When the hardest shifts stay with you
For healthcare workers carrying hard deaths, codes or violence from work, with care that moves at a pace you choose.
Book a Free 15-Minute Consult
When the Work Leaves a Mark
Healthcare work can put you in the room for the worst moments of other people's lives. A death that came too fast, a code that did not go the way anyone hoped, a patient who lashed out, or something you saw that you still can't shake. You keep working because the job needs you, and it can follow you home anyway.
Trauma from work can show up as nightmares, a body that stays on alert, or steering around certain rooms, sounds and memories. My background is in nursing, so you won't need to explain what a code is or why one shift mattered more than the others. You decide how much to share, and when.
Things You May Have Told No One
- I still hear the alarms when I'm trying to fall asleep.
- I can't walk past that room without my chest tightening.
- I tell myself it's just part of the job.
- I keep my back to the wall at work now.
You can say one of these and stop there, and we can start from whatever you are ready to share.
What Trauma From Work Can Look Like
We focus on how it is affecting your life today, without going back through every shift.
Sleep After Hard Shifts
Lying awake replaying a call, nightmares about work, or dreading sleep because of what it brings, and how that spills into the day that follows.
Staying on Guard
Scanning every room, startling at alarms or raised voices, or never fully settling, even on your days off.
Steering Around Reminders
Avoiding a certain unit, a type of patient, a smell or a route to work, or picking up fewer shifts to stay clear of it.
Numbness and a Shorter Fuse
Feeling flat about things that used to move you, or losing patience faster than you used to. Depression and anxiety can come along with trauma too.
Moving at Your Pace
You won't be asked to walk me through the worst shift before you are ready. I do need some of your history to plan with you. Even so, at any point you can say "I'd rather not get into that today," and we move on.
I won't put a date on any of this, because people respond to treatment differently. Together we look for a clearer sense of what the work has left you carrying, shape a plan you agree with, and keep following up so the plan can change as you do.
How Care Begins
The plan we build may include medication management alongside supportive interventions such as CBT and DBT skills.
- 1
Free 15-Minute Phone Consult
Ask your questions and decide whether I am someone you could talk to about the work.
- 2
Your Initial Evaluation
60 to 90 minutes, in person at the Minot office or by telehealth from a private spot, sharing only what you are ready to share.
- 3
Steady Follow-Up Sessions
30 to 45 minutes to review sleep, symptoms and any medication, talk through side effects or concerns, and adjust the plan.
Fees in Brief
An initial evaluation is $300 for 60 to 90 minutes, and follow-up sessions are $125 for 30 to 45 minutes. The 15-minute phone consult that comes first is free.
- Consult
- $0
- 15 min
- Evaluation
- $300
- 60 to 90 min
- Follow-up
- $125
- 30 to 45 min
Questions About Trauma From Work
Does it count as trauma if it didn't happen to me directly?
It can. What you witness and carry from work can stay with you, even when you were the one helping. The evaluation looks at how it is affecting you now.
Is it strange that I felt nothing after a death at work?
Numbness can be one of the ways trauma shows up, and it is worth talking about. There is no judgment here about how you did or didn't react.
What if I'm in crisis after a hard shift?
Please call or text 988, or call 911. Dakota Psychiatric Care is not an emergency service, and you deserve help in that moment.
You can start with one sentence
Book a free 15-minute phone consult, and share only what you want to share.
Book a Free 15-Minute Consult