[bobbi21671]

I was diagnosed with PTSD due to my son 18-yr-old committing suicide and me getting to him while he was alive, a month and half later my father died from cancer, 3 years after that while my then fiance and I were living with his elderly father (had terminal COPD and dementia) because he needed someone to keep an eye on him, he committed suicide by shooting himself when we were downstairs and I performed CPR thinking he had a heart attack as I did not see the bullet wound. A week later my husband's brother committed suicide and a year after that my mother in law died of cancer. I have suffered from depression, anxiety, panic and flashbacks to the point that the only places I go by myself is to work and to doctor's appointments. Recently I acquired a PTSD service dog and since having her I have done things that I have not done in a number of years, going to the zoo by myself, going to a sit in restaurant by myself, to a movie by myself. My therapist agrees that having the dog is good for me, but he doesn't believe I need to take her to work with me. I have had flashbacks at work and panic attacks where I left abruptly to go to my therapist. I work at a children's psychiatric center as a crisis admissions coordinator, so pretty stressful at times. I informed my supervisor that I have PTSD and he makes a comment that he thought only vets got PTSD. I informed him differently. I then asked how would it go over if I requested to have my dog at work with me and he told me that it would not go well. According to him, the "higher ups" keep an eye on me due to my past/present emotional state. I am on medication of course, but there are times when things "pop up" and I start crying... in my office with the door closed, but I have people coming in and out and someone always go and tells my supervisor and she comes and asks me if i can handle the job... yes i am handling the job.... just having an emotional moment. I guess my question would be... should I push to be able to bring my dog to work with me? She is very reactive to me when I get upset and alerts me when I start to panic. what do yall think?

[ginaaa22]

ive seen other people comment on this about service dogs and I know by law they cant tell you that you cant have it if a dr gives you permission...try and search for threads about it. type in service dog ..

[Rapunzel]

You might try taking your dog to work and see if it is beneficial to have her there. If you have a service dog, taking the dog with you is your right and employers are not allowed to discriminate. They might not like the idea at first but maybe when they see that having your dog makes you a better employee you will be in a better position in your job than you have been before.

[Parley]

Originally Posted by bobbi21671

My therapist agrees that having the dog is good for me, but he doesn't believe I need to take her to work with me.

I'm confused here but I'm new to therapy. After you fight for your right to have a therapy dog with your employer, will you fight with your therapist about your needs?

[Mysterious Flyer]

No, they will totally fire you.

[Verity81]

If they are not allowed to discriminate why would they fire her? Chances are she could sue them if they did. I think what the supervisor said about thinking vets only got PTSD is so ignorant especially from someone who works in a mental health field!

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[Teacake]

People who still think ptsd is only what vets have are either profoundly ignorant or they are pretty traumatised and burned out themselves. It has to be hard to have ptsd from so many crises and work with families in crisis day in and day out. I almost think that as stressful as a career or job change might be for you now, relieving the stress of the nature of your work might balance it out and more.

Since I landed in hospital I have met dozens of social worker types. The bright ones are very young and look very worried. I see young girls who show obvious signs of burnout--bulging hyperthyroidism eyes, closed chest and curled at the psoas posture. Their personalities show the strain. These jobs eat people up.

I wouldn't fight for.the right to have the dog of the skeptical supervisor is going to object. Burn outs are big on control. I'd have lots of dog time after work and begin looking for a new job. Or.get fired and go on unemployment like everyone else.

[seesaw]

Is the dog a service dog or a therapy dog? If it's a service dog (trained to perform specific tasks to.mitigate your illness) then you have every right to bring the dog to work and they can't retaliate against you and fire you for it. It's against the ADA. Check out the Job Accommodation Network for.more info. It was super helpful to me when I needed to start bringing my service dog to work.

Good luck. Pm me if you have more questions as I have a ptsd service dog too.

Seesaw

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