Night nurse considers getting healthy

Is there an active conspiracy or just a necessary blindness that lets guidance counselors and advisors keep funneling the children of trauma into the caregiver fields? Look around any group of medical workers, social workers, teachers, etc, and you find the limping, bandaged survivors of their pasts. Either the whole world is much more damaged than I thought (and that may also be true) or we are disproportionately filling the front lines of the battle to save the wounded with those who are still recovering from their own injuries.

And this might be ok, if it were openly acknowledged and accounted for. We know of what we speak, right? We care because we’ve been there? It could be part of the curriculum to say “you may have chosen this field because you want to prevent others from experiencing what you did, or to help others recover from what you experienced. Here’s how we help you get healthy enough to do that.” That is not the case.

I believe it is common for matriculating counselors to be required to spend some time in therapy of their own? Maybe not all. I don’t know. It is certainly not a thing for nurses. I’ve never heard of it for doctors, social workers, teachers. I’m of the opinion it should be part of your job. Not a benefit for you to use if you want, but a requirement for your health and well-being. “To remain in good standing, you will find and foster an ongoing relationship with the therapist of your choice. The bill will be paid by your employer.” I dream.

You matter. Your mental and emotional health and growth matter. The fact that you were a hurting kid who chose to try to make the world better instead of burning it down should not mean that you give up your own progress toward adult peace of mind and life satisfaction. You should be able to have a fulfilling career and make a difference in the world and still go home at the end of the day and feel good about yourself and your place in your home and your family and among your peers. If you don’t have that, you deserve help.

I. I deserve. I matter.