I'm a Mental Health nurse who wants to get out of nursing....

qwerty79

What about training in alternative therapies:
body massage and aromatherapy 26 weeks 2 eve a week
Reiki 3 x short (1 week or less courses to get to a practising level)
Hopi ear candles
piercing course (3-5 days) (ears only 1/2 day)
There are a lot more short courses you can take in order to get to a practitioner level which is then viable for visiting clients or making a therapy room in your home. Long term enabling you to work around home.
I've only been able to list times for courses I've done.
Hope this helps and good luck.

Croatoan

I'll have a look at the Atos assessor, and might look again at alternative therapies.
Thanks to both of you.

Tygermoth

I too found the same.

After issues for years I walked out of my acute medicine job and in to a nine five call centre job for the same money.

Do you know what its been amazing. I have the time and energy to go out a meet people. Do evening courses take holidays and have weekends away. I actually have a life. Its beautiful and a wondrous thing.

I have the wonder that is a safe environment where the only whine is the air-con or the tea machine is not working and its blissful. totally blissful.

Gone of the days of back to backs or dawn n twilight broken shifts because there was no cover. being kicked so hard in the face that the patient took out my tooth and broke my glasses and he managed to claim the loss of his shoes in the resulting scuffle and got significant compensation off the NHS where i was told its was part and parcel of the job when i tried to ask them to contribute to the massive cost of my dental work which on my salary i just could not afford.

Being held hostage by a gent in a side ward with a knife. Having a patients relative cut off my plaited hair because he thought it was funny and if he was a PITA they would be seen quicker. Hit kicked and spat on regularly. Tired all the time. nothing else can fit in your life because its the job then its sleeping then its the job then sleeping....not able to plan in advance as the shifts changed on a whim. Missing my own birthday party with friends and family waiting as there was no cover to relive me off my shift (sickness) so I couldn't leave until they could get someone in (they never did)

This being said I was a exemplary and dedicated nurse with national awards for my care....... but it just ate me up and spat me out.

I loved my nursing life but i love this one better.

Croatoan

Just had a search for Atos Assessors.
Not sure I could do this
http://atosvictimsgroup.co.uk/2013/01/31/ex-atos-nurse-reveals-the-real-inside-story/

lavandergirl_2

an9i77 wrote: »

What makes you nurses think that low morale, politics and carp management are specific to nursing? I don't work in nursing, but that seems to sum up just about every employer I've ever worked for.

but it's not just that. One factor is workplace violence- 90% of nurses experience violence or verbal abuse.
http://www.nursingtimes.net/whats-new-in-nursing/news-topics/health-workforce/over-90-of-nurses-experience-violence-or-verbal-abuse/5011127.article

Nurses and workplace violence: nurses' experiences of verbal and physical abuse at work.

Croatoan

Tygermoth wrote: »

I too found the same.

After issues for years I walked out of my acute medicine job and in to a nine five call centre job for the same money.

Tbh if I wasn't such a useless salesman I wouldn't mind giving a call centre a go. Tried sales (insurance and windows) years ago and I just wasn't cut out for it. Having said that, one thing I've learned as a nurse is to have a much thicker skin than I did then, being that I'm pretty much used to be verbally abused and screamed at every day of my life. While I've been punched, spat at, pelted by faeces and kicked by the elderly, I've been lucky (so far) and managed to avoid physical abuse from patients under 65, unlike so many others. Some pretty close calls though.

Tygermoth

Oh i am Carp at sales but great at customer service

The call centre I worked at was inbound service calls and it played very well to my skill set. I had done nursing for so long i had no office skills what so ever so it was a great place to start as you needed little experience to get going. As such i did very well as i loved awkward calls...

I now am a dedicated complaints handler for a large multi-national. I have a lovely desk loads plus of benefits (extra A/L - healthcare and discounts) and a car space. My business seems to respect and nuture its staff.

True i am now on less (about 6 or 7K) than my nursing mates as they have moved up the structure. however i am totally happy with this.

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

Just read through this thread and would like to offer my sympathy to fellow nurses out there who are trying to hold it all together on a daily basis.
I don't think the general public really know or understand the rubbish we have to put up with. No thanks and unrealistic expectations from management. I try and cope by working part time and have done for a few years now and spent years paying off our mortgage and scrimping so we can both be part time. There are noises at work to force all staff to work long days and do internal rotation both of which I don't want to do and would leave and do something else rather than do that.
Why don't management try to accommodate peoples need into the rota? They can always fill in with agency staff if needs be.

Seriously, we need to start valuing nurses and treating them better if we expect more compassion from them, we are expected to tick too many boxes nowadays and the paperwork is horrendous. Some days I feel like I have a pair of handcuffs on and cant actually get to a the patients because of the paperwork. Been doing the job over 30 years and seen a few changes, some good, some bad.

Sorry I haven't got any answers for you OP, have you tried looking at better paying agencies? Some pay a really good hourly rate. How about getting into research nursing or education? Good luck and keep us posted.

Croatoan

Thanks.
I've looked at other agencies: mine pays a fair wage, not the highest, but probably middle to high, and the work is always there if I want it. Problem is, like many on here, I no longer want it anymore and if I did it would be the same grind of Care Homes, Acutes and Forensics I'm stuck with at the moment. The other area is Community work but I have no experience in this area so no chance of getting in. One real problem I'm finding in being an RMN is how limited we are in our choices of where to work, and how difficult it is to move into areas I've not worked in but would like to try.
Education and research, I think, normally requires at least Master's level qualifications and I've only got a degree (not in Nursing), and my nursing diploma. To do a Master's would be both expensive and take a long time part-time, and at my age I don't know if it's worth it.

fredandwilma

Croatoan wrote: »

Just had a search for Atos Assessors.
Not sure I could do this
http://atosvictimsgroup.co.uk/2013/01/31/ex-atos-nurse-reveals-the-real-inside-story/

My suggestion was largely tongue in cheek, with a touch of irony, mixed with ten percent seriousness. However, it was a suggestion.



There are lots of community based mental health and social care organisations, not just NHS funded. There are charities too. I know of social care charities which promote mental well being and who provide support serices to adults with mental ill health which enables them to live in their local communities. It's not the best pay in the world, but job satisfaction rating?


There are all kinds of ways to become involved with care in the community as more and more people experience mental health difficulties, and it can be a rewarding job?