the job”. While the lowest paid staff members are dealing with violent patients biting, scratching, kicking, spitting, swearing, punching, and even breaking bones, management usually hides off the unit, only to come out when the coast is clear. There were times that I was so stressed that my body started reflecting the changes. I lost 15 lbs and hormonal, stress-related changes took its toll. But that’s not even a surprise. The biggest surprise to me was how staff treated each other. The backstabbing, gossip, humiliation and absolute cruelty that goes on between certain nurses is astounding. During my time I’ve heard disparaging comments about people’s intelligence, sexuality, weight (this is a frequent one), English speaking ability, marital status, child bearing status, socio-economic class, perceived ability (or lack thereof), laziness, clothing choice (and the “cheapness thereof”), amongst many others. And this is only what I’ve heard first hand. I’ve heard things have happened that I wish were completely unimaginable. When I attempted to address these comments with HR, and encourage HR to ask almost everyone else their own stories (as I was unwilling to repeat here-say and those stories were far more interesting than my own), I was told “it would be understandable if I had considered quitting”, and asked if I had considered changing departments. It became absolutely clear that they considered me to be the problem, not the people that abused their undeserved powers and harassed other staff. Everything this company does is JUST to cover its own behind. If you’re not willing to be a fall-man for anything bad that happens, don’t take a job here. If you’re not willing to be the center of harassment and ridicule if you refuse to take part in the cattiness and gossip that envelops this place, don’t take a job here. If you’re not willing to be completely ignored by most of management unless you suck up to them, don’t take a job here. If you’re not willing to have your schedule intentionally messed with when you bump heads with someone (and then have management ask what YOU could have done differently in that situation, ignoring the whole intentional-malicious-schedule-rearrangement), then don’t work here. If you’re not willing to have that SAME person “accidentally” sign you up to work Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, and the day after thanksgiving, don’t work here. Overall, this place is absurd. They have “rules” about harassment and bullying, but refuse to follow through. A “zero tolerance policy”? What a joke. They claim to be accepting and tolerant but is anything but. Any problem ends up being “addressed” with a solution involving just a pamphlet of where to find the employee assistance program (who, by the way, take weeks to even get back to you with some copy-pasted message about “wow that sounds hard. Sorry.”) I don’t know about the rest of the hospital but, if you want to feel as though you have any shred of respect or autonomy, do NOT work in the behavioral health unit. Tech, nurse, or otherwise. If you like feeling like you’re in Mean Girls, then maybe this is the place for you. Also, I gave up even looking into pay discrepancies because the first time I brought it up, it became such a fight and we were discouraged from talking about each other’s pay. We only received back pay from the time it was addressed to the time it was approved, and nothing more. But not sure what else to expect from a company which lays off hundreds of workers while the CEO maintains his million dollar bonuses and constantly gets ridiculous pay increases (but don’t worry, you’ll get a $0.05 cost of living adjustment and a free book every year!!!) Tl;dr: don’t work here. It’s just awful
