I am a CMHC who is just starting up private practice. Woohoo! I was recently let go from a clinical management position because I was too staff-focused. quite honestly, I sat in a lot of meetings with overwhelmed supervisors that were trying to guilt underpaid direct care staff into taking on more and more as all our more clinical staff left. You know the drill.
I was very vocal about how we would lose less money on turnover if we paid staff better, and when we exploit/overburden the labor of staff how that effects the quality of care for residents/clients. my focus was more on education/training/supervision, identifying resources, and just showing up for my staff and helping them process their interactions,help de-escalate our residents. I really loved my job, my staff, my team etc but my direct supervisor was just too overwhelmed and constantly absent. and felt my work undermined her authority, so they fired me. I was angry, but honestly, I feel a great sense of relief now. I took the opportunity to focus on starting my private practice. I feel really good about it!
So I got an inquiry from a co-worker who left for the same reasons, who is working at another agency who seems to be having similar issues and wants to hire me as a consultant. Which I’ve never done before, and I’m doubting my ability, but I think more importantly, I’m doubting that the people who are paying for my services will actually want to implement my advice of more collaborative decision making, investing in staff, and basically redistributing power and wealth in top heavy agencies. Is it worth my energy to interview, organize and present a strategy I feel certain they won’t implement? Agencies everywhere are struggling for the same reasons and I feel a little annoyed that they can’t seem to pinpoint why. I have a lot of mixed emotions about agency work- it can be a great learning experience, but how do we revolutionize the way they exploit labor? I’m soooooo tired of the martyrdom.