Concerned for my safety on new job

[foremma]

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I have landed a position doing outpatient work with mentally ill criminals that have been either found not guilty by reason of mental illness or have been diverted from the criminal justice system. They have been deemed ready to live in society. My position would entail a significant amount of 1-on-1 time with them outside of the clinic doing work helping them get jobs, grocery shop, etc. I will be driving them around to various places alone, and I have pretty much no experience working with ex-criminals, let alone with mental illness.

Further, this position is merely a summer internship, which really makes me question how willing I am to risk a lot for a summer unpaid job.

Would you feel comfortable in a position like this? As of now, it is all I have but I am fearing for my own safety and am considering dropping out purely out of fear that I may be stuck in a situation that is violent, and the patient could be experiencing a psychotic break or relapse.

Does anyone have thoughts on this?

 

[PHD12]

I have landed a position doing outpatient work with mentally ill criminals that have been either found not guilty by reason of mental illness or have been diverted from the criminal justice system. They have been deemed ready to live in society. My position would entail a significant amount of 1-on-1 time with them outside of the clinic doing work helping them get jobs, grocery shop, etc. I will be driving them around to various places alone, and I have pretty much no experience working with ex-criminals, let alone with mental illness.

Further, this position is merely a summer internship, which really makes me question how willing I am to risk a lot for a summer unpaid job.

Would you feel comfortable in a position like this? As of now, it is all I have but I am fearing for my own safety and am considering dropping out purely out of fear that I may be stuck in a situation that is violent, and the patient could be experiencing a psychotic break or relapse.

Does anyone have thoughts on this?

What type of training will you be receiving (e.g., safety training, managing psychosis etc.)? Can you request that someone accompany you? What type of insurance does the agency offer?

The whole point of an unpaid internship is to gain valuable experience and training that will help further your career goals.

It sounds like you have legitimate concerns about the work being outside your area of competence (e.g., managing severe mental illness) and also serious safety concerns to boot.

 

[foremma]

What type of training will you be receiving (e.g., safety training, managing psychosis etc.)? Can you request that someone accompany you? What type of insurance does the agency offer?

The whole point of an unpaid internship is to gain valuable experience and training that will help further your career goals.

It sounds like you have legitimate concerns about the work being outside your area of competence (e.g., managing severe mental illness) and also serious safety concerns to boot.

They haven't clarified what training I will have. I am graduating with a BA and this is a position that I have been offered after (in case this is being confused with a PhD internship). While I'm sure I will receive some, I am only there for 8 weeks and am seriously doubting that I will receive enough training that will qualify me for this. I have had several internship experiences in the mental health field and do not need this. While it will look good, I am starting to doubt that risking my safety for a short position (which I will have to pay for the credits for) is a smart decision.

 

[bpsydme]

If you don't feel comfortable now, and don't think you will have adequate training to feel comfortable later, I would suggest you either 1) talk to your supervisors about your concerns and whether the training is enough, and/or start looking for another internship.

To relate to your issue, I started volunteer to work 1-on-1 as a companion to individuals with mental illness (on medication, and condition is "stable") and ended up having to quit after 3 months because of the stress it gave me. Now, the people I worked with were not convicted criminals, but one individual in particular was manifesting symptoms of her depression and bipolar while I was driving us somewhere and while I never felt like my life was in danger, it was extremely uncomfortable and even felt unsafe.

There are other ways to volunteer, and 1-on-1 without supervisors and not within a particular facility can become an ugly situation pretty fast.

Honestly, although I stuck it out for 3 months for the summer, that experience probably didn't do anything to help (though it prob didn't hurt) my grad school apps. Research, if you're going fro PhD, is most important.

Edit: the stress this experience gave me was entirely due to the inadequate training and the responsbility associated with driving someone who may become mentally unstable at any given moment around town...in my car...going down the highway. It was not, in any way, due to the fact that I was working with any particular population. Also, chauffeuring around individuals with mental illness is (in my opinion) in no way indicative of the experiences one would have as a counselor/therapist/clinical psychologist.

 

[Pragma]

I think clarifying what kind of training you would get would be helpful.

I remember some similar dilemmas during that pre-bachelors and immediate post-bachelor's time. I had done some part-time work at a group home for people wtih severe mental illnesses as a BA student. it involved things like medication administration, dealing with crises (especially on the overnight shift), and other things that in hindsight were perhaps beyond my level of training. However, there was some training involved and there were on-call people to consult with if needed.

I had a friend that did some different work with people who had anxiety disorders - basically systematic desensitization involving going driving, to the store, etc...things I'd also consider would require perhaps more training.

While to some extent I think these types of experiences might help you to empathize more with people who have incarceration histories, it is worth asking about training if you are going to be doing work in the community on your own with them. You don't sound tied to the possibility, but perhaps they can discuss it more with you before you make a decision.

 

[T120]

I have landed a position doing outpatient work with mentally ill criminals that have been either found not guilty by reason of mental illness or have been diverted from the criminal justice system. They have been deemed ready to live in society. My position would entail a significant amount of 1-on-1 time with them outside of the clinic doing work helping them get jobs, grocery shop, etc. I will be driving them around to various places alone, and I have pretty much no experience working with ex-criminals, let alone with mental illness.

Further, this position is merely a summer internship, which really makes me question how willing I am to risk a lot for a summer unpaid job.

Would you feel comfortable in a position like this? As of now, it is all I have but I am fearing for my own safety and am considering dropping out purely out of fear that I may be stuck in a situation that is violent, and the patient could be experiencing a psychotic break or relapse.

Does anyone have thoughts on this?

This sounds a lot like a case management/case worker type position. Being out in the community with anyone (entering their homes, assisting them with activities of daily living, etc) carries a risk whether they have a mental illness or not. It looks like the population you are working with has a history that obviously constitutes concern for safety. Most case management programs offer outpatient safety training courses but even then I still think it's a huge risk. I do this type of work now and to be honest as far as experience is concerned it really depends on your supervisors. I for one do not feel I am getting anything of value other than a paycheck until I begin my Psy.D program this August. There are many times when I feel unsafe. We are not allowed to have clients in our own cars but have company cars. Even then I try to limit that as much as possible. I am able to bring a co-worker or meet them out in public places if I am not totally comfortable with them alone. I was lucky enough to gain most of my experiences working in psychiatric intake where safety was more stringent. I thought getting a different perspective in this new area would be worth the risk but IMO it's really not. If this is your only option and you NEED this experience then I would just trust your instinct with what you are comfortable doing with them. Just remember, no on can force you to do anything you are not comfortable with.

 

[deleted176373]

I have landed a position doing outpatient work with mentally ill criminals that have been either found not guilty by reason of mental illness or have been diverted from the criminal justice system. They have been deemed ready to live in society. My position would entail a significant amount of 1-on-1 time with them outside of the clinic doing work helping them get jobs, grocery shop, etc. I will be driving them around to various places alone, and I have pretty much no experience working with ex-criminals, let alone with mental illness.

Further, this position is merely a summer internship, which really makes me question how willing I am to risk a lot for a summer unpaid job.

Would you feel comfortable in a position like this? As of now, it is all I have but I am fearing for my own safety and am considering dropping out purely out of fear that I may be stuck in a situation that is violent, and the patient could be experiencing a psychotic break or relapse.

Does anyone have thoughts on this?

My 2 cents, is that if you are feeling apprehensive about this, it's your emotions providing you valuable information concerning your ability to function in the worse case scenario. Which may not ever occur, but unless this is your area of interest or you are particularly drawn to this work, I would take some time to seriously re-evaluate.

Would I feel comfortable working with persons in this situation, yes, perhaps I would. However, my fear receptors are malfunctioning, I am a skilled martial artist, 5'10" weigh 180#, lift weights and exercise, and don't get easily intimidated. That's a lot different than for instance someone who is 5'5", 120-140 lbs, sedentary, has no self-defense training, and is experiencing and providing cues that they are uncomfortable/fearful. It matters not whether you are male or female, if you are visually and noticeably uncomfortable/fearful it may set the stage for a bad outcome.

So you need to examine why you are doing this... It might be the right thing for you, after all people often grow when they face their fears and successfully overcome anxiety. It also may not be the right thing for you, you'll need to be really honest with yourself, but there is no need to expose yourself to any unnecessary risk of serious harm in order to become a psychologist. Having dealt with agitated clients that have a propensity towards violence, who were larger than me, and without a doubt dangerous, I can say it is really important to remain calm while de-escalating these situations. That's difficult to do if you're attempting to manage your own fear.

 

[pretzels]

You noted they're having you drive around with these individuals alone, that makes me think they may have you only working with non-violent cases. I interned at a similar place working with mentally ill offenders, but the vast majority of them were non-violent (though obviously not the most well-socialized people you'd ever met). I would clarify with your supervisor the nature of the population you're working with and the work you could be expected to do alone with them on a day-to-day basis. Few organizations want to put their fresh-graduate volunteer interns at serious risk with minimal training so this doesn't add up to me.