Breaking the News to the Girls

Tonight at work, I told the girls that I was done in three weeks. A lot of people can just give their job two weeks notice, slack off for their last few days, and tell their coworkers to keep in touch. In my field of work, things are much different when you need to leave. You aren't just leaving a company and coworkers. You are leaving clients, who may view you as an important part of their lives and mental stability. You need to make sure you give enough notice to them, so they can prepare for your departure, and give enough notice to your coworkers so they can prepare for the aftermath of your departure. You never know how clients are going to react.

I don't have clients, but I spend at least 40 hours a week with the girls that live in this psychiatric home. Some people might turn their nose up at my job and view it as not good enough for someone with a Masters degree, but I think it's been one of the best work experiences of my life in this field. Yeah, I could be making a shit ton more money. I'm not diagnosing people or anything, but I'm getting to know these girls, spending time with them in their day to day lives, and I really feel like it's given me a better understanding of where clients are coming from. I know them better than the clients I met with for only 45 minutes a week.

Anyway, one of the girls cried but said she was excited for me, and the other girl said she was going to cry and tackle me when I tried to leave on my last day... I believe it. The third girl, who I just met today, almost cried and said she was so upset because she had been looking forward to meeting me since she was admitted last week, and I seemed so nice and now I'm leaving.

This is why I do what I do. I obviously don't want them to be upset, but this kind of reaction lets me know that I actually made a difference. I am someone they trust and like being around, which these girls can't say very often about people in their lives. I always try to make these situations learning experiences. You know, people come and people go, relationships ending are a part of life, even good relationships end, etc. The girls were pretty good about it after they got done being upset. They asked me a lot of questions about why I'm going and where I'm moving to, and if I'll miss them and this job, and it got me thinking...

I really am going to miss this job. As shitty as the hours and scheduling are, and as disorganized as things may seem sometimes, I am really really going to miss working with these girls. And I'm going to miss my coworkers/friends. We started this place up together and made it happen. I hate that I'm leaving it right now, when it's still getting off the ground.

I'm going to have to turn moving to Florida into a therapeutic learning experience for myself, because as much as I want to go live in the sunshiney paradise with Eric (he's there RIGHT NOW!!!), I do NOT handle change well. I guarantee I will be crying my eyes out when I leave. But that's life, and you'll never get anywhere if you don't accept endings and turn them in to new beginnings.