I had to tell my supervisor about being PG a week ago because she wanted to assign me a potentially violent young client. She wasn't really respecting all the other reasons I gave her, so I told her I was PG and then she seemed to suddenly understand and said I didn't have to work with this client if I didn't want to. I explained that it's not a matter of not wanting to, it's about protecting my body and keeping my baby safe. Fast forward to today, we have 3 clinicians leaving in the span of a week, and one of them reached out to me to let me know about which of her clients will be transferred to me (without consulting with me or asking me), with supervisor's permission. One of the clients has a history of violence and may become violent in session. So now I'm back having the same conversation with my supervisor that we had last week over a different client. I don't want to leave the team and my own clients in a lurch by leaving, but I won't let myself be put in a situation where my baby and I could be hurt. I also have misgivings about starting a new job before going on maternity leave.
Any support or guidance or insight would be much appreciated. Or just commiserating
I'm sorry you're dealing with this right now. In the interest of giving the benefit of the doubt, I would guess your exiting coworker doesn't know about the pregnancy, and was just assuming both that you would take the client, and that the supervisor would approve. Pending her approval means, maybe she doesn't actually, because she knows about your situation!? Right? So I would try to just patiently have another conversation with your supervisor, and go into it under the assumption that she didn't forget about your conversation, and doesn't plan on assigning you another violent client. Deep breaths. That said, if it doesn't go well, there are lots of reasons people switch jobs, so don't let being pregnant keep you from finding a place that is the best fit. I would give your supervisor a chance though first, before jumping to conclusions. <3
@BusinessWife it sounds like they definitely talked, there were some others on the list that the coworker sent me that my supervisor told me about during our supervision yesterday. you're right, this does warrant another conversation with my supervisor where we can be clear with each other about boundaries and expectations. I've had this block in my mind about looking for a job right now but I appreciate the nudge that if it's what I need to do, then I need to do it. thank you
@chgilmore I feel your pain. 😔 I work with special needs students who can have violent tendencies when they get upset. It is not a possibility for me to even request to not be with these students because it's considered discrimination against their disability. It is so hard to knowingly put yourself in a potentially violent position without any say or control over your body. I hope you are able to be heard and taken care of by your supervisor. It's a stressful situation to be in, for sure!
@bailey_baby ooof, that sounds rough too at the same time we are caretakers and providers and healers and we are protected with certain reasonable accommodations for safety aren't we? where is the line for us?
The good news is, there was some information missing about this particular client, where I won't actually be working with the client, it will be all case management with the parent, but I still have concerns in general about this having been approved without that important information. I'm going to do some soul-searching (and likely resume updating) to figure out next steps, thanks y'all for listening and hearing
@chgilmore I don’t know if this will help, but I contemplated a job change when I was pregnant with DS2. I actually ended up telling them at my first meeting with the sales manager because I figured I’d be showing by the time an interview rolled around (my part of the industry is notoriously slow at interviewing/hiring). They surprised me and really didn’t care. The guy told me that it might seem like a lot of time now with maternity leave, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t when the end goal was employee longevity. I ended up not taking the job because Covid hit, and I was worried about job security and being low man on the totem pole, but it was surprising how much they didn’t care.
chgilmore
member
Re: WTF Wednesday 7.7
I had to tell my supervisor about being PG a week ago because she wanted to assign me a potentially violent young client. She wasn't really respecting all the other reasons I gave her, so I told her I was PG and then she seemed to suddenly understand and said I didn't have to work with this client if I didn't want to. I explained that it's not a matter of not wanting to, it's about protecting my body and keeping my baby safe. Fast forward to today, we have 3 clinicians leaving in the span of a week, and one of them reached out to me to let me know about which of her clients will be transferred to me (without consulting with me or asking me), with supervisor's permission. One of the clients has a history of violence and may become violent in session. So now I'm back having the same conversation with my supervisor that we had last week over a different client. I don't want to leave the team and my own clients in a lurch by leaving, but I won't let myself be put in a situation where my baby and I could be hurt. I also have misgivings about starting a new job before going on maternity leave.
Any support or guidance or insight would be much appreciated. Or just commiserating
The good news is, there was some information missing about this particular client, where I won't actually be working with the client, it will be all case management with the parent, but I still have concerns in general about this having been approved without that important information. I'm going to do some soul-searching (and likely resume updating) to figure out next steps, thanks y'all for listening and hearing