and so, it goes
Working for social and psychological services over the course of a lengthily career necessitates many hours of training in technique and ongoing updates on discoveries, best practices and research in the field. Logging practice hours then adds another layer of experience, and with that the development of a capacity to discover useful personal routines and the compassion to navigate circumstances of challenge; including the social, economic, political, and anthropological systems we work within. Employment for clinicians is often so rooted in making benchmarks and the numbers we clock are no measure of the toll taken in stress and the wear that sets upon us as we sadly depart from the quality of care, we are able to offer in the hectic pace to earn the kind of profits for the medical corporations that offer the jobs. Even when we are well compensated, the time away from family and the balance of wellbeing can rarely be recouped. The ideals that were once the foundation of being of service to humanity, seem on a regular basis to be drifting out of reach. It is fairly common for clinicians to wonder, " Am I the only person who feels this way?" Siloed in determination, a code develops; don't share this with colleagues-it looks weak- and they may just begin to see me as less competent. So then, as a group we learn to be less vulnerable with one another- and go through a career supposed to inspire us, but instead, leaving us increasingly disconnected, alone and struggling to keep up appearances. Does working with the system of medical care require us to surrender personal development of the meaning of our work? What would it take, and by what means can the recommitment to our ideals could affect the change that could fulfill a promise, presence and engagement? This, the quest to altruism hopes to answer through rigor, curiosity, patience and the practice of non-pathologizing dialogue.