Pros
Seeing a patient improve over time is so rewarding. There are birthday luncheons every month.
Kontras
Your coworkers are what makes you love your job or not. There are Nurses that don't believe you are equal to them and try to tell you how to do your job. They like to come out and provoke the kids and then hide and let you deal with the aggravated patient and possibly have to put them in a hold. Even if you're doing your job correctly they will tell you how wrong you are (but they never offer no solutions). There are Techs that do the same thing. Your coworkers may disappear for half hours on end without any notice, some take smoke breaks for 20 minutes at a time and if you don't smoke you're out of luck. You may or may not get a lunch, and you may be forced to take a lunch before you've even been at work for 3 hours (which is better than nothing). Each shift is solely 8.5 hours (7-330; 3-1130; 11-730) so if your schedule isn't flexible and you cannot work 8-hour shifts at a time you will have a bad time (a.k.a. a student). Other techs don't care. They make fun of patients, some verbally abuse them, and will drag them from their wrists. Basically, they are all burnt out. I've heard coworkers make fun of patients several times a shift. I've also heard coworkers say "This isn't my shift" (if they come in early or walk on to a unit) and don't redirect or correct a patient. Expect to get bit, hit, spit on, punched, attacked verbally and physically etc. But these are mental patients. If you remember that then you will be okay. Some coworkers take this personally and it hinders their work and jades them for the future. The coworkers don't even respect staff. They make fun of their coworkers about anything - the way they look, if they're a student, how often they work, whether or not they like to go to the playground etc. Coworkers have made fun of homosexuals and transgender coworkers before. Needless to say, those individuals quit almost as quickly as they were hired because of the disrespect they had to deal with. Administration changes protocol all the time. Expect to do paperwork one way for months, then abruptly change to a different way. Sometimes they will add more paperwork for you to do fo no reason. MHTs already do everything and there is so, so much paperwork. Expect hand cramps. I've been here almost 2 years and no talk of any raise.