Any advice for someone working for ODSP and has been increasingly experiencing racism from clients? How to deal with burnout?
I recently joined ODSP in one of the northern local offices about 4 months ago and I have received one too many racist abuse from clients. I am an ASC and while my manager and team have been supportive when these incidents occur, it is truly starting to get to me. I dread having to work the reception post at work because I don’t know who will escalate and spew racist rhetoric at me because I am not telling them what they want to hear. I always set boundaries whenever things start to veer towards disrespect/ and discrimination but that still doesn’t stop many of them from saying downright hateful things. I am now completely done with frontline work and have been applying for behind the scenes work at my ministry (junior program coordinator, etc) but those postings are few and far between. Anyway, all that to say, I am looking to hear from folks that may have experienced something similar in the past. How have you dealt with this? What are some unconventional ways you’ve coped with the emotional and mental burnout of abuse?