[LALotus]

I keep thinking of a career change or better yet I need a way to re-ignite my passion for the mental health field again. I have 15 years of employment in this field and I feel burnt out but can't imagine doing something else. I feel like I'm in a rock and a hard place. Any thoughts or ideas?

[Frankbtl]

Hi LALotus, do you think a career change might be a good idea afterall considering the way you're feeling?? You do need to put your well-being first. But that doesn't necessarily mean you'd have to step away from the mental health field..........a different setting maybe???
Depending on what you're doing now you might want to consider work in psychiatric hospitals, secure units, being an out reach worker, working with adolescents with mental health issues, working in a field that focuses on particular health issues, working with the homeless (where there can be mental health issues with a percentage).............quite a few different options if you think any of them might "reignite that spark"???
Otherwise any other opportunities you have where you're working now?? Or any more support you can get from your employers or colleagues??? Maybe a break e.g. extended holiday to come up with a kind of plan that may help you "recharge your batteries" (that's if we're not talking complete burnout!)??
And maybe you could introduce some new/different things in your life outside of the workplace to relieve stress, tension, to break that focus from work quite as much, help you to feel more "refreshed" when you step into the workplace??
And you know if you're carrying with you more of the stressful, distressing, "challenging"........times maybe you could try to redress that balance a little in your mind e.g. put in some/plenty of time to really reflect on some of the "success" stories, the real difference you've helped make in some people's lives...........it can be easy to let some of those "slip your memory" when the other things take over, or easy not to give them the significance they really deserve.
And sometimes talking about some of the things you're going through can really help, so I don't know whether a counselor or T might help, or us (!!!) if you want to keep on talking.............
So just some thoughts, depending on how bad this is feeling to you, right now............

Alison

[Little Lulu]

Re-igniting your passion for your work sound like a good project. Fifteen years is a long time so good for you for hanging in there so long.

I work in health care and I have had to do the same thing. Sometimes it is as simple as taking time to remember why I went into my field in the first place and what is still going well in my work. Other times I have done things like changed jobs within my field by moving to another department. I also went back to school and expanded my degree. If you don't want to go back to college, are there any certifications you could consider sitting for? Or maybe just attending a conference on something about your job that interests you would help. If you like to write, you could start a blog about your work - you just have to be cautions about the anonymity issue.

Best wishes. That you are taking the time and responsibility to look into this issue tells me you are probably good at what you do.

[CosmicRose]

People often move onto other positions after 20 years or so in a work environment, whether that's being promoted, or just moving to a different field entirely. But 20 years is often the period of time it takes for someone to change gears so to speak. So you're right around that time. 15 years is a long time to be in any field or job. Is there any growth opportunities you could pursue in your field? Any positions open or any other branches off from what you're doing right now that you could pursue? Since you have so much experience in the mental health field, I would recommend that you stay in that field, but there are tons of different jobs you could look into in that field other than what you're currently doing. Like administration, office work, client work, research work, managerial work, etc.