Any moms who work in Mental Health/ABA

St0v3s · July 2015

hi. I am currently an ABA therapist and do in home therapy for a variety of children. This is my first pregnancy and I'm nervous with how the stress and activity from my job will play out. A lot of my kids have aggressive behavior that includes kicking, biting, punching and one kid likes to ramp his head into your closest body part. How do you plan on dealing with your client behaviors

oceanchild · July 2015

I don't, but I have a HF ASD kiddo, and ABA has made such a huge difference in our lives. So, just a huge hug and great big thank you for what you do. You are someone's hero!

St0v3s · July 2015

@oceanchild thank you.

Unknown · July 2015

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laylazscott · July 2015

I am an LMFT and work in an inpatient facility for chemical dependency. As soon as I learned about my little one, my husband and I talked about my high stress job and ways to not internalize it or bring it home. Something about being pregnant flipped a switch for me and made it MUCH easier to recognize my limits with my patients and set some emotional boundaries to keep me more grounded. It's going to be a continual work in progress and to be honest, this may contribute to me going into private practice much sooner than originally planned!

St0v3s · July 2015

Unfortunately I can't leave my work at work because we have to bring part of it home to do it. My DH has been great this week about me relaxing this week and make sure I'm not pushing to much.

seminolegirl09 · July 2015

I'm a little nervous, too. I am a teacher in an ASD classroom for kindergarten and 1st graders. My first day of school is monday! 4 of my old students are returning, but I have 5 new ones... including one with severe aggressive behaviors. Normally I enjoy it (working on my masters in aba to become a bcba) but now I'm just nervous!
Hopefully you can get away with low-contact therapeutic holds. Are you trained in any restraint procedures? I was PCM trained in one state and now NCI trained in another state. PCM has some good techniques. Other than that, I would just stay true to aba and keep things as positive as possible. If things get too stressful, try talking to your client supervisor. Good luck!

St0v3s · July 2015

@seminolegirl09 are company does CPI restraints and they are very "funny" about restraints. They always tells us that we haven't had to use one in the 2 years we have been open and we would like to keep it like that. Hopefully everything works out

emjeve · July 2015

During my first pregnancy I worked at an Autism treatment center teaching daily living skills. It was very hard. The children/adults were between the ages of 7-23. Lots of aggressive behavior. Luckily I was never in a really bad situation- I was hit on the arms a few times and pinched a few times. My boss was really great about placing me with kids who displayed mild or no aggressive behaviors, so I was very thankful for that. And we always had other employees working nearby, so I was never alone if a bad situation did occur. Being in-home is probably much more difficult because you are on your own. Are the parents usually home when you are there?

St0v3s · July 2015

@ejverre if not the parent a caregiver is there but if a kid is having a behavior episode they aren't allow to intervene because for majority if not all of our kids we do planned ignoring. So if my client is having a tantrum that involves kicking I'm suppose to move out of the way and just ignore him until it's over or they comply with the demand which is cool until they try to chase you down. Thankfully I only have one kid like that but I have left all of my client's houses with either marks or sore.

bslightner1 · July 2015

I work in a PRTF with youth, ages 11-17. Some of them can be quite aggressive. We are all certified in SCM. After I had my first US this past week, I immediately let my boss know, just because of the nature of the environment. I've been really lucky with the restraints I've been in since I found out at the beginning of the month, I avoided any injuries except bruises and scratches. The kiddos do not know I'm pregnant and I hope to keep it that way as long as possible.

bxsr123 · July 2015

I'm a BCBA and have been wondering the same thing?. I think the most important part will be to leave work at work and make sure you have lots of ways to de-stress once you get home. I've been consciously taking breaks to walk around and trying to detach a bit. As for the aggressive behaviours, if you work in a team, could you try and switch clients ? Or make sure you're wearing extra protective equipment? It may involve telling your supervisor early, but they would be able to help make some modifications to keep you and the baby safe!

CharlestonJ · July 2015

I'm a school psych and work with elementary age AU students. I have had all the sam concerns as you for when school starts back up. I am trained on CPI restraint but am hesitant to use it now. If done correctly, a restraint should not hurt yourself or the student so there should be minimal risk. Our district does not like us to use restraints and emphasizes using it at as last resort. I think there will be a lot of avoidance moves and protecting my abdomen this fall.

michelle2147 · July 2015

Thanks so much for bringing this up, this topic had been on my mind as well! I'm a LMFT working with kiddos who are classified as emotionally disturbed. The younger ones can get quite violent and the teens go through a lot of medication changes and that's when I see more violent behaviors. When I return back to the school district I'll be about 9 weeks and I don't want to tell my colleagues yet, but may need too because of safety for myself and baby. And emotionally, it really is a draining job at times. I think I'll need to do a lot more self-care on the evenings and weekends to get through this. You ladies are amazing with all the work you do with "our" little ones is the world!

PeggyOlsonFTW · July 2015

It's not exactly like your situation, but during my first pregnancy I was a 1-1 aide for a child prone to violent outbusts (hitting, kicking, throwing chairs, etc.). I told my boss and coworkers I was pregnant immediately because I was afraid of what could have happened if I got hit.

I continued to work with the child until about the halfway point in my pregnancy. I had a walkie on me at all times if there wasn't another restrain trained staff member around and would call for help immediately if my techniques to bring him down weren't working. The other staff were usually pretty quick to respond, then I could step back until he was calm again. After the halfway point, they moved me to a different student who didn't have those outbursts.

My best advice is to be open and honest with your employers and co-workers about your comfort level with certain situations.

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