Thank you for this post, Ira. To see that these things are talked about gives me hope.
I left the org a couple of months ago. I felt mentally paralysed and completely unable to do my work. I initially thought that it was all because of my depression, but since then I've come to the realisation that I was wrong. My depression was certainly a factor, in that it shaped the way I reacted to the stress of the work. However, something triggered that response, since I was otherwise quite well.
I've come to the conclusion that over the two years I'd been an OTW staffer, I'd slowly burned out on that work. I agree with you that it's systemic problem inside the org. People didn't have time to properly mentor newcomers. Moreover, the necessary mentoring structures simply weren't there. The combined effect of those two things was that it was like being thrown off the deep end and told to swim.
I miss the org, and I now feel a glimmer of hope. I feel like it might be possible for me to return at some point. I don't mean that the org has to be perfect for that to happen. Just, there needs to be awareness that we have to work on this. The feeling that nothing is changing -- that is one of the most debilitating feelings.
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I left the org a couple of months ago. I felt mentally paralysed and completely unable to do my work. I initially thought that it was all because of my depression, but since then I've come to the realisation that I was wrong. My depression was certainly a factor, in that it shaped the way I reacted to the stress of the work. However, something triggered that response, since I was otherwise quite well.
I've come to the conclusion that over the two years I'd been an OTW staffer, I'd slowly burned out on that work. I agree with you that it's systemic problem inside the org. People didn't have time to properly mentor newcomers. Moreover, the necessary mentoring structures simply weren't there. The combined effect of those two things was that it was like being thrown off the deep end and told to swim.
I miss the org, and I now feel a glimmer of hope. I feel like it might be possible for me to return at some point. I don't mean that the org has to be perfect for that to happen. Just, there needs to be awareness that we have to work on this. The feeling that nothing is changing -- that is one of the most debilitating feelings.