u/avocadoyocc

I’ve been in ABA for about 4 years, and lately I’ve reached a point where I genuinely dread going to work. I’m constantly angry, I’ve been showing up late, and honestly, I don’t even feel like myself anymore. I get really irritated when my clients have behaviors, and that makes me feel guilty because I know it isn’t their fault. I’m just tired.

My current agency has also been frustrating. I’m often not notified about cancellations or client vacations until the last minute, and I’ve had to constantly follow up about my schedule. I’ve gone weeks with very few hours, and right now I’m sometimes only working around 2 hours a day. I told them a month ago that I needed more consistent hours, but I’m still waiting. I want to quit so bad but i don't know if that is the best move but we have such a high turn over rate and im just done with aba in general.

I’m applying to jobs outside of ABA because I think I’m ready for a different career, but I haven’t been able to get hired yet. I feel stuck because I need the money, but I also don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this.

For those who left ABA, how did you know it was time? Did you wait until you had another job, or did you leave because you were already completely burned out?

I’m honestly looking for advice because I don’t know if I should keep trying to make this work or accept that I’m done?

I've been an RBT for almost 4 years, and I feel completely burnt out. It wasn't one specific breaking point—it just got worse over time. The driving, inconsistent hours, cancellations, feeling unsupported, and never knowing what my schedule or paycheck will look like have all slowly worn me down.

Now I dread going to work. It's not one client or one bad day t's everything. I wake up exhausted and i feel constantly sad and I'm often frustrated about problems with my life that would be extremely difficult maybe even impossible to solve. So many bad things keep happening right now and I'm feeling absolutely terrible.

When people talk about a "breaking point", what does this actually mean? I feel broken right now but I honestly wouldn't say there was a point where I broke. It just got worse and worse.

I’ve been an RBT for three years and been working with a client with high behaviors for almost 2 years now. I’ve experienced tough clients that made me want to quit before, but I always stuck it out to the bitter end. I have a full schedule right now, and I feel confident with all of my cases but one. Idk if there’s such thing as client and BI mismatch, if my supervisor needs to write a better plan, or if I am unreasonable for this client but I am so burnt out on this case. I’ve given it a month and things are just going downhill. So now my question is, should I quit? I feel overwhelmed because this client has a lot of goals that i need to run and my supervisor is always there via telehealth. But i am starting to resent the kid and my supervisor because whenever the supervisor is present there are always difficult behavioral and it makes me want to shut down and cry. I asked for the supervisor help to help me not take these behaviors personally but I simply cannot do it anymore. is quitting a case unreasonable of me? I've been contemplating quitting ABA because I am starting to dread my work day every single day. I am tired of working in homes. I can tolerate my other clients but I just can’t see my experience with this client getting any better, and at this point I think it might be in my clients best interest as well as mine if I was just taken off the case. Any advice would be appreciated Thanks